Harvest

 I love harvest time in the country. The excitement of seeing the long-awaited grain entering the large bins and being carried from fields to elevators for eventual sale is exhilarating to see. This fall has been a bit of a harvest time for our family. We have been in meetings every week for over a month now, and we look forward for that to continue into the Christmas season.

The busyness has also meant that I have not given an update as I should have. There is much to catch up on.

This is our fall to be in the Inter-mountain West. We started in Minnesota, and have been as far west as Idaho with meetings in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana along the way. We still have meetings in South Dakota and Colorado before heading east again to Michigan and Indiana. After Thanksgiving, we board a plane for Italy and preach a meeting there before returning to the US, preaching in Virginia and then returning home for Christmas.

God has enabled us to see many decisions, including salvations, as we labor in churches this fall. It has been wonderful to see His hand at work as we minister for Him.

So much has changed about our ministry over the years. This is the last year in which we will have anyone traveling with us. There was day not so long ago when the Crow family piled out of the truck like clowns out of a Volkswagen. Now, there are a grand total of 3 of us. Daniel is on track to finish school by December, after which he will stay in Mississippi and work to save up money for college. Josiah is out of the house now, Esther is at home serving in our local church, and Abigail is finishing her senior year of college at Ambassador.

One of the major changes is that our special music is not what it once was. We used to have so many parts in special music. Now, we are down to two. This week, we are in Eastern North Carolina, having flown here for the week. Because of the cost of tickets, Sarah and I are the only ones to be on this trip, Daniel having stayed behind in Idaho with the trailer. We are doing specials every night. The meaning is that some nights people are subjected to my voice as a soloist, for better or for worse.

Through it all, the Lord has been faithful. He continues to direct us, give us opportunities to minister, and save souls through our means. Our only regret is that we do not have more to give Him.

Summer

 The heat of summer is here in Mississippi, along with all the accompanying activities. The original plan was to be in Papua, New Guinea, at this time, but that meeting had to cancel. Accordingly, we find ourselves ministering in our church in Mississippi, at least those of the family who are here.

Josiah has moved out of our home and has taken a position on staff at our home church, Clearview Baptist Church in Southaven, MS. He will heavily involved in music, both in the church and Christian school. Currently, he is busy readying the facility for school, along with the rest of the staff.

Daniel is away as well, having finished a ministry trip to Nebraska and entered his first of two consecutive weeks of camp. The first is Camp Barnabas, a camp run by Ambassador Baptist College for young people considering full-time ministry. The second week will be Timber Ridge Bible Camp, a ministry of Grace Baptist Church in Woodstock, Virginia. Esther has been serving on program staff there all summer. Her last week begins this coming Monday.

As for Abigail, she has been serving in the Platte Valley Baptist Church of Fort Morgan, Colorado, completing her college internship. She is to return today, provided the flight schedules work out for her.

Sarah and I are trying to fight coming of old age with all of its trappings. Particularly acute right now is our growing addiction to quiet. Not many weeks ago, the piano in our home was going nearly 18 hours a day. Someone would be singing at the top of (usually) his voice, while other sounds randomly mingled their way into the cacophony. As I type this, there is no sound save that of the keyboard in front of me. I have had my time with God in total silence for several days on end, and I can feel the tentacles of addiction wrapping themselves about my psyche. The fear is, of course, that if I become addicted to quiet that I might become a grumpy old man when those around me are less than serene. 

Soon, however, three of our children will be back, although not for long. Abigail returns to college for her final year this year, after which she plans to be married. She has been officially engaged now for a few weeks. 

As July winds down, we will need to turn our attention to getting our trailer ready to travel. We need new tires because the old ones are cracking in the side walls, and one of them has a leak. Every time we move it, we have to pump up the tire. The issue was minor whenever Sarah was teaching at Ambassador, but once we are going to be in a new place every week, we need dependable tires. This will be the most costly trailer procedure that needs to be done, but also the easiest.

