Poured Out

 

(June 18th, 2010)

Almost Finished – June Mini-Update

We are now finishing up week seven of our eight-week trip in the USA.  We started out with 3 weeks in Chicago, visiting 7 churches and meeting with old and new friends.  My aunt Carol provided us with wonderful hospitality and we made some great family memories.  Then we flew to Oregon where our sending church is.  Despite the constant rainy weather and very busy schedule, we’ve had a great time here!  I just calculated that Peter and I have slept in 8 different beds on this trip and our family has stayed together in 7 different locations (one more coming!).  We have had a wonderful time with our supporters and prayer partners, both family and friends.  Our children have gotten re-acquainted with lots of people that love them.

No matter how long these trips are, we always wish for more time to spend with friends.  But we’re thankful for the time we’ve had and for all the amazing people that partner with us as we serve the Lord.  Overall it has been a fantastic trip and although I have had some headaches, I have had plenty of days where I’ve felt great too.  On Saturday, we are heading to Bend, Oregon (4 hrs. from here) for a little break and also to spend time with 2 families we know there.  Then we come back in time to pack for our flight on Thursday, 24th June (we arrive in London on the 25th).  The kids have done well with all the visiting and busyness but I think we are all feeling ready to go home and enjoy a little more restful pace and some family time.

Just 2 big prayer requests this time:

* Pray for good health and physical and emotional energy as we finish our trip, go back to England and spend some time resting and recovering.

* We have been looking online at houses to rent in Chippenham.  When we get back we’ll probably try to go and view a few of them.  Would you pray for us to find a house to rent in God’s timing and for us to make a wise choice about when exactly to move? (see May mini-update for more info re our move)

With our love,

Melanie for us all

______________________________

Support Information

Our support info: Please make payable to OM and include note, “For Peter & Melanie Mead, ICT” and send to your nearest OM office:

OM UK, The Quinta, Weston Rhyn, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY10 7LT

OM USA, PO Box 444, Tyrone, GA 30290-0444

OM Canada, 84 West Street, Port Colborne, ON L3K 4C8

(Let me know if you need different OM office information)

 

 

(May 14th, 2010)

 Letting Him Move Us – May Mini-Update

We are writing this month’s mini-update from Chicago, USA in the midst of an 8 week family/ministry trip.  We actually never wrote an April mini-update . . . where did those weeks go!?  April was an intense month for us. Peter preached 3 Sundays at our home church, took a week-long overseas trip to teach preaching to 120 church leaders (while he was there a coup broke out, so we are very thankful he returned safely!), spoke at several other meetings, and had several planning meetings.  At the end of the month, the volcano took a break from erupting, so we were able to pack up and set off on our trip to the USA.

As we sat on the airplane two weeks ago, waiting to take off for Chicago, Joel kept excitedly asking his daddy, “Are we flying yet?”  “Not yet,” Peter replied over and over. When we finally did start down the runway, Joel slipped his little hand into Peter’s big one and admitted he was a little scared.  As the plane rose into the sky, Joel had the reassurance of snuggling against Peter and looking up into his smiling face.

God has some big plans ahead for us later this summer.  We’ll be moving to a new town and a new church.  That memory of Joel and Peter is a sweet picture for me of how we are feeling about the move – eager anticipation mixed with a bit of fear as we embark on a new chapter in our family’s story.  The beautiful thing is, as we “take off” into the unknown, we can snuggle up close to our heavenly Father, look into His calm face and know He is with us wherever we go.

The last few months have been an intense time of decision making for us as we’ve talked, prayed and sought wise counsel about the idea of moving.  Our sending church elders, as well as other people we respect, are all supporting us in our decision to move to Chippenham in Wiltshire (2 hrs. west of where we live currently).  We’ll become part of the church family at Ladyfield Evangelical Church where Peter will preach 4 months out of the year and help to mentor and train other preachers in the church.  Peter is not taking an official role or title in the church and he won’t be receiving a salary from them. We’ll continue on with our OM and other overseas commitments.  However, Peter will be backing out of quite a lot of his one-off Sunday preaching engagements so he can focus on serving at Ladyfield.  For quite some time, we’ve had the desire to consolidate a lot of what Peter does in the UK into one place so we can attend church more regularly as a complete family.  Equally, Ladyfield has offered the use of their church building for Cor Deo meetings which is a real blessing (more on Cor Deo in another mini-update).

