Lakeside Missions
James Project Update
The James Project is a not-for-profit Christian ministry in Springfield, Illinois which provides homes and support for fostering families in Sangamon County. You can find out more about The James Project and how you can help and pray at thejamesproject127.com.
Current Happenings at The James Project:
- Our Beyond Enough Campaign: This month we have been focusing on recruiting individuals and couples who are interested in being foster parents. As shared previously, there is a state of emergency within the foster care system in Sangamon County due to the pandemic. With an increase in kids in care and a decrease of families willing to accept children, we are desperate for willing foster families. If there is anyone in your congregation who is interested in being a foster parent, please let us know! We welcome an opportunity to meet with them.
- This week we are interviewing a couple as an applicant for a James Project House. Please pray for us and with us as we discern whether or not they would be a good fit in our ministry.
- We are applying for and receiving many grants in this season, so that is a blessing!
- We are planning for a few events right now: a Candle Fundraiser in April, a Volunteer Day in April, and a Pickleball Tournament in September.
- We celebrate Foster Awareness month in May!
Considering donating a pack of diapers size 3-6 for foster families. Diapers can be dropped off at 907 Clocktower Drive, Suite C in Springfield.
Missions Events & Opportunities
March-May: Pick a Sunday and worship at 10:30 am with our Restore Church Plant at Weinheimer Community Center, 1100 Main St., Highland IL.
April 10: Participate in the Christian Student Fellowship Annual Fundraising Banquet.
April 10: High School Students will be attending The Vine Conference at Lincoln Christian University.
April 16-17: Particpate in the Stone Campbell Conference at Lincoln Christian University.
April 17: Help with the Lake Springfield Christian Assembly work morning beginning at 8:30 am.
May 12: Particpate in the Lincoln Christian University Women's Conference.
May 15: Help with the Lake Springfield Christian Assembly work morning beginning at 8:30 am.
June: Check out Lake Springfield Christian Assembly summer camps with opportunities for children and youth to attend and for adults to serve.
See missions articles for more information on any of the above opportunities.
Restore Church Plant
Restore Christian Church is a church plant (with Ignite Church Planting) located about an hour and a half south in Highland, Illinois. With your help, Lakeside continues to support this church plant as they meet every Sunday in person and online at 10:30 a.m. Please pray for this young family of believers and their lead minister Aaron Kelso. Check out their website to see what is going on: restorechristianchurch.org. On Pentecost Sunday, May 23rd, we will be collecting a special gift to help Restore with it's Kingdom efforts.
Myanmar Hope Update
Please visit Myanmar Hope Christian Mission on their Facebook page and their website at myanmarhope.org to view pictures and hear all the ways our brothers and sisters in Christ were blessed with your generosity in their time of need. So many precious bags of rice and village Christmas meals! Pray for Palal and Kikim and all the national ministers who are serving in difficult times and for God's blessings on the many ministry iniatives they are establishing. May their faith increase and may God's Kingdom expand!
Political Situation Update: View the My Hope website for the newsletter with a brief history of government/military interactions and how the recent changes are affecting the Myanmar people.
Taking Christ to the Millions International
Would you like to know how to pray for TCM's efforts to equip men and women from 45+ nations for ministry? Visit www.tcmi.org/pray. There are 1,500 students registered and working toward Masters of Arts or Masters of Divinity degreees as they work to become effective kingdom leaders in their churches, cultures and countries. Also pray for the international student, Erion of Albania, who's schooling is supported by Lakeside. Erion has recently completed another course. Pray that his example and testimony will touch many in his ministry location. Visit vimeo.com/showcase/tcm to view some short videos detailing the ministry of TCM.
Honduran Food Relief Arrives
In November Lakeside sent $1,500 to Mercy International in Honduras to provide food for people suffering from Covid-19 and restrictions along with recovery from two recent Hurricanes. We have reports that food ration boxes were taken up the mountains through challenging and rainy weather...some of the distance involved carrying the heavy loads by foot. The Honduran people expressed their appreciation for these much needed relief supplies. Thank you for your generosity. Pray for the churches.
