October 22, 2012
Dear
Pastor and Praying Friends,
Praise
the Lord that the three digit temperatures of our Arkansas Summer have ended and
Autumn has brought with it some beautiful, cool weather. We also praise God for His goodness to us and
our church and this season of blessing. Since our last letter we have seen many souls
saved and baptized.
“Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and
, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Amen.” -
Matthew 28: 19,20
Two of
the people who were baptized I met one Saturday while on visitation. The girlfriend and her sixteen year old
“step-daughter” called us for a ride to church about a month later. We continued to visit them on Saturdays and
eventually the man joined his family in church.
I
often preach about God’s desire for our homes.
By that I mean God desires for there to be a saved and surrendered
husband and wife first and then children to follow. You can’t unscramble eggs, but you can make
them better. After attending several
services and hearing this type of preaching; this couple approached me about
getting married. During the process of
marital counseling I asked them their salvation testimonies and found out they
had a Church of Christ background. The
lady thought she had lost her salvation and the husband couldn’t give me a clear
and sure testimony of having been previously saved either. To make a long story shorter, they both
received the Lord that day and were scripturally baptized the next. Two weeks later we had a beautiful wedding at
our church.
Another
one of the people who were baptized is a young lady in her twenties. (Her brother and niece were saved and
baptized here in July.) She came for a visit and raised her hand for salvation
during the invitation. My wife took her
out and talked with her. She prayed to
be saved that Sunday! The next day she
called us about her twelve year old son.
He had asked why she left at the end of the service and what the papers
we gave her about baptism meant. I told
her to read the papers to him and that we would talk with him later to make sure
he understood about salvation and baptism.
The next Sunday we showed him from scripture how he could know he was
saved and he prayed and received the Lord as well. Afterward he said he wanted to be baptized
because now he was saved just like his Mama.
So, that day we had two baptisms instead of one. This young lady’s zeal
and trust in the Lord has been a real blessing to all of our church
family.
“The
thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundatly.” - John
10:10
These
families represent the burden of our ministry here. There are so many people in Newport shacking
up – some in their forties and fifties who just never thought it important to be
married. There are even more religious
people here who are on their way to Hell.
Thank you for your prayers and financial support which enables us to show
them God’s desire for their souls as well as their
lives.
Prayer
Requests
·
We are
asking God to double our number by next Fall.
This would give us about fifty souls on Sunday
mornings.
·
Wisdom
and provision as our family moves from the church into the
parsonage.
·
That
God would bless us with good health.
Recently our whole family was down with some type of sickness. On top of the sickness I had an allergic
reaction to something and it turned my eyes fiery red. After I preached Sunday morning one of our
members (who is a nurse) came to me and said, “You look awful!”.
In His
Service,
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