Finishing up

 After a fruitful time of ministry at Ambassador Baptist College in Lattimore, North Carolina, we took our trailer in tow and began the long trip to Colorado.  After a drive of about 9 hours, we stopped for the night at a church in Clarksville, TN.  When we endeavored to get up the next morning and continue our journey, the slide-out of our trailer would not move.  I attempted a repair myself--or at least a diagnosis of the problem--but could not get the mechanism to work properly.  Eventually, we were able to get the room in enough to travel, but we realized that taking the trailer to Colorado would not be possible.  A four-hour detour later, we were back home packing all our necessary items into our church's cargo trailer.  We then took this trailer to the meeting in Colorado.  The travel trailer has an appointment with the repair shop on December 28, 2021.  This was the earliest available date to get it in.  In the meantime, we continue to travel with the cargo trailer and stay wherever churches can put us.

Currently, we are home for the Thanksgiving holiday, enjoying our time in Mississippi.  I had the opportunity to preach in our home church this past Sunday night.  It was such a blessing to be able to minister to the church family.  They have become so dear to us over the years that we have been members.

Two more meetings remain before the end of the year.  The first is with Tom Brennan in Dubuque, IA, and the other is a tent meeting in Shelby, NC.  Please pray that the God continues to a do a work in our ministry.

Our nation is ripe for another spiritual awakening.  On every hand, people seem to sense that there are great needs, but only those who know the Gospel really have the answer.  Please pray for us what the Apostle Paul requested that the Ephesians pray for him: "That utterance may be given unto me; that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel."

 This month has been a month of seemingly constant repairs--and a heartache as well.  As we headed out of Montana to our meeting in South Dakota, we were nearing our destination when two of our trailer tires blew at the same time on the same side.  I suspect that there was something in the road that caused the tires to blow because the motorist behind us also had a tire blow at the same time.  Changing tires on the Interstate is part of the description of the evangelist, but I had never had two blow at the same time on the same side.  That night we limped into the Bible Baptist Church of Brookings, South Dakota on three tires.  The good news was that we were able to park the trailer and have a place for the family to live while I worked on rounding up the necessary parts to fix the trailer.  The only tires that I was able to find were a temporary fix, but at least they got us on to where we needed to be.

Tire blowouts always do other trailer damage, and this time was no different.  On my trailer, there is a six-point hydraulic leveling system that came in handy when I had to work on the tires.  The blown tire perforated one of the hydraulic lines so that as we were leaving Michigan, fluid was pouring out everywhere.  I was able to make it all the way from Michigan back to Mississippi where I replaced the faulty line.  Also, I was able to get good quality tires for the trailer.  The tires normally run about $500 apiece installed, but the man gave me all four of them for $800 total.  Praise God for His provision.

There were also some minor issues with the truck: a water pump failed after 300,000 miles, and a coolant gasket did the same thing a couple of weeks later.  I have decided not to complain about auto parts that last that long.

We had some wonderful meetings this month, including a first for me.  Pastor John Allen of Valparaiso, Indiana, began a Christian Workers Seminar years ago to try to help the lay workers in his church to be better at what they do.  This year, he invited me to speak twice at the meeting (it goes all day long on a a Saturday) and then to preach in his church the following day.  What a great meeting that was!  It was a great blessing to be able to be a part of it.  Local church meetings SD, MI, and MS were also blessed of the Lord.

On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, a dear friend of ours went home to be with the Lord.  Pastor Jason Walker's heart stopped in his sleep, due possibly to A-fib, ushering him into the presence of our Lord.  A week later, my family and I were present at his funeral in Brooklyn, NY.  Over 500 people were there to pay their respects to a man whose ministry was characterized by a love of people.  Please pray for his widow and seven children.  

God has been so good to us and we look forward to continuing ministry as the year winds down.  Thank you all for your prayers.

Of Mountains and Prairies

The combination of preaching the Gospel in the mountains of Colorado has got to be one of the best that I can think of.  We were with Evangelist Dwight Smith in Meeker for the Victory Gospel Crusade.  This ministry is always exciting with services under the tent every night.  

From there, it was back to the front range, the Denver area, where we continued with the Smith family in a local church revival.  This was a different ministry because the pastor had recently resigned because of tragic circumstances.  Now, we as evangelists were there to help a hurting church as they move forward.

From Colorado, my plan was to go to Wyoming and fill my freezer with venison.  I have come to love the times in which I hunt with my children there.  We came home with three deer in four days of hunting.  Good times.

Because the spot where I normally park my trailer in Wyoming was not available due to construction, I found myself parking just a bit north in Montana at the Faith Baptist Church of Lodge Grass.  Bro. Dwight Smith was supposed to begin a meeting here on Sunday, but his trailer electrical system developed a problem, and he was unable to make it for Sunday services.  I preached the first Sunday of the meeting in his absence.

From there, we headed out across the great prairie toward our meetings in the midwestern United States.  Last night, after about 650 miles of driving, we were driving after dark heading for Brookings, South Dakota.  Fifteen miles from our destination, both tires on the trailer blew on the driver's side.  It seems that something on the road caused the blowout, although I didn't see exactly what it was.  I was not the only motorist to experience a blown tire due to the conditions.  In 18 years of pulling a trailer, I have had many blowouts, but never two on the same side at the same time.  After 2 1/2 to 3 hours of working in an 80-mile-per-hour speed zone, we finally got the spare installed, got off the freeway, and limped to the church on 3 wheels.  The trailer is now all set up to live in, and we will soon begin the process of assessing the damage before heading off to our next meeting.

