End of the Year

 Merry Christmas to all!  This year has been quite a year with its share of difficulties and blessings.  We will endeavor to keep you abreast of what is going on both now and moving into the new year.

Our meetings for the year are done, and what a year it has been!  My last meeting saw a record broken for our more than two decades of evangelistic ministry.  The oldest person to ever walk the aisle and get saved in one of my meetings did so on Friday, December 8, 2023.  Herman was 81 when he responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  The service was one in which people were testifying of the saving power of God in their lives.  Two couples remarked how they had met their spouse in a bar and that for them to be in church on a Friday night was a token of God's life-changing power in the Gospel.  As the service went on, the Holy Spirit seemed to lead me to a text for which I had no outline.  There were several prepared sermons with me at the pulpit, but I left all of them in the notebook and preached instead on Jesus using I Peter 2:21-25 as my text.  By the time we gave the invitation, Herman was ready to be saved.  It was glorious way to end our year.

Sarah continues to teach piano at Ambassador.  Because of some circumstances beyond her control, her work load will increase next semester.  The good news is that she has the knowledge and experience to help pianists move on to excellence.  Please pray for her as she works to help young students achieve their best in church music ministry.

The bad news for me is that now I am traveling without her.  I have heard people say, "All the old-time evangelists traveled without their wives."  Whether or not that is true, I much prefer having Sarah with me on the road.  There will a couple of meetings in which she will still be with me, but for the most part I am on my own now.

The year 2024 comes in with a bang for me as far as ministry is concerned.  I will be ministering for the first time in the Dominican Republic and Haiti in January where I am scheduled to preach 20 times in four days.  There will be other preaching opportunities while I am there, but those 20 times are to a gathering of local church pastors from around the island.  Please pray for the power of God as I endeavor to minister.

For the last couple of years, I have noticed how many people live in the world of podcasts, not only in the United States but also in other countries.  During that time, the Lord has been stirring in my heart about launching a podcast dedicated to the Gospel of Christ.  There are many podcasts aimed at Christians, and I am glad that they exist.  My burden, however, is to use the Internet for the dissemination of the Gospel.  Accordingly, I will be launching a podcast focused solely on the Gospel beginning in 2024.  Please be in prayer about this because I do not live in the world of podcasts and thus am unfamiliar with the whole process.  I do have a burden to get the Gospel to people, though, through whatever means may be at my disposal.

As we end this year, may God help you to keep your eyes on Him.  One of the greatest helps to me as a Christian in recent days has been the reality of the soon coming kingdom of Jesus Christ.  Even so come, Lord Jesus!

Faithfulness

Although I have been doing most of my travel alone while Sarah is teaching piano at Ambassador, both she and my younger two children are with me this week.  The reason is that the church where we are holding meetings, Calvary Baptist Church in Urbana, Illinois, was one of the first churches in America to ever have a young evangelist in for a full week of meetings.  I was the evangelist and the meeting was 20 years ago this year.  Since that time, the Lord has given us many fruitful meetings at Calvary.

Little did I know when I first came to the church two decades ago, that there would be a man in the church who was a student at the University of Illinois attending the church.  He was a new believer, and the Lord used my ministry in his life in a very special way.  He went on to earn his PhD in physics from the university, a degree which would have allowed him to write his own ticket in both the scientific and academic worlds.  Instead, as he served God through his local church, he began to sense the Lord's call into the ministry.  After serving for a few years as the assistant pastor of the church, the congregation called him to be senior pastor.

His faithfulness over the years has been such a blessing.  Also, his love for souls is refreshing.  Yesterday, there was an unsaved teenage girl who was supposed to come with her mom to the service.  For whatever reason, her mom decided not to come at the last minute, but the girl managed to find a ride to church anyway.  Last night, she walked the aisle to trust Christ as Savior.  She comes from a very rough background, but what a trophy of the grace of God!

This meeting goes through Wednesday of this week.  From here we are on to a meeting in SC before we head to our annual meeting in the prairie of Colorado with Shannon Munday. 

When I was in college, I was told that the longer I live, the more my friendships will be based upon faithfulness more than any other trait.  Now that college is two decades in the rearview mirror, I can say that those men were correct in their predictions.  My best friends today are not those interests seemed so well aligned with mine in college, but those who have remained faithful over the years to the truths that they were taught.

People we do not know are watching us and looking to see whether or not we will be faithful.  May we all keep our eyes on Jesus and encourage others through our faithfulness.

Pinch Hit

 Both Sarah and I are graduates of Ambassador Baptist College in Lattimore, North Carolina.  Our two older children are both students there, and when a need for a piano teacher arose, Sarah volunteered to step in and help out until someone more permanent could be found.  Accordingly, our ministry is different now than it has ever been before.  Currently, the family lives in our trailer in NC while I travel to our meetings.  The difference is striking for me because I am used to traveling with the entire family.  There was a day when the Crow family arrived at a church, the Crows poured forth from the cab of the truck like clowns out of a Volkswagen.  Now, much of my traveling is done alone.

