June Update: Classes, Ministry, and Joshua

June Update: Classes, Ministry, and Joshua

 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

These past six months have been more incredible than I ever imagined.  The Lord has blessed us with new friends, a new church, new aspirations, and new appreciations for what He is doing in the life of our family.  These months have been difficult and required many hours of prayer as we rely on what God has planned for us.  There were times I did not know how we were going to pay the bills or even if we would be able to stay in the apartment we are in.  The Lord has been teaching us to persevere in faith as we fully trust in Him.  As we have continued to be faithful to this calling He has given us, we have been blessed far beyond what we could've hoped for or even imagined!

At church God has blessed us with a new pastor, Michael Wilder.  Michael has quickly become a invaluable mentor, friend, and ministry partner to me.  When I took the youth position at First Southern, I never imagined that I would be able to work with such a wise and pastoral leader.  I appreciate his heart, his humbleness, and his desire to reach the community around Floyds Knobs.

My job was upgraded from Youth Minister to Director of Family Ministry when Michael was hired in.  We are both working on a part-time status to meet the needs and direct the ministries of First Southern as a team.  I am blessed by the opportunity to learn and grow under a man who has many more years of experience in ministry than I do.  I am excited and hopeful for the many things the Lord is going to continue to do through First Southern.  This job change also took care of some of my financial fears in regards to sustainability of continuing school without loans.  God is truly good and faithful.

I finished my first semester at SBTS with an A and two A-'s.  God was very gracious in allowing me to finish my classes with such good scores.  I learned much from my classes and enjoyed the many new friendships I gained from these classes.  My heart and mind have been challenged in many new ways through the classes I took this semester.  There were many relevant subjects within my classes that I have both enjoyed learning from and been greatly challenged by for many years.  I do believe that I am closer to knowing what I believe in most of these subjects but I still have much to learn and wrestle with.    

I am thankful for the many new friendships I have made and have found comfort in the encouraging conversations I have had.  Seminary is much more fulfilling when there are other Godly men to wrestle through the issues with.  It is great to hear new perspectives and to be able to talk out the many different ideas and theories floating around in your head.  It also has been great to have stand-up Christian men around me who have challenged me to walk a life that honors Christ in all that I do.  I am thankful for their character and yet also thankful for their honesty in their own struggles.  

After an almost two week hold out, Joshua Michael Ivey finally decided to grace us with his presence when we induced on Wednesday, June 18th.  He was born a healthy 9 lb, 11 oz boy.  Though I admit to being biased, I think he is an incredibly handsome and mild mannered little boy.  We are excited to get to know him.  Sam has learned his name and is learning what it means to be a big brother.  I am not sure that this is a role he has fully embraced yet but Josh is winning him over more and more each day.  

I am continually amazed at the words coming out of Sam's mouth.  There are times that he will come up and just commence a conversation that is still mostly unintelligible and yet enthusiastic.  I am learning more and more of this sloppy toddler language each day and have been impressed at what he understands and continues to learn.  Though we are encountering the toddler defiant challenges more and more each day, all in all we have been extremely blessed by our precious little man.  I never knew that I could love another human being so much.  I am so thankful for the many blessings the Lord has given our family!

As we continue to walk the Ivey trail that God has set for us, please pray that we would be obedient, faithful, and willing to do anything the Lord leads.  I shutter to think where we would be today if we had not taken a leap of faith on this journey.  All the people I would have never known.  All the opportunities to see God move actively in the life of my family and myself.  All the many opportunities and ministries I would've missed out on by not being faithful.  As you read this blog tonight, I ask that you pray for us as we follow the Lord's lead in our lives but I also pray that you will boldly follow the Lord's will for your own life.  There is no greater joy than being in the center of God's will.  No matter what struggle you face, your truest joy will be found in full obedience to the call He has placed on your life, whether in full ministry or just sharing Jesus with your next door neighbor.  

Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

April Update: Easter, Finals, and New Beginnings

Hello again to our friends, family, and ministry partners!

Greetings and a happy belated Easter to our family, friends, and ministry partners!  It is May already!  Where did April go?  It has been a busy, busy month here in the Ivey abode now that finals are NEXT WEEK!!  Here are some sights of the season to share with you before getting into all that has gone on since our last update:

Sam has truly become attached to the play trucks at church :).

Mel began teaching the preteen Sunday school class at church 3 weeks before Easter.

Our church's Easter musical featured students from the youth group doing shadow dance behind the choir as we sang.  Greg had a solo and Mel was in a duet in the program.

Sam helps Daddy study for his final exam in Systematic Theology ;).

Mel works on her Seminary Wives Institute homework on the sunny porch while Sam plays outside.

Daddy hanging out with the boy on our porch

Easter egg creations made by Greg for an Easter celebration on campus

As a "big brother in training," Sam has been learning many things around the house, including some intro to potty training, how to pick up his toys and put them away, how not to throw fits,
and (shown here) the proper way to diaper his stuffed doggie :).

FAMILY UPDATES:

Mel is still manning the fort as Greg works and finishes up school.  She has been doing a great job of managing the craziness that is Sam and taking care of our nutritional and home needs through cooking meals, staying vigilant on our energy use and spending, visiting food pantries, and signing us up for WIC and SNAP.  Greg is very thankful for all that Mel is accomplishing while he is focusing on work and studies.  He truly could not have accomplished what he has so far without her support!

Sam is growing like a weed and learning more words and milestones each day.  It is incredible to think about the many things he can do now that he was unable to do last month.  Sam is now climbing into his car seat as well as his booster chair at the table.  He is proficiently walking up and down steps.  He is babbling all types of words - some understandable, most not ;).  He loves to be going, doing, and speaking all the time.  His favorite activities these days are playing with his ball, running around outside, sitting in our next-door neighbor's toddler truck, being read to and pretend-reading, and dancing around the house.  We are very thankful for our boy!

The baby is doing well and possibly even a week ahead of schedule.  Mel has an ultrasound coming up soon to see if the baby may need to come before the previously established due date of June 7.  Pray for Mel as she endures these last few weeks of pregnancy.  She has experienced more aches, pains, and tiredness with this baby, especially since she didn't have a toddler to wrangle last time she was pregnant ;).  We are both getting excited to meet our new little boy and welcome him into the family!  

SCHOOL UPDATES:

School has been going well though Greg has definitely felt the crunch of the second half of the semester.  Finals are next week and Greg has many things yet to finish to be done with the semester.  Please pray that he would be disciplined with his time and absorb as much knowledge as he can in order to pass his two finals as well as organize two papers that are due next week. At this point, we have decided Greg will take the summer off and focus on the youth ministry at church as well as welcoming in the new addition to our family in a month.

Mel officially finished her first semester of Seminary Wives Institute (SWI) and ABIDE (women's small group Bible study).  Her ABIDE small group studied 1st Thessalonians this term and she loved interacting and growing with the other ladies in the group while diving into this book in scripture.  Mel was both blessed and challenged as she wrestled with the SWI subjects of Biblical Parenting and Spiritual Health for the Minister's Wife.  She enjoyed and excelled in both classes and is looking forward to continuing her studies in the fall.  She also made some great new friends this semester that have helped her transition to this new season in life that is wrangling a toddler, adjusting to seminary, and being a part of church ministry.

Greg's on-campus job with event media has been crazy and fun at the same time.  He has learned that it is best to go into each shift without expectations.  Among his job tasks in the past months has been: create a large wood plank wall (twice), create large wooden Easter eggs, setup for major conferences/banquets/recitals, learn how to run a professional video camera for chapels and conferences, and be a part of a studio recording.  To say that this job has variety would be an understatement!  Greg has really enjoyed this job though - both for the great friends he has made through it and the opportunity to feel directly a part of the ministry on campus.

