June 2021 Report

Greetings from Norman, Oklahoma. The home of New Generation Baptist Church (mission). It’s a shame to see things returning to normal. Yes, Covid is on the decline, which is good news. But we are returning to a world locked down with sin and the consequences of sin cannot be masked. I have read the words of many people complaining about the situation in the world today, whether it be in the political, economic, social, and even religious realms and on and on. For most people they are not willing to hear the real solution to all of today's problems. It’s simple, this world is plagued by sin and the only real solution is Jesus Christ. Most people don’t want to hear that though because this means that they would be accountable to God in their lives. We live in a world of insanity for without Christ this world has no real meaning. We continue to minister and bring light throughout Norman and the surrounding area. We hear the testimonies of people who’s lives have been devastated by the effects of sin. It’s heart breaking.

Do we wonder why things are so messed up when we hear stories like the one, I heard recently from a young man. His earthly father pushed him into drugs at the age of thirteen, both using and selling drugs. He is now trying to escape this life-style after twenty plus years. I will leave him unnamed, but I would ask that you please pray for him.

Chris has been a busy young man as his report indicates below. Please pray for him:

With your prayers for healing for Steve, please ask the LORD for Steve’s appointments, tests, and treatments to start moving along in a timely manner. The hospital does not seem to be moving with enough urgency!

As for the June report for NGBC, we are seeing some positive results from the EE Leadership clinic hosted back in May for pastors and church leaders, with the LORD providing 10 individuals from 9 different churches!

And we praise God for several very encouraging testimonies:

“Best training I’ve ever been in!” - Trainee from Norman, OK
“I was revitalized and energized!” -Leedy, OK
“I want our youth group to have this!” -Stillwater, OK

In these two full days of training, we introduced these pastors and church leaders to material for 4 evangelism and discipleship classes, as well as an advanced apologetics class called “Reasonable Answers for Honest Skeptics”. The youth pastor from Stillwater, Deacon, called just four days after the training and scheduled a follow up SYF workshop on June 5 where 9 more people were trained, including 3 pastors and 3 churches.

This EE Leadership training event is impacting members of our own church as well. Maybe we have just started the New Generation Baptist “School of Discipleship and Evangelism”, or as Steve likes to call it: “PADE – 4” – (Practical Application of Discipleship and Evangelism)

The curriculum of “PADE – 4” consists of the 4 core classes from the EE Leadership clinic training material:

Tuesday nights:
Discipleship 101 – “Means of Growth” (MoG) – Growing as a disciple
Discipleship 201 – “Mentoring for Multiplication” (M4M) - Discipling others

Wednesday nights:
Evangelism 101 – “Share Your Faith” (SYF) – Understanding the Gospel
Evangelism 201 – “Everyday Evangelism (EV2) – Explaining the Gospel to others

These foundational classes are already beginning to bear fruit at NGBC. At the end of May we started our first Tuesday discipleship class with 8 students, introducing the five means of growth of a disciple. The class has grown to 12 in attendance last night, including several new visitors to the church. Concurrent with the discipleship class, we started a Wednesday night evangelism class, “Share Your Faith”, the one day workshop that we divided into three parts to serve as an introduction to evangelism, with 9 individuals participating. Starting in July we are planning to start EV2 (Evangelism 201) where we will begin outreach in the community together. Let us know if you would like to enroll in EV2 or any of the others classes offered in “PADE – 4”!

Lastly, it’s really neat to see how the LORD has shown us the fruit of our labor from seeds sown several years ago! For example, Andrew is a man that I met 6 or 7 years ago at KFC when I was driving the food truck for Mission Norman. I remember back then when Andrew always had a very angry and bitter outlook on life. I tried ministering the best I could to him and sow seeds but it didn’t seem very promising. But during the last 6 months I noticed that Andrew started attending the Church in the Park ministry to the homeless and I noticed a complete transformation! His anger and bitterness had been replaced with a much friendlier attitude. Now he greets me and welcomes me just about every time I see him! The past two Sundays Andrew has been attending our Sunday evening service and he also started attending our discipleship class as well with his wife Dayna! He wants to share his testimony with our church which I will gladly endorse. It’s really encouraging to see how perseverance pays off as we serve the LORD!

“And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” – Galatians 6:9

As always, thank you for your support financially and prayerfully. May God bless you in your journey as you minister to others! Remember you are a missionary in your part of the world.