We will be posting periodic updates regarding the Abbott's ministry. Check back every so often to keep up
with their ministry.
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Ps 135:1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him, O ye servants of the LORD.
It is hard to believe as I sit down to type this letter that we are already at the end of 2009. I can say without reservation that 2009 has been the most challenging year for our family and ministry since we launched out into the ministry of evangelism. We have seen many personal highs and lows as well as spiritual highs and lows this year. The one thing that remained the same throughout it all was the faithfulness of the Lord. With the current economic situation in our country we faced several challenges this year. One of those challenges was cancellations. My heart is for the local church and I completely understand the heartache of any Pastor who has to watch as his people go through the struggles of job loss, lay-offs and unemployment and recognizing the church was not in the place or ready for revival. I have tried to support every Pastor that cancelled a meeting with us this year encouraging him to do as he felt the Lord was leading him. Through it all we had six cancellations for the year and many of those coming at the beginning of the year. I will admit for a while it created some anxiety on my part as well as some discouragement but as I mentioned earlier God was faithful to fill our calendar at the end of the year.
The second challenge came with the cancellations and that was finances. With the price of fuel regulating somewhat this year the price of seemed to average around $2.70 a gallon for us. As all of you know, when fuel prices go up, shipping cost go up, and retail prices go up. Our weekly cost of being on the road with a family of six continued to climb throughout the year. We had hoped this might be the year that we were able to purchase a home again away from the trailer. Like any woman, Diana dreams of having a place to decorate for the holidays, cook without running or tripping over someone and being limited to 490 square feet makes that difficult sometimes. As I mentioned earlier, God was gracious to us and showed Himself faithful in that He supplied for our family in some unusual ways financially and it was always in His perfect timing. We are so thankful for the churches and individuals that support us monthly and for the gracious giving of all the churches.
For 2009 God allowed us to hold 28 revival meetings, preach 3 weeks of camp, directed 7 weeks of camp, preached in two men’s retreats, and did 10 all day Sundays. We could not have done much of this had it not been for the faithful financial support and prayer support of many of you receiving this email. We recorded over 100 salvation decisions this year through the camp ministry of Camp Hosanna. We also saw many salvation decisions throughout the year in our revival meetings. We had one meeting this year that was extended beyond the scheduled dates and God richly blessed throughout the year.
The year 2009 was also a special year for our ministry and family. On January 1 I personally celebrated being in the ministry full-time for 10 years. January 1, 1999 was my first day on staff with Southside Baptist Church in Rock Hill, SC and God gave us a wonderful 6 ½ years there. On November 18, Diana and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary and we had the opportunity during the month of December to leave the children with family and take a few days away for ourselves. It was refreshing for both of us.
The coming year will be a transition year for us as Zach will be graduating from High School and in the fall will begin his first year of college. At this time he plans to attend Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City, OK. He has progressed tremendously this year with his music and continues to take a greater lead in our children’s ministry. Like any parent we would like to see him stronger in some areas of his life but are very proud of the young man that he is becoming. We are excited to see our children grow up but already we have those growing pains of letting them spread their wings and learn to fly on their own.
We still have many holes in our calendar for next year and appreciate your prayers. Like always, scheduling the winter months is challenge but we trust the Lord to provide and meet our needs. We hope to get a third CD out this year. Please pray that God will supply the time and funds to accomplish this endeavor.
We look forward to seeing all of you in the near future. Please pray for us and as we thing of you we will do the same.
For Souls,
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Ps 66:2 Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.
It is hared to believe that October has come and gone and now we are nearing the end of November. Where has the year gone? God has so blessed our meetings this year. We have seen God do so many great things from saving souls, healing marriages, restoring the wayward and providing in unusual ways for our meetings.
We are currently in Hendersonville, NC at Calvary Baptist Church. This is our second meeting in a row with a Pastor that has just recently taken the ministry. Last week we were in White Sulphur Springs, WV at Grace Baptist Church with Pastor Shawn Spencer. Pastor Spencer has been with Grace Baptist Church for 8 months and Pastor Mason has been here at Calvary for the last five months. It was exciting to thing that both of these men wanted to have us in for their first revival meetings in their new ministries. God gave us some great services last week at Grace. Although we didn’t see anyone saved the Pastor was greatly encouraged by the attendance of the people as well as being able to see some things happening amongst the congregation that he had not normally seen. We have experienced the same here at Calvary this week with no one having been saved but God has been slowly and methodically chipping away at the individual hearts of the people in the services each night. We praise Him, the Lord of the harvest, for what He is doing.
Before coming back to the east coast we had several great meetings in the mid-west. I have to admit we were ready to get back to the south after experiencing three weeks of freezing temperatures in northern Indiana and it was only October. When we left our home church in MS after a revival meeting there we headed to Winamac, IN. When we left MS the temperature was 65 degrees. When we pulled into Winamac 12 hours later it was 30 degrees. I thought I was going to freeze setting up the trailer. Praise the Lord, Diana had purchased me an early anniversary gift earlier that day and was gracious enough to give it to me ahead of time. It was a new coat. GLORY!
Yesterday Diana and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. We took a little time to go to lunch together and to spend some time reflecting on the last 20 years and where God has taken over this time. We are so thankful to the wonderful family He has given us and for the many friends we have made over the years. We never imagined 20 years ago that we would be doing what we are doing today. Our testimony is proof that God can use anyone if they will just make themselves available. I want to say thank you to those of you that were aware of our anniversary and sent cards. You have no idea what a blessing that is to the two of us. We appreciate all that each of you do for our family.
This coming Sunday we will be with Pastor Jim Parrish of Bible Baptist Church in Fort Mill, SC for a Sunday – Tuesday meeting. We plan to spend Thanksgiving with friends in SC and by the following weekend we will be in Blairsville, GA for what looks to be our last appointment for 2009. Please pray for us during the months of December and January. These two months are the hardest months of the year to schedule with all the holiday festivities going on in churches and families, as well as the possibility for winter weather.
God Bless,
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
We have had a great month of August. We have been in four churches this month and each week was a good week. We started August at Sinking Springs Baptist Church in Bristol, TN. Once again we saw God move on hearts and several were saved that week. We also got to see and visit with several singing groups that the Pastor enjoys having in each night of the meeting. We left Bristol and headed to Dixie, WV. This was our second time to be at Bell Creek Baptist church and God gave us a good meeting. We have enjoyed getting to k now all the people and spending time fellowshipping each night after the service. We drove from Dixie to Martinsburg, WV for a Sunday through Wednesday meeting at Maplewood Baptist Church. We had great services on Sunday with four coming for salvation and the altar filled with people making decisions. All week long God seemed to be brewing in the services. The Wednesday night service was different because the Pastor spoke in the main service and had me to speak to the teens. Most of the teens were bus teens but they sat still and listened to the message intently and when I gave the invitation three were taken from the room for salvation. It was a great highlight to the meeting. Martinsburg is around 90 miles from Washington D.C. so we took a day to go over and see our Nations capitol. We stopped in Manassas, VA to visit the Battle of Bull Run and did the walking tour and saw the place where General Jackson received his name – Stonewall Jackson. Our entire family enjoys American History so we absorbed our time there as well as the day we spent in DC.
