IB-4PRINT-hires-Summer-2026-250429

Executive Director's MESSAGE

Dr. Nicholas Clark

tel: (317) 481-2400

email: nclark@scbi.org

Hello, Indiana Baptists!

My name is Nicholas Clark, and I am honored to serve as your ninth executive director for the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana. I begin this role with gratitude to God and a deep sense of responsibility to serve our churches. As we get to know one another in the coming months and years, I look forward to how our churches and pastors can renew our cooperative efforts to reach Indiana and beyond with the good news that Jesus saves.

From the earliest days of the church, God’s people have worked together to advance the gospel. Cooperation is not just a strategy; it is a biblical conviction. Individual churches have unique strengths and opportunities. But when we come together around the shared mission of the gospel, our collective impact grows far beyond what any one congregation could accomplish on its own.

This reality is especially important when we consider the enormity of the task before us. There are communities across Indiana, the nation, and the world where Jesus is not clearly known. No single church can meet every need, reach every place, or send every missionary. But together, we can pray, give, send, and go in ways that reflect both the importance and the unity of the Great Commission. Your state convention will continue to serve as a catalyst for cooperation here in Indiana. We will focus on exalting Jesus, encouraging pastors, and equipping churches while championing cooperation.

I am eager to meet you, visit your churches, and get to know your associations. I want to hear how the Lord is working in your area of ministry and how the state convention can serve you. We are, after all, a convention of churches, and we exist because of and for the local churches. Thank you for your generous gifts of support through the Cooperative Program.

It is a humbling joy to step into this role at a time when the need for gospel faithfulness has never been greater. Be encouraged, fellow Indiana Baptists, the gospel has not lost its power, and our mission has not lost its urgency. Let’s continue working together so all Hoosiers will have an opportunity to hear the gospel and respond to the good news.

State

Executive

Dr.

President

Chairman

Tami

Communications

Josh Singleton

Convention

Communications

Vika Chykyrenda

Creative Director

Greg Cooper

Copy Writer

Nikki Hurt

State Convention of Baptists in Indiana

The State Convention of Baptists in Indiana is cultivating the pathway to vibrancy for churches to be faithful in the Great Commission.

Subscriptions

The Indiana Baptist tells of the amazing things God is doing through His Church in Indiana and around the world. It is provided exclusively online free of charge. To read past issues, visit: indianabaptist.org

Creative Design

The Indiana Baptist is created exclusively for the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana by Innovative Faith Resources.

Designer

Patti Spencer, Graphic Designer

Women from across Indiana were bathed in prayer and challenged at the In Christ: 2026 SCBI's Women's Conference.

SCBI and Small Church USA Healthy Church Cohorts

Imagine having the luxury of time to gain new insights into your leadership style and blind spots. Or envision what it might look like to have a brotherhood of pastors who are in the trenches with you and helping you to discern where you most need to grow. This is exactly what several SCBI pastors have discovered through a wonderful partnership with Small Church USA (SCUSA) by participating in a Healthy Church Cohort.

Flippen 360 Leadership Assessment

After starting the yearlong cohort with a Flippen 360 Leadership Assessment, Pastor Brad Eckerley of Cornerstone Fellowship Church in Peru, Indiana, states, “Throughout the year, we focused on values, vision, mission, the pastor

and pastor’s wife, and staff and leadership structure. These are areas I have historically neglected and de-emphasized, preferring to spend my time on preaching, teaching, and pastoral care.”

Eckerley shares that through his time in the Small Church USA cohort, he learned, “These foundations [should not be overlooked as they] offer a platform for my ministry to be effective and continue. To neglect such things will eventually jeopardize my ministry! While this reality may seem obvious to some, it wasn’t to me. Looking back, I see that I grew up in churches with weak leadership, and the first church I pastored had a longstanding leadership structure inherently designed to limit the pastor’s ability to lead. The seminaries I attended taught me how to preach, teach, and administer pastoral care, but I had not been taught how to lead as I needed for ministry longevity. SCUSA really helped fill in that gap.”

Grants and Scholarships

With the help of a Lily Foundation grant and an SCBI scholarship, Small Church USA offers a partnership that enables SCBI pastors to join the cohort at a fraction of the cost. Overall, the

One of the greatest impacts is the reminder that pastors are not alone in the journey!"

commitment from the local church is only $500. Terry Thompson, founder of Small Church USA, explains, “The first step is for the local pastor to contact us, and we will support him with every step he needs to take, including contacting Lily for the $3,000 grant.”

