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.

Your Prayer for Me

My family and I are separated for the next couple of weeks as I labor in the Calvary Baptist Church in Silver City, New Mexico, and the Gila Christian Ranch, the camp connected with the church.  My family are all home ministering in our home church while I am away.

One of the greatest treasures that God has given me in the ministry is the number of people that pray for me on a regular basis.  They come from all over the country, from all walks of life, and from all stages of spiritual growth.  Still, they thrill my heart with the words “I pray for you daily.”  It is not uncommon for some of you to ask me for a prayer list.  Understandably, you want to know what requests are on my heart so that you can partner with me in asking God for them.  For those of you who want that prayer list, I offer you one today.  This is the most important prayer list I have ever given anyone, and it is my desire that you partner with me in praying for these requests.  As you will soon see, this prayer list is not original, but it is of utmost importance.

The first request that I would venture is that God would help us to maintain a clear conscience in everything that we do in the ministry.  The writer of Hebrews requested, “Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.” (Hebrews 13:18)  As one in the place of serving God, there is a temptation to do so in a dishonest fashion.  Some had succumbed to the temptation in Paul’s day.  He reminded Timothy, “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander.” (1 Timothy 1:19-20)  Timothy had not far to look before he could see evidence of some who started in ministry only to abandon the idea of a clear conscience.

The next request is for freedom of the Scripture.  This request comes from the Apostle Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians.  He requested, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.” (2 Thessalonians 3:1)  “Free course” refers to a runner who is unhindered in his push to the finish line.  It describes ability to move unhindered and swiftly.  So Paul instructed the Thessalonians to pray concerning his ministry, and so I would request that you would pray for me.

The next request comes from the very next verse.  “And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.” (2 Thessalonians 3:2)  Deliverance from those who are unsaved is an important request.  For every man that God raises up, Satan raises up a man or woman to oppose them.  Paul’s request was he might be delivered from such people.

The final request is perhaps the most important.  It is given almost verbatim in two books of the Bible.  To the Ephesians, Paul put it this way, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Ephesians 6:18-20)  To the Colossians, the request was similarly worded: “Withal praying for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.” (Colossians 4:3-4)  The ability to speak fluently and persuasively was highly valued in the Hellenistic Age in which Paul lived and ministered.  He therefore requested for the ability to speak well in the cause of the Gospel—that God would empower him to speak with not only skill, but also with boldness.  If the Apostle Paul needed skill and boldness to proclaim the Gospel, then who am I to not request prayer for the very same thing?

These are my four requests that I would ask you to pray for in my behalf.  But would you not take these requests and step farther pray for your pastor along these same lines?  Would you not take him to the throne of God and ask that God would do for him what I am asking that he do for me?

Thank you for your prayers and for listening to my prayer list.

Gideon’s Trailer

Our hearts are full tonight.  Before the service, a young man named Robert asked to speak with the pastor after the service was done.  The pastor asked that I meet with them also.  After listening to him talk for a while, we were able to steer him to Christ.  After explaining the gospel to him, he bowed and trusted Christ as Savior.  In retrospect, maybe his salvation was what Satan was trying to prevent by even more trailer troubles.

Up to this point, our current trailer has enjoyed the soft, cushy life of a southern RV—lots of sunshine, with the temperatures dipping into the 30’s occasionally, but not any serious cold weather.  The past two and a half years of our schedule have been pretty easy on this bad beast.  While our schedule has been kind to the trailer, it has not reciprocated in like manner.  Apparently, it prefers the cozy warmth of the repair shop to our grueling road trips, replete with potholes, dirt roads, traffic jams, and angry motorists.  In retrospect, I think it has fought us every mile of the way for the past two and a half years.  We have had five tires blow out—one tire just flew the coop while we were driving through construction—leaking toilets, falling closets, broken dresser drawers, blown fuses, a power cord that will not stay plugged in while driving, and the list goes on and on.  Really, when one thinks back, it seems like a great deal of trouble.  One problem at a time doesn’t seem overwhelming, though, so the evil thoughts of the trailer toward its beneficent owners were overlooked. 

