October 2014

Hello ministry partners!

What a treat to be in western Maryland when the trees are putting on their autumn colors!  The weather has remained warm so we’ve been able to do outdoor evangelism in a number of locations.   (Click on any of these photos to enlarge.)

Pastor Ron Higson, left, Brian Raines, right

The Frostburg Block Party was held on an evening in September to introduce university students to local businesses and churches.  We (Pastor Ron, Brian and I) had people at our table almost non-stop for 3 hours.  Many took Bibles and gospel tracts, and two people prayed to receive Christ that night, praise the Lord!

  

 

It struck me recently that we purposely use humor to reach out to people, through our brain teaser question about Moses and some of the tracts we use, like the Giant $100 bills.  It seems to help people warm up to us and break the ice as we start a conversation.  Besides that, we have the joy of the Lord and we like to share it!  (A thank-you to Ray Comfort for the humorous ideas.)

Keeping the table supplied with good quality gospel tracts is somewhat challenging for our small church budget.  If God nudges you to make a donation for this table ministry, you can mail a check to Full Gospel SDB Church, 14407 Hazen Rd NE, Cumberland MD 21502.  Many thanks.
 

 

A wonderful answer to prayer was a donation of 200 Bibles for our table ministry!  I’d met a local Baptist pastor while attending a Blue Grass music concert at their church.  I told him the kind of outreach we were doing and that we were hoping to partner with other churches to bless our community.  When he came by our booth at the county fair he mentioned they had received a large donation of Bibles and couldn’t use them all.  So, I went and picked up boxes of KJV, NIV, and KJV Large Print Bibles. I’m so thankful we have these to hand out.  Just think what it means for people to encounter the Living God in the pages of Scripture!

 

God surprised me with an unexpected blessing in finding friends to ride bikes with.  Monica Davis is a local small businesswoman who hosts monthly networking meetings, where I met her in August.  She and her husband ride frequently, so I join them once a week to ride the GAP rail trail (Great Allegheny Passage).  The longest ride so far was 20 miles, and I’m getting stronger all the time.  They are also believers in Jesus.

Sandi Clark and I have been working the ministry table at the downtown Farmer’s Market for the past 4 weeks, ending this week.  Sandi is an answer to prayer (not very many in our church are free weekdays).  She is normally a shy person but felt God asking her to serve in this way.  She’s been surprised to find she likes this work, even though she had fears at first.  I told her, God is more concerned with your AVAILABILITY than your ABILITY.  If we show up, He will do the heavy lifting.  As the Apostle Paul said in 2 Cor. 5:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.”

I’ve included some pictures of school children who were excited to get the giant $100 bills (gospel message on the back) and a homeless man who appreciated the large print Bible.  Here are some highlights from the Farmer’s Market ministry:

• Three teenage boys took the $100 bill tracts as well as the “2^nd Greatest Lie” booklet (www.MarkCahill.org) and I later learned that one of them professes to be a Wiccan.  May God save him from that deception.

• I met the director of the local branch of Teen Challenge and hope to partner with them in some way in the future.  He was very glad to see us out on the street sharing Christ.

•   A man told me he was a theologian and it seemed we were like-minded until he began recommending the Gnostic gospels and explained how Jesus was created by God but was not actually God.  He wasn’t open to new information but, if we pray for him, he may see the truth.

• An older man in a wheelchair told us he has survived a stroke, a kidney transplant and 5 occurrences of cancer, and he still wakes up each day thanking God for life.  I asked if he reads the Bible daily and he said he has trouble seeing the small print. He was excited to receive a large print Bible.
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  A 19-year-old man told me he was raised in a Christian home but after studying world religions in college he became an agnostic.  He talked a lot about all he learned and said most Christians don’t know the pagan origins of major holidays, as if that would undermine their faith as it had his.  Pray God breaks through his confidence in his intellect.

• This is the best answer I’ve heard yet when I ask people, “What do you call someone who tells lies?”  “A prevaricator.”

What better place to plant gospel seeds than an October Farm Festival?  The Higson Farm has been hosting a fall festival for the past 18 years, giving hayrides and selling hundreds of pumpkins.  We set up the ministry table and kept busy passing out tracts, Bibles and water from 10:00 to 6:00. 

One lady told me she was an active Christian and also a Yoga instructor, but she never looked into the religious side of it.  She took the tract on “The Lords of Yoga” to learn how yoga got started in Hinduism.  If you know any Christian who does yoga for exercise and stress-reduction, you might point them to this website:  http://christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_Yoga.html.  I realize yoga is not likely to derail a solid Christian but it's wise to be informed.

Karen Higson, Brian Raines, Patty Petersen

Please pray for us to discern God’s direction for outreach ministries in the colder months when we are limited in having a table outdoors.  The local mall is open to us coming as Christmas carolers but not with the table.  Wal-Mart might let us set up at their entrance on non-rainy days, and there might be a need for ministry at one of the local prisons.  Some of these are out of my comfort zone, but I know Who goes before me.  Being small we can’t stretch in too many directions, and yet we know God wants us to be sowers of the seed no matter how small.

Just a quick mention of the nursing home monthly ministry our church has been doing since long before I came.  Pastor Ron and Karen provide a message, and lead a worship time of hymn singing.  The residents are special people with stories to tell of their families and past experiences.  We love them and encourage them to pray, read the Bible and trust in Jesus every moment.  Jesus said we are to visit the sick, for “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matt. 25:40).

In early September my daughter, Ana, came to visit and we took a quick 3 days to tour Washington, DC.  Staying at an international youth hostel turned out to be a great experience (and was the lowest budget option for lodging close to the major sights).  What an education to visit the nation’s Capitol, the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, the national monuments and some of the Smithsonian museums!  On the way out of town we stopped at the National Cathedral (an Episcopal church) and ooo-ed and ahhh-ed at the architecture.  It’s a bit heavy on the icons for a Baptist, but we did enjoy the tour and walking through long arched hallways.  I enjoyed all the sightseeing but am especially thankful for the time with Ana.

Thank you for the prayer support and financial support.  I’m still working on increasing my income through donors and Xango customers.  Please check out the website at www.mymangosteen.com/luke638 and send questions.

I’m also happy to send you my two-page recommended food list.  So many diseases can be addressed through changing what we eat and drink, back toward the whole foods God made to fit the needs of the bodies He designed.  I just watched the movie Fed Up (2014, Katie Couric) and I highly recommend it (got it from the library). Good news if we will heed it.

Stay well friends, until the next time!