A Close On Another Chapter

Dear Friends, Supporters (in prayer, financial or thought), Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Family, and anyone else that has had interest in my work here,


It has been awhile since I have written here and put out a letter. I have failed in my communication, and it is a weakness I am trying to fix. I plan on putting out an update to all of you about what went on in my ministry work at Victory.

A lot has gone on in my life. God has been working on areas of my life, and I need to take some time off to sort some stuff out. If you haven't heard, I am making it official to all of you. I am headed back to PA to take some time to pray, fast, and to seek God on the next step. Financial support for me to stay at Victory is not there at all. The ministry has shown its interest in me staying and/or coming back. I see the need here, and want to help. I have played with the idea of staying up here in Alaska, but felt I needed to return to PA to be near family and to help loved ones back east. My return to Alaska is all up to God and His provision. If He desires me elsewhere or to refocus my ministry efforts, I plan to follow. I just need some time to seek, and wait. Feels like I have been doing a lot of that lately.

This time here at Victory is not in vain. It was a great time of learning, growing and testing. There is no event that happened that is drawing me away from Victory. It is a combination of finances and God telling me to refocus what I am doing.

I want to close by thanking all of you for your continued prayers and support. It has been a blessing. The work here could not have done without you. Thank you. And until next time...

...Grace and Peace
Daryl J. Howard

P.S.- Be checking back here... more to come

I promise.

Memories Of Summer

This summer was a hard and busy summer. But with it came a lot of memories. As I sit working on after camp work and trying to wrap up projects I am behind on and trying to get things ready for the state fair, I can't help but miss playing worship. I needed a break from it, for the sake of my knees. I'm not that old, but my knees tell a different story. For many of you that might be reading this, you might have heard this style of worship on the radio... and for others, even had this style in church. I'm not much of a singer these days. And so I find my best way worship to God is through playing the drums. It isn't just go up and play the same thing. Subtle changes here and there, adding new fills, trying out a new way to play the beat, and more comes into play. Even the occasional new song gets thrown in. (Seth I love you man for challenging me with the new stuff... even though I hate it at first.) Then when it is all said and done, people share their excitement, passion, praise and more... which I must pass on to God, for it's Him that gives me strength and the ability to play. So here is a little taste of what worship was like this summer... enjoy.

Victory Bible Camp Worship Part 1
Victory Bible Camp Worship Part 2

A Little View Of Camp

Here's a quick look at a typical Friday night chapel.

HMUpdate 007 & 008

The new Howard Ministry Update is out via e-mail or USPS. Be on the look out. Sorry about the wait. I am slotting time for me to start posting more news more frequently. Enjoy.

Update Coming Soon

I'm not dead... just very busy, and having technical issues. New update letter out soon, and blog posting. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. God is at work here.

-Daryl

Well, when looking at a calender, I get stressed. Camp is right around the corner here at Victory. So, I stopped looking at the calender. I take it one day at a time and work down the check list in my head. Curriculum rough draft is done finally. Chapels are coming together. Computers are ready to get cleaned up. Songs are being worked on. A lot is going on.
But right now, I must focus on the Outdoor Ed groups that are in. The work listed above in on hold for the most part, but needs to get done. Pray for me as I try to get my stack of work done, plus move my residence a few times, all before staff get here. My stress hasn't been as high as it has in the past. But there are a lot of sleepless nights with work on my mind.
I plan on having the update letter out as soon as I figure out the printer issues that keep happening. For news sake, I will be sending it out as a special pre-summer letter. Basically letter 007 and 008 together.

-Daryl

Running Around With Arms Flailing In The Air

Well, summer is almost here. The new HM Update will be out shortly. And working on the next one already. The only way I can explain it all is by the way I titled this update. In all honesty, it isn't that bad. It just seems bad at first, then we hash everything out, and things start to get pieced together. Here's a little of what has been happening to me.

Curriculum: Of course you have heard this a lot from me. But in reality, think about school. A lot of planning goes behind a lesson plan. What to teach. How to teach it. The information to back it up. Application. So on and so forth. So for a curriculum of what we are teaching, especially the Bible, things need to be right and within context. Plus this isn't the only thing we are working on.

Chapels: For me, I have to start thinking about not just the planning of chapel, but also the teaching aspect of the Frontier chapel. The format of it all. How do we keep it fresh for 7 weeks. There is a lot to it.

AV Team/ Ministry Team: What kind of videos are we going to make. What kind of skits are we going to do. How are we going to make them. When do we have time to create new things. Ect. Ect. Etc. There is a lot of technical stuff I don't want to swamp you with.

There is a lot. That is just the tip of the iceberg. But that is why I am here. I love do this planning and hashing out of things behind the scenes. Sometimes my mind functions, and sometimes I am overwhelmed with ideas. Anyways. Just be praying for me as the rush of summer is catching up with us. It seems like there is not enough hours in a day to complete what we need. But then there is always the after summer hindsight that we say, "wow, we accomplished a lot, and it was fun... what do we do next year?"

-Daryl