I am so excited about the meetings that we have coming up.  The schedule is full, and we look forward to seeing what God will do.  Thank you so much for your prayers.

Monsoon

 Never before have I been in the American Southwest during the monsoon season.  It is a time when the rains come in from the Pacific Ocean and Baja California.  Some monsoon seasons in the past have brought very little rainfall, motivating some in Arizona and New Mexico to rename the season "nonsoon."  This year, however, the rains have come abundantly, causing the desert to burst into green.  As I sit and write, the Catalina Mountains of Southern Arizona are covered in green due to the abundant rain.  Of course, the season will end all too soon and the endless days of sunshine will resume, but it is wonderful to enjoy the ubiquitous evidence of God's gracious provision in the meantime.

After a brief time at home during which I worked a good deal with my hands, we loaded up again and headed for the Southwest.  We had a great time of ministry with the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Phoenix, Arizona.  After preaching to the church on Wednesday, I repaired to the mountains with the men of the church to preach a man camp.  What a time I had hearing how God was working in the lives of the men!  It was a blessing to hear of men who had only recently trusted Christ as Savior growing in the Lord and surrendering to His leading.  Cornerstone Baptist Church has been a church that loves preaching as long as I have known them, and the men of the church seem to set the tone for that love.

Cornerstone has been one of the few churches that support our ministry on a monthly basis.  On Sunday evening after I had finished preaching, the Pastor called his people into a meeting to discuss our monthly support.  His recommendation was that the church double it, but his people voted to increase our support beyond his recommendation.  I am still humbled as I reflect on their generosity.

After a great meeting there in Phoenix, we headed to Tucson where I preached for Pastor Jon Shuerger, a man who was at college with me.  The Lord gave us a great meeting there as well with open doors for the future.

When we assayed to leave Tucson, I discovered a transmission problem in my truck.  After a preliminary attempt to repair it proved unsuccessful, we took it to a mechanic in the area.  He looked at the transmission and discovered that a screw-on filter inside the housing had come off and was blocking the flow of fluid at times.  Just before I sat down to write, he informed me that the truck is fixed and that the bill is paid, by whom I don't know.  All I know is that someone in Tucson has once again decided to serve God by serving others.  Praise the Lord!  Their reward will be given by God Himself.

We head north to Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Indiana in the next month.  Thank you so much for your prayers.

Death Wobble

 June was a very busy month dominated mostly by camp in New Mexico.  With Sarah left behind in Mississippi to tend to things at home, we (Paul, Abigail, Esther, and Daniel) all packed in the truck and headed out to New Mexico for three different camps there.  The first was normal camp, whatever that is, and the other two were horsemanship camps.  God richly blessed in all three camps.  The horsemanship camps are by nature smaller attended than normal camp, but God really worked in all of them, with several salvation decisions in the normal camp.  This camp was unusual in that God began His work right away.  It is not uncommon for there to be a period of camp where people are not very receptive to the preaching and they have to warm up to the very idea of camp.  This time, we saw the Lord work from Monday night onwards.

We formed themselves into a work crew and took on the project of reroofing the bathhouse this year.  The leaking roof had caused several problems in the past, and it was time for a new one.  We tore it off, replaced all the dry-rotted wood, built six new skylights, and put a new metal roof back.  It was a hard job in which all were reminded of how difficult roofing work is, especially in the triple-digit temperatures of New Mexico in June.  The project was not completed until the very last day of the very last camp.  On that day, we installed six skylights, had the final service, loaded all our things, and drove 640 miles to our next meeting in Texas.  It made for a long day.  We are excited to see the things that God will be doing in camp in days to come.

After a couple of days at home, during which time we dove into a home remodeling project, I was off to a meeting in Wilson, North Carolina.  On the drive, I experienced for the first time something that continues to haunt me even as I remember it.  The phenomenon is commonly referred to as death wobble.  As the steering system components wear, the truck can become unmanageable at times.  For me, it was every time I hit a bump on the highway.  Death wobble causes the front end of the moving vehicle to shake uncontrollably, and in my case, continue to do so until the vehicle comes to a complete stop.

My experience with the first problems of steering came on the day that I was to drive over 800 miles to my meeting in NC.  After a routine stop, it seemed as if something was not quite right with the steering.  I pulled the vehicle over and crawled underneath, but could not find anything that looked out of place.  I got back on the road.  After another stop, the same thing occurred, and it seemed that I could not turn the vehicle to the left as far as it was accustomed to  go.  Again, I examined it but found nothing.  Finally, inside the I-285 beltway of Atlanta, GA, it seemed that something fell out from under the truck.  I could not tell what it was, nor was I certain that something had indeed fallen.  Then the death wobble began in earnest.  Before, I had suspected something; now, I was certain.  Just east of the I-75/85 junction with I-20 in Atlanta, I pulled off the highway in a rainstorm and was stuck there.  One of the steering system bolts had come loose and fallen completely out of the vehicle.  Pastor Steven Chambers came to my aid, and we were able to get the truck back on the road.  I arrived at the church where I was to preach shortly after 1:00 on Sunday morning.