My meetings still continue, in addition to several trips to Mississippi to take care of details on our house.  There have been a lot of hectic goings on with the changes that we are experiencing.  Our house has been in the process of having solar electric panels installed.  Not quite a year ago, we had a particularly cold day in December.  It was 3 degrees.  On this the coldest day of the year, the power company informed us that they did not have enough electricity to keep our heat on.  It was then that I decided that I was going to have to do what I could to generate my own electricity.  Solar seemed to be the answer, and we found a company that was supposed to be one of the best in the country at the time.  Our experience with them was nothing short of awful.

The process lasted over a year and after all kinds of delays, problems, lack of communication, and frustration, the solar is supposed to be brought online next week.  These kinds of things are keeping me on the road back and forth from North Carolina to Mississippi.  My hope is to have all of this taken care as soon as possible.

Our meetings have been going well, despite the changes in the family.  (In reality, we are in the time of life when a lot of things change anyway.)  For some meetings, Esther and Daniel will travel with me.  This makes special music an adventure, different from what we have ever done before.

As I type this, we have just closed a meeting in Morganton, NC, about 50 miles north of where our trailer is parked.  Once I return from MS, we will be in Greenwood, SC, before packing up the trailer and heading to IL.

God continues to open doors for us as we serve Him, and we are grateful for every opportunity He sends our way.  Two missions opportunities loom in the future for us in 2024.  The first is a meeting in the Dominican Republic in January of next year.  The second is another trip to Italy in July.  Please pray that the Lord will supply the resources needed for these two trips.  The trip to the Dominican will be a first for us.  Italy has become a favorite destination for us due to the lasting friendships we have made there and the abundant fruit we saw during our last trip.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. 

Out of the desert

 The Lord has been very good to us over the summer months. After our ministry in Canada, we made our way to Southern California to be with the Fundamental Baptist Church of Escondido.  This church has been having me in for meetings for 20 years, and it was great to be with them again.  Also, it is wonderful to be in a church that still stands today where it stood 20 years ago.

From there, it was on to the desert and a church plant in Phelan, California.  What a joy it is to serve these new works that are just getting started.  From the Mojave Desert, we then crossed to the Sonoran Desert of Arizona.  For several weeks, we ministered in different parts of Arizona from Phoenix, to Amado and Tucson, to Safford.  God opened many doors for us while we were there.

One of the highlights for me was preaching on the San Carlos Apache Reservation.  It was on this reservation 20 years ago that God first opened my eyes to the needs of the Native Americans.  There are some of these Apaches that I have known for years.  They are still serving God after all this time.  

After a fruitful, if hot, time in Arizona, we came through Mississippi for a two day stop at home before heading on to South Carolina.  While we were in Arizona, a low-hanging tree branch scraped our roof and peeled it back from the front of the trailer.  I patched it as best I could in order to get it back to my repairman in Mississippi, but we had to go on to the Carolinas without it.  After preaching five times in the Carolinas in a church and Ambassador Baptist College, I made a whirlwind trip back to Mississippi to pick up our trailer and drive it to NC.  After two days of driving, Sarah and I got on a plane to go to Colorado.

Colorado was the home of the Baptist Circuit Riders Ministry meeting, and I was invited to participate.  What a joy to see men from all over the small towns of the prairie meet for fellowship and encouragement!  These men are doing a great work, and it was good to be a part of it.

Sarah has been asked to teach piano at Ambassador Baptist College this year.  This means that there will be some meetings where I will be alone as I preach.  There are still a few where she will be able to be with me, but our family feels as if it is all over the place these days.  Please pray for us as we deal with the logistics of travel without Sarah.  We have a very busy schedule going into next year, so we need the Lord's help.

In closing, let me say what a privilege it is to serve God!  There are needs everywhere in the United States, Canada, and every place that you and I might find ourselves.  May we, like our Savior in Sychar, be ready to minister to others as the opportunity arises.

Hither and Yon

 This year has been an amazing year in many ways. First of all, the Lord provided a new-to-us trailer in which to travel, and we are enjoying it very much.  Just today, I received word that our old trailer sold.  We are glad to have that matter settled as we move forward. Selling the unit is a definite answer to prayer.

 We have also had some really good meetings.  Perhaps the highlight of the past few months was our Victory Gospel Crusade tent meeting in Thompson, Manitoba.  After traveling that far north, I have decided that no place in all the lower 48 United States can be rightly classified as "out in the boonies."  We drove for 500 miles in Manitoba on the same two-lane road.  If you do that in the United States, it is because you choose to ignore the four-lane highways that intersect from time to time.

