Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as family, friends, and fellow Internet users:

The Lord continues to open doors for Kingdom work that lines up with my passions. Of course, since He’s the one who gave me those passions to begin with, I shouldn't be surprised. …It’s almost like the Creator of the universe planned it in advance…

That work is now expanding to include even more frequent international mission trips. As you would expect, traveling across the globe for ministry is equally rewarding and expensive. We will need financial support to help us walk through these open doors.

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Canada (Completed)

In May, we took our first international mission trip of 2026—a drive up to an undisclosed location in Canada. We went to support a family dear to us whom I can't identify here for their protection. The wife was forced to flee Uganda after being the victim of severe persecution for refusing the sexual advances of a local authority. After narrowly escaping abduction twice, they made the difficult decision to seek safety using visas they already held for Canada. Thankfully, upon their arrival, the Canadian government granted them asylum, which included a monthly food budget and 90 days of transitional housing.

We arrived just as their transitional housing was expiring to help them settle into an apartment. The generosity of many of you allowed us to provide clothes, school supplies, laptops, and the $3,000 we raised to secure their new home. We even had the joy of taking them on a much-needed social outing to see Niagara Falls!

One of the most beautiful parts of this trip was seeing God's provision through our Canadian brothers and sisters in Christ. Though initially a total stranger to us and to the Ugandan family, a sister named Nancy made it her personal mission to ensure the family is well cared for. Nancy has become their fierce advocate—running errands, helping furnish their apartment, and connecting them with genuine Christian community when they felt the most alone. She, her husband, and the Kingsview Church community even arranged a couple of dinners and free lodging for our family during our week-long visit. Lord, thank you for the body of Christ!

The Heart of Our Upcoming Missions: “Challenging Churchianity”

While our time in Canada was focused on physical and emotional needs, our upcoming trips will focus on the deep spiritual needs within the whole church. I offer “pastor untrainings” to Christian leaders who recognize that despite all the hustle of the ministry machine, few believers are maturing to the point they can make disciples of Christ. The fruit of our efforts seems to have diminished or even negative returns.

The core of this work is to expose the major discrepancies between modern church patterns (“churchianity”) and the biblical blueprint through the study of neglected scripture. Grounded in the truth that God’s ways are higher than ours, my focus is on teaching God’s plan for the church so that it can again thrive in profound ways.

By re-evaluating many traditions that we falsely assume are biblical, my mission is to lead others through a paradigm shift in our definition of “church,” working to reunite our divided “churches” into a single, united Body of Christ. This requires fundamentally reshaping the role of church leaders—which is exactly why I call them “pastor untrainings.” For leaders ready to accept this challenge, I host collaborative sessions to pray and plan for a future beyond our institution-centric framework.

If we haven't had this conversation, you likely have many questions. If you’d like to learn more about my “Challenging Churchianity” work, we’d love to connect! Just let me know. This foundational framework is what drives our next two trips.

Uganda and Tanzania (October-November)

From October 17th to 27th, I will again lead a team from Mercy Hill in Greensboro to work with Aloysious at the Adonai Centre in Uganda. This 10-day trip will offer vital programs for the children and medical services to the greater community. Last year, we hosted a free, two-day medical clinic and were absolutely shocked when over 2,000 villagers showed up for basic treatments, diagnoses, and prayer! We expect to serve even more people this year, alongside hosting VBS-like activities for the kids.

The Adonai Centre is a beautiful Christian campus on the outskirts of Kampala that contains a children’s home, a school, and a medical center. I have served there every year or two since 2013, and it is a massive blessing to bring a team with me. This will be Amanda’s fourth and Vienna’s second trip.

Every time we go, we are deeply challenged by the juxtaposition of material poverty and immense spiritual joy. It always reminds me of how the Western church often experiences a completely different kind of poverty—a lack of deep community and absolute dependence on Jesus.

