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Please pray for us!

Here are some specific needs:

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Please pray for both Craig and Suzy and Brett and Bronwyn as they work to raise support for their upcoming thru-hikes.

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Pray for Jonathan as he reaclimates to "normal life"  and as he makes important life decisions .

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Praise God that both Craig and Suzy are now full time A.T. Servants missionaries.

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Praise God that Jonathan came home safely.

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Pray that the seeds that Jonathan worked to sew in the hikers around him will take root and grow.

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 Pray that thru- hikers will connect the beauty of the creation around them with the one, true Creator.

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A.T. S Chaplain Summits Mount Katahdin!:

Motivation for Ministry: Amazing Grace

 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it (Psalm 24:1).

I witnessed some of the most beautiful sights, sounds, smells and feelings I have ever experienced while hiking the Appalachian Trail.  Beams of early morning light breaking through trees and illuminating dancing specks of floating matter, the dank scent of furs, pines and moss thickening the cool, crisp mountain air, a mother moose and her calf communicating in groans while eating and bathing in a pristine pond, the smiling faces and welcoming voices of fellow hikers at the end of a long day.  All of these aspects of the trail demonstrated God’s glory in ways that often caused me to marvel at his wondrous creation. 

      Yet I also observed in great depth the fallen nature of God’s image bearers.  High levels of drug and alcohol abuse, sexual promiscuity and a general disregard for spirituality characterized many of my hiking companions while others were deeply submerged in forms of spiritual pursuit that were generally inconsistent and self-exalting.  I was oftentimes disgusted by the sin around me, and more often repulsed by the sin within me.

  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Time and again God convicted me of my own sinfulness while I observed the prominent sins of those around me.  Looking at myself in relation to the holy and perfect God of the universe, I knew that any moral difference that may exist between me and my friends was entirely inconsequential as we were all in dire need of God’s grace.  I was not any better than these people and I found no room to boast in myself.  I could only speak of God’s holiness, our lack thereof and God’s means of saving grace through which he has bridged that moral chasm.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

      God’s anti-conditional grace through Jesus Christ is my only hope for salvation since without Christ I am still lost in sin and unable to stand before the holy God of the universe.  But God sent his son to pay the price of our sins so that we could have an abundant life both on this earth and with God in heaven.  I feel like the greatest way I was able to minister to hikers on the Appalachian Trail was by increasing my own appreciation of God’s grace through Jesus Christ. 

      Only when I realized that my salvation was based entirely on God’s grace was I able to effectively demonstrate that grace through my words and actions.  If I were saved by my works I would have come across as arrogant and all my actions would have been task-driven rather than gracious.  Only when I realized that God is calling to himself a people who are currently lost in sin could I believe that any of my friends could be saved.  If they were to be saved by works they (and I) would fall terribly short of God’s holiness.  Only when I realized that God’s grace continues to work in my life today could I believe that I, still a sinful man, could be effective in ministering to needy people.  If I were to minister to people in my own name and by my own power I would be unable to create any sort of genuine change in people’s lives.  Out of all the vast beauty I witnessed on the Appalachian Trail, nothing was nearly as beautiful as God’s amazing grace.

To read more about Jonathan's hike and to see more pictures, visit his trail journal.

Craig and Suzy Conclude their Hike on Vermont's Long T rail 

On September 4, we (Craig and Suzy) embarked on what would be the toughest hike of our lives thus far.  We started out with several objectives.  A few things we hoped to accomplish were to prepare for the physical, mental, and spiritual challenges that we will face during a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, to better understand what Trail Chaplains experience, and to share Christ with the hikers that we would meet on the Long Trail.  

Each day while hiking we were faced with physical, mental, and even spiritual challenges.  The mountains, rocks, mud, and rain provided us with all the physical challenges we could ever want.  While on the Long Trail, we traversed some of the roughest terrain that we have ever seen.  Both of us struggled daily with different mental battles. Suzy confronted insecurities regarding her hiking abilities while Craig dealt with his fears concerning animals.  While our insecurities did not disappear during our 24 days on the trail, we began to learn to deal with them, help each other through difficult times, and to give our shortcomings to the Lord.  The spiritual battle on the trail was one of unexpected proportions.  While hiking the Long Trail, we were confronted with and shocked by the blatant sins of others both on the trail and off.  Evil seemed to ooze from some and learning to see those individuals through the eyes of grace was a spiritual struggle.  We also began to learn to give God more control in our lives and to trust in Him more.  In the wilderness, there are no distractions to fool one into believing that he or she has control over his or her circumstances.  Despite our best abilities and preparation, the weather is still uncertain, the terrain is rugged, and animals are free to roam about.  So, we had no choice but to fully and completely trust God in each step that we took.  Every time that we tried to take control for ourselves, we failed miserably and ended up frustrated.  It was in the difficult times, when we had to cling to the Lord, that we began know Him better.  It was in the answer of a barely whispered prayer or in the lesson of a hard rain that we truly saw Him and truly prepared for our thru-hike next Spring. 

A big ministerial goal of ours was to be able to better understand what it is like to be a Trail Chaplain on the trail.  After 24 days of being a hiker, we have gained perspective that we did not have before and we gained even more respect for Vapor, this past year’s Trail Chaplain.   We bring fresh ideas back home with us about how to help prepare Chaplains for their thru-hike, what to expect from them, and how to be better cheerleaders for them. 

Finally, we did get several chances to share the love of our Lord with hikers that we met on the trail.  Many of the hikers and GMC caretakers that we encountered while hiking have graduated from college, so they are intellectually driven people.  We had several opportunities to speak with people, starting with where they were at in their beliefs, about the Lord.  We were even able to give an apologetics book to one individual!

To read more about Craig and Suzy's hike and to see more pictures visit their trail journal.

Meet Brett and Bronwyn Stamps: 

Brett and Bronwyn Stamps seem to be perfectly fit for ministry on the Appalachian Trail.  They have been working together in ministry since before their marriage six years ago and are now answering God’s call to spend six months as Chaplains on the A.T..

 30-year-old Brett will have a huge change in venue as he has been doing inner city ministry for almost 10 years.  He currently works for a Christian organization called JIFF (Juvenile Intervention and Faith-based Follow-up), and spends his days with high risk youth who have been adjudicated.  The youth are court ordered to attend the program that includes tutoring, fitness, job training, life skills, and Bible study to help them grow and become reintegrated back in to society.

 29-year-old Bronwyn, a former University of Memphis Cheerleader has been working alongside Brett for 8 years.   She is currently employed by the YMCA of Memphis and the Mid South as the Fitness director of the Sweeney YMCA branch.

 During the summer of 2001 Brett and Bronwyn worked at a Christian camp where they first led short backpacking trips. Ever since then, they have been returning to the woods taking groups of inner city youth on 3-7 day backpacking trips.

 When asked about their reasons for hiking the Appalachian Trail, Bronwyn wrote,
”God has given both of us a love for the outdoors and backpacking.  We had talked about wanting to hike the AT but did not have the time or money to leave for 6 months.  Someone at our church, knowing our love of hiking, said we should do the trail as  "trail missionaries".  We joked about it for a week and then realized that God was being serious and thus began our spiritual call to the AT.  We contacted a friend who does resort ministry in the Smokey's and he told us about A.T. Servants.  We are very excited and about to begin the fundraising process.  Please keep us in your prayers.  We truly feel "called" to hike the AT!”