Today we jumped right into the meetings. The presence of God was strong in worship. We heard Steve Thomas talk about the nature of covenant and the prophet’s role in relation to that. It was exceptional teaching and there was an emphasis on prophets needing to understand the framework of the love and grace of God when calling people back to covenant. God is out for the redemption of His people, not to slap them down and make them feel condemned. At the same time, the goal is not to water down or try and take the plumb line out of the prophets, but to help them understand that if stern words need to be given, that it is not in a harsh, mean spirit but with a heart of compassion.

The next session Dave Richards spoke about the need for the harnessing of the apostles and the prophets. They should never work alone. Prophets become dangerous when they are unharnessed and apostles become dull. These are meant to be exciting and dynamic ministries that are working together to extend the Kingdom.

Then Buck had a session where he talked about the differences between one who prophesies, one who has a prophetic gift, and one who is an E4 prophet. This talk was filled with not only Biblical wisdom, but also the personal experiences of the man who was teaching it. It was a brilliant talk that made the journey of an E4 prophet one quite tangible and not as mystical. One of the parts that was really good was how Buck made everyone aware that God uses rejection in a prophet’s life as a tool to get the insecurity out of him/her. Really God is taking the pride out, so that the prophet will have the capacity to carry the anointing to answer the commission that God has given them. If they don’t have this early on, then they will walk in pride and be harsh and useless.

Dave and Steve had the next session and they talked about how the prophets get harnessed to all the other E4 ministries. This is a necessary element that in many ways has been left out of many circles. We see the fact that prophets worked with all types of people in the NT and we must not be territorial in regards to minstries. We have to be harnessed together and love the joinings. This session ended with repentance again, this time about being competitive with the other ministries.

After this, we heard from a man named Laban from Uganda. He was not on the schedule to speak, but the Lord had been speaking to him about the need for the prophetic to not just effect Churches, but nations and the governments of nations as well. He had some very wise words about this and his talk lifted all of our eyes to the fact that what God is doing and saying amongst us is not just for the Church world, but for the whole world. The Kingdom really is coming.

Then, in the last session, after dinner we started with worship which just blasted us into the presence of the Lord. After this, we had a time of prayer and prophesy over the African leaders that were represented (again, not something that was on the schedule to do, but the Spirit indicated that we should do). This was an amazing time! God was speaking very specific and impacting words about those men that are going to impact the nations of Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria. This was an amazing time!! God really came in and for about 90 minutes we were caught up in Jesus speaking to these men and coming to help them with situations where lives literally hang in the balance.

Tom taught after this about the making of a prophet. He used a great deal of Scripture combined with the personal stories of his encounters with God and with people who didn’t understand him or what he was going through. The emphasis here was about that God lays an incredible call on the prophet, one that is impossible to answer without His help and one that He doesn’t let you out of. He also emphasized the fact that the supernatural way that God calls a prophet shapes his or her ministry. He had countless examples of the supernatural at work that he has seen in Scripture that shaped those men and those by experience that he has seen personally. This call and these experiences shape the character of the prophet and squeeze them down and compress them a point that almost breaks them but that God uses to make their message and life effective. This also was high caliber, magnificent teaching.

That about wraps it up from here for the day. I hope that you that are reading this are gaining the perspectiveI alluded to in the beginning of this report, that we are a part of something that may be built on local family, but is also global as well. God is on the move in all these areas, making this a wonder filled time to be a part of the “joy of the whole earth”.

Editors Note: Scott Squires is among the men and women invited to take part in Salt & Light’s first international School of the Prophets in the UK. We know these are amazing days, and we are grateful to Scott for taking time to send us a report.

Our group arrived in the UK in time to catch the end of a prayer meeting with several leaders before the School of the Prophets opened. It was full of praying, prophecy and just basic glory (Tom Bedford, Paul Kidd, Buck Hudson, and Doug Kreighbaum were all there, so you can imagine).   We had great fellowship at dinner with some old friends (Paul Kidd, Frank from Copenhagen) and we met some new ones (John and Nom who are planting a Church in Paris and Fiona, called Fi, who is from Oxford).

The sense of family that we had around the table was rich and we were blessed by the hospitality of the Church here.   The meeting started after that and right away, you could sense the seriousness of the affair. Dave Richards led off by taking about how the apostolic and the prophetic in the forms of Jesus and John the Baptist met in the Jordan River and heaven responded by opening up and sending anointing (Mark 1:9). There was rich worship and as we did that, Tom had a prophetic word about the new joining that God was bringing to the apostolic and the prophetic that was going to be like a chemical catalyst that was going to change things in the earth.

