Christmas 2019
It has now been two and a half years since we transitioned from a lifetime of local church planting and leadership into an itinerant role serving churches and seminaries internationally. When we started out on this journey, it felt like (and was) another great venture of faith. We didn’t have a lot to start with except the Lord, but that’s nothing new! Looking back, it is amazing to see how the Lord has met us. We are grateful to any of you who have prayed for us. Please don’t stop.
One of our continual prayers has been to find ourselves only in situations where God has clearly called us. To that end, we have prayed consistently that God would both open and close doors as he desired. Our whole life direction was changed decades ago through a message he gave us about opened and closed doors, and how the easy or obvious way is often not the right one. And that also has been true in this last season. Directions we thought we would take never materialized, but other opportunities presented themselves and turned out to be God’s pathways for us.
A great example of this was how we wound up in Athens in October. In the summer of 2018 I was in a personal prayer time asking the Lord to open and close doors. I finished my prayer and picked up my phone to see a new email asking if I would be willing to come to Athens and teach at the Greek Bible College. Needless to say, we didn’t have to pray much further about that! The trip to Athens opened our eyes to the massive need in relation to the millions of Muslim refugees who have streamed into or through Greece in the last few years, and it was an eye opener to witness first hand the truth (that has so often been reported) about Muslims having dreams and visitations from Christ which then lead to their salvation. Greece has only 10,000 evangelical believers, and to see the courage and faithfulness of the Christian community and the missionaries who have come from around the world to serve the refugees was very moving.
We spent the first three months of the year in Michigan, serving a church there we know very well and giving some assistance to a couple of related fellowships. Most of April and May were spent in the UK with churches there, then June through August at home in Canada. We were off again to the UK in early September. A highlight was a two day advanced leadership session with a group of about 40 dedicated men and women at Westminster Chapel in London, and to stand in the pulpit where for decades Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached to the world. After that we went to Athens. We returned home in early November, turned around and went back to Michigan for the rest of the month. In the UK, our area of ministry continues to expand. In Canada, we are involved with a small but growing number of churches, as well as teaching at a seminary in Ontario. It has been great to do a lot of things together, especially in seminar and small group settings.
The year ahead is full of opportunities and challenges. We expect to return, Lord willing, to all of the above countries, plus a trip by myself to northern India in late November to teach at a seminary and preach. It will have been twenty years since my last trip to India, and I know I will come back tired but inspired. I am now also involved with an online teaching programme delivered through Instagram called TheosUniversity, launched by two brothers Elaine and I have known since they were teenagers asking me tough theological questions. Things have come full circle and now I’m working for them! There’s something that seems very right about that.
We had one wedding in the family this year, when Rachel married Matt Luard, who came from England to Ottawa to help with the church plant we are involved with there. It was a rare and wonderful couple of days when our entire family, eight kids, four spouses and five grandkids were all together. Since then we have added another granddaughter, giving us three grandsons in Canada and three granddaughters in England. Ethan Alexander was born to Michael and Samantha in Toronto in April, and Adelaide Victoria was born to Chris and Anna in London in October.
We want to express our thanks to those who have supported us in prayer and financially. I’m not naming names because none of you would want that kind of public acknowledgment, but God knows and we are grateful. We are also thankful to churches which over the last several years have supported us consistently and generously, in particular Firm Foundation Ministries Centreville Michigan, New Life Church Toronto, Emmanuel Church Durham and St Luke’s Newcastle in England, along with many others who have been faithful in their support. Thanks to Mark Britton in Michigan and Aaron MacDonald in Ontario (amacdesign.ca) for their help with my website (davidhcampbell.com), and Phoebe Gubb (@phoebedamaris) in the UK with help in developing a presence on Instagram. The weekly blog posts reach many people around the world, and I’m continually receiving messages of appreciation. We are also grateful to Jubilee Stratford and its pastors Trevor Biehn and Jerry Steingard for providing such a welcoming and supportive home base, and for sending us out as we go.
I’ll leave you with this. The pastor of a church we attended in Greece told us of going to one of the islands off the coast of Turkey where, over the past few years, hundreds and thousands of refugees have landed. He spoke of holding an unconscious lady in his arms on the beach, and how when she opened her eyes she was looking into a face which reflected the love of Christ, probably the first time in her life she had ever seen such a face. Wherever we are, like you, we want to reflect that same love into the lives of all we meet.
God’s blessings on all of you in the year ahead.
David and Elaine
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AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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