Love Packages Ministry
Thank you all for your contributions of Bibles and Christian Literature in the month of February. Two vehicle loads of materials were delivered to Love Packages in Butler, IL. Thanks to your offerings, Lakeside also included a check to help pay for transport over seas. Love Packages is a local ministry fueling international missions work and sending the gospel to the ends of the earth by putting donated bibles and other Christian literature into the hands of people around the world.
Visit lovepackages.org or call 217-532-6701 to find out more about the ministry and how you can donate or help process donations. Be sure to view the "Nickle Tour" video on the website. The ministry is located at 220 Union St, Butler, IL 62015.
Below is a list of items you may drop off at Love Packages:
- Bibles (New or used, any translation, New Testaments or other portions, individual gospel booklets)
- Reference Material (Dictionaries, Bible dictionaries, concordances, commentaries, etc.)
- Books (All Christian books – adult or children, non-fiction)
- Magazines and Daily Devotionals (Any devotionals or magazine from a Christian publisher}
- Sunday School Materials (Adult quarterlies and teacher manuals from all publishers; children’s quarterlies with the teacher’s manual and full student manuals.)
- CDs, DVDs, BluRay (Music, movies, teaching from well known speakers [Billy Graham, Swindoll, etc.])
- Tracts (All tracts)
- Puppets, Nativity Sets, etc.
- Bible games, biblical puzzles (anything that helps teach the gospel, especially to children)
Partner with Christian Student Fellowship
Interested in helping Christian Student Fellowship in their ministry to college students? During this season of COVID restrictions there are fewer on-campus volunteer opportunities, but there are several ways you or your group or your class could help with tangible resources to enable ministry.
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Outreach: Provide $5 gift cards (30) to Starbucks & Chick-Fil-A for giveaways, outreach opportunities and encouragement for students.
- Small Groups: Prepackaged snacks (40) to bless the Monday night student small groups meeting at Lakeside.
- Supplies: Large pump hand sanitizers (4-5)
- Resources: Books—The Fuel and the Flame (20 copies) as a follow up resource to gospel training for some core students ready to reach their peers on campus.
If you or your group would like to help, email: info@uiscsf.org and the CSF know how you would like to partner. Visit www.uiscsf.org to see what CSF is up to and to help you as you pray for the ministry.
Save the Date: The 27th Annual Fundraising Banquet will be April 11th at 4:00, 5:30, or 7:00 pm at Erin's Pavillion in Springfield. It is a fun night of hearing and celebrating the stories of how God is working through CSF staff and students. RSVP for the Banquest by April 4th at 217-248-3979.
Pioneer Bible Translators
Dear friends, your faithful support throughout the past months has caused us to thank the Lord in humble gratitude. We feel more than ever our dependence on Him, which in fact has always been the case.
Jeff has spent vast amounts of time over the past months leading Pioneer Bible Translators’ Covid response, working with our teams on safety and maintaining ministry. Many plans have been disrupted and adjustments required. Yet we are praising the Lord that Pioneer Bible’s worldwide translation progress was greater in the first half of 2020 than ever before, as we processed over 180,000 verses of the Bible in our 99 translation projects. Also for the first time, our members around the world were able to participate in our weekly chapels, board meeting, and annual meeting, as Jeff and others organized them remotely.
Your prayers for the progress of the Toma Bible have resulted in several translation consultants now working to help us complete the consultant check of the New Testament by the end of 2021 and of the Old Testament by the end of 2022. We are also working on publishing 20+ books of the Toma Bible electronically by the end of this year, bringing the total number of published books to over 40.
Our Toma revision committee was unable to meet this past spring but they plan to meet in November to go over Jeremiah and Lamentations, since there have been no known coronavirus cases in their area in the past couple of months. They will meet one more time next spring to go over Ezekiel and Daniel, and then their part in the Toma translation process will be complete! They are thankful that their churches were able to reopen recently.
Kayla returned to Texas A&M in August and is adjusting well to the many changes in college life. Eric continues to homeschool and is a junior this year. We are thankful that he is able to participate in the missionary kid youth group remotely.
Thank you for your sacrificial partnership with Pioneer Bible Translators. We know this is a challenging time for everyone; please let us know what we can be praying for you about.
In Christ,
Jeff and Laura Wilhoit