Steve Thomas and Buck Hudson both taught on the subject of Pnuematology (the doctrine of the Holy Spirit) in this opening session. Steve taught from an overall perspective on the subject and then Buck gave the “prophet’s view” of the subject. It was super rich. The part that God seemed to emphasize in the teachings centered on the fact that God is extremely concerned with the character of the prophets and that it is the character, the way that prophets live, that is the credibility of the prophet before the prophesying.

As I have said before, this Prophet’s School is something that is historic and will have far reaching ramifications. These seasoned, brilliant men, didn’t spare anything in their teachings on the subject. These were teachings that were both scholarly and anointed. It was a real privilege to hear it.

From Scott Parrish:

Saturday afternoon David MacFarlane spoke to us again in three parts.  Through humorous stories and illustrations he challenged leaders to be forward looking.  In one example, he displayed a picture of “a bridge to no where”.  Once the bridge had stood to carry traffic between banks, but the river moved and the bridge was no longer serving its purpose. Leaders must be able to see ahead, move and change in order to be relevant in the culture and current  conditions. Once the church was a place where people looked for guidance, but it is no longer that way. We need to be looking ahead for ways to change that.

Then he used an illustration of windows, walls and doors to get us to evaluate mission in our churches.  We need to look outside our windows and find the people God is calling us too.  There are people right outside that are lost and hurting, just waiting for the gospel. We need to recognize the walls that keep us from reaching the lost. Is it fear? Lack of training? All of them can be overcome. Identify them and work to knock the walls that hinder us down. Lastly, we must walk through the doors of opportunity when they present themselves, and he went on with seven points of engagement out of the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).

Be focused on mission “as he traveled he came where the man was”
We can not fall into the trap of letting administration and maintenance be what drives the church; we must be mission driven, and go to where the hurting people are.

Be compassion driven “he saw him, he took pity on him”
Our hearts must be engaged, and continually move out of the compassion and love of Christ for people.

Be restorative places “bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine”
We need to be caring Christians who are willing to take the time to bring the healing power of Christ to the hurting.

Be 24/7 Christians “he put the man on his own donkey”
Live the Christian life in a 24/7 way. You don’t need a church program to do mission. Go and do!  When we, in faith, build relational or care bridges, then Jesus comes and walks across them. Anyone can do this. Let’s help, reach out. The worst that could happen is that people might just get saved.

Be marketplace empowering “to the innkeeper, look after him”
Use the business people in the community for mission, not just for the money they bring in. There are significant relational contacts that men and the women in the marketplace can use for mission.

Be long term strategists “when I return, I will reimburse you”
We need to think about long term investment in people. Children are an especially good investment, even though they may run off to college.

Together we can let the gospel speak through our actions and our words!
He left us with the words of Jesus, “You go, and do likewise.”

Friday evening:

JB Masinde talked about finding our voice in the midst of a world trying to deceive people about Jesus, in the face of intimidation and threats. For some, even while facing imprisonment, sin in the church, division, heresy, and fakes and frauds. He used text out of the book of Acts and what the apostles faced. It was both encouraging and challenging.

We cannot remain silent in the face of the world’s conspiracy to deceive people about who Jesus is.  Nor can we remain silent in the face of hostilities to Christianity by the media, religious elements, or the politically correct crowd of society. Long story short: preach the word; teach the word with boldness and confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Saturday morning:

Steve Thomas preached a message about being a people of conviction. Culturally we’ve become much more confident in our selves, but less confident in what we believe and even less confident in the truth. We need to be clear and confident in what we believe and articulate it without the common cultural question mark at the end of our statements.

He illustrated with this video: http://vimeo.com/m/3829682 Basically emphasized our confidence comes in and through Christ. He talked a little about the question “Where is Salt and Light going?” emphasizing that we are going to be missional and continue to reach out to the poor, needy, hurting world around us. Jesus mission must be our mission. We must be moved out of heart. People get put in your heart; not so much in the way of strategy or program, but simply going after them because you love them.

And lastly hope for eternity is pivotal; we can’t be lulled into thinking hell doesn’t exist. Lots of people out there are trying to wipe out the thought of the existence of hell. There are real consequences for not coming to Jesus. Also, the hope of the gospel is not just for this life but for eternity. So eternity must be in our view when it comes to mission. We must preach a gospel that includes eternity in it.

