Young Adult Chicago Trip

The "Young Adults" had a wonderful time Saturday shopping in downtown Chicago as well as looking at the Christmas lights. We enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the city life as well as shopping at the Water Tower Place on the Magnificent Mile. It was neat to see all of the Christmas shoppers scurrying around on Michigan avenue.

We ate dinner in the mezzanine at the Water Tower Place food court. There were tons of restaurants to enjoy, and we had a great time relaxing and eating together. Someone (I won't say who) ordered a gigantic piece of chocolate cake as big as the Hancock building!

One experience that none of us will forget is our being "trapped" in the elevator as we were heading back to our cars in the parking garage. We found out quickly that Lacey B. was a wee bit claustrophobic! Fortunately she didn't have the same experience as this woman. I think this will be an experience that the young adults will remember. None of us had ever been trapped in an elevator before. If you are interested, I did get some "footage" of Lacey as she was trying to keep calm.

A big "Thank You" to the Berryman's for helping to drive and to Mel and Karen for helping plan the trip.

Noteworthy News from NZ

Wow…by the time we realize many of you are anxiously awaiting to hear from us again, the list of things to write about is so long that we can’t decide what to include and what to leave out!

The war on Christmas is not quite the same here as you find in the States. We do hear of the odd store choosing to exclude “Merry Christmas” in their advertising. However, the lack of morals and the need for true Christianity here continue to strike us as a most pressing matter. We mentioned the Hell Pizza chain previously. New Zealand (NZ) government is currently processing a law change that would ban spanking of children. If this law passes (scheduled for February), it would allow for parents who discipline their children to be prosecuted as criminals. Assaults against biblical principles are common here.

Another noteworthy news item is a 23 year-old young man in our city who is attempting to launch a New World Order Party. His goals are truly global, and he is collecting signatures, with only 500 needed, to register the Party and compete in the next NZ parliamentary elections. He wants to bring in a new world order to rid the planet of hunger, sickness, poverty, crime and disease. This young man is probably not the only person in this world with such ambitions, but the news article reminded us again that we are fighting a powerful enemy.

Scott has encountered countless opportunities to witness in his secular work environment. Most recently, a former Mormon has expressed interest in visiting our church to learn more about what we believe. Scott has enjoyed passing out a tract which appears to be a card with a special area to press your thumb to test if you are a good person (or not). It instructs the holder to press the spot for exactly 15 seconds, saying it will change from red to green if the person is good. Of course, it doesn’t, and there is a gospel message on the back, as well as an opportunity for Scott to speak directly to the person. This particular tract is well received, as Kiwis enjoy a good joke. We continue to pray for harvest from the many seeds that have been sown.

Scott has been excited to begin discipling a man who is very keen to study the Bible. He strikes us as one who may possibly enter the ministry one day. His eagerness to really study the Word of God in depth is refreshing. God is rewarding his diligence with new knowledge of the Word of God.

We have previously mentioned Jim, who is dying of cancer. He is holding steady at the moment, but his wife, Peg, has been hospitalized indefinitely with debilitating severe lower back pain. The cause is not yet identified. The two of them are both suffering, and are currently unable to be together. They would appreciate your prayers as they walk through their trials.

Please also continue to pray for Marj, pictured here with Heidi and Daniel. She has returned to the Philippines for four weeks. We had really hoped to see her accept Christ before she left. We believe she will accept the Lord, and ask that you join us in prayer for her soul. Marj is also facing some very difficult personal decisions and would very much appreciate your prayers for her to have wisdom from God.

God is working in lives here. Due to the public nature of the internet, we currently feel it wise not to publicly declare some things. We continue to thank God that, in spite of our weaknesses, He has entrusted us with a part in the ministry here. Your prayers for us are a great source of joy and comfort. We are encouraged and strengthened by them. Thank you!

Serving joyfully,
Lori, on behalf of all of us

Wild Christmas Party

What a great time we had at our annual Christmas Party Fellowships! We had over 20 people at our house alone--and there were two other parties going on: the Cooks and the Lees. I am sure they all had a great time as well.

It did get a little wild at the Metras' party at times, especially during the white elephant gift exchange. What is a "Flirty Fir" Christmas tree, anyway. If you really want to know, you will have to ask Faith Sanchez.

I think Ken Frayne liked his "New Year's stuffed animal" and was enjoying himself despite having sinus surgery just this week.

I received an "awesome" red music tie--you just may see me wear it sometime for church-- don't hold your breath, though. It was just a blessing to be able to sit and have fun together. We look forward to hearing about the other two "get togethers".

Update from the Scotts in Thailand

"Good Visa News!!"

December 8, 2006

Thanks to those who sent notes yesterday saying you would be praying for us today as we tried to get visas for all four of us. Your notes were encouraging. And, thanks to all of you who offered your prayers on our behalf.

We were able to get the student visas for the whole family this morning. The only drawback is that rather than start counting the one year student visa from the day they were issued, they started counting the one year from the day we entered Thailand from Singapore on our ninety day ED visas back in September. So, these visas are only good for nine more months, until September 15, 2007. But, we are thankful for the nine months we now have.

We continue to wait for our long term missionary visas. A typical wait, from what we have heard, is close to two years. We submitted our paperwork for the missionary visas last August. We will be praying that the Lord would shorten the waiting time so that we have the missionary visas before our student visas expire in September. But, at lease we have an eight or nine month breather before we have to worry about it again! Thanks again to the many who have been praying about this.

Sincerely,

Duane Scott

"Requested of God"

As you know Pastor and Jennie are in Greenville, South Carolina waiting patiently, or should I say "impatiently", for news concerning Samuel Corban's arrival. If you would like the most recent updates, please log on to http://youbelong.net/requested. You will be asked to type in a password. For obvious reasons, please call or email me for the password. After you are logged in, you can subscribe to any updates that Pastor gives by clicking on "journal" and entering your email in the subscribe window in the lower left hand corner. Keep praying for he and Jennie throughout the week.

