16 Months Since the Last Ministry Update...

The Holliday Alliance Church of Middlebury Center, PA

So with the generally unexpected resignation of our pastor effective June 30th, I have agreed to help the congregation with which we worship work through the interim process.  The resignation wasn't a particularly pleasant experience with some hard feelings on several fronts. And so there are some matters to be worked through with the district/denominational offices, the members, and with the pastor and his wife.

On the good news front: The pastor has secured another call, surprisingly within just 30 days of his terminating the relationship. So we're hoping for the best. AND I am hoping (along with a number of parishioners) that we can do some debriefing, since all recognize we have played a role in the dissolution. AND there is a genuine excitement amongst the membership and a passion to make some necessary changes.

On the less than good news front: the denomination  to which we belong has a rather hybrid form of polity that seems to be a cross between presbyterian and episcopalian.  At the local level we tend toward elder (presbyterian) governance, though historically it was congregational until about 2007. At the district level it is much more episcopalian.  

Since its founding by  A.B. Simpson (in 1887) (who never intended for the Christian Alliance or the Missionary Alliance to become a denomination) the congregations were largely on their own to discern proper governance. Many were baptistic, others presbyterian, and  others more evangelical/charismatic. But following the establlishment of it as a denomination, the development of district offices, and other such elements, polity seemed to be necessary, at least to those in positions of authority. All this being said, we have a 38 page online survey which the district expects at least 30% of the congregation to fill out (and which I estimate will take 30-60 minutes depending on one's tech saavy nature and level of desire to participate) prior to forming a pastoral nominating committee.  This will be followed up by 3 "counseling sessions" using the tabulated results...but I digress.

Nevertheless, the congregation, while smallish (27 members and approx 40 attendees) is a very healthy, very gifted, and very optimistic group of folks.  We have already worked though a storyboarding process based on John Trent's LifeMapping book.  

I had used this a while back with our neighbors, the Middlebury Baptist Church, when they had a rather unexpected pastoral departure. (This is the life, unfortunately, of too many rural (not small town, but rural) congregations.  Pastors come and go, often using them as a stepping stone to a bigger congregation or as padding as they lean into retirement.

My tasks, thus far, have been to reorganize things in the office, lead the story boarding and debriefing processes, visit members of the congregation and other worship attendees, lead worship, and, I guess, act as an encourager (although that is an easy task since folks seem genuinely excited about the changes).

One of the changes already instituted is a change of the worship time.  We had previously held Education classes from 9-9:45 and worship from 10-11:15, 11:20, or 11:30 (get the drift?). We expanded teaching to 9-10, added 30 minutes of fellowship 10-10:30, and solidified the worship hour to a firm 10:30-11:30. Now this is all temporary,just for the month of August, but we will have our first congregational meeting this coming Sunday following worship.

That meeting will take a vote on making the change more permanent. It will discuss the departure of the pastor and the plans moving forward, as well as review the good story boarding work which the adult Sunday School class did on:

• Strengths and Successes
• Weaknesses and Failures
• Difficulties in Significant Transitions
• Image Management vs Authentic Living
• Plans
• Hopefulness
• Memorial Markers

All this is a way of asking for your prayerful support of this little church in the vale - The Holliday Alliance Church (of unicorporated Holliday, PA).

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555971623875 

And on the other hand...

 

As I look out in the early morning, on the boundary lines the Lord has set for me in this season of life, I am grateful.  The silence around me, of everything but the birds calling, the occasional snort of a buck, or the cry of the coyotes, is wonderfully calming.

If we get a car up the road (besides the once a day Fed Exp and/or UPS for our neighbor) it's a busy day.

I walked out this morning while the dew was still heavy and just took a deep breath...

 

As I gazed past the patio up the hill to Eliza's rest I realized just how much of a blessing this has been. I recalled being in Thailand and wishing for a cool day when I could wear a long-sleeved shirt and feel the coolness of a 50 degree morning. Or to sit around a campfire and not feel the stifling heat so much as its warming comfort. And here I am.

The flowers which the Mrs. has put in the garden lining the patio are familiar.  They aren't orchids. They aren't Plumeria or other tropical beauties, but they carry their own delight.

 I've come to appreciate the variation in color and in season, the spring, the summer, the early autumn blossoms that each bring on their own, unbidden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then, I also recall God's timing in bringing us here and look up, again, to Eliza's rest and know, Our God Reigns! Soli Deo Gloria!