CHURCH UPDATES:

Church at First Southern is going well.  We had the great joy of being a part of the Easter cantata this year as we both had individual singing parts in the musical.  Our youth, led by our worship leader, did a fantastic job preparing for a shadow dance drama to go along with the choir performance.  God was extremely gracious in helping us all come together for his glory on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  Also, last week we put together the complete schedule for youth events over the coming summer and we are excited to see how the Lord is going to bless this group through the fun, learning, and outreach that is to come!

PRAYER UPDATES:

Beyond the concerns of finals and pregnancy mentioned above, please pray for our financial situation as we go into the summer months.  We are grateful that the Lord helped us complete our first semester of seminary without taking out any loans, but striving to do this has been financially costly.  We are hoping to be approved for SNAP (food stamps) very soon to help with our nutritional needs and praying that the Lord will help us meet our rent this month and in the months to come.  Going from a two-income household to essentially a one-income household has presented its challenges.  The Lord has been faithful thus far and I know he will continue to be.  There are some opportunities that may come to fruition in the next month that would help with this financial situation but much prayer would be appreciated as we trust the Lord's direction in these matters.

Thank you so much for reading this blog and for those who have supported us financially and with many prayers.  You each have been an immeasurable blessing in our life and the ministry the Lord has made us a part of here.  We have been both humbled and affirmed in many ways throughout this process as we have learned to lean heavily on the Lord's provision and blessing in all areas of our lives.  We also have seen how important Christian friends are as we have been encouraged, lead in wisdom, and had many prayers lifted up for us.  Please let us know if there is any way that we could pray and support you in your needs.

Blessings,

The Ivey Family


P.S. We are always open to letters of encouragement and prayers as we continue to walk this road.  If the Lord leads you to send us anything, our email address is greg.ivey@me.com or melly.ivey@gmail.com and our mailing address is:

            Greg, Melody, and Samuel Ivey
            SBTS Box 122
            2825 Lexington Road
            Louisville, KY 40280

We ask that you be careful to write our mailing address exactly as it is displayed here.  The seminary has an unusual arrangement with the post office, which mandates that our mailing address be written this way and require exact formatting.

February/March Update: Answered Prayers and Anticipation

Hello again to our friends, family, and ministry partners!

Greg, Sam, and Mel cut the cake at the gender reveal baby shower - find out the gender at the end of this post!

This past month and a half has been very full.  So much has happened and we have been so busy, wow!  Let me try to give you the shortened version of an update so that you have a feel for what we have experienced as well as the things we are praying/praising about without making this update way too long.

Here at Southern Seminary we have had many on-campus events and activities recently to tell you about, but the following photos and captions may need to suffice for explanation since we could go on forever about them if we tried :).  

Snow play with Sam and Dada just outside our on-campus apartment

During Great Commission Week on campus, Mel joined the Koinonia women's program in making Valentines Day gift bags for and later distributing them to the ladies of Scarlet Hope,
a ministry to women in the adult entertainment industry in Louisville, KY

Also during Great Commission Week,  Mel and Sam  joined The Refuge in prayer walking Louisville
and talking with area internationals about the programs that Refuge offers

We took Sam to a bouncy house day in the gym on campus in late February and he had loads of fun 
playing in the toddler house with some little friends :)

In Mel's Spiritual Health for the Ministry Wife class, this is an example of meditation mapping as 
taught by faculty wife Caffy Whitney during notes over the first chapter of her husband 
Don Whitney's book Ten Questions to Diagnose your Spiritual Health


Greg's on-campus job through Event Media completed a wooden wall backdrop in the SBTS Alumni Chapel for the Renown youth conference in Mid-March - his boss put him in charge of the tear down as well, 
after Greg only having had the job a little over a month :)