After a wonderful day with the Trinity Baptist Church, I set out to head back to Mississippi when the death wobble occurred again.  Deeming it of great importance to get the problem fixed, I found a recommended repair facility in Selma, North Carolina.  There the truck sits now.  I am back at the prophet's chamber of the Trinity Baptist Church with my family 825 miles away.  As I have researched death wobble, I have discovered that it is a problem that has seemingly become more common as more parts are manufactured in China.  It happens even on new vehicles with far fewer miles than I have on my truck.  As I reflect on all that has taken place, I am very grateful that God protected me through all of this.  In all my years of driving, I have never encountered anything behind the wheel that was as frightening as this.

Thank you for your prayers.  It is easy to take something like road safety for granted.  I am grateful that God is still in the business of caring for His people.

Reunions

 As life has brought its changes, one of the realities that we deal with is distance from loved ones.  The greatest void that we feel is our son Josiah's absence from our home and ministry.  Not long ago, he finished his sophomore year at college.  It is a treat whenever we can be with him.  Such a reunion happened over Mother's Day weekend of this year.  Having completed the Spring semester, he drove to Ohio where he joined the family for Mother's Day.  It was so good to have him home.  He is off on summer ministry now, serving with Neighborhood Bible Time.  He will return from Bible Time to Mississippi to an empty house--we will be in meetings out west--before heading off to college once again.

Josiah was not the only family member that we got to spend time with this month.  While in a normal revival meeting in Knox, Indiana, we got to spend some time with the Crow side of the family.  On Mother's Day and the week following, we were with Sarah's mother and step-father, and her Brother Micah's family.  It was a great time of not only seeing our family, but also of ministering alongside them.

Our meetings in Indiana and Ohio have been blessed by God throughout these past weeks.  It is humbling to see how the Lord uses us in every place.  Our time in the Midwest closes next Sunday, after which we head home and then on to New Mexico for camp.

As we head to camp, please pray that God would work in hearts of parents to allow their children to come to camp.  The fear constantly being fomented in the minds of Americans today has had negative impact on traditional means of evangelization.  In other words, parents who would normally have allowed their children to go to camp where they could hear the Gospel are less willing to do so this year.  Please pray that God would overcome the obstacles and allow the young people to come to camp.  Camp has been a place where many have trusted Christ in days gone by.  Please pray that the reactions of people to a disease would not prevent the Gospel from going forward.

Our music CD is still available.  If you would like one, please go to paulcrow.org, click on contact, and send me an e-mail.  We would be glad to get one into your hands.  The Lord has used the music ministry already and our prayer is that He would continue to do so.

Many trouble-free miles are behind us in traveling this year, but there are more miles to travel.  Please pray for safety as we go.

Changes

 The last month saw us change ends of the country from the deserts of Arizona all the way to east coast.  On the way, we picked up a couple of weeks in our home area of West Tennessee/North Mississippi.  The Lord kept us safe the entire way.

One of the dangers facing us early on was dangerous winds as we crossed Texas.  As we drove across the Permian Basin (Midland/Odessa area), we saw trucks and trailers that had overturned in the cross winds.  One man and his travel trailer were completely upside down on the leeward side of the Interstate.  Another tow truck had capsized and was on its side, along with the broken down Chevy he was endeavoring to haul.  We were very grateful to make it back without incident, although we decided to drive much slower than we might otherwise have done.  Praise the Lord for safety over thousands of miles.

One of the highlights every year for our family is going to minister in New York City.  With all of the problems that the city presents, there are still a lot of good people there.  It was a blessing to see them again and to be able to minister there.  Praise the Lord that in the midst of all of the COVID-19 madness, there are still churches preaching the Gospel.  The city itself seemed like a ghost town compared to normal, evidently due to the fact that so many are telecommuting to work these days.  It was somewhat eerie to see the buildings with almost no one coming or going in the vicinity.

We also got the opportunity to ministry just across the river from the nation's capital in Alexandria, Virginia.  Pastor Philip Bishop has been faithfully serving there for many years and has been a dear friend for a long time.

After two more stops in Virginia, we head for the Midwest for a couple of months.  Please pray that God will continue to open doors.

Some of you reading this receive this update automatically in your inbox as I publish it on my blog.  The host has informed me that this service will be discontinued in the coming months.  What I need is for everyone who would like to continue to receive this message as an email to send me a personal email message confirming that you would like to continue to receive it.  You can email us by going to our website paulcrow.org and finding the contact page there.  I will take the addresses of those who contact me and form another list so that you will not miss any news from our ministry.

Thanks so much for praying.  Please pray that God will open hearts to the Gospel.

Blessings in a Desert Place

 The Lord has given us a wonderful month of serving Him, this time in the Southwestern portion of our nation.  There is something refreshing about reading of the rest of the nation in snow and ice while we suffer for Jesus in the sunshine of Southern California or Arizona.  But the Lord did a great work in the places where He called us to go.

I had not been in full-time evangelism for one whole year before Fundamental Baptist Church of Escondido, California, had me for a week-long meeting.  They have been having me ever since.  Over the years, it has been rewarding to see how the Lord has worked in the lives of people.  This year, we saw three walk the aisle and trust Christ as Savior.  Two were a couple, the man being a drill instructor for the Marines.

Another highlight of our stay in California was preaching in a new church plant in the high desert town of Phelan.  The Shepherd's Call Baptist Church lost their place to meet due to COVID-19, but they are continuing to meet in places that the Lord has supplied for them.  Please pray that God will give them a more permanent place to meet.

