Farewell Letter

2023 has come and gone and still the goodness and grace of God remains steadfast! Although many things have changed for us this past year, the immutable truth of God’s faithfulness still rings true.

Some of you supporters have been with me from the very beginning going back to over 15 years ago when Burden Ministries began. A young single guy with a ton of zeal and passion for souls set out to evangelize this nation for God’s glory…fast forward to the present-same zeal and passion but now married with a family traveling the world for the sake of the Gospel. God has enabled Burden Ministries to minister in most of the United States and multiple countries for His glory. It has been a true blessing and privilege to serve Him in this way, however as stated in the letter at the beginning of the year, He has clearly shown that it is time to close the ministry. Therefore, this letter will serve as the last official correspondence of Burden Ministries.

I want to bring some clarity to my wording by distinguishing between Burden Ministries and Adrian Burden. I usually refer to Burden Ministries in the plural because for years it has been a team effort. It took a partnership of my immediate family, secretaries, mission board overseers, church commissioners, social media managers, and monthly supporters to accomplish the mission. It is true that I did the most visible part of preaching, but THIS was an effort by so many and I give my deepest thanks to all of them for their faithfulness to the Lord. Adrian Burden on the other hand, is simply a Christian who loves the Lord and desires to use his gifts within the church whenever he is able. Some have asked if I will still preach in local assemblies after this transition....as the Lord allows, I would still love to have impact within the body of Christ. I hope to preach, but I will truly evaluate it all on a case-by-case basis as the Lord leads.

With the month of December rapidly slipping away, in a few short days, I will begin the official closing of Burden Ministries. First of all, this means any support given beyond 2023 will need to be designated for Adrian Burden personally. Secondly, pertaining to ministry correspondence, there will not be a newsletter reporting events but only social media updates via my public Facebook and Instagram pages. Thirdly, the website of Burden Ministries has been changed to reflect an individual presence of evangelistic ministry, therefore, if you see me preaching at an event I am proceeding as an individual serving the Lord with the gifts He has given.

I know the burning question is… what is next? I have begged the Lord for that answer and still we are unsure of the next ‘career step’. Despite all my efforts, at the time of this letter I do not have employment and I am praying the Lord’s will be done going into the future. I have applied for and been denied jobs ranging from working at Target to selling insurance. The staggering number of times over the last months that I have gone to interviews and been denied has caused me to dig deep and consider the possibly that the Lord may not desire for me to take a ministry hiatus. With this in mind, I have been led to have some preliminary discussions about a possible church positions which would give me an opportunity to serve while also giving my family a time to experience a period of normalcy within a church context. Your love and prayers during this transition have been real and have been felt. Although I may not be currently in a full-time evangelistic role, I do hope that you will continue to pray for our family as we wait for clear directions from the Lord.

Through the years, so many of you have prayed fervently and given sacrificially which has propelled this ministry to do incredible things. We have been the blessed and humble recipients of many sacrificial gifts such as vehicles, vacations, tech, FOOD, and lots of love! To every person that read this correspondence…I thank God for you…so THANK YOU! Thank you for loving and supporting a young man and his family who believes that a life given completely to the Gospel is a life worth living.

This letter has been informational purposefully due to the importance of what needed to be conveyed, but I do not want to close my letter with mere information, but I want to close it with victory and thanks. Victory that GOD is Faithful! Victory that we rest on Him during this transition, and we can forever trust Jehovah Shalom and Jehovah Jireh. People of different tribes and nations have come to Christ due to your investment within a little family from North Carolina.

So, with firm faith in Christ and a slightly misty eye, we say Thank you and God bless You!

***OCTOBER 2023***

The autumn season is most often associated with change and because change is so hard I believe God puts on an amazing display to remind us that change can be beautiful. I truly need that reminder.

This year, 2023 has been a year of transition from beginning to end and it has made an indelible mark on our lives. This year began with the announcement that I would be stepping away from itinerant ministry at the end of the year. Then in late spring, I began working at the Peninsula Rescue Mission while still preaching some evangelistic meetings that had been scheduled prior to the job transition. Now, in this fall letter we have another completely unexpected announcement…

My work at the Peninsula Rescue Mission has been quite rewarding and I have seen some major wins that have advanced the ministry within churches and the community, however after this 6-month probationary period it was deemed by the current director that I was “not a fit” for their organization. I was and still am, in absolute shock at receiving this news! It is my heartfelt belief that I could contribute and minister there, however philosophically the director did not have faith that things would progress well going into the future.

Although there are many emotions in my heart as I’ve been processing this over the last couple of days; I want to be clear that the Peninsula Rescue Mission does great work in helping the vulnerable in the Hampton Roads community. The deep commitment of the staff is something that I can attest to firsthand and they are worthy of support to do the work that they do. To my great sadness, it is simply that my ministry background and gifting is not what was needed in that role.