We arrived in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia  on a beautiful sunny day, with temperatures in the high 60’s.  Spring was in the air!  The children laughed and played in the church parking lot, and we quickly set the trailer up with a lovely view of the not-too-distant mountains.  Then, out of nowhere, bad weather blew in.  The temperature dropped, then dropped some more.  Instead of playing outside, the children began asking for blankets, gloves, and hot chocolate.  It snowed.  The trailer sulked.  She decided that this weather was not for her.  Unbeknownst to our family, revenge was being plotted.  After borrowing a kerosene heater in addition to our normal electric heater, we went to bed that night, leaving the water running, so the pipes wouldn’t freeze (this is a trick every evangelist needs to learn).  When we woke in the morning, we found that the pipes had frozen in spite of our precautionary methods, and we had no water.  The trailer snickered with evil glee.  Now life would be extremely inconvenient for this bunch of trailer trash. 

As you can imagine, living in an RV with no water is  difficult, to say the least.  We had the means to make a waterless breakfast, but could not wash the dishes. There were no morning showers, and one of the kids had a midnight accident that could not be laundered, unless we chose to take it outside and scrub it in the falling snow.  Things were beginning to stink in more ways than one.  All bathroom trips had to be made across the freezing parking lot into the church.  All the while, the heaters were keeping things at a tropical temperature, albeit the fumes from the kerosene were a little strong.  No wonder we were all still smiling!  Around two in the afternoon, the pipes finally thawed out, and we were able to resume normal activities.  We weren’t going to let that happen again. 

After the service that night, Paul disconnected the hose, and we thought everything would be fine.  Without water running to the trailer, the pipes would not freeze again.  We also had turned on the propane furnace that day, having exhausted the supply of kerosene in the borrowed heater, and discarding it.  In the period of time that we have owned the trailer, not once had we ever turned on the furnace.  We weren’t even sure that it worked.  Thankfully, it did, but the result of at least three years of dust(not to mention untold amounts of food particles, toys, erasers, and hairbows) burning off was far from pleasant, but we went to bed that night secure in the knowledge that we were snug and warm.  In the middle of the night, though, there was some concern that we would all be roasted alive.  While the furnace was working great, the thermostat was not.  The furnace didn’t shut off the entire night.  The resulting sweat bath was at least purging the kerosene fumes from our bodies.  Parched with thirst, we headed to the the sink to get a drink, but alas, the hose was disconnected, thus no water came out of the faucet.  No problem.  Just throw on some shoes, gloves, scarf, long johns, earmuffs, ski mask, and a parka, and head out to turn on the water.  The trailer cackled with fiendish delight when, after all the hoses were connected, the water still wasn’t working.  It seems that the water that was still inside the pipes froze, and we were once again without water.  Most of the day was spent trying to thaw the pipes inside the trailer walls, a difficult proposition seeing that we could get to none of them without dismantling the trailer.

With two waterless days behind us, we vowed that today would be different.  Indeed, it was.  This time, we had cold water in abundance, but no hot water.  The pipes leading from the hot water tank had frozen going to the faucets.  While we were half-heartedly trying to work on those, one of the kids ran in to tell us that the toilet was overflowing.  A quick inspection  revealed that the hose going to the toilet had developed a leaky valve, and was dripping water all over the floor at a steady rate.  I was puzzled  at the discrepancy of this dilemma.  How could the pipes be frozen and yet the toilet leaking?  The irony was amazing.   How could the water be disconnected, and yet the pipes still freeze?  How could the trailer be as warm as Death Valley in July, and yet the water freeze?  We decided that it must be a miracle of the same type that Gideon had when he put his fleece before the Lord.  One morning, the fleece was wet and the ground dry, the next, the ground was wet and the fleece dry.

One thing is sure, though.  If you visit us before two in the afternoon this week, don’t sniff too closely, because you might get more than you bargained for.  As for us, we are just taking it one day at a time.  And don’t be surprised if you see our trailer smirking…

A Father’s Dream

It was a great victory when each of my children bowed their hearts to the claims of the Gospel and trusted Jesus Christ as Savior.  The next great spiritual goal in my mind for my children is for them to totally surrender their lives to the Lord.  Each needs to realize that after salvation, he or she needs to present his or her life as a living sacrifice to God.

