Dear Brother, I glad we met.  I have been here trying to attach a photo of my family to you for more than an hour now but not successful. I think I do that another time. I am not on Skype but will try to registrar. The internet connection here can some time be very slow. Expecially when we have to come to the cafe. I don’t have a computer.

There are many sad stories of broken families which i have seen, so many. It same the world does not care any more about family. People want to stop AIDS but not broken family. It sad to know how many pain is cost to the family today.

In my church, I have many cases I am praying about now.   I hope we can work to help the church.

In Christ,

Pastor Anthony

Anthony told me of a network of pastors in his area and asked about the possibility of CMFN coming to help these pastors and leaders work together to heal the marriages within their reach.  Clearly Anthony’s heart is heavy for the marriages within his reach.  The comment from his email that struck a cord with me was “People what to stop AIDS but not broken family”.  The devastation of AIDS continues to be a serious problem — as does the fragmentation of the family.  It’s a serious problem here in the West and it’s serious problem in countries all over the globe.

I believe with such great conviction that there is a better way for the marriages and families of Canada and of Liberia, West Africa.  I also believe with equal conviction that by helping cultivate a “culture of marriage” the Church has an amazing opportunity to truly transform the marriages and families within it’s reach…and it’s vital we give it our best effort.

Join me in praying for the transformation of marriages in and through Pastor Anthony’s  church and the churches here in Canada. . .

Then lets role up our sleeves and get to it!

Our vacation began 2 1/2 weeks ago with a five hour drive to Great Falls, Montana to catch a cheap flight to the Phoenix area.  Of course it wasn’t enough to get a great deal on the airfare I wanted to save on airport parking too.  So I swallowed my pride and began a search online for churches close to the airport in hopes one might ‘lend’ me a stall. One website quickly caught my attention — but it wasn’t their proximity to the airport that grabbed me.   This particular church had a strong passion for building healthy marriages and naturally that connected with me.  I learned that through a weekend marriage enrichment event called Alliance Marriage Encounter Ministry this particular church has ministered to over 250 couples from Great Falls and other communities throughout Montana and surrounding states.   In addition they have helped launch this ministry in other churches as well, demonstrating a willingness to partner beyond their walls to the broader Body of Christ.  So I felt led to call the senior pastor.

After sheepishly telling him what first led me to their site(my penny-pinching proclivity)  I asked more about their vision to transform marriages.  He shared their history as well as their hope of bringing health to the marriages of his church and the community they served through the ministry of Marriage Encounter.  In fact he mentioned they were preparing for an upcoming Encounter Weekend on April 8-10 so I called today to find out how things went.  He said the weekend was great as 78 new people attended including three couples who were currently separated but chose to reconcile and work on their marriage because of Encounter. WOW!   So three marriages are now pulling back from the brink and 36 others were given the opportunity to grow from bad to better or from good to great, all because this church had a vision to proactively transform the marriages within their reach.  Very cool!!

In the end, despite a generous offer from this pastor to park our car in their lot for free, with 2 kids and whole lot of luggage it made more sense to park at the airport after all.  But I guess it pays to be cheap, as I would have missed an opportunity to hear another example of what can happen when the Church is intentional and proactive about transforming the marriages and families within their reach.

I am deeply grateful for the time, effort and support this board is demonstrating to ensure we advance effectively towards accomplishing the Vision God has given us, while staying true to the Mission by which we will achieve that Vision.  Their encouragement and support has been invaluable so far and I appreciate so much the unique passions and gifts they each bring to the table.  ‘Extremely pumped’ might begin to describe how I am feeling these days…knowing full well there are more challenges and uphill climbs ahead, I am looking forward to “facing” them together with this team.

You all ROCK!