This news was difficult to hear for multiple reasons. The most obvious concern is that I no longer have a job after I have moved my family to an entirely new city, state, church, and school during this transition. We were intending to be at this location for the foreseeable future. The second layer surrounds the fact that I have dismantled the itinerant ministry from 2024 going forward. And lastly, on a personal level, this rejection has had a deeper effect than I can articulate in an update letter.

There is no “sitcom” ending to this update. The only constant in our situation and the only constant that is needed is…GOD. Sovereign God still is a ‘rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” God is growing us, preparing us, and making us complete. This has been a difficult season therefore this is a letter that asks for fervent prayer for our family.

You as a supporter most likely have many questions. Concerning this matter, I probably have even more questions than you do. I am currently getting counsel from ministry friends and partners to aid in this process of making sense of our path going forward. “we are perplexed, but not in despair;” II Cor. 4:8

We are grateful that the former ministry has given us three months to find our financial footing again. We hope to update you by late fourth quarter of our next steps. Thank you once again for your consistent prayers and support for the ministry.

***UPDATE April 2023***

My family and I would like to offer our sincerest thanks for the outpouring of love and support that has been extended to us since we sent out our last prayer letter. We have received communications of encouragement through various methods. All of the sentiments were heard and they have encouraged our hearts greatly during these past months. One thing I am confident of, going forward, is that upon hearing the word transition or hearing of someone going through a season of transition; I will probably be much more empathetic with their complex emotions than I have been in the past.

Burden Ministries will be 15 years old this coming May. This ministry has basically encompassed my post-college, adult life which in some ways is easy to believe but in other ways it is hard to fathom how quickly the time has passed. I cannot explain the range of emotions that I have experienced these last few months as I have reflected on these past 15 years and what lies ahead. Suffice to say, there have been tears… tears of joy, tears of sadness, tears of hope, tears of disappointment, tears of anxious waiting, tears of holding on and tears of letting go… yes, there have been tears but through it all God has been there. Although I would never compare myself to the apostle Paul; like Paul in 1 Timothy 1:12 I can truly say “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me…putting me into the ministry.” As this journey closes and others lie ahead, I praise God for His presence through it all!

This prayer letter is very special because I want to announce that God has answered prayer once again regarding the next step for our family. In April, I accepted the position “Director of Development” at the Peninsula Rescue Mission (PRM) in Newport News, VA. I will have the honor of being the church, community, and business liaison of the homeless shelter in the Hampton Roads area. God has granted me the opportunity to have Gospel influence within the homeless community through the mission’s Gospel centered objectives of meeting the physical and spiritual needs of the residents. God has allowed me to partner with a team that participates in a program called The Bridge. The program is designed to equip the residents with the resources to become thriving, godly individuals using mentorship style supportive relationships to successfully transition them into independent citizens and spiritually minded believers. The work at the mission takes a team and the process is steady and methodical, but the Lord has blessed this ministry with 75 years of faithful service to the Hampton Roads area and I am thrilled to now be part of it all.

Much more could be said about the ministry, however I do want to highlight what this means for Burden Ministries. PRM has allowed me to finish the year of preaching ministry, however I have elected to only do weekend meetings instead of full week meetings. All the ministries that are affected by this change have already been notified concerning these arrangements.

As it pertains to monthly financial support, I want it to be fully understood that this role at PRM is a PAID position. However; my earlier request for the support of Burden Ministries till the end of year is a request I sincerely ask you to still consider. The nature of the ministry requires that expenses be incurred in advance of funds actually coming in (living by faith). We have mentioned previously the deficit of 2022 and we had very kind gifts that put us in a position to put it behind us, but that was assuming the support of 2023. Till the end of this year, I will still be preaching the Gospel and sending ministry reports on a seasonal basis instead of a bi-monthly basis. In advance we do appreciate all of those who have been and will assist in this transitional period. Thank you once again for your consistent prayers and support for the ministry of international evangelism.

OUR HEARTFELT UPDATE: *February 2023

As another year rolls away, I am reminded of how so many things change and so quickly. Twenty years ago, Google was in its inception, there was no iPhone, social media- as we know it- was nonexistent, and the list of other conveniences that were missing from our lives could go on and on. Although things consistently change around us, the Gospel mission stays consistent. As I reﬂect on that, I want to say a hearty thank you to those who have loved and given to the ministry through the years. Not one gift has been taken for granted.

From the beginning, about 15 years ago, when I preached my ﬁrst meeting in full-time itinerant ministry; I have tried to approach every prayer letter to supporters with two major cornerstones: TRANSPARENCY & INTEGRITY. Not only do I believe these tenants to be Biblical, but they also garner trust to those who partner with the ministry. This type of candidness does not come without its share of battle scars, but I have tried to be as accountable as possible to those who invest in me and the ministry. With those things being stated, I want to make a very large announcement about the ministry. After much prayer, counsel, and deliberation, I will be closing Burden Ministries, both Stateside and International, at the end of this calendar year.