Christmas Parties

Morning Star Miscellanies

This Friday will be our annual church Christmas parties. We are looking forward to the great fellowship and fun! Last year, if you remember, we had our Christmas party at the church with the leadership "waiting on" the congregation. The year before we met in homes around the city. We had a blast both years! We are, again, looking forward to a great time together. I know that at most of the homes we will be having a white elephant gift exchange which is always great fun. Two years ago, if you were at the Metras' party, we were "cracking up" at Margaret Clarke's "wee little pig" white elephant gift. I bet that you didn't know that Margaret can be the life of the party-her being so quiet and all!

Just a few details about the parties. The hosts will be the Cook's, Metras', and Lee's with Jeremy and Anouk leading the party at the Lee's. If you do not know which party you are supposed to attend, please contact Chris Metras immediately--we do not want anyone left out! The parties are for adults only. If you need babysitting, please contact Chris as well. See you there!!

The "Releasing"

Guest speaker, Pastor Larry Pauley, spoke of releasing God's servants to the field of ministry. Last Sunday was a blessed "Releasing Service."

A Persecuted Pastor to Visit Us

This man is a pastor that ministers in a country where Christians are still being persecuted. It is very difficult and unusual for such a leader to be able to leave the country to visit other believers. We were privileged to be contacted today to see if we would be willing to have this man tell his story and preach to our congregation.

Tom MacAdams writes:

Nicolai is the stalwart leader of a group of churches that are committed to helping men be trained up to teach God's word in his country -- one that is considered to be a "restricted access" country in that foreigners can't come in for religious purposes/business.

Churches in Belarus are legally forbidden to preach/evangelize publicly, and the gospel can only be proclaimed freely inside a registered church. And further, there are limits on what can be a "registered" church. Oppressive laws have basically outlawed house churches and small groups in Belarus, since they are illegal unless "registered" and can't register unless the church has a building AND 100+ people. No public baptisms are allowed. And believers are regularly arrested or detained for various alleged violations.

I think that this might really open the eyes of your church, to see what the Lord is doing in a part of the world that may be new to many of them. It is a open harvest field in many ways, due to the vacuum left after the collapse of the atheistic state and the incorrect Gospel coming from the Orthodox church which is more of a cultural institution. I think he might tell a compelling story of a church still under persecution.

And more -

Pastor Sinkovets comes from a family line of pastors, including his father and his grandfather, who spent 25 years in prison for his faith in the early years of communism. After over 10 years as pastor of the Baptist church in Kobrin, Belarus (which grew from 100 to 1000 under his leadership), he accepted a call 6 months ago to pastor a new and growing church just outside Minsk in the city of Kolodishi.

He is in town this weekend in order to meet with representatives from Slavic Gospel Association.

I highly respect men who serve in places a thousand times more difficult than where I serve. This past year I have prayed often for a Baptist church in Belrussia that has been undergoing many difficult things from its government. I am gladly welcoming this man. He will be with us next Sunday evening!

Garards in Snowstorm

Keep Mark and Bev in your prayers. I talked to Mark this afternoon. They have been in the storm all day long - the storm that is supposed to hit us later on tonight. It is called a traffic snarling storm. There have been six inches of snow in Enid, OK already and he was warned about drifting. They wisely reserved a hotel in which only two or three rooms were left and they hope to be there by 9 tonight. The hotel is in Tulsa.

News coverage the last couple of weeks have been dominated by reports of several large icebergs floating off the southern shores of New Zealand. The icebergs have floated up from Antarctica and are causing quite a sensation. The icebergs are indeed beautiful and have been an incredible reminder of the diversity and magnitude of God’s creation.

Our first Sunday at GNBC there were four children in attendance. We now have as many as sixteen each Sunday. One eleven year-old boy walks to church by his own initiative. The rest of the children come with their parents. We would like to divide the class into two smaller groups and need wisdom for organizing additional adult help. We also need to make the space we have available more suitable to our requirements…a lesson we learned well at Morning Star! The children’s class is adjacent to the hall where the main service is held. The kitchen connects the two, and there are large windows with no covering. You might imagine how difficult it can be to keep the children extremely quiet in their class…or to try to teach when the sermon becomes animated. We have decided to purchase 4-inch foam, cut to size, to insert in the servery windows of the kitchen. This will give us the option of using the kitchen as additional nursery space when needed. We might also be able to add singing to the children’s class, which we are currently unable to include due to the noise issues. The attached photo shows our little people in the back of the children’s classroom trying to be quiet so that they do not disturb the main service on the other side of the wall or disturb the children’s class just behind them in the same room!

We would appreciate your prayers for the church family as we prepare to teach through and adopt a constitution. This is always a huge step for a church plant, and we desire to see a core group of members committed to each other and the Word of God. I am currently using the Sunday School hour to teach people how to study their Bibles using an inductive Bible study method. Some have commented that the homework is painful and hard work. Yet, they are digging into their Bibles and it is oozing out of them. Conversation around the services is now often centered on what people have studied, and it is so exciting to see them meditating on God's Word and sharing what they have learned with each other.

Please pray for me personally as I seek to balance endless ministry opportunities with meeting the needs of my family. This last week I found myself struggling to be content with my secular job, where I was doing a physically demanding and intellectually boring, endless task. I’ve asked the Lord to help me be content so long as He intends for me to support my family in this way.

In the Beloved One,
Scott Silsbee

P.S. If you are interested, Lori has recently begun a family blog initially intending to deliver family news and provide a window into our attempts to balance two cultures in one home. See www.silsbeefamily.spaces.live.com

Hebrews preaches!

Throughout the series on Hebrews you have often heard me say that I agree with the scholars who speculate that the Epistle was a sermon before it became an epistle. It preaches! Well, here is an outstanding illustration of what I mean. In the following video clip we have only two chapters of Hebrews, but it makes you want to hear the same person deliver the entire book. He "preaches" chapters 9 and 10. Listen to it (and watch)! It is an 11 minutes well spent.

