We have a lot to be thankful for as we enter this Advent Season.

The Faulkner Family

Dear Reader,

We have a lot to be thankful for this Holiday Season and we wanted share that news with you on this Friday after Thanksgiving.

There are a number of things that have been going on in our life behind the scenes of God’s heart that has us excited for the future. First, this site has smashed all of its previous records because you, our readers, have liked, shared, commented, followed and so much more. Thank you for that, this site has been growing steadily in regard to traffic since 2018, but this year we have seen an explosion in our readership and in consistent and faithful readers, so the new readers we have gained are also coming back. We have addressed some controversial topics this year and we have found a readership among those who want to read about and hear critiques of ideas and not people. That is the lane we have chosen to occupy, and we will continue to occupy that lane into 2021.

As for family life, Rachel, Erin and I are doing well. We have managed to avoid the Coronavirus, even as it has heavily impacted our community. This has allowed us to care for and pray for those who have contracted it. We did cancel our Christmas Vacation to Rachel’s Parents in Mass. But that is for the better as, and this is big news, we are expecting a new little girl in June. As you can imagine, we are excited, Erin, who was 22 months on Sunday, has not yet figured out what is going on. With the surge in cases in our area we are taking extra precautions to protect Rachel’s health and the babies. Pray for us, for a smooth pregnancy and delivery as well as recovery. There is some speculation we may have access to the Vaccine by June, so we are waiting and hoping expectantly for that as well.

As you can probably imagine, 2020 has been a long year for us regarding ministry. They do not teach “How to Pastor in a Pandemic” in seminary, and while we have not seen some of the hurtful comments that many pastors have reported from their flocks, from ours, it has been a long year. I did 4 funerals in 40 days, two of them were of grandparent like figures we have gotten to know since we arrived here in May. At the same time we lost my grandmother in August and my Uncle in October. We also had the challenge of taking a Church with a minimum online presence to a full blown livestream and radio ministry. When I was in High School I was a Turn Key for our schools broadcasting crew and in college ran a show for our colleges radio station, I never thought I would use any of those skills ever again, but yet, here we are. God did know though, which is why I worked in those areas. I am thankful for those skills this year since it has allowed us to provide a high-quality livestream and still maintain ecumenical services in the midst of a pandemic.

Speaking of Livestreams, if you have not seen any of Rachel and I’s 4 Streamed Concerts then check them out on my Facebook page under Videos. We will also be hosting another one on December 17th at 7PM Central from the Church, A Faulkner Family Christmas will feature original music, traditional favorites and some of the more popular CCM Christmas hits. Rachel will be playing piano and singing, and I will be joining on guitar, vocals and drums.

I think if you told me in January of 2020 that this is where we would be in November I would have laughed, and yet, God has seen us through. We do not take for granted the fact that we have not faced financial concerns like many pastors, food insecurity as some of our neighbors, but that God has allowed to give away food to those who needed it and fill other material needs. We have done this out of Gratitude to God because we know that all these good things come from Him and that what He blesses us with is to be used to bless others.

Love in Christ

The Faulkner Family

P.S. Reader, again, thank you, in this postscript I would like to list a few of the milestones this site hit so you can see how you have blessed us in leadership this year.

  1. Posted our 300th post
  2. God’s Heart has been accessed in 83 countries +30 over our best year.
  3. Had two pages accessed 350 times with one accessed over 1850 times. (this does not include the homepage)
  4. 1 Article accessed over 450 times
  5. 4 Articles accessed over 300 times
  6. 5 Articles accessed over 200 times
  7. 12 articles accessed over 100 times.
  8. 91 total articles published this year (so far)
  9. 1 Article picked up and published in a major work
  10. The site has been accessed over 12,000 times to date. This is up by more than 9,000 views from our best year in 2018.
  11. The site has been accessed by over 7,100 people to date (both 9 and 10 are records)
  12. Over 50 new followers on WordPress and 100+ followers between Twitter and Facebook.

Again, thank you! We have a mission, to bring reformation to God’s people and you are a part of that. Let’s keep working together #FortheUnityoftheEntireChurch

12973040_10154269785339245_3845786340930956602_oRev. Jonathan David Faulkner is a Graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary holding Masters in Divinity and Church History, a Pastor, Musician and Writer. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Education & Administration with a concentration in Urban Ministry. He lives with his wife and daughter in Northern Iowa and seeks to be a part of the project of reconciliation in the local and international church. He is currently serving as the Pastor of First Congregational Church of Buffalo Center