We would like to welcome to this world our new nephew, David Peter Knickerbocker! David is the first child to be born in the "next generation" of Knickerbockers, the first nephew for us and first grandchild to Stephen's parents. He was born on September 25th 2012, was 23 inches long, and weighed 10.2 lbs.  We were blessed to have an opening in our schedule to travel to delaware and see him and to spend time with Samuel and Justine (his proud parents). Here are a few pictures from the trip...
 
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Praise the Lord, we are now officially on full-time deputation! The apartment is gone, our things are put away in storage, the car is packed out completely, and Stephen has officially left his job so that we can constantly travel!
Our first stop on this great journey was at the Harvest Baptist Church's mission's conference in Ackworth, GA.
We are thankful for Pastor Reed who  graciously took time to get to know us and our ministry personally on Friday evening before the conference began. We Greatly enjoyed meeting new friends, other encouraging missionaries, and the church members who had been praying for our arrival.
On Saturday, we were able to meet most of the church families at breakfast and during the international mission's dinner. For the first time, we enjoyed watching a mission's play put on by the church about bible characters who obeyed the Lord and his commandments. The children, teenagers and many adults put a great deal of time and effort into making the props,costumes, preparing, and practicing lines and songs. It was wonderful!
Stephen Had the opportunity to preach in the Sunday School hour and present our ministry. Julie gave her testimony at that same hour and we had the opportunity to speak and sing in French- that always seems to leave people very interested. We had a wonderful time speaking to the children in the academy and presenting our work in Burkina Faso to them. How encouraging is it to see young lives desiring to live for the Lord and praying for missionaries. One little girl later came up to us and asked us how she could donate her toys so that the African children would have something nice to play with. We praise the Lord that he has given these children a sensitive heart for His work around the world. We were later able to visit with the children who attend the christian academy and spend time with Miss Lane's class who had been praying for us. They gave us beautiful cards and worked very hard to save their change in M&M bottles and give us a generous offering.
We greatly enjoyed our visit with many old friends from college who now attend Harvest Baptist church and are greatlty involved in the work they are doing in Ackworth.
It is always bittersweet to leave a church after a conference in which you know the Lord blessed and moved in a special way. We praise Him for faithful churches and pastors who love Him and continue to have a heart for missions.

Pictured above: Some of the beautiful cards the children gave us, Julie making cream cheese frosting for cupcakes (yes, even on deputation, we find a way to keep the baking going!), Julie with Mrs. Gazaway (one of the missionary couples at the conference who greatly encouraged us), the missions play and the children singing.
 
Wednesday evening service truly is the most encouraging service of the week! What a privilege it was to present our ministry to the Valley View Baptist Church this Wednesday evening. We have visited several times and were glad to spend time with friends and others who have known the Knickerbockers for quite a while. A few years ago, Stephen's brother Samuel preached for Pastor Pratt. We were greatly blessed by the church member's kindness and encouraging words. We thank the Lord for those who continually have an interest in our ministry and seek out our prayer cards to pray for us.
 
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We had a wonderful Sunday morning meeting at the Grove City Baptist Church in Knoxville, TN led by pastor Daniel Beeman. We had the opportunity to share our ministry and burden with the church and enjoy sweet fellowship. It was wonderful to see old friends from college attending the church faithfully and being involved in the ministry and visitation. When Pastor Beeman took over the church a few years ago, Julie was involved in a ministry called the New Testament Church Pioneers. The pioneers were greatly involved with the Grove City Baptist Church- Singing, soul-wining and visitations, etc. We were greatly encouraged by the growth of the church and seeing it still going strong.

For the evening meeting, we traveled to Canton, NC to present our ministry to the Center Pigeon Baptist Church.  Pastor Blanton and the church have supported Stephen's family since they have been in france- almost 25 years! Needless to say, Stephen has many very fond childhood memories associated with pastor Blanton and Center Pigeon Baptist Church. They have been faithful prayer warriors for the knickerbocker's ministry for many years and we were greatly blessed to once again fellowship, sing, preach and present our ministry to them. We always look forward to coming here- it is almost like coming home to dear friends. Please pray the Lord would keep blessing this very mission-minded church!

The beautiful view from the front of the Center Pigeon Baptist Church building! What beautiful mountains!
 

Dear Praying friends and family, 
We are glad to announce that we will officially begin full time deputation on September 22nd. Stephen has given his 2 weeks notice to his full time job. Last Saturday, we moved out of our apartment. The Lord has greatly blessed us and has provided places for us to live with friends and family until the end of deputation. Please keep us in your prayers as we adjust to this lifestyle. We will also be keeping up with the blog on a regular basis.


September 9th, 2012
Mount Zion Baptist Church, Shelby AL

Sunday morning, We had the opportunity to present our burden and ministry at the Mount Zion Baptist church in Shelby, AL. Pastor Horton told us he and many other members of the church enjoy listening to Pastor Sexton on the radio every morning and they look forward to meeting him one day. This reminded us once again of how blessed we are to have a loving and God-fearing Pastor who cares about us and loves to know how deputation is going. The church was also a great encouragement to us and we enjoyed sweet fellowship after the meeting. We also praise the Lord for one young man who received the Lord as his Savior after the morning meeting. His brother had been bringing him to church for quite a while and witnessing to him. We are thankful that the Lord used Stephen's preaching to further convict him of his sin and reconcile his young soul to God.

It was a blessing to stay with Bro. Jack Davis and his wife on Saturday evening as well. It is always encouraging to meet other missionaries and hear stories of their time on the field. The work they have been doing in Cuba for almost 20 years is outstanding- The Lord has greatly blessed their ministry!



For the evening meeting, we stopped in Higdon, Alabama to meet with the Higdon Baptist Church. They have faithfully prayed for and financially supported Stephen's parents in France for over 20 years. The Knickerbocker's latest prayer letter was on the entryway's bulletin board and this greatly encouraged us. We praise the Lord for faithful churches who also love to take part in a missionary's ministry.


Thank you for your constant prayers!
-The knickerbockers

Stephen preaching at the Mount Zion Baptist Church