Paul Warner - Archeologist in Israel

Paul Warner is a POIG class member who visits Israel often to participate in archeological digs. He recently returned from an eight week trip there, and he shared many pictures and artifacts with the class today.

You can listen to his presentation by clicking the "play" button below:

Norm & Fay Boulton - Missionaries to Israel

Norm and Fay recently returned from spending time in Israel with CFI (Christian Friends of Israel). The purpose is to reach the Jewish people for Christ, and to begin to undo some of the damage done by Gentiles in the eyes of the Jewish people. We want them to understand that True Believers really do love the Jewish people.
Visit the CFI site to learn more.

You can listen to what Norm shared with the class here:

Go Forward

Then the LORD said to Moses, Why are you crying out to me?  Tell the people to get moving!  (Exodus 14:15). 


   The Israelites needed to go forward because there was no turning back.  With the Egyptian army behind them, the wilderness on the right and left, and the Red Sea in front of them, what choice did they have?  Instead of putting their faith in God, they cried out to Moses, Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?  They still hadn't learned the benefits of trusting in God.

   Jesus said, Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.  (Luke 9:62 NLT).  


   Is your faith being tested?  Are you in a position where there is no turning back?  I can't go back and undo the mistakes I've made and neither can you.  Our only course is to go forward.  The army of God never stands still.  God's marching orders are firm.  The seeming impassable seas have to be crossed, and the unscalable mountains climbed.  I know from experience that God is able to pave the way and make the path straight.  He supplies the abilities and equipment to finish the task.

Thought for the Day: Claiming the promises of God puts us on the road to victory in Christ.

Montana Missionary Trip - Overview

Andy and Denise Samuelson shared with us some of the highlights of their recent trip, which also include several other members of our class.

"Welcome to Townsend, Montana!"

This is the church the group was working with:

There were lots of fun activities with the kids:

.... as well as plenty of work to be done:

And here is a look at a beautiful Montana sunset:

Painted Faces

   On our recent mission trip to Montana, the team helped to mange a "block party" held for the entire community of Townsend on Thursday evening from 5:30 to 8:30.  The weather was windy and cool and many coats and sweaters were in evidence.

   For food we had a roasted pig along with hot dogs, side dishes, pink lemonade and cake for dessert.  Our youth helpers made popcorn and cotton candy.  The event was held in the local park and team members helped manage the inflatable jumping stations, a climbing wall, and bean bag toss.

   One of the popular stations for the "painted faces" tent was our very own Carolyn Kitzman who braved the cold weather to paint the faces of a long line of waiting participants.  The kids coming from Carolyn's tent looked like a rampaging Indian war party.

   The Elkhorn Community Fellowship will hold their first service on August 11th.  Pray for Pastor Eric and Jessica as they seek to start this new work in Townsend.  

 

Digging in Jerusalem

Paul Warner shared some highlights from his recent time spent in the archaeological digs in Jerusalem, including seeing and touching the original Wall which is now some 75 feet underground!

Back To Jerusalem 2011

Thank you so much for your prayers covering Back to Jerusalem 2011. God's presence and His direction was continually present with us. It is an awesome thing to watch God work. He does so much better than we ever could!

This year we changed our focus from mainly distributing packages of Christian materials to distributing food and clothing to poor and needy Arab, Jewish and Druze families with the hopes of sharing the love of Jesus with them. It is very difficult for locals to begin a relationship with the Druze especially. However, they love to have foreigners in their homes to learn about their culture and ways. Through inviting us in, the locals were also able to begin a relationship that they can now go back and follow up.

Once I heard that it is kinda like being pregnant for the 9 months but needing a doctor to come help deliver the baby. Locals often pray for years about opening an area but need the help of foreigners to help accomplish it. How great of God to allow us to be a part of that!

I will look forward to sharing some of the stories in a couple of weeks.

