Hello Friends,
I’m wrapping up my time
serving the church in Kingman, thankful for the many friends I’ve made and for
the children at church. The kids arrive
up to 30 minutes early and it was pretty chaotic until I began setting out
paper, crayons and stencils ahead of time.
Many of them like to draw and their artwork decorates the walls.
They really enjoy action songs and this
picture was captured as we were singing “Give God the glory, glory” with our
hands waving high.
One Sabbath evening we had
26 kids show up, ranging from babies to 15-year-olds. Since we don’t have teachers for the various
ages, we are all in one room and the teens help with the toddlers. We’re grateful for the donation of a flannel
board with hundreds of Bible figures and pieces of scenery. Everyone listens to the Bible story, knowing Bridgette will reward them with candy for answering questions correctly! Please continue
to pray that God will provide qualified teachers so each age group can have
their own class.
I’m including a great picture of a couple in our church, Al and Bonnie, who are faithful in coming to both
church and Bible study, and also lead weekly visits to residents of a nursing
home. Al serves on the church
board. They are growing by leaps and
bounds as they regularly read the Bible and search out its meaning, as Pastor
Bob encourages everyone to do (he mentions it in the sermon weekly).
Gloria is another active
member (we used to lead singing together during morning worship) and is the inspiration
behind a new walking club. She figured
people are more likely to exercise when others join in, so she got some
T-shirts printed up (“Yea, though I walk” from the 23rd Psalm) and
launched a weekly walking group. (She is second from the right in the picture.) Since
some of the people are not from the church, it’s an opportunity to get to know
them and potentially share the gospel.
You might give it a try where you live!
When my lease was up at the
end of March, I needed a place to spend the two weeks before I leave for
Colorado and to store my things until I move to the next place to serve. God provided through Gloria who offered me
the apartment adjacent to her wig shop (see picture). It’s in a residential neighborhood and is
just what I need. Thank you, Lord!
In Colorado, I’ve kept a
room in an apartment with my mom in Boulder but that lease is up at the end of
April. Mom found a studio apartment in a
nearby town – another great answer to prayer because it’s in her price range
and is intended for seniors. I prayed
and asked the two pastors of the Seventh Day Baptist (SDB) churches in the
Denver-area to put out the word that I was looking to rent a room or two from a
church member and that I needed a Colorado address in order to maintain
residency there (for voter registration, health insurance, etc.). Within a day a couple responded with the
offer of a rent-free room! I called and talked with the wife and we agreed this
was God’s leading. They had sensed the
Lord telling them to use their home for a ministry purpose. I am so thankful and mindful that God is,
indeed, my Provider. (Psalm 34:10) Thank you for your prayers!
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| Walking along White Cliffs Wagon Trail, Kingman |
What I’ve been doing the
first half of April is contacting many of the pastors and leaders of the 15 or
so new or upcoming SDB churches, spread out across America. What a blessing to hear how God is working in
these areas! A number of them became convinced
of the seventh-day Sabbath through studying the Bible, and then went looking
online to see if any Christians were meeting on the Sabbath (Saturday). Some were part of Messianic Jewish
congregations for a time, but then felt led to associate with us, being more
Gentile-oriented.
Besides using the
information I’m collecting to help determine where God would like me to serve,
I’m going to share it with SDBs to encourage others to seek God’s will for
where He would like them to go to help get a new church started with firm
foundations. The more I talk with
Sabbath-keepers who were not raised as SDBs, the more I believe God wants to
bless Christians today with the gift of the Sabbath, which Jesus said was “made
for man.” Most Americans live at an
insane pace, even on weekends. By
keeping the Sabbath, we stop the work of the other six days and give God our
full attention. We gather for worship,
for instruction, for shared meals and fellowship, for family time, and for
ministry work in our communities. No
legalism here – just joy in the Lord and in the Lord’s day (Jesus said, “For
the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath day,” Matthew 12:8).
I’ll spend the second half
of April in Colorado visiting with friends from the Boulder SDB church (my
sponsoring church) and others, reporting in to Pastor Steve Osborn, and getting
settled in the new place in Brighton.
The last week of April will be spent in western New York State at the
SDB Church Planting Conference. Many
thanks to the Boulder church for covering my costs to attend.
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| Flatiron rock formations west of Boulder, Colorado |
Please join me in praying
for God’s clear leading for where to serve next. Lord willing, I will return to Kingman by the
end of May to move my things to the next place.
I know I’m taking a seldom-trodden path among SDBs by responding to the
Lord’s call to go where needed without full assurance of financial support or a
place to live. And yet, for whom do I
live? Why pursue comfort in this life
when I can spend more time pointing someone to his only hope of eternal
life? The Apostle Paul understood that
the trade-off is no sacrifice at all. “But
whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the
sake of Christ. More than that, I count
all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ,
my Lord…” (Philippians 3:7-8)
God bless you as you seek
Him first daily. I thank the Lord for
you and hold you up in prayer as you also hold me up. Rejoice in the Lord always! (Phil. 4:4)