A Helpful Tool for Church Plants

Though the cohorts are primarily seen as tools for church revitalization efforts, Eckerley quickly points out, “It is certainly helpful for pastors facing the need to revitalize their church. However, as a church planter, this was very helpful to me in launching my church. I believe I would have been helped to have been a part of SCUSA earlier in the plant, as I was in the midst of processing and establishing something new, and a church plant that is growing (and it must or it dies) is a church plant that is changing. And change, whether it is necessary for a dying church to survive or the natural result of growth, will unsettle some, lead to crisis where a leadership vacuum exists, and require solid leadership from the pastor to continue moving forward in a healthy way.”

Future-Focused Vision

Echoing his sentiments, Scooter Kellum, Team Leader for Church and Leader Mobilization, states, “[By participating in a cohort] churches experience real growth in leadership health and spiritual vitality. SCUSA helps shift leaders from a constant survival mindset to a future-focused vision for their church, equipping them to lead their leaders through sustainable change. One of the greatest impacts is the reminder that pastors are not alone in the journey!”

A faithful, anonymous voice shares his experience: “I can almost guarantee that if it hadn't been for this partnership with SCUSA, I would have left this church and had to work again to settle my family in a new area. Thank you for your love and care for Christ's church. May your efforts be richly blessed!”

To find out more about joining a Healthy Church Cohort through the network of scholarship opportunities within Indiana, email Contact@ SmallChurchUSA.com.

Born of Spirit, Not Strategy NorthWoods Deaf Church

"Planting a Deaf church was not a strategy of ours,” Ryan Moore, Missions Pastor at NorthWoods Church in Evansville, was quick to point out, “it simply came about as we saw the Lord at work within our church. Initially, as members of the Deaf community began attending NorthWoods services, this work of the Lord has already led to repentance and baptism in at least one of the attendees.

Senior Pastor Bobby Pell echoes Moore’s assertion that this was not due to any church planting strategy, but rather, “We had a Deaf translator who started attending our church, and she started bringing people who were deaf.” Sensing the need to serve this group the best way they could, the

church quickly invested in a translation app, Polyglossia. The app served them well for a season and has since been in use for church attendees speaking several different languages. Pell states, “Evansville is not necessarily a culturally diverse community, and yet we have people who speak Mandarin, Japanese, Ukrainian, and Spanish. None of that happened because of our plan, but we have tried to respond quickly to opportunities.”

Desiring to continuously respond to the opportunities the Lord places before them, the church decided to go beyond just translation subscriptions and move forward with planting a Deaf church. Moore hosted a ten-week Bible study last summer

with an ASL translator, and it was through that experience with the Deaf attendees that he began to see the desire for a new church that could faithfully minister to this beloved group.

“[through the Bible study] We learned there are unique aspects about Deaf culture that hearing individuals, even if you learn ASL, will never understand.” Additionally, Moore realized that the faithful Bible study participants themselves wanted to have their own pastor from within the Deaf community.

Eventually, this led to the call of Pastor Corey Harrison from Tennessee. He and his wife, Michelle, are members of the Deaf community, but their three children are hearing. Starting this new church, which will be held on the NorthWoods campus for the long foreseeable future, will allow Harrison’s children, and any other hearing children of Deaf parents, to participate in the children’s ministry at NorthWoods while having their own Deaf service for adults. It is a partnership born out of a mutual desire to minister to one another.

Moore also looks forward to future joint ministry opportunities between the two campuses.

“One of our missionary partners is a church planter in Dublin, Ireland. We had already been mobilizing a team from NorthWoods to go serve in September, and we recently found out that the church is meeting in a Deaf center. So, now we have an opportunity for NorthWoods and NorthWoods Deaf Church to go together and serve on mission in Dublin, Ireland, and reach Deaf people with the gospel.”

Pell reminds, “I'd love to tell you, ‘Yes, we were very strategic, and that's why this has all happened.’

But that’s not what happened. However, I think we’ve been able to respond well to what the Lord is doing.”

The church, clearly ordained by the Lord who goes before us, will launch in May on the campus of NorthWoods.

Seeking the Well-Being of the City Redemption City

Onthe first Saturday of each month, the parking lot at 1836 Portage Avenue in South Bend, Indiana, begins to fill with vehicles. Members of Redemption City Church (RCC) arrive to prepare for the clients they will serve through their Gospel Justice Center. Largely supported by word of mouth, the center has reached capacity every month since its launch in September 2025, coinciding with the church plant’s 5th anniversary.

