Merry Christmas

 This past month has been a great month of ministering in and around the holiday season.  A couple of opportunities stand out.

Many years ago, Charles Surrett, my pastor at the time encouraged me to write a book.  Taking his suggestion to be the will of God, I did so and have been selling the work ever since.  My book has gone to places that I have never been, expanding my ministry in ways I could never envision.  Somewhere along the line, my book found its way into the hands of Pastor Tom Brennan, who was a pastor in Chicago at the time.  Pastor Brennan appreciated my book and reached out to me asking me to come a preach a meeting for him.  The Lord had moved him from Chicago to Dubuque, Iowa, by this time.  Having never met me, he insisted that he knew me having read my book.  The week after Thanksgiving, I traveled to Dubuque and preached a meeting for him.  There was no awkwardness at in any of our time together, and we both look forward to another meeting next year.  While I was still in college, I was told to be concerned about the depth of my ministry and God would take care of the breadth.  This encounter proves that the advice I received was on target.

Pastor Brennan is himself an author of several books, and can be found here.  While I have not read everything he has written, everything that I have read has been very good.

Delays due to COVID-19 and other reasons not disclosed to us have made the release of our physical CD not possible until after the new year.  There is a possibility of purchasing a digital copy from Amazon for those who are so inclined.  As soon as it is ready, I will send a special update with instructions on how to purchase.  For anyone wanting to wait for the actual CD, we will update you via this venue when it is ready for purchase.

As Christmas nears, our family was asked to do some concerts for two different churches.  In one church, Josiah joined us and in the other, a friend named Dale Lieser was part of our team.  Both times were quite enjoyable as we served the Lord together.

After the Christmas season, we move into a special conference designed for laymen.  It is called a Christian Workers Conference.  Others have done similar things in past, but we found it to be a great blessing last year and look forward to seeing what the Lord will do this year.

Make God give you all a Christ-filled Christmas and new year.  Thank you for your prayers.

Focus

 The last month has been one full of choices.  Not choices of one car or meal over another, but choices of where we will allow our mind to dwell.  In our ministry, just as in your life, there are choices of where to focus our mind.

We could focus on the results of a landmark election, whatever the result eventually is.  The stories of massive State-sponsored election fraud will forever cloud the minds of American people and particularly American Christians.  As a family, we could focus on the trailer issues that have made this last month particularly difficult.  Our power converter (see last month's entry) is fixed and everything in the trailer is running well, or was until yesterday.

Looking forward to arriving back home in time to be in our home church's mid-week prayer service, we headed south and east out of southwest Missouri.  Around 9 that morning, we stopped for fuel and I noticed that the trailer seemed to be sitting funny.  After sticking my head in and looking around, I discovered that the shackles holding the leaf springs were broken and the spring was sitting directly on the frame.  Eight hours later, everything was fixed and we were back on the road, although we missed the evening service at our church.  Not even the live stream would work.

Around 10 that night, we pulled up to the house expecting to simply move Sarah's car and back the trailer in.  The battery was completely dead and since COVID-19 has caused businesses to shut down earlier than usual, there was no way we could get a new one and move the car.  So, we went to the church and parked there.

We could choose to focus on these kinds of things and you, no doubt, have similar instances that you could relate.  The key to maintaining sanity is to focus on other things.  Things like the salvation of a man who had been the object of prayer for some time.

The man had noticed the daughter of a farmer in the church, and man and daughter had begun dating.  In May, the farmer was killed in an accident.  A couple of months after the accident, the man came to the farmer's widow and asked permission to marry her daughter.  The grieving widow replied that she liked him, but was bothered by the fact that he was unsaved.  He responded that he did not want to make a decision capriciously just to please someone else, but that he would come to church.  He was saved in one of the last services of the meeting.

We choose to focus on the many Christians helped and encouraged in our meetings, in addition to those who have come to Christ.

After a brief break for Thanksgiving, we are at it again in a couple more meetings.  We are trusting God for great things in the future. 

Meetings

 This is a great time for us because we are in the busy season.  We are in meeting after meeting in different churches in Montana, and are seeing the Lord work in the churches that we are privileged to serve.  Please pray for the Word of God to take lodging in hearts even after we are no longer in the place where different people heard it.

