Spring 2024 – Partner Update
Through your gifts you and I together are loving people to life.
Hello Partners!
We come to you with an update and it’s for the months of March and April, I would say it’s for Spring in this year of 2024. Cheryl and I are here to let you know what’s going on now and in the coming months. One thing I would like to begin with is to thank all of you for the way you have continued to support during this last year plus. It has been the most challenging year of our lives. And although we’ve made the report of the good news at each time we’re being tested but in between those times there, there were challenges and the feeling of great oppression, and it was a battle for sure that we together went through.
And one thing that amazes me is that you have not forsaken us and that might sound pretty obvious to some of you, but so many ministries, if they stop doing what they said they were going to do because of extended periods of problems such as we’ve had, their people would just say, well, that’s it I’m not supporting anymore. But you have stuck with us, and I thank you everyone that has faithfully given your offering regardless of the fact I seem to have disappeared on many Sunday Services… although I’ve been very visible, I haven’t been speaking up until recently.
So when we move on into the rest of this year I plan to return and maybe gradually, but return to ministering every Sunday in Bandera, which goes on YouTube and the podcast, and so we shall, I believe, be seeing more of each other in these incoming weeks, but until then, we’re just giving thanks to you and to Andrew and Marshall and Clint, who have stepped up and taken so many of the Sunday services, these three guys have found a place in the hearts of all of you.
And as to the rest of this year, really what I’ve just said is what we are absolutely planning. Just to settle in to Bandera, we’re not planning any major excursions and journeys and meetings away from home and living in hotels and the rest of it. That wears me out now as it didn’t used to. Gone are the days when I Pack a case that fits on my back and spend days tramping around the world and through the jungles and over the mountains ministering to tribes who don’t speak English. They were glorious days, but I think they are behind me. I’ve got to remember my age.
But, in non-traveling, I have been writing more. You might have noticed that we took some of my older books and radically brought them up to date, added chapters and insights that have become part of me, us now.
And one more thing that has emerged is that we are now TV, on Roku on the GAN Network. G-A-N, Grace Awakening Network which you can sign up for at gantv.com or searching for ‘Grace awakening Network’ on any Roku device.
So I want to reassure you that although we’re not traveling as we used to, all of the offerings that you have so faithfully sent and are sending they are enabling us to do this because it is your offerings that enable me to sit here and do what I’m doing, writing new books and preparing for upcoming Bible school modules and Sunday services. We are upheld by your faithful support.
I want to share something foundational with you, something that’s echoed in 1 John 4:10 where it states, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.” This isn’t a concept isolated to John’s situation, but is a cornerstone of the entire New Testament, deeply rooted in everything Jesus taught and demonstrated.
We are familiar with how religion perceives the initiation of divine relationship—it always starts with the believer. They suggest you need to do something, something significant enough to capture God’s attention. But here, the scripture flips that script entirely. It begins not with our love, but with His; not with our actions, but with His initiation.
This message from 1 John is not just foundational: it’s utterly revolutionary. It challenges the transactional nature we often find in religion, where you must do something to earn God’s favor. Instead, it declares that everything about our salvation, our being loved by God, begins with Him. Our entire relationship with God is a response to this truth.
As you ponder this, let it reshape how you view your faith. Remember, it’s not about initiating something to make God respond. It’s about responding to what He has already done, embracing the love He has freely given. This isn’t just foundational; and when we return to this in each moment it is transformational.
Thank you for being who you are. Thank you for all the blessings you have sent us financially and in prayer. And thank you for making this last year possible. the triumphant year it’s ended up being. And so, we’ll keep you posted, and we’ll be back to share these things with you, our partners in Christ Jesus. We bless you. Amen.
Malcolm and Cheryl Smith
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