Tinkel's  Spring/Summer Updates 2012

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens:

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Hi everyone! This is Tim. Usually Sarah writes our newsletters and does a wonderful job. This newsletter is going to be a little different in that both Sarah and I are going to be sharing what’s going on with our ministry here at Good News Mission. That’s one of the reasons why there has been so much time between newsletters. Sarah had her portion written a couple of months ago but I have been my usual procrastinating self. Please forgive me. Anyway, Sarah’s portions will be in regular print while mine will be in italics. Thanks for all of your friendship, prayers and support. Tim

Changes!!! Change can be good and it also can be very challenging causing us to be stretched in ways that are out of our comfort zones. Back in March change came in the form of some of my ladies being arrested for selling prescription drugs. With bad choices came time spent in jail and having to move out of the projects. It would have been so easy to judge them  but I was reminded that I make bad choices as well… only mine were not on display and very public.

As I was praying for my ladies God impressed upon me that He wanted me to go to visit them in jail and tell them He loved them. My first response was “You want me to do what?” Then I asked God “There has got to be more that you want me to tell them besides that You love them...a more profound message than that You love them?” With fear and anxiety I went to visit them in jail. How precious it was to sit and talk with each of them. The first thing they said was I can’t believe you came! They told me how embarrassed they were for me to see them that way. I told them that I loved them but that God wanted me to come and tell them that HE loved them as well. Tears flowed and they asked how could He love them after what they had done? I told them because that is just who God is….and we all make mistakes but God loves us despite those bad choices. We still have to pay the consequences of our actions but God LOVES us.

Little did I know that would be the last time I would see one of my ladies as she passed away a week later in jail. One important lesson that I have learned through this is that when God gives you a burden for someone and a message to deliver there needs to be instant obedience. I had the words of life and hope and my lady needed those so badly….I am so thankful that I was able to minister to her in this way before she died…..God was so good and faithful in allowing me the honor and privilege of reassuring her of His love for her.  God wants us to be His hands, feet, and words… the question is are we willing to be used of God to go out and be Jesus to a hurting world? I love Mercy Me’s song “Won’t you be my love?” one of the lines in that song is won’t you be MY voice calling, won’t you be MY hands healing, won’t you be MY feet walking into a broken world….won’t you be MY chain breaker….won’t you be MY peace maker…..won’t you be MY hope and joy….won’t you be MY love? In other words will we be HIS love and lead people to His cross? By going to the jail I was being His love and leading those ladies to His cross…what a beautiful picture of God’s grace and love and what a blessing to be able to be HIS love to them.

This year has been full of changes for me as well - especially the summer.  Before the summer began I had my schedule all laid out. We were going to hold three day camps here at the mission, help with two out of state VBS’s and take John Allen to a big air rifle competition in Arkansas. I thought we could handle it easily. After all, for 20 years we held six or more weeks of camp at the camp ministry we worked with. Five weeks of ministry and a week of air rifle competition in the months of June and July should be easy! There were still two weeks to rest or even to fill with more activity. No problem!

Then Sarah’s sister was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Thankfully it was not malignant, but the doctors still recommended that it come our right away. Still I thought we could handle it. Sarah didn’t need to be here for everything. Mrs. Lass (our dear friend and fellow missionary from GA) would be here. We could handle it! Sarah, though, cringed at the thought of such a busy summer. She said she was worn out just thinking about it.

It wasn’t until our pastor sat down to lunch with us one day, looked me in the eye (he’s good at doing thatJ) and said “Tim, have you really prayed about this?” UGH! What a slap in the face of reality! No, I hadn’t prayed about it. So, after much prayer and fasting by Sarah and me… I began to realize that our summer was just a bit full. We both agreed that the day camps were a must. Too many kids were depending on them. The VBS’s were another thing. Reluctantly I canceled one and by God’s grace the other fell through.

As always, God knows best! Sarah’s sister had surgery in June and, although she came through the surgery wonderfully, the recovery was a bit more than expected. It was just too much for Sarah’s mom to take care of Granny and Sarah’s sister so Sarah ended up spending nearly four weeks in Oak Ridge helping out.

