Ta Blu Dòh Mä

Ta Blu Dòh Mä which means "thank you very much" in the Karen language. My wife and I recently took a trip celebrating our 25th year wedding anniversary. Of course we go soul winning every week of the world by a solid conviction that God wants all of his people to be soul winners. 

During our trip we passed through the town of Nacogdoches, Texas and while driving down the street we saw a vehicle with a Karen flag hanging from the review mirror. (We have a Karen community of about 1,500 to 2,000 people living in the neighborhoods close to our church in Lincoln, so we are very familiar with these people.) I decided to follow that vehicle to an apartment complex and discovered that there is a community of about 200 of these people living in Nacogdoches, Texas. We were able to converse with some of them and win several to Christ. 
 
I told my wife it felt like being back home for a little bit. I love winning any kind of people to Christ, but I must admit I have a soft spot for working with the Karen since I deal with them so much in our own ministry. It was amazing to be able to find some in an area of the country where I wouldn't have imagined there would be any. I thank the Lord for allowing us to feel like we were at home when we were away!

A good soul winning week

This past weekend was a good one. God allowed me to lead 13 people to Christ total. One of my converts on Saturday was Chuol who is from Vietnam. I asked him if my wife could take a picture of us together. He spoke very good English and was glad to have the picture with me. We thought it would be a good one, since I am so tall and he was so short. He was very happy to have trust Christ as his Saviour.

Then Moo Doh was a return visitor to church on Sunday. I had won him to Christ a couple of Thursday nights ago and he has come two weeks in a row. He made a public profession this past Sunday and I am going to be teaching him in the near future about following the Lord in baptism. Of course we believe in baptism being immediate, but sometimes when we deal with people from other countries we have to take a little more time to explain.

My wife won Julia to Christ this past Thursday night and she came and followed the Lord in believer's baptism this Sunday. She had recently moved to town to the western part of the state. Something interesting happened on Sunday morning when she first came. She checked her kids into the nursery and discovered one of our nursery workers was a relative of hers that she had not seen for many years. God works in wonderful and mysterious ways sometimes. Somebody say, Amen!

Good Week After the Campaign

The month of April came to a close and we finished up our campaign called, "Christ is Our Victory." It was a good campaign having 163 saved during it. I enjoyed the theme of the campaign probably as much as anything.

However, this Sunday was the week following the campaign which is usually a down week. Adding to that fact was the city of Lincoln marathon that takes place the first Sunday of May every year. The marathon makes travel to our church very difficult as we are boxed in by the route that they use. It has over 12,000 runners in it, which adds to the difficulty of the travel.

We prayed hard and God blessed our services anyway with several visitors and a few return visitors from the campaign. We had two make public professions of faith and follow the Lord in believer's baptism today as well. One of those is Jack Diaz pictured in the white shirt with myself and his brother Edward who is a member of our church. I preached this morning on "Christ is Touchable" and Jack fell under conviction. I praise God for Jack coming to Christ and then getting baptized!

Great Past Two Weeks

Edward Diaz, newest member

These past two weeks have been absolutely fantastic at the Lincoln Baptist Church. Two Sunday's ago Edward Diaz joined our church. He is originally from Los Angeles, California and was saved and baptized in the great Hillside Bible Baptist Church in downtown L.A. Dr. Ray Ramirez has a great soul winning work there that my wife and I had the privilege to visit back in 2001. I am glad to welcome Edward aboard at our church.

Karen bus route

This past Sunday we had 17 ride on our Karen bus route. The Karen people are a tribal people from Burma that are coming to our city by way of Thailand. I had the Lord place a real burden on my heart about trying to reach out to this community in our city. I spend a little time each Saturday with my wife visiting them and then we bring some in each week on a small bus route that seems to be growing a little more every week.

Say Paw, one of our visitors on Sunday.

Many of us do not realize that these Karen people spent much time enslaved throughout history. You see to many, these people may be the least of these. However, Matthew 25:45 says, Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.   If to some, these people are the least of these, then I want to do a good turn to Christ and help reach them.

