FAITH Is Starting Up

We have a new semester of FAITH starting up and I have a new team. On my team is Josh and Joanna, both from my Sunday school class. It is going to be a great 12 weeks.

Before we go out each week, both Josh and Joanna will go to the regular FAITH class and I, along with the others that have been though FAITH more then two semesters, will have a new class. This time around we will be going through a book called "So What's The Difference?" by Fritz Ridenour. It is a book that will take a look at 20 other religions or world views. This week we discussed chapter one, "Biblical Christianity". It talks about what is biblical Christianity. To study other religions we must fist define what we believe in and compare other world views from there. The book uses a plum line illistration. We need to measure what we believe by God's standards and what His word says. (see Amos 7:8)

My team members should be in their class where I was in my week one last year (see Week 1) They should of had teachings showing the importance of the “Great Commission” and how to gain power over their fears.

Our Visits

We had two assigned visits, both with the last name Smith. The first one was a couple that has family in the Church. They visit during the worship service on occasion, but don't attend a Sunday School class. The wife was there but husband was out. We had a great visit and invited them to our class. We had a good visit and prayed with her before we left.

Our second visit was with the Smith family. This is a family that are members of our Church. The husband is currently stationed in Iraq. They've missed a few weeks in Church and we wanted to check in on them. The son is having a little trouble with separation anxiety and has trouble leaving his mothers side. Because of this, she is having trouble going to Church and doing some things around the house like mowing the yard. Funny thing, she just email Joanna before our visited. She was trying to find out if Joanna's son does any yard work. I guess it is not really funny, I don't even think it was by chance that we were there at that time either. We found several ministry opportunities for our Sunday School class and It was a good visit.

One last mission. Each week were are to find somebody on the street and give them a bible. On our way back to the Church we stopped a Kroger and Joanna gave the bible to a family walking in.

It was a great first week and it is going to be a great semester. My team is going to work well together and have some fun along the way.

Prayer Request

Pray for the Smith boys with their dad gone and his safty. Pray for a good semester of FAITH. Also I have an oppertunity to talk about witnessing at Victory Baptist School, in the third grade class. This will be on Thusday from 2:15-3:00. They want me to talk about why I share my faith and how I do it. The important thing is I get to share the gospel. This is a very important age and pray that God will give me the words to say and that hearts will be open to the message.

Week 1

This is the first week of FAITH this semester. We have our teams. Sherry and Alice are on my team again this time. We were together last semester, and I believe we work together well. I am looking forward to a great semester.

We also have new material. FAITH has just totally revamped their material. We learned the new outline last semester, so we had a little jump on the new stuff. This first week’s lesson was in introduction showing the importance of the “Great Commission” and how to gain power over our fears. One way we do that is through prayer. Not just our prayer but the prayers of our prayer partners. As in Exodus 17 were Moses stood with his hands in the air. As long as his hands were up the people of Israel would not fail, but when he dropped them they started to lose the battle. This is where Aaron and Hur helped by helping him hold his hands in the air. Prayer partners you are my Aaron and Hur. You are my support when I’m on visits. As long as you are praying for us, and our visits, I have total confidence that God will do wonderful things. Think about it. If all three of my team members have at least two people praying for us, that is nine people for our team.

Our Visit
Our visit was a couple that just moved here from Huston, TX. Their names are Mike and Leslie. Mike is auto body repair technician at a local dealer. Leslie is in the Nursing program at UALR. Leslie’s mother called Robert today and asked if someone could go by and visit with them. Leslie’s mother lives in Lonoke, but heard about Victory and thought that Mike and Leslie my like it here. They have visited some other local Churches in the area, but didn’t feel connected. When we go on visits our whole goal is the see if the person is saved and if not share the gospel with them. When we got there, they were expecting us and waiting out side. We were invited in and had good conversations about work, school, family, and church. I had a lot in common with Mike. He’s a painter and I’ve done some body work and finishing work in woodworking is real similar to what he does.

We ask the “Key Question” In your personal opinion, what do you understand it take for a person to go to heaven?’ If we get anything but a faith answer we share the gospel. We didn’t need to share the gospel on this visit. Mike gave, probably the strongest faith answer I’ve heard. His answer was pretty much the gospel in itself. Ending with Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved”. So instead of the gospel we invited them to Sunday School and our “Wii Party” on Friday. So if you see them make them feel welcome. They seemed very interested in attending both the party and Sunday School

Prayer Request
Pray for me during the week to have confidence in having a “life witness” (to share my faith during the week). Pray that my attitude will be correct on Tuesday’s and that I don’t get prideful, I need to remember that God gets the glory for what happens on Tuesday’s and during the week. Pray for Mike and Leslie that they will find a Church that they feel at home and can grow in the Lord.