Month: May 2020

A Brief Respite

By Jon Stover on May 29, 2020 in Quick Update

Greetings, praying friends and family,

Traveling keeps you busy! I have been many miles, but the meetings we have had have been good. Thank you for all of your prayers; I know God has worked through them! We have presented digitally at First Baptist Bible Church in AZ and Landmark Baptist Church in NM. We received good feedback and were able to join them via livestream chat, and look forward to visiting them when we are in the area next year.
Our in person meetings kicked off at New Heights Baptist Church in TX, which was their second Sunday back together. The spirit of rejoicing at being together in God’s house made me think of Psalm 122:1: I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Even though people were wearing masks (Thank you, Miss Andrea, for the mask) and sitting separated, there was still a great feeling of fellowship! This would be a testament repeated in each church I visited.
Next was Tabernacle Baptist Church (TX), which was their second service back, if I remember correctly, and such a sweet spirit was there! From there, it was off to Arizona and Old Pueblo Baptist Church. During the trip, I met lots of people who know Lena from college (She says “Hello” to all of you), but Old Pueblo was home to an college friend of mine, and I enjoyed seeing him again. Back east to Texas, with Harvest Baptist Church for a Wednesday night. They were reopening the coming Sunday, but I was able to livestream with them. My last stop was Central Baptist Church, which was their first Sunday back. They were also a blessing to me with their fellowship and provision for a place to stay for a little. Thank you again for the gift basket and everything; the room was splendid.
We did experience a number of technological gremlins, which was unfortunate. But, as one pastor said, it just proves that we’re doing something right, because the devil is fighting against us. Pray for us; we are in a spiritual battle, and our enemy likes to target the small things to annoy us, distract us, get our eyes off of our marvelous Savior and start looking at the problems. Pray that he would not have occasion, and that we would not be distracted by his efforts.
I am now back in Maryland with the best woman in the whole world! Our last two meetings ended up being postponed, so I was able to take the week and come back to see my wife. It was much needed, as we were missing one another dearly; I don’t think I realized just how much until I got to see her again. This week will probably not last long enough before I have to be on the road again. Please pray for my next set of travels, as Lena will again not be able to travel with me. Pray for safety in travel, comfort and grace for both of us as we are apart, and power and blessing on our meetings for June!
As always, thank you for praying! God is working because of your prayers!

On the Road Again

By Jon Stover on May 5, 2020 in Quick Update

Greetings, praying friends and family,

As the United States begins to open up, our schedule looks like it will be resuming this week. We are extremely thankful to Odenton Baptist Church (our sending church) for taking such great care of us during these weeks of shutdown. Your generosity to us humbles us, and we know that it honors Christ! We pray that He will bless you bountifully for your love and kindness to us while we have been here, and for your prayers and support while we are out on deputation.
While it is exciting to be back to traveling and meetings, it isn’t all good news, unfortunately. The doctors working with Lena’s pregnancy have all but forbidden her to travel. There are some concerns, but nothing serious; thank you for your prayers. Both mother and baby are fine; in fact, we just had an anatomy scan today and, apart from being a little on the heavy side, Baby Stover is completely healthy. However, they are concerned about what long travel could do, and are worried about her being far away if more complications arise. We have consulted with them, consulted with men of faith, and prayed to our loving Father. We believe it is His will for her to remain in Odenton while I continue to hold our meetings. We have full faith that God will take care of us all, but it is the first time we have been apart, and to be apart for nearly two months will not be easy for us. We have God’s peace in the matter, but pray that God would comfort our hearts as we part for a brief time.
That said, the road ahead leads to Texas and Arizona, so Lena gets to avoid the heat of the south during the hot months. We have a full schedule for May and most of June. There are two Wednesdays in June we could fill, pray that we could fill them.
We would like to say a special thanks to First Baptist Bible Church (Glendale, AZ) and Landmark Baptist Church (Carlsbad, NM) for allowing us to present via video. We were able to interact some with First Baptist via chat, and we look forward to being with Landmark in the same capacity on Wednesday! We look forward to being able to be with them in person!
As always, thank you for your prayers! We appreciate having so many of you lift us before the throne of grace every day, and we know that God hears and provides because of you! We constantly pray that God would bless all of you!
We will leave you this week with a photo of us!