If you had mentioned the idea of moving 9 months ago, I would have said there was no way in the world I could face moving again.  But God has brought me to the point of being willing to step out in faith and let Him move us.  We are confident that we are making a wise decision and that there are blessings waiting for us ahead.  Naturally, we are very sad to leave behind friends in Caterham and the girls are especially finding it hard to think about leaving friends.  We have been really privileged to be part of Oakhall Church for these past five and a half years and we hope to be able to continue the great friendships we have been blessed with there.  One of the hardest parts of this decision is leaving behind our involvement in the Wednesday evening “Getting More” Bible study and the ladies “Oasis” book club – which have both provided some very precious times in the last years.

Currently, we are in the middle of a family ministry trip – the purpose of which is to connect with new and old friends, supporters and prayer partners.  Sunday morning will be our last (out of 7) church meeting here in the Chicago area.  Then we get to take a little family trip next week to the Creation Museum in Kentucky before we fly to Oregon next Thursday (the 20th).  Please pray for us to be able have the right balance of activity and rest and that we would all stay healthy (my headaches were really bad the first week we were here) and close to Jesus. Pray that God would use us to inspire lots of people to get more involved in missions – to let God move their hearts and maybe move them overseas too.

Thanks so much for praying for us, and please let us know how we can be praying for you!

Melanie for us all

 Prayer Requests:

*Pray that we will be a blessing to everyone we spend time with here in the USA.

*Pray that God would provide just the right house for us in Chippenham.

*Pray for all of us, especially our children, to adjust to the idea of moving.

*Pray that all 6 of us will let God move our hearts to beat more in time with His heartbeat – that we would be passionate about what He is passionate about.

 

 

(March 11th, 2010)

March Mini-Update – Easter Treats

We know that Easter is not until next month but we are already thinking about it.  On Palm Sunday our church is performing a musical called Resurrection Rock.  Hannah is looking forward to being a part of that.  We hope to invite several neighbours and friends to that service, which will be the culmination of a special week of outreach.

The other night at bedtime Mariah and Joel gave me a sweet Easter treat.  Mariah sang a long and involved song that basically traced the Easter story from the Last Supper (“this is my body, this is my blood”) to the Empty Tomb (“There is no sign of him”).  I did not know she knew the Easter story so well!  Not to be outdone, Joel sang a song that started with how Jesus is stronger than lions and bears and tigers and ended up repeating “God’s not dead, NO! He is alive!” about 10 times!  May these truths find their way from their little heads down to their hearts.The best Easter treat of all is to know and serve a God who is alive and at work!  So we press on in serving Him.  Here is a brief update for you:February was a busy month, but a good one.  Birthdays for 3 girls, a week with the family spread over three locations, lots of meetings.  Now we’re all together and already into March.  Although there’s no foreign travel this month, the schedule is very busy.  I think there are something like 29 messages to preach or sessions to lead this month!  We really appreciate your prayer, especially when the schedule is like this!

What Kind of Meetings?Well, the meetings include the weekly Getting More studies, a series of seminars in a local church, a couple of preacher training events, a couple of quarterly Bible studies, a church weekend, a Christian Union (students) and a training event for the good folks working among students.

What Kind of Content?That’s the treat Peter doesn’t want to lose sight of . . . “I get to spend time in Psalms, Ezekiel, Luke, John, Romans, Ephesians and 2nd Timothy this month!  A recurring theme in these months, at the request of different churches, is that of unity and relationships between believers.  What a critical area this is to understand and apply!”

What Kind of Focus?Some sessions include elements of how to understand the Bible.  About a third of the sessions this month focus on how to communicate the Bible to others effectively.  Hopefully all of the sessions focus in some way on how to respond to God’s Word.  It’s not enough to understand what we read, we also need to carefully consider how we should respond to what we see in the Word – responding with our actions, responding in our thinking, responding from our hearts.Please pray for us this month as we press on through this heavy schedule.  Please pray that we will be responsive to our Lord this month, and that we’ll have the joy of helping others do the same.We hope you have an encouraging March and will enjoy some Easter “treats” of your own.  Please let us know how we can be praying for you this month!

