Birthday filled with HOPE! Since joining Grace Family Love, Rhonda has finally been given the space to dream and the safety to hope again. After years of simply surviving, she now wakes up in a place where she is seen, valued, and supported. This year, her 19th birthday wasn’t just a celebration of another year—it was a joyful milestone filled with laughter, love, and renewed hope for her future. For the first time in a long time, Rhonda believes better days are ahead—and with your support, she’s starting to plan for them.
Arrival in Argentina! I'm now officially settled into my new home here in Mendoza! Over the past two weeks, our small team and I traveled through a few different areas in Argentina, visiting and encouraging churches! First, the whole team flew into Buenos Aires, and there I was approved for my Argentine citizenship before our team traveled to visit a church in Cordoba. Cordoba In Cordoba, we visited a home church led by our friends Jorge and Dulci. They are doing an amazing job of building community and inviting both their church community and their neighbors who don't yet know Jesus to join them in ministering to the poor in their community. As we gathered with their community and worshipped and prayed together, someone had invited a woman who didn't have a relationship with God. After our team prayed with her, she decided she wanted to follow Jesus! This church also has a thriving community of young people between the ages of 12-18, so our team spent some time just praying for, blessing, and encouraging them in their walk with Jesus. Gualeguaychu After Cordoba, we flew back to Buenos Aires and drove 3 hours north to the city of Gualeguaychu, where Ezekiel and Gisela lead a small church. As we gathered and met many of the members of their church family, it became clear that many of those in the congregation had suffered recent and significant loss. This led us to a time of all praying for the peace and comfort of God. It was a very sweet and touching time that left all of us feeling that God was inviting this church to be a place of healing for others who are suffering loss in the community. Mendoza After leaving Gualeguaychu, we flew to Mendoza to visit Mark and Karina and the church family I will be serving here in Mendoza! Here we experienced something really powerfully that we had actually already seen at the other Argentine churches as well: both our team and the members of the churches here in Argentina felt a strong sense of kinship with one another. Again and again, people we had just met shared how it felt like we were all family. This brought to mind what Jesus prayed in John 17:20-23 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May the also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one---- I in them and you in me---so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." God cares so much about the unity of his church. Even when it's incredibly inconvenient and impractical for a small team to travel thousands of miles to a group in another country that speaks a different language, it seems that God honors and blesses these connections and, through these kinds of relationships, is showing the world who Jesus is. Thank you all so much for being a part of this with me! Prayer Right now, the most pressing requests for prayer are: That God would bless our new English-speaking gathering to reach and minister to those in the community in Mendoza who don't speak Spanish That God would give me grace to learn Spanish quickly so that I can participate more and more in the Spanish-speaking community That God would give grace for building new community here in Mendoza
Time flies when you're having fun! I can't believe that we only have two more days with our wonderful interns! These past couple of months have been so full of adventure together as a team and individually. It has been such a joy to watch the way God has been unfolding giftings, callings, and next steps for each intern. I know He is watering the seeds that He planted long before the internship. I feel so privileged to have gotten to spend this time walking alongside the four young people and getting to see how God is encouraging them to take hold of their gifts to use in the building of the Kingdom! In our last couple of days together, we will be taking in a harvest, talking about all that God has been doing, reflecting on what we've learned, and blessing one another. Then we will practice sharing about what God has been doing or ... Engaging the people of God, with the mission of God, for the glory of God! Please partner with us in prayer for: Many opportunities to share the "harvest" of all that God has done in the internship with people! A solidifying of the things God has taught us, in our hearts and minds! Joy and excitement for the next steps and next assignments God has for each of the interns! Thank you for partnering with us in prayer. I look forward to sharing more specific testimonies from the interns very soon!
