April-May 2003 Newsletter

"...for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak."
Jeremiah 1:7

SENT TO ALL PLACES AND GOING

I believe the Bible is clear in its teaching that all Christians are called to all places.   That is, the Lord has Christians in every country in the world and they are all moving about constantly.  If every Christian would be the witness they are required to be we could preach the gospel to every creature in a short time.  My wife, Robin made a reflection concerning the SWAT team, she said, “Isn’t it a shame that the Lord has to have a SWAT team to travel around and remind, exhort, rebuke and compel Christians to do what they are already commanded to do.” YOU ARE SENT…ARE YOU GOING?

 COLORS IN PM…GREEN AND Y-E-L-L-O-W

My great passion in the ministry for many years has been to train young men to preach; especially in the area of publick ministry. We were privileged this month to train at least a dozen new (green) street preachers in this vital area of  ministry. Nine of these young men were from the Roloff home, Lighthouse, in Corpus Christi, TX. The other three were from the International Bible College in Long Is. NY. In this same paragraph I’d like to mention a friend of mine named Scotty Sutton. He is in his mid-seventies and preached for the first time last year and hasn’t been able to quit since. He told a friend of mine recently that there were six reasons why he never preached on the street before, those being…Y-E-L-L-O-W. 

We wrapped up our extended stay, serving in our home church in Austin, TX.  I finished the semester I was teaching in the Bible College and preached on the streets of Austin, TX many times in April.  We also preached at  both a “Peace” rally as well as a “Pro-America” rally there in Austin.  We took about 20 folk from Bible Believer’s Bapt., pastor Bevins Welder in Corpus Christi, TX. onto the beach there and preached during the sand castle competition.  I don’t normally do beach-preaching but that was the only place where there was any people.  We shook the “Big Apple” from several different angles.  Tony Powell and three young men from our Bible College in TX. joined me in ministering all over New York City.  We preached at Battery Park to the tourists loading and unloading from the ferry boats going and coming from Statue of Liberty and Ellis Is.  Chuck Zander and his family joined us as we preached at several other locations in Manhattan including “Ground Zero”…the seven story hole in the ground where the Twin Towers used to stand.  I held my Twin-Towers-on-fire-“WHERE WILL YOU SPEND ETERNITY” banner at “Ground Zero” and lived to tell about it.  We also preached on the Staten Is. Ferry and to those in the terminal waiting to board.  I could write a small book on the NYC trip and I’m sure those college young men could too. We truly had a blast at the BLAST in Memphis, TN.  A good crowd of street preachers showed up for the convention, we all preached at the festival, and we all came home safe and sound…what more could you hope for.  We also preached in Ripley, TN., Las Vegas, NV. and  Albuquerque, NM.

 IN        THE        CHURCHES

We were honored to minister in the following churches in Apr./May:

Capitol City Bapt., Pastor Hank Thompson, Austin, TX., Bible Believer’s Bapt., Pastor Bevins Welder, Corpus Christi, TX., The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, Pastor Mike Storm, Bradford, CT., Landmark Bapt., Pastor Vince Massa, Stamford, CT., 1^st Bible Church, Pastor Mike Veach, Staten Is., NY., Grace Bible Bapt., Pastor Jerry Hickson, Halls, TN., Bible Bapt., Pastor Pete McKenzie, Las Vegas, NV., and Lighthouse Bapt., Pastor Harold Bryant, West Lake, LA., and International Bible College, Pres. Bruce Miller, Long Is. NY.

PERSONAL