We left Martinsburg for Luthersburg, PA for a week of meetings in a small country church for the first time. God blessed in the meeting and the Pastor was encouraged with some of the things he saw during the week. From Lurthersburg we traveled to Martinsville, VA for a Sunday through Wednesday week with Temple Baptist Church with Pastor Don Reynolds. All week long something seemed to be brewing beneath the surface and God was waiting to open it up. On Wednesday night we had a great crowd and God was in our midst. We had a tremendous altar call and many tears were shed as people broke under the influence of the Holy Spirit. We left Martinsville very early on Thursday morning because we only had Thursday – Saturday to get to Garrett, TX. We had the chance to stop at home for a day and take care of some business and then we were off again.
We arrived in Garrett, TX on Saturday evening. We started the meeting on Sunday morning and God blessed the meeting. We were able to see someone saved every night of the meeting. The house was full each night in spite of the torrential rain outside. Pastor Don Smith was a wonderful host and we are looking forward to being back with him. We left Garrett and went to Alvarado, TX to begin our next meeting. This is the first time we had been at the Fundamental Baptist Church with Pastor Paul Calaway. We had great services with two saved on Sunday and then several making some key decisions in their lives. From Alvarado we headed over to Red Oak, TX for our fourth meeting at Landmark Baptist Church. We have grown to love and appreciate this church because of its sweet spirit and love for people in ministry. We have become great friends with the Pastor and his entire family so we always look forward to spending time with all of them. God gave us a great meeting with great attendance as a start and just seemed to keep bringing folks in all throughout the week. We saw lives changed, souls saved and God glorified. When the meeting was scheduled to end the Pastor stood before the congregation say, “I hate to see this end, as a matter of fact, I don’t want this to end.” That was a real boost for our family. We had been in so many weeks of meetings and coming straight from camp into our schedule we had all gotten very tired.
We praise the Lord for what his is doing in our midst and we look forward to being in many of your churches as you read this email. Please remember to pray for our family as we travel and that during this crazy flu season we will all stay healthy.
For Souls,
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Ps 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and
I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
Words can not describe what God has done in and trough our ministry this
summer. Once again we stepped out by faith and trusted God to supply the
needs for our family to be able to spend the entire summer as part of the
ministry staff of Camp Hosanna in Hiawassee, GA. Wow! What a summer. We
spent the entire months of June and July working with youth from all types
of backgrounds. Time will not permit me to tell everything that we
experienced but I do want to share some of the victories we enjoyed.
The camp is in its seventh year of existence and continues to be a tuition
free camp. We ran seven weeks of camp this summer with the goal of averaging
100 campers per week. We far exceed that expectation with our final junior
week maxing us out with 154 campers. We estimated with staff families,
counselors, maintenance and grounds, and church sponsors we hosted and fed
around 225 people per meal. God met with us in a great way each week with a
climatic teen week the sixth week of camp. God allowed us to share in 136
youth calling on Christ for salvation. Twenty one of those came in our final
teen week. All summer long, God had been priming the pump for our final teen
week. He used the junior week of 154 campers to prepare us for our last teen
week. We had groups from Northern Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Southern Florida as well as a large group of local teens from the
Northern Georgia area. God moved into the services the very first night of
camp and from week one to the very end we witnessed God's working every
service. Many teens and youth were helped with some incredibly serious sin
issues in their lives. We truly stared the Devil into the face and at times
sensed his desire to upset what God was doing in our midst.
We have now started our fall revival calendar and are excited about how God
has filled in our calendar for the remainder of the year. We look forward
to being with many of you and having a part in your ministry later this
year. I want to say a special thank you to all of you that have given to
help us be able to have a part in the camp ministry. With out your financial
support we could not do what we do. Spending five weeks with no income would
be a disaster but because of your faithfulness you have a part in the 136
souls that were saved this year. Only eternity will reveal the rewards of
your faithful giving to the work of the ministry of Jesus Christ. We are so
thankful for your prayers and your faithful support each month.
I do apologize for the long delay in this letter but we have had little
contact with anyone outside the camp for the last several weeks and I am in
the process of catching up on our correspondence.
May God Bless You and Your Ministry,
Ps 109:30 I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise
him among the multitude. Tonight my heart is filled with joy along with
amazement at the wonderful working of God in our midst this evening. We are
currently at Liberty Baptist Church in Lewisville, TX with Pastor Dick
Webster. From the very beginning of this meeting God has been doing some
wonderful things. We had a great start on Sunday with two coming forward for
salvation. One young lady, in her mid 20's, walked the isle without
hesitation with tears streaming from her eyes as she realized for the first
time if she were to die she burst Hell wide open. The other young man that
came was only in need of assurance but when the invitation was ended one had
been saved, a young couple came for church membership and another presented
himself for baptism.
All week long God has given great liberty in preaching. This church is
accustomed to hard preaching because of the pulpit ministry of Pastor
Webster but God has been at work in each service with people responding to
every message. I enjoyed hearing the Pastor challenge the congregation with
these words, "Don't think just because you went to the altar one time you've
gotten revival that is only the beginning. You need to become sensitive in
every area of your life this week and without hesitation be on this altar as
God speaks to your heart."
Tonight was the closing night of the revival and wow! What an end it was.
The Pastor had told me that Wednesday night would culminate with their end
of the year program for the youth and that there would be a big push on
Wednesday for youth in the service as well as inviting their parents. The
service was electric. They run their buses every Wednesday night and bring
in the youth for their youth program which they call, "LIFE." The young
people did a great job as paying attention during the preaching and when the
invitation was given God opened the flood gates. The scene around the
platform was incredible. When the last person had been dealt with there had
been 25 salvation decisions. Now, before you become skeptical let me break
down who came forward to be saved. We had two adult women come forward for
salvation. One lady has been a church member for 6 years. Another lady came
with her husband leading her for support and she accepted the Lord. All
across the platform making public profession of faith were teenagers and
junior age young people proclaiming to have received the Lord. Every
personal worker the church had was used up. This left the opportunity for
Diana and Ethan to lead someone to the Lord. Zach would have had the same
opportunity but he was on an errand to get water for me.
The Pastor was encouraged, the people were encouraged and I can truly say,
"We are encouraged." God has given us great meetings over the last couple of
weeks. Just last week we were in Poteau, OK and the Pastor for the first
time in his 33 year ministry at the church extended the meeting beyond the
scheduled end date. God is stirring his people and we are excited to have a
small part in His work.
This weekend I will leave Diana and the children in TX and fly to Northern
Illinois. I will fly back on Monday and then at some point next week we
will head to Healdton, OK for a meeting before we make our way across to
North Georgia to begin our weeks of summer camp. We are looking forward to
seeing many more salvation decisions this year during the camp weeks at Camp
Hosanna.
Please pray as I continue to fill the open Sundays during the weeks we will
be off the road for camp. We look forward to seeing all of you soon. Until
then, TTFN.
For Souls,
Dear Praying Friends,
Ps 104:33 I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise
to my God while I have my being. This past April completed four years of full-time evangelism
for our family. We are excited about all that God has done over these last four years and the doors of
opportunity he has opened for us as well as the many new friends we have made all over the country.
With all the many blessing that we have seen over these last four years this year, 2009, has been a
challenge for us from the beginning.
We have experienced several cancellations this year, 6 to be exact, creating some real hardships at
times but also causing us to rely greater on our Lords provisions verses our ingenuity.
This week we are in Poteau, Ok. This is our first visit to Poteau (pronounced poe-toe) Valley Baptist
Church. I am convinced that God has completely organized this meeting. We originally were scheduled to
be in the upper northeast area of the country but due to several cancellations we had this time open.
