Beka's Converts

This is my daughter Beka and her converts from Thursday night soul winning. (From left to right.) The boy on the end is Sa Paw, then Wa Way Paw, then Say Kay Paw, then Marry Paw, and then my daughter. Marry Paw was actually my convert from Saturday and a neighbor to the others who are all siblings. My daughter Beka won them to Christ Thursday night and was excited to bring them to church on Sunday as her visitors. These are Karen children and they rode the Karen Van route that we have recently started. We actually had 14 on that Karen route this week, which was really good.

These Karen people originate from Burma and one of my heroes of the faith Adoniram Judson was one of the first people to ever reach them back in the early 1800's. One might wonder what is so special about these people, but all people are special to God. I promise you this, God will bless us for reaching these people and caring about them. I also consider it a privilege to reach people that the great missionary Judson tried to reach.

Today was Bible Sunday and I preached about the Bible all day. This morning I taught on the King James Bible and what is wrong with all these other versions. One of our people came to me after wards and said, "Thanks, I never knew that, now I know the truth." That is great when you can help someone grow in the faith!

The Weather Cannot Hamper the Truth

Winter has come early this year with freezing temperatures dipping all the way into the single digits. However, we had a faithful crew of 28 people out on Thursday night last week to face a 9 degree temperature. We ended the night having 18 saved! Praise God!

Then Saturday the cold brought with it a snow storm. We received a couple of inches through the day, but we had almost 20 folks out to visit Sunday school classes and bus routes. My wife and I each had one saved out in the snow showers that morning. Our overall group saw 8 saved. Once again, praise God!

Then on Sunday our attendance dropped to 116 people who ventured out to face the snowy streets. However, we did have one girl who got saved several weeks ago, follow the Lord in believer's baptism. For the third time, praise God! He is good!

Recognizing Our Veterans

Our Veterans

 This past Sunday we recognized our military veterans in honor of Veterans Day on November 11th. We usually have about 8 or 9 veterans, however, this year we only had three present. A couple of them weren't here for one reason or another and a couple have passed onto Glory Land. However, we did have three men here. Pictured from left to right was Karl Gaiser (United States Army), Daniel Jager (United States Air Force), and James Phillips (United States Army). All three men are faithful members of our church and we thank them for their service to our country. Bro. Phillips served 36 years in the Army; Somebody say Amen!

Preacher with visitors

I had a couple of visitors come with me on Sunday morning; Ree Reh and Paw Kyit. Both had been led to Christ the week before and made professions of faith. We also had the privilege of having David Diehl here for our missions month. He is a missionary to Panama. He made his presentation of Sunday night and preached a wonderful message. Bro. Diehl's wife (Delight) is the sister of my daughter-in-law, Faith.

It was a great weekend overall. In fact our Faith Promise Commitments were due today and I was extremely happy with the amounts committed. More than we have ever had committed before. Now all we need is follow through with those commitments. Amen!

The two sisters and their families.

Another Karen Visitor

This is Mu Htee pictured with my wife. She was my wife's visitor this past Sunday morning. Mu Htee is of Karen nationality coming to America several years ago by way of Thailand. Our city has a large population of these people. I have a real burden for them, as well as countless other nationalities. Our missionary to Thailand; Dr. Robert Bowen is currently helping us locate Karen tracts and Bibles. Lincoln is the fifth largest Asian refugee relocation center in the Untied States of America. There is a great need for a man with a burden to help us reach this resource of people right here in Lincoln, please pray for us about this matter.

Our overall Sunday was a good day with good attendance. We had 136 in Sunday school and brought in 59 on the buses. We had two public professions of faith made at the invitation time Sunday morning. After the services I was at home waiting for my wife to serve lunch when my phone rang. I noticed it was a church member so I answered it right away. The member was very excited in their voice and was asking me to come to the hospital right away. He told me he had a friend who was going to die in the next few hours and wanted me to come and pray for him about accepting Jesus as his Saviour.

I had my wife hold my lunch and I arrived at the hospital in less than 20 minutes. Upon my arrival I saw our church member that had called me in the hallway with tears in his eyes. I thought perhaps his friend had already passed. He told me that he had not, but he just had to stay out in the hallway for now. When I came into the room they had two nurses in there along with a room full of family members. This man was a Sudanese man from out of town and one of the nurses who appeared to be Sudanese also was speaking to him in Arabic.

