November 21 Newsletter

From the Desk
of David Towne…

If you ask any of my four grown children what their favorite holiday is, they would all say Thanksgiving. The richness of memories of family, traditions, grandparents, and great food fill our memory banks.

I wonder if ministry leaders feel the same?

The holiday season is overwhelmingly busy for pastors and their families. They are spinning fast to meet the demands of extra services, end of the year budgets, the emotions that the winter season often brings, the fallout of COVID19 and the adjustments of church life, and balancing family and personal needs and expectations. Often, our leaders enter this season tired and start the new year in utter despair.

Many times, they struggle alone or only share this burden with their family and a select few friends.

This is where you come in. Through your support, R12 comes in to help refresh, allow God’s goodness and grace to restore, and be that safe haven to walk through the pressures and challenges this season can bring.

Your financial assistance allows us to come alongside more and more frontline servants who often feel isolated and discouraged. Every dollar you donate to R12 goes directly to provide services to bring refreshment and restoration to ministry leaders and their families.

You can help us reach more ministry leaders and family members by partnering with us during this critical season of ministry.

Looking Ahead To 2022…

As we look to 2022, we are humbled by what God is allowing us to plan and implement. This can only happen by His grace and goodness, AND your partnership, through prayer and financial support.

The following are what we believe Jesus is placing on our hearts and minds…

Marriage Retreats. In 2022 we will be providing 4 Marriage Retreats for ministry leaders (pastors, missionaries, Christian school administrators). Each retreat will include 10 couples for a 3-day retreat with a follow-up dinner one month after the retreat. That is 40 couples, 80 people, who will be refreshed and given new tools to implement by our experienced facilitators. New relationships will be formed and from that, new Jonathans will emerge.
Expansion of The Jonathan Project. We desire to grow the Jonathan Project to 20 total Jonathan’s during 2022. That would equate to adopting over 50 new ministry leaders and their spouses to encourage, refresh, and do life with.
Discipleship. We desire to come alongside our leaders to help them implement a model of discipleship which will accelerate the spiritual growth and maturity of believers.
Expansion to Phoenix. Relationships are being made to bring R12 to the Phoenix area as the need is great in one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States.
Church Partnerships. As we enter our 3rd year, we have come alongside over 50 churches in the Tucson community to provide services for their leaders and families. Monthly support is needed to develop these relationships and provide services for pastoral leadership.

God is up to something remarkable in and through the ministry that He has called us to and we hope to share more exciting news in 2022! Thank you for being our faithful friends as we fight for the spiritual, emotional, and physical health of our ministry leaders and families.

For His Glory and Kingdom,

More than JUST…….

On October 6, we were honored to host our 3rd annual RoundUp, a Women in Ministry event designed to honor and encourage women who have dedicated their lives to serving the body of Christ.

We had 30 female guests, 7 goats, 5 chickens, 3 dogs, and 1 giant tortoise, all hosted at Hacienda Makaria.

Your support provided a day of fun raffles, great conversations, delicious food, encouragement, and authentic fellowship.

Stacey MacLaren spoke to our women, reminding them they are

more than JUST a mom or a wife.

We were refreshed to see ourselves instead as JUST the right mom for our kids, JUST the perfect wife for our husbands.

We finished our day making fall fabric pumpkins and celebrated our differences. Some of us are creative, and others relied on the love and support of others to get our projects across the line.

I want to thank you all for your support. I’ve been so blessed to watch these women blossom and build such incredible relationships with each other. They feel so safe and so loved during our gatherings and events and I see God working in their lives as they support and encourage each other.

If you are a woman in ministry leadership who needs some support, friendship, encouragement, or just an excuse to feel like more than JUST a mom and a wife… Grounded Girlfriends might be for you!

We hop around the city to various coffee shops, sipping lattes and sharing life together.

We are better and stronger together.

For more information, contact me at: sophia@romans12ministries.org

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam is Latin for: find a way, or make a way!

As the Director of Ministry Services, I often joke that my job is often to find a way or make a way. We’re constantly trying to find resources for pastors and their families, relying on the body of Christ to help us serve these wonderful servants. I would like for you to prayerfully consider how you might be able to partner with R12 to come alongside pastors and their families. We love creativity and I love to make these connections.

Tucson Appliance Steps in to Fill a Need!

We were dropping off a truckload of donations to Silome Compassion Church when I realized they had a refrigerator on-site that was no longer operational. This church has limited resources and was unable to afford a new refrigerator to support their church and ministries.
On a whim, I decided to call Chris Edwards from Tucson Appliance and ask him if he had a refrigerator for them at a discount. Before I knew it, he had one of his guys on it, and within a few days, a brand new refrigerator was delivered and installed for FREE!

We are so blessed to have such incredible servants in our community who answer the call to come alongside and be a blessing to pastors and churches.

I also want to encourage each of you to be thoughtful in being a blessing to your pastor. We recently posted a

50 Ways to Bless Your Pastor article on our website. You can view that list by going to our resources page or clicking the link. There are some incredible ideas loaded in that article that can help you live out the Gospel in your own church.

Burnout. Depression. Anxiety.

Though not all depression leads to suicide, it seems like lately, we’ve seen a sad trend of pastors falling into depression, eventually choosing to take their own lives.

There are very few things as heartbreaking as that reality – it even hurts to think about as I sit down to write these words.

Would it surprise you to learn that one of the most common reasons we receive a call from a pastor or their family is because of depression?

“I thought I was doing everything right to avoid burnout, compassion fatigue, and depression. But I began to feel burnt out, I was experiencing compassion fatigue at an increasing pace, and I was deeply depressed. I was not supposed to be the guy sitting across from the counselor, I was the counselor. Isolation and inadequacy became a daily battle, and I was the guy needing help. – Anonymous pastor

Above is a real quote from a pastor we served, who recently shared his story with his wife to a small group of our supporters.

Reading that, what does it make you feel (be honest)? For some, you’ll want to glance over this. It’s just too uncomfortable, or maybe too hard to reconcile that a person who experiences such intimacy with God could fall so deep into a depression so as to consider suicide. For others, this may trigger a deep wound- you’ve been impacted by suicide. This feels real, raw, and relevant to you.

The Bible is filled with people who struggled with depression – Job, Solomon, David, Paul. Our enemy seeks our destruction – he desires our downfall and pursues it, especially with those who have chosen to serve God as a pastoral leader. If he can take out a pastor, he can shake or destroy a church. He can tear down the faith of many, and plunge even more into depression and despair.

I’m grateful that, because of your support, the tools of the enemy are blunted. We are able to step in and, with God’s grace and through His healing, provide the practical tools and support to move a depressed pastor from despair to joy and hope.

Here’s an update on that pastor’s journey:

“Romans 12 has fought for me. I’ve taken personal retreats, met with a trained counselor, and provided a mentor who is an invaluable part of Romans 12’s Jonathan ministry. He taught me about the gift of pain – that God uses pain to bring about the growth and dependence upon Him that we need. For the last 20 years, I have not had a mentor. Now I do.
At Romans 12’s suggestion, the elders in our church have put money in the budget for pastoral care. My wife met with Sophia and attended a few women’s events where she felt the love and support of the Romans 12 team.
Most significantly, we attended a marriage retreat. One of the lasting images that my therapist gave me was the image of the “4th quarter” as the most important quarter. All that stuff that I had experienced in 26 years of ministry—and particularly the last 18 months—was preparation for the 4th quarter. God has more ministry left for me and I am excited and passionate for what is coming in the 4th quarter.”

Thank you for making this miracle possible!

Thank you for partnering with us by donating to Romans 12 Ministries online at: www.romans12ministries.org/donate