Equipping Our Neighbors and Churches to be
Peacemakers in the Holy Land and beyond.
Family Update:
We are expecting our second girl (baby #5), Lucy Blaine Purcell, in late October.
About 2 months ago we went in for our usual anatomy scan ultrasound (at about 21 weeks) and were told there might be a slight heart abnormality.
When we went to see a Cardiac Sonographer in Dallas, she informed us that our baby has HLHS, a severe heart defect.
Essentially only half of her heart will ever develop.
Within 4 days of her birth she will need a 6-8hr open heart operation to begin adapting her heart to work out of utero.
Waco, Texas does not have a children’s hospital that can handle these surgeries. So we’ve decided to go with Cook Children’s hospital in Ft. Worth (~20 minutes from my parents’ home).
The lead cardiologist at Cook’s informed us we will need to relocate to Ft. Worth for 5-6 months as the baby undergoes the first and second surgeries.
We’ve officially put homeschooling on pause and enrolled all 4 of our other kids in public school.
Needless to say it has been a difficult season for us as we prepare for these procedures and a season of uncertainty.
Lucy Blaine coming Oct. 2026
Prayer Request:
Lucy’s aorta would grow in size.
If it does the first surgery (by far most dangerous) could be avoided. There’s a small chance this could happen naturally — but the doctor doesn’t think it likely.
A blessing over her first surgery.
If Lucy does have to have the first open-heart surgery (the most likely scenario) pray that her body would handle it as well as can be expected. There’s a 5-7% chance of death and a 20% chance of severe brain damage. These are heartbreaking numbers for us.
Pray we would grow in trusting God’s plan as a family, no matter what this season may bring.
For those who would like to follow along with my wife’s updates on baby Lucy you can request access to this google doc.
Support Needs
As you can imagine it’s important to me to reach our fundraising goals before we dive into this upcoming season.
My work with my team is incredibly important for Christians across our towns and neighborhoods and the larger global church. Reaching stable support will significantly protect the time I can give toward my team’s efforts, even as my schedule is stretched thinner than usual.
Immediate need: $850/month
Long-term need: $3,500/month
Over the next 15 days I’m looking for
3 monthly partners at $100-$150/month.
2 partners at $200-250/month.
^^ If you are not already supporting us monthly, please consider supporting at one of these levels.
Thanks all for your support thus far.
There are some truly tragic things taking place in Gaza at this time, but in light of the difficult season my family is going through I wanted to focus on an encouraging piece I was able to work on this year.
This was part of a series my team did to commemorate The Nakba (“The Catastrophe”). The Nakba was the period between 1947-48 when modern Israel was founded and 85% of Palestinians lost their homes.
I wanted to share a different side to the people of Palestine (Jews, Arabs and Christians). These pictures document a richly-cultured people living alongside one another in peace. No inherent conflict, no inherent hatred.
I was able to add color to the pictures using a program called Weavy.
Palestine before 1948
