Russellville, Alabama

Conference #10 of the Fall 2017 travel season led our team to minister in the family of Calvary Baptist Church from November 12 through November 15.  This week found our family and our team at the end of ten conferences in a ten week period and everyone was tired and ready for a break, but Calvary had scheduled our team with the same expectations as the first church conference in our schedule.

The team did a fantastic job of ministering to the staff and church members, engaging in conversation and spending time with host families as well as being dedicated to working hard while in the church.

Following are some photos of our time in Russellville as well as some testimonies from members of this community and how God impacted their lives through a concentrated time spent as individuals and as a church family seeking God together and prioritizing life around His plan.

TESTIMONIES…..

Thank you so much for your word. I didn’t realize that I was so tired, distracted, and too busy for others.  I always felt like a giving person, but now realize I’m not as giving as God wants me to be.  He wants me to give so very much more. I believe I was so tired and distracted because I wasn’t doing what God wants me to.  Thank you so very much for opening my eyes to this. This week has been a wonderful blessing to me.  Thank you. B Brown

Prior to this week I was going through struggles in my marriage and some of my friendships. This conference has shown me to let go of the hurt and push forward in love….God’s love. Thank you for being such a blessing!

God found me in a place of neglecting Him and His word. Jeremiah 2:19 was like a dagger to my heart and God broke down barriers the day after the message on it was preached. God has given me unexplainable peace that I have wanted for so long. Praise the Lord!

 

Suffolk, Virginia

Conference #9 of 10 this fall in our season landed us in Suffolk, Virginia where the team was able to celebrate Thanksgiving and an early Christmas during our time ministering to and with the people of this community.  Our last stop of this season is next week in Russellville, Alabama.  Pray for the Silver team… for safe travels, energy and focus for those we meet and serve. Keep us in your prayers over break as we minister in different ways, places and also as the team members make decisions about traveling the next year.

Delaware, Ohio

Hayden, Alabama

O’Fallon, Illinois

Black Family Update

The Black Family

Serving God with Life Action Ministries

 

Blessings from the Blackpack.   We are in awe of how God is changing families around the country and you are a big part of that!  To that we say THANK YOU! Wow! 2015 has started with a schedule of five 4-day Thirst Conferences.  Our team reunited after Christmas break the first week of January in Picayune MS. From there we traveled to our hometown of Dothan, AL and then on to Fayetteville, GA, Augusta, GA and Keystone Heights, FL.  These churches were very gracious in their giving and attendance was good for most conferences.  God moved in significant ways in the lives of many and we are amazed at the lives changed in the four short days we were with each of these church families.  Our prayer is that lives will continue to change long after we are gone and communities will be changed for the glory of our great God.  We are so excited to share some of the stories with you…

My daughter and I were battling each other like WWIII.  We were hurtful, negative and could not get along. Tuesday night of the conference God spoke to me about getting it right. I followed through at asking her to forgive me and told her I loved her. She did the same. Wednesday was a total different day. PTL

I had been harboring so much anger towards myself but God has allowed me to release that and give my burdens to Him. I know that He is with me now and won’t let me go.  -Victoria  Fayetteville, GA

God has especially revealed to me that I have been harboring bitterness and resentment toward a person from a past relationship. I no longer hold this resentment because God has shown me how this affects other relationships and how I should be reflecting His image.  -Andrew  Fayetteville, GA

I find myself “leaking” and get upset and irritable towards my family, friends, and coworkers. God has shown me the importance of filling myself with His spirit and love so that He spills out when my cup is shaken.  -Karen  Augusta, GA

I have learned this week that I need to be a more Christ like mom. Yes we attend our church for almost all events and have been here all week, however, when we get home we are far from Christ Like. Yelling, arguing, disobedience and much frustration. I need to pour more of God’s word into my heart so that it overflows to my children.  -Danielle  Augusta, GA

 

Coming into February we have an exciting month ahead. This month we will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. Please pray that God will continue to strengthen our marriage during this season of ministry on the road and that we will be a testimony to the glory of the Lord.  Lindsey will be turning 13 on the 28th and our team members must decide by the end of February whether they will continue to travel into the 2015/2016 travel season.  We would also ask that you continue to be in prayer for the sell of our house in Dothan Alabama as well as continued safety for our family as we travel.  Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We love and appreciate each of you and are blessed continually by your faithfulness in giving and praying for our family.  Our family would consider it an honor to pray for you and your family.  We encourage you  to  submit  any prayer requests  you may  have  or  you  can  email  them to   lblack@lifeaction.org.  Have a blessed day and we look forward to hearing from you!

