Summer Fruit

Ministry Update

This summer has been quite a summer for us. After all the meetings with Baptist Youth Mission fell through, the Lord opened up other doors of ministry for us on a spur of the moment basis.

Josiah and I were able to be a part of a father and son camping trip in the mountains of PA with Pastor Dave Smith and the men of Community Baptist Church of Quakertown, PA. The Lord gave us a wonderful time with the men of that church.

From there, the entire family went to the Capitol Baptist Church of Dover, DE, where we joined Pastor Terri Moore and his people for their summer jubilee.

On our way back from that meeting, we had truck trouble in Smithfield, VA. The powertrain control module, a computer that controls the transmission of my truck, went bad and had to be replaced. Our home church picked up the bill for that repair and the people of the Calvary Baptist Church of Smithfield bent over backwards to help us while we were detained in the Tidewater area.

From VA, we came on to our home church's family camp and enjoyed a wonderful time with the folks of our home church.

Last week, my family and I, along with Bethany Hefner, ministered in the Calvary Baptist Church of Leonard, MI in both children's and teen's vacation Bible School. The children's rallies were in the morning and the teen rallies were at night. It was one of the busiest weeks of my entire ministry. As soon as I was done with one program, I had to go right to the next one with very little down time in between. It would not have been so taxing had it not been my very first vacation Bible school of this kind, both age groups in the same week. The Lord blessed, however, and though our numbers were not large, we did see two teens trust Christ as Savior.

Sam was one of the teens who got saved on Thursday night of the teen meeting. He comes from a Catholic home that religious enough that his grandfather had taught him the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. In the providence of God, I preached a message on the Great White Throne Judgment from Revelation 20. One of the points that I hit is the finality of this judgment. While Sam did not move at the public invitation, he did raise his for prayer, indicating that he was unsure of his salvation. After the service, the teens were to go outside and play a game to which they had been looking forward all week. They all left the auditorium except Sam. He just sat in his seat contemplating what he had just heard and weighing it against what he had always been taught. The pastor noticed him and, while I was out running the remainder of the program for the rest of the teenagers, the pastor led Sam to the Lord. When Sam's mother came to pick him up, the pastor was able to talk to her for a long time. During the conversation, she expressed her gratitude to the church for going to all the trouble to something worthwhile for teenagers. She has promised to attend the church on Sunday.

In addition to Sam, a girl named Tara also made a profession of faith on Thursday night of Bible school. While I was unable to get as many details about her conversion, I am no less grateful that she, too, has trusted Christ.

Today, we are to be in the Columbiaville Baptist Church in Columbiaville, MI. This meeting is another one of the churches that invited me "whenever you are in the area." Please pray that we will be able to be a help to this church.

My book has survived one round of professional editing and awaits my response to the editor's comments. There are some things that the editor has advised me to do that will only make the book better. I still hope to have the entire book ready for purchase in September. I will keep everyone posted about its progress.

As always, thank you all for your prayers.

Family Update

This has been a very busy and exciting week for the whole family, and especially the children. They have really enjoyed the temporary addition of Bethany Hefner, or “Baffy” as Esther calls her. Bethany was such a tremendous help to us during the VBS and Teen Rally this past week, as well as just being with the family. She has been a blessing and a big part of our ministry, and we are so glad her parents allowed us to take her along on such short notice. Thanks, Steve and Diane!

School is looming around the corner for us again, and Josiah is not looking forward to it. It is always sad when a child decides that they don’t really like school anymore! He has really enjoyed the summer break, and I think he will get back into the swing of things very quickly. He was sitting on the living room floor this week, and found a roll of duct tape that Paul had been using during VBS. With a gleam in his eye, he asked me, “Can I use some of this duct tape? Do we have anything that needs to be fixed?” I guess the urge must start when they are young.

Abigail won the silly hat contest this week in VBS. She had a paper hat that looked like a birthday cake (several layers) and had paper flowers sprouting out of the top of it. I really was a cute sight! She was so excited about it. As the youngest VBS member, she struggled to keep up with the others at times, but she did have a wonderful time.

We are all rejoicing in the fact that Esther finally has some hair – at least enough to keep people from thinking she is a boy! She will not keep her hairbows in yet, so we have some work to do in that area. She managed to pull a side table over on herself yesterday while we were in the pastor’s home. With a terrible crash, the table landed on top of her, its contents spilling all over the floor. Papers, pens, flyers, offering plates, candle holders, a chess set, and who knows what else all came down around her. There was a terrible silence, and then as we all jumped up to get the table off of her, she let out the most piercing scream I have ever heard from her lips. Thankfully, she was not hurt, only scared. I am not really sure how she pulled the table over, but I don’t think she will be trying any stunts like that in the near future. My heart couldn’t take it, I don’t think!

I haven’t had the opportunity to tell about our adventures in Smithfield, VA. Paul mentioned them briefly, but he forgot to mention the funniest part. I guess that is because he was the star of this particular event. We arrived at the church parking lot, and began the hookup process – backing in just right, running hoses and cords, etc. I was rather tired, and since Paul didn’t need my help, and a storm was threatening, I thought I would go sit in the truck until he finished. No sooner had I settled in my seat, than I saw a flash go by my window. It was Paul, running full speed ahead. My first bewildered thought was that when he plugged in, that electricity had zapped the trailer and he was getting away before the whole thing went up in flames. Very smart, but hardly heroic. Halfway into the parking lot, he stopped and waved his hands like a charismatic just as a huge bolt of lightning split the sky. He turned around and I could see his face, but just as quickly, he darted left, then right, still waving like Benny Hinn. I was baffled, and then as he came full circle, I saw that there were wasps chasing him! I opened the truck door, and he ran over, jumped in, and slammed the door. It was then that I began laughing – not maliciously, of course, but just at how funny the whole thing looked before I realized what was going on. Paul was not amused, considering how narrow his escape had been, but since no harm was done, I thought nothing of laughing about it every time I thought about it. If only you had seen it! Apparently, the wasps had built a nest behind the powerbox plate, and when he opened it up to plug in, they took offense. A call to the pastor, who brought some wasp spray solved the problem in no time. Paul still doesn’t see the humor in the situation, though, so I have to curb my laughter when retelling the story. I must say, he runs even faster than he preaches!