Friday, May 30, 2008

South Dakota Outreach

Dear saints,

Please continue to be in prayer for the work of the gospel in Brookings, SD. If you are planning to attend the outreach July 7-26, please go to www.brookingsoutreach.com and register so we can arrange housing needs and make other necessary plans.

We have been running a series of ads in the newspaper - "Is there a God?"; "Is the Bible reliable?", "What does the Bible say about man?" and "Is God concerned about man's problem?" We will be running a last ad the week before the outreach, "How can I benefit from God's remedy for man's problem?" Pray that the Lord will use these ads to cause people to think about their sins and need for a Savior. We have received some inquiries as a result of the ads and trust hearts are being prepared for the gospel.

Below are a few specific things for prayer.

1. Working of the Spirit in the lives of people in Brookings.

2. Leaders in the Brookings community - salvation and good working relationship with them during the outreach.

3. Workers for the outreach - ask the Lord to bring those whom He desires to have be part of the outreach. Pray for holiness in their lives. Pray for a great burden for souls in their lives.

4. Housing - pray for the Lord's provision. We are asking the Lord to provide a few campers and one or two homes in the Brookings community for use during the outreach. We are trusting the Lord will find a way to allow us to provide housing for everyone - "Who goes to warfare at his own expense."

5. Gospel literature - pray for timely arrival of the literature and the Lord's blessing as it is distributed.

6. Kid's clubs - pray for those who will teach the Bible lessons and the helpers.

7. The Lord's provision for all of the various needs - workers, meals, receptive hearts, wisdom, gracious interaction with the community, unity among the workers, etc.

8. Opportunity to have a literature table in front of the Walmart store during the outreach.

Notes of praise -
* The Lord directed us to a building which we can use for $75 a day. We will use it for our morning Bible lessons, breakfast, prayer times and evening gospel meetings. We will be able to use it as a meeting place after the outreach also.

* The Lord is allowing us to meet more of the families of children who attended the Kid"s Club at Hillcrest Elementary School in Brookings. Thus far they have responded warmly to us.

In Him,
Larry Sax

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Cross Canada (C3) Team

Cross Canada Cruisers or "C3" is a Canadian ministry for college-age men to receive field training in evangelism and to be servants to all people. In doing this, they will be able to show God's love in an effective way. Another goal of this program include the encouragement of New Testament local churches to pray more and to be effectively involved in their local
communities.

The group of young men travel in two teams, each with experienced mentors. Their road trip extends over 5 months (May - Oct) from the East and West coasts of Canada towards Southern Ontario where they will be re-united for a final week of special events.

One unique feature of this program is the use of restored 1950s classic cars to transport the teams. The reason for this: these cars provide modern parables of each of the men's lives - they were ruined by sin, but reclaimed by Jesus Christ, and restored for proper service towards all people and for God's glory.

Please visit www.crosscanadacruisers.com to learn more about this outreach. If you would like to receive an 8 1/2 X 11 poster in PDF format as a prayer reminder, send your request to bill@uplook.org. This poster includes photos of the team and the cars, along with the dates and 38 locations where C3 East and C3 West will visit.

C3 East is presently in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and C3 West is in Victoria, British Columbia. Updates from these locations will be sent early next week. The following is from the team as they completed two weeks of orientation at Guelph Bible Conference Centre in Ontario.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To all saints everywhere in Christ Jesus,

From the Cross Canada Cruisers,

May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (I Peter 1:2 b) Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. (Psalm 145:3)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:3)

We have been very aware of His blessing in the past week of evangelistic training. We have been reminded of His grace and mercy as we examine the Gospel of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, drawing from our hearts a love for Him that could only be from Him. The Joy of the Lord is indeed our strength.

As mentioned, we are being trained in the work of evangelism. We all have a common burden for the lost, and it's great receiving tips and "tricks of the trade" from those with experience in this work. Learning to fish for men is a delicate process. People are different, and one of the challenges is to tailor your message for your audience. That's the essence of what we've been
learning: how to be a soul winner; how to meet a person where they're at; how to show them the love of Christ, for it is only His love that can win a person.

We've also had our motives challenged. Are we going out to witness to as many as possible? Or are we going out to win as many as possible? It's possible to witness to many, but win few. If we're witnessing just so we look spiritual, just so we can say "look at how many people I've told about the Lord", we are doing it out of selfish pride. You might pray that we would be constantly reminded of the Lord's love for us, so that our motive is His love. We need to witness to win, to witness because we love people with God's love. It starts with a personal love for the Lord, for when we appreciate His love, and only then, can we love others.

It is with great anticipation that we look into the future. We hope and pray to see God work mightily through us. Emphasis on through. It's humbling to think He would choose to use us. He doesn't need us, He wants us. That's amazing.

