All to Him I Owe

The letter below was sent out and posted in many places.

Dear Family, Friends, Supporters, and Prayer Partners,

The Lord graciously led our family to California in January of 2002. Upon arriving at Ironwood, we were quickly immersed into the camping ministry; and we have seen the breadth of our ministry grow over the last seven years. We have seen countless decisions made through the Ironwood Institute of Ministry, and we have seen a program called Ministry Bound start and grow to be one of the finest camp internship programs among fundamental camps. God has enabled us to minister to students in the Ironwood Christian Academy and to many campers and sponsors as they have stepped foot on the property here.

It has also been our privilege to plant Faith Baptist Church of Cherokee Road and to serve both at Ironwood full-time and as a part-time pastor here in our community. Through the ministry of the church we have seen folks saved, discipled, and conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. We praise the Lord for the ministry He has given us and for each of you who has invested in these ministries financially and prayerfully.

Over the last year, God has increased our burden for pastoring and for reaching California through the ministry of the local church. At first we believed that God would have us continue here and see Faith Baptist Church of Cherokee Road grow to the point that it could support a full-time pastor. However, through much prayer and evaluation, we have come to the conclusion that for now, Faith will probably remain a bi-vocationally led ministry for many years to come. Because this seems to be the clear leading of the Lord for Faith Baptist, we recognize it as a good thing. The fact that it is not financially strapped to paying a pastor full-time enables it to do many things that another church may not be able to do.

Having come to this conclusion concerning the future of Faith Baptist Church of Cherokee Road, we began to pray that God would clearly show us His will regarding our ever-increasing burden to pastor full-time. Slowly, yet deliberately, God began to lead us to the ministry of Faith Baptist Church of Folsom, California. After spending the last week candidating there, the church has officially called us to be their pastor; and we have accepted. We praise the Lord for His leading and are excited to see what He is going to do.

There are many more questions to be answered, but for now we will continue the process of trying to finish right here, while we eagerly pursue a good start in Folsom, California. We covet your prayers for this time of transition and assure you that we believe we are doing the Lord’s will.

We have loved our time here at Ironwood. We will miss the people and the ministry here and will always have a special place in our heart for the ministry that originally brought us to California. We love our church family here dearly and will miss them more than they will ever know. In many respects we have “learned on them” while trying to minister to them. God has been so good to us, and we look forward to continuing to serve Him.

Your friend and co-laborer,

Pastor Ron Perry (for Beneth, Jessica, and Mackenzie, too)

We are excited about what lies ahead and plan to keep a record of those things using the blog to share the stories, praises, and prayer requests of our new ministry in Folsom. We covet your prayers!

All to Him I owe!