That realization is exactly what drives the second half of this trip. After the team from Mercy Hill returns home, I will continue working with Aloysious to hold “Challenging Churchianity” sessions in both Uganda and Tanzania. Since 2013, several local pastors have gradually embraced the biblical model of shared leadership, moving away from the institutional mindset to meet regularly as a united plurality of elders over their entire region. Now, Christian leaders in nearby communities and across the border in Tanzania are eager to learn this paradigm for the first time. I have the incredible opportunity to sit with them and study the biblical blueprint together.

Because this trip involves two distinct legs of ministry—and because we are traveling on the team's set schedule rather than hunting for the cheapest off-peak flights—the travel costs are higher. We are hoping to raise $6,500 to cover this Africa mission.

Nepal (Early 2027)

Eight years ago, while visiting Nepal for work, I met a Christian pastor named Pradip in the city of Pokhara. As you can probably guess, Christianity is not common there, so he was very eager to hear my story. I shared about my walk with Jesus and my background as a pastor—explaining that I ultimately resigned because of my convictions about the typical church model that I described above. I also shared that my purpose in Nepal was to expand my online business, specifically so I could fund missions like those to Uganda, to help other leaders navigate this exact paradigm shift.

As I shared, Pradip’s eyes lit up. He had been having the same internal struggle but hadn’t quite been able to pinpoint the source. By sharing my journey, I was able to affirm a whisper in his spirit and open his eyes to a different way of seeing ministry.

Recently, we reconnected over a video chat. Over the years, Pradip has grown in his understanding of this biblical framework, and he has since become part of a network of Christian pastors. He encouraged me to come and share these truths with them so they, too, could be freed from the shackles of Christian traditions and embrace a more effective model—the very thing I am most eager to do! The degree to which this invitation mirrors my initial invitation to teach in Uganda is undeniably the work of the Lord. So, even though I didn’t know how we could afford to go, I accepted the invitation.

Since my family will be traveling with me again, the estimated cost of this trip is around $3,500. We will stay with Pradip in Pokhara, which will allow us to hold several conversational sessions with the local pastors. While there, I will also reconnect face-to-face with a couple of remote web developers who work for my CloudCarpenter business, allowing me to continue building relationships with them.

How You Can Help

Most importantly, pray for us! This is equally emotionally taxing and rewarding work.

If you have a laptop or phone in working condition and less than 5 years old that you are willing to donate to Adonai Centre staff, let me know!

Between East Africa and Nepal, the hard costs for our upcoming travels are roughly $10,000. But the hidden cost of this expanding ministry is the time it takes away from my web development business. We are praying that the Lord will provide above and beyond the actual travel expenses, giving me the freedom to fully pour into this ministry and these leaders without putting a strain on my business or our family. If you believe in the paradigm-shifting work God is doing here, would you consider partnering with us through a generous financial gift?

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Whether you are able to give financially or not, thank you for your ongoing support!

In Christ,
Shane, Amanda, and Vienna Reichart

A Roller Coaster Pregnancy

With praise to the Lord, our first child, Vienna Ruth Reichart, was born at 4:31am on April 30th, 2025! She was 7 lbs., 12 oz., and 20.9 in. long. Despite some harrowing events along the journey, Mommy and "Little V" are now home and recovering well.

What follows is a lengthy read with details I'm recording for our own posterity and for Vienna's diehard fanbase.

Namesake

Although every father wants a daughter named after cured meat, Vienna is named after the city, not the sausage. While Amanda and I traveled around Europe for three months in 2023, we noted that people often name their children after cities, and strangely, not countries. We talked about countries that would make good names, such as "Iceland" for a boy and "Belize" for a girl. "Czechoslovakia" was never on the table.

But then, as we prepared to travel to Austria's capital, we agreed "Vienna" was a pretty name and were surprised it wasn't a popular girl's name, as are "Paris," "Charlotte," "Sydney," and "Oklahoma City." There's also something regal about it. While strolling the beautiful streets and gardens of Vienna, Amanda daydreamed about having a little girl named Vienna someday. And now she does! I had daydreamed that day about having an "Amanda, Jr.," but Amanda, Sr. promptly vetoed the idea.

