“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 16:10-13 ESV).
I am writing to provide a brief update on the developments since my last newsletter, as well as to share with you a need I believe God is going to meet through His church. We desire to be faithful with what many might see as “little,” as we prepare to be faithful and fruitful with much for God. As noted before, we are focused on leading each person God puts in our lives to know Christ and to make Him known, with a special emphasis on teaching each member what it means to abide in Christ and how to do so. This last month of what we might call summer has been extremely fruitful. I am happy to share with you the report of this good news.
Summer closed out with a bang. We celebrated our seventh baptism in a little over two months and then finished the month out by giving away food, children’s clothes and backpacks full of school supplies at our annual Back to School party. God has blessed us with some great partners like the churches of the BMA and Good In the ‘Hood, who provided what we needed to be a blessing. Our people love to serve the community, and it was a great time of fellowship and gospel conversations.
Last month, we mentioned I would be traveling to visit churches, and our people would be launching a Celebrate Recovery (CR) group. I am happy to report that both happened, and God was clearly involved. Four members of FMBC held their first CR meeting, with 10 attendees, and a comprehensive plan of action was developed. I got to watch them work together to serve the attendees and then gather together for a feedback session afterward. I heard them discuss challenges they saw and come up with plans together on how to overcome them. They are truly becoming godly leaders!
I (Michael) traveled to speak at churches in Arkansas and Missouri and visited as many partners as possible over the course of 11 days. God was clearly at work. He made it clear everywhere we went that He was already working in the hearts of the people we were meeting with. I plan to meet with more churches to raise funds for continued planting. If you are interested in having me visit your church to share about our work, please let me know. We plan on planting multiple churches, so we will continually need partners and partnerships. As many of you have heard recently on the news, there is a great need for the power of the gospel to take root in Minneapolis. We are working to serve neighbors struggling with the recent shootings and uptick in violent crime by showing them the only true hope available to mankind — Jesus Christ.
We are headed into the colder months here in Minnesota. This allows us to grow deeper with the people in the church and community we have connected with. We are about to launch a new sermon series through the book of Ephesians to help our people understand better the new life they have in Christ. We will also have two brothers taking on regular preaching duties, one of whom we are praying we can raise funds to employ as a second pastor. If God leads you to help us with this, we would be greatly helped. This man has been helping me think through the process of establishing a Bible Institute to raise up pastors, planters and teachers. We are also working to ordain Isaiah and train up a few other men to prepare them to be leaders in the church. I am back at BMA Seminary, working toward my M.Div. to continue growing, so I can better serve our people and the church in general. I want to ask for your prayers for all of these items.
There’s so much more going on, I wish I had the time and space to share, but I will save some of it for the next newsletter.
I am still working to raise the funds to replace our $2,000/month stipend. I did learn we are losing some other partners who are at the end of their commitment. I believe God has a way of providing for the work to be completed the correct way, so I want to ask you personally, your church, any Sunday School or small groups you might be a part of, your local association, and state association to prayerfully consider helping us continue this work to plant churches in Minnesota.
We couldn’t do what we’ve done without God’s provision. We are thankful for the way He has employed you to pray for us and support us financially. We look forward to seeing God move in even greater ways in the years to come, especially since we have established many more relationships and provided local support than when we first began our work at the end of November 2020. Because of your help, nearly 40 souls who did not know Christ will now be forever saved and live as eternal worshippers of our good God!
If you are interested in having me come share with your church or would like to set up a time to talk on the phone or for a future visit, please feel free to contact me at mike@nnccmpls.com or (501) 838-9673. Thanks again for your prayers and support.
We would benefit greatly if we were able to obtain the following items as a one-time gift:
• Working 12 Passenger Van (For picking up church members and visitors who live in women’s and children’s shelters)
• Working Full-Size Truck (To Pull a Trailer)
• Trailer for Events (Enclosed Preferred) — We do have an opportunity to get a trailer, but we need someone to volunteer to bring it to us because we don’t have a truck to haul it yet. Please get in touch with me if you can help us.
Also, if you would like an early copy of our vision prospectus, which I created with Larry’s help, please email me (mike@nnccmpls.com) to request it, and I will send it to you.
God has given us a unique ministry. We serve in a hard part of a hard city. Overcoming the challenges of poverty, broken homes, incarceration, mental illness, physical illness and violent crime keeps some groups and individuals from coming to join us to serve here. I get that. But it doesn’t have to keep us from reaching the people of North Minneapolis together. Thanks for considering partnering with us.
Financially support the work in Minnesota.
If you’re interested in partnering with us, please visit tiny.cc/michaelstrong to set up giving through BMA Global. They will continue to oversee our monthly contributions. However, the plan is to start sending those contributions directly to the church to administer on my behalf as a monthly salary and for any reimbursements related to my work. That would mean you could send funds to us directly as well. To make a donation, you can send checks or money orders to: Freedom Missionary Baptist Church, c/o Michael Strong, 1348 Sheridan Avenue N, Minneapolis, MN 55411. Please include a note with the check or money order: “Missionary Donation.” Our preferred method of giving is through BMA Global.
Thanks for your partnership. I look forward to sharing more with you soon!