In addition, we have two sewer valves that are leaking. That means that the entire underbelly of the trailer has to be taken off the valves replaced. You may remember that we did this once before, but there seems to be an ongoing issue. Additionally, the rear tank has a leaking valve as well. We did not try to tackle the rear valve earlier.

By September, we should be on the road nearly every week pulling the trailer. Please pray for fruit as we minister.

About Jesus

April and May have been busy months for our family and ministry. April 2025 was the last month of traveling without Sarah for me. She finished her work at Ambassador Baptist College teaching piano and is now traveling with me again. Daniel comes with us as well.

As for the rest of my family, the older three children are scattered all over right now. Josiah is serving in a church and school in Colombia, South America. While this ministry seems to be short term, it is keeping him very busy. Based upon two years of high school and a couple of trips to Hispanic countries, he finds himself giving devotions and music lessons in Spanish. It definitely is stretching him and teaching him to rely upon God. He will be there for a month, after which he has to return to the United States. What the Lord does with him from there is still a matter of prayer.

Abigail is fulfilling her college internship at the Platte Valley Baptist Church of Fort Morgan, Colorado. She will be there for 8 weeks. 

Esther is serving at Timber Ridge Bible Camp, a ministry of Grace Baptist Church of Woodstock, Virginia. She and Daniel were campers there last year, and when she was offered the opportunity to return as a staff member, she determined that the Lord would have her go.

Daniel himself will be leaving after a while heading to a special mid-America missions trip headed by Dr. Roger Luiken of Ambassador Baptist College. Bro. Luiken pastored churches in America's heartland for many years and understands the unique dynamics of the area. While it would not be technically correct to say that Sarah and I are empty nesters, the house is growing rather quiet these days.

My meetings have gone very well. It is a joy to see people saved in our meetings. The entire family except for Abigail was able to go to New York City again this year. I was amazed at the number of Muslims who sat and listened to me preach. The church is one block away from a large Muslim section of Brooklyn. Please pray that God would open the eyes of these dear people.

Ordinarily, I am not a sought-after conference speaker. Many conference organizers seek to fill the pulpit with well-known preachers with excellent name recognition. Many would argue that my name is not recognized enough to be a conference speaker. 

In late May, however, Pastor Tom Brennan hosted his first ever Christ Conference. The idea of the conference was simple: every preacher would preach about Jesus. I was asked to be the keynote speaker in that I was to preach every night of the conference in addition to all day on Sunday. Not one man who spoke was a "well known" preacher, including me. At the end of the conference, Pastor Brennan informed me that in his 28 years of being a pastor, he had never had a better meeting. Focusing solely on Jesus caused me to wonder why everyone everywhere is not doing the same thing. I found myself falling before God and confessing to have taken my Savior for granted for many years of Christian experience. It was such a joy to prepare and preach many messages focusing only on Jesus.

Our summer schedule is much lighter this year due to a large mission's trip that had to be canceled. We plan to be mostly home serving the Lord in the Clearview Baptist Church for the summer before leaving again for a heavy schedule in the fall.

Manifold Blessings

 March has been a month of blessings for our family, both spiritual and financial. As you may remember from last month, Sarah's car broke down and needed a very costly and notoriously unreliable transmission. We opted to get another car instead of repairing the one we already had. The factory would only warranty a new transmission for 1 year or 12,000 miles, so great was their confidence in it. The Lord provided us two very noteworthy things: first, the money to purchase another car; and second, a dealer willing to take our old car in on trade. This willingness to trade was very important because I could well understand someone not wanting the car, given the notoriety of the transmission troubles to which it is prone. In the end, for the cost of the transmission repair plus the trade-in, we were able to get another car. Sarah now traverses the town and country in a Cadillac. It is 13 years old and has some minor issues, but it is a beautiful and dependable vehicle.

The Lord gave safety and a great meeting in Lighthouse Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia. It is always great to be with Pastor Philip Bishop and his dear people.