From California, it was off to Arizona.  Coming down from the high desert to Indio, California is a descent of nearly 4,000 feet.  On that drive, we were having a problem with our brakes on the truck.  This has been an ongoing problem dating back to last year.  We parked at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona, and asked them for recommendations of mechanics that we could use to get some work done.  I expected a simple brake job.  Instead, the mechanic told me that many components of the front end were worn out and had to be replaced.  The bill totaled over $5,000.  The Lord laid it on the heart of Pastor John Roy to help us with half of the repair.  We are so grateful to him and the people of Cornerstone.

The truck repair was done just in time for us to get to our next meeting in Amado, AZ.  Pastor Richard Bloxton and his people are a congregation that absolutely loves preaching, and it was a joy to be with them again.  Part of my reason for being in that part of Arizona was to talk to churches about upcoming summer camp.  In all of the madness surrounding the virus, children, who are the lowest risk category, have suffered the most from people's reaction.  One of the messages I had to communicate was that we still plan to provide an opportunity for children to come apart and be ministered to in a camp setting.

From Amado, we were in the New Testament Baptist Church of Safford, Arizona.  What a great group of people!  They seemed to just love hearing the Word of God.  In conversation, I mentioned a camp need in passing, and the Lord laid it on the heart of the church to meet the need.  Praise the Lord!

One final church in Arivaca, AZ, finished out the month.  Pastor Rick Lewis and his dear wife Leah had invited us to come years ago, but we were only able to come this year.  What a blessing it was to see all that God has done through the years in the Faith Baptist Church of Arivaca. 

As I write this, we have stopped for the night in Monahans, Texas, in our return trip to Mississippi.  The plan is to be home late Thursday night.  Thank you for all of your prayers for us.  Know that God is working in hearts.

Coast to Coast

 The meetings are running in full tilt right now.  We have been in Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, and now California as we preach the Gospel in different churches.  God has been good to us to keep us safe and to have everything going well.

When we took our trailer to Louisiana, we discovered a serious water leak that included the need to replace our water heater.  This was a difficult process that included tearing out a lot of rotten wood from the trailer and replacing it with new 3/4 in. plywood.  This task we completed while in a meeting in our home church in Mississippi.  When we left with trailer in tow, we thought that the water could be fixed at the next church.  After a couple of days of showering in a different building, we got the leak fixed--or so we thought.  It seemed that each time one fitting was repaired another leak showed up in its place.  Then, the leaks would seemingly stop for a while only to return the next day.  It was not until Monday of this week that I got the final fitting, I hope, fixed.  At least, there was not water the next morning when I looked at it.  I will probably take the bay apart and look again soon just to make certain that the hose that didn't leak when I put everything back together is still water tight.  What a circus this has been!

Sam was standing in line at a local auto parts store here in California when he heard the pastor offer a tract to the clerk behind the counter.  He requested that he might have a tract as well, and the pastor was only too happy to oblige.  In the process of the conversation, the pastor was able to lead Sam to Christ at the auto parts store.  Sam was in church this evening.  Please pray for him as he grows in the Lord.

Please also pray for a woman named Saida (spelling?) who works with a church member here in California.  She is going through a difficult divorce and needs to be saved.  Please pray that God will overcome every obstacle so that she will come, hear the Gospel, and trust Christ.

One of the great burdens I have is to see people under the sound of the Gospel.  In all that has taken place in the name of COVID-19, it is difficult to miss the fact that the scare over the virus has been disruptive for churches.  Especially disrupted has been evangelistic outreach of different kinds.  As hard as it was to get unsaved people to church before, it seems even harder with the fear of disease thrown into the mix.  It almost seems as if Satan concocted this plan to further alienate sinners from the truth that will set them free.  Would you pray that God will give you and me, both of us, utterance to give the Gospel during this time?  As always, thank you for your prayers.

First Album

Ever since July, we have been talking about the upcoming availability of our family's first album.  The original hope was to have it by Christmas, but that did not work out.  Now, I am happy to report that the album is available, both in CD form and digital download.  The CD can be ordered through us, provided you don't mind shipping through the United States Postal Service.  This service proved to be disastrously incompetent in the waning weeks of 2020, but the hope is that they will get back to more normal delivery now that Christmas is behind us for a while.  That being said, our family still has packages in limbo, lost in the system, having been sent from Dayton, OH, to Memphis, TN, to Atlanta, GA, and so on over the space of two months time.  If the possibility of waiting several months bothers you, you can either pay extra to have the package shipped via a private company (UPS or FedEx) or just purchase the digital download.

Speaking of the digital download, although we have paid to have the music included in many digital platforms, the only one that I know is making the album available right now is Amazon Music.  For those of you reading this online, you can go directly to the download here.  For those reading the e-mail version, you would do best to go to Amazon.com and search for "God Is in Every Tomorrow."  The individual song will come up first, but there will be a link to the entire album, which is available for purchase.  Feel free to contact me (information below) if you have any questions.

Our meetings are back in full swing again.  As I write this, we are in a meeting in the back woods of Louisiana.  It has been great to see the work that God has done in hearts in this country church.  The church is so far out in the country that I do not get a good cell signal, but there is something a little refreshing about even that.  We close Friday and then go home for a meeting there in which our family will be doing music while Evangelist Richard Harper is preaching.  From there it is coast to coast--Georgia to California.

We are grateful for the doors that are currently open to preach the Gospel in the United States.  What changes this year will bring is beyond the scope of our knowledge.  What we do know is that God is in control and He will meet every need that we have.