 Thompson is a very needy area, boasting one of the highest per capita crime rates in all of Canada.  Alcohol and drugs are Satan's chief tools in this area, luring indigenous people and immigrants alike into sin of all kinds.  There were very few services in which there was not at least one intoxicated person seated under the tent.  Some had to leave because they became disruptive; others stayed and heard the Gospel.  It is always difficult to know how much the drunkard will retain.  If they did not disrupt, we let them stay and hear.

 In all, 15 people prayed to trust Christ as Savior during our time in Canada.  In addition, we made some wonderful friendships with some of the Lord's people there.  We even got to go fishing there a couple of times.

 After leaving Canada, we made our way to Colorado where I preached in Fort Morgan and where we spent some time in the mountains celebrating July 4th with some friends.  From there, it was on to Southern California where I will preach in two different churches before heading to Arizona for three weeks.  Life is busy during the next weeks as we change ends from California to the Carolinas.

 Thank you for all your prayers for us as we travel and preach.  As I look at the spiritual climate of our nation today, there seems to be a hunger for something.  Many do not know exactly what it is, but they sense that the culture of the day has been less than honest with them.  They desire something real.  Happily, some are finding it in Bible-preaching churches.

 As Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is reported to have commented to US President George Bush: "This is no time to go wobbly."  If you know Jesus Christ and the truth of the Word of God, now is not the time to go wobbly.  Rather, it is time to stand and be counted by giving the Gospel at every opportunity.

New Home

 The songwriter said it this way: "Just wait 'til you see my brand new home."  Of course, he was talking about heaven, but the song has gone through my mind a couple of times as we contemplated replacing our old trailer.  The Lord made a way for us to get another trailer, a 2020 model that we purchased barely used (it went on 3 trips).  If you were to come to our house in Mississippi right now, you would see the possessions of two homes stacked around the house.  A random washer sits in the sun room waiting to be installed in the trailer, for example.  Clothes have to be sorted, dishes sorted, everything gone through and decisions made as to where to put it in the new trailer.  One member of the family holds out hope that some of the stuff from the old trailer will find its way to the dump, but his identity will remain a secret.  It was he who tried to get other members to throw a garment away every time a new one arrived from the thrift store.  Sadly, his admonitions went mostly unheeded, his advice disregarded.  But, as I said, he will remain anonymous.

Our old trailer is for sale on consignment right now.  Many have expressed interest in the unit, one person even placing a nonrefundable deposit on it.  He has 30 days to come up with financing.  Please pray that he is successful and that we can get our unit sold.

We have decided to replace the suspension on the new trailer.  The thinking is that we could have it replaced in a professional shop in Memphis, or we could replace each spring one by one along the side of the highway somewhere.  Having done the latter more times than I care to count, I am voting for the former.  The new suspension will be greatly upgraded in hopes that we will not have problems down the road.

The work on the trailer will scarcely be completed before we take off for Canada, California, and Arizona.  We are looking forward to God doing great things in our meetings.

After hearing all the wonderful things that God had done for us in the purchase of our truck, a friend of mine recently exclaimed, "Why wasn't I told about it? I would have loved to have gotten involved!"  In the spirit of answering his question, let me say that there is a financial need regarding the trailer.  If you would like to get involved, please contact me.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.  May God bless all of you.

Traveling Again

It was January 14, 2023, that our family began meetings again.  We are currently in the state of Ohio without our trailer in case we encounter bad weather.  The churches all had a place for us to stay, allowing us to keep the trailer at home.  As I write this, we are entering a winter storm warning for this part of the country and I am grateful to not have to worry with freezing hoses and iced-in slides.

God is once again allowing us to see people saved as we travel, and there is nothing more important than that.  Our children are doing well, two of them in college and two of them with us on the road.

Our son Daniel broke his wrist this past Sunday night in a youth activity.  His left arm is in a splint that will be on there for two weeks after which time he has to go to the doctor again.  I am proud of him in that he gave his all during the game.  Sure, he ran into the gym wall and broke his wrist, but at least he wasn't a wimp sitting in the corner.

We have one more church to serve in Ohio before we head back home to Mississippi.

There is a great burden on my heart that I wish to leave with you today.  It concerns the need for laborers in God's service.  It seems that on a regular basis, I hear of more churches in need of pastors.  Right now, there are two particularly on my mind, and I could probably think of more if I thought hard enough.  All over the United States, to say  nothing of the foreign fields around the world, there is a great need for laborers in God's work.  From soul-winners to Sunday school teachers to pastors to evangelists, the need is great. Would you pray for two things with me?  First, ask God to call and send forth laborers into His harvest.  Second, ask God what you can do to be a laborer for Him.  Each of us has a job that needs to be done.

Our travels are supposed to take us as far as Canada and California in the course of this year.  Would you please pray for souls, servants, and safety?  That is the need of the hour.