After a whirlwind visit to Alabama for a short meeting there, I made a touch-and-go appearance back home to Mississippi to take care of some business. Every time I am able to be back in the Clearview Baptist Church, I am grateful to God for leading our family there in the first place. What a blessing to see the growth in the church in the weeks and months that I have had to be away!

It has been many years since I have been able to attend the Ambassador Baptist College Bible Conference. This year, some of my good friends in the ministry were preaching, and it was a blessing to be there. God worked in a special way in every service.

In a couple weeks, Sarah and I will be together for our one meeting per semester that we get together. We will head to Calvary Baptist Church of Urbana and minister with Pastor Tyson Olheiser and his people. His church is located not far from the University of Illinois. He himself was a student when the church reached him many years ago. Would you pray that God would give us souls as we go? The Olheisers are dear friends of ours and we look forward to ministering alongside them.

After April comes graduation and then more meetings. Busy times ahead. Thank you for all of your prayers.

Technical Difficulties

 The Lord gave us some great times of ministry during this past month, even though the month is not yet over. While I am not out preaching, I have opportunity to serve in the Morganton Baptist Church of Morganton, North Carolina. Pastor Qurollo invited me to preach to his people a couple of times while we have been there, and the church gave us a very generous love offering. We are so grateful for the people that God has brought into our lives.

There seems to be a rash of breakdowns that have hit our family. As we left church last night for an hour drive back home through the rolling hills of western North Carolina, the engine of Sarah's car suddenly began to race for no apparent reason. I noticed that we were losing, rather than gaining, speed up the hill despite the revving motor. A few weeks ago, one of the men in the church had seen our car and asked us an interesting question: "Have you ever had transmission trouble with that car?" At the time, the answer was no. As of last night, my answer has changed. 

A man in the church loaned us his trailer to use to haul the car. Currently, the vehicle is sitting on the trailer not far from our RV while we wait for the transmission shop to get back to me with a price to repair or replace the transmission. 

The decisions related to this repair are difficult because the car is at the place where the cost of repair is about the cost of the vehicle. We might be able to repair it and use the car for a few years. We might also be able to find something more dependable and forget about the current car. Please pray for wisdom as we negotiate the ins and outs of this decision.

At the end of this week, I am scheduled to board a plane in Charlotte and fly into Reagan National Airport just outside of Washington, D.C. You may remember the airliner recently that crashed into a helicopter there. I am to fly the same airline into the same airport. Please pray for safety.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers.

New Year

 The month of January has been a full month full of blessings and sadness. Through it all, we rejoice in God's faithfulness.

Twenty-three years ago, I was a young evangelist just starting out. Pastor Randy Hartwell, in Michigan at the time, had me for a meeting on the recommendation of a pastor-friend of his. Through the years, he had me on a regular basis, even though he was no longer in Michigan. In the latter years, he would have me in once a year to preach to his people. Before the first of the year, he got in touch with me and wanted me to come preach for him yet again. I did, although he was so sick that he was unable to be at the services. Not long after I preached for him, he slipped into glory. There is something to be said for any pastor that will take a chance on a young preacher. I will always appreciate what he did for me.

A meeting of young evangelists was next on the schedule. Somewhere along the line, I have moved from learning as a young man to teaching other young men. That is a humbling reality. 

It appears that a trip to the Dominican Republic is becoming a regular part of my annual schedule. Again this January, I found myself in the warmth of the Caribbean sunshine and the Haitian immigrants in the DR. It was 15 years ago that Biz Lerisse moved to this area to work with displaced Haitians. At the time, the people lived in fear of Satan and his potential to harm them. As the years went by and the Gospel was preached, the instances of demonism began to wane. This last Sunday, over 330 people crowded into the upper story of the church where the auditorium can catch the island breezes and thereby give a break from the heat. Ten people followed the Lord in believer's baptism that day as the church praised the Lord for His power and goodness. I preached a simple Gospel message. Six more people were born again that weekend. The entire service seemed to serve to give the Devil a black eye. As I watched person after person publicly identify with Christ through baptism, I was reminded of the verse in II Corinthians 2: "Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place." God is doing a great work there, and I am humbled to be able to have a part.

