During the month of June we received a few phone calls from pastors that we were scheduled to hold meetings for throughout the month of July. These calls all seemed to lead to one thing; a reschedule/cancellation. Now, to a family that lives on the road and depends upon those meetings for their livelihood, we were beginning to wonder what God was getting ready to do.
When you face the deepest darkest trials of your life is usually when you fall to your knees and plead to God to show himself. And to be honest, that’s exactly what we did. Little did we know, that while we were falling to our knees that God was picking us up to show us something wonderful.
At the end of June, if you remember, we were headed to the state of Illinois for a meeting. When we arrived in Illinois, God showed himself by using a family there to give us the vehicle that God wanted us to have to pull behind the bus. A 2001 Chevy Tracker that matches the colors of the bus perfectly. It could only be God! We were able to park the bus in one location and commute to churches from there using our new car. Amen!
Thanks to the generosity of our good friends The Chosen Ones (their link is on our website) we parked our bus in their driveway ; which they had a fifty amp service, sewer and water put in for us. God showed himself again by providing the means for our living.
On the last weekend of June, a small rural church called us and asked if we would consider preaching for them that Sunday due to them being without a pastor. I agreed and we went. At the end of the service that morning, a man and his wife met with us and shared how discouraged they had been but during the invitation they had surrendered to follow God’s leadership and decided to be encouraged to continue on serving God in their church. Amen, God showed himself.
I received a phone call which once again brought me to my knees. The pastor on the other end of the phone asked me to pray with him about a very serious situation that could change the ministry structure of several families. I promised him that I would pray every day that week until I spoke to him again. This situation would also affect my family, so I especially took note to what was going on. During the week, a local pastor in the area called me and asked if I would be available to fill in for him on the first Sunday of the month of July. (Keep in mind that our July had become empty from meetings and we had begun to pray that God would fill our calendar once again). We were happy to help this pastor out and so we made plans to fill his pulpit that Sunday. Now, I’ve been asking God to reveal himself through the situation that I had been asked to pray about. While I was on the phone with the pastor, he said to me that he really appreciated our ministry and that we had helped him out tremendously in the past. He asked me not to ever give up but to keep on encouraging pastors like himself. And God showed himself once again. I had my answer!
During the second full week of July, we traveled to Michigan with our friends The Chosen Ones to sing and preach at a youth camp. It was a long and tiresome trip, but so well worth it. We were able to meet several new pastors from that area as well as other states. Like a good evangelist would do, I gave our business cards to Henry and George and said, “Go pass these out”. Who could say no to a little kid giving them a picture of themselves and asking them to pray for their family. We had several of those pastors come and talk to us about our ministry and ask what our availability was in the future.
I began to pray about where we would seek a ministry opportunity that following Wednesday night. And God showed himself again. The phone rang and a pastor on the other end told me that he would really like to go with his church kids to camp but that he needed someone to fill in for him that Wednesday night. Guess what! We knew it was God.
Now don’t get too upset with me when I tell you that we don’t just minister in Independent Baptist churches. The Chosen Ones do some advertising for us while they are in concert. They have passed out our business cards all over the U.S. Thank God for friends. Due to their advertisement, a pastor in a Bible church about two hours from where we are parked called and simply said that he needed a break. He shared with me some of his ministry burdens and that he was just exhausted. His request was to know if we would be available to come to his church that next Sunday even though it was short notice. You’ve got to know how excited we were to see God do this!!!! When we got there, the pastor asked us to park the bus out in front of the church along side of the street. He said it would make for good advertisement for the next morning. So, we parked out by the road and spent the night. That Sunday couldn’t have been any more wonderful. The place was completely packed out. Even the overflow sides were full and the people were just enthused about being in church. We sang, I preached, the invitation started and people came forward! The altar was full. Literally there was no room to stand. The pastor has sent me several e-mails since that day sharing how God is still using that day to bless him and his church family. Oh if that isn’t God showing himself then I don’t know what it is!
The economy has had it’s affect on everyone and our ministry is not exempt. I remember that God called us in to this ministry before diesel cost a dollar a gallon, and when diesel went up to two dollars, God kept us going. I may have complained when diesel went to three and even four dollars a gallon, but God hasn’t changed his call. Our fuel may eventually go over five dollars a gallon but that’s when God shows himself and supplies our every need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus!
I said all that to tell you this. There’s rumor that we may be discouraged about our bus project and that the funds may not come in as was promised and expected. I just remind myself that man’s extremedy is always God’s opportunity! Pastor Terry and I were talking on the phone the other day and sharing our ministry burdens. One of mine is the finances of the bus project. I explained that it has been by faith that God has called us and by faith that God has supplied and by faith that God will continue to provide. Now, that sounds like a bunch of words to some but to us it is our everything… our life… our being… our survival.
Yesterday while I was praying over our ministry, my phone began to ring. Normally I would not have answered it during that time but I saw a number that intrigued me. When I said hello, the man on the other end of the phone said, “Bro. Jon, God laid something on my heart and I want you to know that we are planning a gospel music benefit to raise some money to help towards paying off your bus.” AND GOD SHOWED HIMSELF AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can I just clean off a spot and have a spell for a minute…… Shout Shout Shout…
Ain’t God good!
Be encouraged Church, God is still on the throne.
Please keep us in your prayers. The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth MUCH!