I then introduced myself and made my way through the crowd of people to the bed side. One of the ladies in the crowd had been saved and baptized at our church several years ago and told the people to "make way the pastor is coming through." Once at the bed side, I asked immediately if the man understood English. They responded that he did. I was able to get groaning responses and head nods to my questions. I began immediately to present the gospel to the man. He indicated with a head nod and a groan that he wanted to trust Christ. I was able to lead him through a sinners pray and asked him if he had prayed that prayer and accepted Christ. He nodded his head that he did. I was also able to lead his wife and his cousin to Christ before I left. Thank God for a Saviour who saves them right at the end of of their life just like the thief on the cross! God is a gracious God!

Not Forgotten Among the Trophies of Grace

So often we get excited about those we might consider to be "trophies of grace." I am referring to those who perhaps are saved from a life of gross sin and we might call them a trophy of grace and they are. However, we must never forget about the members kid who is raised in the home of faithful parents. They are just as important as anybody else when they come to Christ.

This past Sunday we had three trophies of grace as far as I am concerned. All three of them were just as important as the other. A Karen teenager from Burma named Zin got saved a few Thursday nights ago and got baptized. A Liberian lady named Lucy got saved Saturday and baptized on Sunday. Then a members kid named James (from America ~ ha) got saved several months ago and baptized Sunday night. James was so young (age 4) that I recommended we wait a few months to make sure he understands. We did and at age 5 now, he still stuck with the same testimony in good detail.

Some might think the first two I mentioned are really great and they are, but the third one is no less important. The members kid is just as important. I say Praise God for all three and congratulations to all three!
 

James

Zin

Lucy

Great Weekend with One of Our Missionaries

Dr. Bowen preaching morning service.

We had an absolutely fantastic weekend with Dr. Bob Bowen our missionary to Southeast Asia. We had 29 saved for the week and 8 public professions made on Sunday morning with 141 in attendance for Sunday school. Then Sunday night we had one saved and at the invitation she followed the Lord in believers baptism. It was a fantastic weekend!

Dr. Bowen preached Sunday morning and Sunday night a two part message on "What the Lord will look for when he returns?" The answer is faith! Praise God many great decisions were made.

The Gropp's on their anniversary!

In fact Sunday morning during the invitation, Dr. Bowen was able to lead a man from Iraq to Christ! Praise God for that too! Also, on Sunday morning my wife caught a picture of Rob and Mary Gropp who were celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary. What a place to celebrate, at church, amen!

Trisha getting ready to get baptized!

Then on Sunday night Trisha (a first time visitor brought by a new convert of my wife's) got saved and baptized. Dr. Bowen preached part of the time with a hanker chief on his head to represent a crown. He kept it on for a long time until he realized I was taking his picture. Ha!

Dr. Bowen preaching about crowns with Bro. Looper standing in line who didn't have one. Ha!

Glorious Home Going

Brother Edward Fauth, one of our faithful members, went home to be the Lord on September 28, 2014. Let me tell you about it; it was our big day of our Sunday school campaign that morning and the Lord had really blessed our services with 13 making public professions of faith in Christ and 5 following the Lord in believers baptism. We came back to church Sunday night and had the service. It was a good service and after the invitation we dismissed and went downstairs for a potluck dinner.

Brother Fauth was seated downstairs waiting for the food to come out when he suffered cardiac arrest. Paramedics were summoned and an attempt to revive him was unsuccessfully made. However, he died a very peaceful death as he passed over the river to the shores of Heaven! Many wicked men have screamed as they died, most likely heading to the depths of Hell. Not our dear Brother Ed, he died a peaceful death and the arms of Jesus carried his soul over to Heaven! Praise God for Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour and His loving arms!

Brother Fauth was a faithful man at Lincoln Baptist Church. I came here and started this church in June 2002, and Brother Fauth was there from the beginning. Having been led to the Lord by our song leader Daniel Jager, he stayed faithful to all the services each week for all these years. Helped with building up keep for almost 11 of the first twelve and half years. Only his health stopped him from continuing to do so. He loved our church! He loved his pastor! I loved him!

In the picture he was giving out donuts and coffee like he always did on Sunday morning. He stayed faithful to that until he had another health set back about a month ago. He would always tell me to please not take him out of any of his jobs. He always wanted to keep doing them. I always let him know that they were his until he couldn't do them anymore. Thank God for faithful servants!

Although, he will be missed here at church, I fully believe it was the Lord's will for him to depart at this time. He also went in the Lord's way. He died here at church, just a few feet away from where he continually served every Sunday morning. We will celebrate the home coming of my brother and friend on Thursday morning at 10 AM. Please pray for the family to have comfort and for the funeral to go well. May God bless you one and all!