With our love,

Peter & Melanie (and the children)

 

 

(January 2nd, 2010)

Happy New Year – 2010!

Is it possible to do a numerical acrostic? How about January’s prayer requests quick-style using the numbers 2, 0, 1, and uh, 0 -

2 - Weekends of ministry.  I am teaching a “Getting to Grips with the Gospels” weekend at nearby Otford Manor (22-24th), and a church weekend in Coventry (30-31st). The number 2 can also stand for the number headaches that Melanie had in December, and one of these was a low-grade one. This is a great improvement!

0 - Weekends without some ministry.  Most months I keep one weekend clear, but January is a bit busy this time! Pray for stamina for all of us.

1 – Foreign ministry trip. I will be speaking in Germany at the OM new recruits conference again, although this will be my first time at the January conference (15-20th).

0 – Birthdays this month. Okay, that was a stretch, but it is true. We hit birthday season next month, so for now we can stay focused on schooling and family life with the children (although we will hear requests for birthday cake preferences most days!)oh, and also . . .

20 – Hours of Cor Deo syllabus planning meetings.  Perhaps not quite that long, but the Cor Deo leadership team will spend two days together later this month working on the details of the syllabus. Only 13 months until we hope to launch the first Cor Deo program. Email updates should be starting this month, let us know if you want to receive them!

10 – Sessions of Getting More Bible Study. We start on the 13th and will have ten Wednesday night sessions in the book of Psalms. I’m excited to get stuck into that!So there you go – 2010, Happy New Year!We have recently posted some photos from December and also our newly laid out family mission statement and core values – click here.  Thank you so much for praying for us!

With our love,

Peter & Melanie

 

 

(December 7th, 2009)

Christmas Lights!

It’s Christmas season!  As you can imagine, the children are all very excited.  They love to turn on the tree lights and play dress up as angels, Mary or shepherds.  They are excited about being a part of both Christmas and homeschool club performances this year.

Highlights – I don’t mean the hair kind, although there are natural gray highlights appearing on us!  Since our last update we have had some memorable moments: speaking to over 100 students about missions during a powercut, leading Bible studies for the OM ships head office just before the news that Doulos has to finish her ministry immediately, visiting our neighbours to gain local support for the church’s project to buy a new building, spending two days in coffee shops planning the new Cor Deo training ministry with likeminded brothers, presenting a petition to our member of parliament opposing government plans to undermine parental rights.

Lowlights – It’s a blessing that we don’t have real bad news to report, but that doesn’t mean life is always easy.  In fact, it rarely is.  Tiredness is always lurking at the door, especially for Melanie (although overall she has been much better energy and headache wise).  The tank can feel very empty for me too, especially after a weekend of preaching.  As all parents know, some days seem to be filled with discouragements about our children’s behaviour.

Delights – To balance the last statement, it is fair to say that we often feel delight when we see our children progressing, growing, obeying, learning, caring for each other and showing interest in the things of God.  Joel in particular is at the age for grammatical errors which makes for very cute comments! “Mummy, I did eat them chocolates!”

Nightlights – Joel is potty trained . . . although we’re still trying to convince him that the whole process works the same at night!  With only the nightlight illuminating the potty, he’s still sometimes hesitant to use it in the semi-dark and then get back into bed!

Headlights – What’s coming up?  We have a lighter schedule in December as far as ministry commitments are concerned.  However, I will keep busy with ministry preparation and admin work.  We are looking forward to Melanie’s parents visiting for 10 days, and then we have a couple of days together with Peter’s family after Christmas.  January will be busier, but we’ll update again before then.

Searchlight – Melanie has been really helped by having a friend come in one evening each week (when I am out) and help with clearing up the kitchen.  This has really helped to ease the burden of housework (even an hour or two for other projects is precious time).  This friend has had to pull back from this and so we’re praying for someone else to help in a similar way.Thanks for praying for us and we hope you’ll have a very blessed Christmas and New Year!

Peter, Melanie & the children

PS If you would like to receive the Cor Deo email updates, please let me know and I’ll add you to the list!  We will send out the first one in the next few weeks.

