Winter Update

Greetings from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We can actually say that now and have an address that reflects it. This fall following a ministry trip to Nova Scotia, we moved from our rental home in Ephrata to a home in Neffsville, in the north part of Lancaster. Neffsville is certainly different than the rural surroundings of Ephrata, but we are very grateful for God's provision of this home. In particular we have enjoyed the extra space for our family. It didn't take long for us to make use of the extra bedrooms too!

In December we celebrated Christmas in our new home and were joined by Betsy's dad, John Cofer, and my brother Cameron and his wife Wendy. These times with family are all the sweeter when they are also with brothers and sisters in Christ.

During Betsy's dad's visit, we traveled down to Maryland to visit longtime friends, Melvin & Harriet Wilson and Karen Wilson. Karen is director of a wonderful crisis pregnancy center in Aberdeen called Alpha's Glory (www.agcpc.org). We also paid a brief visit to Pastor John McKnight of Reformation Bible Church in Darlington, MD. Betsy's dad taught Pastor McKnight math back in 1971 at Harford Christian Academy.

With Uncle Cam & Aunt Wendy

Dad Cofer and
Pastor McKnight

At home, Betsy continues to homeschool the older boys. Elijah is in 5th grade and Samuel and David are in 3rd. When we moved into our new home we were disappointed to find out that the boys' piano teacher would be unable to continue giving them lessons in our new location. However, just after we moved, we noticed a sign a few houses down for a gentleman who gives music lessons. In fact he teaches multiple instruments, so now Elijah has switched over to euphonium (my instrument) and Samuel to cornet (Betsy's instrument). David is continuing as our piano player.

Jesse (4) and Ginger (2) keep things interesting at home to say the least. They have definitely claimed the two seats at the kitchen island as their spots for breakfast.

At Bible Visuals International, we finished a very busy fall that was highlighted by our ministry's 57th anniversary banquet. Our special guests were Mickey and Trina Cofer, missionaries to Mongolia. For those of you who know Betsy well, I'm sure you noticed the last name is the same as Betsy's maiden name. They aren't related as far as we know although we'd be glad to claim these dear friends as kin.

One of the projects we've been very busy with at BVI is our new Family Format of the stories. In this format the illustrations and text are printed together . . . I know, not exactly like inventing sliced bread or the wheel, right? However, this is a big step for us. Up to now, our print materials have always had the illustrations printed in a larger size and with a separate text booklet for the teacher to study or read from. In this Family Format, the books are 8.5" x 8.5" in size and are designed for parents to read with their children or for children to read independently.

One of the hinderances to doing this in the past was the added cost of printing all these formats. But now we've been able to take advantage of a self-publishing program through Amazon called Createspace. Ministry partners can order these Family Formats through our Createspace store or directly through Amazon. The books are printed individually and shipped through Amazon. One other benefit of the program is that this makes our print materials in this format available to ministry partners in Europe since they can be printed by Amazon there. (Learn more at www.biblevisuals.org/family)

Thanks to our friends the Storcks and the Fortneys for helping us get some great product shots of the new Family Format.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our family and the ongoing ministry work. Here are a few specific ways you can be praying for us as we move forward:

Pray for our financial support. We ended the year at 65% which was down a little from last year. There is a real need for regular support through individuals and churches in order for the ministry to continue.
Pray for us as we homeschool Elijah, Samuel & David. The challenges of teaching and learning from one another often expose our sinful flesh. Pray that it would cause all of us to run to our Lord and cry out to Him for help.
We have several major production projects continuing or gearing up this year. Pray for strength and wisdom as I help oversee these projects. Pray that these resources would clearly communicate the Gospel and help point children to Christ.
Pray for me individually, us as a family, and us as a ministry staff to be drinking deep from God's Word and walking in utter dependence upon Him. It's so easy to get caught up in the "important" and miss what is really important.

As a history buff, I was naturally curious about the history of our home that was built in 1902. Imagine my surprise when I found this picture on the wikipedia article on Neffsville and realized it was our house!

It turns out that this and several other pictures are part of a Library of Congress collection taken in 1942 by a woman with the FSA and War Department. She spent Thanksgiving with the family and captured an iconic scene of family prayer.

We pray that our family will truly make this a house of worship and prayer!

Here's a link to some other pictures in the collection

New home address: 2436 Lititz Pike, Lancaster, PA 17601

If you'd like to make a support gift, please click here

Learn more about BVI through a brief video Betsy helped produce this past fall.

The Intercessor

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