As I look at Josiah, it often seems too soon for him to be involved in youth activities with other seventh through twelfth graders.  Yet, he is in the seventh grade and is perfectly eligible to go to youth meetings, my nostalgia notwithstanding.  Because of the broken down trailer and our being detained in Mobile, Alabama, we were asked to join the church youth group in a trip to Acworth, Georgia, to a youth rally in which several churches were involved.  Josiah came with us while a family from the church watched our younger children in Mobile.

The music and the preaching at the youth rally were Christ-honoring and Scriptural, and Josiah sat on the front row taking it all in.  After hearing a message on Abraham offering up Isaac to God, Josiah decided to give to God his most prized possession, his life.  After hearing how God wants what matters most to us, the decision was very plain in his mind.  He would surrender his life to do whatever God wanted him to do.

As different young people were responding in the invitation, one of the rally workers approached me and asked me to deal with Josiah, not realizing he was my son.  So it was that father and son got a chance to speak freely about this monumental decision.  It was a time of real tenderness on Josiah’s part and great victory for me as his father.

My dealing with Josiah was not unlike my dealing with anyone who makes public a decision of total surrender.  I stressed to him that the decision of full surrender is one that must be revisited daily.  He must remind himself of this promise often, lest he be tempted to take back what he has given to God.  Only God knows what Josiah will ultimately do, but as long as recalls this decision made at this rally today, God will gently lead him every step of the way.

I invite all of you who pray for us to rejoice with me over the broken down trailer.  I invite you to praise the God Whose ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts.  The seeming difficulties we have faced with the trailer are more than worthwhile when we consider all that God has done in the lives of many in our extended stay in lower AL.  Praise the Lord!

Being in the Way

Although few can call his name, most know the most famous statement to come from the mouth of Abraham’s servant in Genesis 24.  He said, “I being in the way, the Lord led me.”  So it was with our ministry.

On Wednesday of last week, we closed a meeting in Semmes, Alabama, or so we thought.  During the course of the meeting, a man came to me and told me that I was having some real problems with my trailer.  He said that they were the kinds of things that I really needed to get fixed or else I should trade my current unit in for another one.  The timeframe?  Sooner rather than later.

Having made some decisions in haste in days gone by regarding these matters, I resolved to pray about this one and seek the Lord’s wisdom.  Not surprisingly, the Lord answered and directed us to repair the trailer we currently have.  He even led us to the proper facility.  The repair, however, will cost us time and we are detained in Mobile for the time being. 

The pastor of the church in which we just closed a meeting asked me to preach on Sunday as well, a Sunday through Sunday meeting of sorts.  It was the Lord’s will and the Lord’s timing in every respect.

All throughout the week, God worked in the hearts of people in the church and they got things right.  By the following Sunday, the Lord was prepared to move on to working in the hearts of lost people.  One man had been praying for his lost wife and mother for many months.  Both ladies came on Sunday morning and were born again.

At the invitation Sunday morning, I specifically told the unsaved people to come forward and get my attention and I would direct them to the personal worker.  In addition to the two ladies who responded, a teenage boy responded immediately.  I had instructed the people who were unsure of their salvation to not merely kneel at the front as others (Christians) would be doing.  They were to look me in the eyes and get my attention.

Kyle didn’t wait.  He didn’t hesitate to follow my instructions perfectly.  I had been paying attention to the ladies, who I knew had been the objects of prayer for some time, and failed to realize that here was another precious soul very serious about salvation.  It was powerful service and one that did a lot to encourage the pastor and his people.

Now, we are involved in a waiting game.  We have no idea how much time will be involved in our trailer repair, nor do we know for certain how much it will cost.  What we do know is that God is in control, and He is in heaven waiting to show Himself strong in response to our faith.

Please pray about the timing and finances of the trailer repair.  As you pray, know that God is hearing and showing Himself mighty in our lives.  For those of you who pray for us, the victories we see are as much yours as they are ours.  Mostly though, the victory belongs to our God, Who has left us His Word and His Spirit with which to minister.  It is our joy to be a part of His plan.

Idleness of the Hands

Both the months of January and February have been blessed months for us.  We had a great meeting in Beaufort, South Carolina, and from there we went back to our home church to preach a special Sunday in north Mississippi.  From there, I went alone out west to southern California and Arizona.  We saw three trust Christ in CA.  The church in AZ was a brand new church plant, and we had a high attendance on Wednesday night of the meeting with 44.  Though we saw no one saved in that meeting, the outreach into the community that came about as a result was a tremendous help to the church.  Now, we are in lower Alabama and God is working here as well.  In every church, we were privileged to see the power of God at work as the Holy Spirit works in concert with the Word of God to bring people to a point of change in their lives.

