Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Cindy and I are working on meeting our neighbors and on our goal of visiting each church family in their home in our first month here on our new field. We have visited 25% of the families thus far. When I meet an individual I eventually ask where they attend church. If they tell me they don’t attend, I invite them. This often brings up questions about what the church believes. Just recently I had an opportunity to share the Gospel with someone and offered to sit down with this person and their spouse to investigate what the Bible is about. This individual seemed interested in learning more.  David & Cindy Fraher

I visited Tony, whom I led to the Lord a couple of months ago. I asked him if he had a Bible, and he said he did. His neighbor’s husband was killed in an auto accident around the same time Tony was saved. She gave Tony her husband’s Bible and told him to read it, since it was a beginner’s Bible. Tony said it has notes on the bottom, “So when I get confused I just read the notes.” Praise the Lord for fellow Christians!    Dan & Caroline Enns

A highlight for us was four people who were baptized. One of them is a part of a family that has experienced spiritual transformation through the summer, fall, and now winter. The children have come to Christ, the mother has experienced a spiritual renewal, and now the father was baptized after his recent decision to surrender his life to Jesus. He has never attended church nor read the Bible before! It’s wonderful to see his enthusiasm in knowing and following our Lord.  Joe & Jennifer Murrell

We had a good meeting at New Destiny Treatment Center, a facility for men trying to get off drug and alcohol addictions. Some have Christian backgrounds, while others are there by court order. It was a great opportunity to share the Gospel with these men. I am so encouraged by all of the folks from our church who come out to attend this service.    Mark & Donna Archer

There was a welcoming attribute displayed as we exited the old year and entered the new with a renewal of our commitments to “outreach,” “inreach,” and “upreach.” 

Outreach: our commitment to be a vitally evangelical congregation, to reach out with compassionate hearts, to win the lost that GOD brings across our path, and to warm the hearts that have grown cold over the years. 

Inreach: our commitment to be personally growing believers, to become the engaged, to work with one another, to be discipled and to disciple others, to be encouragers and to be encouraged by others in the walk. 

Upreach: our commitment to find the Anointed One in corporate worship, an ever-directing Shepherd of our souls, and that we use opportunities afforded us to run to GOD in praise & surrender. He came, not to be served, but to serve, and give His life a ransom.

Marty & Cindy Cole

Praise the Lord for a little girl who recently started coming to Awana. One of the other little girls invited her to Club, and she loves it so much. Her mother came into the church to pick her up one evening, so we were able to meet her. We found that she works Sundays, but seems willing to consider joining us at church sometime.   Doug & Sally Johnson

Well, again, another year ends. When I look at both the good and the bad throughout this past year, I simply see what Paul describes in Ephesians 6 as a spiritual battle. All of the events, in one way or another, are indeed a spiritual struggle. In Isaiah 54:17 the promise isn’t that there will not be weapons formed against us – the promise is that they will not prosper. 

The good and bad within the life of a church is simply a microcosm of Hebrews 11. We all have the same faith in the same God, but faith does not equate to temporary or physical results. Our faith is only shaken when our focus is placed on things that are temporal. It is this temporal, spiritually unfocused mindset that often cultivates fear, so that, even something as exuberantly important as the Christmas story finds itself surrounded by a fearful overtone – as evidenced by the four usages of the phrase, “Fear Not.” I am glad things are not just all good, nor do I expect them to be. I am not worried if there will be trials, because James makes it clear that this is to be expected (James 1:2). However, he also makes clear that through these trials, if our faith in God remains, there will be a perseverance that will produce maturity. 

As a result, we will gain that true “gnosis,” or knowledge, often used as a Jewish idiom for physical intimacy. It is that knowledge that is only gained through experience, through those difficult times, as we put our faith to the test. And like the three young Jewish men in Babylon, we do not expect temporal results from our faith, for we, too, know that our God is more than able to save us – “but even if He does not (Dan 3:18)” – we will still walk in faithful obedience. 

I look forward to next year because, whether things are better or worse from a temporal perspective, God will still be the same God, and His goal will still be the same: doing what is best for His children as He works all things for our good, because that is His purpose and will. I just pray that we continue to do things biblically, as God gives us wisdom, so that we do not allow our enemy to have a foothold within the walls of this church or its families.

Every December we organize a family caroling night at the church. We first meet for a chili and cornbread dinner around the fireplace and then head out in one large group down our street and carol door-to-door. This year some last-minute schedule conflicts bounced the date around until we finally settled on an evening that, as weather reports came in, looked too cold and wet. It looked more and more like a cancel. Yet a significant group of our young people persisted, “We’ll do it – no rain will stop us!” As we gathered to eat that night, the rain came in buckets, but the teens were committed, donning extra jackets, mittens, and rain boots. As a big group of us began our slushy trek down the church driveway, suddenly the rain came to a complete stop, and the air was noticeably warmer. With renewed energy, we visited more homes than any other year. Most people were home, and seemed to genuinely enjoy our simply sung message of the true Christmas. We handed out gift bags filled with goodies, and a little book explaining why Jesus came. Many people came out of their doorways and wanted to visit. One man continued talking to us, and even followed us back out onto the street. As we made our way back to the church to end the evening with dessert, the rain suddenly started right where it had earlier ended. God is so good!! The next morning as I walked down to the street to get the newspaper, one of the couples we had visited with was walking their dog, and stopped right in front of me, “How’d it go the rest of the night?” they asked. As I told them about the rain-on, rain-off timing, they burst out, “Oh, my!” and then stuttered, “It was God. God did it,” looking at each other, amazed. We talked more, and I pray that they, as well as so many others God allowed us to have contact with, will soon see their need for the Savior of Christmas!!     Steve and Lisa Rief

Please pray for our missionaries as they share the true meaning of Christmas!

On November 11^th we had a Veterans’ Dinner as an outreach and had 42 attend. The Word was shared, we had special music, and the Awana Youth served. It was a real blessing for all involved. And, on November 20^th we had a Thanksgiving Service with a Harvest Dinner following. Two were baptized and five joined our church membership that day!  Owen and Lori Corcoran

We are very excited about our clubs in the three public schools. This is a perfect way to meet parents and families interested in God. At the first of the year we were not sure if one of the schools would let us continue, but because of God’s gracious answer to our prayers we are in again. The attendance in all three schools is up and we praise God for the great opportunity this is giving us. In Burford we have 12 children, Scotland 25, and Norwich 12, so we are reaching a lot of kids each week.  Ron & Joan Germain