Homeless

The spring round of meetings has begun for the Crow family!  Traveling, singing, preaching, ministering every night to churches and individuals in and out of the services is now in full swing.  The biggest news from our family is that we are now traveling without our fifth wheel travel trailer, our home on wheels.  It all happened something like this.

It was a dark and stormy night… No, seriously, we had a lot of problems with the trailer last year.  Broken leaf springs, broken slide out mechanisms, a failed axle—all these were issues that we had to deal with in 2018.  In an attempt to fix these issues, I took the trailer in to a place called Custom Spring in Memphis, Tennessee, in December.  After repairing and strengthening the springs, the shop manager strongly recommended to me that I trade the trailer in.  From that shop, the trailer went to the RV repair shop to get the slide out problem repaired.  After looking at the issues there, the RV shop manager strongly recommended to me that we trade the trailer in.

Wondering what God’s will might be for us in this matter, I began looking at different RV options for us.  I found no suitable floor plans that I felt that we could use, at least none under $125,000.  Accordingly, we pursued a plan of repairing the existing trailer and moving on from there.

The problem is that one of our I-beams (not the latest Apple product, but a large piece of steel on which the trailer sits) has lost its camber, twisted, in layman’s terms.  This twist has caused a lot of problems: the slide out issues, the broken leaf springs, the government shutdown, climate change, illegal immigration, hair loss—you get the picture.

Three companies are involved in the repair of this problem.  First of all, there is a company that provided an extended (5 year) warranty for the trailer.  They are claiming, of course, that they do not need to pay because of a technicality in the original contract.  The dealership is looking for the original right now so that we can prove our point to the warranty company.

The second company involved is the trailer manufacturer.  They are claiming that if there is a problem with the I-beam, that it is not their fault but that of the beam manufacturer (the third company).  In order for them to turn in the claim to the manufacturer, someone must take very precise measurements of the beam so that they begin the process.

All of this sounds very tedious and time consuming to me.  We would love to be in our trailer once again to be at home while we travel, but that is not possible at this time.  Instead, our home church has loaned us a 5 x 8 cargo trailer into which we have packed our belongings and are currently staying wherever we can find a place.  The difficulty is in finding available prophet’s chambers along our southern route to California.  It is missions conference time for many of the churches that we know and that means that their prophet’s chambers are booked.  For 15 years, I never thought about booking prophet’s chambers.  Now I know that it is usually best to call 6 months in advance.

I am excited to hear of churches in their preparation efforts for upcoming meetings.  Cottage prayer meetings, church prayer meetings, 40 days of prayer and fasting—these kinds of things excite an evangelist as he goes into a meeting, knowing that the prayer preparation will lead to miracles from God.  In the final analysis, our trailer troubles fit into the category of “light affliction,” according to the Apostle Paul; and like his woes under that same heading, these things work for us.

Our trailer problems will be resolved in God’s way and in His time.  In the meantime, please pray for souls to be saved, for Christians to surrender to God, and for churches to be revived.

Year in Review

Merry Christmas!  We close 2018 in just a few days, and marvel at what God has done this past year in our family and ministry.  We traveled widely throughout the United States, holding meetings in Alabama, North Carolina, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, New Mexico, West Virginia, Ohio, South Dakota, Wyoming, Indiana, South Carolina, Texas, and Colorado.  We praise the Lord for salvation decisions made in those meetings, as well as other important decisions. We also praise the Lord for His protection over the thousands of miles that we traveled.

A highlight of our year was our family mission trip to the Philippines during the month of May.  We spent a month ministering in different churches and teaching music in two camps while there.  Sarah and the girls stayed busy making a lot of handmade items to sell to help support our mission trip expenses.  A lot of yarn went into that trip! We are not sure where our next mission trip will take us, but we are exploring our options for 2019. 

This has been a bittersweet year in that it is the last that we will all travel together as a family.  Josiah is a senior in high school this year, and will graduate next spring.  His plan is to attend Ambassador Baptist College where he will study for the ministry.  We are so excited, and yet, it means a lot of changes for our family.  He is an integral part of our music ministry as well as the first to leave the nest. We know the Lord has great things in store for him, but we are going to have to adjust when he is away at college.

Our trailer has been in what seems a constant state of repair this fall.  We traveled without it for our last two meetings of the year, due to breaking a leaf spring while driving on Thanksgiving Day, which was a real adventure.  We rigged it with a block of wood and a few bungee cords and drove it another 500 miles to Mississippi where we left it.  Since we had to get to our next meetings, we only had a day to gather all our necessary belongings, pack them into suitcases, throw them in the bed of the truck, and get to our next meeting, which happened to be in Texas.  It was a little more excitement than we had anticipated, but the Lord saw us through.  The trailer is currently in the repair shop awaiting parts.  Please pray that the issues we are having would be corrected for good.  It is very difficult to maintain an itinerant ministry schedule when your “ox is in the ditch” more often than not.  We are praying for direction and provision for the trailer issues, since it is a big part of keeping our family together on the road. 

We are so grateful for what God has done in our lives this year, as well as what He has allowed us to be a part of in our ministry.  We could not accomplish this without the prayers and support of God’s people.  Your prayers on our behalf are important, and we thank God  for the churches and individuals He has placed along our way.  Please continue to pray that God would open doors of ministry for us, guide us in our daily decisions, provide for our needs, and protect us as we travel. 

Prayer requests:

Meetings for 2019

               Souls saved

               Lives surrendered to God

Trailer repairs (that the current ones would be fixed, and that there wouldn’t be any more problems for a looooong time!)

College preparation for Josiah

Summer job for Josiah (due to our constantly being on the road, he has not been able to have a job, and he will need to earn money for college)

Continued health for our family

               Esther is scheduled to have a peanut challenge allergy test on January 7, 2019, to                                 conclusively determine whether or not she is allergic to peanuts

Direction and provision for our 2019 family mission trip

May the Lord give you all a fruitful and prosperous new year.

Into the Holidays

After a cancellation in our schedule, we spent a couple of weeks at home in Mississippi, enough time to experience the first winter precipitation of the season!  It was very early for us to be getting snow/sleet (whatever happened to global warming?), but it was beautiful and enjoyable nonetheless.

The time in Mississippi allowed me to finish a set of bunk beds for the trailer while I was home.  RV mattresses can be very expensive ($500 for an RV twin) due to their unusual sizing, but I was able to find a deal in which I could pick them up for $130 apiece.  Once we had the mattresses, it was a small step to build the bunkbeds in the trailer.  Previously, the boys had shared a fold out sofa bed—the most uncomfortable I have ever encountered in 25 years of traveling—Abigail had slept in the one bunk while Esther slept on the floor.  Now, Daniel is on the floor, while each of the other three has a bunk of their own.  In a few short months, Josiah will be gone and all the floor sleeping will be a thing of the past.  From a parental standpoint, each child having a separate bed is a great aid in teaching personal responsibility.  No longer can one child blame the other for the state of his or her bed, not that our children would ever do that.  But in case they might be tempted to blame someone else, having their own separate area of responsibility will discourage that, or so the theory goes.

The schedule between now and Christmas is a busy one.  On the family side of things, November is a busy birthday month for us.  Sarah’s birthday comes two days before Daniel’s, and then Thanksgiving arrives the following week.  This year, we will be in a meeting through Tuesday on the week of Thanksgiving, celebrate the holiday on Wednesday and spend the rest of the week trying to get to our next meeting on the busiest American travel weekend of the year.  Please pray for us.  Ohio to Texas to Colorado to Mississippi—that is the traveling schedule over the next few weeks.