  

In loving memory of Eliza Gail Hallead

 

 

 

ฉันรักประเทศไทย

I've decided to start this Blog back up.  There is something cathartic about writing; not caring if anyone reads or even what their opinions might be...

Just writing for the sake of expressing oneself.

 I wrenched my back again.  It seems to happen annually or so.  It started in Thailand (in 2002 with my first heavy load twisting experience). But then again so many things began there for me.  It was a call I never anticipated, didn't particularly desire, and had no background for and yet it changed my life as few other engagements ever have. It lingers with me...

And so, as I wait for the methocarbamol to settle in and relax the muscles I'm listening to Chamras Saewataporn <sample here> my favorite Thai musician.  His music sometimes makes my family crazy when I listen but it is the ultimate tool of relaxation for me.

The music takes me back to a time when I seemed to be more fully dependent on the Lord.  I didn't know the language, hadn't a clue about the culture, food, the people, or the beauty of Thailand. And yet I sometimes think, there might be no better place to live...

There are times, like this when I sit back and fall in love all over again with the beaches:

 the markets:

life in the mountain villages:

 the ease of transportation:

  

the food:

the slower, simpler life:

 

And family and friends left behind...

They say you can never go home, and there is a lot of truth in that, but for those who have never left, there is nothing with to which to compare.  Temporary assignments, vacation visits, and tourist experiences don't build the kinds of relationships that living does. 

We seem to be settled in northcentral PA now, and are blessed to be sure, however, when my mind wanders, it always wanders to Thailand...And so I sit, listen, and dream... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ministry, Fun, and God's Grace all in Abundance

Well, we have finally arrived home, following our time in Malawi, after spending some time with Carol's folks in Sanford, NC, where we also got to enjoy fellowship and worship with our newest supporting congregation, the Shallow Well Church (named after the well from which the horses drank in the 1800's and no reference to the source of the deep well of ministry the church does).

Aside from all of the work which we were able to do, some of which you have previously read about, we also enjoyed great beauty and witnessed God working in exciting ways:

Black faced Vervet monkeys came at our beckoning call to enjoy bananas and fresh produce, adding a bit of excitement when the neighbor's dogs would rush into the yard chasing them and raising the chatter...

And hedgehogs...everywhere...which one of the same neighbor's dogs, (shout out to Charles and Nancy Cranford) would diligently pursue and carry them carefully, as if they were a puppy to us, yet never giving us the ability to get close. Of course hedgehogs bundle up and can stay that way for a long time, like a possum on the roadside so all we had to do was wait for "Nyala" to get tired of playing and leave, and Glen was able to pick up the prickly bear...

On one Saturday our driver, Clifftone (a student so employed by the college and therefore able to raise school tuition) took us to the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre where we walked along the crocodile populated river, and saw two beautiful antelope just a few yards away drinking from the river...

We were blessed to witness the arrival and unpacking of a container of used hospital equipment for the new emergency room facilities as ABC's 40 bed hospital/clinic. And we're still praying for the provision of a portable xray unit for the emergency ward.

And the great heartache (just kidding) that the hospital director's pet project of a coffee shop wasn't quite ready to open before we left. Dr. Mwera is a creative child of God with a faith the size of a mountain. The coffee shop will continue to increase the hospital's care for the family's of those hospitalized and others who may just stop in for a cuppa.

All of this is to say, things are really starting to move forward in demonstrable ways and we are privileged to be a small part of that work, because our supporter make it possible.

The bottom line, statistically, is that we had the following engagements:

73 informal/short engagements with ABC Malawian students and staff

13 informal/short engagements with ABC Mission students and staff

7 informal/short engagements with other ABC related persons

54 formal engagements (counseling, Bible Study, meetings) with ABC Malawian students and staff

64 formal engagements (counseling, Bible Study, meetings) with ABC Mission students and staff

7 formal/engagements (counseling, Bible Study, meetings) with other ABC related persons

* Informal engagements are contacts made of an introductory or less formal and shorter nature.

**Formal engagements are scheduled visits, counseling sessions, bible studies, etc of 30 minutes or more.

***Numbers reflect the total number of members/per engagment (i.e. a Bible Study with 2 persons is 2 engagements).

Preaching, devotional, and larger group sessions are not included in these numbers.