If you have a need to contact our ministry, please do so through our website.  After the initial contact, I will answer you through my e-mail address.  I have learned the hard way that giving out my contact information online is not a good idea.

May God bless all of you, and thank you for your prayers.

Merry Christmas

 This past month has been a great month of ministering in and around the holiday season.  A couple of opportunities stand out.

Many years ago, Charles Surrett, my pastor at the time encouraged me to write a book.  Taking his suggestion to be the will of God, I did so and have been selling the work ever since.  My book has gone to places that I have never been, expanding my ministry in ways I could never envision.  Somewhere along the line, my book found its way into the hands of Pastor Tom Brennan, who was a pastor in Chicago at the time.  Pastor Brennan appreciated my book and reached out to me asking me to come a preach a meeting for him.  The Lord had moved him from Chicago to Dubuque, Iowa, by this time.  Having never met me, he insisted that he knew me having read my book.  The week after Thanksgiving, I traveled to Dubuque and preached a meeting for him.  There was no awkwardness at in any of our time together, and we both look forward to another meeting next year.  While I was still in college, I was told to be concerned about the depth of my ministry and God would take care of the breadth.  This encounter proves that the advice I received was on target.

Pastor Brennan is himself an author of several books, and can be found here.  While I have not read everything he has written, everything that I have read has been very good.

Delays due to COVID-19 and other reasons not disclosed to us have made the release of our physical CD not possible until after the new year.  There is a possibility of purchasing a digital copy from Amazon for those who are so inclined.  As soon as it is ready, I will send a special update with instructions on how to purchase.  For anyone wanting to wait for the actual CD, we will update you via this venue when it is ready for purchase.

As Christmas nears, our family was asked to do some concerts for two different churches.  In one church, Josiah joined us and in the other, a friend named Dale Lieser was part of our team.  Both times were quite enjoyable as we served the Lord together.

After the Christmas season, we move into a special conference designed for laymen.  It is called a Christian Workers Conference.  Others have done similar things in past, but we found it to be a great blessing last year and look forward to seeing what the Lord will do this year.

Make God give you all a Christ-filled Christmas and new year.  Thank you for your prayers.

Focus

 The last month has been one full of choices.  Not choices of one car or meal over another, but choices of where we will allow our mind to dwell.  In our ministry, just as in your life, there are choices of where to focus our mind.

We could focus on the results of a landmark election, whatever the result eventually is.  The stories of massive State-sponsored election fraud will forever cloud the minds of American people and particularly American Christians.  As a family, we could focus on the trailer issues that have made this last month particularly difficult.  Our power converter (see last month's entry) is fixed and everything in the trailer is running well, or was until yesterday.

Looking forward to arriving back home in time to be in our home church's mid-week prayer service, we headed south and east out of southwest Missouri.  Around 9 that morning, we stopped for fuel and I noticed that the trailer seemed to be sitting funny.  After sticking my head in and looking around, I discovered that the shackles holding the leaf springs were broken and the spring was sitting directly on the frame.  Eight hours later, everything was fixed and we were back on the road, although we missed the evening service at our church.  Not even the live stream would work.

Around 10 that night, we pulled up to the house expecting to simply move Sarah's car and back the trailer in.  The battery was completely dead and since COVID-19 has caused businesses to shut down earlier than usual, there was no way we could get a new one and move the car.  So, we went to the church and parked there.

We could choose to focus on these kinds of things and you, no doubt, have similar instances that you could relate.  The key to maintaining sanity is to focus on other things.  Things like the salvation of a man who had been the object of prayer for some time.

The man had noticed the daughter of a farmer in the church, and man and daughter had begun dating.  In May, the farmer was killed in an accident.  A couple of months after the accident, the man came to the farmer's widow and asked permission to marry her daughter.  The grieving widow replied that she liked him, but was bothered by the fact that he was unsaved.  He responded that he did not want to make a decision capriciously just to please someone else, but that he would come to church.  He was saved in one of the last services of the meeting.

We choose to focus on the many Christians helped and encouraged in our meetings, in addition to those who have come to Christ.

After a brief break for Thanksgiving, we are at it again in a couple more meetings.  We are trusting God for great things in the future. 

Meetings

 This is a great time for us because we are in the busy season.  We are in meeting after meeting in different churches in Montana, and are seeing the Lord work in the churches that we are privileged to serve.  Please pray for the Word of God to take lodging in hearts even after we are no longer in the place where different people heard it.

Please pray particularly for a girl named Evie (I think that is the correct spelling of her name).  She heard the Gospel last Wednesday, but quickly left before anyone from the church could get the opportunity to follow up with her.  She did raise her hand for prayer during the invitation, but did not come forward.

Another faithful man in church yesterday is unsaved.  He heard the Gospel, but has not responded for salvation.  Please pray for him.

School continues for the children, both the ones here in our trailer and Josiah in college.  The addition of college bills calls for more money to keep the bill current.  We were in a tough spot to pay October's bill due at the beginning of the month, but God miraculously supplied the money.  We are grateful for His provision.

As I type this, I am grateful to God for sunlight.  The power converter in our trailer has gone out, along with our refrigerator and hot water heater.  That means that the AC appliances work--microwave, television, but the DC ones do not.  Direct current runs our thermostat for the heater, all of the lights, and many other parts of the trailer.  The problem we are having appears to be quite complex and we need to get to the bottom of it.