The opening of the center, which provides legal aid to those in need, has been a longheld dream of Pastor Stephen Love and his wife, Mandy. Referencing Jeremiah 29, Stephen explains his passion for the center: “Scripture instructs us to seek the well-being of the city God has deported us to. When I look at that word ‘well-being,’ I see justice as being a part of it. And so legal aid is a part of seeking the well-being of the city.” In addition, Love emphasizes the desire to love justice, do mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

The center, in partnership with the national organization Administer Justice (which provided the training and organization needed to begin the ministry) is not only meeting the needs of the South Bend community but also providing a way for members of RCC to use their gifts. Pastor’s wife and Executive Administrator at the church, Mandy Love, states: “The group of volunteers who have raised their hands in this are the professionals in the community. So, they're the social workers, the therapists, the nonprofit workers who, to a certain extent, do not have the freedom to bring their faith into their work. And so, for them it’s an opportunity to use the skills they’ve acquired in their professions in a way that serves the church and provides an opportunity where they can clearly share the gospel.”

RCC depends on lawyers in the community who are willing to volunteer their time and

legal expertise, as well as members from within the church to fulfill various roles. These roles may include serving a hot breakfast to guests, writing prayer cards and putting together welcome folders, or acting as an Intake Specialist who asks the right questions to get the clients started in the system and prepped for their appointment with their lawyer. Once seated for their appointment, the church also provides Advocate Specialists who sit with the clients for emotional support and follow up with clients in the days after. It’s a well-organized event supported by ample training from Administer Justice.

Mandy is especially thrilled to share that the church body came together to provide scholarships for attendees who cannot pay the required co-pay. “During the political season, Stephen did a sermon series titled He is Greater. During that time, we were able to announce the Gospel Justice Center, and we had He is Greater hats and sweatshirts made up. All the proceeds from that swag go straight to the Gospel Justice Center and the scholarship fund.”

Though most appointments offer simple next steps to clients, there have been a few cases that RCC has been able to see through to completion! Regardless, Pastor Love plans to continue growing this ministry, as the need has been clearly evidenced by their consistent filling of appointments.

For more information, follow the link to Administer Justice’s website where you can learn how to set up a center in your community: www.administerjustice.org

Counting the COST of Church Planting

by Nikki Hurt

“Have

you counted the cost?”

A dear friend posed the question to us as we were preparing to accept the call to plant our church. The words stung. Needling themselves under the surface of my skin, they pulsed there and demanded my attention. In hindsight, I am confident this examination exposed a lack of trust in my heart that the Lord would provide and sustain. But in the heat of the moment, all I could think was: “How can I count the cost when I don't exactly know what the cost will be?”

We have spent nearly all of our twenty years of marriage in pastoral ministry. For sixteen of those years, I was blissfully a stay-at-home mom. We budget with the best of them—Dave Ramsey approved—most of the time! It's a skill we needed to acquire to survive with our 5 children on a 1-income ministerial salary. So, when Jesus poses the tower building metaphor to his disciples in Luke 14, referencing the cost of discipleship and encouraging his followers to pick up their cross and examine the cost before they get started, I get it! I am that builder! Granted, I’ve never built a tower, but I compute and factor, combing over the spreadsheet multiple times before we decide to buy a house or a car, go on vacation, or send our daughter to college. We count the cost to ensure we have enough for the endeavor and the necessities of life, like groceries, gas, and electricity. Even doing our best to plan for the unexpected along the way. Jesus is asking his disciples to approach their discipleship in this same cross carrying way; preparing them for the harsh reality that following after him would surely cost them greatly. Sitting on this side of church history, we know that it certainly did.

Yet, this question paralyzed me. Through tears I would exclaim to my husband, “I don’t know how to do this. We don’t know what it will cost!” Five years down the road, my rebuttal has rung true. In some sense, though we attempted to count it, we were naive. We didn't know the

heartbreak we would encounter from falsehood or the sting left behind from relationships that refuse to reconcile. We didn’t understand that we were moving at the very cusp of a housing debacle where prices would soar weekly, and it would take us 2.5 years to finally land our family in a home. Or that once in that home we would deal with project after project, while parenting our large family, coaching basketball, starting in the workforce again after many years at home, and…oh yes, planting and pastoring our church, which is why we are here in the first place! We certainly didn’t know the depths we would face in our own inadequacies and sin over and over again, all while needing to prioritize the care and shepherding of the people the Lord would send to us. It was costly, but we didn’t know how costly until we stood right in the middle of the tower itself.