As a follow up, over the next couple of weeks Glen will be having conversations with ABC leadership regarding moving forward on this work. It is likely that we will look at extending our next trip to a two month visit in the fall with a side trip to begin such work on the Liberia campus as well, for which we will need your support. But all of that is in God's hands.

In addition to your prayers, if you'd like to be apart of this work, or continue to support us in these endeavors, you can make donations as follows:

Tax Deductible Donations for Travel and Accommodation Expenses Only:

 

Holliday Alliance Church

(Memo: Special Mission – Halleads)

33 Oakwood Dr.

Middlebury Center, PA 16935

EIN: 23-7240825

Non Tax Deductible Donations for Personal Expenses:

Glen and/or Carol Hallead

12 Monks Hill Rd.

Middlebury Center, PA 16935

It Shouldn't Surprise Us And Yet...

 ...IT DOES!

Most readers of this blog may well have already read of the journey from home to Kenya...a flight delay of 19 hours, then another 1 hour, then another 1 hour, then an equipment change, and another hour, having us arrive at our first destination, Nairobi, Kenya, 24 hours late...and without our luggage. But that's the tale for the Facebook pages...

This is a story to be shared more personally with you our supporters.  It's a story of God's Amazing Grace and how everything works together for the good of those who love Him.

After settling in to the Milele Guest House (which was just in the early planning stages when Glen worked here in the mid 1990's and which occupies the same plot of land as his previous office space) we had tea and mandazi on the veranda and wandered over to Glen's old office building to see if there were changes there. 

As we began to pass our greetings we were encouraged to see the Secretary General of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, the denomination with which he worked.  The Secretary General is the administrative head of the denomination of 4.5 million members with churches in Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, and the USA.

As our conversation wound down the Lord laid it on my heart to mention the children's home with which we have been working since 1989 and which we had planned on visiting today before the late arrival kerfluffle.

WELL... when I began to talk about it his eyes lit up and he expressed great excitement as he said, "that is my home." He was raised in the Githiga Presbyterian Church and has long followed the development of the home throughout it's years.  And he said it is one of the great success stories of children's homes in the PCEA.

When we started working with the then "Githiga Destitute Children's Home" there was little food, bloated bellies, cutaneous signs of malnutrition (bleached hair turned from curly to straight etc.), a dirty shallow well, no electricity, and children who walked miles to school arriving home in the dark unable to do there homework.

Today the Githiga Education Centre boasts its own primary school, a healthy diet, onsite gardens to grow their own vegetables and to teach agriculture, electricity, and maybe most importantly, university graduates who support their home.

As we shared our mutual love he said, he would send his personal car and driver to us tomorrow morning to get us up there. I was moved to tears. (Sometimes it doesn't take a lot these days, when the Lord moves in these ways).

And so even though we will travel upcountry without the gifts we brought for the children (they're in the luggage in New York or somewhere), we will get to see our beloved Githiga Children's Home. Mungu yu mwema! (God is good!)

Soli Deo Gloria!

And our goal has...

WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD

who has worked through some amazingly faithful people.

_______________________________________________________

 

January 23, 2025

 

I am left in awe of the way in which the Lord has moved so many, that in two short months we have exceeded our financial goal of $11,000. The current figure is an amazing $11,316.50 (including a $1836.50 balance from 2024). And that is against a projected budget of:

 

 

BUDGETED EXPENSES:	EST. COST	ACTUAL
MALAWI: Member Care African Bible College Staff
Feb Round Trip Airfare (for 2) to Lilongwe, Malawi @ $1900/person	$3,800.00	$3,315.42
Miscellaneous/Unanticipated 10%	$380.00	$159.84
Sept Round Trip Airfare (for 2) to Lilongwe, Malawi @ $1900/person	$3,800.00
Miscellaneous/Unanticipated 10%	$380.00
LIBERIA: Member Care African Bible College Staff
Round Trip Airfare (for 1) to Monrovia, Liberia (1 trip)	$2,000.00
Incountry bus Monrovia to Yekepa (round trip)	$200.00
Miscellaneous/Unanticipated 10%	$440.00
	$11,000.00	$3,475.26

Thanks to those who have so faithfully and prayerfully sacrificed on any number of levels to participate in this ministry of care for missionaries.