It is possible that once the DC power is restored, the refrigerator will work again.  Why the water heater is not working, I have no idea.  I chalk it up to Satan's working against us as we try to minister to the Lighthouse Baptist Church of Butte, Montana.  At any rate, we will be making a lot of phone calls today and talking to people about getting the necessary repairs completed.  Please pray that the warranty company will uphold their part of the contract and pay for the needed repairs, whatever they may be.  There are two months left of extended warranty coverage left on the trailer, and the company can be notoriously difficult to deal with.

In reality, all the trailer problems are an opportunity to gain new contacts.  Please pray that we would be good stewards of each contact, giving the Gospel to each one.

In the Saddle Again

 Frequently, as we travel in the Western United States, songs of Gene Autry come to my mind.  This year has been no exception.  As the miles pass by moving us from Mississippi to the West, I can scarcely keep from singing "Back in the Saddle Again."  After the cancelations of COVID-19, it is great to be in meetings and in the West particularly.

This month will be our southern portion of the West tour as we are in southern Montana and northern Wyoming.  As we move into October, we will be in more places in Montana and Idaho as well.  It is a blessing to see the work that God has done among these men here in a place that, not so long ago, had few churches preaching the Gospel.  We are excited to see what the Lord will do through the meetings that remain in the fall schedule.

Please pray for a Crow Indian man named David.  He came to our meeting in Lodge Grass and seemed to be impacted by the preaching.  As I sat and talked with him, he seemed very shaky on the matter of salvation.  Please pray that the seed sown in his heart will bring forth fruit.

Our children are in the normal round of school, or maybe I should say the grind of school.  There is Geometry, Spanish, History, Chemistry, piano, and the usual work that occupies their day.  In addition to school is their regular trailer chores, plus the evening services.  Still, they find time to spend with others their age and have fun being children.

Whenever we have been in this area in the past, we have gone down to Sheridan, Wyoming, and filled our freezer with deer meat.  Out of state tags are very cheap for that area and up to this year have been unlimited and over-the-counter.  We are endeavoring to do the same this year, although the loss of some private land that we used to hunt has made things much more difficult.  In fact, I hope we can fill the two tags that we purchased so far.  We will see what happens.

Josiah is back in college and continues to do well.  The car that was given to him is a great addition to his college experience.  Seeing the Lord reward his work is great for us as parents to watch, albeit from a distance.  We are excited to see how the Lord will use him.

We are making progress on the post production work on our recording.  That is all the news to relate.  It will be out sometime before Christmas is our hope.

Thank you always for your prayers.  It is great to be able to serve the Lord.

Sickness

 This month is one that has been dominated by illness for our family.  Many around us have in our county have tested positive for COVID-19 and an epidemic of strep has hit the church family at the same time.  Every member of our family has been ill this month, and the illnesses have been more debilitating than the usual 24-hour stomach bug.  As I write this, I have been ill since Monday of this week.  Not since I had the chickenpox in the 6th grade do I remember being so sick.  The good news is that it seems that we are on the way up after a very trying time with illness.

Josiah had a serious incident after one of our Sunday's of ministry late last month.  The pastor ordered gluten-free pizza from Domino's for him as we ate the normal pizza from the same establishment.  They brought the smaller size typical of their gluten-free pizza, but they had not made it with the gluten-free crust.  Josiah had a couple of pieces and the allergic reaction began.  It was not a long drive back to our house from this church, but on the way, he vomited several times.  That brought the allergens into contact with his throat once again, causing his throat to begin to swell shut.  By the time Sarah got him to the local emergency room, he was so swollen that he was unable to speak.

The foolishness of the reaction to COVID-19 nearly made things very bad from the beginning.  As he sat in the emergency room struggling for every breath, he was told to don a mask.  Sarah immediately intervened and protested, "He is in the middle of anaphylactic shock due to an allergic reaction and is here because he can't get air, and you want him to wear a mask?"  At what point they checked the box for "problem parent," I don't know, but the problems were not yet done.

After Josiah was taken back to the emergency room, Sarah went with him.  He was still unable to speak, so swollen was his throat and soft pallet.  Early in the treatment process, Sarah was told that she would have to leave him.  At that point, she flatly refused.  In her mind, only she could inform the doctor of his extensive allergies.  The chances of their giving him something that would harm him are great.  After all, he has nearly died of medical error on more than one occasion in his 19 years of living.

Eventually, the hospital relented and allowed her to remain with Josiah.  After that, Sarah said that their pre-corona virus training kicked in and everyone was far more pleasant and understanding after that.

Josiah spent the night in intensive care and was later moved to the corona virus ward because he declined to take a test.  Having only recently been restored his ability to breathe, he did not relish the idea of someone probing a swab high up in his sinus cavity.  I suppose that he was reported as a COVID hospitalization even though he did not have the virus.  The entire firsthand experience made me question more than ever the numbers reported about this virus.

In all, Josiah lost a week of work due to the reaction that he had.  When he finally returned, he could tell how much the reaction had weakened his body.  Josiah's job in the construction industry is installing stone countertops.  It is often very hard physical labor: they haven't made a light stone countertop yet.

Next week, things are supposed to get back to normal again, whatever that is.  Josiah will go back to school in his new car (see last month's update), and we will be back in meetings again.  Our meetings are to take us to the inter-mountain west this fall.

The recording project is taking longer than we had anticipated.  We will give more information as it becomes available.

Thank you for your prayers.