The work with the podcast continues. The number of listeners is growing slowly as word gets out. If you would like to listen, the quickest way is to go to my website paulcrow.org. You can also find it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts by searching for "Evangel Paul Crow." Evangel is the name of the podcast, but there are some churches who went by that name some years ago and have since quit podcasting.

The family is still in North Carolina where three of the children are college students at Ambassador Baptist College and Sarah is teaching there. Occasionally Daniel will travel with me, but he has a job now, further complicating travel options.

We look forward to seeing what God will do for us this year. Thank you for your support and prayers for us.

Christmas Blessings

 The last month of ministry and life in general has flooded my mind with a realization of the manifold blessings of God.  He has given us another year of serving Him and seeing others turn to Him as we give the truth.

For the family, this Christmas will be the first in which our family will not be all present.  Josiah is currently in Colombia ministering with a friend from college. He plans to be there through the new year serving God. The rest of us are currently in Mississippi doing the kinds of things that normally occupy our time near the Christmas season.

For an evangelist, meetings are usually fewer in number this time of year.  Despite that tendency, the Lord has blessed with meetings unusually close to the Christmas holiday that have been a blessing to us.  

One meeting in particular deserves special mention because of what the Lord did.  Great Hope Baptist Church of Chesapeake, Virginia, has done a living nativity for the past 3 years.  Last year, they discovered that it would be better to have two Gospel preaching stations rather than one.  That way, there would never be a bottleneck of people to distract those who were hearing the Gospel.  The pastor of the church, John Godfrey, Jr., is a friend of mine from my days in college.  For two years straight during the college years, we traveled together in music groups.  He called me this year and asked me to help present the Gospel at the end of the living nativity.

The event lasted three nights, from December 13-15, 2024.  In that time, we had 1,785 people attend the event. After they went to each location to hear actors tell the story of Mary, Joseph, and the birth of Jesus, they then proceeded to the cross and the empty tomb where a man dressed as a Roman soldier told them about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. From there, the groups--each numbered about 60 people--came into one of two tents where the pastor and I preached the Gospel, he in one tent and I in the other.  The entire event was built around making much of Jesus.  Over the three days, we had 270 people profess Christ as Savior.  It was a great way to celebrate the Christmas holiday.

Not long after Christmas, Abigail and I head for Louisiana, she to work in a winter camp and I to preach in Lake Charles.  We scarcely return from there before she heads off to college, and I to my traveling schedule.

As many of you know, I have been producing a podcast on a regular basis throughout much of 2024.  The computer that I have been using for seven years is giving me some problems recently.  This machine has become essential to the work that I have been doing.  Please pray for wisdom as to whether we should repair or replace what we currently have.

May all of you have a merry Christmas and a wonderful, fruitful new year.

Gratitude

A week from today, the United States of America will celebrate the greatest holiday of all, Thanksgiving. Granted, there is more hype surrounding other holidays, but the idea of being grateful should reign supreme among the nobility of virtues. Truly, our family has much to be thankful for.

God gave many open doors of ministry during the last month. An annual highlight is our trip to Fort Morgan, Colorado, to minister in the Platte Valley Baptist Church. Every year, together with Evangelist Dwight Smith and family, we have ministered among those dear country people. This year, we dug out some pictures from the very first time we were there ten years ago. In those ten years, our children have grown up, our horizons (waistlines) have broadened, and my hairline has receded to the back of my head. Also, the church has more than doubled in that time. During our time there, four people walked the aisle to trust Christ as Savior. The Wednesday before our family arrived, six were saved in a special teen service. What a thrill to minister with faithful people!

Because Sarah is still teaching at Ambassador Baptist College, I travel either alone, with pianist Dale Lieser, or with Dale and my son Daniel. God has given us some good meetings together as we learn how to serve each other and the churches where we are.

Work is already underway for the 2025 schedule with many weeks already full. We are looking forward to seeing what God will do in our travels then.