The Pastor, James Parsley, originally had another evangelist booked for this week but the evangelist
double booked the dates and had to cancel this meeting. Two years ago we were in a mission conference
with a missionary from this church and that missionary is home on medical leave from the field and
recommended our family and ministry to his Pastor to fill the cancellation. Although we did not have
anyone saved on Sunday we had a great response during the invitation and the evening crowd was actually
larger than the Sunday morning crowd. The Pastor has chosen as a theme for the week, “WAKE UP AMERICA.”
He and I agree on this truth, America is asleep spiritually. We are praying and asking God to do some
great things this week.
We enjoyed several days at home with our family and friends and were able to spend a Sunday at our home
church. We have been gone since January so it was good to get h0me for a few days. Diana was able to
make some much needed clothing transitions from winter to spring and summer for the women folk in our
family and I was able to go fishing for a couple of days. The Crappie fishing was unusually terrible
but the Blue-gill Bream were lighting it up boy did we catch a mess. We had a big fish fry Friday
night before we left on Saturday and my plate was a bone grave yard.
God has used these cancellations to teach us he is in control. We have had some interesting doors
opened to us over the last several weeks. God used Evangelist Paul Crow to help us during one week.
Brother Paul was scheduled to preach in Laurel, IN and when he learned of our cancellations he invited
us to come and have a part in the week. We did music, yes music, and a children’s meeting. We had great
attendance in the main services as well as with the children. We had a high of 53 in the children’s
service with several making professions of faith that week. The meeting was a great success. When the
Pastor learned that we had the next Sunday open he asked us to stay over and to preach all day on Sunday
opening the door for the invite to come back next spring and preach the main meeting. We can’t praise the
Lord enough for the way He takes care of us and meets our needs.
Once again we will be heading to Hiawassee at the first of June to work at Camp Hosanna. This we will be
there for 8 weeks and I will have a much greater role in the running of the camp. This year I will be
acting more in the role of camp director splitting the duties with Pastor Mason and Brother Woods. Camp
Hosanna continues to remain a tuition free camp and God continues to supply in unusual ways for the needs
of the camp. I will be preaching two of the camp weeks but for six weeks we will be working without an
income. Please remember to pray for us during this time. With all the cancellations and open weeks, we
have depleted what little savings we were able to squirrel back with the hope of using those funds to
cover the camp weeks with no income. Would you please pray that God would supply for our open weeks
this summer as we seek to serve him in this much needed camp ministry. We have many churches that will
be coming to the camp for the first time this year and the entire camp staff is excited about this being
our best summer yet.
Please stay in touch. We love hearing from all of you. Your notes of prayers and comments are a great
encouragement to us. God bless you all for His service and His glory.
For Souls,
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
We are now three months into the year 2009 and thus far we have been learning what it means to walk by faith. God has continued to
show us His mercy and grace while he has continued to stretch our faith. With the current economic conditions in the country we have
faced several cancellations due to large lay-offs in certain parts of the country. We are encouraged that God will continue to open
new doors as we seek to be faithful to the meetings he has provided for us at this time.
We are currently in Rock Hill, SC where we have spent the last two Sundays in this immediate area. We were able to be back at
Southside Baptist Church for an all day Sunday and then I spent several days in Newport, NC helping the Fundamental Broadcasting
Network with their spring “Sharathon.” God opened some doors during that time and allowed me to preach for Pastor Clyde Eborn
during his Wednesday night service and to meet several of the other Pastors connected to the network. We spent this past Sunday
with Pastor Jim Parrish at Bible Baptist Church in Fort Mill, SC. Pastor Parrish has had an interest in our ministry since we launched
out into evangelism. The Pastor and the church have been incredibly gracious to our family over the last three years.
We are excited about our upcoming camp season with Camp Hosanna in Hiawassee, GA for our third summer. I spent several days recently
with Pastor Tim Mason, Camp Director, working on the coming schedule. We have been contacted by churches from Chicago, Virginia, South
Carolina, Florida, and Alabama about our camp weeks this year. God has been so good to the camp over these last five years providing
the funds necessary to keep the camp a “TUITION FREE” camp. Last summer we had record breaking weeks and this summer is shaping up to
be the same. As we have done in the past we will do the same this year and will spend the entire 8 weeks of camp serving around the
camp in whatever role is needed. I am scheduled to preach two of those weeks and will have a larger part in the day to day operation
of the camp. We are so excited about what God is doing with the camp we believe this is what God would have us do during this time.
However, we will be six weeks without an income. I am currently trying to fill the Sundays representing the camp in the local area
encouraging young people to attend the camp. Please pray for us during this time that God would supply in an unusual way for our
needs during the camp weeks.
We leave Saturday for Fieldale, VA to be back at Thus Saith The Lord Baptist Church with Pastor J.D. Walker. We will spend next
week in VA and then we head to Rockwood, PA for our first meeting at Tabernacle Baptist Church with Pastor Jim Kesslar. We were with
Pastor Kesslar in our first year when he was in Confluence, PA but this will be our first time at his new church. We are looking
forward to having a great meeting and getting to meet the good folks in this church.
We do have two weeks open in the middle of the month of April before we have to be in Middletown, RI for a week of at Calvary Baptist
Church. Please pray for us that we can fill these Sundays and possibly meet some new Pastors during this time.
I am sitting in a Ford Dealership having the truck serviced before we leave tomorrow and now they tell me I need brakes. It seems
like we done nothing but pay repair bills lately. Our washing machine died last week and the amazing thing is that it cost more to
replace a compact rv washing machine than it would to have purchased a brand new, full sized, front loading machine from Sears.
However, God is good and we continue to see His provision in spite of our lack of faith at certain times. We look forward to
seeing all of you and pray that God is meeting each of your needs.
For Souls,
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
I would guess that many of you have been wondering what has happened to us and where we are at this
time. We are currently in central Florida for the next several weeks. We have been here for two weeks
now and are scheduled to be here for the next four. We have had some set backs in our calendar for the
beginning of this year with three of the first four scheduled meetings being cancelled. I will admit
it has been some what discouraging seeing we try to budget our year and plans based upon our schedule
and it makes it very difficult when you have that many cancellations that close together. Please don’t
get me wrong God is not surprised by any of this. We continue to trust him daily to provide for our needs
it is tough sometimes learning the walk of faith.
God gave us a great Christmas at home and allowed me to spend several weeks helping our home church
during that time. Our Youth Pastor, Chris Estep, recently accepted the pastorate of a church in Corinth,
MS. Since the office was vacant and we had four weeks without any meetings our Pastor asked if we would
fill the gap during our Christmas break from meetings. We had a wonderful time and it was the longest
stay we have had at home since we left for Bible College in 1996. It was fun getting to work with a
group for several weeks and seeing them make some good decisions as well as be in one spot for an
extended period of time. It was bad in one sense because it caused Diana to get house fever pretty
bad. We did consider the opportunity to possibly own a home again but the mortgage agent told us it
wasn’t possible at this time. It was a hard pill to swallow but we managed to get it down and get back
to reality. Six people in a 490 square foot travel trailer can get crowded at times and having a house
for when we are not in meetings is a nice thought.