On the ministry front, in addition to our meetings, there is also another great opportunity in the early part of December.  One of my good friends from Mississippi is getting ordained and I have been asked to be on the counsel of men examining him for the ministry.  What a great privilege and responsibility!

December will be our “down” time as we spend some time at home preparing for the Christmas holiday, working in our home church, and getting ready to resume travel once again in January.  Thank you so much for your prayers.

In our ministry, there are always background projects that are ongoing about which we rarely speak.  Sarah’s piano books are still in demand, and she has begun a series of YouTube tutorials regarding hymnplaying.  She has always been an excellent piano teacher and is now attempting to use technology to bring her instruction to a wider audience.  Anyone interested may contact her directly via Facebook or through my phone or e-mail.  In addition to Sarah’s work, I am working on writing projects of my own.  A long-term project is another book, while short term projects include choral arrangements that I put out from time to time.  Combined with our traveling schedule, the work keeps us busy.

Thank you as always for your prayers.  May your year end holiday celebrations be filled with Christ and His wonderful love for us.

Paul Crow

Coats, Conversions, and the Ox in the Ditch

 Greetings to all from the evangelism trail.  We have entered a very busy time in our fall schedule, and life seems rather like a whirlwind at times.  Since we last wrote, Esther is our newest successful hunter (or is that, huntress?), having bagged a nice little deer while we were in Wyoming.  She was absolutely thrilled to go hunting with Paul and to actually bring home a deer!  We were all quite happy for her as well.

We were home briefly(for about ten days) during which Paul preached in our home church and we ministered in music.  I went on a binge-cleanout of our things and attempted a garage sale over the weekend, but it was a huge waste of effort, since hardly anyone came by.  The fact that I was selling winter clothing was not helped by the heat wave that his that weekend, spiking temps into the 90’s.  I mean, really, who wants to even think about sweaters and long sleeves when you are standing in flip-flops and sweating at 10:00 am?  So, I had to pack everything back up into bins and put it all back in the house for the time being, until I can get a little more time to dispose of it properly.  Such is the life of and evangelist’s wife. 

We are back on the road and have held two meetings since leaving home. The first was a missions conference in southern Indiana, where the Lord used His Word to convict us about reaching our Jerusalem.  How many opportunities do we allow to pass us by each week, just because we aren’t keeping eternity’s values in view? 

Last week, we were in the Lansing, MI, area.  The temperatures have dropped significantly as we have traveled north, necessitating long sleeves, tights, boots, hats, gloves, and coats!  This morning as we packed up the trailer to leave, it was 27 degrees! 

Please pray for the needs of our trailer.  The last three weeks, we have had to deal with some serious trailer issues.  Of course, there is always something, but these have been serious, time-consuming repairs.  What most people do not realize is that, yes, you can take it into an RV service center to be repaired, but many times, they are booked solid for weeks, even months.  They are in no hurry to put us in line in front of other customers.  Parts usually have to be ordered, and they take days, or maybe even weeks, to arrive, then several more days for the repair.  In the meantime, our family is in limbo, having our “home on wheels” in the shop for an unspecified and seemingly interminable amount of time.  Our other option is to get the parts and fix it ourselves.  Paul, who has become quite the trailer repairman in the last sixteen years, does an admirable job of not only diagnosing the problem, but fixing it as well.  Josiah helps at times, and so does Daniel.  This is usually our best option, since it is the fastest.  It also means a lot of running back and forth to get parts, tools, and other necessities, and a great deal of time sitting on the ground under the trailer.

 I believe in the last update, I mentioned the broken gears in the main slide out.  Paul fixed them while we were in South Dakota.  By the time we had reached Indiana two weeks ago, they had broken again.  Three days later, it was once again operational.  We drove to Michigan, and found to our dismay, when we arrived, that we had a broken leaf spring and a bad tire. Two days later, those were both replaced.  When we packed up this morning, we found that our KantLeak water system, has, in fact, been falsely advertised.  It has been leaking for some time in the bowels of the trailer, and has rotted out part of the bay.  The trailer place has no solution for this problem, having recognized the inferiority of the product and moved on to another type of system.  That still remains to be fixed.  There is another problem with the slide out, that involved cutting off some carriage bolts and readjusting the arms of the mechanism that runs underneath the slide.  Paul is currently working on that, now that we are in Indiana again. 

I do not say this in a complaining spirit, but rather to let you know the everyday struggles of the evangelist.  These problems are not unique to us--just today we were told of another evangelist who plugged into a hookup and blew all of his appliances and electronics because the box had wrong wiring.  It happens, and it is difficult to maintain an attitude of joy when everything seems to be falling apart around you.  The desire of every evangelist is to study the Word and share the Gospel.  It is really hard to do this when you are working on your trailer/vehicle all day.  Pray for those who have an itinerant ministry, that God would supply their needs, and encourage their hearts.  Pray that the devil would be kept at bay and that the distractions he throws in our paths would not discourage us.  Pray for souls.

We were privileged to see two young boys trust Christ this past Sunday in Michigan.  One had been coming for quite some time and had heard the Gospel numerous times, and the church was thrilled to see him walk the aisle and trust Christ as his Savior, along with his friend.  God still answers prayer. 

We are in northern Indiana this week, and begin our next meeting in a few days.  It will be a busy time, but we are thankful for the ministry the Lord has given to our family.  Pray for us, brethren, that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified.  Thank you for your prayers, your support, and your friendship.

Sarah

sarah@paulcrow.org

Into Fall

September is here, and with it, the first breath of autumn.  We have been traveling in the northern midwest and mountain states, and I personally have found the cooler weather quite a relief from the brutal heat of summer we have experienced so far this year.

We had the privilege of being a part of Opening Revival at Ambassador Baptist College in late August, and we are so excited about what God is doing there.  It is always a joy to spend time with the students and to fellowship with the faculty as well as with numerous friends who still live in the area. 

Two weeks ago, we were in Brookings, SD, where we had the privilege of seeing a young man from South Dakota State University in the morning service.  After the gospel was clearly presented in the message, he walked the aisle and trusted Christ!  We are always excited to see souls trust Christ in our meetings. 

This week we are in Sheridan, WY, and Paul has been able to do some hunting.  So far, we have two deer for our freezer, and he is currently out with Esther, who is hoping to get her first deer this year (we are all very hopeful for her sake).  The meat that we get from hunting goes a long way to fill our freezer for the coming months, and we are grateful for God’s provision in this manner.

In addition to holding meetings, we are staying busy with school, and trying to cram in some family activities as well.  Earlier this month, we had some issues with our trailer slide out, but after several days of tedious work and scrambling for parts, Paul and Josiah were able to complete the repairs.  The ability to fix it ourselves is quite a blessing, since every time we have to take it in to a dealership or service center to be repaired, it means a total disruption of our daily life for several days, if not weeks. 

It will not be long before we turn our rig towards home, where we will stop for a few days to pick up some warmer clothing for the coming winter months and also to have Josiah’s senior pictures taken before heading out again for the rest of the year.  The Lord has blessed us with a full schedule, and as we travel, we covet your prayers for safety and fruitfulness in ministry.