Please pray particularly for a girl named Evie (I think that is the correct spelling of her name).  She heard the Gospel last Wednesday, but quickly left before anyone from the church could get the opportunity to follow up with her.  She did raise her hand for prayer during the invitation, but did not come forward.

Another faithful man in church yesterday is unsaved.  He heard the Gospel, but has not responded for salvation.  Please pray for him.

School continues for the children, both the ones here in our trailer and Josiah in college.  The addition of college bills calls for more money to keep the bill current.  We were in a tough spot to pay October's bill due at the beginning of the month, but God miraculously supplied the money.  We are grateful for His provision.

As I type this, I am grateful to God for sunlight.  The power converter in our trailer has gone out, along with our refrigerator and hot water heater.  That means that the AC appliances work--microwave, television, but the DC ones do not.  Direct current runs our thermostat for the heater, all of the lights, and many other parts of the trailer.  The problem we are having appears to be quite complex and we need to get to the bottom of it.

It is possible that once the DC power is restored, the refrigerator will work again.  Why the water heater is not working, I have no idea.  I chalk it up to Satan's working against us as we try to minister to the Lighthouse Baptist Church of Butte, Montana.  At any rate, we will be making a lot of phone calls today and talking to people about getting the necessary repairs completed.  Please pray that the warranty company will uphold their part of the contract and pay for the needed repairs, whatever they may be.  There are two months left of extended warranty coverage left on the trailer, and the company can be notoriously difficult to deal with.

In reality, all the trailer problems are an opportunity to gain new contacts.  Please pray that we would be good stewards of each contact, giving the Gospel to each one.

In the Saddle Again

 Frequently, as we travel in the Western United States, songs of Gene Autry come to my mind.  This year has been no exception.  As the miles pass by moving us from Mississippi to the West, I can scarcely keep from singing "Back in the Saddle Again."  After the cancelations of COVID-19, it is great to be in meetings and in the West particularly.

This month will be our southern portion of the West tour as we are in southern Montana and northern Wyoming.  As we move into October, we will be in more places in Montana and Idaho as well.  It is a blessing to see the work that God has done among these men here in a place that, not so long ago, had few churches preaching the Gospel.  We are excited to see what the Lord will do through the meetings that remain in the fall schedule.

Please pray for a Crow Indian man named David.  He came to our meeting in Lodge Grass and seemed to be impacted by the preaching.  As I sat and talked with him, he seemed very shaky on the matter of salvation.  Please pray that the seed sown in his heart will bring forth fruit.

Our children are in the normal round of school, or maybe I should say the grind of school.  There is Geometry, Spanish, History, Chemistry, piano, and the usual work that occupies their day.  In addition to school is their regular trailer chores, plus the evening services.  Still, they find time to spend with others their age and have fun being children.

Whenever we have been in this area in the past, we have gone down to Sheridan, Wyoming, and filled our freezer with deer meat.  Out of state tags are very cheap for that area and up to this year have been unlimited and over-the-counter.  We are endeavoring to do the same this year, although the loss of some private land that we used to hunt has made things much more difficult.  In fact, I hope we can fill the two tags that we purchased so far.  We will see what happens.

Josiah is back in college and continues to do well.  The car that was given to him is a great addition to his college experience.  Seeing the Lord reward his work is great for us as parents to watch, albeit from a distance.  We are excited to see how the Lord will use him.

We are making progress on the post production work on our recording.  That is all the news to relate.  It will be out sometime before Christmas is our hope.

Thank you always for your prayers.  It is great to be able to serve the Lord.

Sickness

 This month is one that has been dominated by illness for our family.  Many around us have in our county have tested positive for COVID-19 and an epidemic of strep has hit the church family at the same time.  Every member of our family has been ill this month, and the illnesses have been more debilitating than the usual 24-hour stomach bug.  As I write this, I have been ill since Monday of this week.  Not since I had the chickenpox in the 6th grade do I remember being so sick.  The good news is that it seems that we are on the way up after a very trying time with illness.

Josiah had a serious incident after one of our Sunday's of ministry late last month.  The pastor ordered gluten-free pizza from Domino's for him as we ate the normal pizza from the same establishment.  They brought the smaller size typical of their gluten-free pizza, but they had not made it with the gluten-free crust.  Josiah had a couple of pieces and the allergic reaction began.  It was not a long drive back to our house from this church, but on the way, he vomited several times.  That brought the allergens into contact with his throat once again, causing his throat to begin to swell shut.  By the time Sarah got him to the local emergency room, he was so swollen that he was unable to speak.

