Feburary 2012 Life and Ministry Update

Greetings everyone, we hope you are all well.  As for us, things have been good this last year, and also some things have not been as good, which is life, for all of us.

Returning to Africa

It was good coming back home to South Africa after spending 2010 in the US, but a very difficult part of coming back was leaving our three oldest kids – Stephen, Timothy and Kimberly – in the US.  They are going to school and looking for jobs and it is very hard being 13,000 miles away from them.  But, God is using this situation to grow both them and us.

When we arrived back in South Africa in December of 2010 we got back into the swing of things at church and at the seminary and a year ago 2011 looked as if it would be a fairly normal year for us.  But, it wasn’t.

Trouble at Church

In February of last year the pastor of our church here was caught is some immoral sin and God worked amazingly to move him out and preserve our church.  Though a few people followed him and though he continues to attack our church and leadership, the church is doing better than ever before.  I am an elder here and one of the lead pastors and along with the other pastors we have been doing the preaching and shepherding this last year and God has been blessing the ministry.  So, from a terrible and potentially destructive situation God has blessed and produced much growth and fruit.

Changes at Seminary

At the beginning of last year things at the seminary were going along as normal, but one of the key instructors here was lead to another ministry and that left a big hole.  But, God provided a new instructor and one of our own graduates who is a native African with years of ministry experience was able to join us at the seminary.

I cannot adequately describe to you how momentous this is.  This is exactly one of the goals we have been pursuing in this ministry.  I moved here to teach and train African pastors because there were few African pastors who either could, or were willing, to train men for ministry.  But now, the men we have been training are beginning to take over the ministry and they are training their own countrymen for ministry, which is the way it should be.  Not only were we able to hire one of our graduates, but another one of our graduates who has been teaching at the seminary for years was made president of the seminary.  The ministry here is now more African than American and one day, Lord willing, it will be all African.  We praise God for a fruitful ministry.

Also this year, in addition to my teaching and pastoral ministry duties, I was made the Administrative Dean at the seminary.  All that means is that I get to deal with the Department of Education and stay late if something goes wrong.  But, I am very happy to serve the ministry in this way.

Being a Missionary

We are now in our sixth year of being missionaries and I must admit that there are two critical things a missionary must do that I am just not good at.  The first is preaching through an interpreter.  I am just bad at it.  I can never really get going.  But, thankfully most everyone speaks English here and we teach in English so it only affects my ministry when I go preach in a village.

And, I confess, the second thing I have never been good at is raising support and asking for money.  Some of you have increased your giving this year and we deeply appreciate it.  But, overall, our finances are down significantly this year and we have just been informed this last week that starting next month, on March 15^th, our income will be reduced very significantly – to the point that if things don’t change soon we will have to consider if God is moving us on from this ministry.

We want to be where God wants us and our financial situation may be what God uses to move us on to a different ministry.  We don’t know what God will do, but we will go wherever He leads.

This means that I am now – wait a second, *gulp*, that was me swallowing my pride, it was much bigger than I thought – this means that now I need to ask if you can help us.  Our prayer and financial needs and contact information are listed below.  Please email me if you want specific numbers.

Our Prayer/Financial Needs

Please pray:

·         for our church and seminary ministry here

·         about our financial situation

·         if God would have you join us and support us monthly or with a onetime gift

·         that God would lead us clearly and plainly

·         for an exit strategy if God leads us away from here

·         for guidance to a new ministry in the US if God wills it

Contact and giving details:

Email – plodinec7@yahoo.com

Skype – plodinec7

Home phone – 011-27-15-296-4012

Our sending agency:

Grace Ministries International/Grace Community Church

13248 Roscoe Boulevard

Sun Valley, CA 91352

gmi@gracechurch.org

(818) 909-5700

www.gracechurch.org/gmi

Three ways to give:

Credit Card

You can make an annual, monthly, or one-time donation using your Visa or MasterCard.  Go to www.gracechurch.org/gmi for more information.

GMI Direct

This is the electronic-funds transfer-service of Grace Ministries International. Your donation comes directly from your checking account each month.  To receive a GMI Direct brochure or to learn more, visit the website www.gracechurch.org/gmi or call (818) 909-5700 for more information.

Check

Make a check payable to “GMI” and mail it to;

Grace Ministries International

13248 Roscoe Boulevard

Sun Valley, CA 91352.

Please specify our name “Plodinec” on the memo line.

We are not nervous, though sometimes we are a bit anxious.  But, God is in charge and we want to be useful to God and productive for Him until the day He takes us home.

Steve & Karen & the rest of the Plodinecs