Sarah

August Happenings

Camp is done for the summer, and while we love camps, and the unique ministry opportunities they present, we also give a sigh of relief when they are all over for the summer and our life returns to semi-normal.  We were home briefly at the end of July and were able to spend some time at a conference with some of our home church staff.  The opportunity for fellowship was a welcome blessing, and we had a great time together. 

School has resumed for the children, and with it comes a lot more scheduling and responsibility.  Travel days have to be planned carefully and extra school work done in advance of long drives.  This year is a milestone for us.  Josiah, our oldest, is a senior in high school.  I can hardly believe that he will be graduating next summer.  Abigail is a freshman, Esther started junior high, and Daniel is in the fifth grade, so everyone will be quite busy this school year. 

We have had some good meetings in Ohio this month, and have also had the opportunity to do some fun things as a family as well.  Our kids experienced their first amusement park about a week ago, and loved it.  The big roller coasters were a huge hit with the older three.  We are thankful that the Lord enabled us to spend some time with them doing something new and exciting.

The past month has seen a couple of waves of unusually high repair bills for different things.  First, there were trailer expenses that were very expensive, then our house air conditioner had to have some major repairs.  Every time of financial testing gives us opportunity to lean on the Lord and witness His miraculous provision for us.

We have seen the Lord answer specific prayer and continually provide for every need that has arisen in our daily life and ministry.  It is a wonderful thing to have access to the throne of grace!  We are praying specifically about producing a family musical recording this winter, and would ask that you pray with us for God's direction and provision in that endeavor.  There are a lot of details that must fall into place before this recording can happen, and we are still trying to sort out all those details.

We are currently in North Carolina, and have several meetings here in the next few weeks.  We are excited to see what God does, and look forward to the blessings He has in store for us.

Thank you for your prayers. 

Half Way Around the World

This summer has been a whirlwind of ministry opportunities for our family.  We spent the month of May in the Philippines, participating in two different music camps, one in Nueva Ecija, and the other in Amadeo, Cavite.  The camps were well attended, with over forty-five local churches sending delegates.  The ministry team was composed of Filipinos, Aussies, Americans, and even a family from Singapore.  Our goal is to help educate and instruct the next generation of church musicians, not only in proper technique, but also in instilling Biblical principles of music.  The Lord gave us a very fruitful time there, and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve in this way.  Please pray as our ministry there continues.  If you would like to see more of what we did while there, please click on the following link to watch a short video of our ministry in the Philippines.  https://youtu.be/POkv5bvi4qQ

After returning home in the first week of June, we had a few days to recover from jetlag before taking off again – this time for camp in New Mexico.  We were nearly 100 miles east of El Paso when the axle on our trailer broke, and the wheel went wandering off on its own.  We pulled over on the side of the  interstate, and began to assess the situation.  It was not good.  The wheel actually came to rest about ten feet behind the trailer, much better than the last time we lost a wheel (it bounded away and probably ended up in the Ohio River).  Our immediate thought was thankfulness that no one was hurt or endangered in any way, either our family, or the motorists all around us.  I would like to insert here that your prayers for an evangelist as he travels are much needed, and very appreciated.

Paul strapped up the axle and we limped along the interstate until we could get onto a service road, going about 15 miles per hour the whole way.  The closest thing to civilization was the town of Sierra Blanca, Texas.  It looks more like a ghost town than a thriving municipality, but beggars can’t be choosers, as they say.  We found an RV park and set up there, while trying to get in touch with mechanics, insurance companies, and other people who needed to be notified of our unexpected delay.  To make a long story short, we ended up packing up our belongings and leaving the trailer to the tender mercies of a very unusual, colorful, tin-hat wearing man who oversaw the RV park.  In return, he solicited our votes for the 2020 presidential election… that is, if he hadn’t already left on the Mother Ship for the next closest inhabitable planet.  Seriously.

The remainder of the trip to Silver City, NM was made without incident. Camp was, as usual, very busy.  There were about forty campers this year, and of those we saw five saved, as well as other life decisions made.  It is so gratifying to battle adversity and discouragement and watch God win the victory in young hearts and lives.  The trailer axle was being repaired while we were up the mountain at camp, and Paul was able to drive and pick up the trailer with a friend and bring it to Silver City, where additional repairs were made in town.  I was really glad to have my little home on wheels in the same general area again. 

After camp, we had a few days to breathe, and spent them with friends in Arizona over the weekend.  We were able to attend the world’s oldest rodeo in Prescott, AZ, and it was a great show the night we went!  We traveled most of the day on July 4^th, heading to West Virginia for our last scheduled week of camp.  We managed to cover 2300 miles in about four days, with a Sunday thrown in as well. It was quite the journey.

We arrived at Wildwood Christian Retreat on Monday and jumped into another busy schedule.  Since it is a junior camp week, only our two younger children are campers, while the older two look on with a mixture of amusement and envy at the good time their siblings are having.  As I write this, we are anticipating the final service of camp tonight.  One never knows the impact that the Word of God has on the hearts of those who hear it.  We are praying that this week will be a turning point for young people.  Please continue to keep us in prayer as we serve the Lord in the ministry of evangelism.

Sarah Crow

Another Year

As the focus goes to Christmas and the birth of our Savior, it does my heart good to reflect on what God has done this year through our family.  This year marked 15 years that we have been traveling and preaching all over the United States and certain foreign countries of the world.

The fall round of meetings was particularly good for us, taking us from Virginia to Montana and back to South Carolina before ending the season in Ripley, TN, 80 miles from home.  The Lord has been so good to us to allow us to travel and to strengthen churches in the places to which He sends us.

We are all home now, enjoying the time at our home church and resting a bit before the schedule resumes again in January.  Josiah is learning to drive, everyone is doing school, and we are all enjoying the time at home.

As we head toward the new year, we are excited to see God's continued working in our lives and ministry.  Thank you so much for all your prayers and support this past year.  May God bless you all.

Mountain Men

After a great time of ministering in camp in the Southwest, we are back in the swing of revival meetings once again.  The schedule is full this fall, with lots of churches and lots of travel.

So far, one of the highlights of this fall has been the Inter-Mountain Baptist Fellowship meeting in Cody, WY.  Many of the men were men whom I had never met before.  In answer to specific prayer, the Lord greatly used the services to encourage and strengthen the preachers before they had to leave this morning.  While the goal was not to get new meetings but to be a blessing, many did express a desire to have us back in the future.

Earlier this year, the Lord opened a ministry opportunity that I never envisioned myself doing.  A church asked us to help them in the interim after their pastor had resigned.  I had never seen myself doing anything like that, but the Lord opened the door and we went through it.  Though we were only able to spend four weeks there, the Lord allowed us to be able to bring a stability to the church and see an interim pastor installed that continues to help and see the work move forward.  God's ways are never our ways.

My 2018 itinerary is very minute at this time, but it is posted online for anyone thinking of scheduling a meeting for next year.  We are excited about the doors that God is opening up for us.

Home

After a month in Central America, my family and I arrived back in the United States on the afternoon of December 29, 2016.  It was good to be home in the United States once again, even though the Miami airport into which we flew still featured English as occasional tongue of a minute minority.  Deciphering the accent of the rental car agent in Miami was almost as difficult as communicating with Guatemalans: at least you expected them to speak Spanish.  The heavily accented "English" was a challenge indeed.

In fact, our arrival back in United States presented us with a long sequence of events, the consequences of which still affect our lives.  The wait for a rental car in Miami was almost as long as the flight from Guatemala City.  And they didn't give give us a drink, snack, or seat like the airline did.  We were finally able to get a rental car and drive across the peninsula to the Gulf side where our trailer awaited us in North Port.