Read for the Lord, Track One

The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan

This is a classic. It is a must-read for the Christian today because it has earned its reputation as a valuable companion along with the Bible for many great Christians of times past. Charles Spurgeon read it over 100 times. William Carey could only afford to take a very small collection of books with him when he went to the field. This was one of them.
The Power of Praying Together, Oliver W. Price. 181 pages. Kregel Publications.

I have selected this book because it speaks to a subject that has been a central theme for our church - corporate prayer. The author is theologically sound and you will find the account of revivals to be inspiring. This is easy to read!

Spurgeon, A New Biography. Arnold Dallimore. 244 pages. Banner of Truth Trust.

The first biography in our Read for the Lord program just has to be one on Spurgeon! Dallimore was a well-respected Canadian pastor who wrote several outstanding biographies. This one on Spurgeon is short, but captures the essence of Spurgeon's life and ministry.

Knowing God. J.I. Packer. 275. IVP.

Our first in the theology category. This is a very popular book by a very popular author. We appreciate this esteemed author for his many helpful contributions to the cause of Christ. We regret that lately he has compromised much of what he has taught. This volume, however, is an excellent overview of the study of God. As a young man I read throught his little book every year for a period of five years.

Spiritual Leadership. J. Oswald Sanders. 202 pages. Moody Press.

This is a classic on spiritual leadership.

Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism, The Battle for Gospel Preaching. Iain H. Murray. 160 pages. Banner of Truth Trust.

This is the first book for the "thorny issues" category! Sadly, most people do not understand the issues and they assume that Calvinism is Hyper-calvinism. You will see in this book that Spurgeon, an outspoken Calvinist, fought Hyper-calvinism with holy fury. I believe this easy to read book will contribute to your understanding of this critical issue. Iain Murray is a respected conservative theologian and Chief Editor of the Banner of Truth Trust. Enjoy!
The Pursuit of Holiness. Jerry Bridges. 157 pages. NavPress.

If you find a book by Jerry Bridges, pick it up. This man's writing is simple and humble. Everything that he writes is good. This particular study is invaluable to the Christian walk. Thus, it is our first in the "Christian Walk" category.
Foxe's Book of Martyrs. John Foxe.

Another one in the "Classics" category. Though the accuracy of some of these accounts has been questioned by professional historians, it is still remarkably trustworthy - a near 500 year old book written by an author running for his life! John Foxe has sometimes been called the Father of the Puritans. Read of the faithfulness of the martyrs and be stirred to be more dedicated to God.

An Outsider's Inside View

Our very own Joy McCarnan gives some insight into the lives my Dad and Mom lead. Dad and Mom Bixby are our supported missionaries to France. I am delighted that Joy sees some of the same things that I have told you often about.

Dr. Tooth's ministry in Cameroon

Dear Bob,

Well, we just returned Sunday from a very exciting ministry in Cameroon. We thank the Lord for His faithfulness and His grace. We were with missionaries Eric & Christine Mossman, Walter & Carol Loescher, Danny & Carrie Wright as well as Ellen Doyle, a single missionary nurse. Ellen flew back with us as far as France and then on to visit with your folks there. Please pray for these missionaries as the work is endless there and the living conditions, although tolerable, are difficult. Most of the days there were periods when there was no running water and the poor roads cause endless problems with their vehicles. But God is doing a great work there through them all. People are getting saved and young men are being trained. Praise the Lord!


We were able to introduce their ministry in two new (to them) mostly Muslim villages where the people were very open to the preaching of the Word. We are praying for them as they return to these villages and have further opportunities for ministry. People sat for hours watching the Jesus video in their own language and frequently had questions for Eric or Walter Loescher afterward. We were thankful to be a part of their ministry for 2 plus weeks. The dentistry was a challenge, but seeing these people listen intently to the gospel made it al worth while. We left a lot of our equipment there anticipating a return visit, perhaps next year. Now we are trusting the Lord to provide replacement supplies and equipment as we prepare for our next ministry to Saipan, Yap and Palau in January.

Jennifer and I pray for your ministry regularly and trust God is continuing to bless. I've attached a few pictures of some of the many children receiving toothbrushes. These are some of the brushes the good folks at Morning Side sent to us. The kids, as well as the adults, were so excited to receive them! Thanks for your part in that.

We're praying for the new building details, and that God will provide all that is needed for that. Please greet all for us.

Jack & Jennifer

Dr. Jack Mitchell
Grace Dental Mission

New Building Update

Monday night a group of men met at the site of the new building at Sandy Hollow Commons to take the next step in purchasing our new building. It was also the biggest step that we've taken so far. We have entered into an agreement to purchase the property (subject to some minor contigencies that are being worked out as this is being written).

Young Adult Hayride at the Aschers

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, there will be more than just a hayride. But the hayride as given by Mr. Ascher is the sine qua non of the annual hayride. In other words, you cannot have a hayride unless you have, well, a hayride.

But since when have we ever gotten together for over fifteen seconds without breaking out goodies of some kind to munch on? Do you really believe we would drop the ball this time? At the annual hayride? Puh-leeze.

(Of course, at this very moment I have no idea what is planned food-wise. But experience has taught me that Jennie, Margaret, Lacey, and Mrs. Ascher -- of all people -- will not fail us in this department.)

Anyway, if you qualify as a young adult, please come. If you think that your young adult credentials may be out of date, but you still want to come, please do. Just let us know in advance.

And, by the way, just because you don't attend our church doesn't mean we wouldn't love to have you join. Come on!

Ascher's Farm
Friday night
6:30

Free Spurgeon Audio

Some of you like to listen to audio books or messages. Here's a good deal. You can download a free audio book of Spurgeon's All of Grace. You'll have to sign up, but it may be worth it for some of you! I just did it. Shannon Brown is the one who pointed this out to me.