After the financial strains of last year, the Lord laid it on the heart of a church to take up a special love offering for us.  That meant that this past January was the first January in nearly 12 years of full time evangelism where we got a paycheck every week of the month.  That generosity of God’s people, combined with the normal meetings that we had, served to make up for the financial deficit of the last year.  We are rejoicing in the goodness of God.

The Preacher reminds us in Ecclesiastes 10:18, “By much slothfulness, the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.”  After being out of my trailer for a couple of weeks—since last month about this time—I began preparing everything to go to lower AL.  The problem was that while I was in the Southwest, a tremendous cold front hit the area of MS where we live.  Although I had drained the water heater and the water lines of the trailer, the unit still sustained damage of which I was unaware.  As I was getting ready to go, I noticed that there was a major rupture in the water system of the trailer, a part of the system that had not drained properly when I had tried to winterize it earlier.

I knew that if the problem were not fixed, I would hook the water up in AL, only to see it cascading out the wall of the unit.  The alternative was living in the trailer without water, always inconvenient to say the least.  It would also have to be fixed before we left, since the nature of RV parts stores is that they close early on the weekend when everyone is traveling (and breaking down).  It is probably a giant conspiracy that involves hotel chains, wrecker services, and RV campgrounds as well, and they all get part of the kickback.  For example, you break down on the side of the road, can’t drop your unit there, so you must call a tow service.  Because your home on wheels is now incapacitated, you have to find a place to stay.  If it is a small repair, you can stay in a campground  over the weekend until the parts store is open on Monday.  If it is a large repair, you can stay in a hotel and pay for your unit to be fixed at the unbelievable rate of $130 an hour labor(average), plus parts.

Fixing a trailer is always a difficult proposition.  Not that the work itself is difficult, but the parts are notoriously hard to find.  So it was that I began my epic parts hunt.  The whole thing works like a teenage scavenger hunt in some ways, except that I end up spending a lot of time and money before everything gets done.  Lowe’s did not have what I needed.  Wasted trip number 1.  From there, it was off to a little hardware store that specializes in parts that Lowe’s doesn’t carry.  Two men look at what I need and proceed to try to rig something from their limited inventory.  (Just wrap this up with duct tape and it’ll git ‘r done!)  After purchasing their rig and taking it back to find that it did not work, I realized that I had just made wasted trip number 2.  From there, it was driving across the county to the RV store, cringing all the way at their inflated prices and hoping against hope that this would not be another worthless trek.  When I got to the store, they assured me that they had the part and actually gave it to me.  Success at last—or so it seemed.

When I got the part home and installed it, I was unnerved by the fact that it fit very loosely.  Sure enough, when we turned the water on, the awful sound of water greeted me and I knew that the new part failed to hold.  Disappointed, I went through the neighbor’s yard to pick up the various faucet parts that had been strewn all over it by the escaping water pressure.  Wasted trip number 3. 

By this time it was after 1:00 in the afternoon and we still had about six hours of driving ahead of us.  It was now time for a change of strategy.  I called ahead to the pastor and asked him to get the entire assembly that had gone bad.  After going to the RV parts store and taking a picture, he purchased exactly what I needed to get the problem solved.  We finally got in to Mobile around 9:30 p.m.  (There were other setbacks which would only take more time to tell.)  As for the part?  It took less than five minutes to get it installed and to get water to the trailer.  So we are in our home on wheels again and everything is going well.

Moral of the story?  You must be constantly working on your house to fight the inevitable onslaught of decay.  If you have a house on wheels, the work load at least doubles.  Some time ago, a woman noticed our rig and commented to her friend, “My, that must be the life!”  Oh, if she only knew!

First Fruits

The first revival of our ministry in 2014 is now history.  For the third year in a row, we were in the First Baptist Church of North Port, Florida, where Jared Gritton is the pastor.  Pastor Gritton and I first met when he was an assistant in Urbana, Illinois, in 2003.  We have been friends ever since then.