On the way across Florida, we stopped by a Sprint store to try to get Sarah's cell phone working again.  That was when we discovered that someone had stolen our credit card information and used it for fraudulent purchases in Michigan during our absence.  The credit card company, sensing something was not right, then canceled the cell phone payment causing us to be overdue.  The service was cut off due to a lack of payment.

After a long trip across Florida complete with its bad news, we finally arrived in North Port where our trailer was parked.  A Russian speaking church rents this church's facility from them, and although the midweek service was complete, choir practice was ongoing when we arrived.  It usually goes until 10:00 pm, we were told.  We would have to wait until they were gone to set up our trailer so that we could finally get to bed.  No problemo -- we would just get the trailer all ready to move so that as soon as the last note was dying off, we would chase everyone out of the parking lot and park the trailer where all the choir members' cars were currently parked.  While attempting to hook up the truck and trailer, we discovered that the trailer battery was, after a full month of being unplugged from any type of power source, DEAD.  The trailer jacks refused to budge in any direction due to the lack of power.  This necessitated a frenzied search for the extension cords in the darkened bays, barked orders at small minions to "hold the flashlight where I can see," and a good deal of scrabbling around in small spaces.  Finally the appropriate cords were found, outlets located, and the jacks received enough power to attach to the truck.  Still, the Russians sang on, oblivious to the drama outside.  In the end, I jumped the gun and asked the Russians to move 15 minutes early.  We finally got to bed around 11:00 that night.

When we finally did get the trailer set up, everyone began unpacking their bags.  We found that our children had apparently decided that their cheap souvenirs were more important than the clothing they took with them to Guatemala.  This was deduced by the large number of articles left behind.  The news was received rather mildly, probably due to the fact that we were numb with fatigue.  We patted the children on the head, gave them candy, and sent them to bed, congratulating them on the fact that they hadn't exceeded the airline's  luggage weight limits.

Now, as we leave 2016 behind, and look forward to 2017, we have so many things for which to be grateful.  The Lord kept us safe in our travels, and blessed us with good health and several ministry opportunities.  We made new friends, and had many new experiences.  We are grateful for everyday things that we tend to take for granted here in the states - hot, running water, drinkable water, washing machines, traffic patterns and good roads, to name a few!

We are still experiencing a bit of reverse culture shock as we adjust to life in the States again (I keep answering people in Spanish when they ask me a question), and we are really looking forward to hearing church services in our own language again. Thank you all for your prayers for us regarding this trip.  God had His hand of blessing and protection upon us, and we thank Him for this amazing opportunity to minister in a foreign country.

Fall Rush

The busy fall schedule is on us now.  The Lord has opened many doors for us this fall and we are eagerly looking forward to seeing lives changed as a result of the Word of God reaching them.

With respect to our family, we endured a period of time in July and August during which we had to be out of our trailer to have some warranty work done as well as some body work due to two blown tires.  We were in a prophet's chamber graciously provided to us by the Cloverleaf Baptist Church of Mobile, AL.  We are grateful that we are back in the trailer now and everything is working well.

There is an addition to our website that might be easy to miss at first glance.  We now have not only 2016's itinerary but also 2017's available to view.  Of course, the following year is not as full as this year's, but it is available as it stands so that those interested can plan.  For those pastors who are trying to plan their calendars for the next year, we hope to be able to aid in this planning.

School is progressing about a month ahead of normal schedule so that we can be all done by the time we head to Guatemala in late November.  The Lord is bringing in funds on a weekly basis for our trip to Central America.  Our passports are bought, the tickets are purchased, and we are looking forward to our time.  Sarah has turned the inside of the trailer into a large craft area, making and selling all kinds of homemade items.  See her Facebook page or follow her on Instagram @rvmamacrow for pictures of her latest.  For my part, I don't know if I actually want you to visit those pages or not.  The more orders she receives, the longer I have to trip over the sewing machine and iron cords on a regular basis.  Nevertheless the proceeds are helping us tremendously along with the items we sell on our table--CD's, books, and so forth.

We are most grateful for the souls that have been saved recently.  A man named Hollis was the latest to trust Christ.  He came to Christ last Sunday morning.  He was born in Trinidad but brought up in New York City where he joined a gang after he was orphaned.  The evidence of God's conviction over sin was evident Sunday morning.  He told the pastor at the front of the auditorium, "I'm lost!  I need to be saved." If you like, you can find a picture of Hollis as well as others who have been saved in our meetings on my Instagram account @crowing617.

Thank you all for all your prayers for us.  It is wonderful to see the Lord working on a regular basis, and we rejoice to be in His service.

Waiting

As the schedule for 2016 began to fill and we got to know our trailer, there grew a list of warranty items that needed to be addressed.  This is always a difficult thing because it means that we have to move out of the trailer and take it to a repair facility that is swamped with other units in the same situation as our own.  In late June, two tire blowouts within 50 miles of each other on I-10 in the desert did some additional damage to the trailer that was to be repaired as well.

Because all the RV repair facilities are so busy this time of year, we scheduled an appointment over a month in advance in order to insure that the work would get done.  The day after our meeting closed in Semmes, AL, we moved out of the trailer into a local church prophet's chamber and took our home to the shop.  That is when the waiting began.

RV repairs can be counted on to cost more than originally thought and take longer than originally expected.  As I write this, we have been out of the trailer for over a week, and the unit is still not ready to go.  The reasons are somewhat complex.

Essentially, there are two veins of repairs that need to be accomplished.  The first, and faster, vein involves warranty work.  Any repairs need to be reported to the manufacturer who then authorizes them to be made so that we can remain happy costumers.  AFter a week of having the trailer in the shop, most of these repairs are complete; but there are still parts on order which have not yet arrived.

The second vein involves the tire blowout and the insurance company.  Every one of these blowouts does enough damage to usually measure in the thousands of dollars, depending on exactly how the tire blows.  We had a good (if there can be such a thing) and a bad blowout on either side of the unit.  Insurance has to receive the claim from the RV repair facility, review the claim, approve the claim, and communicate back to the shop the green light to do the work.  In automobile cases, the insurance company usually does this very quickly because they assume that you need to have your car.  In the case of RV's, they take much longer because the damage in question occurred to a "recreational" vehicle, after all.  We have had RV claims go on for months.

Another dynamic that we deal with is the obtaining of parts for the unit.  The parts do not sit in a warehouse ready to be picked up and installed.  They have to be fabricated at the manufacturer and then shipped to the repair facility.  In our case, we are told that the parts can be here within a week and a half to two weeks.  The hope is that in that time, the insurance company will approve the repair and the unit can get finally fixed.

And so we wait.  The hope is that everything will be done before we have to get going again with our fall schedule, a schedule that starts August 7.

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.

Trailer Luck

The spring schedule is now in full swing.  We are now firmly ensconced in our new trailer (woohoo!) and on the road for the next several months.  We are rejoicing in the blessing of our new trailer and the relative ease of living in it after being in such close quarters for most of last year. While we were extremely grateful for the “little trailer” as we affectionately called it, having six people in a 29’ camper for the better part of nine months was a little taxing at times.  Especially when several of those people are not the neatest roommates.  However, we all survived and were practically dancing with joy when our new trailer finally made it into our driveway last December.  We all have a little space to ourselves, now, and best of all, we are back to a 12-gallon water heater once again (the little trailer had a 6-gallon tank, and I took WAY too many cold showers last year)!  We are all happy campers about that particular feature.

