Concord Baptist

Isn’t God good? Did you just say “All the time?” Well, this past Sunday was proof once again that He is! We were at Concord Missionary Baptist Church in Fairmount, GA with Pastor Sammy Allen. If you don’t know much about him, he has been the pastor at Concord for over 50 years. He has faithfully served the Lord in the ministry and has preached in over 2000 meetings. Obviously, we were excited to be with them and present our ministry. After I had done so, Bro. Sammy took us on for support right on the spot. He said that they would support us for a year and would continue to support us once we had reached 80% of our support. This works well, as that would line up with our goal! Thank you, Concord Missionary Baptist Church for teaming up with us in taking the gospel to Japan!

Cornerstone Baptist

Sunday night we drove 2 hours from Fairmount to Crossville, TN for our meeting at Cornerstone Baptist Church. We were encouraged by what God has been doing in this church. Pastor Michael Kerley planted the church back in 1989 and it has since grown into a large church with many wonderful people. The service started with about 50 kids quoting Bible verses! It spoke highly of the character of the church to see that many children standing in a line, behaving and doing extremely well with the verses.

Later as I spoke about the need in Japan, I could see that many of the people were connecting well and had a heart for missions. Afterwards, we enjoyed hearing Pastor Kerley preach out of 1 Thess. 5:22 about the importance of  abstaining from all appearance of evil. At the end of the service, 3 people were baptized. It is so awesome to see these young believers taking the first steps as Christians! Praise the lord for these precious souls, and we pray that the Lord uses them mightily!

After the service, several of the people came to speak with us and encourage us, and Pastor Kerley mentioned that they would see about taking us on for support. Thank you, Cornerstone Baptist Church for having us come to share our burden for Japan. We are praying that the Lord continues to bless your ministry as you follow Him.

I apologize this update is coming to you a little late, I had a failing logic board on my old mac! Praise the Lord, it’s working now! Never thought baking a logic board in the oven for 7 minutes at 375 F would ever fix anything! I’m amazed!

Cornerstone Baptist

If you live in Carthage, TN and don’t have a church home yet, I have no idea why! Because Cornerstone Baptist Church with Pastor Ron Ralph is a church with

a passion to serve the Lord! We had such a great time with everyone there, and Pastor Ralph preached a convicting message on our health.

This body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and on deputation with all the travelling it’s easy to let it get, for the lack of abetter word, out of shape! I admire a pastor who will preach the word! If you would like to listen to some of Pastor Ralph’s preaching, you can do so on their website at sowingtheseedministries.com. Pastor Ralph also mentioned that we did well, and would see what they could do in helping us get to Japan!

After the service we had the opportunity to spend some time with the Young Family missionaries to Australia. They are out of Cornerstone and are back here on furlough. Please keep them in your prayers, and you can learn more about them at prayforaustralia.org.

Tabernacle Baptist

This past Sunday was a short drive to Greenville, SC for our meeting at Tabernacle Baptist Church! When we arrived, Dr. Wallace, who is the Sunday School Director, helped us get set up. He then showed us around the some of the campus of Tabernacle Baptist Church and College, and introduced us to Pastor Aiken. What a blessing to see all that God has been doing at Tabernacle! For Sunday School, I was exciting to be able to speak to a joint class made up of the teens, young couples, college and career. Rebel also spoke in the Lady’s Sunday School class, and I was glad to hear it went very well! It has been thrilling to see her and I both grow in the Lord while on deputation. During the morning service, we enjoyed hearing Pastor Aiken preach on, “Awake out of Sleep.” Which was a call to Christians to awake from our apathetic ways and serve the Lord!

Pastor Aiken invited us over for lunch, after church. We had a delicious meal prepared by Mrs. Aiken, and enjoyed the fellowship of several families of the church. What a privilege it was to sit with men of God and hear about their ministries. I pray the Lord continues to bless them as they take The Gospel to the world!

For the evening service I spoke about the hopelessness of the Japanese people, and how they need the Lord. Our King has made the decree to go, and we go to a people that pray to gods that cannot save. (Is. 45:20)

Faith Baptist

Wednesday night was also a short drive down to Thomaston, GA, and praise the Lord traffic wasn’t that bad through Atlanta! Pastor Wall and I had a chance to meet together before the service. I was glad to hear how their church has been growing. It was also an encouragement how the church people really loved missions!  I had the opportunity to preach and share our burden for Japan. The Lord really worked in the hearts of the people as many came to the altar. It was amazing to hear and see people praying for Japan, that God would send more laborers! After the service, Pastor Wall mentioned talking to the men of the church about taking us on! See more about Faith Baptist church at upsonchristianacademy.org

We praise the Lord for these churches, and we thank you for allowing us to come and present our ministry. You have been such a blessing to us, and we hope we were an encouragement to you as well!

Last week was amazing! We started off driving to Milan, Tn for a missions conference at Immanuel Baptist Church. Pastor Howell was a blessing to us, and let us stay in their ministry retreat cabin. It was also a joy to be there with the Marks Family, who are friends of ours as well as missionaries to Japan! It’s been a while since I’ve sat in the audience and heard someone else pour out their heart for Japan. It stirred up a greater passion in me to get to Japan with the Gospel!

After the Conference we drove up to New York, and on the way where able to make a pit stop and Rebel’s Parents house. New York is a long way, so it was very nice to be able to stay with them. Thanks always for opening your home to us!

A Pastor friend of mine, David Poston got married in New York, and we are glad we could be there with him. David has been a dear friend of mine, and has done much for us in getting to Japan. We are blessed to have him and his wife Emily, as our friends.

Sunday we had two meetings in PA. Sunday morning was at Grace Bible Baptist with Pastor Hain. We were encouraged by preaching and singing of this wonderful church!

Sunday night we were with Pastor Hogue at Community Baptist in Curwensville, PA. Thank you Pastor Hogue for the opportunity to preach and for opening your home to us for the night. We greatly enjoyed the fellowship and will be missing you guys!

On the way home our car overheated, but fortunately we were stopped where I could get some coolant. It was a gallon low! I’m thankful to the Lord our car made the 2,379 mile trip with no other problems!