Greg's two weekly seminary classes (New Testament and Systematic Theology) have hit the midterm exam point.  One was this past week and the other will be a take home exam that he will receive soon.  We are very proud of his grade on the New Testament final, which he got back this past week - he scored a 96% after feeling like he had less time than he needed to study among the other pressing responsibilities of church, work, and home.  Even so, he is learning so much and trying to temper his schooling with not just making it about good grades, but about growing as a minister as well.  
Mel's Seminary Wives Institute terms switched recently so her Biblical Parenting class finished up last week and her Spiritual Health for the Minister's Wife class has begun.  We both really learned a lot through discussing the material in the Biblical Parenting class and have started to be more intentional about our parenting choices.  This new course on spiritual health is focusing on the spiritual disciplines of praying through scripture, meditating on scripture, and journaling so it is offering a great outlet for Mel to learn how better to draw closer to the Lord in her quiet times.  
Please pray that we each not only do well in our courses, but seek out intentional ways to apply what we learn to our lives each day. 

On the church front, while waiting prayerfully for a new pastor at our First Southern, Greg preached four consecutive Spirit-led sermons before the church brought on an interim preacher - SBTS professor and mentor of Greg's, Michael Wilder.  We also have started having Youth Lead Team meetings in order to determine a purpose and focus for the group as well as to plan upcoming events.  As a result, Mel is going to start leading the preteen (5th-6th grades) Sunday school class and ministry as the Lord leads - starting at the end of this month.
Please pray that our church would seek the Lord for direction in how to operate in the absence of a pastor as well as that the pastor search committee would continue to have wisdom and Biblically-sound judgement in seeking a new pastor.

As for our family, the gender reveal baby shower was at the beginning of this month and we loved having the opportunity to join in a fun, relaxing time with our church and immediate families to celebrate this new baby.  Sam (now 20 months old) continues to seem oblivious to Momma's growing tummy, though he is already showing small signs of needy jealousy in ways that make us wonder how bringing home a baby will work.
Sam has actually offered up a name choice for the new baby though.  As he held a recent ultrasound picture and Mel told him about the new baby, he pointed at the picture, looked up at Mel, and said "bubble?" (one of his recent favorite words).  Mel told him that although we will not be naming the baby "Bubble," we could settle for letting Sam call him "Bubby."  Since then, Sam has been wandering the house here and there saying "Bub-by, Bub-by" in a sing-songy voice while bopping his head from side to side.  We're not sure if this is an indication that he understands to whom he is referring or if it has just become another new favorite word ;).
Please pray that this pregnancy continues to go smoothly and "Bubby" and Mel continue to progress well through the birth in June.

We had such a great time with our family and our church friends at our gender reveal baby shower.
As you can see, Sam will be getting the early birthday present of a baby BROTHER :).

PRAISES:

• Kentucky finally put us through for insurance and it has been back dated to January now so all the maternity bills can be paid.  
• Greg was able to get another part-time job as an Event Media Tech on campus, preparing for events by prepping the space and the technology needed for media use in each venue.  He has been building rapport with his boss and coworkers and getting rather predictable hours each week, which greatly helps our budget.
• Mel got a job tutoring English, Essay Writing (for high school and college), and Career Help online through Tutor.com so once those monthly checks start coming in, this will help our budget as well.  Online tutoring provides a way for Mel to work from home and create her own schedule week-to-week while also allowing her to be available for involvement in home, church, and campus pursuits.
• The past 2-3 short reprieves from wintery weather have been lovely and brought on the opportunity for Mel and Sam to get out and meet more of our neighbors.  Mel has loved getting to know and befriending the moms and Sam has loved interacting and playing with the others boys and girls around our apartments.