This week, we began our first extended time in the new trailer.  Heading out of Mississippi, we stopped in Jackson, the state capital, where we met a pastor and stayed overnight in his church parking lot.  He took us on a small tour of Jackson, which was saddening to say the least.  The city’s infrastructure is collapsing, and the people who live there have very little means of supporting themselves.  Hence, many turn to a life of crime.  I don’t remember the last time I have seen so many buildings with fences, windows with bars, and parking lots surrounded by razor wire.  It was a teensy bit scary, to be honest.  Jackson is the fourth most violent city in America, ranking fourth in the number of murders per capita in the country.  It is a dark place in need of the light of the Gospel. Pray that God would send laborers into this very needy field!

As we pulled out of Jackson this morning, we headed west.  it wasn’t long before we needed to fuel the truck.  Paul pulled off on an exit that advertised fuel, and began driving in search of the promised gas station.  It was nowhere to be found.  You must understand that pulling a fifth wheel through an unknown area, looking for fuel has to be one of the most stressful situations.  The streets wind and curve, the lanes narrow, and the chances that you will get stuck in a small parking lot trying to turn around increase the further you go.  After we decided that the fuel sign was just a cruel hoax, doubtless an attempt to lure unsuspecting motorists into the labyrinthine innards of the city, where they can be mugged, we spotted a large (this is good) parking lot in which we could easily turn around.  Things were looking up, in spite of the Great Fuel Hoax.  We turned around and pulled onto the street, heading back toward the interstate.  The truck seemed to be struggling up the hill, and with dread in his voice, Paul pulled to the side of the road and asked me to get out and see if the trailer brakes were locked up.  Sure enough, they were. 

I must insert a small bit of trailer trivia here.  Fifth wheels are designed with an emergency cable that runs from the trailer hitch to the hitch pin in the back of the truck.  The purpose of this cord is, in the event that your trailer becomes disconnected from your truck (very bad luck), the trailer brakes immediately lock, which keeps the trailer from careening into anything at a high rate of speed.  Apparently careening into objects at a low rate of speed is far superior, in the minds of the trailer manufacturers, provided one is not rear-ended by a tractor and trailer speeding up from behind.
In a strange and weird twist of trailer luck (this is usually bad luck, for the record), the emergency trailer brake cord had gotten pinched in the hitch and pulled the emergency pin out of the trailer.  To make things worse, we could not get it out!  We were finally able to get the brakes unlocked by plugging in the pin, but we could not make any turns without pulling the pin out again.  Paul pulled along the road until we could get partially in a parking lot, and we had to detach the trailer in order to release the pressure on the hitch enough to get the cord out from between the hitch and the base.  No one stopped to help, but perhaps they were a little nervous when they saw two people on the side of the road, one with a roll of duct tape in his hand, and his companion wielding a small crowbar. Thank the Lord we were able to remedy the situation with very little loss of time.  And, yes, duct tape, once again, really did save the day.

After this little incident, we had another one that actually did some damage to the trailer.  Thanks to a clueless motorist, who instead of allowing us to merge onto the highway lane (I say lane because there was only one due to alleged construction), sped up and blocked our entrance, forcing us to run over a very substantial construction cone/tower.  This striped ziggurat flew under the truck and hit the front panel of the trailer right next to the landing gear, crunching the fiberglass and crumpling the metal trim.  There was nothing to be done, so we drove onward, ruing the day that Cracker Jacks started issuing driver’s licenses. 


All told, it was a fairly good day, in spite of all the difficulties. We are looking forward to tomorrow’s services.  Pray for the family.  We are dealing with sore throats, sniffles, and general malaise due to not feeling well this week.

Of Blowouts and Tunnels

Victory Baptist Church.  For forty years, a lighthouse of truth and Baptist witness to the South Carolina low country.  As its address on Parris Island Gateway would suggest, the church has had a ministry to United States Marines, either active duty or retired, for many years.  For their fortieth anniversary celebration, Pastor Chuck Rice decided to invite two former pastors and Evangelist Paul Crow as guest speakers.  It is impossible for me to speak for the two former pastors.  As for me, my trip to even get settled in at Victory Baptist Church was filled with a little more drama than usual.

It seemed like a good idea at the time: leave south Florida on Friday morning and get in to Beaufort, South Carolina a day early.  A chance for everyone to catch their breath before charging headlong into the next meeting could only be a good thing.  As we headed up I-95 north of Savanna, Georgia, however, we heard a sudden pop and the truck seemed to lose power.  Sarah was able to look in her mirror and saw the tread of one of our brand new tires (purchased earlier this year) come flying off.  We had suffered a blowout.  Not to worry, there was a brand new spare on the back bumper.  There are worse things in this world than changing a flat on the side of the Interstate in the dark with spectators flying past at 70-plus miles per hour while your children contemplate playing chicken.

Still, we arrived safely at Victory Baptist Church after 8:00 Friday night.  Everything was set up and ready to go.  Everything except for one thing.  In our haste to get to South Carolina, we had failed to dump our sewage tanks.  The next morning after some inquiries, we decided to dump the black water straight into the church septic system.  That meant unhooking everything and backing the trailer through a small gate.  Everything about the dumping process was pretty seamless.  No spilled water on the church ground, everything going where it needed to go, no leaky black water hoses—it was perfect.  We then maneuvered the trailer back into the parking space.  Not a problem.

Everything was in place, when I began to jack the trailer up off the truck hitch.  (We are in a borrowed unit right now that is a bumper pull, not a fifth wheel.)  Now the tongue was high enough so that it barely cleared the hitch.  As I walked away from the hitch to go to the cab of the truck and pull it out, a terrible noise sounded behind me.  The trailer had shifted and the tongue had come off the blocks where I had left the jack.  The jack had buried itself in the soft, sandy dirt.  Sarah had been in the trailer, and the sudden jolt gave her quite a fright.

In the end, a bottle jack saved the day and got the trailer back to straight and level.  More importantly, God had spared me from what might have been a dangerous accident.  A 10,000-lb trailer jolting and careening around can be dangerous.  God protected us.

The only other incident that happened was that my children decided to begin a subterranean project of tunneling under the church fellowship hall.  Happily, we discovered the project before too much progress had been made and the workers decided to fill the holes back in.  Hopefully, no one will notice at the big celebration tomorrow.  I know now why we usually make it a policy to arrive at the church on Saturday night.

We look forward to the upcoming meeting with Pastor Rice and Victory Baptist Church.  Thank you all so much for your prayers.

Trailer Update

Many have asked about a trailer for our family.  As you may remember, we totaled our previous trailer in March of this year.  Even before our trailer was totaled, we had been looking for a replacement for some time.  After much prayer and search, we believe that we have found the trailer that would meet our needs as we travel.  It is made by a recently formed company named Grand Design.  The model is the Solitude 366DEN.  We have looked into these units for quite some time and have been impressed by the many details that they seem to get just right.

