Items of Praise:
1) We praise God for an excellent missions conference at our home church, Christian Fellowship Church. We were so blessed to meet with supporters and prayer partners, and I only wish we'd had more hours in the day to meet with all of you. Thank you so much for the prayers, well-wishes, and great questions about God's work up here in Lasalle.
2) We also praise God for the work team that came up last week from Mount Calvary Christian School in Elizabethtown. We claimed 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing." Such simple words, but so misunderstood, and more importantly, not practiced. In addition to the various work projects that the team completed with joy, eagerness and enthusiasm, they were each given a prayer card with specific items that they were responsible to pray for throughout the day. On Thursday, we culminated this focus by a series of prayer walks throughout the church and Lasalle. Satan's stronghold is slowly being pushed back as a result. Praise be to God!
3) Praise God for an excellent Bible Study yesterday at the high school. I went in for junior lunch (7th and 8th grade), after promising pizza, and two kids were there. One was a regular in our youth group. The other was a staunch atheist (very well spoken for a 7th grader), whose name is Bobby. In the process of conversation he shared that he will never get married or have kids because, "What's the point? We're all going to die anyway." I told him I liked his honesty, and he reminded me of a guy in the Bible who wrote an entire book basically breaking down that thought process (Solomon, Ecclesiastes). During the conversation, he admitted that the thought of death scared him. When I asked him why that was, he didn't have an answer. I shared Ecclesiastes 3:11, where Solomon says, "...He has put eternity in their hearts...". I asked him if he believed that people had a soul, and he said he thought so. I told him his fear of death and his belief that we possess a soul (he didn't want to use that word, but admitted that he felt their was an unseen spiritual side of us), was put there by God. That's what that verse means. God wants to be known. He asked a lot more questions, and promised to come back next week.
Then I stayed for senior lunch (9th, 10th and 11th grade), where we had 2 new kids, and two kids who hadn't been there in a couple of weeks, which was very encouraging. One of the new kids raised her hand during the discussion and said, "Wait a minute. I'm a 7th Day Adventist. Is it okay if I'm here?" Of course I said, "Absolutely!" We continued our conversation about faith (Rachel, one of the unsaved girls who comes every week, asks a lot of questions about faith), so I approached it from the standpoint that real faith produces some sort of action. I shared various characters in the Bible whose faith drove them to do something (Abraham, Moses, David, disciples, people who Jesus healed, etc.), and then I shared how Bobby had shown faith earlier when the promise of pizza caused him to follow his friend, and his faith was rewarded. Please pray for Bobby, Rachel, Daniel, Kaitlyn and Nikita; all unsaved kids who come out to this Bible study.
Items of Prayer:
1) I am taking a group of kids to a TobyMac and Jamie Grace concert tomorrow. . Please pray that kids' hearts would be touched and that the Gospel would be clearly presented.
2) Please pray for increased attendance with the Bible study. I was convicted the other day of my hesitancy to pray for more people. I have always believed that it doesn't matter how many people come, and I believe that. But it is not wrong to pray for large numbers. On the contrary, the more kids come, the more kids get exposed to the Gospel.
3) The 17-year-old nephew of one of the leaders of the Mount Calvary group died unexpectedly last week. Please pray for the family.
4) The youth group. Please pray that I would be sensitive to the Spirit's leading as I plan for each Sunday. Pray that new kids would come out, and that our regulars who are unsaved would respond in faith to the gospel.
If we enjoy any success in our ministry, it is because God honors and answers the prayers of you beautiful praying saints. Know our family prays for you on a daily basis as well. Blessings to you!
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