Still, through all of the confusion of the summer, God still blessed. I had been praying for open doors in some apartments called “the double deckers” that are close to us. They are low income apartments but not run by the state as the apartments are across the street from our house. Many of our children had to move away because of the drug bust that Sarah mentioned above. In the government run low income housing if you are convicted of a felony you have to move out. On our first day of day camp it appeared that our numbers would be very low. Although we don’t try to base our ministry on numbers, it was still disheartening to me. After voicing my disappointment to John Allen he said, “Dad, I know that God is going to bring more kids. I’ve been praying that he would.” Lo and behold, soon after that an old black suburban pulls up to the mission and out pile 15 kids from , yes, the double deckers. God had opened doors and brought new kids to the mission! He also opened doors for me to help out at a local VBS for one week as well to replace one of the out of state VBS’s that I had to cancel. All in all 3 children were saved this summer and one child received assurance of salvation from the ministries that we were involved with. Praise the Lord!

Now back to Sarah and a little update on our family.

In the last few months we were having behavioral problems with our youngest son Jacob. With much prayer and talking with our doctors we opted to put him on medication to help with concentration and focusing. What a huge difference this has made with him. He is now able to sit through children’s church and pay attention and participate by answering questions and singing. God is so good and faithful!!!

 John Allen is doing very well and getting more insistent that Tim and I teach him how to drive. This is such a change in our lives as parents and we are having a hard time with this. It seems just like yesterday he was a baby in my arms and here he is now 16 yrs. old and wanting to drive. Where is the time going? God is shaping John Allen into such a neat young man. He is such a blessing and is growing up to be a young man who has a desire to see his friends come to know Jesus. This touches a mother’s heart whose prayer for all of her children is that God would use her sons for His glory.

Joshua is excited about upward football and getting ready for when that will start. This year we also signed Jacob up…this will be different and should be very entertaining….LOL… adults.

This next month we are praying about attending BCM’s week long North American Missionary Conference in Pennsylvania to touch base with fellow missionaries and see and share what God is doing in different parts of the world. This is always a fun, relaxing and informative time for our family. The boys, especially, enjoy catching up on old friends. The children’s and youth ministry workers that BCM brings in are wonderful. The boys love them and learn so much.  We also plan to take time to visit my sister in New Jersey for a few days.

Unfortunately, although it is a wonderful and relaxing time, it is usually a financial crunch for us to be able to afford the trip. The price to attend is only $500, and that includes meals and housing and all meetings, but it is still $500 extra (not including gas) that we must come up with. Please be in prayer that God would provide extra for us next month to be able to afford to attend. This conference is only scheduled every other year so if we missed this one, we would have to wait another two years to attend. If you would like to help us financially with a one-time gift please make out the check or money order payable to BCM International and on a separate piece of paper put “For the Tinkel’s BCM conference” along with our number #642. Thank you so much ahead of time.

Thank you for all that you do on our behalf…I know we don’t say that enough but we are very blessed that you give of your resources, your time and of yourselves toward our family and our ministry. We are overwhelmed at the goodness of God in blessing us with wonderful co laborers such as you…and we appreciate each of you so much. We pray God’s blessings and favor over you.

Prayer Request:

1.      Increase in support

2.      The people we minister to including the new apartments that God has opened the door to

3.      Upcoming fall ministries (Tuesday afternoon Bible Club, Sunday Afternoon Bible Study and visitation and outreach)

4.      Our children John Allen, Joshua and Jacob

5.      The cost of conference and traveling expenses this summer

Blessings/Praises:

1.      Opportunity to share our ministry which resulted in support

2.      Progress of Jacob in his behavior, John Allen’s spiritual growth, Joshua’s sweet spirit

3.      Wonderful church family

4.      Great Bible studies

5.    Our family’s spiritual growth as a whole

In Christ,

Sarah & Tim Tinkel                                                        BCM Intl.

829 Hi Tech Drive                                                          201 Granite Drive #260

Livingston, TN 38570                                                    Lancaster, PA  17601

931-823-9320 (home)                                                   1-888-226-4685

931-319-2551 (Tim)                                                      bcmintl.org

931-319-3113 (Sarah)

Tink38570@yahoo.com (Tim)

Set1993@gmail.com (Sarah)

Acct. #0642