Some have given special gifts toward the purchase of the new trailer, and, although we do not yet have the money to pay for it entirely, we are very grateful for every sacrifice that has been made so that we could get the trailer.  Now we have decisions to make.  We want to make very wise use of the money that God has provided.  Right now, there are eight 2015 models that we know about.  Obviously, with the calendar year coming to a close, the dealerships are very motivated to move their 2015 models.  The 2016 models are already arriving and space will be an issue, not to mention the mounting cost of holding onto a unit losing its value.  Of course, the model number means nothing to us.  The fact that it has sat on the lot for a while doesn’t matter to us.  Here is the important need that we have.  Of the eight 2015 units that we currently know of, we need at least one to not sell until after the first of the year.  God knows which one it will be.  Our current thinking is that if we can hold out until 2016 to buy a 2015 trailer, we will be able to get a better deal.

Everything is in God’s hands.  For our part, we are so busy in meetings right now that we don’t have time to get into a new trailer anyway, even if we had the money to purchase one.  We are seeing the Gospel go forward, Christians challenged, and pastors encouraged.  We are still living in a borrowed bumper pull trailer, on loan from a family in our church.  We are taxing this unit to the limit, already having pulled it from Mississippi to Montana, Montana to Virginia, Mississippi to Minnesota to Florida… You get the picture.  The fact that it is still holding together is a tribute to the power of God very similar to Israelite shoes not waxing old during the wilderness wandering.

As you pray for the temporal needs of our trailer, please do not forget to pray for the greater works: the salvation of souls and the strengthening of churches.  May you all be steadfast in the work of the Lord.

Answered Prayer

The fall season of meetings is upon us, and we are seeing God do some wonderful things.  Last week, we were in a meeting at the Bible Baptist Church of Brookings, South Dakota.  Pastor Ivan Yoder has only been there for a year, but the signs of a healthy church abound under his leadership.  In all, three people were born again during the course of the meeting.  One was saved in the afternoon before the service, and the other two were dealt with in the invitations.  Below are pictures of the two who were saved in the services.

We are currently in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota for our third meeting at the Berean Baptist Church.  On Thursday, I go to Deer River, Minnesota for a men’s meeting that will last through Saturday.  The meeting closes in Ham Lake on Sunday.

After Minnesota, we begin to head south, first to Indiana, and then to North Carolina and all the way to Florida before turning again for Mississippi just in time for Thanksgiving. 

We are eager to see how God is going to work in every place where He has allowed us to minister this year.  Thank you all so much for your prayers.

Regarding the replacement trailer, there are events in motion that are nothing short of miraculous.  When the details fall into place, you may be certain that I will pass them on to you who have prayed so much. 

Born Again!

August represents a bit of slump in my schedule as an evangelist.  Pastors, too, speak of this slump as many of their members are absent from services due to vacations.  A lull in my schedule means more activity in my local church, just as any faithful member would do.  It means being faithful to services and visitation.

Last night, as the groups divided up, I had two very familiar partners, Sarah and Josiah.  We were knocking on doors—cold turkey calling, as some have called it.  Not long into our intended route, we had the opportunity to talk with Tanisha.  Unlike many that we meet, she readily admitted to having doubts about eternity.  In fact, the more we talked about sin, the more visibly conviction showed on her face.  We ended at the cross where the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary takes care of all our sin—past, present, and future.  There on her doorstep, Tanisha prayed and asked Christ to save her.  Would you pray for her that we would be able to disciple her and see her grow in the Lord?  Her picture is here below.

In the weeks to come, I will be filling local pulpits that are currently vacant in north MS before we head again for another round of meetings.

Please continue to pray about the needs of our trailer.  God knows, and He will provide in His time.

At Such a Time

The greetings of the ancient Persians have always seemed somewhat melodramatic to me: “Peace, and at such a time.”  Times have always been turbulent, but God has always been in control.

God’s control of our circumstances is such a wonderful resting place for our troubled souls so prone to worry.  For my part, the cares of this world have looked a lot like a search for a different trailer, at least in the past couple of months.  We have been looking for a couple of years, actually, mostly to no avail.  The problems are these.

First, if a trailer has room to house a family, it is poorly built.  There is little reason to purchase a trailer that will quickly fall apart as the miles go by.

Second, if a trailer is well-built, it doesn’t have room for four children and is outrageously expensive.  One company makes well-built trailers with space for two children, but their units start at $115,000 and go up from there.

Third, more modestly priced trailers may have enough bunks for four children, but they have very little space for clothes.  Evidently children who camp in these either have to wear the same clothes all the time or else wear little to nothing at all.  I wonder if RV design engineers are reading this.

Fourth, very few units available today have a rear bedroom and a washer and dryer.  Some have a nearly worthless washer/dryer combination unit, but reviews of this setup are universally negative.

Because of these issues, we looked in vain for many months for a trailer that would serve us well in travels.  Then, earlier this year after a lot of searching, we came upon a company called Grand Design.  They make a unit called a Solitude 366 DEN.  As we walked through this unit, we finally found something that would meet all of our needs in a trailer.

Now, a dealership in MN is offering us a great deal on a new Solitude 366 DEN.  We have been able to get together about 2/3 of the needed money for the unit.  We would like to be able to not have to take on another monthly payment for this trailer.  Would you pray with us about this matter?  It may be that God would have us finance the remaining 1/3 of the price.  If so, we would need Him to make this abundantly clear to us.  As we see the situation, it would be best to get the trailer in the next month or so.  That way, we could get moved in before the schedule gets hectic again in the fall.

At the end of the day, though, God is still on the throne…And at such a time.

Answered Prayer

The meeting last week with Pastor Dave Rogers in Willmar, MN, was a good meeting.  Pastor Rogers has been faithful for many years there in Willmar.  Somewhere along the line, someone forgot to tell his people that old-fashioned revival meetings no longer work in the 21st Century.  They just kept on bringing their unsaved friends and relatives as if preaching still worked!  Not surprisingly, we saw two trust Christ as Savior on Thursday night of the meeting.

The dynamic at work in Bro. Rogers church is an often repeated one.  Whenever lost people sit under the sound of the Gospel for consecutive nights, they often trust Christ or leave angry.  Such is the nature of an extended meeting.  After reading stories of days gone by, some today are decrying the use of evangelists because we are no longer seeing the numbers of people attend the services as we once did.  Consider the facts of the Scripture.  The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes it (Romans 1:16).  Satan is powerless to prevent the Gospel from doing its work.  If he is to prevent men and women from trusting Christ, he must resort to other tactics.  His tactic of choice today seems to be keeping men and women from hearing the Gospel.

Why do so many invitations to come and hear an evangelist preach go unheeded by lost men and women?  The answer is that a simple invitation for a sinner hear to the Gospel represents an attack on Satan’s domain.  It is spiritual warfare.  The good news is, Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.  Still, every Christian needs to bathe invitations in prayer and understand that God’s power is desperately needed on something as simple as an invitation.

When we do reach out and get lost people to sit under the sound of the Gospel, the result will often be conversion.

As we traveled across SD last Saturday, I was nervous, given our experience with wind the week before.  We prayed that God would control the wind and keep us and the borrowed trailer safe.  He answered every prayer.  In over 500 miles of driving, the trailer did not so much as sway one time due to wind.  A couple of hours after we arrived in SD, the winds picked up again and have been gusting and blowing ever since.  In fact, I think I just saw a downwind chicken lay the same egg three times!

Windblown

Since we began, April has traditionally been a busy month for us.  Accordingly, we find ourselves in a cycle of traveling and preaching for several days on end.  Our first trip took us from IN to Willmar, MN.

We are currently traveling with a borrowed trailer from a family in our church.  The unit is a 30-foot bumper pull trailer in which the children sleep on two different beds, one a couch fold out and the other a dinette fold down.  While much smaller than what we were used to, this trailer is a great blessing from the Lord. 