Joyful Noise

Because of the virus reaction of governments all over the world, we had to cancel our scheduled trip to the Philippines.  Accordingly, we find ourselves at home in Mississippi, ordering school books, reporting to churches that supported the Victory Gospel Crusade, and working in our home church.

School is right around the corner for the three younger children, which means that we have ordered the curriculum and the the looming threat of academics hangs over the heads of our children.  As for Josiah, he is preparing for college in the fall by working hard for the same man in our church that gave him a job previously.  As you may remember, Josiah was one of the Neighborhood Bible Time evangelists, but all of their meetings canceled this year due to reactions to COVID-19.

In his first year of college, Josiah had our 1989 Ford Ranger, a work truck that was given to us not long after we moved to Mississippi.  The truck has its character, to be sure: a speedometer that doesn't work properly, a paint job that looks as if it was completed with spray cans, and a ladder rack worth more than the rest of the truck.  Its air conditioning has never worked since we received it, and the defrost works best when the windows are open, especially in the winter time.  From Paul's point of view, the vehicle was a rite of passage.  It was a vehicle with a manual transmission that taught the boy a lot of valuable lessons.

Sarah did not see the vehicle in the same light.  She felt that the vehicle was fine for a local work vehicle, but was nervous about Josiah driving 600 miles to school in it.  Not long ago a relative on Sarah's side was moved from her home to a nursing home and determined to sell her 2012 Ford Focus with 35,000 miles on it.  When she put feelers out to the extended family about interest, we responded.  The last word we had was that she was going to give us the vehicle.  It seems that our son will be riding in style back to school.  He literally will be  driving the newest vehicle that our family owns.

Yesterday, our family spent hours in the recording studio.  For many years in our meetings, people have asked for a family recording.  For different reasons, we were unable to do so until now.  As of today, the process has officially begun.  As we move forward, there will be a lot of decisions to make as we mix the songs, decide on distribution, pay our royalty fees, and a host of other details.  Our hope is that the album will be available before Christmas.

In light of this, we will set up a system for pre-ordering the album.  Those who pay in advance will be the first to receive the new album.  All of the details have not yet been finalized, but they will be forthcoming next month.  Making the recording was a joyous time for our family.  We sang until we could sing no more, from 10:00 in the morning to almost 5:00 in the afternoon with a break for lunch.  The album will be entirely vocal (no piano solos) and will feature every member of the family doing solo work, as well as our family's four-part sound.

As always, thank you for your prayers.  May we all keep looking to our God to provide health, power, and comfort to face these uncertain days.

The Crusade Continues

The past month has been a wonderful for our ministry.  For the first time ever, the Crow family has been a part of the Victory Gospel Crusade, this time meeting in Western Ohio.  For an entire year, the pastors involved prayed for God to do great things.  The plan was to meet for three weeks in three separate places: St. Mary’s, Lima, and Troy.  Due to COVID-19, all of the plans we had made for meeting places fell through, and we ended up meeting in three churches, Celina Baptist Temple, Anchored Hope Baptist Church, and Calvary Baptist Church.  After three weeks, it was evident that the Lord wanted us to go a fourth week.

Several prayers were specifically answered during this meeting.  As the COVID-19 situation began to dominate the minds of all Americans, we feared that we might not be able to meet at all.  When it became known that we could meet, we prayed that God would use the virus scare to bring people to Jesus.  Wallace had lost his job and was worrying about life and the future that his two boys might face when he received an invitation to the meeting.  He had never been in church before in his life, but when he came and heard the Gospel for the first time, he got saved.  He has since been baptized and is faithful to church.

Chad sat on his porch under house arrest, like everyone else during the virus regulations.  As one team member approached Chad, he explained, “I am not from around here, but I am a Gospel preacher looking for someone who doesn’t know where they will go when they die and is interested in knowing.  Can you point me to someone like that?”  Chad answered simply, “Yeah.  Me.”  He was saved and has been integrated into one of the churches.

China is the daughter of an atheist whom we were targeting with the Gospel, but the man was not home.  After explaining to China that we were with the Victory Gospel Crusade, I asked her if she knew what the Gospel was.  She said that she did not.  After having it explained to her, she prayed to trust Christ as Savior.

In all, 26 people have trusted Christ during the four weeks of the meeting.  After going four weeks, it was determined that we should take one week off and then move the tent to Lima and begin again.  As I write this, we have begun again in Lima, Ohio. 

Our prayer is that the story of generations would be changed as a result of the Gospel.  Many have accepted Christ and we are hungry for more to come as well.

One of the great realities of this meeting has been a seeming bubble that God has brought to this area.  While the rest of America tries to go forward from the virus, and certain cities burn from riots, it was as if there was nothing going on in this area, but the work of God.

All of this meeting has cemented in our minds the truth that the Gospel must be preached.  It seems that so many ministries want to talk about the Gospel, have conferences about the Gospel, get together for the Gospel, assume the Gospel, have ministries based upon the Gospel, but never get around to preaching the Gospel to lost people.  This month has been unusual, but not because of particularly innovative or new ideas or programs.  We simply pray, we witness, and preach the Gospel; and God gives the increase.

One of the converts that came to Christ in the last month was first met at a protest rally in Sydney, Ohio.  All around us are needy people, some of them in protests of which we are sometimes afraid.  The power of the Gospel is greater than any other force that might be brought to bear.  Just preach it.