Because of the presence of seasonal residents of Florida, usually known as “snowbirds,” we had better crowds this year than we did in days gone by.  The Lord worked mightily in the services each night, and many responded to the preaching.

On Thursday, Pastor Gritton and I ventured out in the afternoon to make some visits and talk to some that would be home at that time of day.  We were able to find a woman named Ciria at home.  Ciria had visited the church a few times but had not yet trusted Christ as Savior.

Her story is an interesting one.  She was born into atheistic Communism in Cuba, coming to this country a few years ago.  Her family was a moral one, but one that did not really believe in God.  Upon coming to Florida, she had dabbled in Roman Catholicism because her mother had been a Catholic prior to Castro’s takeover of Cuba.  Her experience in the Catholic Church convinced her that the people there were just going through empty ritual.  Indeed, after coming to First Baptist Church only a couple of times, she had more friends there than she had at the Catholic church in two years of attending.

When we showed up to talk to her, she was very eager to hear what we had to say.  It took no convincing to persuade her that she was a sinner, and she was glad to learn that Christ’s death on the cross was all that was necessary to pay for sin.  After explaining the Gospel to her, she prayed in her living room to ask Christ to save her.  It was a glorious time in the ministry!

Ciria’s husband Paul—of all names—is not saved, and the two are in divorce proceedings right now.  Ciria wants to see her marriage put back together, and we know that God can do it.  If the Lord brings the matter to your mind, would you pray for Paul’s salvation?

We are off now to Beaufort, South Carolina, to preach in the Victory Baptist Church.  Thank you so much for your prayers.

Ready, Set, Go

What parent hasn’t heard these words from his or her child from as they grow up?  And yet those words very aptly describe the last few days of 2013 for our family.  And the work that had to be done to get ready was far from child’s play. 

After a wonderful Christmas season spent at home in Mississippi, we headed out to Ripley, Tennessee, on December 28 to prepare for a Sunday of services there all day December 29.  After preaching three times on Sunday and driving 81 miles back home, we pillowed out heads knowing that the next few days would be intense. 

Monday, we set to work getting ready; that is, preparing the trailer for a long period of time on the road.  Then there was the “get set” part of preparation: checking the air in the tires, changing the truck’s engine oil, replacing the water heater anode, and other technical projects relating to our equipment.

By 1:00 Monday afternoon, we were ready to go.  Eight hundred sixty-four miles of go, in fact.  A day and half later, we arrived in North Port, Florida about an hour before our service was supposed to start.  On Sunday, we begin our first meeting of the year here in North Port, after which he head north to South Carolina.

This year promises to bring some very important decisions for us, particularly regarding the trailer.  Last year, pulling the trailer cost us a little more than $1.64 a mile.  Admittedly, it was a rougher year than usual, mainly due to a transmission that needed to be replaced in the truck.  Still, this kind of expense forces us to make some hard decisions regarding the way we have always traveled as a family.  Would you pray for God’s wisdom as we seek His will in these matters?  What a privilege it is to serve Him, and we know that He will reveal His plan to us in His time.

May God give all of you a prosperous and fruitful New Year.

Sequel

For those of you who hate sequels, please accept my apologies.  For the Crow family, the story of our trip from the upper Midwest to the Southeast concluded in with a flurry of activity.

Our last update ended with a mechanic staying open late on a Saturday to help us get back on the road.  We did get on the road at 12:45 Sunday morning, driving until 4:45 to get to our intended parking spot.  Fearing lest we would not be able to awaken if we lay down to sleep, we simply stayed up all night long and were on time to Sunday school at 9:00.

The Lord gave us very good services and really knit our hearts with the people.  For a brief summary of our travels, I have included the following graphic for reference.  Each letter represents a stop in our journey from SD to SC.  These stopping points do not include the TN breakdown point, but they do give a general idea.

The sequel to the story involves a breakdown in SC.  While on our way to see my brother and sister-in-law last night, the drive shaft broke again.  Currently, we are without transportation until we can get this issue resolved.  Some of our acquaintance have expressed a desire that we no longer contact them at all, since all we seem to have to report lately is bad news.  If you would like to join those of that persuasion, I understand.  My ministry is not responsible for possible fits of depression brought on by reading our updates.

Please know that we live from day to day in confidence that our Sovereign God is in control and at work.  He knows what is going on and we, by the grace of God, continue to trust in Him.