28-Year Missionaries
Ross & Shirley DeFeliece
Retire as of Dec. 31st, 2002

    Long-time missionaries of Maplelawn, Ross and Shirley DeFeliece, announced their retirement from their work and ministry at Grace Baptist Church. Ross reports, "The Lord has been speaking to us for some time now regarding our ages and our health problems that have been catching up with us. He has also been impressing upon us the need for passing the ecclesiastical baton on to those more capable of ministering without the above restrictions. Based upon the above, we have come to the decision of retirement, which will take place December 31, 2002."
    Ross goes on to say, "You have prayed for and supported us so faithfully and sacrificially these past twenty-eight years. To every person and church who have given us such a strong right hand in our ministry, we want to say thank you so very much from the bottom of our hearts. You have helped, so many times, to keep our heads and our hearts on the ship of rescue as we sought to rescue so many from eternal separation from God. We could not have ministered at all without you. Just this past Saturday evening we went to Chardon Baptist, where we ministered for twelve years, to minister at a Senior Citizen’s banquet. On our arrival we found three of our Chardon neighbors that we could never get to come to church while we were there, but the Lord did that Saturday evening. Thank you for praying."
    The people of Grace Baptist Church, our current church, are a small but very capable group who are gifted with many leadership capabilities. They will be seeking another missionary to come and minister to them until they are led of the Lord to become self-supporting. Please pray for them as they go through this transition period. Continental Baptist Missions have pledged their help in the on-going establishment of this church, for which we are so thankful."