Happy Easter!

Deputation Update

God’s been doing some amazing things in the last couple of weeks! I was able to preach in a prison ministry and 11 inmates prayed to accept Christ as their savior! We’ve had several churches vote to take us on this month and we are currently at 86% of our needed support! Thank you to all that have given so generously to our Setup Fund!

Deputation Rundown

• Wednesday – Church in Buford, GA – Donated $200 to our Setup Fund
• Sunday AM – Church in Jefferson, GA – Church voted to support us!
• Sunday PM – Preached at my Home church in Dawsonville, GA

Setup Fund Update

1. Rent for 6 months: $11,550 $1880 total Donated – $9,390 remaining.

2. Four Airplane Tickets: $6,000 – $1,500 a person

3. Used Vehicle: $8,000

4. Furniture: $5,000 – Such as couches, table, chairs, dressers, beds, etc.

5. Travel Documentation: $2,000 – Donated

6. Hotel Cost: $1400 – This works out to be about $100 a

day for our first two weeks in Japan.

7. Washer/Dryer: $1200 $500 Donated – $700 remaining

8. Refrigerator: $1200

9. Stove: $1000 $500 Donated – $500 remaining

10. Visas: $190 – Will $190 – Rebel $190 – Atlas $190 – Journey

11. Small Kitchen Appliances: $300

12. Pots, pans, bowls, plates, utensils, etc.: $250 – Donated by Woodlawn Baptist – Thank you!

Japan Update
We are excited to announce that we will be starting our ministry in Nagaoka, Japan this August. We will be working with veteran missionary families the Burgetts and the Stanfords. We will be attending language school in Niigatta, Japan which is a short commute from Nagaoka. We are honored to be working with the Burgetts and the Stanfords! They have been helping us prepare for our move to Japan and acquiring our visas.

Prayer Points

• Raise the remaining 15% of our needed support
• Paper work for our visas
• Good price on Airfare
• Raise the remainder of our Setup Fund
• The Stanford’s Son, Drew, has been diagnosed with OCD. This has been very difficult for them and I ask that you would keep them in your prayers.

Deputation Rundown

• Wednesday – Meeting in Concord, NC – Church took us on for support!
• Thursday to Sunday AM – Missions Conference in Hazlehurst, GA – Mentioned supporting us!
• Sunday PM – Church in Hazlehurst, GA

Setup Fund Update
Our Setup fund is growing every week! We praise the Lord for another $100 that was donated!

“Do the Japanese that have never been witnessed to really go to hell? Are they like the children that die before the age of accountability?”, she asked as her eyes filled with tears.
I replied, “They are adults that understand the difference between right and wrong. Romans 1:20 teaches that creation clearly reveals God and makes them without excuse. Romans 2:15 also teaches their God-given conscience accuses them.”
Still with tears, she whispered, “I thought they would be like those kids… I thought they would be ok…”

There was a long pause.

I said nothing.

Finally, I grasped the situation.

I had just finished preaching Isaiah 45:20-21. Idol worshipers pray to gods that cannot save, and this passage warns that there is no savior other than Christ. The young mother’s question revealed that she was beginning to understand a truth. A truth that many Christians have learned yet “forgotten”.

We were deeply impacted upon the revelation of this same truth, but after years of preaching, singing, Bible reading, church going, and witnessing with many rejections, this truth has been shoved down and silenced. We’ve hidden it in the deepest, darkest parts of our hearts and minds. Occasionally it creeps its way back into our conscious thought, and it drops us to our knees. It moves us to respond, to give, and to act! But every Monday morning comes with the same old aches and pains, our fears and frustrations, our jobs and classes: the routine. That truth that shortly resurfaced once again begins to disappear beneath the endless waves of life’s normal cares and concerns. Before long, we don’t even remember the feeling that brought us to tears.

So what is this truth that we’ve become so good at burying? What is it that we’ve put out of our minds? It is this: THE LOST GO TO HELL!

The tears of this woman and her imposing question reminded me of one sobering thought. Four Japanese people just went to hell.