BALM Ministries

 May 2024, Volume 27, Number 5

     As Balm Ministries looks to the future, we’ve decided to expand our Board of Directors by adding Justin Ryan (Vaughn) to the board. Justin has been working with Balm Ministries for over 20 years. He’s been through our music ministry training program called “UpBeat!” and continued to work with subsequent UpBeat! trainings as the years went on. After the initial two week training program, Justin took what he learned at UpBeat! and traveled with other UpBeat! artists in Balm Ministries RV for 10 months, sharing his own musical gifts and accommodating other music ministers as they had the chance to join him. He so stunned the musicians in the Nashville studio where we recorded that many big artists asked him to join them on their own recordings as a studio background singer. We are honored that Justin accepted our request for him to join the Balm Ministries Board and help us take Christian-based music for the LGBTQ+ community into the coming years.

     Initially Justin will work on understanding the financial and legal aspects of a 501(c)3 organization and he will continue to produce and publish his weekly Southern Gospel Sissy series which can be found on Facebook and YouTube. And, most importantly, he will help us guide Balm Ministries into the future as we learn how to reach diverse audiences across the country and across the globe. We are grateful for the experience Justin brings, including his direct involvement in the past with establishing youth ministry programs at several local churches. We plan to leverage that experience into outreach for young adult ministry, as well as continuing to build our existing contemporary Christian and Southern Gospel genre outreach efforts.

     Justin has always maintained jobs to support himself. When work doing background vocals or concerts is not available, he takes office jobs. We call these “tentmaking jobs,” quoting the apostle Paul who said he crafted tents to support his own travels in ministry (Acts 18:3). Recently Justin has been unable to do concerts at all as his husband, Scott, battles an aggressive cancer that has invaded his colon, bladder and prostate. I know that’s hard to hear, but Justin and Scott want your specific prayers for Scott’s healing. Scott has completed chemo and radiation treatments and will be having surgery in June that will hopefully remove the remaining cancerous cells, but it will leave him with two ostomies to live with going forward. Justin has found work in a local medical office, but he will, of course, have to take a month off without pay (on FMLA) to care for Scott when he comes home, and Scott will need at least 6 months off on unpaid FMLA.

     Therefore, Balm Ministries, Church of the Trinity MCC in Sarasota and Suncoast MCC in Venice Florida will all be working on fundraisers to help them through this time.

      Some of you know that Cindy is an accountant so Balm Ministries’ will be certain anything you send to Balm that you earmark for Justin will go directly to him (and of course, be reported). Scott’s surgery is scheduled for June 4^th.  Some of you have followed Justin online closely enough that you have already starting donating to this effort. We can’t tell you what this means to us and to them.

     Whether you can give now or not, please welcome Justin to the Balm Ministries Board of Directors and for your OWN sake, please go to YouTube and watch his weekly ministry by searching “Southern Gospel Sissy”, or using the link below. It’s fun, fascinating, and very uplifting! 

https://youtu.be/SkQmSEovPu0?si=3vC7kqRasL4rOVf7

Blessings and Gratitude, Marsha & Cindy