STATE MISSIONS: Send the Light!

Faithful Servants

I had the privilege to share missions and preach at Big Creek Valley Sunday. Thanks, church, for this opportunity and your offering for State Missions.

Great News on the Horizon

We are just a little over a month away from the time that the “The Table” Mission in Springdale will be organizing. Thank you, Missionary Clinton Morris, mother church Temple of Jonesboro and all our supporters for making this day possible.

God is Good All the Time

Once again, God brought me through the valley of the shadow of death. With a 99% blockage, they said I would most likely have died within two or three days. “But God,” as Diane Spriggs always said, had different plans. I am much better and getting stronger every day. Thank you for your prayers. I did not have a heart attack, praise His name! While I hated missing the national meeting, thanks to God there is always next year.

From Our Missionaries

“Discipleship of women has also been increased in number, mostly by sisters meeting virtually. Virtual meetings provide greater accessibility, so Sayra was able to lead the conversations, even while she was in Honduras.

“My father-in-law was diagnosed with leukemia and his treatment has already begun. Please continue to pray for his health. We are planning to visit him in June, once our children’s graduation ceremonies have taken place.”

(4/30) “During the national meeting of our association, I had the opportunity to speak with Hispanic missionaries I had not seen for a long time and to meet some who do ministry inside and outside the country. The way the Lord uses our association of churches to fulfill His purpose of reaching the world for Christ is impressive. My heart rejoices at the majesty and power of our God. Oscar Lopez accompanied me to the national meeting, and it was his first time. He was highly impacted by the fellowship, the testimonies shared by the missionaries and the teachings received.

“This Sunday, Oscar Gomez shared the Word of God. We are enjoying the fruits of the training this brother has received. Let’s pray for him and that he stays strong studying at the Bible Institute.”

Now the challenge is to find a suitable car for him and the transition to college in August. This transition is all new to us. I ask for your prayers on how to guide Ruben through this time. We desire and it is our prayer that his life will glorify God in all he undertakes.

“At Ebenezer, we had our introduction to the Gospel Movements Workshop. It is time to train our people with the vision and tools to multiply in others. This week we evaluated Ebenezer — what kind of church are we? Are we looking only internally at our needs? Are we impacting the community in which we live? Our discussion was by group, youth, men and women. We came to the conclusion that we need to make changes and look at our community as our mission field. Pray for Ebenezer during this training time.

“Pray for Ruben Alexander and us for wisdom in this time of transition. Pray for Pedro, the gentleman from Guatemala with kidney problems, that God will bring healing to his life. He did not attend Ebenezer this week. Our God is supernatural, and He is going to do wonderful things in the midst of His people. Thank you for your prayers and support. To God be the glory!”

(4/30) “This week, I had the privilege of meeting with missionaries and Hispanic pastors from all over the country — brothers from California to New York. We had the opportunity to be at the annual meeting of our national association. What a good opportunity to see our Hispanic works at the level of different states. I remember the first times we met when we were very few and now to see the growth of God among the Hispanic work is a reason for much joy.

“This week we continued in Ebenezer with the Gospel Movements training. Keep praying that this training will serve the numerical and spiritual growth of our mission. Keep praying for Peter, that God will bring healing to his kidneys. 

“This week at Baseball Chapel, it was a blessing to see the five players from the Travelers attend chaplaincy and seven from the visiting team. We are sowing the Word of God among the players. May God make the seed that’s sown germinate. Once again thank you for praying for us. To God be the glory!”

There is still a lot of work to do, and we will continue at a much slower pace now that it is just us, but we have a building, and we are overjoyed. We could not have been this far along without them. We knew a few of them before they came, but now we love each of them and their wives dearly. They are an inseparable part of our family and our mission. We are already longing to see them again.

“We did take a day off after they left — those guys will work you to death! We needed some rest, but come Monday we will be back at it again and singing, ‘working on a building, for my Lord, for my Lord.’ 

“We thank you for your support and especially for your prayers. Please continue. God is answering them in a mighty way.”

(4/30) “This was one of those weeks where you just wonder where everyone was. Our numbers were down. We had families on vacation, out for various reasons, and some sick. We also didn’t have any little kids, but we did have two of our teenagers. But it’s not all about numbers, and we did have a great time of worship, with seven returning and two first-time visitors.

“The work is progressing on the building. The plumbers are back, and we are working on the electrical, still waiting on two doors and the facia so we can finish the outside, and two of our heat pumps and air handlers have come in. The new building has generated quite a bit of interest in the community. People seem to be seeing us as permanent now, and that is a good thing as we minister to this community.