Schedule (full version on www.pouredout.org):Sundays: 6th (Oakhall), 13th (Montpellier & Dorking)Key Meetings: 9th (Interview for online resource site), 17th (Pillars Training Program planning day)

 

(October 1st, 2009)

Nuts – A Mead Mini-Update!

Last month I wrote about hats, although I rarely wear one.  Keeping up the trend of borderline irrelevance, please note the “nutshell” theme this time (although I rarely eat nuts).

September in a nutshell – We survived without Melanie, but were thrilled to have her home again!  The Langham training in Romania went really well – please pray for the 100 participants as they meet in local “preachers clubs” between now and next year’s level 2 training.  The planning meetings for the part-time training initiative went well, but no more details yet . . . stay tuned!

Family in a nutshell – Melanie is trying to carefully balance her schedule so she can stay on top of the health issues, we’re cautiously encouraged at this time.  Homeschooling is back into full swing, as well as extra-curricular activities including swimming and music lessons, (plus Choi Kwang Do and periodic horse riding for Hannah).  Educating the children is a challenge, although usually a very satisfying one.  But shepherding their hearts and shaping them for life is a greater challenge!  Thanks for praying for us, and for the four of them too!

October in a nutshell – No foreign travel this month, only local ministry.  I’ll be speaking most Sundays at either Oakhall or other churches.  Every Wednesday our Getting More Bible Study group is soaking in the rich waters of the book of Romans.  I have been able to add in a weekend away with one of the London Christian Unions (23rd – 25th)  We have an important meeting at the end of the month following up last month’s planning for the new training program.   And regarding a different new training initiative – please pray especially for the 7th and 8th as the Cor Deo team are meeting to make further plans.  Definitely more details to follow about Cor Deo, the mentored study and ministry program we are prayerfully planning to launch in 2011!

Peter, Melanie and co.

 

(September 2nd, 2009)

Seven Hats – A Mead Mini-Update

Looking back to August and ahead to September gives a good summary of some of the “hats” I am privileged to wear (although I rarely, if ever, wear a hat!)

Hat 1 – Missionary to Europe.  In mid-August we really enjoyed being at the Brethren Christian Workers Conference in France.  Although I coordinated the seminar schedule, this really was a vacation for us all.  We enjoyed the teaching, the food, and especially seeing old friends again.  The children loved the kids program and spending every afternoon in the pool!

Hat 2 – OM Conference Speaker.  I just returned from a flying visit to Holland for the OM new recruits conference.  I was asked to preach five times, plus lead a seminar.  It is such a privilege to show how OM’s core values are really biblical values – loving and valuing people, being people of grace and integrity, serving sacrificially, global intercession, etc. Please pray that the entire conference will bear lasting fruit across the world as these 252 new OMers head to their fields of service. (For report, click here.)

Hat 3 – Langham Preaching Trainer.  September 9-13th I’ll be in Romania helping to teach and lead the first level of Langham Preaching training.  Please pray for the participants to really grasp the importance of Biblical Preaching and to continue to practice what they learn in the months ahead.  I’ll also get to visit friends who are serving in Romania and preach in their church.

Hat 4 – UK Ministry Planner.  I’m currently involved in planning a new part-time training program for local assemblies in this country.  More details to follow, but please pray for the group meeting this month to put plans in place.

Hat 5 – Associate Research Fellow.  I just received confirmation that I am now an associate of London School of Theology.  What does this mean?  It means I will have opportunity to supervise master’s dissertations in the field of homiletics (preaching) and hopefully will therefore be able to help and influence the influential.

Hat 6 – Daddy.  The most important discipleship opportunity of all is to be Daddy to our four little Meads.  Right now I’m especially aware of this role as Melanie is visiting her sister and new niece back in Oregon.  Please pray for us to survive this week without Melanie!

Hat 7 – Husband.  Melanie’s back on Sunday . . . can’t wait!  (By the way, since our last newsletter, Melanie’s seen some improvement in both headaches and fatigue – please continue to pray for lasting resolution to these challenges!)Hope this is helpful.  Let us know if you’d prefer not to receive email updates from us.  Thanks so much for praying for us!

Peter and the little Meads