Wednesday, February 24, 2011.

Tonight we presented the ministry at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Grand Praire, TX.  Pastor Grice preached on the need to spread the Gospel (1) because we can, (2) becasue we care, and (3) becasue we're commanded.  We are thankful to Lighthouse Baptist Church for their kindness to us in allowing us to stay in their missions house for two weeks.  This weekend we are off to the south of Texas, heading to Houston, for two meetings on Sunday.  More to follow.

What made the church of Antioch such a powerful missions church?

The Rock in Rephidim (Saudi Arabia)

Just as the water gushed out of this rock over 3,400 years ago to meet the thirst of the people of Israel, the church of Antioch (of Syria) in the first century poured out the Gospel by the power and direction of the Holy Spirit through its numerous preachers.  Two of those preachers we know especially well--Barnabas and Paul.

Antioch was certainly not the only church doing missions.  But, they were obviously pleasing to God for He chose to record some of the doings of this church specifically for our instruction.




What made the church of Antioch such a powerful missions church?
1.  Abundant Sowing of the Word of God in the church:  Acts 13:1; 15:35.
2.  Adament Submission to the Holy Spirit:  Acts 13:2-4; 16:6-7.
3.  Ardent Stand for the truth:  Acts 15:1-3.
4.  Absolute Sufficiency in the grace of God:  Acts 13:3; 14:26.
5.  Active Sending of men to preach the Word of God:  Acts 13:2-3; 15:40.

Most churches, because of following a traditional/cultural model of 'church,' cupold with apathy and worldliness, will not achieve the spiritual outout of Antioch.  Only by a practical and determined daily rejection of all the inventions and wisdom of men and, from our hearts, learning and doing of God's Word and joyful submission to the Holy Spirit of God will churches be as fruitful as Antioch.

Sunday, February 20th, 2011.

In Sunday School this morning we had the privilege of presenting the ministry to the folks of Faith Baptist Church of Temple, TX.  Adam, Sandy, and Natalie sang, we showed our video, I gave a overview of the work in Shelburne and our vision for future work.  I then answered questions to numerous good questions.  In the morning church meeting, the Lord was present, Brother Joe preached from 2Corinthians 8 on the grace of giving.  A young man named Jeremy responded to the invitation at the end of the preaching and placed his trust in Christ Jesus to save him from his sin—Hallelujah.  Tonight is a huge night for this church, as they take in their faith promises for missions for 2011.

Sunday evening was the yearly "super bowl" of missions for Faith Baptist Church.  The singing was great and Brother West preached a message entitled, "IN."  He asked...
Are you in missions by giving?
Are you in missions by praying?
Are you in missions by willingness to go?
When did you get in missions?
Why did you get in missions?

The grand finale was the taking up of the faith promises and adding up those promises made between God and each member.  We were honoured that Faith Baptist Church voted to take us on for support--thank you Lord.  We are very excited to partner with this church as we are convinced of their sincerity to pray for us and the church planting work of Chrgoggin Baptist Church in Canada.
Notable quotes:
"A lot of people add to the weight of a church; we need people to add to the strength of a church."--Joe West.
"The greatness of a church is not measured by how many sit in the pews, but by how many have been sent out with the Good News."--unknown.

Saturday, February 19th, 2011.

Tonight is the fourth night of Faith Baptist Church’s missions conference (our third night with them), and after some singing and an introduction by Brother West, we watched a missions film titled ‘Suicide Mountain.’  A true story of how a God lead a Japanese family to His Son, Jesus Christ, to be saved.  After that the people of the church had decorated different stations (like booths) after the following countries:  Canada, Thailand, Chine, USA, and Mexico.  In addition to this someone had researched and cooked foods found in each of the countries and all were able to travel from country to country trying out the foods—an international supper.  All of this is not focused on having fun, although it is fun; but, it is focused on encouraging the members of the church to trust God to provide their needs as they sacrifice to get the Gospel to those that need that ultimate and eternal gift. 

Pastor Mike Lewis, of Faith Baptist Church in Temple, TX.

Friday, February 18th, 2011.

This is our second day at the missions conference at Faith Baptist Church in Temple, TX.  Missionary to Mexico, Brother David West, updated Faith Baptist Church as to how the work in Mexico is going.  David West and his family have been in Mexico nine years.  Brother Joe West (David West’s father) preached a great message on the precious and virtuous church, and from the fact that a church is the bride of Christ he made numerous applications from Proverbs 31, and the virtuous woman.  Here are a few pictures from the missions conference.

Brother Joe West

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

We began our day in Lake Worth, TX packing our trailor and moving out of the missions house that we have for so long been blessed to use.  With prayer we headed south to Temple, TX on I-35.  We arrived at Faith Baptist Church, Pastor Mike Lewis, in the afternoon.  We are staying in a missions house that they own until Monday morning when we pull out for the next meeting.

We have the honour of being here at Faith Baptist Church for their missions conference, which runs from Wednesday to Sunday, inclusive.  These folks are passionate for missions, and they have a self-sacrificing attitude about serving God.

The speaker for this conference is Brother Joe West.  Thursday night Brother West preached about running our race and how utterly incompatable a Christian life of coasting is with Christ Jesus and His Word.  Coasting, meaning moving because of the easy downhill road, you do not have to put any effort into it.  Here is the strong point to this thought:  you can only coast if you are going down hill.  The Christian life is a continual climb and if you are coasting you must be going backwards.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011.

Today we headed into rural Texas to meet with Pastor David Locke and Highland Baptist Church in the community of Victor, close to Dublin, TX.  On the drive to the church through some beautiful rolling country side we passed a row of approximately 10 coyote carcasses that had been impailed on fence posts all in a nice line.  Someone had a profittable day varmit hunting.

