What's Happening In October

Evangelism Classes

      We finished up teaching The Way of the Master Basic Evangelism Course at Walnut Shade Baptist Church. Christians from several local churches attended the 4 week course. Members of the class have already requested to take the intermediate course next. It's neat to see evangelism students taking baby steps and getting to the point of sharing the Gospel with others. One of the highlights of the course, was showing Christians how and when Jesus Christ witnessed using the Law (the Ten Commandments) and grace (the Gospel). Two of the pastors that took the course volunteered to help lead one of the street witnessing outings. This will give our budding evangelists a chance to apply what they learned with the help of the Holy Spirit. Please pray for our us, our students and more laborers for the soul harvest. 

"therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Mt 9:38





Baby News !

     God has surely answered a lot of prayers. He provided a great midwife and a family who have allowed us to use their home for a home birth. We were expecting our new baby on Oct 9th. 

Below is an ultrasound from an Amish Clinic we were sent to on September 28th. We didn't know whether God was blessing us with another baby boy or with our first girl.  Our nurse pointed out what she called, "outdoor plumbing." We were finally able to call the baby by name, Boaz. Below is 2d ultrasound picture of his face. Boaz wasn't born on his due date and waited 12 more days to arrive.

  
     On Friday, Kerry gave birth to a healthy baby GIRL! What a surprise. We are still in shock : )  So, we quickly switched from Boaz to Eden. She is our smallest baby, yet, at 8 lbs 10 oz.

  "We prayed for this child and the Lord has granted us what we asked of Him." - I Samuel 1:27

 Chinese Bible Outreach

     Our local hotel outreaches continue to bare fruit. We are working with Christians from local churches and Christian hotel workers. Branson has a small Chinese population who are here for seasonal hospitality industry work. Also, there are two large show productions that feature Chinese acrobats and martial artists. Recently, two Chinese nationals accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord, while four others are seeking and in need of Bibles. In response to this new opportunity to share Jesus Christ, we have ordered 10 Chinese Books of Acts (pictured above-left, from the American Bible Society),  4 Chinese New Testaments with Psalms and Proverbs (pictured above-right, from the American Bible Society), and 20 Chinese Gospels of John (pictured below, from the Pocket Testament League). We still are on the look out for Gospel tracts in Chinese. Please pray for God to save the international workers and that they will take the Gospel to those in their home countries.


"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Mt 28:19, 20

Quick Update from Missouri

Greetings!  We are enjoying the now cooler temps here in Missouri. 

God has been meeting our needs in unexpected ways.  Our van continues to have problems, but we are sent people who figure out the problems, while others are sent to offer the tools we need.  Money for gas and other necessities come right at the perfect time as well as gifts of food.  We know we can trust God with all of our needs!

Christopher continues to teach an evangelism course, which has been going great.  He also continues to minister to those around the area in other ways.  There is a need for discipleship and foundational Biblical teaching.  We are so encouraged by those who are so hungry for Biblical truth!

We are really looking forward to the baby who is due in just 2 weeks!  We were recommended a wonderful midwife, three times over, in the town north of us.  We were supposed to have our regular midwife back in Ohio, but after a series of events, we realized Missouri was the plan.  A house has been offered to us temporarily so that we can have a homebirth, be close to a wonderful hospital, and have a comfortable place to recover and reorganize the RV.  Tonight I had the fun chore of washing little pink and blue clothes!  We will keep you updated in which color will be needed.  :)

Our oldest two boys decided to be baptized!  (They are the two pictured in the army green t-shirts.)  They were baptized by Pastor Ron and their Daddy in Table Rock Lake along with a friend of our's and his nephew. 

I hope that a new update with details on a healthy, safely delivered baby will be added to this blog SOON! 

Stay tuned.