The First Big Drop

The first drop on our pregnancy roller coaster was a big one, late in the first trimester on a Saturday evening. Amanda thought we'd lost our baby when she had substantial bleeding one morning. I tried to reassure my heartbroken wife that we didn't know anything with certainty yet and that it could be a different complication. Fortunately, Amanda already had a checkup appointment scheduled for the following Monday morning when the offices reopened, so her perceived eternity of waiting for answers was actually only about thirty-six hours. (Thirty-six hours would become a recurring timeframe.)

The answer came in the form of a cervical polyp, which had burst. Thank the Lord, our developing little baby was unaffected, but frequent bleeding throughout the pregnancy, although still alarming each time, would be our new normal. (Surgery to remove the polyp would be too risky to perform while Amanda was pregnant.)

A Looming Drop That Never Happened

A few months later, an ultrasound revealed a uterine hematoma. If it were to burst, the internal bleeding in the womb would put Vienna at tremendous risk, so Amanda was put on a lifting restriction by her doctor and was therefore unable to work until it healed. This was a blessing in disguise because, since she was on medical disability, we had an unexpected opportunity to visit my family in Illinois for Thanksgiving. (We had already planned to use her remaining vacation time to visit her family for Christmas.) About a month later, the hematoma could no longer be found, so Amanda was able to return to work just after Thanksgiving.

Just a Bumpy Ride

The next few months of pregnancy were fairly uneventful, except for the little bumps of recurring bleeding. While the pregnancy was progressing along without additional complications, we had, in the meantime, purchased our new home, which I began remodeling so we could move in before our apartment lease expired a couple months later. To be clear, life in general was absolutely not uneventful!

That first drop in the roller coaster of pregnancy would become child's play when compared to the fully inverted loop we were about to endure. We tell everyone who asks that Amanda's labor was thirty-six hours. It might have been longer. Here's the scoop on the big vertical loop.

Labor Begins?

Amanda's "water" ("waters" in British English) broke early in the morning of Saturday, April 26th, but it was just a trickle. She called the hospital to inquire about it because there are a few other pregnancy-related things it could have been. (You probably already thought of one of them.) The nurse on the phone determined it likely was not her water breaking. However, by Monday, April 28th, Amanda was becoming pretty certain the virtual assessment was incorrect. Fortunately, she had already scheduled a checkup later that afternoon, during which they determined she was already 1 cm dilated and 90% effaced and that her water had broken after all—probably since Saturday morning—so we needed to get to the hospital promptly.

No Room in the Inn

Apparently, everyone else, including my best friend Matthew Rennels and his wife, was trying to coordinate their child's birthdate with ours, so when we arrived at the hospital that evening, there was no room in the inn. Instead, after a little wait, we were admitted into a room within the emergency department. (Certainly, better accommodations than a stable!) Four hours later, about the time we felt settled in, we were able to move from the emergency room to our second room in the labor and delivery department.

Emily, a dear sister in Christ and co-leader of the church small group of which we were part (before we started our own), met us in this room to act as an informal doula. We're so grateful, and she did a stellar job. 5 stars.

Who You Callin' "Practice Contractions"?

To further complicate the timeline of when Amanda's labor began, her so-called practice contractions (a.k.a. "Braxton-Hicks") began to be notably long and strong a few weeks before her water broke. On a couple of occasions, she was completely incapacitated by them; she thought she was going into labor. These early contractions ended up being more painful than the contractions that began after labor was induced, so we're unclear when practice contractions became real contractions. Therefore, we consider the "start" of labor as the moment when we checked into the hospital, a full sixty hours after her water broke.

