2013 Update

Well we all made it thru the holidays and another end of the world drama!  Now, by God’s grace, we have another new year ahead of us.  One thing is certain: we are another year closer to heaven! And with that reality, I’m personally challenged to keep my hands to the plow and be diligently about my Father’s business.

Recently at church (Pam and I are attending Calvary Santee) a line to a song I had never heard about the coming of the Lord said, “…being ready at the dawn of that day.”  That day could be tomorrow and we need to be aware and ready to see the Lord.  My biggest battle this past year was fighting complacency – perhaps you know what I mean by that.

Our lives can get so wrapped up in “the everyday” stuff of life that we miss the urgency of our mission.

God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light to be a testimony of His love and forgiveness to a world spinning so out of control!  May 2013 find all of us who love the Lord living courageously for Him and with boldness and deep love, be sharing the Gospel with all who cross our paths. 

Towards that end, I am praying for many fresh opportunities to encourage and challenge churches and individuals to radically serve the Lord.  Please pray with me for continued physical strength, mental discipline, and spiritual passion!

2013 is already starting out with lots to do.  I represented the ministry of Shepherd’s Staff at the annual Calvary Chapel Missions Conference Jan, 7 thru the 10^th and met with many missionaries and pastor’s of mission’s minded churches.  This weekend I’ll be meeting with a care team for one of our missionaries serving in Thailand and bringing a  word of encouragement at a mission’s dinner sponsored by Calvary Chapel Valle Vista in Hemet.

I have about 20 Calvary Chapels I need to contact this month who are the home churches of missionaries served by Shepherd’s Staff.  The work of building strong sending churches never stops J!

There is also a possibility of short logistics trip to Ireland in mid spring with Pastor Gary from Calvary Santee and a couple other leaders.  It will be nearly 2 years since my last ministry trip overseas…and you may remember how sick I got while in the Philippines in Apr of 2011.  God knows what I can and cannot handle and I trust that if it’s His will I go, He will strengthen and prepare me to go – and be a productive part of the team.

So Pam and I are excited about how the Lord will use us this coming year! We hope and pray that each of you flourish in the center of God’s will too!  Please let us know how we can be praying for you – and God willing, we will have some good face to face fellowship with you all as the year unfolds.

Thank you again for your love, prayer, encouragement and support this past year! Over all, 2012 was a great year – but we want 2013 to be even greater! Amen! Come quickly Lord Jesus!

In His Arm's,

Pat

Summer Update - July 2012

Time for another ministry and life update!

God is faithful...I must say it again and again...God is Faithful, True, and He never lets go of us.

Often, our minds drift from our Anchor...worry and anxiety usually follow. How grateful I am that He remains Faithful - even when my faith is weak or fails.

The first week of July was difficult. My family and I had to work thru the still lingering grief over the passing of Joyce 5 years ago on July 5, 2007. Two days later was our wedding anniversary - July 7th.
This year would have been 39 years. Again, I am so thankful for the comfort of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of the Word (Proverbs 9:10) to see us thru, and keeping us on course.

My new wife, Pamela, has been so kind and understanding thru this season. We've been married two years now and what a blessing and joy she is in my life! In a couple of weeks, she will be retiring from the US Navy after 20 years of service. We are looking forward to yet another transition as we move back to San Diego from Bremerton, WA - and Pam starts a new life chapter as a civilian.

I continue to work from our hotel room on the Navy base for Shepherd's Staff Mission Facilitators and Poimen Ministries.

Though most of my contact with other pastors, new and existing missionaries and their home churches is by email, phone and Skype - I deeply love and enjoy what I do. Hopefully, when we are back in SoCal, the face to face meetings will increase.

We would appreciate prayer in the following areas:

1. A safe road trip back home.
2. A new post Navy job for Pam
3. Our 160 missionaries in the field and the 20 or so in various stages of preparation.
4. My health. I am still dealing with pain and discomfort from my past surgeries and bowel obstructions are a constant threat due to the mess of scar tissue from those surgeries.
5. Continued opening of opportunities for ministry
6. The quick sale of my house in Escondido

Thanks to all of you who continually love, pray and support us - you indeed are vessels of our Lord's Great Faithfulness!