Please allow me to add further explanation to this very big announcement in a longer than normal prayer letter. In the spirit of being transparent, my family has entered into a new season of life. As much as it surprises me, I now have a child in the youth group! As a husband and father my PRIMARY responsibility is that of shepherding my family. There are many things that I need to “pray about” such as what the next step of ministry will look like but I do not need to pray about whether to care for my family; it is my God given responsibility and must be treated with utmost urgency. Therefore after much discussion, my wife and I have made the decision to enroll the girls in our church’s school here in North Carolina. This decision comes after much, much prayer and deliberation as to what would be best. Both of my daughters have exhibited an excellent spirit on the road, and we, as parents, have decided to make this decision before the possibility of discontentment ever became an issue.

In addition, we also needed to make a change in our pace of ministry. International and stateside ministry makes for a spiritually fruitful year but also a physically demanding one for the family as a whole. I have tried to stand strong on the commitment to have my family by my side. Being a “MIA Preacher Dad” has always been forbidden in my heart and mind. To continue in this ministry, there were only two options available: leave my family behind and rarely see them OR keep the pace we have been going and ride the fence of ‘family burnout.’ Neither of these were viable options for me.

Lastly, in the spirit of transparency, is the ﬁnancial end. The changing dynamics of a maturing family, the need for larger rooms, separate bedrooms, in addition to food sensitives, the economy etc. have all played a role in making it quite expensive to travel stateside and astronomically expensive to travel internationally. My wife has been stellar as we have implemented diﬀerent ways to make things work. Whether it was travel trailer life, living out of Airbnbs, or trying to do short term rentals, she has exhibited great patience and has faithfully stood by me, while I have explored with the family, nearly every path imaginable to keep the costs reasonable in order to keep us all together.

Churches have been super generous throughout the years in providing love oﬀerings, accommodations, etc.; however, my 15 years of experience has shown that the way to resolve the ﬁnancial issue is to increase the number of meetings per year. However; increasing the number of meetings per year then increases the amount of family strain. Therefore, making it an almost certainty that I fail at my PRIMARY responsibility-my family. I realize there can and will be a tendency for some to “draw their own conclusions” as to why I have come to this decision; because every micro aspect of the process of reaching this decision cannot be summarized in a single letter. But I have tried to the best of my ability, to outline the Biblical responsibility of shepherding my family as the reason for my decision.

I not only desire transparency but also integrity. Lord willing, I plan on preaching every preaching engagement of 2023 unless a pressing job opportunity demand that I make immediate changes. Knowing this season has an expiration date, I plan to travel alone in order to fulﬁll (for integrity’s sake and ﬁnancial stewardship purposes) the obligations that have been made. Churches that have scheduled for 2024 and beyond will be contacted by me personally for further information.

Also in the spirt of integrity, I want to be sure, as always, that I am transparent and handle faithfully the funds that are entrusted to me. Some support me when I minister at their respective churches and some support the ministry monthly for our evangelistic endeavors here and abroad. If you are supporting us internationally please know that I have no evangelistic international plans this year. It is possible that I will travel internationally for the purpose of settling some ministry aﬀairs overseas, however, I have no meetings scheduled. I will be giving the Gospel here in the United States, but the international ministry has been brought to a close.

Many of you have supported us and have even given above and beyond to help oﬀset last year’s deﬁcit during our time in Honduras, and we are immensely grateful beyond words for you helping us through that time. Each individual and supporting church stands accountable to God for their stewardship of funds; therefore, I hope this letter brings some clarity to help you make your decision concerning the monthly ﬁnancial support of this ministry. We are asking that you consider continuing to support the ministry for this ﬁnal year. This year, I will be giving the Gospel stateside, with large non-preaching gaps within the schedule in order to pursue possibilities the Lord may have for our family in the future. Essentially, your support would aid our transition. Please know that any church/individual that needs to direct their funds another direction will not be met with criticism, but with gratefulness for all the years they have invested in us. This is not intended to pressure but a letter to inform!

Many caring partners may ask the obvious question….”So Adrian, what is next?” Many may think it odd that I have meetings scheduled years from now and have international contacts that grow each month, however I am “walking away” from it all. Your sentiments are heard and I have thought about those matters as well. I am leaning in on Psalm 37:23 that states: “The STEPS of a good man are ordered by the Lord…” I may not give every answer that you desire, but I can let you know that I believe this is the next step for our family. It is a step of faith! Therefore, we would appreciate your prayers as we preach, pray, and search this upcoming year for what that will look like.

Although this is a transitional time, one thing that is unchanging is our commitment to the Gospel. We truly desire to give out the Gospel in WORD, but also to live out the Gospel in DEED by His grace.

Please keep us in prayer as we plan to keep you updated this upcoming year through our newsletters, by God’s grace.

From the Burdens