Tuppence Creative Ministries News

Back in April, I sent out our Spring prayer letter, and I titled it "Closed Doors, Open Doors." At that time it seemed like doors were slamming in our faces left and right as far as my writing ministry went. The one bright spot on the horizon was in prison ministry, where I had just become a volunteer "dorm pastor" at the Choice Moore Prison Unit in Bonham, Texas. Many of you sent notes of encouragement and support, and some sent gifts to our ministry account. We appreciated all of your encouragement and want to give you a brief update as to what God has been doing in the last six months or so.

Praises | Family Stuff | Prayer Requests | Operation Desiring God | Special Prayer Request

PRAISES:

If I were to try to write down all the blessings He’s poured out, I would have to write another novel, so I’m going to try to keep these short:

--The prison ministry in Bonham is a blessing that is beyond belief. I have 68 men that I visit each week and slowly but surely they are opening up. This has led to a major prayer opportunity, which I will share at the end of this letter.

--Chris and I started a karate class for homeschoolers in January, which has taken off like a rocket. We have 15 students, and the tuition is providing some steady income for us. I also began teaching an art class for homeschoolers. It is smaller, but is also a blessing. (On a karate trivia note: I was promoted to Nidan [2^nd degree black belt] in a surprise ceremony last night at the Karate school.)

--God has opened up some new writing doors. Since I last wrote you, I have been privileged to do contract work for Josh McDowell Ministry, Chuck Swindoll’s Insight for Living Ministry, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, and several other similar jobs. These contract jobs, which involve ghostwriting and/or editing, have brought in more income and have opened up a whole new area of writing for me.

--Kregel Publishers picked up my new novel, "Angel of Mercy." I’m writing it now, and it is set for a Spring 2006 release.

--God provided a low-mileage 2003 Toyota Sienna van for us (at no cost to us). This was a great blessing and answer to specific prayer. The combined mileage of our other two cars was nearly equivalent to a trip to the Moon and back!

FAMILY STUFF:

--Laurel stays busy trying to keep me sane (a full time job). She also is still homeschooling Chris and Charlene (another full time job). She has plugged in as a substitute Sunday school teacher at our church, and is very much in demand.

She also has a very active ministry of caring for and helping people in whatever way she can. She is truly a great example of Christ’s love in action.

--Chris has started learning to drive (Dad’s the primary instructor!). He’s a good driver and quick learner. Of course, he had plenty of practice driving in our pasture before we ever took to the road. He is also hoping to participate in SWAT (Servants Worthy and True) at Camp Pearl in Reeves, Louisiana this next summer. SWAT is a teen discipleship program at the camp. The participants work as support-staff members during the summer camps.

--Charlene joined my karate class and will soon be testing for her purple belt (Don’t tell her. She doesn’t know.). She also stays busy trying to keep up with our newest family member, Sandy. Sandy is a Golden Retriever/Yellow Lab mix, and is full of vim, vigor, and vitality.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

--I am on a March 5^th 2005 deadline for "Angel of Mercy." I’ve written about 100 pages so far, and that means I’ve got at least 300-350 pages to write in the next few months. Pray that I will be productive as I write this novel, and that it will be something that God can use in people’s lives.

--The Mudd Puttles project and Blind Sight movie are both still "percolating" on the back burner. Pray that God will open these doors of ministry if He sees fit.

--Pray that God will bring along more contract writing work in the coming months and that He will help us (me especially!) to trust him for our finances. We’re still learning the lesson of the manna, and God is demonstrating himself to be faithful again and again.

OPERATION DESIRING GOD

--A while back, God used a verse of Scripture to challenge me. The verse that God used was: 2 Thessalonians 1:11--

"With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith."

As I read this verse, God challenged me to trust Him for something big. Here it is:

As I mentioned earlier, my prison ministry has begun to focus more and more on this one unit. As a dorm pastor, I have freedom to do a number of things that a regular volunteer can’t do. One privilege I have is that of bringing literature and books into the prison, as long as the prison chaplain approves the literature AND as long as I have enough copies of the literature for every inmate who requests one.

I have often been blessed by the teaching ministry of Dr. John Piper (and, in fact, am teaching one of his books--"Desiring God"--in my Sunday school class.) I wrote to Piper’s ministry and asked about discount prices for "Desiring God" and another book titled "Don’t Waste Your Life."

They wrote back and said that they will DONATE as many copies of "Don’t Waste Your Life" as we need, and they will sell us "Desiring God" at $4.00 per copy. I relayed their donation offer on to the chaplain, who is going to order enough copies of "Don’t Waste Your Life" for all the inmates in the unit (about 1200!). However, he doesn’t have a budget for purchasing books. That where the challenge comes in.

I would like to buy copies of Desiring God for the inmates at Choice Moore. I want to begin with my own "pod" of 68 men. At $4.00 per book that means a cost of about $279.00/not including shipping. With shipping/handling, we’re probably looking at around $300-350. If possible, I’d like to get the books before Christmas, so I can give them out as Christmas gifts. This is phase one of "Operation Desiring God."

Next year, I’d like to be able to purchase enough copies so that all of the dorm pastors can offer the book to their pods. I would also like to buy enough copies so that the warden and chaplain can offer them to all of the correctional officers who work at Choice Moore. A rough estimate is that we would need to buy about 1500 copies at a cost of about $6,000. That will be phase two of "Operation Desiring God."

Of course, not all of the inmates or officers will want the book, so we wouldn’t need to get all the copies at once. Any extra copies would be donated to the 2006 Prison Book and Bible Drive, sponsored by KCBI in Dallas. This program, which is "hubbed" at the Choice Moore Unit, will send the leftover books to prison libraries at the 100+ units throughout the State of Texas.

PRAYER REQUEST:

Here are the prayer requests/opportunities I mentioned:

If you are interested in contributing to this need, you can do so in two ways:

All money donated for this project will go to the project--not to our personal support. And your gifts are tax-deductible.

Well, that’s the end of this update. We’re rejoicing in the Lord down here in Texas, and hope that you all have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

In His Grace,

Jim Pence

for Laurel, Chris, and Charlene