A lovely day to come out to the green and enjoy the pretty spring weather... and some Cheerios ;)

PRAYERS:

• The Spring semester for Greg's seminary classes and Mel's Seminary Wives Institute course ends by early May.
• Our church is still seeking a pastor and discussing options of how to reorganize church leadership until then.
• Our little "Bubby" is due June 7th and so far it is smooth sailing - continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy and delivery.
• A church member has offered for us to stay at her family home rent-free in order to be closer to the church and live more within our means, as well as for us to use the property for special youth gatherings.  However, a move to Indiana presents an equal amount of promises and challenges it seems(not the least of which would be changing Medicaid from KY over to IN and then having to find a new ObGyn doc), and so we are continuing to seek the Lord in whether or not we should move - and if we should move, whether that move should take place before or after Bubby comes in June.
• Mel has chosen to forsake social media and sweets for Lent in order to re-frame her priorities and learn how to put Christ first in both the way she spends her time and the way she views food.

Greg swings Sam around on the green in the lovely springy weather :)

Thank you again for following our ministry journey and for your support :)!  If you are interested in financially supporting us, please see the instructions at the end of our support letter.

Blessings,

The Ivey family

January Update: Following a call...

 Greetings, family and friends!  

We are so glad you have committed to join us in prayer, encouragement, and possibly financial support as we continue to follow the Lord's call here at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  This month we would like to update you on the process of the move and where we are now that we are getting settled into life here on-campus at SBTS.

On December 7^th, we moved everything out of our house in Anderson into our seminary-housing apartment and a storage unit.  Mel's parents (who brought chili and brownies - yum!) and Greg's sister came to help us move and Greg's parents gladly agreed to watch Sam at their home since there truly would not have been a safe place for him in the apartment during the move - wow, it is quite a task fitting nearly everything from a ranch home into an 875 sq ft seminary apartment (see Springdale)!  Such a task that by 8pm when all family had left, Greg was getting rather discouraged and hopeless at the idea the the truck wasn't really even half emptied and there would likely be no more help.  A young man stopped by and asked him if he needed any help.  This fellow, a high school guy whose father is a SBTS student, was quite the worker and really helped us out a lot - we started thinking this could be possible.  When Greg asked him his name, the young man replied, "Hope".  Thank you, Lord, for sending us hope :).  From that point on, seminary people (also our neighbors) began popping out of the woodwork to come and help us and the truck was finished that night!  Please pray that we would develop close, lasting friendships and accountability partnerships during our time here.

The Spring 2014 semester begins January 17 and Greg has already registered for classes: New Testament 2, History of the Baptists, and Systematic Theology 2.  Mel also registered for a Leadership Skills course through the Seminary Wives Institute and is excited to see how she will learn and grow through that.  Please pray that God would deepen both of our relationships with Him through the courses we take as well as in our daily time with Him.  Also pray that we would take full advantage of the learning opportunities here and have the ability to put that learning into practice.

Greg recently accepted a part-time position as youth minister at First Southern Baptist Church of Floyd’s Knobs.  This church has a tragic past that includes an emotionally dramatic split that left the body at 1/3 what it was only 2 years ago and without most of its church leaders, including a pastor.  The church, however, is not contentious or bitter but rather loving and Spirit-filled in the united purpose to grow stronger together and reach out to their community.   It has been great meeting and getting to know the (nearly all-girl) youth group.  Sam already enjoys playing with a couple of new buddies in the church nursery and the youth girls *adore* him.  There are multiple upcoming events and we are very excited to join this church's faith fellowship and get to work serving the youth as well as the rest of the congregation however we can during this time of transition and growth in the life of the church.  Please pray for growth at FSBC Floyd's Knobs and that the search committee would be appropriately discerning in choosing a new pastor for our church.  There are multiple other areas of need in this church, please pray that we would also be discerning of what God would have us to do to help in these areas.

Two current areas of need for us are jobs and insurance.  Greg's youth ministry position, though a blessing, will pay barely enough to cover our rent.  He does have another couple part-time job offer possibilities as well.  Mel has applied and interviewed for an admissions position at a Christian school in Louisville as well as a number of positions on campus, but has no job offers yet.  Greg continues to do everything he can in order to procure any and all insurances we are currently eligible for, but the process is proving to be lengthy and frustrating and will likely change once both of us have jobs that push us into a different income bracket.  Please pray that God would provide for our financial and insurance needs while we attend seminary.

