Still Going

 It was with horror that I realized that it had been a long time since I had last updated you all on our ministry.  Allow me to dive right in.

The summer was dominated by a trip to Western Europe.  For six weeks, we traveled mostly in Italy, but also for one week in Germany.  In Italy, we ministered in different local churches all over the country.  Two of them were American military churches while the rest of them were Italian works.  One night a Franciscan monk walked into our service.  He looked as if he had just walked off the set of a Robin Hood movie, complete with brown robe, rope for a belt, sandals, and everything.  We talked with him for a while about his salvation, and though he agreed with everything that we said, he still clung to the merit of his works for salvation.  We were in Sicily in the south all the way to Milan and Aviano in the north of Italy.

In Germany, we ministered to a family camp-like setting of missionaries from all over the continent of Europe.  It was a great time to make their acquaintance and to minister to their spiritual needs.  We made a lot of great memories there, both with the missionaries and with the German people that hosted us.

The family had scarcely returned from Europe when we packed up the trailer and moved the whole operation to North Carolina.  Sarah is once again teaching piano at the Ambassador Baptist College while three of our children are students at the school.  I still travel in meetings in different places.  When I drive, Daniel and Dale Lieser accompany me, and when I fly Daniel stays home.  I have spent more days in airports than I care to count in recent days.

God continues to provide for us, even though my ministry seems so different from what it once was.  Gone are the days when my family piles out of the truck like clowns out of a Volkswagen.  Now, the team is often just two people: Dale at the piano and I at the pulpit.  Still, the Word of God is not bound.  That should be the main focus of my ministry anyway.

Please pray for our family.  My children are making momentous decisions now, far greater than which shoes to wear with this dress or if they should iron their shirt.  Sarah and I are experiencing what many of you faced long ago: the reality that parents can't control the decisions of their adult children like they could when the children were younger.  We thank the Lord that there has been no friction because of bad choices that our children have made.  Still, the daily lesson of not intervening and taking each situation to God in prayer requires a greater step of faith on our part.

I have endeavored to work harder at giving the Gospel online.  I have a podcast called Evangel (search for Evangel Paul Crow on Spotify or Apple podcasts) as well as a YouTube channel that I am building.  The goal is not to become a great online influencer as a full time job.  Rather it is to give the Gospel in a medium that seems to dominate the lives of people today.  More people speak English today than any other language in the world.  Given this fact, I want to get the Gospel to them.  I met people in Europe who were saved as a result of finding someone online who gave the Gospel.  In my opinion, we need more people giving the Gospel online, not less.  Rather than curse the darkness, I have decided to light a candle.  Please pray that people all over the world would find the podcast and listen.  God will give the increase if they can just hear.