The Rashidi family

I found my wife this past Sunday taking a family picture for the Rashidi family. I asked her to snap a picture for me and she did. I am glad to have this fine family from Congo come to our church. The young man in the black suit is one of our bus captains. He does a fine job helping us reach many people for Christ through the bus ministry. Overall we have been blessed the past two weeks with many souls saved and one following the Lord in believers baptism!

Great Night on Soul Winning Bus

 We had a great time out soul winning this past Thursday night. We went out with 29 soul winners and got to she 20 precious souls come to trust Christ as their Saviour! On the way back we sang songs about the Saviour, it was truly a refreshing and exciting time. Helping add to the excitement was a group of nine people that came from a church in the Red Cloud area. Eight of these nine had never been soul winning before and had wanted to come and experience our soul winning program. These nine were very sharp people and I think were truly blessed by coming.

 A man from their church has come and visited our church on numerous occasions because he was attracted to our soul winning emphasis and our stand on the King James Bible. This man has become a friend to myself and our church here. He has actually been a great help and blessing to our bus ministry. In return I am hoping we can help them establish a soul winning work in that part of the state where there is no soul winning churches. Soul winning is the answer to a dying nation, even in a rural setting like Webster County.

Christ is Our Standard

Dr. Gray and his target.

 This past week we held our Bible conference called "Christ is Our Standard." Our guest speaker was Dr. Bob Gray the 2nd from the Longview Baptist Temple. The conference went great despite Brother Gray's plane being held up on Monday. He came in later than the service time, which would seem to put a damper on the service, but Dr. Richard Haley from Riverside Baptist Church filled the pulpit and preached a great message on "Wearing the Badge of Honor."
God blessed and hearts were stirred.

Then Tuesday morning we held a shooting activity at the range for those who wished to participate. It went very well and all who attended had a great time. Then in the evening Dr. Gray preached a message on "Why We Have All These Rules and Standards." Once again hearts were stirred and decisions were made.

I want to thank both of our speakers for taking time out of their schedules to come be a blessing to our church. We had a great time!

My daughter-in-law shot a tight grouping.

This past Sunday we had a Ukrainian family visit our Home and Family class. The husband had come twice before, but today his wife was able to make it also. We were very honored to have them as our guest. The visiting wife told my wife how much she enjoyed the class. They plan to return next week and we will be praying for them. God bless and have a great week on the Soul Winning trail.

Looking down the gun sights with my wife!

New Beginnings

My wife and I are first time ever grandparents and are very excited to see our first one come into this world after a long weekend (for the parents) of wrestling with getting this one out! This is my wife pictured with our new granddaughter, Allysa Rose. She was born at 2:02 AM on February 2nd. It is precious to see a new birth take place and new life come into this world. We couldn't be more pleased to have an addition to the Painter family!

This new birth also reminds me of the other opportunities we have in this life to see the new birth or a new beginning take place. Of course, there is a precious baby like this one. Then there is the opportunity we have to see a soul get born again. The spiritual new birth is a precious thing to see, it is a spiritual new born babe according to the Bible. It is also a new beginning representing new life for the individual that trust Christ. Praise God for every soul that gets saved!

The new beginning also reminds me of the fresh start our church has recently enjoyed. We had gone through some much needed changes at the end of 2014 that I am sure many thought may not be for the best. However, the opposite has been true. We have enjoyed five straight weeks of some of the best offerings we have ever seen. More than meeting our church budget each week has been a very encouraging thing to me. Besides the finances the over all spirit of our church has been the best it has ever been since the beginning of our church. God has created an excitement and refreshing spirit in our Sunday school department, our music ministry, our workers meetings, our ladies meetings, etc... It has truly been refreshing.

Our theme for the year is "Christ is..." it has created excitement at every level. Our people our excited, our soul winning bus has had the best spirit I can ever remember. Truly the Lord has lifted a great burden from our church and I am excited to shout it from the mountain tops! I look forward to this year being a year of New Beginning for the Lincoln Baptist Church!