Author Archive for: James

Greetings, once again! We're back in town again for Easter, and have a missions conference in Ash Street Baptist Church (Pastor Jerry Pyle) in Nevada, MO the week after that. Our meeting last night in Prairie Flower Baptist Church (Pastor Dave Ernst) in Webb City, MO went well. It was good to get back at it after being out for a bit with the Church Planting Conference, and the unexpected reschedule the week before. I preached and showed our slides, and God blessed us. They put us up in a hotel for the night, which was a real blessing. I hate travelling late at night if I can avoid it, especially when I'm tired. The kids were real excited about getting to stay in a "he-toh". They slept like logs, but for some reason, neither Anna nor I could sleep. Most of the night, as I drifted in and out of semi-consciousness, I found I had the B-I-B-L-E song from a Patch the Pirate Sunday School Singalong CD stuck in my head. Oi. We drove back this morning without incident, and fed our "starving" children, and got the lot of the weary young'uns off to bed. That's about it. Pray for us as we keep lining up meetings, driving to 'em, and continuing on our way to Uganda. Pray that the support will come in quickly so we can get to the field.

Hello, once again. We've just finished up our church's Church Planting Conference. Bro. Loren Steven and Bro. James Beller (Arnold Baptist Tabernacle) were the main speakers, with testimonies from Ed Bragg (Lafayette Bible Baptist), William Gillespie (Maranatha Baptist Church) and Don Ploesser. It was a real encouragement to me, to hear what these other men have done, to be challenged spiritually, and to get some practical advice on church planting, which I will be doing myself in Uganda. Several pastors from the Missouri and Illinois area were in attendance. It's good to see how God is working in churches all over the place, and to know that more churches are being birthed to replace the dearth of churches in America. As always, it's up to the pesky Baptists to do the real work of the New Testament church, and to hold the line against liberal philosophy and apostasy in our culture. We, the downtrodden, scorned, and maligned, are, in fact, God's agents in this world to preach the gospel and to occupy until the LORD returns. Seriously, if it weren't for Baptists, there'd be no Biblical churches anywhere, but we'd be like Europe, apostate, cold, and pertaining to the Gospel and sound doctrine, all too silent. I'm looking forward to starting churches of my own in Uganda, and to see faithful men trained to lead them, and then to help them birth churches also, and train their own leadership, and in so doing, ensure that the Great Commission will be fulfilled, and endure, no matter what, in Uganda. This little nation could conceivably become the epicenter for a Great Awakening on the African continent, that would sweep out from Uganda in ever-expanding circles until all have heard. We can save Africa from Communism, and Islam, and from Animism, in a few generations, by aggressively planting churches, training faithful men, and by training them to do likewise. If the LORD tarries, it could happen. I know it's my heart's desire, and that of every missionary already in Uganda. Tho' it may seem like there's an awful lot of missionaries either in Uganda, or heading there, there are definite reasons why God is calling so many to Uganda, and why, in reaching Uganda, we may in time reaching the whole of Africa.