The foolishness of the reaction to COVID-19 nearly made things very bad from the beginning.  As he sat in the emergency room struggling for every breath, he was told to don a mask.  Sarah immediately intervened and protested, "He is in the middle of anaphylactic shock due to an allergic reaction and is here because he can't get air, and you want him to wear a mask?"  At what point they checked the box for "problem parent," I don't know, but the problems were not yet done.

After Josiah was taken back to the emergency room, Sarah went with him.  He was still unable to speak, so swollen was his throat and soft pallet.  Early in the treatment process, Sarah was told that she would have to leave him.  At that point, she flatly refused.  In her mind, only she could inform the doctor of his extensive allergies.  The chances of their giving him something that would harm him are great.  After all, he has nearly died of medical error on more than one occasion in his 19 years of living.

Eventually, the hospital relented and allowed her to remain with Josiah.  After that, Sarah said that their pre-corona virus training kicked in and everyone was far more pleasant and understanding after that.

Josiah spent the night in intensive care and was later moved to the corona virus ward because he declined to take a test.  Having only recently been restored his ability to breathe, he did not relish the idea of someone probing a swab high up in his sinus cavity.  I suppose that he was reported as a COVID hospitalization even though he did not have the virus.  The entire firsthand experience made me question more than ever the numbers reported about this virus.

In all, Josiah lost a week of work due to the reaction that he had.  When he finally returned, he could tell how much the reaction had weakened his body.  Josiah's job in the construction industry is installing stone countertops.  It is often very hard physical labor: they haven't made a light stone countertop yet.

Next week, things are supposed to get back to normal again, whatever that is.  Josiah will go back to school in his new car (see last month's update), and we will be back in meetings again.  Our meetings are to take us to the inter-mountain west this fall.

The recording project is taking longer than we had anticipated.  We will give more information as it becomes available.

Thank you for your prayers.

Joyful Noise

Because of the virus reaction of governments all over the world, we had to cancel our scheduled trip to the Philippines.  Accordingly, we find ourselves at home in Mississippi, ordering school books, reporting to churches that supported the Victory Gospel Crusade, and working in our home church.

School is right around the corner for the three younger children, which means that we have ordered the curriculum and the the looming threat of academics hangs over the heads of our children.  As for Josiah, he is preparing for college in the fall by working hard for the same man in our church that gave him a job previously.  As you may remember, Josiah was one of the Neighborhood Bible Time evangelists, but all of their meetings canceled this year due to reactions to COVID-19.

In his first year of college, Josiah had our 1989 Ford Ranger, a work truck that was given to us not long after we moved to Mississippi.  The truck has its character, to be sure: a speedometer that doesn't work properly, a paint job that looks as if it was completed with spray cans, and a ladder rack worth more than the rest of the truck.  Its air conditioning has never worked since we received it, and the defrost works best when the windows are open, especially in the winter time.  From Paul's point of view, the vehicle was a rite of passage.  It was a vehicle with a manual transmission that taught the boy a lot of valuable lessons.

Sarah did not see the vehicle in the same light.  She felt that the vehicle was fine for a local work vehicle, but was nervous about Josiah driving 600 miles to school in it.  Not long ago a relative on Sarah's side was moved from her home to a nursing home and determined to sell her 2012 Ford Focus with 35,000 miles on it.  When she put feelers out to the extended family about interest, we responded.  The last word we had was that she was going to give us the vehicle.  It seems that our son will be riding in style back to school.  He literally will be  driving the newest vehicle that our family owns.

Yesterday, our family spent hours in the recording studio.  For many years in our meetings, people have asked for a family recording.  For different reasons, we were unable to do so until now.  As of today, the process has officially begun.  As we move forward, there will be a lot of decisions to make as we mix the songs, decide on distribution, pay our royalty fees, and a host of other details.  Our hope is that the album will be available before Christmas.

In light of this, we will set up a system for pre-ordering the album.  Those who pay in advance will be the first to receive the new album.  All of the details have not yet been finalized, but they will be forthcoming next month.  Making the recording was a joyous time for our family.  We sang until we could sing no more, from 10:00 in the morning to almost 5:00 in the afternoon with a break for lunch.  The album will be entirely vocal (no piano solos) and will feature every member of the family doing solo work, as well as our family's four-part sound.

