Apart Into a Desert Place

This past week closed yet another camp at the Gila Christian Ranch in Silver City, New Mexico.  Technically, it is not desert, only semi-arid, but it is a place where people can come away from the influences of the world and focus on the things of God.

This year, both juniors and teens were combined in camp so as to save the driving burden on commuting churches.  All four of my children were campers, two in junior camp and two in teen camp, while Sarah worked 14-16 hours a day in the kitchen.  The Lord blessed and several campers were saved.

Many of the campers had little background in church, and no help whatsoever from home.  It was sad to see the effects on both teens and juniors who had to witness the adults who are supposed to guide them act wickedly, especially in the area of morals.  It comes as no surprise that these kids really struggle.  When we lovingly instructed them at camp, many responded positively and opened their hearts to the Word of God.

As the Gospel went forth, several campers, both juniors and teens, were saved.  Others made life-changing decisions of surrender, while others understood purity for the first time and pledged to keep themselves pure.  Also encouraging was evidence of past camp decisions that are still guiding the lives of some of these young people, some of whom have no help outside of the local church and camp.

There are some that decry the entire idea of camp, asserting that decisions made there are temporary.  While it is certainly possible to make a decision that does not last, it is also true that lives are changed forever as a result of one person hearing the Word of God in a camp setting.  Just as children made decisions to do right in Bible times, so young people today are hearing God's Word and are choosing to do what it says.

Thank you so much for your prayers for our ministry.  The time of extended meetings is over for a couple of weeks, the scheduling calling for isolated Sundays instead.  Our next full meeting is not until July 10-13, 2016.  May God bless you all and give you all a fruit for your labor as you serve Him in your area of His harvest.

The Isles Wait

Isaiah prophesied that isles would wait for the Law of God.  As I reflect on my recent trip to the Philippines, I am reminded of this truth.  My ministry there was definitely to receptive hearts as I preached and taught for nearly two and a half weeks.  If my math is correct, I ministered to 13 different churches while I was there, some by preaching in them directly and others by virtue of their coming to another place to hear me preach.  God blessed His Word in a great way during the time.

Below are some pictures with a little information about each.  Many of the churches were not photographed individually because one week consisted of my preaching and teaching in a music camp.  I spoke up to four times a day during camp, a schedule that left very little time for picture taking.


This is the Hillcrest Baptist Church of Angeles City.  They hosted me for a four day meeting in which several other churches participated.  I made the mistake of taking this picture on American, rather than Filipino, time.  By the time I got up to preach, the auditorium was full.

Two churches planted out of Hillcrest are Ambassador Fundamental Baptist Church here,

and the New and Living Way Baptist Church here.

 Then in Imus, Cavite, there was the Bethany Bible Baptist Church.

I got no pictures of camp to speak of, nor did I get pictures of many of the other churches except for this one, the Calvary Baptist Church, notable because it was the only church I preached in with air conditioning.

All in all, the Lord gave me a wonderful time of ministry among these dear people.  One of the most gratifying aspects of the trip was the tender hearts of people to hear the Word of God.  Their universal plea to me was that I come back and preach and teach more.  We are seeking the Lord’s will about next year and how to proceed.

Now, from the steamy countryside of the Philippines, I have migrated to the Sonoran Desert where I sit in a trailer struggling to keep cool while the temperature outside is 109.  Next week, we flee to higher ground to camp in NM from where we will begin to travel east again.  Thank you so much for your prayers.