This Saturday was the Mission Leap conference put on by Maine Ministry Outreach Center, (MMOC). Our family spent multiple hours at the conference listening to many different people speak and present what God has been doing with their ministries.
One of the people I really enjoyed listening to was Dr. Ronald Blue. Dr. Blue works at the Dallas Theological Seminary. He is a very animated speaker and is very easy to listen to. He preached on the book of Romans from multiple different chapters. He preached on Romans 1,10,and 12. He summed up the entire book of Romans in this way, Chapters 1,2,3 the key word is "sin", 3,4,5, "salvation" 6,7,8, "sanctification" 9,10,11 "sovereignty" 12 to the end of the book, "service".
In Dr. Blue's sermons he also told stories about his life such as, when he met his "wifey", when they were missionaries in Spain and others. One time he was saying that he was sitting at the table looking across at the man on the other side. The man was talking about when he went to the moon and back and how the earth began to look smaller and smaller. The man then realized that all that was important to him was on that little ball of dirt called earth. This man's name was Jim Irwin. I found out later when talking to Dr. Blue, that he got to spend 2 days with Jim Irwin. Some of you may not know the story of Jim Irwin. Mr. Irwin went from being a test pilot, which there many interesting stories about, to landing on the moon on Apollo 15. Later in his life he climbed mount Ararat in search of the Ark. Mr. Irwin has since passed away but his story lives on. You can read the story of Jim Irwin in the book Flight of the Falcon.
At the conference there were also some local people speaking including an old friend John Dowdy. John is a staff member of CEF or Child Evangelism Fellowship. Before John was married we used to help him with the CEF wagon at one of the fairs in our area. CEF is a worldwide program which includes Bible clubs, and many other different programs to share the Gospel of Christ.
Another person who was speaking is a missionary to Malawi named John Boyington. He goes to Malawi 2 times a year and over the whole year he spends about 1 month there. When he is there he digs wells called bore holes but more importantly he shares the gospel of the Living Water Jesus Christ. If all they did while they were over there was dig wells then they would be doing something good to help the people, but only for a little while. What these people need is the Living Water of Jesus Christ which makes a lasting impact on their lives. There have been reports that from this man's team coming over and digging these wells and sharing the Gospel, churches have been started and now instead of just one church there are many more churches. God is doing His work there in Malawi. Let us not forget to pray that the Gospel will continue to be preached around the world and that God will change the hearts of these people and grant them repentance and faith.
Today the pastor at our church is out of town and Dr. Blue is speaking at another church in our area so we are going to go hear his sermon today.
Prayer
On November 12 there will be a youth gathering put on by MMOC and God has given me the opportunity to have 5 or 10 minutes to share about the work going on at the abortion mill. Please be praying for me as I prepare and also as I speak. I have never stood up and talked before a group of people that big before and would appreciate prayers for wisdom and courage.
Yesterday I was made aware that there is a fellow christian in Turkey who is being held in prison. Sadly his story is not unusual among Christians around the world. As Christians in this world we are to expect persecution from the enemies of Christ and we are to remember those in prison as though we were there with them. Pray that God would comfort all of our brothers and sisters around the world who are being persecuted for their faith and that he would give them the courage to stand no matter what men may do to them.
"Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body." Hebrews 13:3
With love in the LORD,
Virginia.
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