Current Newsletter

The Ministry Newsletter of Todd & Melanie Hiestand

GREETINGS! Thank you again for your interest in our
ministry with Jericho Valley Church. WE TRULY BELIEVE
WITH ALL OF OUR HEARTS THAT GOD IS DOING SOME
AWESOME THINGS IN OUR CONGREGATION. Just last week
we saw a new Christian lead his girlfriend to a
relationship with the Lord! (Last summer he had become
a Christian as a result of our softball league.) He also
brought his whole family to Church, including his mother
who has cancer and has been given one month to live –
and is not (yet) a Christian). God is working in the
hearts of a number of individuals giving them a passion
to reach our community in new and innovative ways, and
he is doing the same for us! We are expecting more great
things from God and thank the Lord that your support
makes it possible to be a part of His work there.

What in the world is Todd doing?!
*The following article is one Todd wrote for the JVC
Monthly Newsletter called The Journey. It has been almost
7 months since we began our ministry with Jericho Valley
Church. Some of you may have not heard the story of how
we got here and all that we are doing.
What in the world is Todd Doing?
While Renald Shower’s book, What in the world
is God Doing? sought to answer the age-old questions of
what God is doing in this world, this article will seek to
answer the question: “What exactly are Todd and Melanie
doing at Jericho Valley Church?”
Close your eyes and imagine for a minute (okay,
so you can’t close your eyes while you read, but you know
what I mean), that you are a law student and you are
heading into law school for your first few years. To make
it through, you will obviously have to find a job to pay
your bills. Your struggle is that you will need a job that
will allow you time to study. After much searching, you
find yourself having to drive a delivery truck for a
local grocery store. The pay is good and you are able to
make ends meet financially. The hours are also
reasonable so you are able to get studying done. All is
great! Right?
Before you answer, imagine again you are that
same law student looking for a job. But, instead of driving
that delivery truck, you find an internship at a small, but
growing law office, which gives you the same income. You
are working under two or three successful lawyers who
are able to mentor you and teach you what real-life law is
all about. They are able to show you how what you are
learning in the classroom transfers to the actual job.
Instead of being distracted with a job that does not
directly apply to your education, you are working hands-on
in your field all the way through your training. This
is obviously a more desirable situation to learn than in the
first scenario.
While I am certainly not studying law (we would
all be in trouble if that were the case!), I am working on
my Master of Divinity degree at Biblical Theological
Seminary in Hatfield, PA. Up until last summer (2001) I
had been working full time at Philadelphia Biblical
University in the Security Department (Quite the high
profile job eh?). However, holding a full-time job while
attempting to attend seminary full-time did not allow
much time for ministry opportunities. Our prayer was
that God would provide a way for us to be involved in
ministry while attending seminary.
In comes Student Ministries, Inc. and Jericho Valley
Church. SMI is a mission organization located in the
Portland, OR area which provides seminary students an
opportunity to be involved in ministry while attending
seminary. They do this by “contracting” with the students
to do ministry projects for local churches, mission
organizations, campus ministries, etc. They help students
raise support for their ministry projects. In its most
basic sense then, we are missionaries to the people of
Jericho Valley Church.
When we first heard of SMI we were struggling
with where we would be able to be involved in ministry.
The church we were attending didn’t have the
opportunities for which we were looking at the moment so
we searched everywhere for other opportunities. In God’s
awesome timing, we met Brad and Stacy in the Fall of
2000 (the year Stacy started PBU) because Melanie was
Stacy’s volleyball coach at PBU. We began to get to
know JVC and its people, mission, vision and direction.
We immediately fell in love with the people and the
church. After much prayer, we approached Brad and
Jason about the possibility of my acting as an intern at
JVC. They surprisingly ? accepted us and here we are!
We have been raising our support for a number of months
now and are still on our way to full support.
So, what are our responsibilities? While our roles are
subject to change with the needs of the church, these are
our current responsibilities:
? Todd will develop and lead one family activity per
month, which include both fun and service
emphasis. (Purpose: Develop church and family
relationships and provide an opportunity for
community evangelism - please use these times for
this exact purpose, BRING FRIENDS!)
? Todd will develop a weekly family devotional based
on Sunday’s sermon, which will help encourage
individual and family Bible study. The devotional
will be distributed to the families each Sunday in the
bulletin.
? Todd will co-lead (teach) a Community Group with
Jason, which is focused on evangelism, and
community. (At this moment Todd is teaching
through the How to become a Contagious Christian
series).
? Todd will supervise and direct the children’s Sunday
school program and summer VBS.
? Todd and Melanie will be available to take part in
other ministry opportunities as they arise (i.e.
teaching, preaching, special events, etc.)
? Todd will take part in the elders meetings and
ministry team meetings.
? Melanie will be part of a regular rotation teaching
Children’s Sunday School

CURRENT PRAYER REQUESTS:
? Melanie has begun working as a Tupperware
consultant. Please pray for us as she learns the job
and looks for opportunities to grow in the business.
? Todd is looking to be promoted into management at
UPS where he is working Part-Time. This will give
us health benefits right away as well as a little
more tuition reimbursement each semester. Please
pray for the Lord’s direction.
? Todd is preaching on March 3 rd while our senior
pastor is out of town.
? God has been working on our hearts in developing a
passion for evangelism and outreach at JVC.
Because of the nature of Todd’s position it may be
possible to give some direct effort to that cause.
Please pray as God directs us in that role.
? Both Melanie and Todd have been able to build
some great friendships with people outside of our
church. Please pray that we can simply be great
friends with them as we seek to share with them
the Hope that we have in Christ.
? Please continue to pray for Our Ministry
Responsibilities listed to the left, Todd’s studies,
Melanie’s job(s), our relationship with each other,
our relationship with Christ and our relationships
with those in our church.

SUPPORT UPDATE:

PRAYER SUPPORT: We currently have a goal of
putting together a list of 50 people who will commit to
consistently pray for our ministry, our church and us.
Would you commit to pray for us? Would you like your
name on that list? IF SO, please respond with the
enclosed card, e-mail us at TMHiestand@aol.com, or
go to http://www.oocities.org/hiestand24/Contact
and fill out our “Survey” section.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT: We still are seeking to meet
our goal of $1500/month. We are currently @ about
$1000/month. If you desire to support our ministry
financially please respond with the enclose card or e-mail
us at TMHIESTAND@AOL.COM or visit our web
site.