Greetings from Portland! As you probably know, Matthew is in the middle of his second semester at Multnomah Biblical Seminary, and Emily is teaching first- and second-year Spanish students at Beaverton High School just west of Portland. God has truly blessed us here. We have a beautiful home on campus and an incredible church we love. We’ve already become involved in ministry here and made many new friends. Most importantly, God has been working our lives to teach us and draw us closer to him.
One example of this work is the missions conference that we recently participated in. As we heard from people serving the Lord in many ways around the world, we were reminded of the importance of prayer support for any ministry, and were challenged to live missionally every day and not think that our ministry starts after graduation. With this in mind, we felt compelled by the suggestion that we recruit a group of people to pray for us regularly as we work for God here and prepare for future ministry. We are writing to ask you to be part of this prayer team.
We are confident that God has called us to be here until at least May of 2008 when Matthew hopes to complete his degree. We don’t have any clear expectations as to what God’s will might be after that, but we have committed ourselves to prayerfully choose where and how we will live based on how God calls us to minister to others. This may mean seeking a paid ministry position or a “secular” job that will maximize our potential for ministry. We’re prepared to move anywhere God calls us within the U.S. or overseas. We are confident that through prayer God will guide us to the situation where we can best use our gifts and abilities for his glory.
Whatever God calls us to do, we will need prayer to be effective. We also need prayer now, both for God to prepare us for and direct us to the ministry he has in store for our future, and to effectively minister for Christ right now in our local church and community.
We’re amazed at the number of wonderful believing friends and family members God has given us, and we know that many of you already pray for us on a regular basis. For that, we thank you! We can testify that God has blessed us through your prayers, but we desire for God to do great things in and through our lives. We believe that we will not be able to have the impact for God that we desire whether now or in a future ministry without continued, and even increased, prayer support. For this reason we are asking you to consider supporting us by making a specific commitment to pray for us daily, weekly, or monthly.
Enclosed, you will find a prayer commitment card. We would love for you to return it so that we can know exactly who is praying for us. This card will also let us know how we can best keep in touch with you. We will be sending out a quarterly prayer update and would be happy to send it to you either by e-mail or on paper. Please, write your name on the enclosed card, mark the box indicating any prayer commitment and how (or if) you would like to receive our prayer updates, including either a mailing address or an e-mail address. Then just drop it in the mail.
In addition to helping us keep track of whom to send updates to it will be a great encouragement to receive your cards. We will no doubt be amazed at the number of people God is using to lift us up in prayer. Your card also provides accountability. As you partner with us you help make sure that we are living in accordance with God’s call on our lives. This will motivate us to intentionally live in a way that advances God’s kingdom. Finally, when God answers prayer we can report back to you and tell others how many people have been praying with us! This will glorify God and show everyone that he accomplished these things, not us.
If your prayer schedule doesn’t allow you to make a commitment to pray for us regularly, but you’d like to know what God is doing in our lives, we’d still love to send you our updates. If you don’t want to receive them please return your card anyway so that we know you received this letter. For those who decide to partner with us through prayer, we’d appreciate it if you would start today. We especially desire prayer for God’s direction as we consider how to use our summer. Some options include short-term missions, working, summer school for Matthew, and visiting family. Also, please pray for Emily as she strives to be the best teacher she can be. Pray for her students to be motivated- especially her 5th period. Finally, please pray that God will direct us to just the right areas of ministry at Central Bible Church, our new church home.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter and consider our request. We appreciate you and believe that God will continue to use you to help and encourage us. We’d like to know how we can be praying for you as well! Please feel free to contact us with prayer requests, questions, or just to chat. You can reach us by phone at 503-262-8058 (before 9pm). You can also email us at mattrbrooks@yahoo.com. May God richly bless you.
In Christ’s Love,
Matthew and Emily Brooks
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