Good afternoon! If you are receiving this email, you have previously supported a ministry through GoMission.Church or are currently giving through GoMission.Church. You may have received an update email from "Gathering Table Farms" about a week ago, thanking you for your donation. If you have not given towards Gathering Table ministries, please disregard this email update, as it was sent out to the wider emailing list of supporters on GoMission.Church by mistake. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused, and can assure you that your previous gifts and recurring gifts are going to the correct ministries! If you have any questions or concerns regarding this message or the status of your giving, please contact our team through email at info@gomission.church . Thank you for partnering with the ministries on GoMission.Church. We pray that God will continue to bless you for your generosity! Many blessings, The GoMission.Church Team
Thank you for supporting Gathering Table. Your support has made a big difference in helping Gathering Table soar this year! “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) With your generous support, here’s what we have seen God do so far this year! Fully Funded All Five Pop-Up Dinners for this Year The Gathering Table Pop-Up dinners are currently the backbone of the Gathering Table ministry. The heart of these dinners is to bring people together who are different from one another around a common table where life stories are shared, empathy grows and the hope of the gospel is proclaimed. So far we have hosted one Pop-Up Dinner this year, with another one planned later this month. In total, we plan to host five dinners this year, each costing approximately $500. We are delighted to share that we have enough funding to cover all of these costs for the year. Launched a Bee Keeping Apprenticeship This spring, we launched an apprenticeship program, where two men get the opportunity to learn about bee keeping while discovering answers to important life questions. Each time we meet, we start by doing a Bible study together focused on what the Bible says about bee keeping and farming, and how it applies to our lives. After that, we open up the two demonstration bee hives that they are learning to take care of. The apprentices started the two hives from scratch so that they get to see a bee hive all along the development and growth process. Funds were used to purchase two bee packages ($165 each) plus other related bee keeping expenses to grow and maintain those two hives. Expanded from 12 Hives to 20 Hives Spring is the busiest time of the year for bee keeping, providing lots of opportunities for pollination, honey production and splitting (multiplying) hives. We are excited to report that since the start of the year, we have grown from 12 hives to 20 hives. This was done using a variety of methods, including adding hives through catching 2 swarms, starting 2 new hives from purchased bee packages, and doing 4 splits from our current hives allowing the new hives to “rear” their own new queens (a natural way to make more bee hives). Your support has helped to cover costs associated with maintaining and expanding the hives with mite control, spring buildup and feeding, purchasing and painting boxes, preparing frames with wax, and purchasing other bee keeping equipment. Expanding the number of bee hives is a step of faith toward building farming infrastructure for the dream of someday having a working farm that helps people who feel stuck in life find freedom and purpose through the hope of Jesus. Purchased a Larger Honey Harvester This year, we outgrew our 4 frame manual crank honey harvester and decided it was time to make a 5-10 year investment in a larger 18 frame automatic honey harvester. Last year, in total we harvested about 180 pounds of honey. This year, we have already harvested over that amount and expect to harvest anywhere from 150 to 200 pounds more, for a total of somewhere around 400 pounds of honey! This new harvester has made a world of a difference, in both speeding up the process and making it more enjoyable. Your support has helped us to purchase this honey harvester from another bee keeper for $1200. It sells for new at $1900. The previous owner used the harvester to harvest honey for 100 bee hives in Sonora! Through May, we are approximately 70% funded for the year! Thank you, Lord! This has allowed us to do all the things shared in this letter. Here is what remains to be funded and how we plan to use those remaining funds to further invest in both Gathering Table’s current activities and future. Remaining Hive Sponsorships: Of our 20 bee hives, there are 8 and-a-half hives remaining to be sponsored (adopted). These remaining hive sponsorships would allow us to further invest in the health of our bee hives by purchasing new queens, upgrading equipment and possibly expanding the number of hives beyond 20 to 25 hives to give a boost going into the winter. See the remaining hives for sponsorship HERE. Bless Volunteers at The Collective Shop with Clovis Bucks: We are looking to raise $100 per month from June-December of this year, for a total of $700 to be used to purchase “Clovis Bucks” as a way to bless our volunteers who help out at the Collective 103 shop in Old Town Clovis every Friday from 11am-5pm. Our volunteers will be able to use up to $25 in Clovis Bucks on food or drink each time while working the shop on behalf of Gathering Table. Learn more about the shop and/or give toward this HERE. New Tires for the Bee Truck: This year, we would like to invest $800 in the Bee Truck and purchase a set of four new tires (the front two and two of the back duallys are in need of replacement). This investment will allow the ministry to continue using this truck for a variety of needs such as checking and moving the bee hives throughout the year and transporting the table, chairs and crates for the Pop-Up Dinners. In addition to new tires, we also plan to use these funds to replace the back board of the flat bed with new wood and the Gathering Table logo. Learn more HERE. Thank you again for supporting Gathering Table this year! One way you can stay posted on Gathering Table updates is by subscribing to our Table Talk Newsletter that is emailed and/or texted out regularly throughout the year.
