(Apologies: I cannot give out names due to privacy concerns.)
Exciting testimony: During our orientation meeting in the city, we were able to hear the testimony of one man who has been coming to the City Bible Forum for over five years. He said, ‘I have floated for the past few years of my life. I came to your talks and enjoyed the discussion, but was not ready to commit. Then just a few months ago, I crossed the line. People ask me how I know so much about the Bible when I talk to them about Jesus. I can tell them it is because of all I learned at your talks.’ Now, he is a volunteer in the city and goes out and does regular street evangelism with our team.
Ladies in Investigating Christianity: I am teaching a weekly Investigating Christianity Study (ICS) inside a large corporation. It is a course that talks about Who is God, Who is Man, Who is Jesus, and how to get Right with God. Two of the ladies are so intrigued and keep asking many of the difficult questions. ‘How can you say that Jesus is God? Why is Christianity so different and show me how it is different from other religions, etc’ Please be praying for them and their acceptance of the Lord. Also, they would commit to a Bible Reading Group at their local offices.
At Glorious Hope Baptist, ACTION DAY. We will be doing a ‘Clean up Australia Day’Â of our community with the Urban Fight Club. It gives us a way to serve our local community and come in contact with many of the people we are trying to build relationships with in the community. Pray for our safety, strength and opportunities to talk with many who will be helping during the day.
Exciting days. Great way to start the new year.
Thanks for your support and continued prayer.
Russ and Cathy
2.21.09
Dear Matthews, I trust all is going well for you. I’ll be brief. The Lord has been working in my heart and life regarding Ministry. Lord willing I will complete my 1 year Masters of Religion from FBTS in May. I’m the “Missions” Deacon at Maranatha Baptist Church in Grimes and am considering possibly pursuing fulltime pastoral ministry. Not sure how or when. In preparation for this, I’ve been evaluating our giving to missions. The Lord has blessed us to give 6% of Gross Income towards missions these past couple of years. PTL! But now I’ve needed to make some changes to our giving to some mission agencies. We currently support you at $75 per month and would like to reduce that to $45. I know you need supported, and we don’t want to leave you “hanging”, but this is needed in response to changes in our lives. I trust this will be acceptable to you. Please respond. ALso, All is well with Dori and the 6 kids. Many blessings. Les
4.01.09
Les, I apologise for the delay in our response to you. It is great to hear from you. I do not usually look through our comments on the website. Many come directly to us, but this one seemed to not get to us. We continually pray for you all and we are excited about your future ministry endeavours. We apprecaite the support and understand the necessary changes. PLease give our best to the family. We hope to see you when we return in 2010. (July through October) We will be having a special supporters BBQ. The invites will come out at the begininng of 2010. Maybe we could share our ministry with the church at Maranatha. Love hearing from you. If you want to contact us quicker next time use our e-mail address, matthewsdownunder@bigpond.com. Cheers, Russ