As always, thank you for your prayers.  May we all keep looking to our God to provide health, power, and comfort to face these uncertain days.

The Crusade Continues

The past month has been a wonderful for our ministry.  For the first time ever, the Crow family has been a part of the Victory Gospel Crusade, this time meeting in Western Ohio.  For an entire year, the pastors involved prayed for God to do great things.  The plan was to meet for three weeks in three separate places: St. Mary’s, Lima, and Troy.  Due to COVID-19, all of the plans we had made for meeting places fell through, and we ended up meeting in three churches, Celina Baptist Temple, Anchored Hope Baptist Church, and Calvary Baptist Church.  After three weeks, it was evident that the Lord wanted us to go a fourth week.

Several prayers were specifically answered during this meeting.  As the COVID-19 situation began to dominate the minds of all Americans, we feared that we might not be able to meet at all.  When it became known that we could meet, we prayed that God would use the virus scare to bring people to Jesus.  Wallace had lost his job and was worrying about life and the future that his two boys might face when he received an invitation to the meeting.  He had never been in church before in his life, but when he came and heard the Gospel for the first time, he got saved.  He has since been baptized and is faithful to church.

Chad sat on his porch under house arrest, like everyone else during the virus regulations.  As one team member approached Chad, he explained, “I am not from around here, but I am a Gospel preacher looking for someone who doesn’t know where they will go when they die and is interested in knowing.  Can you point me to someone like that?”  Chad answered simply, “Yeah.  Me.”  He was saved and has been integrated into one of the churches.

China is the daughter of an atheist whom we were targeting with the Gospel, but the man was not home.  After explaining to China that we were with the Victory Gospel Crusade, I asked her if she knew what the Gospel was.  She said that she did not.  After having it explained to her, she prayed to trust Christ as Savior.

In all, 26 people have trusted Christ during the four weeks of the meeting.  After going four weeks, it was determined that we should take one week off and then move the tent to Lima and begin again.  As I write this, we have begun again in Lima, Ohio. 

Our prayer is that the story of generations would be changed as a result of the Gospel.  Many have accepted Christ and we are hungry for more to come as well.

One of the great realities of this meeting has been a seeming bubble that God has brought to this area.  While the rest of America tries to go forward from the virus, and certain cities burn from riots, it was as if there was nothing going on in this area, but the work of God.

All of this meeting has cemented in our minds the truth that the Gospel must be preached.  It seems that so many ministries want to talk about the Gospel, have conferences about the Gospel, get together for the Gospel, assume the Gospel, have ministries based upon the Gospel, but never get around to preaching the Gospel to lost people.  This month has been unusual, but not because of particularly innovative or new ideas or programs.  We simply pray, we witness, and preach the Gospel; and God gives the increase.

One of the converts that came to Christ in the last month was first met at a protest rally in Sydney, Ohio.  All around us are needy people, some of them in protests of which we are sometimes afraid.  The power of the Gospel is greater than any other force that might be brought to bear.  Just preach it.

Victory Gospel Crusade

The first week of the Victory Gospel Crusade in Western Ohio is in the books.  To say that things were different from what we anticipated would be an understatement.  We had intended to meet in very public venues in which many lost could be in attendance.  Instead, we found our public place canceled and we spent much time relabeling tracts and doing our best to get them out.  In the end, we simply met in the Celina Baptist Temple with an emphasis on online attendance as well as in person.  The services were full every night, and a couple of nights were packed with extra seating having to be made available.  Anyone wishing to watch the services may do so at victorygospelcrusade.com, the VGC Facebook page, or at the VGC YouTube channel.  You will note the five-member quartet, the choir singing each night, and a special salvation testimony every night.  But most of all, you will notice preaching, with every message focusing on the Gospel.  I would urge everyone reading this to direct lost friends and loved ones to watch.  Each message focuses on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  Three people that we know of trusted Christ as Savior last week, with at least 670 devices tuning in to the Facebook page alone.

