We find ourselves now the beginning of the greatest year that God has granted us – a great opportunity to serve our Lord!

God has been so wonderful to answer the many, many prayers that you have offered up on behalf of Dr. Jessup and his health, as well as ours. God’s Word has not changed the commission to plant churches. We are excited to be in the midst of planning that will see at least eight new churches birthed this year.

Thus far, the winter has been unusually mild for Minnesota. We had a brown Christmas (no snow on the ground). Temperatures have been often in the 30′s and 40′s. There are still a few motorcycles on the road.

The covers for the John/Romans for the first church start are being finalized. This church has been in the planning stages for over a year and will be in Cranberry, PA. Plans are progressing so that each of the church plants this year will have full-color covers. They will be very attractive, and by ordering 500,000, we can get the cost down to where they are affordable. There has been one individual who has underwritten the cost of the $11,000 for that order. Praise the Lord for this anonymous giver! We will begin to build an account to cover the next printing for when these are used. These will probably last three to four years.

I would ask that you put Pastor and Mrs. Mike Frey, of the Northern Lights Baptist Church in Waconia, on your prayer list. They are expecting a baby in the spring. Mrs. Frey has been hospitalized and must stay hospitalized until the baby is born. She has just passed the 27th week. Satan will try and discourage this new pastor and his flock if he can.

Bev and I have had a blessed Christmas season and now are regaining our breath and sanity. Bev did a lot of baking and entertaining. Many boxes of Christmas goodies from her ovens went to many different homes and ministries. I will be teaching the adult S.S. class at our home church much of this month. We will be on the road a brief time.

In February, Bev and I will be going on a cruise with Dr. & Mrs. Ed Johnson and some couples from First Baptist Church in Rosemount. This will be to commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary, which we will celebrate in June. God has been so good to us.

Would you join with us in determining to distribute at least three gospel tracts a day? This will enable each of us to reach into at least 1000 homes and lives this year.

Again thank you for your love and support. Things will really be vamping up soon for the spring season. Please pray for the safety of our team as we serve our Lord and you.