Newsletter – June 2023 – Poured Out For the Nations

SPECIAL AFRICA MISSIONS UPDATE

"Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." Acts 14:27

Dear Poured Out Disciples of Christ Jesus,

Apostle Paul gave a great example of sharing his fruitful gospel works of grace with those who had prayerfully and financially supported his missions work. Having said that, our summer missions programs are in full swing and Hallelujah—the Spirit of the Lord is with us! And, we have begun to add fruit to the heavenly basket!

First, I am going to share a few expressions of that fruit from my recent Kinshasa, DRC trip. Then, I will share our next opportunity that is right around the corner this August. May our Savior be praised for all that He is doing in our midst!

Kinshasa, Western DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)

I taught and preached the Bible thirteen times in eight days in Kinshasa—the capitol city of 14 million. Nine of those were for about three hours as I taught pastors and churches the Watch Therefore message of Matthew 24. Their precious hearts were so open and they listened carefully for three hours!

I also preached a special Sunday morning service and three nights at an outdoor gospel preaching event. In all these meetings I preached repentance and the gospel (Mark 1:14,15). Also in all these meetings, including in the churches, precious souls realized they had never been saved and received Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

I returned from a 24-1/2 hour plane flight, went home for a few hours, and then taught two chapters of Jeremiah in our Wednesday night church meeting. You would think it was time to go home and get a little sleep. But, I am so glad that was not the end of the mission trip.

A dear sister in Christ brought a precious lady to church who was beaten down from bad decisions and a crazy upbringing that had led her to a place of broken-ness and our Wednesday night church meeting. After church the love of our Savior was pouring out of my heart to her and as I shared the gospel with her she began to weep and prayed to receive her loving Savior Jesus!

The next day my wife and I met with her for follow up and she quite literally was another person than we had met the night before! She was so happy in Jesus in spite of the trouble in her life. Lord willing, by the time you are reading this letter she will have been baptized in the Gulf of Mexico (Galveston Bay) and she and her precious children are attending our new church. Hallelujah—what a way to close this mission trip!

August Rwanda / Eastern DRC Mission Trip

Prayerfully in our Lord Jesus, this Rwanda mission trip will be bigger and more fruitful than DRC. Through our Rwanda Watch Therefore Team leader Pastor Herman Gatware we have special opportunities in Rwanda and a network of churches in other African countries.

Also, the Lord has renewed opportunities in the Eastern DRC where I used to go many years ago. These new relationships are with churches that are some of the most established and important churches in this region. So, the plan is to spend about 5 days in Rwanda and then cross over into Bukavu, DRC which borders Rwanda.

A little history for context—the 1994 Rwanda genocide that cost the lives of about 800,000 Tusti Rwandans spilled over into Eastern DRC, along with other militia conflicts, and about 5.5 million died in the DRC. This is a region that is brimming with natural beauty, which contrasts the spiritual and physical oppression, poverty, and hopelessness.

It is in this context we will take the Watch Therefore Message—the blessed hope of our great God and Savior Messiah Jesus!!! His gospel goes so very well with His message of His anytime return to take us back to the place He has been preparing for His people—oh praise King Jesus our great God and Savior!

“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this,that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come,he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Matthew 24:42-44

“…looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…”
Titus 2:13

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
John 14:1-3

The cost of this trip will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000—yes twenty thousand dollars! And here is the funny part—our ministry at the time of this writing does not have a penny of it and the trip is this summer! Plane tickets and other expenses need to be paid very soon—what will I do? I will trust my Savior Jesus and stand and see the salvation of my Abba Father for these precious ones in Africa. What will you do? Please consider our missions motto: Praying, Giving, and Going. I will do the going—will you do the praying and giving?