Next week, beginning Sunday night, we will begin services at the Anchored Hope Baptist Church in Lima, Ohio.  Again, they will be available at the above mentioned websites.  Services are live tonight at 6 p.m. EDT and from Monday through Friday at 7 EDT each night.  Because Lima is a larger town than Celina, we will be involved in soul-winning every day next week as we seek to get the Gospel into the hands of people.  In light of COVID-19, we have had some naysayers berate us for handing out literature door to door.  For the most part, though, we have found people very receptive to our witnessing efforts.  They are eager, it seems, to be able to talk to anyone at their door, even if that person is initiating a religious conversation.

We would love to be able to hold open air services at a place called Robb Park in Lima.  Its location is very conducive to drawing crowds from the surrounding neighborhoods.  In February, we submitted all the necessary paperwork to obtain our permit to hold services in the park, but the local officials misplaced it.  Please pray that the Lord would work in the hearts of officials and in the weather to allow us to meet in the park, even if it is just in the afternoon.  Experience has shown that targeting areas of high foot traffic make for better results in giving the Gospel.

We are enjoying these days of ministering with Josiah.  Due to the nationwide reaction to COVID-19, his schedule with Neighborhood Bible Time was delayed one month, allowing him to be with us.  Not long after we return to Mississippi, he will board a plane and leave for Baltimore to begin the ministry that God has for him.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers.  May God find us faithful to give the Gospel in these days of unprecedented turmoil.

Back to Normal

After being separated by government recommendations for many weeks, our family was in services yesterday.  It was a drive-in service, but the Lord blessed and God's people were so grateful to be able to meet again.

This coming Sunday, the Victory Gospel Crusade begins in western Ohio.  The Lord has lifted restrictions in that state to allow religious organizations to meet.  Our desire is that some of the first public gatherings in that state be those that preach the Gospel.

You can watch a short video about the crusade here.  Please join us in praying for this great endeavor.  The circumstances of the last month have created an agitation among people that we hope will make them more open to the Gospel message.

We would like to encourage you to pray as well about giving to this endeavor.  Before the very first service has been held, 20% of the total cost of the meeting has already been raised.  We are trusting God for the remainder.  I personally have been tasked with enlisting 100 churches or individuals to commit to giving $100 toward this endeavor.  God has established a pattern of meeting the needs in the past through people and churches just like you.  You can find out more information at victorygospelcrusade.com.  We look forward to relaying to you the stories of victory that God us through this endeavor.

The New Normal

Commenting on the changes to life as we all knew it since January of 2020 would be pedantic for all you who read this.  Like you, our lives have changed dramatically since the government began to respond to the COVID-19 challenge.  For the first time in my ministry, I preached an entire meeting from our music room in Olive Branch, Mississippi, to a church in Brooklyn.  Two days later, on Easter Sunday, I did the same thing for a church in the Bronx.  Other meetings have been postponed as everyone tries to navigate through these unprecedented times.

The Victory Gospel Crusade in western Ohio was scheduled to begin in May, and the plan is to go ahead with the meetings, although we still are unsure whether or not we will be able to meet as usual.  Tomorrow will be another meeting in which we (the pastors and evangelists involved) will discuss our options.  The concept of a drive-in service is not completely out of the question as we look to the future.  The "what-if's" can multiply in meetings like this, particularly as we try to predict the response of unsaved people to our efforts to evangelize.  For my part, I am of the opinion that no one could have predicted that 12 men would spread the gospel over the Mediterranean world in 30 years' time.  No one could have predicted that wicked New England would be transformed by revival just before the American War for Independence.  No one could have predicted that Baptist churches would be planted from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River in 16 years' time.  No one could have predicted that a small prayer meeting in New York City in 1858 would turn into a nationwide movement.  No one would have known that the once drunk construction worker is now the head usher in our local church.  All these things happened because God came in and did a mighty work.  Today, God is working in spite of the circumstances that we might wish were different.  

During our Brooklyn meeting, a man joined our service who had been away from the Lord for some time.  Who can tell what God will do in His heart?  Of course, these kinds of results are very hard for us to see and to follow up on, but they are real nonetheless.

One of the adjustments in this time is having Josiah with us again.  He still takes classes online every day and remains very busy keeping up with his college work, but he is in our home for meals--didn't we pay the college to feed him?--and other times of enjoyment.  We had not expected this development.  Also, he will be able to travel with us to the Victory Gospel Crusade because Neighborhood Bible Time, with whom he is to travel in the summer, has delayed their summertime schedule by one month.