In the family front, Josiah has one more semester after December to complete before he graduates with his master's degree. Please pray for the Lord's leading as he seeks a place of ministry. Abigail has one more year after this school year before she will graduate with her bachelor's degree. Esther has one more semester after December and she will finish her one year Bible certificate. Daniel is in his junior year of high school and looks forward to getting his driver's permit soon. Pray for his mother in that regard.

My podcast continues with a new episode being added every month. In the next week or so, I plan to begin a short series of episodes on objections to the Gospel. These have value, not only for unsaved people, but also for believers who must give the Gospel to less-than-receptive coworkers and family members. Below are links.

Spotify  Apple Podcasts YouTube

In addition to the podcast, I also publish preaching shorts under a YouTube channel with the same name and logo as the podcast. You find a link to the entire channel, including podcast and shorts here.

May the grace of God fill you with gratitude this holiday season. Thank you as always for your prayers.

Still Going

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back to Normal

 The May rush of graduations is over for us as of today.  We had relatives in from out of town to celebrate Esther's graduation, with an honorable mention of Josiah's college graduation from college as well thrown into the mix.  Esther was the first of our children to not have a more formal graduation ceremony.  The details simply could not be worked out this year as they had with our other two children in days gone by.  That meant that the graduation reception at our house was the only means of celebration for Esther.  She was fine with not having a ceremony, though, if for no other reason than the fact that she did not have to give a public speech.  She plans to return to Ambassador Baptist College in the fall to continue studying for her one-year Bible certificate that she began in January of this year.  That will mean three of my four children will be in college at the same time. Josiah is on track to graduate with his master's degree a year from now.  Abigail has two more years to go, and Esther will be done this time next year as well.

In the mean time, the Crow family is back to whatever normal is for us.  Josiah is working on an internship in our home church in Mississippi; Abigail is a camp counselor all summer long at Southland Christian Camp in Ringgold, Louisiana; and our younger two are at home preparing for the summer ministry.

The highlight of this summer's ministry is to be a trip to Europe where we will spend six weeks preaching mostly in Italy, but also in Germany.  In these letters, I have mentioned the financial need that exists to enable us to be without income for those weeks, plus pay for our airfare.  Many gifts have come in for this need with more on the way.  At the present time the money that has actually come in is around 40% of what we need for the trip.  We are still a month out, and churches that have promised to give have not yet taken up the offerings for our upcoming trip.  We are confident that God will meet the need in His way and in His time.  Many of you who read these letters have given toward the need, and we are grateful for your generosity.

Until the exact date when we leave for Italy, June 24, we have some local engagements and one camp in which I will preach before we head out.  The schedule includes two American military churches, four Italian churches, and one missionary camp in Germany.  Our days will be filled with ministry, and we could not be more excited to see what God will do.

As the summer summer begins for each of us, may we all seize every opportunity that God gives us to serve Him.  As always, thank you all for your prayers and support.

A New Outreach

 As I write this, Dale and I are outside of Park Rapids, Minnesota, where we will be in a meeting through Wednesday of this week.  God has used the team as we have served together over the past couple of months.  We have gotten to know each other's strengths and weaknesses and the Lord is helping us to connect with people as we travel.  After this week, Dale will go back to Kings Mountain for a couple of months as the Crow family travels together once again.

God has brought in more money for our European missions trip.  We are not yet where we wanted to be with the total amount, but we are closer than we were last month.  Some churches have promised but not yet delivered on that promise.  One church is taking up an offering today for the need.  By next month, I should be able to give a dollar amount as to how much has come in.  This we know, our God is able.

