By Johnny Shew, Missionary • Faith Chapel, Flippin
Not long after we moved to Flippin to plant Faith Chapel, the house directly behind us sold, and a new family moved in. After some time, an opportunity presented itself, and we met the new owner, Russell King, at the fence between our yards. We had a really nice conversation.
We told him about our mission and where we were meeting, and he shared that he was a Christian who hadn’t been in church for a while. We didn’t press him on the reason. He had previously attended Yellville Baptist Church, an ABA church, and had even taught Sunday School there.
As we continued talking, we discovered something surprising — his grandparents owned the country store down the road from our family farm, where I grew up and where we did most of our business. I shared some fond memories of them, and we invited Russell to visit us at Faith Chapel. He said he would, but wasn’t sure when, because he works almost every day.
After a few months, Russell finally came to visit. He said he really enjoyed the service, and the next time he came, he brought his wife, Debbie. Well, you all know how the Lord works — the more they came, the more they wanted to come.
Before long, they joined our church and began faithfully serving the Lord with us.
After we moved into the new building, Russell was nominated, elected and became our adult Sunday School teacher. He is doing a wonderful job, and attendance has been great.
I still don’t know why they stepped away from their previous church or how they got out of the habit of going, but I sure am thankful that the Lord brought them to us and is using them for His glory here.
Praise God!