Dolores Livingston

Schooner and His Boss

    One of the activities during our Montana Mission Trip to Townsend was a puppet show that introduced the Bible story for the day.  Schooner who was a Parrot was played by Andy Samuelson, and the Boss (straight man) was played by Bob Delaney.  The kids laughed and squealed and everyone listened intently to the Bible story that followed.

    The highlight of the week was Thursday when Schooner and The Boss introduced the story about the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Pastor Eric presented the gospel, and everyone got to stick his head through a hole cut in a chart right after the words, "For God so loved ------------and finish saying John 3:16.  I have no doubt that the children went away with that verse fixed in their minds forever.

Montana Mission Trip

   It was a joy and privilege for Elaine and I to be a part of the First Baptist Montana Mission team led by Andy and Denise Samuelson.  Members of the team were: Dot Hawk, Sheri Smith, Suzanne Mulling, Don and Shirley Easter, Carolyn Kitzman, Rosemary Matthews, Wendell Feltman, Tim and MaryLou Campbell, and Bobbi Ebert.

   The team bonded well and we not only were able to minister to the Townsend children, but to one another as well.  Relationships were established and a fellowship enjoyed.  All in all I would label it as a tremendous success in helping the Elkhorn Community Fellowship to get started.  If another opportunity to minister again next year develops, I would pray that God would be pleased to include us on the team.

   Thank you First Baptist for the opportunity to serve.

Bob and Elaine Delaney

Brazil - Louis and Carole Avriett

The Avrietts were part of the group from church, First Baptist Church of Orlando, that went to Brazil to minister to pastors there and also to evangelize.

Carole took along 100 bags of special goodies that our class and some others donated towards, and gave them to the pastors' wives. She said they were delighted.

Louis and Carole shared many special moments from the trip; here's one of them:

Westward Ho!

Thanks for your prayer and financial support. Donna and I will be flying to Colorado next Monday morning for our Campus Crusade for Christ US Staff Conference. We are looking forward to meeting with many of our friends, enjoying great speakers, seminars and worship times. Pray that each one there will pause to listen and be able to hear what God wants to say to them. I need this especially because I hate to miss anything and run around so much that I'm quickly overwhelmed. Also pray for safe travels.
Lord willing, we'll get back to Orlando late Wednesday night, July 27 and we'll post an update of our time sometime after that.
We love being a part of the Pressing On In Grace class! - Tim for both

Sandbox Baking

   At the missionary compound in Yaounde, Cameroon the pre-school kids had the use of a large square contrete sandbox.  My wife and I had fourteen 3, 4, and 5 year olds to take care of for three weeks from 8 - 12 each day and they loved to play in the sandbox.  The girls would pretend that they were baking all kinds of cookies and cakes.  They presented them to me on toy saucers to taste.  I pretended to eat them and praised them for their baking skills.  The boys liked to fill toy trucks up with sand and haul them around the concrete enclosure.  It was a joy to watch them play together and have a fun time.  

    Soon they would be going back to the villages away from their friends with only Cameroonian children to play with.  During the rainy season the red clay would turn to mud while during the dry season there'd be wind and dust.  Our task was to teach them the Story of Creation, love on them, and help them have a fun time.  I believe we accomplished that goal.  

Bob and Elaine Delaney

MK's Favorite Pastime

I found that pre-schooler missionary kids love to have you read books to them.  The more you "ham" it up the better.  They love to sit and listen to stories about animals and people.  One of their favorite stories was the "Three Dassies."

 The book was written by Jan Bret and had very colorful pictures and a fascinating tale involving each Dassie building a house and a dangerous eagle.  The first Dassie built a house out of grass and the eagle came and blew it down carrying Dassie off to his nest.

 The second Dassie built a house out of sticks and the eagle blew it down and carried Dassie off.

 The third Dassie built a house using rocks, but the eagle tried as hard as he could, but could not blow it down.  He even tried to go down the chimney, but all he got was burnt feathers and covered with black soot.

 While he was busy trying to blew down the rock house the other two Dassies escaped out of his nest and scampered down the mountain to hide in their sisters stone house.  The poor eagle ended up with no breakfast and the three little Dassies were safe.