Where do we land? Jesus himself says to count the cost. We would do well to follow his instructions. So, to the best of your ability, count. But in the end, know this: your Jesus, who has called you, possesses infinite wealth and wisdom. If He is the cornerstone of your project, then He will ensure it reaches completion. In the moment of your greatest tower building weakness — when the beam is on a year-long delay, lumber prices are soaring weekly, the emotional toll of accomplishing the project reaches far deeper than you ever imagined — remember that He who has called you is faithful and He will do it! Every resource you need is in Him, and He will ensure the project reaches completion.

Pick up your cross.

Count the cost.

Build the Tower.

Jesus will be faithful to provide and to sustain.

A 2026 WOMEN’S CONFERENCE Behind the Scenes with Vanessa Fletcher

Serving at Living Word Baptist Church, beside her husband, Rev. Dr. Reginald B. Fletcher for 35 years of faithful ministry, Vanessa Fletcher is no stranger to participating in women’s events. In fact, she can often be found leading or teaching. So, what made the In Christ: 2026 SCBI’s Women’s Conference, which took place over March 6th7th, unique? Fletcher states, “Everything was bathed in prayer. When we, as leaders, arrived, we prayed over the breakout rooms, the chairs, and the entryway. We prayed over each other, and it was powerful. I had told some of the leaders, I don't need no tissue this weekend, I'm good … but God! I had so many tears flowing, knowing that God's presence was there.”

Fueled by those faith-filled prayers, Fletcher and the other leaders were ready when the ladies began to arrive. “When the women entered, we were ready to greet, hug, smile, pray, and serve where needed! As we greeted the women, it reminded me of a family reunion.”

Vanessa has been a regular conference attendee for many years and has often spoken at the event. Coming off a three-year speaking hiatus, she praised the SCBI Women’s Leadership Team for organizing the conference, “God had me on a pause for about three years. I still attended the conference, but wasn't on the speaker's side. So, speaking again after three years was very powerful. As a presenter, we submitted our three breakout session proposals based on the theme of the conference, ‘In Christ.’ The committee selected one of our proposals and notified us. It wasn't just: pick a topic. We saw true alignment of the word of God in each breakout session.

The repetition of content in some breakout sessions was crucial to understanding God’s truth. She continued, “Women may have heard the same theme again but in different ways, from various Scriptures, perspectives, and of course different presentation styles."

Vanessa encouraged women to attend the sessions that God was leading them to and not based on who was presenting a specific session. Those who were led to Fletcher’s breakout encountered a joy-filled, prayersaturated session: Beloved and Sent from Impact to Intimacy with teaching from Song of Solomon. The session emphasized our identity as beloved women in Christ and how our impact should flow from our intimate time with God in His Word.

In true Titus 2 form, Fletcher also looks forward to seeing new speakers that the Lord will raise up for future conferences. “Even several years ago, when I was speaking, I was always looking for someone new that I could pray with and encourage to consider becoming a breakout speaker. I think each presenter should submit the name of a woman from their congregation who might have a gift and willingness to share God’s word. We need to continue looking for fresh people. I think one reason God told me to step back a few years ago is that people can get used to Vanessa, but it's not about me!”

Fletcher strongly encourages every woman involved with SCBI to attend next year’s conference. “I encourage people to step outside of their comfort zone. Trust God. We know the conference comes every year: Save up for it. Even if it's $5 every week. You will not regret being a part of the weekend.”

So, plan accordingly, ladies! And when next year rolls around, look for Vanessa. Whether she is speaking or not, she will be there to pray for you, encourage you, and welcome you in!

SERVING AS Family THE COMMUNITY OF DISASTER

When Scott Kallem was first called to serve as the Senior Pastor of New Life Baptist Church in Greencastle, Indiana, he prayerfully planned to share his love for the Disaster Relief ministry with the church body. His connection to the ministry began when he was pastoring a church in Illinois, and he began to see how important it could be as an avenue for service, meeting the needs of others and building a family of servants within the church. The Lord has graciously answered that prayer, as evidenced by the robust ministry that New Life has developed from within its church body.

Kallem states, “With Disaster Relief, you can spend time with one another serving

RELIEF

in ways that extend beyond what you typically would be able to in a worship service or a Sunday School class. You travel together, and whether you're going to North Carolina, or Hurricane Helen relief, or to Bloomington because of a tornado, those day trips or even weeklong trips, provide a family atmosphere while you’re serving. Those types of mission trips are vital to the whole foundation of the church.”

