Dear
Family & Friends,
What
a fast-paced and fruitful couple of months! As I landed in Orlando from
Singapore, I hit the ground running. I was home for about a day, and then
Darla and I flew to Pennsylvania for some meetings. I then made a quick
trip to our base in Nashville for a board meeting.
While
at the board meeting, I received a call from Darla that her 88-year-old mother
in Fairmount Nursing Home suddenly took a turn for the worst as a result of
pneumonia. I arrived back in PA on Friday night, and by Saturday morning,
Mary High had gone to be with the Lord. What a loss for us, but what gain
for her! She had been suffering with Parkinson’s, and her speaking was
faint among many other symptoms. Now she is free to embrace the love of
her life - Jesus. We will miss her and her faithful intercession for us,
but we are happy for her newfound freedom in her heavenly journey with the
Father.
It
was certainly providential that we were in PA at this time because this allowed
Darla and I to see her mom several times in her final week, and it allowed us
to be with our family in making the final arrangements and to participate in
the funeral. I gave the message and a recording of "In The
Garden," sung and played by our daughter Kristen, was played during the
funeral. Because we flew all three of our children up to PA, she was
there, but the emotions of the moment were too strong for her to sing the song
live. We are grateful to the Lord for the privilege of being with Darla’s
mom and family during this time. No doubt, this was hard, but we knew we
were in exactly the right place at the right time.
Next,
Darla and I flew to Charleston, South Carolina, to meet with the N. American
Council at our final meeting. Due to the new change in the way we organize
ourselves in YWAM, there will no longer be a North American Council. The
way God has directed us to lead our mission above the base level is through
various circles of elders. So Orlando is now in the Eastern North
American Area, and I have been asked to participate in selecting the circle of
elders for this area over the next year. Please join us in prayer for
God’s wisdom as I help to lead this process.
All
of this was followed by teaching in our Discipleship Training School, School
of Ministry Development, and our Tuesday Community Night along with having several key meetings in Orlando area, including
formative leadership meetings at our base, preparing for the YWAM Southeast
Conference at our base in November (about 600 people are coming), and hosting
Brave Love, a woman’s conference at our base.
Much
of the fruit of these current years comes from all the wonderful young leaders
that have been raised up in our midst. They carry their responsibilities
and roles with a grace and maturity beyond their years. This investment
in their lives would not have been possible for us without the years and years
of faithful partnership of so many of you, our friends –THANK YOU!!!
Until
all have heard,
Michael
& Darla Berg
