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.