A note from Scott:

There is very much a missional church emphasis coming out in the meetings. Missional mindset should permeate every aspect of what we do as a church is the point. If we’re not being missional we’re not really being a church. It should definitely stir us to rethink how we approach events and outreach opportunities and make sure there is always some evangelistic hook and stir our hearts for the lost.

Scott Parrish from Pittsburg, Kansas, is graciously bringing us along to the Salt & Light International Leaders Conference 2012. Check back for more of these great updates as the conference continues.

Reported by Scott Parrish, Pittsburg, Kansas

Opening Session:

Ngwiza Mnkandla from Zimbabwe opened the evening session of the Senior Leaders Forum here in Oxford.  His message was entitled “We Must Leave the Village”. He opened with at story about his school days, and how the headmaster at his school “kicked him out”; the headmaster saw that Ngwiza had potential and said that he must go to a city school in order to be prepared properly for his future. He related how many men in his village have died of AIDS or otherwise have not achieved all they were able to because they had stayed in the village. We must leave the places of safety, comfort and familiarity in order to be prepared for our future in God.

He then read Exodus 13:17-22, and drew some parallels for us as a family of churches. Like Joseph’s bones, we have ideas and values from our past that can not be left behind.  Those “bones” connect us to our past and to our future.  We must remember that we are evangelical; we believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit; we believe in the authority of the word of God, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the Church, the body of Christ.  He related how those values are like the roots of a tree that grow deep to support the growth.  He also encouraged us to follow the cloud.  He reminded us that our mission together is following the cloud; we are not leading God, but following him.  God didn’t need Abraham or Moses, but when they were least expecting, He came to them and invited them to be part of his mission.  Along with the challenge to leave our village, Ngwiza also said, “May God give us a spirit of adventure!”

We are a family of churches on a mission, and there is excitement and anticipation about what God is doing and about to do.

Friday Afternoon

David MacFarlane, the speaker for the Friday afternoon session, presented us with a challenge to find our voice in being a missional church.  He started out with a quote from Emil Brunner about the church:  “The church exists by mission, as fire exists by burning.  Without mission there is really no Church.” And the challenge was on from there.

With great passion and humor he reminded us that we are all called to be missionaries and that the job of the Holy Spirit was to make us missional people (Act 1:8).  He then gave us a pattern for missional action based out of the story of the paralytic who was healed by Jesus after his friends lowered him through a roof.

• Identify needs in our community.  Who are the paralyzed people that God is calling us to reach?

• Cast a captivating vision–the paralyzed man could be made whole again. We need to have vision for lost people, and the lost need to see a compelling alternative vision for their life.

• Develop workable plans. We need to plan in order to maximize. We need to maximize our outreach by opening up and “piggy-backing”. If you’re having a marriage conference, open it to the community.  If you do an outreach, use that as an opportunity to invite them to the next planned event. Always have an evangelistic component to any outreach. People need to get involved.  The paralytic was carried by four people.  Pray. Serve. Invite. Share. Explain the gospel. Help transform lives through discipleship.

• Become an intentional community for mission. The four carried the paralyzed man to Jesus. They made it their job to get the man to Jesus. Mission must be in the DNA of everything in the church.

• Find innovative solutions.  The four made an opening in the roof. They overcame the apparent obstacle the crowd presented (no door, no window) with a novel solution. We also can’t be trapped by “we’ve never done that before” mindsets and questions like “who will pay for the roof”?  Find opportunities; what roof can you open up? “A great deal more failure is the result of an excess of caution than of bold experimentation with new ideas. The frontiers of the Kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution.”  J. Oswald Sanders

• Focus on Spiritual Transformation.  The paralytic was healed and forgiven. Work at seeing lives turned around through the power of God.

• Celebrate loudly what God has done.  When people get saved celebrate! When people share their faith, greatly encourage them.

by Peggy Maertens, Mankato, Minnesota

It was just last year that Tom Bedford was having a conversation with Pat Forbes, and he happened to mention that God had a different building location for Covenant Family Church sometime in the not so distant future. Funny, not long after that we were informed that the building we were renting was going to be sold, and the new owners would need the use of the whole building. In other words, we were out! It was a bit overwhelming at first, but we knew God was on His throne, as always, saying, “Hey, no problem, I’ve got you covered.”