"God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
1 Corinthians 1:9

In His Arm's,  Pat and Pam

Request

Hi My Friends, I have a request for you to prayerfully consider. I am needing to raise more support for my ongoing ministries with Shepherds Staff and Poimen. I lost half of my support this month due to financial constraints at Shepherds Staff. The ministry is going well and presently serving over 160 missionaries, but good stewardship led our board to decide their regional missions pastors would need to raise 100% of their support. That is not uncommon in the missions world these days. If you would like to include me in your charitable giving, please email me at escorev@gmail.com or go to my link on the Shep Staff website:
http://www.shepsstaff.org/kenney.aspx

Also, Our family is rejoicing for the arrival of my daughter Noelle's first child! A beautiful little girl - Natalie Joyce Berry!



Thanks so much! Pat

Pacific NW adventure begins

Hi Folks,

Today I head out to Seattle to meet up with Pam as her ship dry docks this afternoon. Pam emailed me to say it was snowing. I'd like to say I'm ready for this - but that wouldn't be quite the truth. I was reading in The Daily Bread yesterday about Divine Interuptions. It concluded with this comment:

"The psalmist reminds us that the Lord can make “the plans of the peoples of no effect” (Ps. 33:10). Yet all too often we respond to the interruptions of our well-ordered lives with attitudes like frustration, irritation, fear, and doubt. God’s surprises in our day are full of opportunities. Let’s welcome them as a new “to-do list” from Him."

As I thought about that, my first reaction was, "Oh great - that stuff is right up my alley!". Then the Lord began to speak to my heart. He was reminding me of His faithfulness to not only see me thru changes/interruptions, but also to use me as I face my fears and doubts. He reminded me of His Faithfulness to work out all things in my life for His glory.

I wish I could learn this lesson, pass these tests, graduate to a place where I no longer struggle with my flesh and my fears. Yet I'm learning, very slowly, that these Interuptions are just part of life, and I can choose to be overwhelmed or choose to be excited about what God is going to do next. I'll take the latter. He who began a good work in me, is faithful to complete it. So it's up, up, and away again!

Hope your day is blessed as you learn along with me to trust in the Lord with allllll your heart and lean NOT on your own plans and understanding!

In His Arms, Pat

Happy New Year! As this new year begins, I must thank and praise God again and again for His goodness and faithfulness.

I also hope to blog more often as I seek the Lord's direction for 2012. It seems changes and challenges are just the norm these days.

Here are a few things we are anticipating this year: My wife is closing in on the end of her career with the US Navy. Her ship, the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, left San Diego on Jan. 6th for Bremerton Washington - across the Puget Sound from Seattle. I join her in a few days and that will begin the first of many trips to the PAC Northwest til she retires in July. We are looking forward to meeting many new folks and enjoying winter in Washington. It won't be Coronado but we are going to make the best of it.

I'm also anticipating establishing new relationships with as many churches as possible as we seek to expand the ministry of Shepherds Staff.

Any day now my daughter will be giving birth to her first child, a little girl. She will be my 5th granddaughter! We are so excited for Noelle and her husband.

Thanks to all who have been praying for and supporting our ministries to missionaries, sending churches, and giving encouragement and counsel to many other pastor's.

What a joy to continue being used by the Lord for His purposes!

In His Arms, Pat

Summer Update

Hi Folks!

It's time for another one of my frequent updates, lol. I recently flew back to San Diego from Dallas, TX where I accompanied my stepdaughter, Haley back to TCU (Texas Christian University) to help her move into her sorority house for the start of her sophomore year. A week ago, she and I were in Hong Kong, where we met up with my beautiful wife. The USS Reagan finally had another port stop after 79 days at sea. thankfully, her deployment is almost over and she should be home in just a few weeks.

