Heart to Heart
Many of you know that Diana and I flew to North Carolina last weekend, to spend time with our daughter Becky. She is an oncology nurse in a small town just outside of Charlotte. Providentially, God moved her to a new job and home just 15 mins drive away from Dave & Connie Hunter (a former FAC leadership couple). We enjoyed a great meal & sweet fellowship with the Hunters, who pass along their love to everyone.
During our time in NC, we also visited with the parents of a college student who had become part of our Crossroads church back in our Minnesota days. What a delight to listen to this couple from Central Asia, describe God’s leading that brought them to the USA after a 5 year effort to secure a visa. Now they live a short distance away from their daughter Rinata and her husband & daughters. If you’re a grandparent, you know how precious that time together is.
As a Crown College student, Rinata and several others chose to invest in our Crossroads family, by driving an hour each way just to be part of the worship services. Rinata and other students began to spend time in our homes, sharing meals, and finding ways to serve on Sundays. Rinata is a very gifted musician, so she served the LORD on the worship team. Her college friend Lucas was interested in missions, and tied into the church. Kate (another Crownie grad) came back to visit us from Cambodia, and helped initiate a church partnership that led to three Crossroads STM teams going there. We opened our hearts & homes to these students, while they shared their dreams and lives with us. We were all richer for the experience.
College is wrapping up this week. Students just finished their finals and are getting ready to head home or to wherever their summer job takes them. Aiden, our Montana Bible College intern, will be heading west to serve in a camp ministry, and then go home to spend time with his parents. Lord willing, we will see him again in mid-August for a short time. Then he will be heading off for his next faith adventure. Our MSUB students (Cort, Camry, Landon, Katelyn) are scattering to the four winds for the summer. Bradford is navigating his EMT medical training & internship.
I hope that you’ve taken time to befriend these students, and love them. We know they are only here for a few short years, before God places them where He wants them. But this is our opportunity to pour into them and help them become all that God wants them to be.
By the way, Rinata is now the wife of a pastor, who serves children parents at a church just outside Charlotte, NC. Lucas is married, has three children, and serves as Children’s Ministry director at our Columbia Falls, MT church. He and his wife Gail are the RMD’s newest IWs, heading to Taiwan with their family later this summer. Kate is married to Andre, and together with their 3 kids, they serve with FAC Family NEWS May 2025 CAMA in SE Asia. We have partnered with them for the last four years.
How precious to be part of the Sovereign LORD formation of their lives, and then years later see what these former college students have become, for the praise of His glory.
Diana and I remember our days as seminary students, preparing for ministry. Only God knew that we would serve in five different Alliance churches over the years, and have the joy of pouring into so many lives. But I’m so glad for those faithful people back at Westside Alliance Church, who choose to pour into us as adult students, even though we would be leaving in a couple years.
The Lord never wastes anything. May we offer love & acceptance, while experiencing the joy of serving together, helping each other to take next steps in growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,
EXCELSIOR - Onward, upward, for Christ’s glory (Phil.3:14)
Pastor Adriaan & Diana <><