Christ is Our Mission

Iraqi lady praying and trusting Christ through translator.

We had the second week of our Sunday school campaign called "Christ is Our Mission." God was really good to us. We saw 28 people trust Christ as their Saviour this week! Perhaps one of the more interesting situations is an Iraqi lady who got saved at the invitation time of the morning service. She has lived in America a few years and actually knew a lot of English. I was able to present the Gospel to her in English. We did run into a little snag toward the end of the presentation and I was able to call upon one of our church members from Sudan named Amiot. Amiot speaks Arabic fluently as well as several other languages and she was able to assist me in leading this lady. Praise God for a diverse church!

I am thankful that we can have someone from almost any part of the world walk into our church and be able to be presented a clear presentation of the Gospel in their language. We have one member that can speak 12 different languages! Praise God!!!!

Plavia getting baptized!

We also had Plavia from South Sudan come as a visitor for my mother today. She trusted Christ as her Saviour and followed the Lord in believer's baptism this morning. It was exciting to see her willingness to follow the Lord in the first step of obedience after trusting Christ. Please pray for her spiritual growth as she continues to come to church. 

Shee Say and Htee Say

We had a good day on all of the buses. The Karen route had a solid attendance day. My wife had her picture taken with two of the new riders that are actually becoming quite faithful. Shee Say and Htee Say along with their older brother attend every week now. God is really blessing this ministry as my wife and I are striving to learn the Burmese language.

One thing for our church to remember as we strive to win many nationalities to Christ is what the Bible says in 1 Chronicles 28:7 "Moreover I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he be constant to do my commandments and my judgments, as at this day." If we be constant as a church, God will establish His work in these nationality groups.

Soul Winning Missionary

Saint and Chow after the service

This past weekend we had Missionary Saint Jomhong with us from the Longview Baptist Temple. Bro. Saint is a Missionary to the Kingdom of Thailand. He did an excellent job while he spent the weekend with us. He went soul winning all day Saturday and preached and presented his work on Sunday evening. In fact there is an interesting story I will tell you about involving Saint...

Chow getting baptized!

Saint met a Vietnamese man named Chow while he was out soul winning on Saturday. He was unable to led the man to the Lord because the man told him he was a Buddhist. However, the man told Saint he would come to church on Sunday. Interestingly enough, Chow had been witnessed to by my son and Bro. Zawlatt about a month earlier. They too could not lead him to Christ because he said he was Buddhist. Then Sunday morning came and the regular bus route went by to pick up Chow, but he was not home. However, I was running my Karen route and saw a man walking down the street in  a different area from where Chow lives. (I did not know Chow, yet.) My wife was at a door getting some people and I yelled over to the man and asked him to come to church. He was hesitant, but then decided to come. Once at the church we discovered this was the man Saint had invited.

After Sunday school Saint decided to speak to Chow about his salvation. Saint presented the Gospel to Chow and he then made a decision to trust Christ as his personal Saviour! Praise God! We then conducted the morning service and at the invitation time Chow came forward and decided to follow the Lord in believer's baptism. Thank God for the work of many soul winners to get this Buddhist man saved. This would be our first Buddhist that has gotten baptized at our church. Praise God! 

Saint preaching on Sunday night

Saint soul winning on Saturday

This week was the first week of our campaign called "Christ is Our Mission." The theme has a missions emphasis being placed on it. Total we had 64 souls saved for the week with two following the Lord in believer's baptism. One of our men Bro. Looper has been taking Spanish classes and was able on Saturday to led his first soul to Christ completely in the Spanish language. Praise God for a great start to our campaign.

Bro. Looper witnessing to a Spanish man

Busy Week!

We kept the baptistery tank busy all week. Baptizing people on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. God had blessed our soul winning efforts by keeping a steady flow of converts lining up to get into the tank. After seeing 21 come to the Saviour on Thursday night, we had 17 more come to Christ on Saturday and Sunday. Then finished with a total of 38 saved for the week and 6 public professions of faith being made and 4 following the Lord in believer's baptism this week! Praise God for his goodness!

Mimi getting baptized on Saturday afternoon!

Zawlatt getting baptized on Wednesday night

Tina Marie; one of the baptisms from Sunday morning

Great Weekend Followed by a Great Picnic

We had a good start to our weekend last Thursday night by having 29 saved on the soul winning bus. God blessed that and we carried it into the holiday weekend. I was able to see three saved on Saturday morning and then three more saved Saturday afternoon. The Karen bus route had 23 riders on it and we got to see two public professions of faith being made. Then Sunday night I preached a message called, "How Can We Do It Together?" I gave them ten things from Acts chapter 2 on how we can reach this city together as a church!

Karen kids playing a rubber band game

 On Sunday morning before Sunday school, I was walking through the fellowship hall and notice some of the Karen kids gathered around on the floor blowing rubber bands. I stopped to observe what they were doing. Apparently, it is a game where they have to blow as many rubber bands to the people in front of them as they can. Once you don't make one, you are out. I found out our youth pastor gave them the rubber bands, so I thought the game was his idea. He told me nope, the game is their own invention. Apparently they were doing the game with just a couple of rubber bands, so he gave them a handful and told them to really make it a game. We are always finding ways to have fun at our church! 

Special Thank You to the Loopers for cooking all the meat at the picnic!

Then Monday came and we had a great time having a church picnic at Pioneers park. In fact most folks said this was the best picnic we have ever had. I would agree! The spirit was great! No clicks, no grumpy people, and no isolationist! Just a unified bunch of Christians enjoying food, fellowship and fun! God is blessing our church so greatly right now. I believe we are getting ready to bust at the seems in our outreach! Glory!

Myself eating with Bro. Rashidi and Bro. Strilkivsky. Only at our church would you see an American enjoying fellowship with a Congolese and Ukrainian family. Praise God for our International Baptist Church!

Bro. Zawlatt enjoying a little Soccer time.

Say Nay Moo also playing a little soccer.

Big Sand Volleyball game

They were sweating out there!

My mother enjoying the picnic!