Our Job Season 👴🏽

TL;DR

1. It’s been a hard time and God continues to be near (Phil. 4:5-6).

2. Our first public event is 9/28/25 and we’d love your help! Click here for more!

Hey guys,

I’ve been holding off on sending out a line of communication for when I had more clarity, but clarity has been hard to come by. Thank you for the patience.

The short end of it is that our family has been in a season of trials. A short timeline:

• March 3 - Nendir’s father passed.

• March 6-26 - We took an emergency trip to Nigeria.

• March 23 - I contracted Malaria & Typhoid

• April 7 - Recovered from Malaria & Typhoid, but returned to the ER a couple of times feeling like I was having a heart attack.

• April 16 - Received a diagnosed of acute pericarditis. At it’s best, constant chest and neck pain and, at it’s worst, exhausted and feeling like I’m going to have a heart attack.

• From May up until today - The medication program has kept fluid out of my heart and has helped my blood levels return to normal, but doctors are trying to figure out why I am still experiencing as much pain as I am.

• June 5 - My mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, stage 3. As you can imagine, all the Noel kids are helping out around the house and interfacing with doctors.

FAQs, because I know you guys care:

1 - How is the family holding up?

Despite the “Job Season” 😆 , Nen and I have been enjoying Jesus and doing what we can. Everyday has been a fight to trust that God is good and we fight that fight by counting our blessings.

Because we believe in Jesus, we believe we are running out of misery. Because of Him, every new trial is one less trial we will ever face. This reality has buoyed us.

Havi & Robin’s shenanigans have also added a ton of laughter to our world

2 - How is Nen?

It’s been hard for Nen dealing with the loss of her father and my health. Nonetheless, she is grieving well and even thriving in some areas. Her mother and 1 of her sisters are now stateside and staying with us for a while and Nen has 2 more sisters in NYC. This has been a deep comfort to us.

3 - Dave, how are you?

This season of life - church launch, piano business, my mom’s health, etc.. - plus my own health issues have made anxiety a larger foe than I’m used to. A part of it is the cognitive load but the new side of it is the physical element (ex. elevated heart rate and fatigue).

My struggles pale in comparison to those who are chronically ill, though as I’ve enjoyed great health most of my life. That reflection has both raised my compassion for those who are chronically ill and has left me praising God for His ability to comfort and sustain us in our pain whether short term, long term or “idk” term.

About that “idk” term, please pray! I have a cardiac MRI scheduled for August 14 to see if there are any abnormalities that can point to the continued pain.

4 - How are your mothers?

Our mothers love Jesus & Jesus loves our mothers. Mrs. Parradang is navigating real grief with God’s grace and it’s beautiful to see. My mother - Mrs. Marie Telson to you, lol! - is walking in the Spirit in such a way as to leave us all gently rebuked. Despite the serious diagnosis she is quick to remind anyone who will listen that her mother died before the age of 40. So, for her, to see 71 years - an orphan girl from Haiti - and love Jesus for most of her life moves her to praise, even now.

5 - Lastly - important but least important -, how is Led By Christ Church?

Well, given all the craziness that has gone on, our commitment to plant with patience has aged like fine wine 😂. We always intended to launch in Sept. 2025 and that decision has taken considerable pressure off of us.

We had to cancel our Easter pre-launch service, but have re-slotted them for Sundays 9/14 & 9/21 with 9/28 being our launch date.

There is a chance that we have to push things back again depending on the result from August doctors’ visits, but we will cross that bridge when we get there (at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself 😅 ).

A bit more about launch before I peace out ✌️

1 - What’s the launch plan?

Our first public event will be the start of a series of public forums. The first, “Is God Good?”, is designed to draw in maturing believers and non-believers who are interested in wading through tough theological questions (think Tim Keller’s Questioning Christianity).

On 9/28 we will discuss the problem of evil - how can there be an all-good and all-powerful God behind a world that includes an ounce of undeserved suffering? - I will speak for 20-30 minutes, followed by Q&A and dinner.

The event stems from many conversations with believers and nonbelievers where the biggest hurdle to believing and/or a new obedience to Christ is a serious doubt as to God’s goodness.

We are currently working with a marketing firm to give “Is God Good” and forums like it strong visibility to God’s glory. Please pray for unusual fruit here!

2 - Ooh! How can we help?!

Please consider signing up to help out in one of our roles:

1. Children’s Ministry Volunteer - If you love the babies and the babies love you haha!

2. Kitchen Help/ Food Server - We have 2 awesome chefs leading the charge. We’d love to give them extra help in preparing and serving food.

3. Join The Conversation - Bring your family and join in on the public forum, we’d love to see familiar faces in the crowd.

   Volunteer Sign Up!

Thanks for all the love shown, guys; and by the grace, more soon!

Dave

P.S.

Put a pause on making videos in April because of the pain/fatigue.

Have some really great things to share and hope to get back to it soon.

Here’s a video I made in the early days of being in Nigeria. YouTube just refused to send out to folks - algorithm black box - so in case you haven’t seen it here’s a repost.

The video description has a Philippians 4:5-7 breakdown as well. Enjoy!