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Dear Pastor and Church,

The Update.....Let me start by updating you on the loss of my voice. It started in the month of November and still has not come back. I have been seeing a throat specialist and he is a very patient man. He seems to think waiting is the key. He must see some-thing in the C-scans and he sounds as though it will all come back. As for now, he says we will wait another six months before he decides to operate. I have noticed the voice sounding stronger during the morning hours, than in the evenings.
I have been still doing some preaching but have decided to take a month off just to see if that might help improve it. Let me tell you, it is hard to keep a preacher quiet and not preach.
Some of you have called and expressed concern over this and we do appreciate it.

The Upside.....I am enjoying the extra time in preparing lessons, sermons, and the time in visiting folks and the Lord has been good to us in being able to help the new Pastor take the reins here at Tacoma Indian Baptist Church. He and his wife are doing a fine job of keeping things together and are making the adjustments. Believe me, when you work with Natives, there are a lot of adjustments.
Our attendance have dropped off some, but I think it will get get up as time goes on. We did have 98 in attendance for the Easter services and pray for great days ahead.
Our NABF had a meeting on the Yakima Reservation in April and we had a family from our church go with us and it was such a blessing to see them all make decisions for the Lord. They are Navajo, and were living in Tacoma for a short time. Caroline and Justin rededicated their lives to the Lord and Margarita and Shaun were both saved. A week after that, they were moving back to Arizona and expressed how the Lord had blessed them to be able to attend a Native church.
We see a lot of people like that, who are only here for a short time and are gone back to their reservation far away. That is why we have always referred to TIBC as a Urban Ministry, and I would have to say, over the years while we have not gone to every Reservation in this state, I think a member of every tribe has come by here. There was a Native from Canada in our church last night and Pastor Bill asked him if he was saved, and the young man said, "Yes, Brother Mckinney lead me to the Lord some years ago." Brother Bill said, "Every time I think I have met someone I can lead to the Lord, Brother Mckinney has already been there."
It made me realize, that over the years, we have been in a lot of places and covered a lot of miles but only Heaven will tell the rest of the story there is an upside to ministry!!!

The Uproot.....My wife and I are still going to the Coast as soon as I can get some volume in my throat. Natives don't listen to soft spoken preachers, only the ones that holler at them....ha!
Thanks for being on the other side and holding the ropes!

Until the Trumpet Sounds,

Larry G McKinney