Victory Gospel Crusade

The first week of the Victory Gospel Crusade in Western Ohio is in the books.  To say that things were different from what we anticipated would be an understatement.  We had intended to meet in very public venues in which many lost could be in attendance.  Instead, we found our public place canceled and we spent much time relabeling tracts and doing our best to get them out.  In the end, we simply met in the Celina Baptist Temple with an emphasis on online attendance as well as in person.  The services were full every night, and a couple of nights were packed with extra seating having to be made available.  Anyone wishing to watch the services may do so at victorygospelcrusade.com, the VGC Facebook page, or at the VGC YouTube channel.  You will note the five-member quartet, the choir singing each night, and a special salvation testimony every night.  But most of all, you will notice preaching, with every message focusing on the Gospel.  I would urge everyone reading this to direct lost friends and loved ones to watch.  Each message focuses on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  Three people that we know of trusted Christ as Savior last week, with at least 670 devices tuning in to the Facebook page alone.

Next week, beginning Sunday night, we will begin services at the Anchored Hope Baptist Church in Lima, Ohio.  Again, they will be available at the above mentioned websites.  Services are live tonight at 6 p.m. EDT and from Monday through Friday at 7 EDT each night.  Because Lima is a larger town than Celina, we will be involved in soul-winning every day next week as we seek to get the Gospel into the hands of people.  In light of COVID-19, we have had some naysayers berate us for handing out literature door to door.  For the most part, though, we have found people very receptive to our witnessing efforts.  They are eager, it seems, to be able to talk to anyone at their door, even if that person is initiating a religious conversation.

We would love to be able to hold open air services at a place called Robb Park in Lima.  Its location is very conducive to drawing crowds from the surrounding neighborhoods.  In February, we submitted all the necessary paperwork to obtain our permit to hold services in the park, but the local officials misplaced it.  Please pray that the Lord would work in the hearts of officials and in the weather to allow us to meet in the park, even if it is just in the afternoon.  Experience has shown that targeting areas of high foot traffic make for better results in giving the Gospel.

We are enjoying these days of ministering with Josiah.  Due to the nationwide reaction to COVID-19, his schedule with Neighborhood Bible Time was delayed one month, allowing him to be with us.  Not long after we return to Mississippi, he will board a plane and leave for Baltimore to begin the ministry that God has for him.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers.  May God find us faithful to give the Gospel in these days of unprecedented turmoil.

Back to Normal

After being separated by government recommendations for many weeks, our family was in services yesterday.  It was a drive-in service, but the Lord blessed and God's people were so grateful to be able to meet again.

This coming Sunday, the Victory Gospel Crusade begins in western Ohio.  The Lord has lifted restrictions in that state to allow religious organizations to meet.  Our desire is that some of the first public gatherings in that state be those that preach the Gospel.

You can watch a short video about the crusade here.  Please join us in praying for this great endeavor.  The circumstances of the last month have created an agitation among people that we hope will make them more open to the Gospel message.

We would like to encourage you to pray as well about giving to this endeavor.  Before the very first service has been held, 20% of the total cost of the meeting has already been raised.  We are trusting God for the remainder.  I personally have been tasked with enlisting 100 churches or individuals to commit to giving $100 toward this endeavor.  God has established a pattern of meeting the needs in the past through people and churches just like you.  You can find out more information at victorygospelcrusade.com.  We look forward to relaying to you the stories of victory that God us through this endeavor.

The New Normal

Commenting on the changes to life as we all knew it since January of 2020 would be pedantic for all you who read this.  Like you, our lives have changed dramatically since the government began to respond to the COVID-19 challenge.  For the first time in my ministry, I preached an entire meeting from our music room in Olive Branch, Mississippi, to a church in Brooklyn.  Two days later, on Easter Sunday, I did the same thing for a church in the Bronx.  Other meetings have been postponed as everyone tries to navigate through these unprecedented times.

The Victory Gospel Crusade in western Ohio was scheduled to begin in May, and the plan is to go ahead with the meetings, although we still are unsure whether or not we will be able to meet as usual.  Tomorrow will be another meeting in which we (the pastors and evangelists involved) will discuss our options.  The concept of a drive-in service is not completely out of the question as we look to the future.  The "what-if's" can multiply in meetings like this, particularly as we try to predict the response of unsaved people to our efforts to evangelize.  For my part, I am of the opinion that no one could have predicted that 12 men would spread the gospel over the Mediterranean world in 30 years' time.  No one could have predicted that wicked New England would be transformed by revival just before the American War for Independence.  No one could have predicted that Baptist churches would be planted from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River in 16 years' time.  No one could have predicted that a small prayer meeting in New York City in 1858 would turn into a nationwide movement.  No one would have known that the once drunk construction worker is now the head usher in our local church.  All these things happened because God came in and did a mighty work.  Today, God is working in spite of the circumstances that we might wish were different.  

During our Brooklyn meeting, a man joined our service who had been away from the Lord for some time.  Who can tell what God will do in His heart?  Of course, these kinds of results are very hard for us to see and to follow up on, but they are real nonetheless.

One of the adjustments in this time is having Josiah with us again.  He still takes classes online every day and remains very busy keeping up with his college work, but he is in our home for meals--didn't we pay the college to feed him?--and other times of enjoyment.  We had not expected this development.  Also, he will be able to travel with us to the Victory Gospel Crusade because Neighborhood Bible Time, with whom he is to travel in the summer, has delayed their summertime schedule by one month.

So we are at home for nearly a month, waiting just as you are, wondering just as you are about what finances will look like in a month's time.  We are confident that God is working, and we are excited to be a part of that work.