If any of you cannot get it, please talk to one of our tech-savvy people (i.e. Jeremy, Kurt, or Pat). I am sure they would be glad to help you get it or burn a copy of this on CD for you. I notice that there are twelve downloads possible per sign-up.

Communion

This coming Lord's Day we are going to celebrate the Lord's Supper together. Let me encourage you to prepare your hearts and minds by meditating on the death of the Jesus.

Also take time to meditate on the miracle of oneness in Christ and the constant and faithful nourishment Jesus is to us as the Bread of Life.

Pray for God's special blessing on us as we enjoy Communion.

Pray for the Jones in St. Helena

Dear Praying Friends,

Greetings from the beautiful Island of St. Helena, SC. Our children, Sarah
and are helping us to make and pass out invitations to children in our
community to come to our church for Sunday School and Kidz Bible Club.
Would you pray for this effort? We invite kids to come to Bible club and
church on a regular basis but we're organizing it a bit differently not and
have our children more involved in the visits and inviting. Sarah is 8 and
Peter is 10. They are assigned one to two kids to pray for by name, we
began this week. They pray for the kids during our devotion time and again
at night. Then between Thursday and Saturday they help us invite the kids
out to church. They will each give the invitation to the kid they are
praying for and invite them personally. All of us have a few people we will
focus on during the week and trust that they will come and that we can share
with them there on the spot. Sarah and Peter have gone through an
evangelism class and know how to share the gospel in a simple,
straightforward way. There is a group of kids that live near us who always
ask us as we pass them, "are you going to church?" As often as we remind
them of the days we are going to church it seems they aren't ready so we are
especially targeting them this week. We would appreciate your prayers as we
go out this week. And keep all of the adults we invite in prayer too,
we're just doing something a bit different in our invitation of children.

Prayer Requests
*For us (Jones family) and teachers
*To make enough invitations
*Have nothing hinder us (come up) from passing out invitations
*To pass them out with love and be ready to answer questions, witness etc.
*We will be well prepared and trusting in God's strength for this and for
teaching the classes

*For those kids who will receive invitation
*That their parents/guardians will permit them to come and even parents will
come
*Nothing will hinder them from coming
*They will get up early, get dressed and be ready when we stop by to pick
them up
*They will be attentive in class
*Their hearts will be receptive to the word of God as it is taught
*Children will be saved
*Children will continue to come weekly

Thank you for your prayer support,

The Jones Family
All Nations Community Church
St. Helena Island, SC

John Gill on Godliness

This is the quote that I passed up in last Sunday's message. John Gill was a pastor in the 1700s. He pastored the church the Charles Spurgeon would pastor over 100 years later. Now for the quote:

Godliness is “the inward devotion of the mind, a fervency of spirit in serving the Lord; it is a holy disposition towards God. Such a gracious disposition, Godward, is not to be found in unregenerate men, only in such who are truly partakers of the grace of God. It is godliness which distinguishes between one who truly serves and worships God, and one that serves and worships him not. Internal worship requires our first attention, it being of the greatest moment and importance; external worship profits little in comparison of that; if the heart is not engaged in worship, bodily exercise is of little advantage, that being only the form without the power of godliness; yea vain is such worship where the heart is far removed from God.

God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped with our spirits, the better and more noble part of man; if we serve his law, it should be with our mind, the inward man delighting in it; obedience to it should flow from a principle of love to God in the heart, and with a view to his glory; and if we serve him in the gospel of his Son, it should be with our spirits, with a fervent affection for it; if we pray to him it should be with the spirit and the understanding also; if we sing his praises, it should be with melody in our hearts to the Lord; herein lies powerful godliness; and godliness is the groundwork of internal worship, and without which there can be no worshipping of God aright, and therefore it deserves our first consideration” (John Gill).

Growing in Grace

God continues to bless the efforts of Good News Baptist Church here in Hamilton. We are excited to see the church body growing in numbers, in spiritual health, and in vitality. Many dear friends of our family are praying earnestly for us and for this ministry, and we are very thankful to see God’s blessings here.

Scott has completed his Sunday morning series on all the ‘tions’ you could possibly think of, and maybe a few more (propitiation, reconciliation, adoption, etc). He is wrapping up his series on salvation with several messages on the destiny of man. One lady was very pleased for her teenage son to hear a sermon on hell. The lady commented she didn’t believe her son had ever heard such a message. After the message that same young man commented to Scott that it was a very interesting sermon. We trust God will continue to do a work in that young man’s life.

New Zealand society does not recognize itself as a pagan society. Many Kiwis have commented to us that they find it comical to hear of another country sending missionaries to New Zealand. However, there is much to demonstrate the need for the gospel here. A pizza chain which has arisen is named “Hell Pizza.” They are a fast growing company despite their explicit attempts to make a mockery of the reality of hell. Their advertisements are enough to make you furious or weep. It is just too offensive for us to publicly list a portion of their advertising leaflet here. Their pizza combinations have such names as: sinister, underworld, damned, and brimstone. They have sought to mock every stereotype or biblical idea of hell. Unfortunately, this pizza chain is growing at a remarkable rate. The New Zealand people need Christ and the truth of the Bible.

Please remember to pray for Marj. She has recently been discouraged by Satan’s attempts to prevent her from attending our Bible studies. She continues to learn the Word of God and we believe she will be gloriously saved as the light of the gospel illumines a mind and heart that have been clouded by false religion for so many years.

Our children are still adjusting to being back in New Zealand. Heidi is amazed at the vast difference in vocabulary. She was incredulous that a Kiwi friend did not know what fuzz is. Upon doing some detective work with a few other Kiwis, we didn’t find any who knew what fuzz is! Apparently they don’t have it here! The best comparison using a word from both cultures is lint. Trying to figure out any difference between lint and fuzz is futile.

