Home Stretch
- Rich Davis
- Feb 10
- 4 min read
The idea of “home stretch” comes from horse racing and refers to the final straight part of the racetrack that leads to the finish line. In a broader sense, the term is used to describe the last stages of an endeavor.
The Ol’ Gray Mare
“She ain’t what she used to be!” No doubt, we lost some of our readers with that line, but those are words from a traditional folk song dating back to the time of the Civil War. No, Jo Ann and I do not date back to the Civil War, but we could be identified with the “Boomer” generation following World War 2.
The winning horse of the Kentucky Derby last year was “Victory Gallop” and he was quite anxious to get out of the starting gate. Jo Ann and I with our three beautiful daughters couldn’t wait to gallop out of the starting gate in 1974 when we arrived on the mission field in South America. Now, we are on the “home stretch” and galloping to the finish line with grateful hearts thanks to God’s goodness and your many prayers.
All Creatures Great and Small
James Herriot is the pen name of James Alfred Wight, an English veterinary surgeon and writer who is best known for his wonderful books about animals and their owners in Yorkshire, England. Jo Ann and I did not visit “The World of James Herriot” museum while in England over the Christmas holidays, but we did get to visit dear friends, Paul and Patty Kemp. Paul is the pastor of the Stoneham Baptist Community Church where Rich was privileged to preach the Sunday before Christmas.
Celebrating Christmas and New Year with the Kemp's and their wonderful extended family was a huge blessing. Rich was even invited to share a devotional at the New Year's Eve family celebration.
Being with friends who love Jesus and faithfully serve Him was our top priority on this trip. However, England has such a rich spiritual heritage going back hundreds of years. We were blessed to visit several historical churches to remind us of this great spiritual history, like the church where J. C. Ryle was "Rector" (Pastor) from 1844 to 1862.
Verses on the walls inside the building spelled out the Gospel so clearly that it felt like sitting in a gospel tract! We could imagine sitting under Ryle's preaching.
Training Others to Continue the Race
The big challenge during January was for Rich to develop a complete course on “The Basics of the Christian Faith” for the newest missionary candidate class of Operation Mobilization (OM) here in Moldova. The scope of the course was huge, starting with topics like “Worldview” and then the doctrines of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the authority of Scripture, and Hermeneutics.
Until this year, one of the big teaching responsibilities for both Jo Ann and me was teaching Christian University students to serve the Lord in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Our tenure at the Christian University (UDG) has ended as Moldovan teachers now take on those responsibilities. We praise the Lord for allowing us to complete everything He wanted us to do in preparing students at UDG.
Spending a week preparing several young OM missionary candidates was a huge blessing, and it was significant to us as we near the finish line here in Moldova. This group of missionaries and the church planters in the Institute of Church Planting fill our hearts with great hope for the future of the Great Commission in this region of the world.
Church Planters Ready to Gallop
Our ministry at UDG is complete. The OM candidate training course will soon be complete as the young missionaries prepare to launch into their new Great Commission ministries.
Our goal for the last couple of years has been to complete the training of the Moldovan church planters in the Institute of Church Planting (ICP) and the finish line is in view.
The last section of the training is scheduled to begin in a few weeks. By God’s grace, the training will be completed joyfully as summer warms Moldova. With our Moldovan partners, we are planning a wonderful graduation ceremony with the families of the church planters present, followed by a scrumptious banquet.
We would also like to provide a nice Romanian Bible study for each church planter. We are considering the MacArthur Study Bible, which is available in Romanian, or the Thompson Study Bible. The cost of these Bibles is around $60 dollars each. We should graduate between 25 and 30 church planters by God's grace.
The cost of this event, not including the Bibles, will cost us more than our normal food budget, and if you would like to help with the graduation costs and/or the study Bibles as the Lord leads, please click on the following link:
Any funds that may exceed the costs of the graduation exercises and the Bibles will be used to help provide fuel for the church planters' vehicles and the maintenance cost during the summer months.
Strength for the Sprint to the Finish Line
As Jo Ann and I strive to finish well in Moldova, we are so thankful for the prayers of many faithful friends and churches and the financial support many of you provide each month. We are in awe at how the Lord, with your help, has sustained us all these years and how He has never failed us.
Please pray that the Lord will continue strengthening us as we sprint to the finish line and complete our eighth year here in Moldova. What a blessing this has been. Thank you.