STATE MISSIONS: A Reason to Rejoice

      BMA of Arkansas Missionary Johnny Shew and his wife, Karen, are to be commended for their efforts to reach those in and around their location. The building is beautiful and needed, as some of their members stated that they could not have gotten everyone into their old meeting place. But of course, God’s timing is always perfect.

      We were treated to music by the kids, who did a great job. The lady in charge is also to be commended for a wonderful job and reminded me of my own Vicki working with children.

      I shared how all BMA of Arkansas churches should be rejoicing in this wonderful event as they were partly responsible for it happening. Although in their new building, they had not arrived but were still just starting. I shared that the building is a tool and not a cruise ship, but a fishing boat charged to fish for the souls of people. I shared how Johnny, Karen and I placed survey flags and shot the grade determining the building location only a short time back. We bowed together during that first meeting on the property and prayed that God would receive glory and honor from our feeble efforts. Well, after Sunday, I believe that prayer is in the process of being answered and that all of us have a reason to rejoice.

      Lastly, in true Baptist form, we enjoyed a wonderful and plenteous meal at the close of the service.

From Our Missionaries

      “Ulises is Carolina’s partner. Since November, Ulises has accompanied her to the meetings at the temple. He was very kind and helpful. Normally, they stay until the end of each meeting, helping with whatever needs to be done — cleaning, picking up trash and talking. This past Sunday, Ulises made his profession of faith. Let us pray that he has clearly understood his decision and will begin a discipleship process. I will meet with him this week to confirm his conversion and prepare him for baptism.

      “Yesmer and Daysi have set a date for their wedding for March 1. We are happy for this step of obedience and honor to God that they are taking.

      “Thank God Sayra and I are in pretty good health. We are recovering from the severe flu that we had. Your prayers for this ministry are deeply appreciated. God bless you.”

      “Our group with the Lopez family was suspended because Neymar had a medical emergency. Neymar is one of our children in Ebenezer who was diagnosed with cancer. His treatment continues to progress, and he has been improving, but sometimes, he has episodes where he must be taken to the hospital to control an infection. Keep praying for him. His recovery has been slow, and our prayer is that by 2025, he will be declared recovered from the disease.

      “Next Saturday, we have our Christmas event. It is a great opportunity to make Ebenezer known and present the gospel. We have our people at Ebenezer working on both the food and decorations. Each year has been a good time to celebrate and learn more about the incarnation of the Savior.

      “Be praying for Jose Luis Bautista, a man we have been ministering to for years, and we see how God has worked in his life. Pray that God will touch his heart and that he will surrender his life to Christ and make the decision to be baptized.

      “Pray for those who are going away for vacation time. Mentally, I am preparing myself for the low attendance from Dec. 20 until Jan. 8. We have cycles like this because we are a congregation with family members in other countries. Thank you for your support. To God be the glory!”

Paul White was with us, along with several of the Master’s Builders, all of whom contributed significantly to this project. Some came from our mother church, The Bridge, and, of course, our amazing, wonderful members who worked tirelessly to bring about this day. They topped it off with an absolutely great potluck feast!

      “All of the hard work for the past year and a half since we broke ground has been worth it, and today was joyous, to say the least. We are all exhausted! But it is a good tired, and we will get up tomorrow feeling revived, both physically and spiritually!

      “I, once again, want to thank each and every one of you who has contributed in any way to support Faith Chapel. There are far too many to mention. We couldn’t have done this without you! Thank you especially for your prayers! In addition, we certainly couldn’t have done this without God’s blessings, provision and grace. We pray His blessing for you as well.”

  We provided for their needs by feeding and cleaning up after them, but more importantly, we prayed over them, poured into their lives, and loved on them as they came seeking Christ and listening to their hearts. If you ever get the chance to participate in one of these retreats, please do it. It will change your life.

      “Faith Journey has seen a few new faces at the mission over the last few weeks. It is a pleasure to get to know new folks who have come to see what we are all about. We hope that we can be the place where they can draw closer in their walk with the Lord and learn how to begin a personal relationship with Him. Please pray for us as we start to see growth at Faith Journey.”

As there were brothers who had never served, we had a small devotional where I told them about the importance of the motivation to do any service in the Christian faith, which is our love of God. Patty and Maryed took care of the children’s rehearsals.

      “In the Sunday service, we had three new visitors. One of them is a neighbor from Nicaragua who told us he lived behind the church with his family. We were delighted neighbors began to congregate with us. We had an extraordinary time of collective worship, and then we learned what Emmanuel means, which is to have God’s special presence with His people to bless Him.”

      “Our Woodbridge connection group has grown large. We have a wide range of kids of all ages and want to help our teenagers take the next step. Things have been so good I’ve been slow to make a move, but we must do something. I have ideas — I always do, but we want to bring our leaders and those invested in Epic Life along in the process, so we have been talking and praying about what to do. We’ve decided to start a youth program that still holds to our values. We will launch our first youth gathering on Sunday, Jan. 12, at the new Pea Ridge youth center, ‘The Garage,’ and work to implement that new strategy.

      “Our Garfield group threw a birthday party for a group member during their meeting. I love our birthday celebrations.

      “Amanda and I have spent a lot of time with leaders this week and have really stepped up our conversations with them. We have a big week ahead with training with some host coaches and our Christmas collective worship gathering.

      “I also want to celebrate the giving of Epic Life as we had our largest financial gift given this week!

      “Please join us in prayer for our coach households. Pray for them by name. Here are the last names of those households: Chadwell, King, Leatherwood, McCandless, Petrocelli, Sailors and Simon. Pray for the prospective coach households of Stewart and Wright.”

     “I am excited about our new Silas Partner Connection. Jorge Vasquez Jr. is helping with the music and will be a key to our outreach and discipleship. The journey to this point has taken a few detours, but we are encouraged by new contacts and excited to see how the mission will progress next year.

     “Someone once said, ‘Never overestimate what can be done in one year, but at the same time, never underestimate what God can do in five years.’ We appreciate your prayers and support and are firmly committed to seeing a church planted in this area. Yesterday, our leadership team met, and we discussed what that means and basically what we felt God was leading us to plant. I pray that we will see a community of Hispanic believers glorifying God through their obedience to Christ and faithful fulfillment of the Great Commission. God bless you all, and I pray His richest blessings in your churches and lives.”