Please continue to pray. We've sensed the prayers of the saints already, we cannot express our thanks enough. We're all in this together, and prayer warriors are as important as anyone in this work.

Pray for those we will come in contact with, that the Spirit of God would be working in their hearts to hear the Gospel. Pray that they would respond by putting their faith and trust in Christ. Pray for us, that we would be bound together with love. Unity is essential. Also pray that our message would be clear, that we would communicate the Good News with people. We have a life changing message, and we'd hate for anyone to miss it because of our weakness, so we need the Lord's grace in communication.

Watch for His appearing, press on toward the high calling.

Till He comes,
Dale Martin, on behalf of the Cross Canada Cruisers


Many of you may have heard of the Cross Canada Cruisers. A group of men are taking the gospel from shore to shore (actually two teams starting at each end of the country and meeting in Ontario) in old classic cars. Here is a first report...(Be sure to park your mouse at their website http://www.crosscanadacuiser.com/)
"Greetings in the name of our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, I arrived to Vancouver BC this past saturday. From there I took one of the BC ferries across to Victoria Island. The view from the ferry was honestly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. This week we are being taught the book of Romans by John Allen, and we are working with Tim Hood in our outreach. We have our teaching on Romans at the assembly out here (Westview Gospel Chapel) every morning. The first major outreach was had was the Victorian Day parade. I was again amazed at the ability these classic cars have and their ability to 'attract' a crowd. Especially the '56 Mercury Montclair with glass packed dual mufflers, that I have been privileged to drive :-) The parade lasted about 4 hours, and we were able to distribute just shy of 6000 'World's Biggest Lie' CDs. Many of the people that received the CD's were appreciative and polite, and nobody really gave us any opposition. Tuesday night we went downtown Victoria to the parliament buildings. I ended up talking to a couple by the name of Mike and Nicole for about 45 mins about spiritual things. Pray for Mike and Nicole. They are very interested, but are still somewhat resistant to God's perfect plan of salvation. This Friday and Saturday we will be going down by the water to watch and witness at a boat race. We plan to park the cars right on the dock, and allow people to come and check out the cars, while trying to work the gospel into the conversations. Pray for the hearts of these people, most people are very receptive to talk to us, but when we turn the conversation to spiritual things, are usually quick to end it or leave. I would write more, but as you can see...I'm not very good at this whole letter writing thing,
God Bless, Sincerely,
Jayson"

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

China/Burma Update

Dear praying friends

We are in touch with some brethren who are able to get help (with no little difficulty) through to believers in both China and Burma (Myanmar). However due to the sensitivity of the situation (especially in Burma) we cannot give details. However if you are exercised to help, especially the household of faith, funds could be sent to CMML (U.S.), MSC Canada, or Echoes (U.K.).

Not only is the devastation unimaginable, and the loss of life mind-boggling, but the governmental red tape is extremely frustrating. You understand one reason for this: it seems to be only so-called "Christian countries" and Christian relief organizations and churches who are ready to help. This outpouring of help has a debilitating effect on the official teaching of atheism or other false beliefs. It also tends to result in many turning to the Lord. As the Scripture says, "The goodness of God leads... to repentance" (Rom. 2:4).

Encouragement for Christian Young People

The below is from the April issue of UPLOOK Magazine:

Do you know a young person who could benefit from reading the writings of other young Christians or stories of encouraging happenings in their lives and as they share the gospel? Then tell them about www.poweredyouth.com This is not just another social networking web site–it is meant for serious Christian young people to encourage each other and themselves in the Lord! There are articles written by youth and youth leaders including special sections for young men and young ladies, plus a section focussed on evangelism. There are audio messages geared for youth with teaching on how to get involved in their assemblies. Youth conferences and outreach opportunities will be listed.
With this site, the desire is for young people to be equipped to meet the challenge of 1 Timothy 4:12: “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

Contact: David Nicholson poweredyoutheditor@gmail.com. www.poweredyouth.com.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Rosboroughs' China Update

From their e-mail...

Dear Praying Ones,
Quick update for you to let you know that (y)our prayers have been answered. We just received the next document we've been waiting for! But instead of it taking 9-17 weeks to receive it, it came in 3.5!! This is unprecedented! We've gained a new understanding of "God-speed" and are thanking Him for expediting our case. Please continue to pray for the last real hurdle, a Travel Approval which will allow us to buy our tickets and set our itinerary. It typically takes about 3 more weeks, with travel to follow 2-3 weeks after that. Add to that our two week trip in China, we would expect at this point to be home with John-Nathan [withheld] within 2 months!
With love,
Peter, Celinda, and Julianna