Today we enjoyed a fun activity with the children who attend church. A number of them live in a very small apartment with no yard or grass. They enjoyed joining our family for some organized games and a picnic instead of playing their computer games and watching more TV. An old-fashioned sack race was their favorite game. These children enjoy their teaching time at church, and we pray that each of them will be well-grounded in God’s Word.

We are looking forward to a good Lord’s Day here. May God reward you for your faithful prayers on our behalf.

Scott, Lori, Heidi, and Daniel

An Important Prayer Request from Jack Mitchell

Hello Pastor Bob,

It was good to talk with you the other day! We thank the Lord for giving
us a safe trip back home from BJ and now we are frantically packing for
our ministry to Cameroon, leaving Wednesday.

Jennifer and I pray for you all at Morning Star Baptist Church regularly!
We appreciate the ministry there very much and we are thankful to the
Lord for bringing us all together in service to Him.

Thanks for being willing to have us with you on Sunday, March 25th. We
will plan to arrive on Saturday afternoon the 24th, but since we will be
driving out this time, we could come earlier if there was any other way
we could contribute to the ministry there. Just let me know.

We would appreciate your prayers for our ministry to Cameroon as there
are still a few unresolved issues, as it seems there always is. We were
hoping to have some additional paper work to help us through customs, but
that has not arrived. We received a note from one of the missionaries
there who recently took the same flight we are taking and related several
difficulties associated with it. As always, we are trusting God to go
before us. He is a faithful God and He is in control! We rest in that.

As you may remember, Grace Dental Mission recently celebrated 10 years of
ministry (which is surely another evidence of the faithfulness of God).
There is a reporter from our local newspaper who attends our church who
has written an article related to the anniversary service for the paper
which will be published today. We have not seen it, but we are trusting
it will honor God and be used of Him in a great way. My unsaved family
will surely read it, but just as surely, won't even mention it to us. We
pray, however, that as other people comment on it to them that there
hearts may be softened and more open to the gospel.

Well, thanks again so much for your kindness to us and for your much
needed prayers.

Yours in Christ,

Jack

News from Wilkins

The Basque Bulletin:

There are a multitude of reasons for the smiles on Cristina and Karen's faces today! God has provided a teacher for our children in order for Karen to return to language studies, ministry responsibilities, and taking care of Randy. Cristina is enthusiastic about serving the Lord in Spain. God has provided about 50% of her financial support for this school year and she is trusting Him that more will accumulate these next few months. To those who are giving, THANK YOU! Not to mention that she's just plain happy to see a familiar after a flight delay in Atlanta which resulted in a missed connection in Madrid! She took it all in good missionary stride, sweetly and without a single complaint. Special thanks to Andy and Mimi for their usual gracious help in getting Cristina from the airport in Bilbao while Randy is unable to drive.

Piper Parties!

We would like you to see this message. John Piper delivers an excellent address on the character and ministry of William Tyndale. You'll love it!

We are so in to making it convenient for you to see/hear this good message that we have concocted a way for us to have good fellowship as well as a great time of edification. Actually three ways.

Next Friday (October 20th) the Berrymans will be hosting the first Piper Party in their home with Pastor Mark Garard. The starting time is 7:30. Click here for a map to their house.

On Friday, October 27, the Myers will host the next Piper Party. And the following week it will be hosted by the Gordons. In other words, the east, west, and north are covered.

You may choose to go to one, two, ALL, or none of the Piper Parties, but I hope you choose to go to at least one! Mark has told me that he intends to go to all of them! I don't know if that is because he wants to see the message that many times over, if he wants to fellowship with us that much, or if he knows something about the dessarts that I haven't heard yet.

Morning Star Baptist Church is now podcasting

We have recently added a new medium for getting the message of the gospel out to the Rockford area and beyond.

Sermonaudio.com is, to my knowledge, the largest online repository of sermons available on the internet. It contains over 100,000 free audio sermons. The site receives over 7 million page views per month, and has more than 141,000 subscribers. Visitors to the site can search for sermons by topic, speaker, bible passage, and date. Even better, visitors to the site can search for local churches by geographic location.

In addition to downloadable links to our sermons, our page on sermonaudio.com provides the visitor with contact information for our church as well as links to our church website and a Google map to our church. To access the Morning Star Baptist Church page on sermonaudio.com, simply click on the sermonaudio.com icon at the top of this post. We also have the icon permanently located on the sidebar of this blog.

And for those of you that subscribe to podcasts, you can drop this link into your podcast receiver(such as iTunes) to automatically download new sermons as they are made available.

If you’re not sure what podcasting is, the simplest way to explain it is that podcasting is a way to subscribe to digital media. Just as you can subscribe to a magazine or catalog and receive the document in the mail when it is published, subscribers to the Morning Star Baptist Church podcast will receive new sermons as they are uploaded to our space on sermonaudio.

When a person subscribes to a podcast, iTunes (or whatever podcast receiver you choose to use) will search for an update to the podcast and will automatically download it into your application for you to either listen to directly or transfer to your digital media player. You don't need an iPod (or any other type of portable digital media player) to subscribe to or listen to a podcast. Programs like iTunes will allow you to listen to the podcasts directly on your computer. (I know I've mentioned iTunes several times in this post. That's only because it's the one that I'm most familiar with and because I know that it's free.)

If you don’t want to bother with the podcast feature, you can simply download the sermons directly from our site on sermonaudio.com. And we will still be making audio cd's available to those who prefer to listen to the sermons on their cd player or in their car.

The best part about all of this…it’s free to download and subscribe. Happy listening.

New Zealand, a vegetarian, and the Silsbee family

from Lori Silsbee:

My mother recently sent me an email with the subject declaring “busy beyond words.” I assumed she meant them regarding her own household, but I’ve wondered, too, did she mean my house? We are challenged by the amount of things vying for our time, but then we don’t know many people who aren’t in that same struggle. The struggle remains manageable so long as we remember to make decisions based on our purpose for being on this earth.