So far we have been able to come in under the budgeted amount which may allow us to schedule yet another trip to Thailand to pick up where we left off there. (A follow up trip to Thailand will also allow us to begin to plan for a community mission trip to Thailand and perhaps Cambodia in 2026.) And any additional funds received will go toward that - or any emergency trip which may arise.

As excited as we are, excitement also seems to be building amongst the members of the Holliday Alliance congregation where Glen serves as Mission Coordinator, as well as amongst our increasing contacts and support from congregations like the Shallow Well Church in Sanford, NC, and its members.

Theses trips allow us to visit with and care for missionaries, in the countries we visit, who are brought to our attention. So far that has included a dozen different agencies. (Does your church have a missionary they’d like to have visited? Drop us a line and give us some details and we’ll see what we can do to make that happen.)

The bottom line is that, at this point we see this as an ongoing project which will occupy significant amounts of time, travel,and ongoing support. There are, in some circles, concerns about short term engagements such as these, but hard statistics and anecdotal observations demonstrate clearly that outside engagement of a consistent recurring short term nature can have tremendous positive results when done well. See Short Term Positives Here

It is our hope and prayer that lives will be changed, not just those whose lives will be immediately impacted through member care services, but those who participate through supporting that kind of effort. Not all are called. Not all can go. Not all should go. But those who don’t can easily facilitate that going for those so called. And we are over the moon thankful for folks like you who make it a point to steward the resources God has provided to help others hear the good news, be nurtured in the truth, and become mature believers and world-changers themselves.

Carol and I leave in less than three weeks. We’re excited and hope you are too!

In Him Who is Able!

*Special email updates are provided, from the field, solely to our donors.  To be a part of this team, tax deductible donations can be made to:

Holliday Alliance Church

33 Oakwood Dr. 

Middlebury Center, PA 16935

(mark check: Special Mission – Halleads and include your email address to be added to our special update listing)

Funded, ticketed, and making preparations

Good News! We have received more than sufficient funding at this point to purchase our "first round" tickets to Malawi.  Housing is being prepared as we write this and we anticipate a six day overlap with the ABC President's visit on arrival in Lilongwe. This connection provides several positive elements.  

• it further advances the credibility of the new international leadership's commitment to change the culture of missionary care;

• it presents a visual unity in our efforts; and 

• in light of the fact that the wife of the President is SIM's West Africa Member Care coordinator, it helps to provide a broader vision of what inter-agency partnerships look like. 

 

The days of denominational based missions working alone within their own teams are quickly waning, giving way to inter-agency partnerships to accomplish the shared-goals of evangelism and training without the limited parameters of denominationalism. It just represents better stewardship of mission dollars.

Back to the funding side...we were able to secure a less expensive ticket by purchasing one set of tickets from Raleigh-Durham to Nairobi and a second set of tickets from Nairobi to Lilongwe.  As an added bonus this will allow us to visit with some workers in Kenya with whom we have had a relationship for 35 years and to visit a children's home we have been supporting since Glen's first trip to the continent in 1989.

We've been blessed to see water wells dug, electricity put in, a successful primary school started and, more recently, a number of university graduates of the home beginning to support their home, all based on the long-term development model utilized.

The Githiga Children's Home is a testimony to the tenacity, flexibility and willingness of its generous supporters to fund the administrative aspects of the home as well as the children's support on a long term basis. In fact one of the congregation's Glen pastored has been supporting this home since 1996.

We will arrive in Lilongwe after the five day layover in Nairobi and hit the ground running.  Carol is excited to provide in home hospitality and visits, while Glen will be continuing some ongoing care, which he has been providing via the internet, with students, faculty, and other staff in addition to missionary encouragement. Our stay will encompass 31 days.

We hope you will stay tuned to this blog for generalized future updates.  Our more frequent and informative email newsletters are available to our financial donors only, so if you'd like to be on the email list you can do so with any financial contribution -

either directly to us at:              or through our church at:

Glen Hallead                             Holliday Alliance Church

12 Monks Hill Rd.                      33 Oakwood Dr.

Middlebury Center, PA 16935      Middlebury Center, PA 16935

be sure to include: "Hallead Short Term Mission" on the memo line of all checks.  And if you want a personalized thank you note don't forget to write us directly and inform us of any donation made through the church.