The Next Step

Friends and Family, 

Thank you for your years of encouragement and support throughout both of our lives. Martha and I have been blessed to have friends and family like you. We have shared much life together. There have been times of great joy and some of sadness as we have walked through life together, but always we have trusted God to be in control. Once again we desire to step out in faith and trust God to use us as He desires and we would love for you to walk this journey with us. God is good and we find great joy in the friends and family He has surrounded us with.

As we have shared in the past, we both feel that God has placed a call on our lives towards full-time ministry, particularly in the area of international missions. We’ve loved serving Him in Marin and San Francisco, but after a lengthy time in the application process with the International Mission Board (IMB) we have finally been approved and moved into job placement in the Central Asia region. While this is an exciting time for us it also brings with it sadness as we will be leaving our family and friends who mean so much to us.

Central Asia

Central Asia is a mosaic of more than 400 distinct people groups geographically stretching from Turkey to North West China and from Southern Russia to the Persian Gulf. They are people rooted in the Islamic faith, many of whom are classified as not only “unreached” but also “unengaged.” Meaning, there is no known work of Christian witness among most of these groups.

As we prepare for this transition we want to include you as much as possible. We want to build up a core group of supporters and prayer warriors who would join with us on this journey. We believe that this is not our journey alone but one in which God has called us to walk united with others in faith. No matter where God sends us we want to stay connected with you, share all that is going on in our lives, and hear all that is going on in yours.

I am writing to ask you to become one of our prayer warriors and core supporters. We believe God has placed our paths together for a reason and we would love to have you partner with us as we seek to serve God as full-time missionaries. What does this look like? Well, first and foremost we are looking for prayer warriors. Through prayer we know that all things are possible and we are looking for those who would commit to long-term prayer support.

Another way we could partner together is by staying connected! We want to know what the Lord’s doing in your life and we want to share what He’s doing in ours. We would love to sit down with you and share more of what God is doing in our lives and what ministering in Central Asia will look like.

As we begin this new season in life there are several needs that rise to the top. 

·         Job Placement – Pray that the Lord would lead us to the ministry job that He desires for us. There are many areas of great need throughout Central Asia but before we accept any placement, we want to make sure we are in the place where God has built us to be. 

·         Ministry Transition – Pray that the Lord would allow us to remain strong in the ministries He has given us here in San Francisco and that He would allow us to transition well. 

·         Training/Education Debt Elimination – Currently, we have $17,000 in relation to theological and ministry training (we only have education debt) which needs to be reduced/eliminated before deployment (we are praying by the end of December). The IMB is fully funded by the Lottie Moon Offering and through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program. Once deployed, we will not need to raise financial support. However, we are in the midst of seeking financial support on this side of the ocean. We believe the Lord would have us be debt free so we are free to serve Him with 100% of our energy. The Lord has thus far allowed us to live off of Martha’s salary while designating Donald’s salary towards debt. Pray that He bring people alongside us who would help us shoulder this responsibility and move us towards deployment more quickly. As we will not be raising support once on the field, this could be a way that God might lead you to financially invest and contribute towards our ministry. 

·         Ministry Partners – Pray the Lord would bring a strong group of people and churches to partner with us in prayer and other means (like visitors and volunteers when and where appropriate) throughout the years. This is truly a whole-church body effort and we cannot do it alone. We need people to be in it with us to reach the nations. Pray about how God might like you or those you know to be a part of our support and partnership team.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and for praying over partnering with us. It’s difficult for us to think of leaving and we know that it will be difficult for our family and friends to see us go, but we truly feel this is what God desire for us in this time.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call, email, or whatever means you use to contact.

We would love to hear from you and know how God is working in your life.

Grace and Peace, 

Donald and Martha Hart

(If you would like more contact information or to be added to our mailing list please email me at the address below.)

donmhart@gmail.com

[Confidentiality Notice: Due to security concerns the content of this letter is confidential and should not be duplicated, shared, posted, or used in any way without the expressed permission of Donald or Martha Hart]