Missions Minute - Steward Family (January 23, 2025)

This week’s missions minute focuses on Josh and Denise Steward who serve at Tralee Bible Fellowship in Tralee Ireland. Their goal is to lead people to Christ, disciple them, and then send them out to repeat the process again.

There is a lot currently going on around the church, most notably the addition of two extra rooms for the kids to be taught during services. Before, there was only one room for kids, and now they will have a total of three. Pastor Josh and members of the church have been working over the past couple of weeks to get the rooms ready for the kids to use and they are finally ready to be used! These additions also come with a greater need from the church body as far as their need for teachers in the classroom setting.

One of the other exciting projects going on in Tralee is Project 432. The goal is to raise funds so that a Baptist church can be built in Tralee. There are currently zero Baptist churches in Tralee, so this would be a step that would allow Pastor Josh to gain “credibility” in the eyes of the Irish people. There are many Catholic churches, which is what the people of Ireland are used to. Tralee Bible Fellowship is currently a church that meets on the second floor of a building, as opposed to meeting in a stand-alone church. It is for that reason that Pastor Josh has the goal to raise funds to buy land and build a church in the community. Project 432 is currently at 45% of phase one for the raising of funds!

Looking forward, Pastor Josh is excited about the 2025 mission’s trip that the Summit Church will be taking to Tralee. Prayers for that trip and what God can do during that time are appreciated. There are also activities that the church is looking forward to participating in such as their game nights, book studies, and holiday events.

Finally, Pastor Josh wants the church to know how grateful that he is for all of the support. They have been in Tralee for five and a half years and they have established a growing ministry even though there have been challenges. Through those hardships, he has noticed that the persistent prayer from everyone concerning his ministry and family have been a tremendous help. Other prayer requests include raising the funds for Project 432 and the continuation of leading people to Christ, taking them through the discipleship process, and sending them out.