:)  Kerry

At The Titanic & Upcoming Evangelism Course

Featured in Living Waters Newsletter

We recently wrote the folks over at Living Waters Publications to thank them for the materials they sent us. We shared with them how we were using their Titanic Gospel tracts. They included us in their newsletter! (I trimmed down the newsletter to the part about us. You can subscribe to the Living Waters newsletter for free at livingwaters.com)

Evangelism Class

Starting September 12, we will be conducting a four week evangelism course. We will be using The Way of the Master Basic Evangelism Course. We are very excited and so are the local pastors who are getting involved. The class will be held at Walnut Shade General Baptist Church, in Walnut Shade, MO. Praise God, we already have received $50 to put toward the room rental fees and materials. We are offering this course for free in hopes that money won't get in the way of Christians learning how to overcome fear and effectively share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This Week: Bikers, Open Mic Night and Trillion Dollar Bills

 

Biker Outreach   

     This was a first for me. I have never been to a biker rally. Today, Trace from Calvary Chapel of Branson and I went to a "Bikers Against Child Abuse" rally and fundraiser. Up until today, the only bikers I've met were incounty jail when I was a chaplain. So I didn't know what to expect. But, I did know it was a great opportunity to reach people.

 

    The Trillion Dollar Bill tract went over great with just about everyone. One couple whose matching t-shirts pointed out an affirmation of evolution, did not want our tracts. They made their way quickly past us... I was hoping we could have had a chat. Over all, we had a warm reception. Some bikers thanked us for coming and passing out tracts.

      We were able to read the whole tract to those who couldn't read the small print. So far, I have not had anyone stop me from reading the whole Gospel presentation on the back of the Trillion Dollar Bill. This lead us into some great conversations with bikers about Jesus. Some our conversations with people uncovered some interesting beliefs about death, salvation and the Bible. These were great opportunities to teach what the Bible actually says on these subjects.

 Here are some statements people made:
    "I don't believe in the old Testament, I only believe in the New Testament."
    'As a Christian, "I believe you go to heaven and if you need to, you come back to do it over."

     We went away rejoicing. God had some great divine appointments for us.We even got invited to a biker rally to hand out tracts by the promoter. He said, 'you're welcome to come out and pass 'em out, or until we get tired of you.'

 Open Mic Night at Waxy O'Shea's

 

Trace sporting the name above all names: Jesus

     Another first for the both of us. Trace is one of the musicians on the worship team at CC Branson. He's has had it on his heart for a while to play some worship music at a local open mic night. We discussed how he planned to share the Gospel and how we could hand out tracts. Trace played three songs and gave a brief testimony. He even joked with the audience. He told them that he brought me to bribe everyone with Trillion Dollar Bills, to listen to him. He played and I passed out tracts. When he was done, we finished our non-alcoholic lemonade and my non-alcoholic Coke.

     Some people may question going into a bar to share the Gospel. And I think we should think carefully about where we go, how we represent Jesus, and how we share the Gospel to different people groups. We don't need to participate in sin to reach sinners. Rather, we ought not be afraid to rub shoulders with unbelievers. The Book of Jude has some powerfull verses on reaching out to sinners and apostates.

^Jude17"But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸They said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." ¹⁹It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²²And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh."

     Sometimes, pulling a person out of the fire requires us to get close to the flames.

Church Army
The Church Army is an outreach that restores people and families through a new life in Jesus Christ. They offer community drug and alcohol recovery services with Jesus as their focus. I got a chance to meet staffers and offer some care pack supplies and reading glasses.

Photo Credit: SwiftShots for Branson Landing

Time to Hit the Street with the Gospel

     The Landing is an outdoor walking mall situated on Branson's riverfront. Overlooking the retail stores and restaurants are condominiums. This venue draws many visitors and shoppers. We felt this was a good place to hand out tracts. We filled our pockets with tracts and hit the walk ways. We talked to people and handed out Trillion Dollar Bill tracts. This lasted for a short time before security informed us that we needed prior permission to distribute free literature. We asked the security guard if he had seen the Trillion Dollar Bill, and he had. In fact, he told us, one of the other security guards would pass them out to his co-workers. So, we are prayerfully seeking permission to hand out tracts.  To be continued...    
-Christopher