We were supposed to start our first meeting in Aberdeen, NC the second week of January but due to some
scheduling conflicts the meeting was cancelled. Because we were still in MS and the meeting in Aberdeen
was cancelled we then had to cancel our next meeting which was to be an all day Sunday in Rockingham, NC.
We have been at Victory Baptist Church several times and the Pastor understood we were 650 miles away and
didn’t want us to travel all that distance just for a Sunday.
We did manage to keep our next appointment in Lake Mary, FL with Countryside Baptist Church for their
annual Homecoming cookout and revival. Pastor Tim Morrissey has recently accepted the Pastorate of the
church since it was vacated in 2007. The church has gone through some deep water but is now on the up
swing is beginning to recover. We had a great meeting with three coming forward on Sunday for salvation.
One dear lady came forward that the church had been praying for, for years. The lady that brought her
was so excited she had to use her inhaler to keep from over reacting. The meeting was well attended
all week long and the new Pastor was greatly encouraged.
Much to my chagrin our meeting for the next week was cancelled at the last minute. The Pastor didn’t
offer much accept he felt as though the church was not ready at this time for a revival and hopes to
reschedule later on. It is not my place nor office to decide what the church needs when it needs it
that is the job of the Pastor. Although it is discouraging I recognize the right of the Pastor to
cancel the meeting if he thinks his people are not ready. Our hope is that when we are in a meeting
we can be a help, blessing and encouragement to the Pastor and his church.
The year 2009 is a big year for our family; January 1st, 2009 made 10 years of full time service to
our Lord (6 ½ years – Southside Baptist Church as the Assistant Pastor and Youth Pastor, 3 ½ years –
Reach Ministries as a full time itinerate evangelist to Local Churches), January 21st, 2009 I turned
40 years old (Wow!), November 18th of this year Diana and I will celebrate 20 years of marriage.
Please pray for us with these cancellations and the rest of the years schedule. We still have
many Sundays open for this year. For whatever reason it seems as though Pastors have been reluctant
to commit to a schedule for this year. I have been asking the Lord to give us 35 meetings. With the
cancellations we only have 21 meetings for the year. That is 11 fewer than 2008 and 7 fewer than 2007.
We know God is able to supply a table in the wilderness, we must be willing to believer.
May God Bless You All For His Glory,
1 Tim. 6:6 – But Godliness with contentment is great gain.
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
I apologize for the long delay since our last update but we have not been in places for the
last several weeks were we could send and receive email and then my computer went down for a
week and a half. God has been giving us some great meetings. We have had great meetings in
Texas, Illinois, Georgia and Florida. We are currently in Central Florida at Crossroads
Baptist Church. God gave us a great start to our meeting today with three adults coming
forward for salvation. We had two men and one woman walk the isle to accept the Lord. The
wonderful part was that one of the gentlemen was over 60 years old and the other was in
his 50’s. The lady that came forward was also in her late 40’s. The church was rejoicing
because they had been praying for one of these men for a long time. We rejoice in what
God is doing. We are doing a combination mission/revival conference here at this church
with the plan to go through Wednesday night.
We have had so many blessing in recent weeks and months that I can’t begin to share it
all with you. It has been a trying time to be on the road with the ever fluctuating prices
of diesel fuel and the cost of living on the road continuing to go up daily. With a family
of six on the road together I can’t even get out of a fast food restaurant without spending
$30 and if we choose to eat remotely healthy it is closer to $50. However, God has supplied
in great ways. Along with the cost of being on the road we have had several repairs come due
on the trailer. We have been fortunate with our travel home and truck since we purchased them.
I had to put the trailer in the shop for the first time in three and a half years last month
to have some much needed repairs done. Regretfully one of the repairs that we paid for
wasn’t done correctly and ultimately I had to spend several days, with some help from a
friend in Georgia, working on the trailer. The trailer is 8 years old now so things are
going to breakdown occasionally with it just like anyone’s home would. During all of this
time God was supplying us with the meetings and the people necessary to help us make these
repairs as the needed to be made. I want to say, “Thanks!” to all of you that have helped us
over these last several weeks.
God gave us some great meetings in two churches in Texas. Pastor Chad Spence and the
Landmark Baptist Church have become dear friends to our ministry and have become a favorite
stopping point for us through the year. Once again God gave us a great meeting with many
decisions being made for the Lord. The meeting was well attended and the church was so
gracious and kind to our family. After we were done in Red Oak, TX we spent a Sunday in
Corsicana, TX at another Landmark Baptist Church. We had great services and fellowship with
the Pastor and the church. This is an new work with great potential. Pastor Smith is working
hard to reach souls in Corsicana for Jesus. Things have been trying but he is resolved to
build a work for the Lord. We were able to go home for a week and spent the time at home
with our home church in revival. We enjoyed the preaching of Evangelist Tim Thompson. Brother
Thompson has become a dear friend and we always look forward to getting to fellowship with him
and his family.
We left home and headed to Chicago where we always look forward to being at Parkview Baptist
Church. We always enjoy the fellowship of the entire church and the atmosphere of the meeting.
The children love being around the Christian school and the students are so gracious to let
our family have a part. Pastor Todd Morrissey and his wife Lisa are dear friends and God is
using them to build a great work for the Lord in the Northlake area of Chicago. We left on
Friday night after the meeting and headed on a 586 mile trip to Blairsville, GA. We had a great
week with Pastor Tim Mason and the Shining Light Baptist Church. God was in the midst of the
meeting from the beginning. The church had been praying and preparing and it was evident from
the first service. We had great attendance on Sunday morning and the meeting was well attended
all week long. Although no one walked the isle for salvation on Sunday night one young man
called the Pastor and told the Pastor he had been miserable all day long and that he needed to
be saved. He and the Pastor met the next day and he accepted the Lord. The Pastor was excited
along with the rest of the church.
We left Blairsville and headed to central Florida for two weeks of meetings. We started last
week with Victory Baptist Church in Sanford, FL. This was our first meeting at the church.
We had great services and all week with great attendance. The Pastor saw his folks doing
things that wasn’t the norm and was rejoicing in God’s goodness to the meeting. We look forward
to being back with them next year.
Please continue to pray for our family as you think of us. We are coming to the end of our
schedule for the year. We will finish up in Goodview, VA the first weekend in December and
then we are open for the remainder of the year. I am currently working on next years schedule
and look forward to God filling it up over the next several weeks. We love all of you and
praise the Lord for your involvement in our ministry. I want to thank all of you that
faithfully support us prayerfully and financially. It has been your faithfulness that has helped
to keep us on the road this year. We look forward to seeing each of you soon.
For Souls,
Summer has ended, vacations are over and the children are all back in school. Wow! This year seems to be flying
by and we have so much we want to do. We had a great camp season seeing many young people come to the saving
knowledge of Jesus Christ. We are excited about the ministry of Camp Hosanna. We are so thankful for those of
you that help support our ministry. Because of you we are able to schedule the month of July to be at camp.
With the camp being a tuition free camp without the financial gifts of friends like you we would not be able
to commit ourselves the way the Lord has allowed us the past two summers. This past summer was the largest
summer of the camps history and God blessed in many different ways. We had record breaking attendance in
both junior weeks and teen weeks. The entire camp staff was totally exhausted at the end of the sixth week of camp.