Expectin' an Infection

Shortly after we arrived at the hospital, Amanda was given medicine to induce/expedite labor. This was because of the high risk of uterine infection since her water had been ruptured for so long. Eventually, that risk of infection became a reality as Amanda's temperature continued to climb, so she was given antibiotics intravenously to protect the baby from fever temperatures and from an infection of her own.

Amanda is Superhuman

Thirty-two hours after we arrived at the hospital, just after midnight on Wednesday, April 30th, Amanda was dilated to 10 cm and the doctor had her begin pushing, which took over four grueling hours. Amanda was superhuman. The nurses were amazed at her stamina, determining she must be an athlete. The reality was that she had no idea it had been that long, and she was just eager to see her baby! She's also superhuman if I didn't mention it already.

Between contractions, she was her usually chatty self, talking about, among other things, how the doctor and nurses needed to watch comedian Nate Bargatze as George Washington on SNL. (You should, too.) She had often prayed that she would be kind to me during labor, and God granted that request. Her kindness overflowed to everyone in the room! Thank God and thank Michael J. Epidural.

After about three and a half hours, the doctor noticed Vienna's heart rate falling. She said it was likely because our baby girl was understandably exhausted from the prolonged delivery, but the doctor called for the NICU team to be available in the delivery room as a precaution in case it was related to the infected amniotic fluid in which Vienna was still suspended.

A Tear Down There

When Vienna's head finally emerged, the rest of her followed in what seemed like a burst with excessive blood. If I understood what was happening correctly, the placenta came out as a single birth with Vienna. At least some of the excessive bleeding was because Amanda had a stage 3C tear (out of 4). If you are at all squeamish, I recommend against investigating this scale, so suffice it to say we're not talking about a small tear. I heard the doctor state that Amanda was hemorrhaging, but it was unclear if that was in reference to the tear or to a separate complication. (I'll speculate on this later.)

Free-Falling off the Track

As traumatic as Amanda's side of the delivery was, all of our concern was immediately directed to Vienna instead. Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her body twice—once tightly around her neck and a second time also around her upper chest, constricting both her breathing and the oxygenated blood flow through the umbilical cord. Any parent's greatest fear was realized in that moment. Our baby girl was deeply blue and completely lifeless. Our roller coaster just went entirely off the track.

The doctor placed her on her Mommy's belly for half a moment to slice the tangled umbilical cord from around Vienna's body. Then, a nurse immediately rushed her across the room to the awaiting NICU team. (So, no, I was given no opportunity to cut the cord.) While the doctor proceeded to quickly stitch Amanda back up to stop her hemorrhaging, the NICU team was abuzz saving Vienna's precious little life.

The APGAR score is used to assess a baby's health at birth. A perfect score is 10. Little V had a score of 1. She wasn't breathing, was completely limp and non-responsive, and was as blue as the keyboard cover with which I'm typing this post. The only reason she didn't score a 0 is because she had a weak but detectable pulse.

The team immediately placed an oxygen mask over her face and began working her chest to get her breathing. She began breathing for a moment, so they removed the oxygen mask to feed a vacuum tube down her throat to remove excess (and likely infected) amniotic fluid from her lungs. That was productive, but she quit breathing again, so they had to resort to supplying oxygen again. I was as close as they would let me be, praying over her tiny, lifeless body.

Amanda was still across the room on the gurney with Emily tending to her, so she was looking to me for reassurance that everything was okay, which it absolutely was not. Our baby was barely alive. But I trusted the Lord that everything would be okay. And the NICU team at work had a general tone of urgency, but not emergency. I mouthed across the room to Amanda that everything would be okay, which is what I think any other husband would do in this situation. (Mentally note this moral dilemma for your next debate about the black-and-white ethics of lying.) I also gave her two thumbs up, which is what I think any other dad would do in this situation. But my furrowed face communicated that this optimistic assessment was tempered with genuine concern.

