"Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." Acts 14:22
February 2001 Newsletter
"Confirming the souls of the disciples, and
exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation
enter into the kingdom of God." Acts 14:22
CONTINUING IN THE FAITH
The following letter is from a pastor who actually "continued in the faith" in the area of publick ministry after the SWAT team introduced his church to this most profitable ministry. The Lord has allowed us to have some good fruit that has remained. What if every church continued in this profitable ministry?
On December 28, 2000
the youth of Westwood Baptist Church of Mobile, AL., and I headed for Mississippi. We were
going to visit the youth of Ozark Baptist Church. The previous summer we had the privilege
of having them visit Westwood. During that week everyone had a great time of Vacation
Bible School, witnessing, and soul winning. We went through many neighborhoods knocking on
doors, inviting people to church, and sharing scripture at every opportunity. But by far
the most memorable time that we had was when we went downtown to witness in and around
Bienville Square. Many of the youth had never seen homeless people before, much less
witness to them. We started with singing, and then some of the young men began to
preach. As they were preaching the rest of us were passing out gospel tracts. We
shared the gospel with anyone who would listen, and I believe there were five people
who made professions of faith that day. The time we spent at the square was really
powerful. This truth came home to me while we were in Mississippi. The mother, of one of
the young ladies who had went with us to the square, shared with me how that experience
had changed her daughter's life She told me that her daughter, Nikki, had never seen
homeless people before, and that having now seen things first hand, it changed her whole
perspective on life. Shortly after returning home rom Mobile, Nikki led one of her friends
to the Lord! I pray that Nikki will never lose the perspective she gained that day. Pastor Tommy Watts |
ON THE STREETS
Only eternity will reveal all the benefits of standing at a busy intersection holding scripture signs and a huge banner. Jacksonville, FL. is certainly not used to this and we received several thumbs up but only a few other fingers. As the inner cities die this may be the main publick ministry of the future. You’d better get into practice. Center, TX. will be reeling for awhile from such a strong publick witness in their square. As I preached on each of the four corners of the town square the "elders" (old men playing checkers in the park) of the city were visibly shocked. This was probably the most novel thing they had seen in fifty years. THE policeman in the town circled the block many times and then parked in a lot across from the preaching to keenly observe. Our respect is deserved by Bro. Grimes of Central Baptist church in that small town who fielded the odd looks of the many locals whom he knew. Tulsa, OK remains in the top ten list of great cities in which to minister. The public actually come out of their temples-of-business and the structure of the city lends itself to effective publick ministry. We invited folk out from the bus station to come and receive a tract from us on the curb and some actually came and got one. Glen, a 19 year old BIG black man came to get one and as I dealt with him he got on his knees on the curb and trusted the Lord to save him. Pastor Doug Coates, who does an excellent job of publick ministry in this city, led a grown lady to the Lord as I preached in the downtown section. Salvations like these make for a good PM day in our estimation. We floated home on cloud 7: the Lord’s cloud. We will hub in Tulsa for most of a month, helping this good pastor.
IN THE CHURCHES
We were honored to minister in the following churches in February. I taught the men’s class for Dr. Lenny Willinger at Trinity Baptist in Jax. FL. where Tom Messer is pastor. Bro. Willinger is an old friend who joined me on the first street meeting that I ever organized back in 1970. Central Baptist, pastor Danny Dodson, Center, TX., Victory Baptist, pastor Gary Dackin, Olathe, KS. I was leading singing in pastor Doug Coates’ Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Tulsa, OK when a young man of ten years old named Elijah, who was visiting the church raised his hand to give testimony and select a song. He said, "I was saved when I was born because I was born with a bad heart valve and the doctors had given up hope and God healed me". I responded to him by agreeing that he was truly saved "physically" but that he still needed to be saved spiritually. After I preached, he came to me and said, "I need to be saved". In a few moments he was.
*REMEMBER THERE ARE FOUR CONVENTIONS THIS YEAR* |
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| Memphis Blast, May 3-6 | European Blitz, July 8-16 |
| Great Lakes Blitz, July 26-29 | West Coast Blitz, Sep. 13-16 |
| . Mark your calendars accordingly | |
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