Appalachian Trail Servants
P.O. Box 2116
Cleveland, GA 30528
(706)482-8537
january 2007
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Click for a Printable Newsletter Here are some specific needs: ************* Please pray for Craig and Suzy as they prepare for another hike. Specifically, please pray that they will be a light to hikers as they glorify God. ************* As A.T. Servants grows, so does our yearly budget. Please pray that God continues to provide our financial support. ************* Pray that thru- hikers will connect the beauty of the creation around them with the one, true Creator. ************* ************* |
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By
God’s glory, through the obedience of so many Christians, 2006 was the
most successful year that A.T. Servants has experienced thus far.
In
2006, we worked to begin diversifying our approach by both having a
greater number of Trail Chaplains go out through A.T. Servants in the
name of Christ and by continuing to send out volunteers to serve hikers
physical needs.
People
have begun to notice what God is doing through this small ministry.
This year A.T. Servants has been featured in several publications
such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Gwinnett Daily News, the
White County News-Telegraph, the Baptist Press, the Christian Index, and
On Mission Magazine! We
are also beginning to look to the future of A.T. Servants.
While we have been tossing around a few long-range ideas, we are
actively working to develop relationships with collegiate ministries in
several Christian denominations. It
is our hope that these relationships will build an awareness of the
possibilities with this ministry and through that awareness we will see
more Godly college students apply to be Trail Chaplains.
To
those of you who throughout this year have volunteered your time,
sacrificed your finances, and lifted up prayer on behalf of A.T.
Servants, we thank you for your hard work.
It is an honor and a blessing to know that we are a part of a
huge team that is dedicated to the work that God has called us to.
Craig and Suzy to Hike again in 2007
We have been asked several times whether or not we will start where we left off on the trail or begin all over again at Springer Mountain. After a good bit of prayer and contemplation, and after gaining lots of advice from others, we have decided to start again at Springer Mountain in early March, along with other hikers. This decision has forced us to examine our priorities on the A.T. While we know that it would look good for us to be able to have completed the entire trail, we could not justify spending 2 to 3 months on the trail basically alone. It is the hikers that we care about. It is truly our desire to see hikers come to know Jesus as their Lord. So, we have come to accept that even though we may never see Mt. Katahdin, it is our place to hike along other hikers so that we may be a vessel of service. Once, again, we will be keeping a daily journal while we hike. It will be at http://www.trailjournals.com/clayandbranch07. So, please keep us and pray for us while we hike.
A.T.
Servants Gathers Together with Other Hikers at the SoRuck in North
Carolina
By Bronwyn Stamps
Technology News: ATServants.org has a new Trail Chaplain Page
In order to best promote our need to recruit Godly Christians to hike the Appalachian Trail as Trail Chaplains, we have created a new, user-friendly Trail Chaplain section of the website. This new page is not only full of information about what a Trail Chaplain is, but how to apply and what is expected of Trail Chaplains. We are always looking for qualified candidates, so be sure and check out the page today.
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God
graciously allowed our own Craig ‘Clay’ and Suzy ‘Branch’ to
hike 3 months and around 900 miles of the Appalachian Trail as Trail
Chaplains.
Our
second team of Trail Chaplains, Brett ‘Social’ and Bronwyn
‘Dandelion’ successfully hiked the entire 2,175-mile trail to the
glory of our Lord.
While
these two teams of Trail Chaplains were hiking, the rest of the A.T.
Servants Board of Directors were super busy coordinating volunteers to
serve physical needs of hikers.
After
hiking for 3 months and about 900 miles in the last year, Craig and Suzy
plan to spend around 2 more months hiking the Appalachian Trail again in
2007.
L
Words really can not describe our experience on the Appalachian Trail. We would do it again in a heartbeat. Spiritually, you experience God's Greatness as well as the simplicity of being a Christian. We learned to sit back and just be in awe of our Creator. From the incredible views to getting us to a shelter before the rains came, His hand was everywhere! We would spend quite a bit of time while hiking in prayer. Sometimes it was for help getting up the mountain in front of you and other times it was for the people you were hiking with. Friendships form on the trail pretty quickly as you are all going through the same ups and downs(literally). Many hikers opened up quickly and you realized they were really searching for something. Fortunately, we knew what that something was and were able to share our relationship with Christ with them not just verbally but through our every day actions actions. It is amazing looking back at our pictures and seeing the hiking group that God put together for us, some Christians some not. The big majority of the people we starting really hiking with in the Smoky's finished with us at Katahdin! Over that many miles, it was truely a God thing! We are still in touch with many of them and plan to continue to plant seeds and pray for those who do not know Christ. A fellow Christian hiker at the top of Katahdin said "If all Christians treated each other the way thru hikers treat each other, wouldn't it be wonderful?" It's true, noone judged you for the way you looked or smelled or dressed and everyone would go out of their way to help if someone was hurt, needed laundry done, wanted something from the store, or even needed money. Although our miles ended at Katahdin our mission did not. We thank God for the opportunity for such an amazing journey! 