By the five-minute benchmark, Vienna scored a 5, which is still a failing score warranting further intervention. Her skin color graduated to "pale," and she began moving her arms slightly when prodded. With a little more oxygen and a lot of prayer, she began to perk up and even soiled her diaper. She whimpered but never cried, and at 10 minutes she scored an 8. A score of 7 is considered "passing," so they were finally able to take her to her mother's chest for skin-to-skin contact, which helps a baby regulate temperature and breathing—help she much needed!

By now our baby had turned red, so we had two out of three primary colors covered. It took about a half-hour for Vienna to properly fuss, and she ceased as quickly as she started. I think she was as reluctant as we were to complain about anything because she was so grateful to be alive!

If you know the Lord, can you take a moment to praise him with me now?

Also, in retrospect, I wonder if the reason Amanda did not have to push again to deliver the afterbirth was because the usual slack in the umbilical cord was taken up by being wrapped around Vienna's body twice. If so, as Amanda pushed the baby, the tightly tethered placenta was simultaneously being torn from the uterine wall. Again, I'm speculating here, but if this was the case, it certainly explains the lack of oxygen in Vienna's body and the excessive bleeding in Amanda's.

We didn't find out about Vienna's APGAR scores until we were moved into our third room for postpartum recovery and I inquired about them from a nurse. She was surprised to see the score of 1 on Vienna's chart because what she had observed was a healthy and happy baby! After a couple of mildly concerning dips in body temperature during Vienna's first day of life, all her vitals were looking good! Amanda and I are glad we didn't know her APGAR score during delivery because in those early moments, we were permitted to wonder if the complications we witnessed were more common than they seemed.

Back on Track

Our roller coaster appeared to be on a straight track back to the corral for passenger unloading.

However, thirty-six hours later, during Vienna's second day of life, we began being concerned because she had only wet a few diapers, without a dirty diaper since the early one in the delivery room. Also, she seemed to be spitting up everything she took in. The nurses encouraged us not to worry because it was likely amniotic fluid she was spitting up, and it had to work through her system. I wasn't convinced because her spit-up was bright yellow—much more so than her mother's milk.

On her third day, I was pushing Vienna around the hallways in her rolling bassinet so Amanda could get some much-needed rest... Oh, by the way, don't take a newborn baby for a walk outside of the postpartum wing, or it will trigger a lockdown of the hospital. (I narrowly avoided this DEFCON level by mentioning to a nurse, in passing, that I was headed to another part of the building to get my wife the "good" coffee.) ... So again, while Amanda was sleeping and I was taking Vienna for this "walk," she spit up twice, so I wheeled her to a nurse and insisted it was brighter yellow than Amanda's colostrum and it likely contained bile. She humored me and had her supervisor take a look.

The supervisor took it much more seriously, quickly informing me they'd like to admit her into the nursery to run tests. The nursery bore the name of the very woman with whom I was speaking, so I knew Vienna would be in good hands in what was now her fourth room! When Mommy woke up, she was sure surprised to see Daddy empty-handed!

Bonus Thrill

Those tests confirmed my suspicion that bile was present in Vienna's spit-up and that my concern was legitimate. Also, while in the nursery, they discovered crystallized urea in her diaper where liquid urine should be. Vienna was unable to keep any milk down, so she was getting severely dehydrated. On Vienna's third day, Friday, May 2nd, after a few hours of scans and tests that revealed no obvious causes, the team was still unable to keep fluids in Vienna's little body. They decided to simultaneously discharge Amanda from postpartum recovery and admit "Little V" into the NICU. It turns out our roller coaster had a hidden track that nosedived for one last thrill.

The NICU was Vienna's fifth and final room in the hospital. She was intubated through her nose so they could administer fluids into her stomach at a pace that she could actually, um, stomach, without spitting up. A successful urination would be a sign of improvement, so we began praying for pee. (Is that book title taken?) She did have one wet diaper the next day, but it was bright orange. Among other possibilities, this is an early indicator of kidney failure from dehydration.