Throughout 2024, I have been talking about a project of mine that I wanted to become a reality.  It is a podcast totally dedicated to the Gospel.  As of Friday of last week, it became a reality.  I have called it Evangel.  You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other platforms that feature podcasts.  One word of warning: there is a church in North Dakota that goes by the name Evangel.  They have their own podcast that is decidedly different from mine, at least based upon the description.  Also, there are many Spanish language podcasts called Evangel.  None of those are mine, either.  The goal is to put a new episode out every month.  You can recognize my podcast not only by its name, but also by its slogan: proclaiming and explaining the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

My son Josiah is supposed to graduate from college on Friday of this week.  After that, we head home for a few days before taking the family--all six of us--to New York City for a meeting there.  We are looking forward to what will do while we are in New York again.  This will be the first time that the entire family has been together for a full meeting in a few years.  We are looking forward to it.

Once we arrive back home in Mississippi, we will also be having some kind of graduation ceremony for my daughter Esther.  She is finally done with high school (home school), and we are very pleased with how hard she has worked.  Now only Daniel remains to be homeschooled.  If his high school is anything like the others, it will be over before we know it.

In a world that is divided by all kinds of things, I am happy to report that we are observing the fruits of kindness in this church in Minnesota.  Pastor Josh Hawn is man who stands for the truth, and yet has seen great strides in his small town because of his kindness to others.  It has been a great reminder to me of the power of God when we simply reach out to others with grace.  As we head into the summer, may all our interactions with others be seasoned with grace.

Thank you, as always, for your prayers.

Team

 My how our ministry team has changed!  Gone are the days when Crow children dropped out of the backseat of our truck like clowns from a Volkswagen.  Only Daniel remains with me, and now I can give somewhat of a report about Dale being part of the team.  Everything has gone very well in meetings.  Dale's contributions have been a great blessing in every church in which we have ministered.  It has been a joy for him as well to travel with us.

This is a very busy season for us in meetings just now.  God is supplying meetings in many different places and daily supplying the strength to serve Him.  We have been in Indiana and Ohio for a few weeks and will return home on April 1.  Dale will get a brief hiatus while the family is back together again ministering in South Carolina and Georgia.  Then, the three of us--Daniel, Dale, and I--get back on the road again as a team.  To be sure, this is a different dynamic from what I have done in the past, but God is blessing the arrangement.

We are actively making preparations for our trip to Europe this summer.  The plan is to leave June 25 and return August 6.  Most of our ministry will be in Italy, but we do have one week in Germany as well.  There will be a lot of travel and expense in order to be gone for this long a time.  Our needs have always been taken care of on the mission field, but there is a difficulty paying our bills back home when we are gone for so long a time.  We are praying for 10 churches to be able to contribute $1,000 each to our missions needs.  So far, 4 churches have responded.  Would you pray that God will supply the remainder of the money that is needed?

Europe has become the dark continent spiritually.  To be there is to miss none of the conveniences of the United States, but there is such a spiritual darkness that is there.  It is such a joy to see people that were saved the last time we were in Italy serving God faithfully today.  Families have been transformed because of the light of the Gospel.  As you pray for laborers, please remember Europe.  

Sarah has just a little over a month before her teaching duties will end for the summer.  It will be great to have her with me again as we travel.

Our older children will embark upon their summer ministries as soon as the semester is done.  Abigail plans to work at Southland Christian Camp in Louisiana as a counselor, while Josiah will serve in our home church in Mississippi as an intern for the summer.  Esther and Daniel will be with us in Europe for the summer.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers as we continue to see God work through the ministry of evangelism.  May God give you fruit for your labor for Him.

Build Thine House

 This past month has been a fruitful month for ministry here in the United States.  This time of year, I try to keep our meetings in the South and that has been true this year as well.  My home church Clearview Baptist Church has always been one of my favorite places in all the world to preach.  The day after our winter revival closes, the entire church meets in the fellowship hall to assemble 5,000 outreach packets that we then distribute to every door in the community until we run out.  (This distribution process takes a couple of months.)  The whole process is very organized and profitable in that it gives everyone an outlet in which to participate in getting out the gospel.  Additionally, we have seen good fruit from the packets that we hand out.  This routine has been a part of my family's life and service to God through our local church for many years, and though my three oldest were unable to be there for it this year due to their college commitments, Daniel and I still participated.  There is nothing quite like working to get the gospel into the hands of other people.