As we traveled through IL, we faced some tremendous cross winds.  Yesterday, we passed a tractor and trailer that had blown over in the wind.  As we drove, a particularly strong gust of wind struck the truck and trailer.  The trailer fishtailed and whipped violently in the wind.  At one point, both tires on the one side were off the ground.  Despite all the excitement, we were able to make it safely to Willmar, arriving this afternoon. 

As for our search for a trailer in northern IN, we were disappointed by the lack of options that we have available to us.  Today, there are far fewer companies that make a unit that will work for us than there were when we first started in evangelism.  When we had nearly despaired of finding a trailer that would serve us well, we were introduced to a new company that has been in business for only a couple years.  They make a unit that will work for us.

Please pray that God will give us wisdom as we continue our search.  Please also pray that the Lord will bring in the finances that we need to pay for the unit.  So far, we have a little over half of what is needed to purchase the trailer outright.

Above all, though, please pray for souls to be saved.  Pray that Satan will be hindered as he tries to distract men and women from hearing the Word of God.  Pray that God’s power would be on us as we minister in every church.  Pray that the Word of the Lord would have free course and be glorified. 

And, as always, thank you for your prayers.

Totaled

The insurance company got back with us this week and gave us an amount for the trailer.  They will be giving us about $1,000 more for the trailer than what we paid for it originally.  All in all, I am very pleased with the way State Farm has handled the claim.

As for a new trailer, Sarah and I will be touring trailer factories in northern IN trying to see where we go from here.  We would covet your prayers for God’s wisdom as we look.  We are trusting the Lord the settle the entire thing.  So far, He has worked everything out very well and we are actually excited to see what He will do in the future.

Thank you so much for all your prayers.

Oops!

Well, it happened.  In nearly twelve years of pulling the trailer, I have never had a major accident.  Until this past Monday, that is.  Traveling like a barn sour horse, we came out of Taylors, SC, and entered the automotive quagmire of Atlanta, GA.  A wreck on the northeast side delayed us for a couple of hours so that by the time we hit the intersection of I-20, it was officially rush hour.  It took us about four hours to get from the Mall of Georgia to Six Flags.  (We stopped at neither place, but for those who know Atlanta, these are familiar landmarks on the outskirts of the metropolitan area.)  After making it through the traffic to the west side of the city, I realized that we needed to stop for fuel.

Motorists who have not pulled a large rig such as a forty-foot trailer rarely appreciate the difficulty that larger vehicles face.  Just any filling station won’t do: evangelists need one with lots of space in which to maneuver.  Thankfully, filling stations have taken steps to accommodate the needs of larger vehicles, some of them even creating designated lanes for RV’s.  It was into one of these designated lanes that I pulled.  It was late and we were in Villa Rica, GA, not far from the AL state line, ready to be rid of GA traffic for the night.

As I pulled into the RV lane of this gas station, I quickly realized that not all RV lanes are created equal.  Not all are endowed by their creators with ample space for large RV’s.  In fact, this one seemed to have been designed for smart cars more than for any sized RV.  It was especially unsuitable for a truck pulling a trailer, no matter what the sign said.

Not to worry, though.  I have been pulling large trailers for twelve years, right?  When we were done fueling, I had to back up to reposition the trailer in the lane so that it would clear when I pulled through and made a left hand turn to return to the freeway.  No problem.  I kept the rig on the right side so that my trailer would follow and miss the large concrete bumpers erected to protect the narrowly placed pumps.  Textbook.  One learns a few things through experience over years of repetition. 

In front of me sat several cars parked in designated parking areas—areas that some engineer is probably still laughing about because there is no way a large RV can make the turn out of the RV fueling lane with those cars there.  I had to carefully watch the cars in front of me so as not to hit them and watch in my mirrors to make sure that my trailer cleared those awful concrete barricades.  The barricades were quite war worn, bearing the the scars of several victories in previous encounters with different RV’s.  I had missed every obstacle when I began to turn the wheel to the left.  The rear of the trailer pivoted to the right as I did so and, out of my line of sight, struck the right hand barrier.  We did not so much as feel the impact, because we were going very slowly.  Nor could we hear anything, but as I completed the turn, I felt a slight pop.

The barrier had torn the back part of our trailer to bits.  Although it was towable, it is still not livable.  As technicians at the local RV service center examined the damage, they used the word totaled a lot.  Of course, the service center pronouncing the unit totaled is not the same as the insurance adjustor announcing the unit totaled.  We will have to wait and see what insurance says.  In the mean time, we are in the busiest time of our year without a trailer.

Please pray for us as we seek the Lord’s will concerning a replacement.  Some have already offered to help fund the new unit.  We are so thankful for the willingness of God’s people to help me the need.  Whatever happens, we are confident that God will provide.

Running Water

What a busy schedule the Lord has given us so far this year!  We are very grateful to see how He is opening door after door and blessing our ministry in every place where we have been.

Currently, we are in the state of North Carolina where we have nearly a month of meetings in different places in the western part of the state.  You may have seen the news that cold weather has descended upon the eastern seaboard to such an extent that many inhabitants are longing to return to the days of global warming.  The cold has significant effects on anyone wanting to live in a trailer.

A couple of days ago, the temperature was predicted to drop into the single digits.  It is customary in the trailer to leave the water running a trickle in order to keep it from freezing during nights when the temperature dips below 32 (Fahrenheit).  The problem is that the temperature can drop so low that even running water can freeze.

So to allay the problem, we actually winterized the trailer by using an air compressor to blow the water out of the lines.  In the meantime, we moved into the church’s mission house so that we could appropriately bathe and hydrate ourselves.

Then we moved on the next church, Emmanuel Baptist of Kings Mountain NC.  There we tried to hook up water only to find that all the outside spigots had frozen during the cold snap.  Not to worry, though.  After about an hour of working with a cheap Wal-mart hair dryer, we were able to get everything thawed.  Or at least, so it seemed.  As the outside temperatures climbed in the mid-40’s, the janitor and his family arrived to clean the church before the Lord’s day.  What did they find?  The pipes burst inside the building, necessitating that the water be cut off again.

So we still have no running water.  But then again, neither did much of humanity in days gone by.  It makes me sort of wonder, Do wells freeze deep in the ground so that you have to break the ice off them before you lower the bucket?  If conditions continue as they have been, I may soon be in a position to find out.

Strengthen

Acts 15:41 “And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the
churches.”

As an evangelist, this ministry of confirming the churches is a major thrust
of my ministry as I travel. I want to see souls saved and churches strengthened.
December was a great month for us financially, compared to years gone by.
Two things helped us out tremendously: first of all, several weekend meetings
during the month, and second of all, a special financial gift from the
Maranatha Baptist Church of Ripley, Tennessee. For the first time in many
years, we had a little bit of financial breathing room during the Christmas
season.

January found our family in Silver City, New Mexico, ministering in the Calvary
Baptist Church for four weeks. Would you pray that God gives them a
pastor? They need wisdom as they seek the Lord’s will in this matter.
February has us all over the country from Texas to North Carolina ministering
in a different church every week. Please pray for souls to be saved and
churches to be strengthened. It is wonderful to see those prayers answered
as we travel.

Many of you have prayed about our trailer situation in the past. The unit we
are in is wearing out and in need of replacement. Yesterday, for the first
time since we have been looking, I received some encouraging news as far
as a trailer replacement. Please pray for wisdom for us to make the right
decision in this regard. I am now convinced that if we get the right trailer,
we may be able to keep it for the next ten years instead of purchasing a different
one every three or four years due to wear and tear.

