MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 09-08-2006

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Greetings! Our meeting in Trinity Baptist Church in Arlington, TX went well (Pastor Bob Smith). I flew down for the meeting because I was able to get an $89 round-trip ticket to Dallas, which, obviously, is way cheaper than what it would have cost to drive. Plus, it kept us from having to drive 12 hours there and back. The church service went great. I had twenty minutes to show the DVD presentation, and to just talk about our burden. God blessed, and the short of it is, they voted to support us on the spot! Wow! Wish that happened more often. What a blessing! All in all, it was a very fruitful trip.

On Sunday, we'll be in Festus, MO in Ketha Heights Baptist Church (Pastor Richard Lourcey). Pray that the meeting will go well, and that we will be able to minister to the church and the pastor. On Monday, we'll be heading down to Chattanooga, TN, and from there to Centerville, GA for a missions conference in Trinity Baptist Church (Pastor Terry Hyman). Pray that God will bless, and give us safe travel.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 08-30-2006

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Howdy, folks! We're doing well here in St. Louis. We had a meeting in Lighthouse Baptist Church with Pastor Pete Ruble in Festus, MO this past Sunday. It went great. I showed our slides, and then we just talked about Uganda and what the LORD is doing there, and how He wants to bring revival to the country and to the rest of Africa, and how He's given us a wide open door and an unprecedented chance to reach Uganda with the Gospel. I tried to impress upon them the urgency of the situation, what with AIDS and the threat of conflict being what they are, and how critical it is we get there to do our part to establish the Gospel in Uganda while there's still time and opportunity. It was a good time of ministry, and I think the LORD helped them get a vision for Uganda also, which is His goal for this and all the churches we visit.

Our next meeting will be in Trinity Baptist Church in Arlington, TX with Pastor Bob Smith. I'm flying down alone for the meeting because it's way cheaper than driving, not to mention lots faster. Pray for the meeting, that all will go well, that God will bless, and that I'll be able to serve Him in ministering to them there. Pray for Anna and the kids to be safe and healthy in my absence. Pray that I will continue to have success in getting meetings for next year, in particular the missions conferences I'm trying to get us scheduled for.

No Power

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Last month we had one of the worst storms in St. Louis history insofar as it made the most people lose power of any storm ever. Wednesday night we were fixing supper and getting ready for church when it started blowing in. James called the kids outside to pick up the toys when the wind began to blow. They had no sooner gotten all the toys picked up than it began to rain and continued blowing. Minutes later the power went out. It didn’t come on for 5 days! We didn’t end up getting to church that night. We suspected a tornado warning, even though we heard no sirens and couldn’t listen to the radio to find out so we went downstairs and waited. The boys were very concerned about the tree we have in our backyard. The wind was blowing so hard (60 mph with 90 mph gusts!) that it looked like it was going to blow over! They prayed for the tree and God protected it! We spent the night at home that night with all the windows open.

Thursday it got very hot – up to 100 degrees! So we spent most of the day and then the night at the church since the church had air conditioning and it would be safer for the kids. We cleaned up the church yard, visited with other folks who were there because they had no power either, and just had fun. Then we went swimming at Mom and Dad’s.

Friday another storm came through. It wasn’t as bad as the other but it knocked out the power again for many of the people who’d gotten it back on the day before. More trees blew over. This storm cooled things off. Since the church lost power with this second storm, and things had cooled off so much we went home. It was beautiful! It got so cool that we needed blankets that night! God was good to us! We didn’t lose very much food. What needed to be used we were able to share with others who also had no power. For instance, we had some ground beef that needed to be used. Mom had some sausage. We put together some chili and had it for dinner one of the nights. Another night we used up some chicken one family had and some spaghetti and cheese another family had in chicken spaghetti. It was so much fun to be that creative! It was definitely GMT – Good Missionary Training. It certainly was nice when the power came back on. An electric pole a couple houses down from us had a tree fall on it and it broke the wires. Monday night they put a new pole in and then rigged up a temporary “fix” so that we could have electricity. A couple days later they came in and made it more permanent.

As a Christian I’m never without power. Thankfully, God’s grace is always there and it is always sufficient. I do, however, have to choose to tap into it. Will I respond to problems or react to them? It’s like turning on a lightswitch and the light coming on when the power is there. When I receive God’s grace I turn on that switch and it flows through me and gives me the power to do and be what He wants me to be.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 08-21-2006

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Greetings! Last week I was in Chattanooga, TN at BIMI's World Headquarters for their Church Planting Conference that they've asked all of their missionaries to attend. Anna and the crew stayed back in St. Louis, and I went down last Monday. It was a great week. We had several veteran missionaries in to teach on various subjects pertaining to this most noble of actions: planting a local, NT Baptist Church. In the evenings, we had some great services in which God really dealt with us, and it became more a revival week than a school. It was a very profitable 5 days, and well worth the time to attend.

I was determined to plant Baptist churches in Uganda before, but I'm even more fired up now to raise our support, get to Uganda, learn the language, and busy myself in birthing new Baptist churches in East Africa. In time, as the Holy Spirit works, and as these churches become indigenous and begin birthing their own church plants, I have no doubt that a new Bible belt will arise in East Africa. God plainly intends to bring revival to that part of Africa, and I'm so incredibly privileged to get to be one of His laborers to assist in making it happen. God is bringing the light of His Gospel to the forgotten places of the world, and in due time the harvest of souls reaped will put the Western nations to shame. Uganda is one of those places, and is quickly becoming the epicenter of a great movement of the Holy Spirit.

Pray that God will move churches to support us so we can get to the field quickly to join the LORD's work in Uganda. Pray for us this weekend as we have a meeting in Lighthouse Baptist Church with Pastor Pete Ruble in Festus, MO. Pray that we'll be a blessing to him, and to the people there as we serve God in the ministry of deputation.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 08-13-2006

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Greetings once again! No disaster to report this week, and glad of it! We were in Paducah, KY last week for a meeting in Rickman Road Baptist Church with Pastor Stan Durrett. The meeting went well, and God blessed. From where we live in St. Louis, it's only about 2 and a half hours there, so it wasn't too bad of a drive. I was to have a meeting in the Chattanooga, TN area today, but there was a scheduling change, so I'll be driving down to BIMI tomorrow instead. They're having a Church planting conference which I will be attending. Pray that the classes will go well, and that I'll learn sufficiently to be able to plant churches myself on the mission field in Uganda. I want to bear fruit, and fruit that remains after I am gone, and these classes are intended to help teach us how to do that. Anna and the gang will be back here in St. Louis while I'm away. Pray for Anna this week as she works with taking care of five kids alone, a daunting task to be sure. Pray that everyone will be safe and healthy. Pray that my trip there and back on Friday will go well and safely.

All for the moment…