Much love. The Black Family

sblack@lifeaction.org                    lblack@lifeaction.org

 

P.S. We have begun sending our newsletter by email.  Please help us cut cost and more effectively serve God with our funds by sending your email address to lblack@lifeaction.org or text it to 334-791-1487.  We would like to send our ministry updates via email but if you do not have or use email we will happily send these via snail-mail. Please let us know if you prefer postal delivery so that we will not ask for this information again.

This post is a copy of our January/February Newsletter.   If we do not have your email address and you would like to have the newsletter emailed to you in the future, please send your email address to lblack@lifeaction.org

“Go down a deserted camp road for one lady” in Winfield Pennsylvania

Our first summit found us in Winfield Pennsylvania where we were expectantly awaiting God to show us something new and exciting about Himself.  I spent most of the time with pneumonia and Shane and the others diligently filled in where necessary. A precious couple  Bill and Sue,  joined us on the ‘camp out’ and ministered to our families and the team by fixing broken parts, emptying black water tanks, building propane tank carriers, building sound board platforms, running errands, filling in for our truck to back up the trailer, being Joshua’s constant companion and babysitting while Shane and I were at the hospital.  Bill and Sue were servant hearted and tireless as  they worked alongside our team.

Grace and Ema Kate celebrated their 14th and 9th birthdays in Winfield, our family visited the Hershey Factory and Shane and Grace were able to spend an afternoon at a shooting range with all sorts of new toys.  Grace is a very good shot and she is now learning archery.

Our favorite part of Winfield is the last day, the day we pulled out to leave.  We were scheduled to leave before 7 am, we had a long travel day ahead of us.  Because we were unable to empty our black water on church grounds (a service truck had been coming to empty us for two weeks)  we had scheduled to empty at a local campground, we even prepaid because we would be dumping before 7am that morning when everyone would be asleep. Well, we overslept, the  semi got stuck in the grass and could not be hooked to the trailer to back it out so we could move to the next church.  Bill hooked his Chevrolet truck to the trailer and moved it where it needed to be,  but as we hooked up something jammed and we were unable to lock the trailer in place for a secure fit and lock.  As I watched the men trying to get the hookups just right I began to pray for direction and favor and it was then that God prompted me that He wanted to reroute our schedule.  I assumed we would have to cancel our hotel reservations for that evening and stay  somewhere closer.  I asked God to make it clear who He wanted us to minister to or share with and was fully prepared to rearrange our carefully planned travel schedule. A deacon in the church rushed over and fixed the hook up problem.  Finally! we were on our way to the campground to empty our tank. The suburban’s battery died, Bill thought it was the alternator and promised to fix it before the team drove it to Tennessee.   Shane had driven through the tiny campground several times but that morning, caught between the camp office and a large tree, we began to pray to keep from crying.  After a little mathematics and lots of prayer and sweating we wiggled through without tearing anything down.  At this point in time it was well past 10 am and everyone was awake.   We had drawn a few spectators and in that crowd was Susie.  As our family climbed out of the truck to pray a prayer of thanksgiving Susie walked up and heard our prayer.  She asked if we thought God was real and ‘up there somewhere’  as I talked with her she shared with me that her husband had recently died and she did not want to go home to Virginia because she was afraid to face a house full of memories. She wanted to know how to live alone and was there any hope.  I couldn’t believe it! God had delayed us over 3 hours to go 1/2 mile for this one person that He wanted to show His love.  I was able to share with Susie how much God loves us and that Jesus is her hope and comfort, how He has been so faithful to me and our family and He can be for her as well.  Several days later I felt led to send Susie a letter detailing the many crazy events of that morning, some of which I did not even include in this post… just to let her know the lengths to which our precious Father in heaven will go to show us He loves us.  Of course Jesus is the ultimate picture of how He loves us, but isn’t it amazing how He continues to show us in little day to day things.  Sometimes I still cannot believe that we were chosen for this crazy, funny, maddening, lovely, daunting, beautiful, frightening adventure.  Pray that we will bring Him great glory, as He is the only One who deserves it. And pray that Susie will know the saving grace of Jesus and the freedom in surrender to the Lordship of Christ.  Thanks for stopping by. Leigh