We continue to meet weekly with Marge, our former Hare Krishna Filipino friend. She is so much fun to teach, and Scott does a fabulous job. I get to sit and enjoy watching the Holy Spirit at work. Marge likens herself to a young child in her Bible knowledge and is convinced our daughter Heidi knows more about the Bible than she does. We invited her to have dinner with us before our Bible study last week. It was the first time I ever prepared a strict vegetarian meal. I was so proud of myself coming up with a full meal, without any animal products, including pudding made with soy milk for dessert (don’t try it!). From a vegetarian pamphlet I’d picked up somewhere, I chose cashew mushroom fettuccine. As I put it on the table, I realized with horror that the noodles were not vegetarian noodles and contained eggs! Marge graciously forgave me and ate a small portion anyway…and then filled up on tossed salad. She then proceeded to ask if we could spend the Bible study time addressing the whole vegetarian/don't animals have souls question that had been nagging her. Scott took her to Genesis 1 and read through chapters one and two, explaining it verse by verse. The late hour kept us from continuing to Genesis 9 and onwards. There is so much more to be studied this week, and in weeks to come. That night Marge said she had never heard before that we are made in God’s image, yet she understood it when clearly presented from Scripture. As I was taking her home, she said, “God has been so good to me. I have been searching for the truth for so long, and now He has given me someone who can explain the Bible so clearly. I’ve never had that before.” She mentioned studying with the Jehovah’s Witnesses for a while but she felt that their explanations of Scripture didn’t make sense. Continue to pray for Marge.

A number of visitors have attended the church services. We are delighted to have a new family who came in search of preaching that isn’t shallow fluff. We do ask that you would pray that God would give wisdom as we seek to minister to those who visit. There are many strains of Christianity here, and not all types would be healthy additions to the church family. In a small church (we have about 30 people), the temptation exists to embrace any warm body that presents itself. Scott needs direction from the Holy Spirit to discern teachable sheep among the many who show up claiming to be believers but lacking a church connection.

We do appreciate every prayer made on our behalf. We often sense Satan attacking our family. He isn’t dumb and likes to come around on Sunday mornings, especially! Perhaps you know the feeling. :) If you happen to think of us on Saturday afternoon, that is a good time to pray for our family and ministry.

Joy in France

In the car yesterday I was singing, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" when Patience said, "Daddy, please don't sing that! It makes me miss Joy!"

Well, for those of you who miss Joy, be sure to check out her blog.

We know that my parents are glad to have her there. Let's pray for Joy as she seeks to serve God in the school where she is teaching English as well as in my folks' church.

Pray for Randy Wilkins

Recently we prayed for the Wilkins' daughter in our morning worship service. Shortly after that (a day or two) Randy injured his leg. I'm not sure of the particulars, but we need to pray for a recovery that is supposed to take several months. Truly, they are being tried during this time.

Remember to pray for Randy and Karen Wilkins as well as their daughter, Hillary.

Our other missionaries:

The Bob Bixbys in France
The Matt Bixbys in Mexico
The Dan Sehesteds in Romania
The Jack Mitchells (missionary dentistry)
The Scott Silsbees
The Duane Scotts

Breakfast Schedule 2006-2007

September-January-May
*Margaret Metras
Laurie Hilbert
Lacey Berryman
Florence Gordon
Robin Hayes
Martina Kilburn
Kaye

October-February-June
*Jennie Bixby
Jenna Boeke
Judy Goodwin
Nancy Hunt
Anouk Scott
Heidi Scott
Connie Walsh

November-March-July
*Jane Cook
Karen Metras
Julie Ascher
Grace Musgrave
Becky Holmquist
Linda Lee
Kathy Johnson

December-April-August
*Bev Garard
Deb Myers
Mel Geismann
Karyn Heath
Faith Sanchez
Jan Miller
Robin Foster

 

October - December 2006 Nursery Schedule

Click here to see our nursery schedule.

Flame of Fire recap

By now many of you have already heard the reports from those in our assembly who attended the performance of Flame of Fire last Friday night. Morning Star Baptist Church was well represented (34 people) at the play and those who attended enjoyed the dramatic rendering of the story of Nate Saint, Jim Elliott, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Peter Fleming and their burden to take the gospel to the Auca Indians in Ecuador. Joy McCarnan saw the play before she made her way to Bordeaux and wrote this review. The show's limited run in Itasca has now ended, so those of you who missed it will have to be content with this vicarious experience. Based on the response, however, we may very well take in some of the future productions from Overshadowed Productions.

Flame of Fire

This coming Friday, September 29, the as yet unnamed group of teens and young adults at Morning Star Baptist Church (along with a number of other interested members and friends) will be travelling to Itasca, Illinois to see a performance of the play Flame of Fire.

Flame of Fire is the story of Jim Elliot and four other missionaries who became martyrs as they attempted to take the Gospel to a tribe of Indians known as the Auchas in Ecuador. Some of our members have already seen the play and have enthusiastically endorsed it.

For those of you who have signed up as needing transportation to the play, we will be meeting at the Berrymans' house between 5 and 5:15 p.m. on Friday. Plan for a quick stop for a fast food type meal on the way in. If you need directions to the Berrymans' home, click here.

News from the Leadership

Last night we had a post-prayer meeting leadership meeting at the Metras'. Here are some things that might interest you coming from that meeting.

1. Providentially, the stewardship conference is shaping into a more traditional missions conference. This is because of how God has converged on us several different speakers with several different types of works. The conference will officially begin October 8 in the AM and continue each night through the 11th. Please pray that God will stir our hearts for missions during that week.

2. The numbers for the building we are very interested in are very attractive. We got the first proposal last night. The seller/architect told me that Bill Hunt should be "your hero. He has saved you a lot of money." Bill Hunt has negotiated and discussed the drawings with the necessary people for many hours, trying to bring the costs down. Thank you, Bill, for your efforts. I hope that this works out! We will be arranging a visit to the place soon. Stay tuned.

