This is a series on my favorite things through our time on deputation. This post is a little different, but it really is one of my favorite things. My wife is incredible. I am a bit partial, but it is very true. In two year of deputation, we have travelled well over 180,000 miles. We have had meetings in 23 states as far west as California and as far north as New York (our home was in Georgia). Leslie has been by my side through all of this. She has sat in hotels and prophet’s chambers with sick children while I was at church. She has taught classes and given her testimony in many churches across this country. She has made deputation fun for our children while continuing to lead them in home school (which she has done in very odd places). She does not complain. She makes the most of any and every situation. When I am down, she lifts me up. When I am worried she calms me down. When I am in a bad mood, she works hard to lift my spirits. Before every church service she gets our children ready, gets my things ready, and gets herself ready and walks into each church with a smile. She has loved on the people we have met in churches across this country. Leslie has not just “made it through” deputation, she has completed deputation with hard work and a great attitude.

I can recite story after story, event after event that would testify of who Leslie is. I am only going to give one for this post. Our longest trip on deputation was almost eight weeks long. This near two month trip started in August and ended in October. Our schedule was completely full. We had meetings in nine states. We drove across the country from Georgia to California (with meetings in churches that were in between). We ended up going back across the country, driving north and had our last meetings in Ohio before driving back home to Georgia. This trip started out with hot summer temperatures and ended in Ohio in the middle of October with cold temperatures. We had to pack clothes for summer and clothes and jackets for a crisp autumn. Leslie made sure everything was packed that everyone needed. Our car could not handle another bag. In fact, we stopped in Alabama and bought a cheap roof bag for our car to put a few bags in so that I could partially see out of the back window! We stayed in different prophet’s chambers across this country, a few hotels, and a shed out in the middle of nowhere in Missouri. Through all of this Leslie made every place “home”. During off days (days we did not have church services), Leslie found fun things for us to do in whatever area we were in. She made this trip one of the best memories of all of our deputation.

The truth is without Leslie I don’t think deputation would have many “favorite things”. She made our deputation the joy it has been. Leslie is one of my favorite things (or favorite people) through our deputation.

A friendly church is one of my favorite things I have seen on deputation. The truth is most churches are friendly. God’s people are some of the kindest people in the world…and we should be! Why is being a friendly church so important? For one, any visitor ought to feel welcome. I can remember the first time I visited our home church. This was back in the 90’s. I was in high school. The church was not very big. We only knew one person there (a man who invited us). None of that really mattered because the people were so friendly! We felt right at home. The choir sang about Jesus and smiled while they were singing. They didn’t look miserable! People came by and shook our hands and welcomed us to the church. People we didn’t know were introducing themselves and saying things like, “We are glad you came today” and “We hope you enjoy the service”. It was refreshing to us. The truth is, almost two decades later and I cannot remember any song that was sang that day. I cannot remember the message or the Bible text that was preached. I cannot remember specifically who came and greeted us when we sat down. I do remember a friendly church. Every Bible preaching church ought to be a very friendly church.

Our deputation has been full of friendly churches. I think back and one does stand out. We arrived early for the service, as we always do. We are almost always one of the first people at the church. The people were so friendly there. It took me back to the first service I attended at our home church. The church family smiled while they sang about Jesus. They all greeted us and seemed to be genuinely glad we were there. We felt right at home.

What makes a friendly church? I am sure there are many different things that can listed. We have been in a lot of churches. God has allowed us to be with well over 200 church families. Here are my thoughts about a friendly church…

• Size is almost irrelevant. A large church and a small church can both be friendly. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Neither translates to a friendly church. In other words, just because a church has fewer people or has attendance in the thousands, it does not make it a friendly church.
• Smiles go a long way. Whether it is the Pastor, the choir/music leader or the family sitting behind you, a smile is a very simple way to convey happiness, welcome, and friendliness to others. It does not come across well if a choir, quartet, or any other singing group is singing about Jesus and they look miserable.
• Friendly churches show themselves friendly. This seems obvious but there are churches where the people are not at all friendly. Churches show themselves friendly in several ways. Greeting people is important. Including people is important as well. Have you ever been to a church where the people each gathered with their own “circle of friends” and you were left on the “outside” of any conversations? This is not a good thing. A friendly church shows themselves friendly by greeting people and including them in conversations, inviting them back, making them feel at home.
• Friendly churches are interested and invested in the services. A church service is not a performance. People should be interested and invested in the service by actively listening to the Bible message, by singing along with the song leader, by serving in the church’s nursery, choir, greeting team, etc.

I am encouraged by the many friendly churches we have been in on deputation. It is not by accident, churches work at being friendly but I must say it does not go unnoticed. Friendly churches are some of my favorite things I have seen on deputation.

Deputation has been our lives for almost 2 years. At the publishing of this post, we are only 20 days away from our departure. We are in the process of sorting, packing, and passing on almost everything we have. This is not a 4 year commitment. We are going to Argentina as missionaries to stay as missionaries. This is a very big change in our lives. We have a lot of things on our minds. Something on my mind right now is finishing right.

We have had a very busy deputation. We have been in churches from Georgia to California and many places in between! With only 20 days remaining until our departure, we have six remaining churches we will be in. We are still not at 100%, but we are getting closer. This blog post is being typed out in a small town below Dayton, Ohio, we are in the midst of a missions conference. With everything else we have going on, I want to finish right. We have worked too hard not to. God has blessed us too much not too. These remaining meetings are hoping to see God use us in their churches. We want to do all we can to finish right.

Two things I am focusing on…

• Not “leaving” before we leave. We have not yet boarded the airplane, so we are striving to focus on the task at hand. Although we are very excited about our upcoming departure, we desire to be used of God to challenge every brother and sister in Christ to get involved in world evangelism. What I mean by “not leaving before we leave” is that we are not focusing so much on leaving that we fail to faithfully finish what we have started.
• Putting God first. God has blessed. We still need to partner with more churches, but most of the work is done. Even so, we realize that God has given the increase. God is the One who has brought this outcome. God gave us 6 more meetings and 20 more days before we leave. We are striving to use each day for His glory.

 We have worked too hard not to finish right. I believe by God’s grace we will finish right. This is just another thing that is on my mind with only a few days before we leave for Argentina.

Leaving for Argentina

Departure Date: March 24, 2016!

We are finishing up our deputation. We leave this month! We still have a full schedule up to our departure. This month, we will be in Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, and our home state Georgia. This month will be busy with meetings in churches, but we will also be busy packing the remainder of our things, as well as getting rid of the things we are not taking with us to Argentina. Lastly this month will include a lot of good byes. We will be saying good bye to friends and family. We have dinners, lunches, and family events scheduled. This month is busier than any month we have had while on deputation. There is definitely an element of sadness that goes along with this month. We believe we are finishing deputation right and finishing deputation strong. We are getting closer to full support. Please pray that God will build the rest of our support before we leave.

Arriving in Argentina

There are hard days and sad good byes ahead, but this month also includes exciting days and “hellos” as well. When we step on the plane, we will have been on deputation for 2 years and one week as to go to Argentina. That dream will finally be realized! Once we arrive, we will have many things to do. We plan to work as hard as possible on the mission field. But before we arrive, we still have most of the month to finish our deputation. Please pray that we finish deputation right.

Serving Together,

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, and Ivy Henry