Also, for those who don't know and didn't see it in our support letter, we are happy to announce that we are expecting again and Mel is due in mid-June, so she is nearing her halfway point in the pregnancy.  We have found a good doctor here in Louisville for prenatal care and delivery at Baptist Hospital East in Louisville - continue to pray for us to get good insurance.  Little Sam is 18 months old and hasn't quite figured out what it means that "Mommy has a baby in her belly" yet, but we can tell he will be a good and very attentive big brother - he is already very interested in babies and stares and points, wide-eyed, whenever he sees one on campus or in the church nursery.  The knowledge of our family growing brings us both great joy and great responsibility - please pray that we would also learn more about how to parent our children Biblically as God would have us to.

Our family is very grateful to have you partnering with us!  We'll send an update next month with progress in our classes, relationships, at our church, etc. and answers to prayer.  Thank you again for following our ministry journey and for your support :)!  If you are interested in financially supporting us, please see the instructions at the end of our support letter.

Blessings,
The Ivey family

Cherished Family and Friends: A Support Letter

Cherished Family and Friends,

            We hope this letter finds you well.  You have received this letter because you have made a profound impact on our family.  We are embarking on a new journey as a family and we would love for you to share in the journey with us.  On December 20^th we moved down to Louisville, Kentucky to attend Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  We began contemplating this transition back in August and the Lord has been faithful in lining things up for us to go.  We will tell you more about that in a minute but first we would like to explain the journey to accepting the calling to seminary.  

            In the past year, our family has been through many changes, mostly for the good.  The largest of these changes being our beautiful son, Sam, to whom we are still acclimating and apparently will be for the rest of our lives ;).  Life as parents of a small child has definitely made each day an adventure and challenge.  We are so humbled and amazed by the way Sam is growing into a little independent man each day.  Sam is now 18 months old and is running around the house, climbing everything in sight, speaking words, and overflowing with an eternal well of energy.  We are very thankful that for all his energy; he also is great about eating well and going to sleep at night . 

In relation to work and for those of you who don’t know, prior to our move to Louisville, Greg worked at Selah House, which is a Christian in-patient eating disorder treatment facility, where he was the Maintenance Technician and took care of the adult and teen properties for Selah.  To see the beautiful properties he took care of you can go to selahhouse.com/photos.  It was so wonderful for him to be able to work outside in God’s green earth and appreciate the many blessings of working with my hands to maintain a property.  Greg was also able to lead many chapels during my time at Selah, which also contributed to the answering of this call to Seminary, and was blessed to share the gospel with many of my work associates. 

This year Selah opened an adolescent house and after much prayer and discussion, Mel decided to leave her teaching job to become the educator at the teen house.   This change has been both wonderful and challenging.  It was great because Mel became able to come home and spend time with family without bringing home all the planning and grading that seemingly never ended when she was a teacher.  At the same time, this change presented many financial challenges as well as scheduling challenges in the last few months.  In August, Mel was transitioned from a full-time 8-5 position to a part time 5-9pm position.  This scheduling change was both a blessing and a curse.  It was positive because we were able to stop sending Sam to daycare, which gave both of us lots of extra time with Sam, and difficult because the two of us only got to see each other on the weekends and an hour a day during the weekdays.  Losing her fulltime status also presented financial and insurance benefit challenges.

As we prayed about what to do in relation to the scheduling and financial challenges, we felt the Lord burdening us with a calling to leave Anderson and attend seminary at SBTS.  We loved our time in Anderson.  We both had jobs we loved, a church that loved and shepherded us well, and a home that provided a great place to raise our son.  Needless to say we were sad to leave our home and friends but excited at what this new journey meant for our family. 