We took off from camp for a four week stretch of Sunday through Friday meetings in Tennessee, Virginia, and
West Virginia. We finished out the month of August with Great Hope Baptist Church in Chesapeake, VA. I
preached in the church on Sunday and then did the high school chapels on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday
we followed the senior high from Chesapeake, VA to Lake Waccamaw, NC to a camp named The Anchorage. I
preached Wednesday night, three times on Thursday and twice on Friday and the group loaded up their
luggage and headed back to Chesapeake. This was the first time this year we had the opportunity to
take a short family vacation. The Director at The Anchorage told me we were welcome to keep our trailer
set up on the camp as long as we liked. This was a huge blessing because we were anticipating
taking a few days at a camp ground and this was Labor Day Weekend. We had a great time doing “NOTHING.”
I never thought I would get to the day where doing nothing sounded good, but after the weeks of camp and
then preaching four weeks Sunday through Friday, traveling on Saturday with no real day off this was a
nice break for the whole family.
We started this past Sunday with Brother Bill Adams Jr. at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Salisbury, NC. The
meeting was planned as a Mission/Revival. We got off to a great start on Sunday with four coming to
be saved. After a time of counsel two had accepted the Lord, one got assurance, and the other had never
made a public profession of faith. The Pastor was excited and the church was as well. We will be here
through Friday night September 12th. We leave here on Saturday headed to Columbia, NC for our second
meeting with Pastor Ashby Browder and the good folks of Faith Baptist Church.
God has been so faithful to us over these last three and a half years. We are so thankful for your continued
support both prayerfully and financially. We look forward to seeing you soon. We still have opening
in our 2008 calendar and would love to have the chance to spend a Sunday or if the Lord should lead,
an entire meeting with you would be great. Thanks again for your faithful support. We do have a couple
prayer request:
May God bless all of you for your faithfulness to Him.
For Souls,
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Well summer is just about here and we are just beginning to enjoy the warm weather of spring. God has given us a great series
of meetings throughout the months of March, April, and May. We started the month of March back in the state of South Carolina.
We had the privilege of being back at Southside Baptist Church for their annual Faith Promise Mission Conference. We had a great
time enjoying the fellowship with all of our friends at Southside as well as hearing some great preaching by Pastor Dick Webster
from Lewisville, TX. We left Southside and headed to Aberdeen, NC, for a great week with Pastor Wayne Jones and the good folks
of Rainbow Baptist Church. God moved in and took over the meeting from the very beginning and what a great week we had as we saw
souls saved and lives changed for the glory of God.
We left Aberdeen and headed back to Rock Hill where I would leave Diana and the children for a week to fly out to Texas and
preach in several churches. God has been so good to our family over the last several years concerning our health. We have been
fortunate that we have not seen a lot of sickness in our family but we will never forget March, 2008. When I left Charlotte, NC,
flying to Dallas, TX, I was already feeling pretty bad but thought with the help of some Alka-Seltzer Plus and some rest I would
be alright, but that wasn’t the case. After three days of feeling like death warmed over, Pastor Chad Spence insisted that I go
to the doctor. It was a real blow to my male pride because I had not been to the doctor, with the exception of an annual physical,
for 13 years. They diagnosed me with the beginnings of strep throat and put me on a strong antibiotic along with a powerful cough
suppressant. In the meantime, Diana was in South Carolina with the flu. It was a pretty tough week in our household. By the time
I flew back from Texas our home resembled a mobile M.A.S.H. unit more than a family travel home. However, we lived through it.
By the end of March we were making our way into Virginia and West Virginia. Once again we had great meetings at Thus Saith
The Lord Baptist Church in Fieldale, VA. We opened the services on Easter Sunday with a well attended sunrise service, breakfast,
singspiration, prayer and then the regular Sunday morning services. We had a great Easter morning with two coming forward to be
saved. All week long there was a great spirit in the meeting, and God was evidently at work in the hearts of the people. The last
night of the meeting was well attended with one more coming to be saved. We left Fieldale and headed to Covington, VA. We had a
great week at Calvary Baptist Church with Pastor Ken Mason. Once again the meeting was well attended and we had one young man get
saved on Thursday night of the meeting. We left Covington first thing Saturday morning and headed to Martinsburg, WV, to start
another meeting that night. This was our second time to be at Maplewood Baptist Church with Pastor Carroll Williams and we had a
great time. We started with a soup and sandwich supper on Saturday night with singing and preaching. Each service was a great
service with folks responding at each invitation.
As we continued our track north, we left Martinsburg, WV, headed to Vernon, CT, to Grace Bible Baptist Church. This would be the
first week of five weeks in the New England region. Although we did not have anyone saved the week we were in CT, God met with
us each night with folks responding to each message and great attendance. The pastor asked for testimonies and as the people began
to speak, it was evident that God had been at work throughout the meeting in each of their lives. From Vernon we went to Sheffield, MA,
to be at Faith Baptist Church. This was the beginning of Diana’s itinerary for the year. She was scheduled to speak to the ladies of
Faith Baptist Church for their Mother-Daughter Tea. I wasn’t there, but I heard she did a great job. Pastor Bart Keller has been the
Pastor now for 2 years and things are beginning to pick up steam at the church. All week long the Pastor was excited as he saw the
people of the church stepping up to meet a need for the meeting, and people that hadn’t been very faithful in the past coming each
night and hanging around after the meeting. Once again we didn’t see anyone saved during the meeting, but one of the things I was
taught while at Ambassador Baptist College under the leadership of Evangelist Ron Comfort was this, “If at the end of the meeting
the pastor is encouraged, then the meeting has been a success.” In an age where success is gauged by immediate numbers, I have had
to learn that people coming down the aisle isn’t always the determining factor to a good meeting in a church. We are excited about
the future of this little church in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. We had the next week open, so we were able to spend
some time with the entire Keller family and what a joy it was to spend some time with a family with a heart to serve the Lord.
When we left the Kellers, we made our way towards Rhode Island to be with Pastor Randy Lewis and Blackstone Valley Baptist Church.
Once again Diana was scheduled to be the speaker of their annual Mother/Daughter brunch. While the ladies were having their tea
and crumpets, the Pastor, his sons, my sons and I went for lunch at the Memphis Roadhouse. The pastor recognized we had been gone
from home so long that he wanted to give me and the boys a taste of home, so we ate BBQ chicken, BBQ ribs, beef brisket, pulled
smoked pork, baked beans and corn bread. I didn’t know they could cook so good in Rhode Island. We had a great week with 6 souls
being saved and many other decisions throughout the week. We took off from Cumberland, RI, and headed down to Middletown, RI, for
a week of meetings at Calvary Baptist Church. God started working in hearts in the very first service with two coming forward to
be saved. On Monday night God moved in on the services, and for the first time in our ministry we saw people laying aside their
foolish pride and walking across the aisle to get things right with someone in the church. As tears began to flow, a sweet savor
was being lifted up to heaven as relationships were being mended and lives were being changed. We didn’t leave the church until
10pm that night. Before the week would end we would see two more come for salvation. We saw many first time visitors in the
services and the church seemed to be energized by the week. We had a great time of fellowship with everyone in the church and
enjoyed our time with the pastor and his family. We had the opportunity on the following Sunday to be at East Bay Baptist Church
in Warren, RI, with Pastor Chris Stuebe for the first time. This is a small church plant that is meeting in a two room storefront.
We had about 16 in the morning service and 12 in the evening, but we had someone saved in each service. Pastor Stuebe has a real
heart for souls and is an avid soul winner.
