“For to us a child is born…” (Isaiah 9:6a ESV)
Dear Friends and Family,
Merry Christmas and happy New Year! We have much to tell you in our end of the year/beginning of a new year update! First of all, Ronni and I are loving being parents to Johanna! She is seven months old now and such a sweet baby, thank the Lord! We are so excited to experience our first Christmas with her! As many of you surely remember, the truth of the incarnation, of God coming to earth in flesh as a little baby, hits even stronger when you have a little one around during Christmas for the first time! It amazes me all over again, that almighty God chose to come in the fragility of a baby! He came to be with us, live as one of us- but without sin, so that He could die in our place, satisfying His own righteous wrath as a sinless, substitutionary sacrifice on our behalf, and rise triumphant over death! What amazing love! Thankfully, Johanna travels well! This Fall we travelled for me to play music at our InFaith Area Fellowship in TN, Crossroads Community Church in Brighton, IL, Antioch Baptist Church in Chesterfield, MO, a pastors’ conference in Gatlinburg, TN, and Gospel Cincinnati in Ohio. On our travels, we got to visit and stay with friends in IL and MO and got to visit fellow InFaith missionaries at Camp WEWOSEJE (stands for “We Would See Jesus”) in IL.
As many of you know, as part of missionary work, I have been serving as Associate Pastor at New Prospect Baptist Church in Clay County for years. Our dear friend, Dr. David Price, retired from the church as Senior Pastor at the end of 2019. I started filling in immediately, continuing to do the music but now also doing the preaching, as Interim Pastor. At first, we thought it would be best for the church if they could find someone to be the pastor who could live closer. We live in Beattyville, in Lee County, about 40-45 minutes away. But there is a huge lack of pastors in Eastern KY. Many churches are facing need. Even though I was, in many ways, doing the job of Senior Pastor as I served as Interim Pastor, I was concerned about the church being without someone officially in the Senior Pastor position. I didn’t want to leave the church in limbo or vulnerable. I was praying for wisdom and direction from the Lord. As James 1 says, He is faithful to give wisdom to those who ask in faith! During this time, I talked with one of our deacons who told me how far he drives to work every day. I was blown away by how long he drives! What we have come to see is that a lot of folks here travel great distances for work and so nobody seemed to be concerned that we lived in Beattyville. It’s in driving distance and they love us and know that we love them. So, on November 11, the church voted unanimously for me to be the Senior Pastor! It is your prayers and giving that makes this possible! The church continues to pay what it can but is not able to pay full time and has needed the assistance of missionary pastors. Thank you for partnering with us in serving these kind and faithful people!
Now, you may be wondering, how does that affect the road ministry of touring? Thankfully, the church understands that as missionaries who need support and as musicians, there are times that we have to be on the road. We have several faithful men that I have been able to call on to fill the pulpit when we are out of town. Also, we currently do not have Wednesday night responsibilities, so we are free to travel during the week. We hope to be able to schedule concerts and/or speaking engagements close enough together so that, when we are on the road, we can reach the greatest number of places possible, while missing as few Sundays as possible. Basically, we can tour during the week or, if we are going to be on the road on a Sunday, try to schedule meetings before and after that Sunday in places on the way there and on the way back. When we are not on the road during the week, we have been attending Emmanuel Baptist Church in Stanton, KY and have been greatly blessed by the teaching and fellowship. We hope to start releasing songs from the new album in late January or early February and would greatly appreciate your prayers! As always, we would love to come do a concert or speak at your church, school, Bible study, house concert, etc. Please feel free to reach out to us! We are still raising support as well.
As I mentioned last time, I have been asked to be an Area Coordinator with InFaith. As part of that work, I have been asked to be a board member for Galilee Bible Camp in LaFollette, TN. They are going through a relaunch and prayers are appreciated! Locally, our dear friend and fellow InFaith missionary, Jeremy Holt, is now the Interim Director of Youth Haven Bible Camp! We greatly appreciate your prayers for them as well as they go through a kind of relaunch. Lord willing, it looks like we may be helping with the music there some this summer. As always, thank you so much for your partnership in ministry! We appreciate you all so much and you are in our prayers!
In Christ,
Sam & Ronni Judd
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