3. Remember to pray for Chris and Margaret Metras as they minister in Gilbert, AZ this weekend.

Looking forward to the Lord's Day!

Adoniram Judson

Many of you remember the illustration I used of Ann Judson in my message on Abigail. There are a number of good books to read on the Judsons, but if you want a quick read about her husband's conversion (it's an amazing story), check out Nathan Businitz's article (assistant to John MacArthur).

Vision

This coming Lord's Day I am planning on unfolding Colossians 3:12-17 in an effort to remind all of us what our prayer is for Morning Star Baptist Church. This is a message that I repeat in one form or another every 12 to 15 months. This is because I don't want us to forget our DNA, the essence of what we, by the grace of God, are and have been. Please pray for me. This week has been a challenging week ministerially. But God is gracious as always.

Mark your Calendars!

The Bible Conference next year is scheduled for June 17 - 20, 2007. Dr. Dave Burggraff is signed up and ready to go. Many of you heard him speak here this summer and thoroughly enjoyed him. Some of you asked me to bring him back. Well, it's planned!

Remember that Dave Deets will be with us all day this coming Lord's Day. He is desiring to serve God as a missionary to Italy. We will take a love offering for him in the evening service.

Men's retreat and Sunday services

The traditional summer is over and the weather is doing its part to convince us that fall is quickly approaching. It was a busy weekend for many from our church as on Friday a group of men headed to Camp Fairwood in Wisconsin for a men's retreat. Those who attended came back with glowing reports of how they enjoyed the food and fellowship, and the spiritual challenges brought by the speaker.

On Saturday Board of Global Grace met to discuss the status of current projects and to make plans for future projects with this important ministry of our church. Sunday night the church was able to learn even more about this ministry as we highlighted the expanded role that Chris Metras is taking on with respect to both the church and Global Grace. While Pastor Bixby has mentioned it several times over the past few weeks, we were able to see and hear first hand from Chris how excited and enthused he is about his involvement in this ministry. As a church we appreciate the deep personal commitment that Chris has demonstrated with his time, efforts, and personal sacrifice to put himself in a position to be more effectively used in whatever ways God might lead.

After the evening service we were able to meet together in the fellowship area for a time of refreshments as we honored the Metras family and recognized Chris' expanded roles at Morning Star Baptist Church and with Global Grace. We praise God for the generous offering that evening that will allow us not only to send Chris to a conference next month, but also will allow Pastor and Mark to purchase some books for Chris' library.

This Thursday Chris, along with Ben Walsh and John Iverson, will head down to Bay Saint Louis, MS, as a part of Global Grace's continuing outreach efforts to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Along with providing assistance in rebuilding a home of an elderly Christian lady, Chris will be surveying the area and meeting with other pastors to find additional opportunities for Global Grace to minister in the area. Please remember to pray for these men as they travel to the area, that their efforts will be fruitful and that God will open doors for them to minister to both the physical and temporal needs of people and that these open doors will also lead to opportunities to address the spiritual and eternal needs of people as well.

Sunday evening afterglow

We had a wonderful time this evening with a gathering of some of the younger members of our assembly (Pastor Bixby, note that I am trying to avoid the "group" word). We learned things about each other that perhaps were not common knowledge before.

Just to give you an idea, I was shocked to learn that one member of our leadership once dressed up as the Easter Bunny and another member once ate the head of a chicken to impress a girl. This just goes to show you how far God's grace can bring individuals.

Of course we had some food to eat. As we ate we played a short game designed to get to know each other better. Pastor Bixby also elaborated on the purpose of having a targeted ministry for this specific age of gathered individuals (not group). I'll let Pastor expound on that as he and the leadership team have identified and articulated the purpose very well. After the food we also had a time of singing.

As Paul instructed the Ephesians, we are to speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and to sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord. And, as this example shows, sometimes when that is done it can sound pretty good.

Father's Day in New Zealand

Did you know today was Father’s Day? Well, it was in New Zealand, anyway! Scott had already planned a message on the subject of believer’s adoption before remembering the significance of this particular Sunday. We always enjoy seeing God organize our program like that!

We are continually encouraged to see God at work in lives here in Hamilton. Our Filipino friend, Marge, is eagerly soaking up Bible study and preaching. She is pleased to have her own Bible now, for the first time ever. Continue to pray for her in her search for truth and peace. She hasn’t missed a Sunday service and has promised to come for the mid-week service if we call and remind her about it.

This past week a lady contact experienced a crisis in her marriage. She is devasted and said she probably needs to go hear Tony Robbins (secular life motivational speaker who regularly shows infomercials here). We loaned her our copy of Jim Berg’s “When Trouble Comes” and she eagerly agreed to read it, beginning almost right away. When Scott told her we would be praying for her she was very pleased and said, “A friend told me I should have asked you to pray for me!” Please pray for this lady as we follow-up with her this week.

One of the church men is struggling with cancer and spent most of this week in the hospital. He is in a lot of pain and is scheduled for radiation treatment this next week. To see someone suffer in this manner is never easy, but to hear him say he is ready for heaven is delightful. This week he resigned his position as church treasurer due to his physical challenges. Lori will step in to help with the bookkeeping for a while.

We are pleased to report that God has provided a beautiful digital piano to use in our services. The school agreed to allow us to store it there in the room where we meet and one of the church men is building a wooden storage crate for protection. We look forward to enhancing the music for our church family and everyone is glad to retire the limited collection of pre-recorded accompaniment!

We have always been amazed at the multi-cultural makeup of New Zealand and recently learned that one in five people living in New Zealand were not born here! That is quite a high statistic which helps to explain the government’s very high standard for immigration and the very multi-cultural group of believers we are serving. Our city of Hamilton is estimated to grow by 26% in the next 16 years. There is work to be done, and you are welcome to come down and help. We did very quickly get used to the feeling of being upside down! J

We can sense the power of prayer on our behalf during this very challenging time of ministry. Keep it up!