On Wednesday we left Rhode Island and headed towards Indiana. This would be a 929 mile trip, so we decided to break it up into
multiple days and just enjoy our time. This wasn’t a hard decision because when I arrived in CT five weeks earlier, diesel fuel
was $4.399 a gallon; but by the time I left Rhode Island, diesel had risen to $4.999 a gallon. I determined that we would not
travel over the speed of 62 miles an hour. We were able to average 8 ½ miles to the gallon at this rate of speed. We had our best
results when we made it to the flat lands of Ohio and Indiana. Please remember to pray for us as well as other evangelists and
missionaries that are out here pulling their homes behind them.
We are currently at First Baptist Church, Knox, IN. We will be in three other churches during the month of June, and then
we will head to Mississippi for a week at our home church. This will be the first time we will have been home since we
left the first week of January.
One last note, we have completed our second family music project and now have it ready for distribution.
Keep checking online and give our website a look while you are there.
For Souls,
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Psalms 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
We have lived through the months of famine and have finally reached the beginning of our revival schedule. We have learned the toughest
months, in the ministry of evangelism, are the months of December – February for all the obvious reasons: holidays and winter weather.
God has been so gracious to us opening more and more doors of opportunity but He has also been faithful to stretch our faith and dependence
upon him. When we left home the first week of January we only had one meeting scheduled for January and a national fellowship meeting
in February. I trusted the Lord to open doors in the central Florida area and God was more than faithful to us. God allowed me to fill
five of our open Sundays with five new churches. I was also introduced to several new Pastors at Astatula Baptist churches annual jubilee.
God opened the door for me to preach and our family to sing in the morning service on Friday of the meeting allowing the Pastors to get
an idea of what type of ministry we have to offer.
God opened a great door for us in February as he allowed me to take part in the Global Independent Baptist Fellowship Meeting in Tampa,
Florida hosted by Westgate Baptist Church and Brother Bruce Turner. The meeting was a tremendous meeting filled with powerful preaching
and Christ honoring music. I was humbled by the opportunity to preach to such a crowd and God used the opportunity to add two more weeks
to our schedule for later this year.
However, God gives us many victories and some trials along the way. When we drove into Tampa, FL we were scheduled to setup our trailer
at Southside Baptist Church, Tampa, FL with Pastor Kerry Nance. As we were making our way into his church all the instruments in my truck
went dead. Each time I touched the break everything would go dead. When I would start up again everything would come back up; touch the
break and it would go dead again. I realized I was having either alternator or battery problems. As soon as we got to the church the
truck went dead and the batteries were zapped. I put them on a slow charge all day on Sunday with the intentions of changing the alternator
Sunday afternoon. After a two hour wrestling match the Ford won. Never in my 39 years of life have I had a vehicle that the alternator
was in such an easy place to get to but the tension pulley is in an impossible place to get to making it practically impossible to get
the belt of to change the alternator. I have never been so frustrated in my life. Much to my chagrin I took the truck to Ford on Monday
morning. I was informed that the truck needed a new alternator and two new batteries. After calling a mechanic friend he advised me to
replace the batteries and that basically they had me over a barrel. If I didn’t replace the batteries and tried to go somewhere else
and get a cheaper battery and in the process the new alternator were to be damaged or even die in the process they may not honor the
warranty. Long story short, after labor and parts it cost me $1000.00 bucks to get my truck out of the shop. Those of you that know me
well know that I don’t discourage easy but having not preached a meeting in the entire month of February and now I’m spending this
amount of money to get my truck out of the shop was pretty discouraging.
We left Florida headed to Dixie, WV. I preacher friend that has recently taken a ministry there had a meeting come open unexpectedly
and he called to see if I had anything available or could we fit them in to which I replied, “Oh yea, we can fit you in.” I dropped
the family off in South Carolina and made the trip alone. The meeting was only a Saturday and a Sunday but it came at a great time for
our family. We spent this past week back at Southside Baptist Church for their annual mission conference as well as recording our second
family CD. We are excited about this new project and hope it will be as much of a blessing to people as we have been told the first
recording was to them.
We started a meeting in Aberdeen, NC on Sunday and God has met with us in all our services. We had one lady come forward on Sunday
morning for salvation and many responding to the altar call to pray for themselves as well as for lost family, friends, and others
they were going to work to get to the services this week. Sunday night seemed to be a carry over from the morning. God moved in on the
services and the Pastor was overwhelmed with god’s presence. When the service ended the Pastor said, “I was literally afraid to move
during the service for fear of disturbing what God was doing.” Last evening we had a great crowd back for a Monday night and once again
God met with us with many weeping on the altar and getting things right. We joy in God’s goodness to us and to use us for His good pleasure.
We are scheduled to go through Wednesday night but the Pastor is hinting we may go through Friday.
We covet your continual prayers over these next several weeks. We have a great schedule ahead of us but the unexpected expenses in
February is making it very difficult to operate and it is not our desire to float any debt on credit. We have endeavored to stay out
of debt since we began and God has allowed us to maintain that goal up to this point. Please pray that God would supply in these
meetings in an unusual way that we may lessen our stress level in the area of finances and not add any new debt to our family and
ministry. We look forward to seeing many of you in the coming months. May God bless and keep you all for his glory.
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Well things are up and running in the New Year and God is already doing some great things in
the lives of the Abbott family. We left home, Mississippi that is, the second week of January headed
for Lake Mary, Florida. This is the second year we have been invited to come for their annual homecoming
services and Picnic. We enjoyed an afternoon of fun, fellowship, and food. We came to central Florida by
faith asking God to open some doors and allow us to make some new contacts. Over the last year, three
Pastors that we have had open invitations with, here in Florida, have taken new ministries. Fortunately,
we have been blessed to meet several wonderful families in this area and to make some new friends. One
of those families is the Don Orser family. Don and Sharon Orser along with their five children have
become dear friends to our entire family. Each time we come to Lake Mary we set up our trailer at their
home and the children have a blast. We have been using the location of their home as a central working
point while taking advantage of being in the area for several weeks to meet some new Pastors.
This Past week I was able to get reacquainted with a pastor I met the very first year we were out in
evangelism. The last time we spoke he was Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Avon Park, FL but has just
recently taken the pastorate of Crossroads Baptist Church in Fern Park, FL which is about 10 miles from
where we have our trailer set up. He invited us to come down on Sunday and had me to teach the adult
Sunday school class and had the family sing in the morning service. He invited us back for the evening
service and allowed me to preach. That evening we were invited to their home for a time of fellowship
and he asked what I would be doing this next week. I told him I was going to try and make some new
contacts with some of the Pastors in the area. He told me that a friend of his was holding his annual
jubilee and invited me to go over each morning with him. The host Pastor asked me to preach on Friday
morning and the family to sing. We were able to make several good contacts as a result of being in this
meeting. This past Sunday, January 27, we visited Victory Baptist Church, Sanford, FL and had a wonderful
time of fellowship with the Pastor and his family. Brother Terry Boyd has recently taken the Pastorate
and is doing a wonderful job. After the morning service Pastor Boyd asked if we would be back for the
evening service and I told him we had planned to be back so he asked if I would preach and the family
sing. God just keeps honoring His promise to us that if we will seek Him first all these things shall
be added unto us.
