“We were thinking that we had been forgotten. We saw them working on this house and that house, but they forgot about ours. We were thinking: had we done something wrong?” Gayle told us as we tore another staple out of the roof that had been severely damaged. Gayle and her husband, Tom, are an elderly couple we met while in Florida. Their kitchen and living room were beaten up by Hurricane Ian in September of 2022. Gayle was telling us about another ministry that had been there working on other damaged houses, but for whatever reason (probably not purposely) that ministry didn’t visit their house. This made Tom and Gayle think they had been forgotten and no one was coming to help.
It is so hard to describe the devastation that some homeowners feel from a Hurricane. For many, their house is life: it is their source of security, comfort, and maybe even their income. After a hurricane hits, it is so hard to take even one step towards repair. Add to that, the complexity of working with insurance companies, obeying all of the permit laws, and the normal pressures of life, and you get some very broken and hurting people. This is why when we come in and show the love of Christ in the practical way of helping to repair their homes it lights up their life like nothing else. The homeowners are always so ready to receive the love and message of Jesus. If they weren’t believers we shared the gospel with them, and if they were believers…we still shared the gospel with them! We reminded them of the great hope they have in Christ and prayed with them.
Tom and Gayle were so grateful for what we were doing for them. They were blown away each moment and kept talking about how thankful they were. Spiritually, Tom and Gayle were a little tough to read. She seemed closer to God than he did, but both of them could use your prayers. Please pray for Tom, Gayle, and all others going through disaster recovery.
Pastor John Labelle is the one who organizes all of our disaster relief trips. God worked in his heart to be involved in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina. I have gotten close to John over the past year and am grateful for his heart in disaster relief: to go to the places that others are not. That is why we were in Tom and Gayle’s neighborhood in the first place. His desire is to go to places that have been overlooked: small towns, little suburbs, anywhere the crowd hasn’t been.
The heart for disaster relief ministry is a great living illustration of the same heart God has for the people groups of the world. Did you know there are about 7,000 people groups in the world that do not have access to hearing the gospel? These are the forgotten, lost, and Unreached souls that God loves. I had an opportunity to be reminded of this heart along with many brothers and sisters at our second annual missions conference! A highlight for me was hearing my friend, Pastor Rob Douglass, share about his ministry in Africa that has reached 3 Unreached people groups with the gospel!
God continues to put reaching the Unreached through cross cultural church planting on my heart. As I continue to seek the Lord on where He wants me to go, I am grateful for this time of preparation. I am going to be serving here in California for a season and taking many short term trips. The next one is with a team to South Asia on March 24-April 8. As well, I will be administrating and helping lead the church planting class that just started at WestGrove! I will also be leading a prayer/sharing outreach to the Planned Parenthood down the street from our church. I have much to say about how God called me to these specific things in this season, but I just wanted to mention them briefly here. Details and stories to follow.
It has been a fruitful couple of months since coming home from Peru. The church is being stirred up for the great commission and many people are experiencing the love of Jesus through the ministry that He has entrusted me with. I am so grateful for your partnership in the gospel. I hope this update encourages you by showing the fruit of your co-labor with me in Christ. Never hesitate to reach out to me about any questions, comments, or prayer requests you have. I am so excited for this next season of life and I am so glad to have you with me.
For His Eternal Kingdom,
Adam Fulmizi
Praise Reports/Prayer Requests
- Praise Reports
- Great fruit from the Florida trip and our missions conference
- God’s moving in the youth at CCWestGrove
- The many open doors to preach the gospel all over the country and world
- Prayer Requests
- For our church planting class students
- For the three students who got baptized at our high school overnighter: that they would walk faithfully with Jesus
- For the weekly outreaches we will be doing at planned parenthood
- Wisdom, perseverance, and direction for my life
How to Stay Connected
- These monthly email updates.
- See former updates, give, and more on my website at sgwm.com/fulmizi
- Receive shorter, more frequent, and more personal updates through my text thread by texting “@senders16” to “81010”
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