First day of the GoMission.Church Internship was a blast! God is continuing to raise our expectations for what He will do this summer. We began our time together with some creative worship, focusing our eyes on Jesus through play! We talked about the importance of being childlike in our faith and how this summer is an invitation to explore with God. He is leading us, we are just along for the ride! Then we spent some time getting to know one another. After lunch, we all took some time to intentionally ask the Lord to reveal the areas that He wants to challenge and grow us in this season, as well as give Him our hopes for what he will do in His Church! We ended the day with our first pastor meeting at Grace Place! Pastor Brian told us the story of their church and his dreams for it in the future. It was so encouraging to hear his heart and passion for the Kingdom. Please join us in prayer that God would reveal more of His plan and purpose for our interns in missions and the local church!
Gathering Table's 2025 Bee Keeping Apprenticeship is off to a buzzing start! The 2025 Bee Keeping Apprenticeship kicked off last month in April as two young men learn about the basics of bee keeping through the summer. The Bee Keeping Apprenticeship is more than just a chance to learn about bees. Way more! It is an opportunity to have real, honest conversations about life. To explore what the Bible says about farming and bee keeping (and it does say a lot!) and learn how it applies to our lives. The purpose is to help discover answers to life's important questions in the context of community and to work on applying what we learn to our lives. Check out Gathering Table's recent Table Talk Newsletter for more about the apprenticeship.
Madi and I are headed to Kenya on May 31st to visit two Circuit Rider teams that are finishing their outreach in East Africa. The teams have been working in Burundi, Rwanda, and Malawi. They have put on festivals and events in several cities, preaching the gospel and ministering to hundreds of people. They have also run 2 CR training schools focused on empowering young Christians in the area to live a missional life. The outreaches have been overwhelmingly fruitful. The teams have witnessed miracles and seen many come to faith in Jesus. We will have updated details and numbers from those events once we visit the teams and their outreach is complete. Currently, we have 6 other teams that are also finishing outreach in the Philippines, Australia, Europe, and South Africa. Other members of our CR leadership team are heading to visit those teams as well. I can’t wait to update everyone on the final numbers from these Spring outreaches! If you missed our previous update from January through March, here is the report: We had 21 teams on the road from January - March gathering students on campuses, preaching the gospel, and partnering with students for long-term impact. This year, one of our main goals for tours is to establish ongoing student-led groups on each campus. Students can sign up to start an evangelism group on their campus and/or a prayer group. We provide free ongoing training for any students who sign up to equip and empower them to lead out these initiatives in their schools! Our aim is that a generation of Christians would be empowered to live out their missional calling and reach their peers with the love of JESUS! Tour Stats from this year: TOTAL STUDENTS GATHERED - 39,795 TOTAL # SALVATIONS/REDEDICATIONS - 4,873 TOTAL # of HEALINGS - 276 TOTAL # of Baptisms - 57 **This is not including KENYAN teams which surges Gatherings to 47,532 and salvations to 6,948! Plans for the summer: When we return from Africa we will be starting our June staff training as a community. This year we have accepted about 85 new staff members who have applied to come back and become full time missionaries with our ministry. These windows of staff training are crucial times to establish culture and begin preparing people to lead. July - August will be focused on holding our summer training camps for college and highschool students! Then in September we will be kicking off the next 6 month fall discipleship school! So far we have about 155 students accepted to the upcoming fall school. Thank you for all the support and prayer! - The Unruh’s