We still have several Sundays open before our next meeting and we would so appreciate your prayers for
us as we seek to be where He wants us, when he wants us. I want to say a special thanks to those of you
that have taken a special interest in our family and faithfully pray and support our ministry. We have
experienced some special blessings and surprises in recent days and we thank God for Him using you to
be a blessing and a help to our family.
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Romans 5:3-5 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:
knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience,
hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
It is hard to believe that another year has come and gone and by April of this year we
will celebrate 3 years of full time service in the field of Evangelism. God has been so
kind and gracious to us over these last three years. We have had the wonderful privilege
of seeing many souls come to Christ, families strengthened, lives changed, and Pastors
encouraged. All of these things are the very reason we continue to stay on the road and
in the ministry of evangelism. We are so thankful to all of you that faithfully pray for
our ministry and family and for those that help financially.
I was praying that God would give us 30 extended day meetings (anything that was more
than one day) for the year 2007, God gave us 28. Praise Be To God! This year I am asking
God to give us 35 meetings in the year 2008. Now if you are doing the math concerning
our schedule and the amount of weeks there are in the year you will notice that there is
a great deficit between the two. Knowing that we were busy for 28 weeks out of a possible
52 will tell you that we had 24 weeks where we were not busy. This is the one of the
hardest challenges we face in this ministry because it makes it almost impossible to try
and plan a budgeted year. We are so thankful to the five churches and one individual that
felt led of the Lord to take our ministry on for financial support. Without these supporting
churches it would have been practically impossible to have maintained the schedule we have
maintained and to meet our monthly obligations. This has also allowed us to be in some smaller
churches over the last year helping to remove the burden of financial pressure on both us and
the church. I am also thankful to two dear friends, one in South Carolina and one in Mississippi
who allow me to work for them, in between meetings, to help make up the difference in our income.
Truly, the walk of faith is one of patience. Learning to lean on God and to wait on His perfect
timing can be a great trial at times but it is during these times that God has taught me the
lesson of patience. It is one thing to quote the Bible verses, “God will never leave you; God
will never forsake you; He is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother,” but it is wholly
different when you are living those Bible verses. As God teaches us, we learn and gain that
experience that He is going to take care of us, and because of that experience, I have hope.
We finished our revival schedule the first week of December and spent several weeks at
Southside Baptist Church in Rock Hill, SC, helping Pastor Walters as he seeks to fill the vacant
Assistant/Youth pastor position. We have been back home now for one week and have enjoyed the
holidays with family and friends but we will have been three weeks with out a meeting before
we start our 2008 calendar.
God allowed us to hold meetings or to preach in churches in the following states this past year:
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia,
Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Texas and a first time state was Kentucky. I want to thank all the
Pastors that have taken a chance on our family and our ministry. Allowing us to be a part of your
church and your ministry, and we are so thankful for all that each of you have done for us both
Spiritually and financially when we have been with you. We look forward to being back with all of you.
As we begin 2008 we do have several prayer request:
1. We only have one week in January and one week in February on our schedule. Both of these weeks
are in central Florida. I am praying that God will fill the open dates with new churches in that
area of the country. “PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS RIGHT NOW”
2. We currently have 22 weeks on the calendar and I am asking God to give us 35 weeks in 2008.
“PLEASE PRAY WITH US”
3. I need to replace all three of the awnings that cover the slide outs on the trailer. One was
lost in a strong head wind and the other two are dry rotting. This will cost around $1200 for parts and labor.
4. This summer we will be working once again with Camp Hosanna. The camp is a total tuition free camp and
we are dedicating our summer to the ministry. We did this last year and saw God do some great things.
However, we were several weeks without an income. I am praying that God would lay it on the heart of
some churches and individuals to help support us during the camp weeks beginning at the end of June and
going through the month of July. You can learn more about Camp Hosanna by following the link.
For Souls,
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
God has been so good to us over the last 9 months of service to him. We have seen God
do some great things in our meetings this year. Earlier this year I felt as though we had
seen the gleanings of revival in our services at Calvary Baptist Church in Covington, VA.
God great services all that week with attendance growing each night and over 100 first time
visitors to the church during the week. I believe that just this past week God gave us another
taste of revival once again.
We were scheduled to be with Pastor Chad Spence at Landmark Baptist Church in Red Oak, Texas
for a Wednesday through Sunday meeting with emphasis on the family. God was blessing in each
night of the service and the altars were filled each night. I had been praying that God would
work in the heat or every family member and that He not only stir them but would change them.
On Saturday night of the meeting Pastor Spence came to me during he invitation and said, “I
believe that God does not want this meeting to end tomorrow but for us to continue for the
next week.” I have only been in evangelism for 21/2 years and this is the first time that I
have ever had a Pastor to ask can we stay another week. The wonderful thing is that our
calendar was open due to the fact that we were to travel to North Carolina and start another
meeting on Sunday but that meeting had recently been canceled. I was sick over the cancellation
but God apparently new He needed us in Texas for another week. The Pastor stood at the end of
the Saturday night service and said, “Folks I believe that this meeting should not end tomorrow
but should continue on until the next Sunday.” The folks seemed thrilled and so were we. On
Sunday morning God broke through. I preached an evangelistic message and at the invitation the
altars were filled. When the invitation had ended we had seen 8 souls come to know the Lord in
true salvation. The Pastor sat on the front pew and said, “Wow! These are uncharted waters for
this young preacher.” The church was electric. Sunday evening was to be the close of the Family
Revival so the plan was to take the entire church to the city park for a late afternoon church
picnic and fun time. The church set up a sound system and had me and my boys play some picking’
tunes while they all sat and sang along. I then took about 20 minutes and gave the church a
short challenge and noticed that several folks in the park had stopped to listen as I preached.
That night one more young man was saved. On Monday night God continued to bless in that I preached
primarily to the believer but during the invitation another man walked the isle and told the Pastor,
“I need to be saved.” Here is the encouraging thing. If the Pastor had said, “Our people are tired,
or They have been here since Wednesday, or It isn’t convenient to go another week,” the gentleman
that got saved on Monday would still be lost today, but because he didn’t let convenience, tradition,
or pressure dictate what God wanted him to do another soul was saved.
We are now back in Mississippi for a couple of days to make the swap from Summer clothes to
winter. This is primarily for the three women in our family for us guys winter clothes and
summer clothes look a lot alike. We will leave for Columbia, North Carolina this coming Friday
and will be with Pastor Ashby Browder for a Sunday through Wednesday meeting and then we head to
Roanoke, VA for another meeting. Please keep us in your prayers as we work to establish our
calendar for next year. As you well know we are headed into the Holiday season and things are
about to slow down drastically for us. Last year we spent all of December in Mississippi.
This December we will be on the east coast and working out of Southside Baptist Church. If
any Pastors have not yet scheduled your Christmas Banquet speaker and could use our family to
do music and preach during that time I would love to hear from you.
My wife has asked that all the ladies on our update list keep a sharp watch on our website.
Her online cookbook is taking shape and she will begin posting some new recipes soon.
For Souls,
It is hard to believe that in April of this year we celebrated two full years in
the ministry of Evangelism. We have had the wonderful privilege of seeing God open
doors of opportunity that we never imagined could be opened to us. Since April of
2005 we have traveled 60,000 miles, held 60 extended day revival services, made our
first family recording, and seen many souls come to know the Lord. We are confident
that during this time many of you have been faithful to remember us in your personal
and public prayers. Our hearts are blessed each time we see a prayer list that contains
our name or see a church mission board with our picture as a reminder to pray for our
family. We are forever in debt for your prayers on our behalf.