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Preview Day - October 17, 2012

The two of us had the opportunity to attend SBTS Preview Day in October, where we were able to spend a day and a half on campus.  It really was a wonderful time where God blessed and confirmed our calling to SBTS in both our souls.  Through our time at Preview days the Lord showed me how the many events of my life all tied together to bring me to being able to accept this calling.  We are truly humbled by the grace and sovereignty of God.  Still, this has been an incredible leap of faith for us. 

Greg was accepted to SBTS in August, received a $400 scholarship for the spring semester, we were offered and accepted seminary housing, and at that time we told Selah House that we would be leaving no later than December 20th, with or without jobs in Louisville.  

The living room of our new apartment on-campus
at SBTS in Louisville the night of moving day.

On December 7^th, we moved everything out of our house in Anderson into our seminary-housing apartment and a storage unit.  The Spring 2014 semester begins January 20 and Greg has already registered for classes.  Mel also registered for a course through the Seminary Wives Institute and is excited to see how she will learn and grow through that.  

We are also happy to announce that we are expecting again and Mel is due in mid-June.  We have found a good doctor here in Louisville for prenatal care and delivery at Baptist Hospital East.  The remaining unknowns are jobs and insurance.  Greg recently accepted a part-time position as youth minister at FSBC in Floyd’s Knobs and has a couple of other job possibilities.  Mel has applied and interviewed at different places, including some job opportunities on-campus, but has no job offers yet.  Greg has also done everything he can in order to procure any and all insurances we are currently eligible for, though that will change once both of us have jobs.  Please pray that God would provide for our financial and insurance needs while we attend seminary.

We would love for each of you to continue to walk with us in this journey of faith.  We greatly desire your prayers and words of encouragement or scripture as the Lord lays them on your hearts.  Mel has set up a blog online for you to follow in order to stay in touch with where we are and what is going on in our ministry journey from month to month here at SBTS.  Go to http://walkingtheiveytrail.blogspot.com/ to see photos, read stories, and find prayer/praise requests for our family.

As we take this journey of faith, we also will face many financial challenges.  We believe the Lord has laid on our hearts that this time of seminary is not intended for gaining more student loans to pay once Greg graduates.  At Southern, those who feel led by the Lord are able to give contributions to my school bill, rent, and book costs.  We want to stress that we mainly seek your prayers and encouragement.  We do not want you to feel the need to contribute financially if you are not led to do so by the Lord.  Please spend time in prayer and seek the Lord’s guidance in this.  We would love to partner with each of you in some way and be surrounded by a body of supporting believers.

For those interested in supporting us financially, we would ask that you give directly to the seminary.  We do not need to know that you gave unless you want us to.  SBTS estimates that our seminary costs will be about $2300 per semester (http://www.sbts.edu/current-students/financial-aid/estimated-costs/) and our rent is $795 a month on campus.  We would be glad to discuss our needs further if you would like.  Once again feel free to facebook, email, or mail us in this matter.  Here is the information from the seminary on how to give if the Lord so leads your heart:

"Checks should be made payable to “SBTS” and mailed to:

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Financial Aid

2825 Lexington Rd.

Louisville, KY 40280

Please make sure that the checks include the student's name and student ID number (Greg Ivey, Student ID number 214459) in the memo line.

It is helpful if checks are accompanied with a letter stating how the funds may be used.  For instance, would you be allowed to use the funds for books and housing as well as tuition?” 

Our seminary mailing address -
if it's not written like this, it won't reach us.

Thank you so much for the great contribution each one of you has already made to our family.  You each have had a hand in blessing, ministering, and shaping us into people who are able to accept this calling and walk this walk and for that we are so thankful to you.  We hope you will pray for us during this time and transition and we hope you will partner with us in prayer and participate in keeping up with us through the online blog.

In Christ,

Greg, Mel, and Sam Ivey

Family photo at our new church on December 22, 2012 -
also the day Greg was voted in as youth minister of
First Southern Baptist Church in Floyds Knobs