It was good to be back with old friends in my own association. The meeting was held at Pocahontas Baptist Church in Pocahontas and Pastor Randy Lingenfelter, who took over from our former state missionary, the late James Coker. Bro. James went to be with the Lord this year and I, for one, truly miss our conversations and his counsel. There was a good turnout and the church furnished a wonderful lunch.
Two More to Go
This Friday night, I am looking forward to being with the Prairie Association meeting at Sunny Side in DeWitt. Then, last but not least, we will be at the Howard Association meeting at Bowen Baptist Church in Delight on Saturday, Oct. 28.
State Meeting
I want to encourage you to make every effort to attend this year’s state association meeting on the Nov. 2-3 at Central Baptist College in Conway. Be sure and come to our table and visit with Donna, our missionaries and me. Your missionaries will be sharing something special with you during our report time on Friday morning.
From Our Missionaries
Misión Creciendo en Cristo (Growing in Christ), North Little Rock: Juan Carlos Posadas writes, “The congregation encouraged me by celebrating Pastor’s Day this Sunday. Something I really liked was the recognition, not only of your servant, but also of each member of my family, since all three are involved in the ministry. Jose Carlos comes from Conway some weekends to play with the Praise Group. Oscar Gómez preached the Word, and the Pastor of Pastors was praised.
“After the meeting, we went to eat the food the sisters brought, and enjoyed a good time of communion. I have a bad cough, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the church’s expressions of love.
“I thank God for the ministry in which He has allowed us to serve Him. Without the direction of God and the work of His Holy Spirit, it would be impossible to carry out this work.
“Please pray for my health and Sayra’s; we both have coughs. And please pray for our children’s future.”
Ebenezer, West Little Rock: Ruben Isturiz writes, “We closed our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month last Sunday. Our celebration coincided with the united service we do with our mother church. It was a beautiful service with singing in both English and Spanish. Some of our sisters came in traditional costumes. Pastor Allen challenged us to look at our mission field as being as close as the next door. We need the gospel to reach the people closest to us.
Every time we have the service together, it reminds me a little of the crowd described in Revelation — from every ethnicity, every tongue, every nation — worshiping the Lamb of God.
“After our celebration service, we had the opportunity to share food. Our brothers from Ebenezer brought typical dishes from their countries. It was a good attendance from both the American and Hispanic churches.
“Keep praying for us. We have many challenges, and the task is great, but we are on the side of the Overcomer. Pray for wisdom as there are two families who are not attending regularly and only the Spirit of God can change their minds. Thank you for your prayers; to God be the glory!”
Faith Chapel, Flippin: Johnny Shew writes, “We had a great week at Faith Chapel with a very good number, even though several were out traveling or with sick kids. We joked that if we can ever get everyone there on the same day, we will be overflowing. We had a wonderful time of worship with several return visitors.
“We got word that our steeple is supposed to be delivered this week. That was great news, and it will be the last item on the outside of the new building. We think it will finish the look we wanted when we started — that old timey white church on the hill, beckoning the community to come — and that is just how it has turned out. People stop by all the time to look at it, and I think a lot of them are going to come when it is finished. We should finish the ductwork this week. It has been slow, and we have gotten a lot done on the lighting in the past week, so it is all coming together. The closer we get to finishing, the more the excitement grows. We thank you again for your prayers and support; we truly are grateful! We know the Lord is blessing us and our mission through your generosity and faithfulness, and we thank Him for you! We also thank Him for letting us do this. We are truly blessed!”
Faith Journey, Benton: Bryan Clay writes, “We have really been enjoying the cooler temperatures lately! We are already looking forward to planning our Thanksgiving fellowship for November. We hope to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, dressing and all the yummy sides. Most of all, we are excited to be able to share what Christ has done in our lives this year and give Him this special time to show all of our thankfulness to our Savior.
“We were able to come alongside our local Fellowship of Christian Athletes program this week and to be a part of Fields of Faith at our local high school. They spent a night sharing the gospel with students of all ages through a message, worship time and personal testimonies. There were students who came forward to give their lives to Christ, and some students rededicated their lives to Him. It was a great night for the Lord and our community! Please lift these students up in prayer as they follow Christ in the new journey.”
Misión Gracia Soberana (Sovereign Grace), NWA:Roberto Marcelletti writes, “I am writing to you with great emotion and gratitude from Northwest Arkansas. It has been almost 11 months of this walk of grace led by the Holy Spirit. As I said from my first report, we have achieved open doors, and God is the one who is leading the planting of our Sovereign Grace church.
We remain adamant that we have come to this area to do three things — preach the biblical gospel, make many disciples and establish new disciples in the churches God allows us to plant (Acts 14:21-23).
“On Sunday, we accepted the invitation Pastor Dana Williams made to us to come to his church, Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lowell. It was a blessing to come together and worship in English and Spanish, and the blessing that all of our congregation attended this invitation. Pastor Dana prayed for us, and the brothers of Cornerstone are very excited to give us their love and support.”
Epic Life, Pea Ridge: Jake McCandless writes, “Last week, I wrote a discouraging update — it had been a discouraging week. Then boom — this week was incredible! It started with three new contacts reaching out on social media about how they hated missing our worship night. Then our Woodbridge Group had a large night with two repeat visiting households.
Both had been reached by the host family. One was a coworker of the host, and another was friends of their kids in the neighborhood. So, it wasn’t just that we had guests, but we had people from the host family’s neighborhood and network — that’s the goal!
“I also felt I should be encouraged because, since mid-August, we have had 10 families, which was 24 people, visit, with 6 of those families returning. There are also six ongoing conversations with prospects reached online. Incredible! The approach is working. This week, we even heard directly from new attendees about how much they love what we are doing. One wrote and shared how thankful he was for how we are ‘doing this in homes with parents and kids participating together, because it is what Christian families need.’ He shared how wonderful it was to see his son put down his phone and begin to listen. Another new attendee shared, ‘This is real, genuine family. There’s no agenda just connection.’
“To add to the great week, we topped it off with a bonfire and hayride that had 30 in attendance. Unfortunately, four RSVP’d families canceled, or we would have had our largest event to date! One thing that has been frustrating is the lack of regular follow-through with new families, but that should be expected for there’s no middle ground for someone to be involved. They have to fully begin to walk with the Lord, so low returning numbers should be expected.”
El Faro #2 Hispanic Mission, Cabot/Jacksonville: Michael Hight writes, “This week, we continued making contacts in Cabot. Pray for open doors! Over the weekend, I was in Oxford, Miss. fulfilling some previous preaching commitments. I rejoiced with the mission as they celebrated their ninth anniversary, secretly praying we would be doing the same nine years from now!”