Thank you so much for your prayers.

Victory!

In the middle of October, my family and I went to eastern Colorado to the town of Fort Morgan.  Pastor Shannon Munday wanted me to preach the week before he started a revival meeting with another Evangelist, Bro. Dwight Smith.  The Lord worked everything in a wonderful way. 

On Sunday, October 19, I preached and the Lord worked on a teenaged boy’s heart named Josh with the result that he trusted Christ as Savior.  A few weeks ago, Josh had attempted suicide; now, he is on his way to heaven.  The next Sunday was Bring a Friend Sunday.  That morning, Bro. Smith preached the Gospel and many people came to be saved.  One entire row of unsaved people stepped out of the aisle in the invitation and came forward to be dealt with about salvation.  There were so many people to be dealt with that the pastor ran out of personal workers.  I had been leading the invitation hymn with Sarah at the piano.  In the absence of personal workers, I came down from the platform and dealt with a man.  Still, we needed more, so Sarah left the piano to go deal with a lady.  Bro. Dwight took over the playing of the piano.

The meeting went through Wednesday night with both Crow and Smith family working together.  By the time the meeting closed Wednesday night, we had seen sixteen people trust Christ as Savior.  It was one of the greatest meetings I have ever been in.

On the way out of town, we had a leaf spring shackle break on the trailer, causing one side of the trailer to ride lower than the other.  In the providence of God, we were able to get to our destination in Colby, KS, and get the broken part fixed with spare parts that I have been carrying around for several years (since the last time I had trouble with my leaf springs). 

Now, after preaching in the Colby Independent Baptist Church, we will head back to MS on Monday.

Thank you so much for your prayers.

Visitors

Tuesday morning, a farmer from this part of South Dakota went to the operating room for surgery.  It was to be a six hour procedure to remove a malicious tumor from his liver.  Once the doctors had opened him up and looked at his liver, they aborted the rest of the operation and sewed him back up: there was nothing they could surgically due to the tumor’s proximity to his bile duct.  The farmer’s son contacted a church member and wept, thinking that his Dad would not have much longer to live.

At the service that night, the church member spoke with the pastor and me, expressing his desire to go and see his friend who, as far as he knew, was not saved.  Reasoning that three would be a crowd in the hospital room, we elected to go with just two of us from the church.

So it was that yesterday morning, the church member and I headed to the hospital in Sioux Falls, SD.  The patient we found was sore from having been cut open the day before, but in good spirits, having retained his sense of humor through the ordeal. 

As is generally the custom, we engaged in small talk for a while, during which Tom, the patient, wept occasionally.  He had never dreamed that such a thing would happen to him; he was only 63 years old.  Of course, the main goal of our visit was not small talk, but the Gospel.  At one point in the conversation, God, in answer to our prayers, opened the door to talk about the most important thing.  I asked pointedly, “Tom, are you ready to go?”  He responded that he was.

After being interrupted by a phone call that I had to take, I reentered the room, wanting more information about Tom’s readiness.  We talked about being born again, that just as there is a definite point in time when a person is born physically, so there is a definite point in time when a person is born again spiritually.  Then came the most important question that I could ask: “Tom, was there ever a time when you trusted Jesus Christ as Savior?”

Tom’s answer came without hesitation.  “Yes.”  After another question about when that happened, he related to us how that he had begun attending a Bible study.  What could it hurt?  It was only one night a week, and he needed to read the Bible anyway.  Each person in the study group was supposed to read a certain portion of the Bible.  As he was reading his portion, God spoke to him in a definite way.  It was then that he trusted Christ as Savior.

Tom is still apprehensive about the future in this life.  Although he was saved about six years ago, he has never really grown in the Lord, his woman pastor notwithstanding.  Still, it was a joy to hear how God is still reaching out to man, offering His saving grace to all who will believe.

Duct Tape Diary

“If you weren’t born with a wrench in your hand, trailer life is not for you.”  Such forthrightness from a trailer salesman was interesting to hear.  Yet the truth of what he was trying to convey was very well put.  He who would live in a trailer must grow accustomed to constant maintenance.  For the Crow family, we are running out of innovations to keep the mechanism together.  “Extremely flexible” caulk won’t stretch enough to compensate for the flex in the front of the trailer to keep the water from pouring in, while “extremely durable” plastic latches are unable to withstand the onslaught of a junior high boy.  Not only are parts for RV’s expensive; they are are also hard to get once one quits the big cities.

Enter the Crow family in Millbank, South Dakota.  The town boasts a population of just over 3,000 people, but no RV dealer.  In fact, I think it would be easier to purchase a tractor here than anything to do with a home on wheels.  Parts availability will obviously be a problem here until Case International ventures into the trailer business.

Enter the roll of duct tape.  Strong.  Versatile.  Ubiquitous.  And, as of a couple of months ago, the weapon of choice against trailer entropy.  The high dollar tubes of caulk all proved feckless in stemming the flow of water into the front of my trailer.  In the course of owning this trailer, I have had to see a lot of money go out the tubes, as it were, only to have the flexible sealant break open because the front flex was too much.  After trying everything I knew to do, including spending $6,000 to have a shop do it professionally, I decided to bite the bullet and don the duct tape.  Sadly, the hillbilly fix has been the best yet.  The duct seals and forms a sort of roof under which the trailer can flex all it wants without the water entering in and rotting the trailer from within.  Duct tape saves the day again.  Cue hero music.

No one in my family broke the door handle.  Just ask them and they will be glad to assure you of their innocence.  Nevertheless, the latch that holds the screen door closed was mysteriously broken apart in the night, no doubt by a thief who, upon breaking and entering our trailer, was dissuaded from further crime by the lack of viable goods to steal.  Evidently, A Beka school books don’t bring much on the black market.  Regardless of how it actually broke, the latch had to be fixed.  Though we did not know it, there is a housefly convention going on right now in Millbank.  After we kill one in the trailer, there are at least four who break into the trailer to attend its funeral.  We needed a means to keep the door latched.

Once again, duct tape provided the perfect solution.  After taping the plastic back together and reinstalling the latch, we are finally beginning to turn the tide in the war against the flies.

By the time the year ends, there is no telling what all in our trailer will be held together with duct tape.  Stayed tuned for more of the duct tape diary.  Who knows what it will be next?

Twelve Years

July, 2014, marks twelve years that my family and I have been in full time evangelism.  It has been a wonder to see the Lord’s working in the hearts of people as the Word of God has gone forth.

We have had an interesting year so far, including something that we have never done before outside of our home church.  After the spring schedule of revival meetings and the early summer of camp in New Mexico, the Lord has directed us to Louisiana for six weeks.  During this meeting, we have not had meetings every night, but the pastor has given me his pulpit during most of the regularly scheduled services.  I have also been helping with outreach and will be assisting with vacation Bible school later on.  Every Sunday night, I have been teaching on Baptist history, we just finished a four-part series entitle “Praying Like Paul,” and a deacon and I just yesterday installed a cabinet that we built for the church office.  Below is a picture of the two of us the day we installed the piece of furniture.

In just over two weeks time, we leave LA and head north for a schedule of revivals in the Midwest and mountain states.  Please pray for us as we travel.  A major concern right now is the trailer.  Please pray that God holds it together as we travel.