So we are at home for nearly a month, waiting just as you are, wondering just as you are about what finances will look like in a month's time.  We are confident that God is working, and we are excited to be a part of that work.

Answered prayer

This has been a wonderful month in which we could watch God work.  We started in Wilson, North Carolina, in a sportsmen's banquet.  This is a great event at the Trinity Baptist Church, drawing men from as far away as Fayetteville.  A teen boy raised his hand for salvation, but did not respond at the invitation.  Still, it was wonderful to be able to preach the gospel.

From Wilson, we had to return home because my truck gave me an issue for the first time in nearly 250,000 miles.  It was at the mechanic's shop while we were in NC.  Upon returning to Mississippi and consulting with the mechanic, we found that the emission control system was to blame.  The total repair bill was over $3,600.  We mentioned this need last month. (Last month, I said that it was $3,400.  I guess that goes to show what inflation will do.)

As I was leaving a Wednesday night service, a pastor called and informed me that he had felt led to take up an offering for us.  As I understand it, he did not pass the plate for the offering, but instructed his people that they should simply see the church treasurer if they were interested in participating.  He called to tell me that the offering was enough to meet the need.  I still weep when I tell the story.  It was so amazing to see God work.

After getting the work done, we moved on to our next meeting in Lisbon, Ohio.  There were several heads of households in that meeting for whom the pastor was praying to be saved.  On Sunday morning, one of them walked the aisle to make his salvation public.  He had actually been saved in his truck on the way to work, just five days before we arrived.  The other two men heard the gospel in the meeting, but did not trust Christ.  Still, the Lord used the meeting in a great way in the life of that church.

From there, we were off to Minster, Ohio, to where the Lord once again allowed us to minister to lost souls.  While the college-aged girl did not get saved the Sunday we were there, she did trust Christ the following service.  This church will be participating in the upcoming Victory Gospel Crusade.

Then, the government's reaction to the virus kicked in.  Due to an order from the governor of Michigan, the pastor had to cancel the meeting, or risk misdemeanor charges.  As of right now, we sit in Western Ohio, wondering what the future will hold for us.  So far, only the one meeting has canceled, but we wonder what the rest of the spring schedule will be like.

Many have taken in hand to give their opinion on the present danger of COVID-19, often described as pandemic.  Despite the government mandated isolation into which so much of our nation has been plunged, this is a great time to give the gospel.  No one likes to think about human mortality, but that is exactly what Americans are thinking about at this moment.  With a little bit of convincing, people will soon realize that no government or policy can protect them from contracting the disease.  Only God provides the answer at a time like this.  Should the disease take your life or mine, we both must be ready to meet our God.  What a time to give the good news of Jesus!

Post Script

In my last post, I failed to mention earnestlycontend.org, a new blog that I am co-editing, along with Pastors Steven Chambers and John Uit de Flesch.  Its goal is to present a Biblical philosophy of ministry, not so much through the paper and ink as through words on a screen.  Check it out and share it with your friends, if you deem it worthy of reading.

In the Work

This has been a busy month for the Crow family, and one that has taught us some things.  In addition to the normal revivals mentioned last month, we also put together a Christian workers conference in our home church in Mississippi.

The conference idea itself is not original to me, having been implemented by at least one other ministry around the country.  The concept stemmed from the fact that most conferences are geared to pastors, missionaries, evangelists, and other full-time Christian workers.  While there is certainly nothing wrong with this kind of meeting, the Lord burdened us for the lay people of the church.  A man who works in the computer industry undergoes ongoing training from time to time to make certain that he is best equipped to do his job moving into the future.  So it is with many workers in the Western world.  Why not do the same with Sunday school teachers?  How about ushers and musicians?  These people are the muscle of the church.  The pastor provides the backbone and skeleton, but without the muscle of the laymen and laywomen, nothing in the church would get accomplished.  The conference we put together was to be something to help the laypeople of different churches.

Seven churches, including our home church, showed up for the meeting, and God blessed it mightily.  There were two preaching sessions and two teaching sessions with 9 different classes offered.  We were conscious of time and fed everyone a meal.  The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.  One man expressed how that the conference prepared him to head to church the following Sunday excited to be in his place serving God.

