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January 1979 Newsletter
COLOMBIAN CHRISTIAN MISSION
Dale and Jeanie Meade
In the jungle and prairie of Southeastern Colombia.
Volume 7, Issue 1 January, 1979
ADIOS AMIGOS
The church service was a long one. Yet after over three hours no one was bored. It was one of those special services that captivate a person’s attention because of its nature. There was lively singing and refreshments. But what really made the service long, and interesting was the string of testimonies. The people were not giving testimony about their previous lives or any other thing common to a church service. They were paying tribute to a family that had become as dear to them as their own. Person after person stood up to tell how he or she had heard the gospel from Mark Stringer and his family. These people were living monuments to the power of the gospel in our world today. They were expressing their appreciation for the people who made their new lives possible. Now it was time to say good bye. Mark left a challenge that they all still be in the Lords service when he returned. There were many tearful embraces as the meeting drew to a close.
As the Stringer family departed, we were left pondering the next year. There will be no other missionary here to help in the work. Decisions will have to be made upon my own discretion. True, there are many capable Colombian leaders that will be a tremendous help. But the responsibility for organizing and directing our evangelistic outreach, leadership training, and other ministries will be wholly mine. It is a bigger job than I care to handle alone. Yet there is no one else at the moment with whom I can share the work load. At times like these we will rely heavily upon the Lord's guidance and your prayer support. We will do our very best to fulfill the needs of the work here in Colombia. There is another aspect in which we are also alone. Before we had always shared the expenses involved in supporting the work. We pooled our work support and jointly sponsored the projects that we undertook. Now that Mark has left, the entire financial load will be upon our shoulders. You and I will have to do our best to maintain an active and outgoing program. We are going to cut some projects and reduce the scope of others in order to make ends meet. The radio program will be put on a bi-monthly basis. I will do less traveling and we will have to concentrate on training the local leaders.
I am not Mark Stringer. Nor do I plan to try to fill his shoes. But we (you and I) will do our best to advance the Lord's churches here in Colombia in the next year. We depend heavily on your prayers and support in the upcoming year. This coming year will be especially important. We ask that you pray that the Lord grant me wisdom to guide the work. There is a real potential for growth. We must take advantage of what is here and move ahead with the task that awaits our united efforts at world evangelism.