The NICU nurses said that if she didn't begin wetting her diapers consistently soon, they would need to administer fluids intravenously. Vienna must have heard the plan because within an hour, she mustered all the urine she could to fully wet her diaper with the typical yellow we were all hoping to see. She was also just beginning to nurse again after being fed only by tube for a couple of days!

However, we weren't out of the woods yet. (I think I just switched my coaster metaphor from roller to alpine.) Vienna still hadn't produced a soiled diaper, and that was a lingering concern of a possible larger digestive issue that caused the dehydration in the first place. But the fact that she was now retaining fluids gave us hope that her digestive system had received the jump start it needed to get moving. Our little chameleon also successfully completed the palette of primary colors by turning yellow from jaundice, so they began monitoring that as well.

She otherwise seemed healthy and happy. She was the largest baby in the NICU because the other baby residents were born prematurely. She managed to pull her nasal feeding tube out at least once, and even our wonderful and experienced nursing staff failed to keep her little hands swaddled. She may have her mother's face and grace, but she has her father's ingenuity! I couldn't even count the number of times she pulled the electrodes off her little chest and belly.

Split Track

Meanwhile, Amanda's postpartum recovery was progressing well. She still had limited mobility, which was to be expected with the degree of tearing she endured. So, I was serving as her personal assistant for most activities that didn't involve the restroom or breasts. (I'd have done these activities for her, too, if I could!)

Is there a roller coaster in which the individual cars separate and go on different tracks? (Disney's Haunted Mansion, maybe?) In our NICU room, there was a small couch that could serve as a single (smaller than twin) bed in a pinch—useful, perhaps, for napping, but not ideal for overnight stays. Since Amanda needed quality rest for her own recovery and still counted on my assistance for many tasks, we made the difficult decision to sleep at home instead of the NICU so we could be together.

Food was not allowed in the NICU rooms, so I had been escorting Amanda on my arm as she shuffled down the hall to the NICU parents' lounge for meals. Staying at home overnight also meant adding a long shuffle to and from the car each night and morning. Both of my ladies were struggling!

Finally, at the end of Vienna's fourth day, as we were preparing to leave for the night to sleep at home, she soiled her diaper for the first time since the early one a few minutes after birth. Praise the Lord for poop! We slept better that night than any other since labor began. I almost wrote that we "slept well," but who am I kidding? We were awake for nearly an hour out of every three throughout the night trying to figure out breast-pumping at home, without the assistance of a nurse. We also rushed back to the NICU each morning to see and feed our daughter so she could get as much of her mother's milk as possible instead of supplemental nutrition.

On Track to the Corral

When we returned the following morning, "Little V" had apparently soiled ALL the diapers! We were relieved that her bowels were working and, honestly, that we had a team of nurses changing her diapers that night. Her appetite returned, and she was able to drink enough milk through her mouth that they began weaning her off the tube. We knew it was just a matter of time before they would let Vienna go home. And as long as I didn't get trapped in our private bathroom again, I'd be able to go home with her. Oh, didn't I mention I got trapped in the bathroom? I did. The door jammed. Amanda had to call the staff to get me out.

Even though we were in the NICU doesn't mean it was all somber and sad. We had wonderful moments together! One evening, I pulled down the window blinds and pointed at them a portable movie projector so we could have our first movie night together. We watched The Lion King. The nurses thought it was epic. They were right.

Home, Sweet Home

Finally, on Wednesday, May 7th, a week after she was born, we were able to take Vienna home. Praise the Lord. Now, she truly is healthy, happy, and energetic. You would never know, and she certainly doesn't, that she had such a rough start. She fusses only when her diaper needs to be changed or when she is hungry. Given her history, these are both very welcome fusses.

We were overly impressed with our experience at Cone Health's Women & Children's Center. The staff were kind, friendly, available, and knowledgeable. If you plan to have a complicated and highly emotional delivery like ours, I couldn't recommend a better place to have it.