Kallem understands the ministry well, as his church stores and maintains two SCBI-owned trailers and a third that the church owns. Todd Branson, a member of New Life, serves as the blue hat volunteer who reports directly to Butch Porter, the state director. Branson keeps the ministry running well at New Life and ensures

that volunteers are coordinated and that the trailers are kept functional and ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Once dispatched, the volunteers know that flexibility is the key to this ministry. Kallem relays, “That's just part of Disaster Relief. You need to be multi-faceted in your flexibility. You know what sort of situation you’re headed towards and that you’re going to help. But you may think it's going to look one way, and it could end up looking entirely different.”

The ministry also helps to build relationships at the associational level, creating a deeper family tie there as well. “When it comes to the associational meeting, there's already some built relationships around Disaster Relief. This helps our association [West Central Baptist Association] meet one of its purposes— mobilizing churches for service. Our goal is for every church in the association to have a key leader within Disaster Relief.”

Kallem sees it as a vital way for the church to be involved in serving its community, “If you are a local pastor, one of your roles in ministry is to make sure the community knows who you are

and that you have connections if a disaster were to happen. The local church should be a hub where people can come to find and get help if a tree has damaged their house, or whatever other needs there are.”

Becoming an active part of Disaster Relief would not only connect your church to the wider servant ministry that is able to help others at a moment’s notice but would also create a family like no other. Kallem states, “You need a variety of people trained and willing to serve. You need people from the retirees to those still in the workforce. A lot of the weeklong call-outs may go to the retirees because they can be more flexible and rearrange their schedules to go and serve. But those still in the workforce might be able to handle a weekend call, and that's their opportunity to serve.”

For More Information

To find out more about becoming a vital part of this family, contact Butch Porter: bporter@scbi.org.

A Fuzzy RED SUIT for the Gospel

BRO. RICKY PERSONS

Standing in a fuzzy, red suit in the middle of a crowded street crossing in Tokyo, Japan, was not what Ricky Persons expected when he set out on his first international mission trip with the IMB in December 2025. Yet it was exactly how the Lord ordained that the pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in North Vernon, Indiana, would receive the attention required to distribute the 800 bags of evangelistic materials the group carried. And Bro. Ricky was determined to do whatever it took to grab the attention of the hundreds of people passing by, even if it meant playing Santa Claus for a day.

Months before donning the costume on the streets of Japan, Persons was drawn to taking part in the trip after being invited by a partner in ministry, Pastor Don DeFriece of Calvary Baptist Church in Seymour, and because he wanted to reconnect with a former exchange student that Ricky and his wife, Amy, had hosted twenty years earlier. On a sabbatical day during the trip, Persons managed to catch a two-hour flight to Nozomi’s home, where he shared lunch with her and her family and accomplished one of his goals for the trip: “one of my desires was to be able to share the gospel with her and with her family. I had met her husband previously, but I had never been able to meet her sons or her mother.” Nozomi also helped Ricky connect with a sixth-grade classroom of students studying English. Persons visited the school and connected with the children.

The visit to Japan opened Persons' eyes to the truth that “Gospel ministry is challenging everywhere you go, but it is also extremely rewarding.” A particularly sweet reward was having the honor to preach at a service where a young Japanese woman accepted Christ after partaking in the service, “that message connected with her, even through a translator. She met with the pastor after church, and the pastor led her to pray to receive Christ.”

Back in the public square, the group initially struggled to connect with pedestrians and

found that the young were the most willing to accept a gift bag from them, while most people walked by without taking one. One of their fellow journeymen suggested they wear Christmas-themed costumes, and the group broadly insisted that Bro. Ricky should be Santa. The moment he put on the suit, the atmosphere shifted. Persons found that even on the subway, a culturally individualistic environment, folks were more open to engaging with him. And once at the festival, “I just keep waving my hand like Santa and saying, ‘Merry Christmas,’ over and over and over again, which led to taking pictures with people. So, they're coming up, and they can't speak English well enough, and I can't speak Japanese, but they hold up their phones and kind of universally say, ‘Can we take pictures?’ We started taking pictures, and in an hour, we had given away 800 of those bags with Christian literature, and it had been easy.”

Persons hopes to take another trip with the IMB someday and encourages any pastors across the state to consider doing so. “I would encourage Indiana Southern Baptist pastors to take an international mission trip. I think it's going to be good for them spiritually. I think it's going to be good for their soul and good for their ministry.” With his wife’s urging, Persons will have to make extra room in his bags for the next trip: the new Santa suit will take up much more space in his carry-on!

