2022
Newsletter — November 2022
November 2022 (Thanksgiving) Newsletter
“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I Thessalonians 5:18
From the keyboard of Dr. Ross Jutsum
Featured picture above — the “Blomberg Seven” in Guinea — Lisa and Jon (holding twin boys Aaron and Noah,) in front are Solomon (their “Solo” child) and twins Isaiah & Evelyne
Dear family, friends and ministry partners:
We survived Hurricane Ian and then Tropical Storm Nicole (which became a hurricane!) Having left Southern California in January of this year, along with its earthquakes, droughts, fires, mudslides, traffic etc., we didn’t expect to deal with a hurricane here in N.E. Florida so soon! Thankfully, we fared well with only a couple of minor leaks, unlike so many of our neighbors who were inundated with water and the damage that resulted. We are so grateful for God’s protection and His mercy. Shortly after the hurricane, Tammy admired a pillow cushion with the inscription “give thanks with a grateful heart” and our neighbor gifted it to us as a reminder this season of Thanksgiving that we should always have an “attitude of gratitude” not just on Thanksgiving Day but every day so graciously God gifts us!
This season we are especially proud of our son-in-law, Dr. Ryan McAnnally-Linz (Heidi’s husband.) Ryan has recently co-authored another book with his mentor, Dr. Miroslav Volf, entitled “The Home of God,” (A Brief Story of Everything.) The book, published by Brazos Press, came out in late September. I found this book to be extremely enlightening and encouraging! Ryan continues teaching at Yale University Divinity School and is Associate Director of the Center for Faith and Culture. Heidi continues working as Deputy Director of Yale’s Macmillan International Center. It will be wonderful to welcome Heidi’s family here for Thanksgiving.
We will have to wait till next summer to see Lisa’s family. News flash! The “Blomberg Seven” have completed their missionary work in Turkey and, for the past few months, are now living in Conakry, the capital of Guinea in West Africa! God has opened new doors for both Lisa and Jonathan to serve once again with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF.) This is the organization Jonathan previously served with as a pilot. In this new location, Jonathan will once again serve as a pilot and Lisa will serve as the Country Director for MAF.
Needless to say, this is a major transition for Lisa and Jonathan and the entire family and is especially a challenge for the children who, at their tender ages (6 ½ year old twins Isaiah and Evelyne), 4 ½ year old Solomon, and 2 ½ year old twin boys Aaron and Noah) are attending a French-speaking school. (Their parents are already totally fluent in French.) Lisa and Jon have this new calling, along with a fervent desire to serve God and His precious children in this part of the world. Please do pray for their safety and security and for their housing and schooling needs to be met, as well as for peace of mind, needed help with the children, and for like-minded friends.
Tammy and I are hoping for our whole family to be together next summer when Lisa and Jon will have a spiritual retreat somewhere in Europe. We SO miss our grand-children! In this new community on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, we are finding new ways to minister to our neighbors and to shine the light of Jesus. We have a number of ministry trips planned around the Christmas season, including one to serve at the Grace Communion congregation in Big Sandy, Texas (our old stomping ground from 1990-1998.)
We thank you so much for your prayers for our family and ministry and also for your support. Please know that Tammy and I regularly pray for you and yours.
Happy Thanksgiving!
With gratitude, love and blessings,
Ross and Tammy
2022
Newsletter — August-October 2022
August-October 2022 Newsletter
Photo: Ross and Lisa lead worship at Life Christian Fellowship in Pasadena, CA with our 5 grandchildren joining us on stage for a praise dance!
“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:3
Dear family, friends and ministry partners:
Tammy and I just returned from a 30-day trip to Washington state and our old “stomping ground” in Southern California. It was truly wonderful to spend quality time with Lisa and Jon and their five children! Because of the pandemic, we hadn’t yet met Aaron and Noah (now 2 and ½ years old!) Needless to say, they have more energy than a barrel full of monkeys and we are rather exhausted!
We enjoyed leading worship in Orlando at the Grace Communion congregation in May and caught up with many dear and long-time friends. Among them was Derrol Nail, a student of mine back in the 1990s when we were at the Big Sandy, TX Ambassador campus. Derrol is now the NASA Communications Director at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, about 35 miles south of our new Florida residence. We can see the rocket launches very well from our place, but nothing quite as spectacular as being right there for a launch, thanks to Derrol’s generous gift of passes.
In addition to the joy of spending such precious time with Lisa and family, it was also a truly wonderful privilege to lead worship together with Lisa at Life Christian Fellowship in Pasadena. The praise songs we led included “In Christ Alone,” “I Love You, Lord,” “How Great Thou Art” and “How Great is Our God,” “Ten Thousand Reasons” and “Shout to the Lord.”
After a couple of weeks recuperating from our last trip, we leave in a few days to spend some time with Heidi and Ryan in Connecticut, along with 9 year old Grace and 6 year old Gabriel.
We appreciate your prayers for our ministry and family. Please know that you and yours are in our prayers also. As the lyrics to one of my worship songs go, “may Your kingdom come, may Your will be done, even here on earth, as it is in heaven!”
