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!