Fighting for Faith In the Land of the Living

by Nikki Hurt

My husband, Ben, often says there are three kinds of people: those in a trial, those just coming out of one, and those about to head into one. If that sentiment is true, and I would be inclined to agree that it is, we would do well to consider how to fight for faith in the midst of hard times. I am convinced that

Jesus is able to hold onto me with far more strength than I am able to hold onto him. And yet, Paul encourages us in the book of 1 Timothy to “Fight the good fight of faith.” How can we, who are weak and in need of grace, fight the good fight? As I look back on trials in my life, I can clearly see three different means of grace the Lord gave to keep me fighting in those seasons.

FIGHTING THROUGH THE WILDERNESS BY GLORIFYING

Several years back, we found ourselves trudging through a wilderness experience. We fought through the brambles and thorns of doubt and despair for over four years. We were seeking God, but it felt as if He had hidden His face from us. We wandered through desert wastes and found no way to a city to dwell in. We were lost. During our wilderness experience, even reading the Bible was difficult for me. The words on the page would blur together, and little would stick. Enter a means of grace. We were going through the Westminster Catechism with our young children at the time, and the only phrase that seemed to cling to me was a question. Q: What is the chief end of man? A: To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The answer would echo in my mind — glorify and enjoy — every morning before my feet hit the bedroom floor. It became my singular purpose, the one heralding truth in the midst of deep uncertainty. Are you lost in a wilderness? Do you think the Lord has forgotten you? Set your heart to glorify and enjoy Him. He will eventually lead you by a straight way to a lasting city.

FIGHTING THROUGH GRIEF BY EMBRACING

More recently, I have walked through a season of deep loss. It was not the loss of a person, which is even more devastating, but it was a loss nonetheless. I lost a sense of home, a feeling of belonging, and, especially the loss of a particular activity that I greatly loved with my children. We lived in a beautiful neighborhood that connected to a whole community of bike paths. Nearly every night in the spring

and summer, I would grab one or two of them, and we would head off on the trails for a long bike ride. We gave certain paths and hills our own nicknames. “Can we do the Hill of Ahhh, Mom?” “No, let’s do the Hill of Wonder!” It was our most cherished activity. Then the Lord called us to move. And I have spent over 3 years grieving the loss of those hills and the memories that still reside there. One day, I stumbled upon a quote by John Piper, and it felt as if someone finally grasped the complexities of my heart: “Occasionally, weep deeply over the life you hoped would be. Grieve the losses. Feel the pain. Then wash your face. Trust God. And embrace the life you have.” This one quote, a section of a longer twominute clip on grief, has been on constant replay in my mind. It has helped me fight through the grief of losing what I so badly wanted to keep. Do you harbor deep pain in your heart over a life that you hoped would be? Go ahead and weep. Feel the pain. But after a time of weeping, embrace what is right in front of you. It is there by the hand of God. Trust Him.

FIGHTING THROUGH FEAR BY BELIEVING

Ben and I prayed about adding to our family for a number of years. In our minds, we were considering a fourth child. But the Lord knew He would add a fourth and a fifth in one fell swoop! The news of a multiple pregnancy rocked me, though. I didn’t think I could be patient enough to be the mother of five children, including two babies at once. I looked into the future and presumed we would experience a lot of financial stress. I was worried about the risks that come with a multiple pregnancy. I sank into a low-grade depression because I listened to all of those fears. I sat with this fear for several weeks.

Then the Lord faithfully led me to Psalm 27:13, “I believe I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be Strong. Take courage. Wait for the Lord.” The words leaped off the page before me. When will we see His goodness again? In the Land of the Living! That is here. That is now. Is this a trite statement that everything will go fine and as planned? No. But will we have reason to say He is good? Yes! If we wait on Him, we will see it. Are you struggling with fear? Does your lack of belief keep you from trusting Him? Then wait on the Lord. Let your heart take courage. You will see His goodness again in the land of the living. By the time our twins were born, my heart was elated

and ready for this very good gift the Lord had given us. I looked into their two sweet, perfectly tiny faces and surely beheld the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Three means of grace. A simple question and answer. A pastoral quote. And the living Word of God. Three ways the Lord kept me and granted me the grace to fight the good fight of faith through seasons of wilderness, grief, and fear.

Keep walking weary travelers. He is with us here and now in the land of the living, and He will keep us.