“We thank you for your prayers and support. Please continue. It means so much to us.”

Watching Drew answer the ordination questions, speak his testimony and the prayerful handoff was like watching a child graduate.”

(4/30) “I attended the BMA of America meeting in Conway. It was a great time to see many of you and to be able to talk about what God is doing with the church. 

“We are beginning the process of packing up the house. It is early, but it is a good thing to get started.

“I handed off the charity to our local board of directors on Saturday, wrapping up some of the final details for both the organization of the church and also the transfer of all leadership. I got to speak for the last time on Sunday. Drew and others will be carrying the church on to the future. I spoke through Psalm 27 — ‘Wait on the Lord.’ It was such a sweet service. I will be speaking at the organization service in June. I’m looking forward to a celebration as the mission we have been working on for the last two and half years organizes into a church. We also dedicated five children to the Lord on Sunday. It was a beautiful moment of the service to see these families commit to teach and train their children about God and to see the witness of the church.”

They have a food pantry to help meet the needs of their students and Faith Journey is honored to be able to help with that program.

“This week, at one of our weekly outreaches at the adult daycare center, we had an employee let me know that they were starting to seek God and wanting to know more about what we are teaching from the Bible every week. Please be in prayer for this young lady as her heart is bending toward God’s Word and that her life be changed through the gospel.

“We enjoyed our monthly fellowship this week. We had a chili dinner with all the fixings and hot dogs, along with some delicious desserts! We sure love the time we get to spend together getting to know one another better as God builds this mission. Thank you for your continued support and prayers!”

(4/30) “Faith Journey is celebrating our first birthday on May 1! One year ago, we began our weekly services, and we are still going strong. This year, we have seen people come together who love the Lord and have also grown as a mission and as individuals. We’ve also seen lives transformed through the gospel of Christ and begin their personal relationships with Him through salvation. As we look forward to another year, we hope to see God’s hand in the work we are doing in the community and in the building of this future BMA church. Thank you to everyone who has come alongside us and prayed for this mission over the last year.

“My family and I were able to spend a few days this week sharing in the joy of our oldest son getting married to a beautiful young lady. We enjoyed watching them commit their love to each other and for their friends and family to pledge our support and to pray for their marriage was a heartwarming blessing. We are so very excited to add a new daughter to our family. Please be in prayer for this young couple on their adventure as a newly married couple. Congratulations to Logan and Katy Clay.”

“We continue working on the edification of our brothers in our groups of Grace. We were on a topic where many questions arose. The theme was ‘What are the fruits of change?’ It was very interesting that our brothers opened their hearts and knew their realities. Every shepherd must know the state of his sheep to be able to minister effectively with the Word of God. These conversations have been so productive that we see all of our candidates for baptism moving forward.”

(4/30) “On Monday, we went out to share the gospel with my wife and another sister. We do it with people who go to a food bank in the city of Springdale. We were able to share the gospel with more than 10 people, pray for their needs and we invite them to our church. Two glorious guests came yesterday. We are blessed that the Lord continues to allow new people to visit us. It has been a constant during these five months that we have as a church. We pray now that they continue to attend.

“During the month of May, we will be celebrating the month of the Christian home where we emphasize the home. The themes of the month are the foundation of the family, the roles in the home, the family altar and a marriage centered on Christ. I ask for your prayers for this event also on May 28 as we will be celebrating the day of the family. We will have games and activities for the whole family, so we need an outdoor sound system.”

“Our Garfield Connection Group also had a fun night as they celebrated Isaiah’s 20^th birthday. One thing about our Connection Groups is, even though it is someone’s birthday, they don’t miss it — we enjoy celebrating together. We also had some Woodbridge members go and encourage our Garfield group. It’s all about working together.

“On the house front, we had a concept meeting with the planning commission and are awaiting direction.”

(4/30) “Epic Life and the ‘strategy’ for it, is a work in progress. It is being shaped daily, but the goal is to have a structure that equips members to be missionaries in their neighborhoods and networks. We want everything we do to ‘send out’ not ‘pile up.’ There are occasions when we see glimpses of it working. One of our coach couples is also my in-laws. This weekend we went out to eat — just a family outing. While waiting in line, we all engaged a couple in conversation. We were having such a great conversation that the hostess tried to seat us all together thinking we were all family. As we left, my mother-in-law said, ‘One thing is sure since we started this strategy with Epic Life, we’re always meeting people and having conversations.’ For the moment, mission accomplished!”