Shortly after that, the new buyers, a church in Mankato, offered to rent us their old building; they were not quite ready to sell it. Not only that, but they suggested we move on the same day as them by using their moving trucks and their people! They came to the building that freezing January morning with their trucks full. Our moving team helped them unload and then reload the empty trucks with our stuff. It worked like clockwork, well almost. But all-in-all it went very well, we even had some fun I think.

We love our new location because it is right smack in the middle of downtown Mankato; we are planted right between a bar and a Super America. Oh, yeah! Let the evangelizing begin! The first day of school in our new digs I took the kindergartners over to Super America to meet our new neighbors. The ladies behind the counter were quite impressed with the three little fellows in their uniforms and good manners. The students gave each lady a free Coke and invited them to come to church. Amber and Julie are now our friends. The expectations and excitement are running high at Covenant Family Church of Mankato. God is on the move and, therefore, so are we!

Danny & Sarah with Harold, Lori, and Evan Forbis who will be moving their shampoo and soap to Fresno in the fall.

As I near the city of Fresno, Ca I always think of Pantene (shampoo + conditioner) and a fresh bar of Dove Soap. For the past three or four years I have made over a dozen trips to this city (not counting the nine months that my family and I lived there) to visit my friends and family at Bread of Life Church. Each time I have made the trek I have stayed with Sean, Megan, and in the last year, their daughter,  Addysen Conner. Many of these trips are with only a few hours or, if their lucky, days notice but the response to my coming is always the same as they insist that I stay with them.

After so many times in their home we’ve become more family than friends. If fact, as most of our earthly possessions made their way back home to Missouri last October my wife and three children moved in with the Conner’s for several days. Small adventures, family to family, like that are what form bonds that last beyond years and tie legacy’s together. It was a great time!

The Conner’s are a great example of the hospitality that the C2C family of churches has. Whether it is in the Markeson’s, Davis, or Johnson home in Raleigh, NC; the James or White houses in Omaha, NE; the Luntsford, Forbes homes in Mankato, Mn; the Limmer, Palmer families in Casper, WY; Curry, Scopel, Severs homes in Waverly, Mo. or the Nwagu, Squires, Brooks homes in Pittsburg, KS; they all exhibit the welcome of God with excellence!

I’ve been greatly enriched by the late night and breakfast conversations with all of these and many more. It is a privilege to know men and women like this that so freely give of their hearts and share all that they have with strangers and extended family alike! I know I join many a road weary traveler in thanking this family of Churches for their generous hearts and call for a blessing on all the homes that serve with such fervor.

Because I know these precious people and have “lived” with them, I understand that their motivation is not simply a “good heart” or even that this is just the culture of their local church. This hospitality is born  out of a revelation if Christ and the knowledge that when you serve others like this you are really serving Christ himself.

It was this revelation that made Sarah and I so excited to be able to host a visiting pastor in our home for the first time twelve years ago. Sarah was very pregnant and we were in the first year of our marriage. We were so excited that we had a guest coming and we prepared the best we had for him. We went set out the “good” towel set we had gotten from our wedding  to replace the thread bare ones we usually used and I splurged and went to get TWO different types of cereal and a small assortment of muffins. We were so proud and privileged to have this pastor come and were going to share the best we had with him to ensure he was able to rest after a long day on the road that flowed into a late meeting.  God had given us a chance to serve great men that he had entrusted the care of his people to.

Imagine my surprise when Paul Shipman came to our door and got Sarah and I out of bed to talk with. He wasn’t interested in crashing from a long day, though he had every right to. Instead, he wanted to get to know us and share in the life of the people that were serving him. Sharing your home is a very personal thing but the life that you connect with and the bonds that form in the sharing are amazing!

I say all of that to say this: Thank you C2C for your continued hospitality to your extended family. I can’t wait till I wake up n Fresno again, pull back the shower curtain and see a bottle of Pantene (shampoo + conditioner) and a fresh bar of Dove Soap!

Don and Cheri White have been teaching an awesome Pastoral Training class at Covenant Family Church for the last few weeks. When those classes were first announced one Sunday, we were asked to raise our hands if we were interested in attending. If I could have found a way to sit on my hands without looking really awkward, I would have. Pastor People was on my list of Things to Never Do: right between, Babysit Three Vomiting Children (again) and Wear Red. If you’ve grown up as a church kid, you’ve probably heard a phrase something to the tune of, “Leading is about being a servant first.” Somewhere along the way I realized that wasn’t just an overused saying… it was real. Pastoring people is HARD work. And I knew I would not enjoy it. I mean, people are annoying, and needy, and whiney. And most of the time, when they are being annoying and needy and whiney, it’s right in the middle of something else I’d rather be doing. I thought to myself, “Wow, I just do not have the pastoring grace.” As a side note, I have learned I am really selfish (marriage has taught me this as well…but that’s a whole different story).