Our Prayer for 2007 has been that God would continue to open more doors of service
and allow us to hold 30 meetings within this year. Our schedule currently reflects
27 weeks. We are praying that God would give us at least three more weeks this year.
This is a small thing with the Lord. We know that He can do much more than that or he
could leave us at 27 for the year but whatever he chooses to do we will praise Him for
his continued faithfulness to us. Although we are traveling full time as a family our
schedule is equivalent to part-time. I am praying that our 2008 calendar will begin to
grow and take us to that full-time status of 35 weeks. I am now beginning to pray
concerning our 2008 calendar. I would covet your prayers concerning our 2008 calendar
and ask the Lord to provide 35 meetings next year.
We have been blessed over the last two years with a few churches sensing the need to
have a part in our ministry and taking us on for support through their mission program.
I can honestly say that without the support of these churches our ministry as a family
would have soon ended. That is not a result of my lack of faith but the harsh reality
as to what it takes to be on the road full-time as a family today. I want to say thank
you to those of you who support us and those of you who have taken special offerings
to help us through the last two years. God in His providence knows when we have a need
and He always comes through and it is through the people reading this letter.
We are currently in Winamac, IN. I was here my first year and this is our third visit
to this wonderful little town. The church is currently between Pastors. Pastor Carl
Lendermon, recently resigned to begin a full-time ministry of teaching in a Ukrainian
Bible Institute training Ukrainian nationals to do the work of the ministry. For years
he has been helping Evangelist Neal Cadwell to do the work and now he is going after it
full-time. We have had great meetings all year long and the summer is off to a great
start. We have been in northern Indiana for the last two weeks and will leave here at
the end of the week to start our first week of youth camp in western Virginia. Great
Hope Baptist Church of Chesapeake, VA host their own teen camp at the Hungry Mother
State Park in Marion, VA and this year I will be speaking each day and night to the
teens. From there we will head to Hiawassee, GA to Camp Hosanna. We are excited about
all four weeks of camp we will be having this year. This year we have campers coming
from Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Illinois, and Indiana. The
camp staff is excited to see how God is expanding the attendees of the camp. It is
even more exciting to be a part of a camp that is more interested in the souls of young
people than the cost of camp for a week. I compared the average cost of many of the camps
used by Independent Baptist Churches and found that the average cost for a week of camp is
$200 per young person. Glory be to God that at Camp Hosanna a young person can come to
camp for $0. Check out the website and if you haven’t made plans for camp we still have
room for more. J
I would ask you to pray with us concerning some needs we have at this time. My truck has
60,000 miles on it and is doing great. However, we are on our third set of front tires.
Each time I replace these tires it is $300. I have been checking and have had some others
to check and our prices seem to mach. I can have an air bag suspension installed on the
rear suspension of the truck to help level the truck when we pull the trailer. Because of
the size and weight of the trailer when resting on the truck it raises the front end and
over time cause the tires to begin to cup. Basically the tires form waves and the tread
wears dangerously thin in some areas and looks almost brand new in others. An air system
would correct this problem by raising the rear to help the front sit firmer on the ground.
The price for such a system will cost around $1000.00 installed. I have no intentions of
getting rid of my truck so I believe this would be a worthy investment rather than buying
new tires every 20,000 miles when they are supposed to last 60,000. We are also hoping to
make our second recording this year. We were able to stay on a shoe string budget with our
last cd for our first endeavor but this year we are hoping to go to the next level. We have
heard so many kind comments and request for another that we hope to accomplish this by the
end of the year. This also is not cheap. We were able to do our last recording for $4000.00.
Since we completed paying for the CD we have been stock piling all the money from the sales
to be used toward the next project but we will still need another $3000.00 to do what we would
like to do. Each of these things are prayer needs and we would covet your prayers in these areas for us.
We are excited about the future and what God has in store for us. We look forward to seeing
all of you in the near future. May God bless and meet all your needs.
For Souls,
It seems as though it has been forever since I sent out some type of update for our ministry.
There is a good reason for that. One is that I just recovered all my email addresses. I updated
my system recently and some how I have not been able to get my address book to work. I finally
got it worked out and now we are rolling again. Another reason is that for three weeks we were
in areas of the country where we had no internet coverage and were unable to send/receive email.
Things have been great. God has been blessing our ministry more than I could have ever imagined.
March and April have served to be great months for our ministry. We started in March with a visit
to the Global Vision Baptist Church of Nashville. This is a new startup work by former Evangelist
Greg Locke. We had a great time with them and were excited to see how God is blessing the ministry.
The vision for the ministry is great and Brother Locke is pushing full steam ahead. We left Nashville
and headed to the Northeastern tip of West Virginia. We had a great meeting with Pastor Carole
Williams and the Maplewood Baptist Church. We had two to get saved during the week and many decisions.
The Pastor was excited to see many different things take place during the week.
When we left Martinsburg we headed to Covington, VA. I believe that for the first time in our
ministry I saw the gleanings of revival. Pastor Ken Mason has been at the church for just over
two years and has patiently worked with the people getting them to see the vision for the future.
From the beginning of the meeting God was in it. We had seven salvation decisions over the week and
the crowd grew each night. We started Sunday morning with a good crowd just under a 100, and by
Friday night we had seen the crowd grow to 149. Throughout the week we had over 100 first time
visitors to the church. We had two great testimonies during the week. One 68 year old lady had
gotten a burden for her sister, in her sixties as well, and took the initiative to call her one
night after the meeting and asked her the all important question, “Where will you spend eternity
when you die?” The sister wasn’t sure and she lead her to the Lord over the phone. AMEN! Another
lady told of how she began to talk to a young boy in the doctors office waiting room and lead him
to the lord. The young man was 15. Friday nights service was electric with several area Pastors
hearing about the meeting and coming to visit the services.
We left Covington and went to Delco, NC. We were with a college friend and his family, Brian Beaver.
He is now the Pastor of Livingston Baptist Church. The church has a rich history in the area having
been started in the mid 1800’s. We had a good start with many at the altar in the first service and
by the weeks end two getting saved and several getting their salvation settled from doubt or
confusion. We left their headed to Stanfield, NC to do a combination mission conference and
revival. Pastor Jon Stephens is doing a great work at Friendship Baptist church and the people
were very responsive to each message. We had families getting things right, individuals surrendering
their lives and God was at work. The last night of the meeting we had an international meal and the
preaching was in the fellowship hall. The Pastor was doubly encouraged because many responded after
the message. He said, “We have never had people to come forward during a service in the fellowship
hall after a meal.”
We left Stanfield and stopped in Rock Hill, SC for the night and took care of some business there
before heading to Hampton, GA. We are currently in Tampa, FL at Westgate Baptist Church with Pastor
Bruce Turner and will be back in MS by Tuesday night. We haven’t been home since the first week of
January so we are looking forward to being home for a couple of days.
Please pray for us as we travel back to MS, and for our upcoming meetings. I will preaching the
first annual Men’s Retreat at our home church. Our Pastor had to have emergency surgery and hasn’t
gotten back to full strength so I will be preaching for him over the next several services as well.
God is continuing to increase our schedule but we still like about four meetings to reach our 30
for the year. Would you please pray right now that God would give the increase and the things we
need. It will only take a moment to ask God to fill our schedule. Thank You!
For Souls,