The summer has really zipped by and I've been blessed with many opportunities to teach and minister the love of Jesus and His heart for the world, to churches, missions conferences, pastors conferences, small groups and a lot of missionaries. Presently I just finished representing the ministry of Shepherd's Staff Mission Facilitators at the annual Hawaii Pastors and Leaders conference in Honolulu. Today I flew over to Hilo on the big Island to spend time with Ron Brav, the pastor of CC Hilo and teach at their Sunday service. Then it's back to Honolulu to hook up with a few other pastors's I know and then finally watch the Reagan sail in to Pearl Harbor and see Pam again before the final voyage of this 7 month deployment back to San Diego.

Another very special highlight of the summer was sharing at all 3 morning services at Calvary Escondido, my home church, as we all celebrated the 30th Anniversary of CC Escondido. Can't really express my joy and gratitude for all God has done, is doing, and will continue to do thru CCE.

On Sunday Sept. 18th I'LL be filling in at Valley Baptist in Valley Center for my friend Gunar Hansen.

As always, I deeply appreciate your continued prayer and support!

May the Lord richly bless and keep you in His love and pour thru you His abundant Joy!

In His Arm's,

Pat

April/ May update

It's been a pretty crazy season (what else is new) :-) My new bride has been snatched away by the US Navy now for 117 days with 100 more to go. Please continue to pray for her and I as we deal with this long separation. I was blessed to be able to visit with her a few days earlier this month as her ship was ported in Phuket, Thailand - we had a wonderful time together. It was not a planned stop and I found out about 3 days after I returned from 2 weeks in the Philippines that she would be there May 1st - our one year anniversary thru May4! So I got home from the PI April 12th, taught at Horizon Park Chapel on the 17th, then all the Easter activities the following week, flew to Albuquerque for a couple of days of meetings with the Shepherd's Staff board Apr. 25-26, and 3 days later began a bunch of flights back across the Pacific to Thailand. I got home the evening of May 5 and am finally recovered from not only travel but medical stuff too. While I was in the Philippines a nasty amoeba parasite decided to hitch a ride on my innards and about killed me. I never felt that sick. I was in a Filippino hospital for 4 days, but God used it to bring me close to several Shepherd's Staff missionaries serving ail over the Philippines.

The bug was dead but my system still hadn't quite recovered before I was across the ocean again. On my way home from Thailand I got hit with a bad chest cold and that, coupled with jet lag put me out for several days. Thankfully the body still heals :-)

I know many were praying for me and I honestly believe I couldn't have made it without those prayers. I know there was an element of spiritual warfare going on and you guys, alongs with many others, helped sustain me thru it. That Philippines trip - tho I was ill for half of it - had to be the best visit I ever had to the PI - and I've been there many times over that last 20 years. The depth of fellowship I had with folks I knew and many more I had never meet was so sweet. I think there is a deeper bond of intimacy that develops during times of suffering and helplessness.

While I was hospitalized I had a team of "bantays" (meaning, watchers) with me 24/7. Among them were all the missionaries I really hoped to spend time with during the Pastor's Conference (which I was supposed to teach at and missed the entire thing). I wanted to go to them and bring them encouragement - but God had it work the other way around - and in the end - koinonia - sweet communion - constant prayer!


The summer ahead also looks like it's going to pretty full. We are continuing to grow at Shepherd's Staff, serving close to 160 missionary families - of which 80 are my responsibility, being sent out from West Coast churches. I hope to be visiting many of those churches and meet face to face with the pastor and the team that is supporting their missionary. Missionary care is our developing focus and we can't do that effectively without the sending church being on board. You'd be surprised how many churches really don't have a clue about the needs of their missionary, much less a plan to meet those needs. And that's where we can help - so pray for open doors this summer.

Finally, one last word of thanks to each of you for praying and caring about the new things God is doing in my changing life and ministries.
I love you all and pray for God's best for you too. Press in closer to Him! And press on faithfully in all He has called you to do - for His Glory.

In His arm's,

Pat

Western Regional Mission's Pastor
Shepherd's Staff Mission Facilitator's

http://www.shepsstaff.org/kenney.aspx
http://www.poimenministries.com
http://escorev.blogspot.com.