These classes though, were completely not what I expected. And I think I can officially speak for everyone (since I spent Sunday after church interviewing everyone) when I say that we have been blown away by the richness and sheer “good stuff” we’ve encountered. When you get down to it, pastoring people on some level or another, is really unavoidable. The whole, “Love one another,” “Feed my sheep,” “Go into the world and preach the gospel”… well it all comes down to pastoring at some point. Don and Cheri have shared their wisdom in the most down to earth, man on the streets sort of way. These classes are about real life.  As Lin Crum put it, “You don’t have to necessarily be always ‘nicey, nicey’ to be a pastor. It takes all flavors to pastor all kinds of people.”

I can’t think of a single class that I didn’t immediately find an application for in the days following. In fact, at times I’ve felt like I was already in the lab for Pastoring 101 without realizing it. Words that have been used to describe this class are: profitable, meritorious, and rich. Andy Goettlicher shared how one class in particular made a big impact on his marriage, helping him and Carrie to break previous soul ties and grow their relationship. He also shared how a class hand out on Psalm 23 had helped him understand that Psalm for the first time.

Peggy Maertens says she has been learning more about how to better care for and meet the needs of people. Don Millican says he has really enjoyed gleaning from Don and Cheri’s depth of experience. And I really don’t think anyone could disagree with Jennifer Kneefe, “Don and Cheri have great God-given wisdom and it has been such a blessing to learn from them. Their personal testimonies have offered great insight into how to apply kingdom solutions to very difficult situations.”

But these classes aren’t just for us. Interestingly enough, at Covenant Family Church,  a lot of what we’ve been hearing from the pulpit, visiting ministers, prayer, and—well—everywhere, is that God is drawing us more and more outside of ourselves, to reach into our community. So, to Don and Cheri (or should I say Mr. and Mrs. Miyagi), keep on teaching us to “Wax on, wax off,” cause it’s working! And even though my arm muscles hurt a little… I’m still glad I didn’t sit on my hands that Sunday.

Her response: “Jesus takes us always step by step. He doesn’t reveal
the whole all at once. So I would tell anyone who feels this: Please
take another step and do something to the closest person—inside your
family, inside your town, inside your church. You can encourage
someone with a word. You can give a flower to someone. You can do
something. When you do, Jesus will open the door for you for more.
Take the step.” Pastor Don White urged us all with this message and
encouraged us to ‘let’s move from theory to practice and “TAKE THE
STEP!’ And take the next step we did, and another, and another.
Christ’s Family Church continued in His path shown to us for outreach
to friends and family in Christ over this Christmas season at
Timbercreek Apartments.

The next step started out with a gift wrapping social. In previous
years gift wrapping was done at a local department store, but this
year we thought it would have a greater impact and continue to build
relationships if we made it a personable social event. We were able to
use Timbercreek’s clubhouse and set up with refreshments, desserts, a
coloring and craft area for the kids, Christmas music, and as much
socializing and gift wrapping as we could fit into a few hours. One of
the best parts of the whole evening was that there were some who came,
not to have gifts wrapped, but just wanted to spend time with the CFC
volunteers simply because of the previous outreach events and
relationships we have with a lot of the residents there. We also
invited everyone to our Christmas Eve service.

A few days later we were back in the clubhouse again to bring gifts in
the name of the Lord. We held our second annual Christmas at the Creek
drive to help those at the apartments needing a little assistance this
season. We were able to beat our giving goal of last year, and this
year we had seven families, with a total of twenty three kids to buy
gifts for. They were all able to receive some toys, personal care
items, and warmth (hats, gloves, and full size blankets!). The local
Vineyard church also gave some assistance and was able to help out
each family and provide each family with not only a good size bag of
groceries, but a bag of various meats for each  family as well. While
they weren’t as extravagant as gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they
were received as such from those we were able to serve. All the
families were open to receiving a Christmas blessing prayer, and
several had additional prayer requests as well.