Thank you for praying with us! Yesterday, I shared that we were going to have our first official church presentation for GoMission.Church. I am happy to report that it went well! Mountain Valley Community Church has a great team of such sweet and genuine people. Pastor Andy and I had a lot of fun sharing the things we have seen God do for ministries, churches, and for us personally while on this journey of following the path God has laid out for us in missions. Pastor Matt messaged us afterwards, telling us that the team was feeling excited about partnering with us. I am continuing to pray that their hearts are stirred to seek out the way God has made them to engage in missions! Thank you all again for praying with us! ❤️
Tonight, Pastor Andy from Legacy Christian Church and I are going to be sharing about GoMission.Church, at Mountain Valley Community Church! I am really looking forward to sharing testimonies of the things we have seen God do through GoMission.Church (and how it all works, of course). The Lord reminded me yesterday that we get to participate in His work of bringing the people of God around our collective calling as the Church to GO and make disciples of all nations! I don't know what a partnership with Mountain Valley Church will look like yet, or if they will even decide to partner with us, but I DO know that when we share stories of God at work... hearts are encouraged and faith is built. I want to invite you to pray with me for this meeting tonight, that: - The people there would walk away with hearts full of excitement for the Kingdom and God's plan to bring more people to know Him, through THEIR lives. - There is a continued/deepened desire to engage in missions (whether that is a partnership with GoMission.Church, or whatever avenue God has for them as a community) - For Pastor Andy and me, that we would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and what He wants to say to our brothers and sisters, and that our communication would be clear and effective!
Ally Is Now Full-Time! Ally has already been such a faithful part of the Grace Family Love mission, but today we celebrate her stepping in, full-time! This wasn’t just a job change—it was a step of faith. When Ally felt God calling her to serve the girls at GFL with her whole heart and schedule, the monthly support wasn’t in place yet. But she still said yes, trusting that where God guides, He provides. And He did—through your loving support. To the generous soul who gave and made it possible for Ally to walk out her calling: thank you. You allowed God to use you as a vessel, and because of your obedience, a young woman is now fully released to serve those who need it most. This is what happens when the Body of Christ comes together—when each part does its part, we get to witness miracles in motion. We truly can’t do this without the community. Ally, we are so thankful for your "Yes". And to our GFL family—thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus.
GoMission.The church helped launch Legacy's GO TEAM with a party! In our vision statement, we express our passion for engaging the people of God (the Church) with the mission of God. To do that, you need a team of people in the Church to be the catalyst for redefining what it means to "engage." At GoMission.Church, we want to see the Church engage in missions with whatever God has given them. This could mean things like: time, talents, prayers, practical skills, attention, and so much more. The Church can also give money, which is a blessed offering to the Lord, BUT we want to take it a few steps further, into personal investment. Legacy Christian Church had a party on Sunday to celebrate all God has been doing in missions through their church. Then we at GoMission.Church had an opportunity to share our vision of many churches working together to see the glory of God in our local and global communities! We also got to share our hopes for people in the church who would gather to help engage their fellow congregants at Legacy with the mission God has given THEM to do in THE WAY He is calling them to do it. Like the little boy who offered up his five loaves and two fish, Jesus took that and stretched it further than that boy could have even dreamt. God built all of our faith for what He could do, and we were challenged to shift our thinking. It was a great time of fellowship, celebration, vision, and excitement for what God will do through this Go Team!