  Alls well that ends well seems to be the favorite part of the story. 

If you want to hold the attention of pre-schoolers try reading and acting out a good story book to them.  It worked for me.   Bob Delaney

Mystery Bible Character

    One of the enjoyable tasks while working with the missionary pre-schoolers on our Cameroon mission trip was telling them a story about a Bible character and seeing if they could figure out who it was.  Do you want to join us?

   The person I have in mind was an idol worshiper until God called him to go to a foreign country and start a new nation.  He had to travel a long distance leaving his family behind and trust God for direction.  When he arrived in the land a famine broke out and he journeyed on down to Egypt.  While there he lied about his wife which resulted in his being forced to leave the country.  He returned to Bethel and built an altar to worship God.  God made him a promise that all the nation would be blessed through him, and his descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven.  He finally had a son at the age of 100. 
WHO WAS HE?

    The children could hardly wait for me to finish before their little hands were in the air to tell me that my mystery Bible character was ABRAHAM.   Did you get it right?   I can still hear the kids shouting -- Mr. Bob!  Mr. Bob! tell us a Bible story.   It was such fun!

 

Norm & Fay Boulton

We have been in Israel since March 3rd and will arrive back in the States May 25th. We both fell in love with Israel and the Jewish people when we came on a tour with Pastor Jim Henry in 2006. We come to stand with Israel. Without the Jewish people we would not have a Bible and possibility salvation. The Bible was written by all Jews except maybe Luke and our Lord and Savior was also born a Jew, died and  rose again as a Jew and will return as a Jew. We have been volunteering with Christian Friends of Israel and a Messianic / Christian Church called Jerusalem Assembly. We are told to stand in the gap, be intercessors and "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem may they prosper who love you" Psalm 122:6

Christian Friends of Israel is a helping organization, they are helping to settle all the new immigrants returning to Israel from other countries. We give support, food, clothes, and are always there for those who just walk into the office. When asked about our faith we can answer freely. I was surprised at how many each day walk into the office to have their needs met. CFI is supported by 26 countries around the world. Countries like Zimbabwe, Uganda, Slovakia send sacrifical support even though they are very poor countries themselves. 

The Lord has blessed with an apartment that is a 5 minute walk to a park area that has a beautiful view of the Old City. We go there often to sit and spend time looking over the very place God calls "My People" and "My Land" (Ezekiel 38:16 and Joel 3:2) 1st Kings 9:3 says the Lord has put "...My Name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually." Amazing to be blessed to look over the Old City, City of David, Mt. Moriah, the Kidron Valley, Mt. of Olives and the Garden area where Jesus spent so much time in prayer. We try to visualize all that has happened here (the best is soon to come). We enjoy mentally removing the "modern stuff" and thinking of people on the hill sides, in the Kidron and Hinnon valleys coming to the feasts or to offer sacrifice's unto the Lord, or just coming to "the city." 

While walking through the park on our way to the Old City to take in the spirit of Passover, we happened across a herd of goats, the man (shepherd) with them made some strange sounds and they all turned and followed him. We should be so obedient to our Shepherd. Our visits to Israel have deepened our understanding of how much God loves this land and His people. 

We need to continue to pray that the people and nation of Israel will truly look for and find the Prince of Peace. We are hearing and seeing that the hearts of the Jews are softening and many are coming to Christ. There are a number of Messianic and Christian groups reaching out to the people here. They earnestly need our prayer and support. All that happens here will be for His glory. IT'S ALL ABOUT HIM.

The seeds of the poppy take the shape of the cross during the time of the Passover.

Lynn Kennedy, missionary to Burkina Faso, West Africa

Thank you so very much for taking our request and need seriously! National curfew has been lifted. Planes are now permitted to land. Students have returned to school. (The school year will be extended, allowing all to get credit for this school year.) The military has also been calmed and the rioting and looting stopped. Thank you again for your prayers.