At the end of the event, as we prayed in closing and expressed the
compassion we had for the people and situations which people asked for
prayer, Pastor Don reminded us that we were not doing this to ‘get
people to come to church’ (even though some have come because of it),
it is about serving where we are at, meeting them where they are at,
and sharing Christ’s love and the Good News with them. We were also
given great wisdom from Lollie Hofer that we do not look upon them as
just people living in a low income apartment complex in less than
favorable situations, but friends and family in the name of Christ,
and that we are their Church (some of them just don’t know it yet). We
left with a great feeling of joy that day.

In addition to all of this, the CFC Roots Youth group also ‘Adopted A
Family’ through the local Salvation Army, pooling resources from the
teens, they were able to buy gifts and a Christmas dinner for a family
of five here in Omaha. They will be Jesus’ hands and feet and present
it to the family later this week.

So remember the words of Jesus ‘…and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’
(Acts 1:8). Here at CFC we are serving, and in the words of Mama
Maggie Gobran ‘taking the next step’ in our own Jerusalem, while being
connected to our Judea and Samaria. What is the next step to take in
your own Jerusalem?

Media attention highlights Jesus in Denise Kreighbaum’s battle with breast cancer

Denise Kreighbaum from Covenant Harvest Church in Pittsburg is featured this month in the Pittsburg Women of Distinction Calendar (Mrs. December).  As most of you know, she went through a battle with breast cancer and God has opened some amazing doors for her to share how Jesus enabled her to overcome in the midst of the battle.  She spoke at the candelight vigil for the breast cancer awareness month in October.   Here are a couple of excerpts from the front pages of the Pittsburg Morning Sun newspaper as well as the December calendar page.

The Morning Sun, October 6 2011 – Record crowd gathers for 13th annual breast cancer candlelight vigil  PITTSBURG -

A record crowd gathered Wednesday night at the Pittsburg State University Lake for the 13th annual breast cancer candlelight vigil.  “This is the biggest crowd we’ve ever had,” said Kelly York, Southeast Kansas regional outreach coordinator for Early Detection Works, which sponsored the vigil along with Susan G. Komen for the Cure Mid Kansas Affiliate…

Guest speaker was Denise Kreighbaum, who shared her story of battling the disease with prayers from friends around the world, the love and support of her husband and four daughters, her faith family at Covenant Harvest Church and, of course, her God.
“I’m not a courageous person, I’m a timid person,” Kreighbaum said, “but God has given me the courage to fight cancer.”

The Morning Sun, October 5, 2011 -  Denise Kreighbaum spreads a message of hope  PITTSBURG

Denise Kreighbaum, front and center, stands with her high school students at Covenant Harvest School. Her students and many others in her church family and natural family were very supportive during her battle with breast cancer. She will share her story during the 13th annual candlelight breast cancer vigil at 7 p.m. today at the Pittsburg State University Lake.
“We thought it very fitting to invite someone to speak whose faith is so strong,” said Kelly York, Southeast Kansas regional outreach coordinator for Early Detection Works.  Kreighbaum and her husband, Doug, came to Pittsburg on Sept. 27, 1991 to serve as senior leaders at Covenant Harvest Church. He is senior pastor, and she teaches at Covenant Harvest School…
Dr. Boban Mathew, her oncologist, told her that she would probably begin losing her hair after her first treatment. This was especially painful to Kreighbaum because her daughter, Katie, was getting married on Oct. 17. “I didn’t make an appointment to have my hair done because I thought it would be falling out, but God was really faithful to me,” she said. “The day before the wedding my hair still wasn’t falling out. I had to make a last-minute appointment to get it fixed, and I had my own hair for the wedding photographs. Then, the day after the wedding, my hair started coming out in handfuls and my husband shaved my head.”

Her chemo lasted for six months and ended on April 1, 2010. “In the middle of my chemotherapy, I got news that my daughter Nicole was going to have a baby and I was going to be a grandmother,” Kreighbaum said. “That helped me through it.”…

Kreighbaum said she was surrounded by love and prayer during the ordeal. “People prayed for me, which meant so much; people brought in food,” she said.  “A friend came and cleaned my house every week.” After the chemotherapy was over, Kreighbaum recovered well and continues to do well…

Kreighbaum was a little surprised to be asked to speak at the vigil. “I’m not much of a public speaker,” she said, “but I have a story.”  Part of that story is to share a message of hope and faith.  “It doesn’t do any good to ask ‘Why me?’,” Kreighbaum said. “You have to find things to be grateful for. This helps me to help others in difficult situations. I tell them that I’ll pray for them. I tell them that God is faithful, He helped me and He’ll help them.”