With gratitude, love and blessings,
Ross and Tammy
2022
Newsletter – May-July 2022
May-July 2022 Newsletter
“I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.” Romans 8:31
Thanks to the pandemic, this was my first in-person program in a church since March 17, 2020. Ironically, the above event took place this past St. Patrick’s Day, exactly two years since I gave a “Zoom” program from the chapel of Royal Oaks Assisted Living in Duarte, CA for 200 residents!
From the keyboard of Dr. Ross Jutsum
rfjutsum@aol.com
Dear family, friends and ministry partners:
Happy Spring! We are almost settled in our new home, a 7th floor condo in Flagler Beach, Florida on the Atlantic Coast, about half way between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach. It was quite the herculean effort to scale down from our large home in Southern California to this comfy 2-bedroom, 2-bath condo, but we are very happy to have made the move and enjoy our wonderful views of the ocean AND the sunset over the Atlantic IntraCoastal Waterway behind us.
The above-mentioned program took place at Wellsprings Church in Satellite Beach where our long-time friend Steve Schantz serves as the Senior Chaplain. The audience of about 100 really enjoyed the musical offerings which included some Irish favorites, but also a few original compositions selected purposefully in light of the heartbreaking situation in The Ukraine at the moment — “May Your Kingdom Come” and “For the Least of These”…
All seven of our grand-children together in the Middle East over New Year’s… Solomon (almost 4,) Grace (almost 9) holding one of our almost 2-year-old grandtwin boys Noah, then almost 6 year-old twins Isaiah and Evelyne (with Evie holding twin brother Aaron) and last but not least Gabriel (almost 6.)
We are SO looking forward to meeting the grand-twin boys in July when Lisa and Jonathan and their family will be visiting the U.S. on an extended leave. In the meantime, as we follow the Lord’s lead to serve wherever in the Body He desires (this coming weekend leading worship at a church in Orlando,) our ministry is also supporting Lisa and Jon’s wonderful work in the Middle East and we are also contributing to a Canadian pastor friend’s ministry bringing needy refugees from Africa and the Middle East.
Your continuing support and your prayers are so very much appreciated. We continue to use our P.O. Box in Sierra Madre, CA. We pray for you and yours regularly and long for the day when there will truly be “no more pain, no more suffering, no more tears, no more death.” Indeed, “may Your Kingdom come soon!”
With gratitude, love and blessings,
Ross and Tammy
2022
Newsletter — February-April 2022
February-April 2022 Newsletter
“I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.” Romans 8:31
Featured Image: Our five older grand-children all very happy together for the New Year in the Middle East — Heidi’s children (Grace, 8 and Gabriel, 5) on outside in grey — Lisa’s three oldest (5-year-old twins Evelyne and Isaiah in pink and blue and 3-year-old Solomon in dark blue)
From the keyboard of Dr. Ross Jutsum rfjutsum@aol.com
Dear family, friends and ministry partners:
Tammy and I wish you a very happy New Year. We have some really BIG news to share! We recently sold our home for the past 22 years here in Southern California and are planning to move out of state. We don’t know where exactly as yet, but, for a couple of months, are renting a place near the Palm Coast area in Florida (on the Atlantic coast about half-way between Daytona Beach and St. Augustine) and we will check out various areas before deciding where to settle.
Down-sizing is something our girls have wanted us to do for some time and we finally did it! Going through 43 and ½ years of things we have accumulated during our married life, not to mention all of the girls’ things and many belongings of Tammy’s mother from when she lived with us — it is all rather daunting! However, we have finished all of the sorting and tossing and deciding what little to keep and are having an estate sale. Then we are off on our new adventure.
Of course, I do not plan to retire from ministry and we plan on keeping our non-profit 501C3, State of the Heart Ministries, in California, where one of our Directors will still be living. We will be keeping our P.O. Box 56 in Sierra Madre as the ministry mailing address. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been forced to scale back on ministry travel and that will no doubt still be the case. However, we plan to use the ministry funds more to support our daughters and their families’ ministry efforts and outreach. And of course, we will continue to serve and share in whatever place God leads us to land!
We plan to continue our quarterly newsletters with family and ministry news, along with our ministry web site. Wherever doors open in churches, retirement communities and other venues, we plan to walk through them and through music and worship, let our lights shine with the love of God and the good news of salvation through Jesus and the gospel message.
As you can see from the picture on the first page, our daughters and sons-in-law have had a wonderful time together with all seven of our grand-children in the Middle East for the past couple of weeks. (Almost two-year-old twin boys, Aaron and Noah, were not close by for this photo.) With our potential re-location to the East Coast, we will be closer to Heidi and her family in Connecticut and also several hours closer to Lisa and her family overseas. We hope to have the flexibility to visit our kids and grand-kids more often.
In a few months we will be entering the 26th year of “State of the Heart Ministries.” It has been quite an incredible journey thus far and we are trusting our loving and wonderful Lord to guide us in this transition and show us the ways He wants us to continue to be His hands and feet, His lips and eyes as we go forward.
As always, we so appreciate your prayers for our family and our ministry and are so grateful for your financial support also. We continue to lift up you and yours to our loving God in prayer also.
With gratitude, love and blessings,
Ross and Tammy