We had a profitable and enjoyable day serving the Lord.  We had supper at Pastor Locke's house, Mrs. Locke is a wonderful cook, and enjoyed the company of both the Lockes and the Associate Pastor, Burt Atkins, and his lovely family. 

In the evening meeting the folks of the church were very interested in the work of planting churches in Canada.  Adam ministered in music, we showed our video, I answered questions, and then had a blessed time preaching God's Word.  It was a privilege to meet these people of God and get to know them just a little bit.

Sunday, February 13th, 2011.

Abilene, Texas, is the beginning of the 'West' of Texas. 

    Sunday morning we did not have a scheduled meeting so we attended the Sunday School and Morning meeting of Metropolitan Baptist Church.  We were blessed. 

    Sunday afternoon we pulled out from the missions house and headed west for Abilene, Texas.  Two and one-half hours later we were kindly received by Pastor Jami McCravey, his lovely family, and all the members of Liberty Baptist Church.  In a city with a population of 120,000 and 500 churches you can imagine both the confusion amongst the residents of Abilene and the challanges to ministering the truth to such religious people.

    All the folks at Liberty are very excited about being personally involved in God's work in Abilene and around the world.  They had a large wall overflowing with the prayer letters of missionaries they support.  They have a missions conference in a couple of weeks, so we were able to provide the spiritual 'appetizer' to this conference.  We ministered with three selections of music, showed our DVD, and I preached for almost an hour to an attentive congregation.  The spirit in this church is sweet and exciting.

    I was thrilled to find out that Pastor McCravey normally preached for an hour, and the folks here are happy to sit for 1.5 to 2 hours.  He believes that sermonettes make Christian-ettes.  Amen. 

    Stay tuned--this week we have a Wednesday night meeting, and then we will be at a missions conference from Thursday till Sunday.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

We did not have a scheduled meeting on February 9th.  So we decided to visit The Baptist Temple in Fort Worth, TX.  This church was founded under the authority of First Baptist Chruch of Fort Worth while J. Frank norris pastored First Baptist.  The founding pastor was B.F. Dearmore.  Founding date, 1954.  I am not sitting in my office in Yarmouth to have access to my library, but if I recall, during the pastorate of J. Frank Norris, First Baptist of Fort Worth established well over one-hundred churches.  If any one reading this can supply the real number please leave a note in the comments section below.

Why do I bother adding this little bit of history?  Simply this, true NT. independent Baptist churches are churches that have been started under the authority of other churches and therefore know first-hand the necessity of planting churches.  Churches that get their start from the sacrifice of another church(es) will, and should, feel the moral obligation to plant churches of NT. faith and practice themselves. 

By the way, the missions display at The Baptist Temple was full with dozens of missionary prayer letters.  Awesome.  On of the missionaries on that board was Roy Dearmore, a son of B.F. Dearmore.  That is exciting.  This intense missions activity is the norm with the churches we have visited to date.  The churches that we have been visiting are of one mind in their desire to plant churches of the NT. Baptist type--the type Jesus built.

Pastor Bruce Engleman of The Baptist Temple is an encouragement to me.  He and his children have suffered pain and loss this year and are not embittered, but of sweet tempers.  Although we did not have a meeting scheduled at The Baptist Temple Pastor Engleman still heartily gave me a couple of minutes to speak of the work and allowed me to pass out prayer cards.

If you are not burdened and involved with seeing souls saved, discipling them to follow Christ obediently, and participating in the work of firmly establishing churches on NT. baptism and NT. doctrine you are like the man with the loosed shoe--look him up in Deuteronomy 25:5-10.

The shoe insult is still practiced in the near East.  Mubarak is insulted.

Sunday, February 6th, 2011

We have had an excellent day.  The Lord has blessed us greatly.  Today we were at Lake Worth Baptist Church in Lake Worth, TX.  We are thankful for Pastor Jerry Locke and his wife.  This church has been a blessing to us.  They love NT. missions.  I was privileged to present the ministry, answers numerous good questions, and teach in Sunday School.  It was a blessing to listed to Pastor Locke preach the Gospel from Romans 3 in the morning meeting.  In their afternoon meeting Adam sang and I preached from Acts 13.  We were apart of LWBC`s Missions Emphasis month.

We covet your prayers for us and the present work of telling churches about the burden, calling, and work that we have in and through our Chegoggin Baptist Church.

Week Number Three

Hello from the  ? Winter Wonder Land ?  of Texas????  This week has been Canada-cold, including ice and snow. 

We had an excellent meeting this past Sunday night (Jan. 30) at Heritage Baptist Church in Lufkin, TX.  Adam and Pastor Housley played an instrumental--Pastor on Guitar and Adam on Banjo.  We showed our DVD and told of the work.  I was privileged to preach, and the Lord gave liberty--hallelujah.  We are thankful for this church and pastor, and the time we had to fellowship with them.  Pastor Jim Housley and the Church were kind and very interested in the work. 

The meeting we had scheduled for Wednesday night had to be cancelled do to dangerous icy roads.  Thankfully, I had an open date on my callendar and we were able to reschedule.




February 4th, 2011 in Fort Worth, TX.

The weather of this past week is a very rare event for Texans.  People here do not even own snow shovels.  They would only use one for a couple of days every 10 to 15 years.  Ice and 3 or 4 inches of snow is paralizing when you are not used to it, and the state and cities do not have snow-removal equipment.  All they keep is sanding trucks.  But, when the average temperature at this time of year is around 55 F why would you spend money on such equipment?  The neighbour's cactus, on their front lawn, is not pleased with these temperatures.

February 4th, 2011 in Fort Worth, TX.

Please pray that the weather will return to normal so that we do not lose any meetings.  I will not be able to reschedule any others, which means a loss.