This is a concept that I would like to take with me to other areas other than our own church.  I would love to have these conferences all over the country to encourage those who serve.  The value of encouraging the core servants of our churches is important.  This conference serves to dispel the “Elijah Syndrome,” the concept that there are no people serving God anymore except us few.  It allows people to understand the Scriptural moorings for the way we do things.  It fosters creativity by learning ideas from others who share the same doctrinal and philosophical devotion to the Bible.  I look forward to the next time when the Lord will allow us to do the same thing.

As we prepared to go to NC for a meeting, the truck began to give us some problems.  This is very unusual for this truck, but experience has shown me that around 250,000 miles, some issues will begin to surface.  The truck gave me a message on the dash informing of an emission control problem and instructing me to take the truck to the dealership immediately.  After I got the vehicle to the mechanic and he ran a thorough investigation, we discovered that the EGR cooler needed to be replaced.  The job is to cost over $3,400.  After this meeting in NC, we are to head to Ohio with the trailer in tow.  Please pray that God will give us the wisdom to know how to proceed.  We have another vehicle that we are currently using, but it is too small to carry all that we need for our meetings on a regular basis. 

Josiah continues to do well at Ambassador Baptist College.  He plans to travel with Neighborhood Bible Time this summer.  He will be sending out letters endeavoring to raise support in the near future.  Please pray for him in this regard.  Last week, we surprised him at college and had a great, though short, time visiting with him.  It is humbling and exciting to see him serving the Lord.

The Victory Gospel Crusade in Western Ohio is coming up soon.  We are working and preparing for God to do something great as we reach out to lost people with the message of salvation.  We would covet your prayers for this endeavor as well.

New Decade

The meetings have begun again for us.  We will start in the near vicinity (Louisiana and Mississippi) and progress into other southern states before the winter is out.  Then it is off to the East and Midwest for more meetings there.

Two unique opportunities have come our way for the year 2020.  First of all, for the very first time ever, we will be part of the Victory Gospel Crusade headed by Evangelist Dwight Smith.  In the month of May, we will be in Western Ohio ministering in three different places north of Dayton.  The VGC has been greatly used of God since its inception to bring many people to Christ and to see churches revived in a tangible way.  This year marks the first time that our schedule has been able to accommodate participation in this event.  Please pray that God will use the VGC once again to bring many to the Savior and to see churches revived.

The second great opportunity is another trip to the Philippines for Sarah and me.  This will be the fourth time that at least one member of our family will be ministering there.  The Lord is opening up more venues of ministry there on the island of Luzon, and we look forward to seeing what God will do while we are there.

Our trailer is in good running order after the repairs that were made last year.  I am grateful for all that went on last year to get the chassis fixed and ready for the road.
Josiah continues to do well at Ambassador Baptist College, making the President’s List last semester for good grades.  Please pray for him as he seeks the Lord’s leading for summer ministry.

School is once again in session for our other three children.  They do not enjoy home school, but they have gotten to the place where they realize that some things have to be done whether we want to do them or not.  At least, that’s the way it is most days.  There are a few times when they have to be reminded.

I was working in the shop last Friday cutting a piece of white oak with my table saw when the push stick I was using suddenly caught something (workpiece or blade, I don’t know which) wrong.  The saw then ripped the plastic push stick out of my hand and drove it backwards into my arm.  While the long sleeve shirt that I was wearing did protect me somewhat, I still had to take a trip to the emergency room.  There was a cut 4 centimeters long and 1 ½ centimeters wide on the under side of my forearm.  (They don’t measure using inches in the emergency room, apparently.)  Nine stitches later, everything was put to right again, and recovery has been without incident, saving that some of my dress shirts rub on the cut and irritate it a little.  Still, if that is the worst of it, I can’t complain.  On the positive side, I will have a very manly scar to show for the incident while still retaining all ten of my fingers.  It could have been much worse.

Earlier this month, I was asked to be one of three founding editors of a website dedicated to being another voice to reach people with the message of spiritual truth.  When it is up and running, I will announce on this blog to direct your eyes there.  In 1934, Evangelist John R. Rice began a publication entitled The Sword of the Lord that continues to be published in newspaper format to this day.  Our goal as editors is to stand for the same truths as those for which the men of the past stood.  We will simply propagate our message in a different format.

Thank you so much for your prayers as we begin a new decade.  For the Crow family, 2020 will mark the completion of 18 years in full-time evangelism.  We are looking to do more this year than ever before.  To all of you, keep looking up: our Lord’s coming draws nigh.