Scott, Lori, Heidi and Daniel

Abigail

It is my desire to portray the faith of Abigail in the morning service. You may want to read her story in 1 Samuel 25. Many principles may be gleaned from Abigail's actions, from David, and even from the loser husband, Nabal. However, I think that too often the principles and "life lessons" that are so obvious in Abigail and David sometimes cloud out the most amazing facts of all. Abigail was a woman of faith. Remarkable faith! I pray the Holy Spirit will enable me to portray that fact vividly tomorrow. Please pray with me.

Extraordinary Women

It's about that time of year again. The Women's Bible Study has been a real blessing to many of our ladies. I wholeheartedly endorse Jane's selection for this season. Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur will be the guide for this year's bible study. We will have 12 copies of this book on our book table for $12 a piece. For an excellent review of this book, see Tim Challies "PREview."

The details about when and where will be forthcoming. I hope that many of our ladies will be able to enjoy this excellent ministry. Please pray for Jane Cook as she prepares her mind and heart for this ministry.

Katrina News

As we all know, Chris Metras is organizing more trips to Katrina land. There is much work yet to be done. Last week Cindy Swanson interviewed a pastor whose entire church family lost all of their homes in the storm. Most of his church family still live today in FEMA trailors. Cindy was kind enough to send me an email about this as soon as it was going on, but I am only now getting around to it. Read Cindy Swanson's account at her blog here. It is beautiful to see the pastor's strong confidence in the design of God. Chris, I think you need to check these people out!

Picture in Local News

Some of our own make the front page of the local news (Rockford Register Star). Check out the online version here.

Let's pray for our children who are starting school.

UPDATE: Berryman's blog has better linkage.

Missing link

Pastor Bixby informed me that the link to my address was not working properly. I think I fixed it here. I've also fixed the link below, but I wanted to let everyone know that it was working. Look forward to seeing all of you on Sunday.

Youth Fellowship, part deux

In response to Pastor's last post, Lacey does know about the fellowship this Sunday night and we're all very excited. For those of you who have never been to our house, you can click here for a map and directions. Here's a picture of what our house looks like when we've finished our yard work. We hope to see you all there.

Youth Fellowship

Ok. Ignore this very disturbing discovery (that church-goers are fatter). An actual quote: "Baptist are more likely to be obese." Forget it.

As has been announced over and over and over and over again, we are kicking off a brand new season for youth fellowship this coming Sunday AND one of the ways we are going to set this particular "kick-off" apart is by - er - eating..... At the Berrymans. After church on Sunday night. We figure that the next day being a holiday and all nobody is having to get up early for school. Fellowship will go until 9:30. The length of the fellowship hinges entirely upon the length of the sermon that night, something yet to be discovered. But we'll officially cut off at 9:30 no matter when we start. Most should be able to be home by 10:00, tucked in by 10:05.

Don't know who the Berrymans are? Check out their family picture here. I'm not sure what we'll have yet. I'm not even sure that Mrs. Berryman even knows that we are planning on going there, but hopefully she finds out before Sunday evening. Her husband knows.

We'll sing songs, play a game or two, pray, and enjoy one another.

Sweet Fellowship

 

Sunday Services

Just a quick post to show some of the fun activities thta took place this Lord's Day. We had a wonderful time of worship and fellowship at the Walsh home. Enjoy the photos.

Ladies Retreat 2007

Mark your calendars! The 2007 Annual Ladies Retreat is scheduled for April 20-21, 2007. I am really hoping for a great turn out. We have secured for that special event a much sought-after speaker, Holly Stratton. Holly is the wife of Dr. Dick Stratton, President of Clearwater Christian College. Jennie and I have enjoyed getting to know the Strattons, and we are both very much impressed with Holly's zeal for the Lord and her ability to communicate.

We so strongly believe in the value of the ladies retreat that we have put an increasing amount of forethought into it with an added amount of prayers. Our desire is to bring to you speakers who emulate our heartbeat for the Lord but who are able to add to the work of God here in ways that we can not do ourselves. Holly is a regular contributor to the widely read SharperIron.org. All of her articles are thought provoking and soul-stirring. You may read a few examples of her writing linked below. Mark your calendars now!

Holly on Graceful Modesty, on "Fat Cats", and "No Hang-ups Allowed."

Ladies Retreat April 20-21, 2007

Jacob Bergum

On Memorial Day weekend members from my brother's church were involved in a tragic accident that took the lives of the father and a sister. Another sister was severely hurt. Jacob, the youngest was also critically injured (see a picture of him here). There have been many ups and downs, but lately there seems to be a turn for the worse in young Jacob's convalescence. Here is a recent note from my sister-in-law:

Jacob Bergum has had a turn for the worse. On Friday, he had surgery to re-insert the bone plates in his skull. He did remarkably well on Saturday, and had the Dr.’s stunned! However, during the night on Saturday, he became very disoriented and sick. They decided to release him from the hospital on Monday late afternoon, and he had a rough time once he got home, I guess. Poor Geralynn only got 2 hrs of sleep on Monday night. I dropped off a meal for them on Tuesday afternoon, and I’ve never seen her look as bad as she did then. She was absolutely exhausted and stressed. Poor thing. I guess yesterday morning, (Wed) she had to call 911 to come and pick up Jacob to take him back to the hospital, as he’d been running a very high fever and was unresponsive when she tried to wake him up. He was rushed into surgery again, and they relieved a lot of fluid and swelling that had built up. He is still in a coma as far as I know, and he is very ‘fragile’. I guess they are concerned that more brain damage has occurred now. On our church’s website there’s a little update on them if any of you would be interested. I was just writing so that you can pray for them. They are so heavy on our hearts.

Nancy Foster's Open House

It's time to say "Goodbye!" to our college students. That's the sad part. The fun part, however, is getting to enjoy open houses. The fellowship is always good. Of course, most open houses are in May or June, but Nancy is more creative! There's no way she could spend the money she got before school starts!