Dear Bro. Gabe and Tri-City family,

I wanted to send a note of thanks to you for the many birthday greetings I received over the past week.  A number of individuals sent birthday cards.  I also received a wonderful card along with some photos from the Harvester's Sunday School Class.  The DVD I received from the church was a wonderful gift!  It was such a blessing to see and hear the greetings from my church family!  I am truly grateful for all of the expressions of love, encouragement, and support.  I was reminded, once again, of just how much I miss my church family and how blessed I am to be a part of Tri-City Baptist Church.

In addition to my birthday this past week, July also marks my anniversary as pastor of TCBC.  My first Sunday as your pastor was July 21, 1991.  It is hard to believe that I have been serving at our church for 19 years now!  In so many ways, I wish that I could have been there to commemorate this special occasion with my church family.  However, I am quite confident that I am where the Lord wants me to be at this time.  I look forward, our Lord willing, to celebrating my 20th year as pastor next July!

I also want to thank the church for the boxes of items for the Agape Store.  The boxes have been received, the items were made available to the soldiers, and most of them have already been taken by our soldiers.

The continued prayers and support of my church family mean so much to me.  Thank you for all you have done and continue to do to support me, my family, and our soldiers here in Afghanistan.  The Lord has been very good to us.  I was so blessed last week with another soldier accepting Christ as his Savior.  Every week I have opportunity to witness to soldiers.  Please pray that the Holy Spirit wil bring them to repentance and faith in Christ.

I am now also blessed to have a weekly Bible study with an Afghan national who trusted in Christ several months ago.  When he attended my chapel service, it was the first Christian worship service he had ever attended.  He is really growing in the Lord!  He is another confirmation to me that the Lord has brought me here.  I just share these blessings with you all so that you can see that the Lord is hearing and answering your prayers.

I pray that you have a wonderful Lord's Day today.  I look forward to the time when I am back at my home church to worship our Lord and fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ there.  For now, the Lord has provided a family of believers here with whom I can worship and fellowship.

I love you all and thank the Lord for you!  May His grace and peace be with you all.

By His Grace,

Pastor Joe