Additionally, we were also in Beaufort, South Carolina, for a meeting.  God blessed there as well with a soul trusting Christ as Savior.  My traveling evangelistic team has shrunk from 6 to 2 people now.  Daniel and I go to meetings and try to provide what special music we can in addition to the preaching.  Things are about to change, though.  A friend of mine named Dale Lieser has agreed to travel with us in the month of March.  Dale is an accomplished pianist and a dear friend.  We are testing the waters to see how this arrangement will work for us.  Dale is blind, and I need wisdom to be able to meet his needs while we are on the road.  I have no doubt that he will be a great blessing in the churches where we minister.

My podcast proceeds more slowly that I wish it would.  As soon as it is online, I will let you know.  For those who wish to have more current news than once a month, you can follow my wife on Facebook (Sarah Crow).  While I am not on FB, I am on Instagram where you can follow me at @crowing617.  I will announce the opening podcast there.

Several months ago, we noted that water was dripping from the upstairs bathroom of our home down the wall into the downstairs bathroom.  After putting off the problem for a while, I decided to deal with it while the rest of the family was in NC.  I tore out the downstairs bathroom down to studs and am in the process of redoing it now.  By the end of next week, I hope to have everything completed.  After working on this project, I have come to the realization that one of the greatest blessings of human existence is that God does all the work on my heavenly mansion without me having to lift a finger in the process.  Other than seeing Jesus, one of the greatest blessings of heaven may be no more remodeling projects.

Before too long, we will celebrate two graduations at our house: Esther from high school and Josiah from college.  Life is happening fast.  Thank you all for all your prayers.

Fruit

 What a wonderful start to the year we have had! We have had three meetings so far, and each has been a great blessing.  The new normal is for me (Paul) to travel either alone or with my son Daniel, Sarah being full-time faculty at Ambassador Baptist College.  My oldest three children are all in college, leaving Daniel and me to travel.  With that said, there are a couple of meetings in which Sarah is scheduled to join us and be a part of a meeting here or there.

Earlier this year, I was able to travel to the Dominican Republic and minister to Haitian immigrants there.  This was a first for me, but the Lord blessed while we were there.  The missionary, a man supported by our home church for many years, asked me to speak to a group of native pastors on the subject of music.  From Tuesday through Friday, I spoke on music 16 times with 4 sessions a day.  The schedule went like this: breakfast, four teaching sessions, lunch, soul-winning, rest, evangelistic service, and supper.  This took us from 8:45 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day.  All told, I spoke 23 times in one week of ministry.  Seventeen people professed faith in Christ while we were there.  It was a great trip, and I have been asked to return at a later time.

This week, we are in our home church to preach the winter revival meeting.  It definitely looks and feels like winter with a coat of snow and ice on the ground everywhere.  Please pray that God will work in hearts as the Word of God goes forth.  This happens to be one of the meetings in which Sarah is with me.  That is a great blessing.

After being out of the country, I am eager to return to work on my podcast.  There are some details that I have yet to finalize, and then I can begin the recording process in earnest.  Please pray for this endeavor.  I heard this past week of online presentations of the Gospel that are approaching 1 billion views.  I would love to add to this number by proclaiming and explaining the gospel through a podcast.  Stay tuned for more information on this ongoing project.

This summer, we are scheduled to return to Italy to preach once again in several churches there.  Please pray for the funding for this trip.  A man that was saved under our ministry the last time we were in Italy has remained faithful to church, his wife having trusted Christ as well.  They both were baptized in the Mediterranean Sea upon profession of faith in Christ.

While the spring has a good number of meetings, there are some openings for us in the fall.  Please pray that God will open doors and that He will continue to bless the giving of the Gospel by whatever means we have at our disposal.

Also, remember that you, too, are an ambassador for Christ, standing in the place of Jesus to plead with men to be reconciled to Him.

End of the Year

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Faithfulness

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pinch Hit

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you all for your prayers and support. 

Out of the desert

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hither and Yon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Home

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

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

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

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

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

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