Within the last two months, the outreach of the church has quietly increased, and we praise the Lord for the work He is doing in the church family! Alyse has had opportunity to go soul winning with one of the ladies in the church on Tuesdays. On Saturdays, a growing group meets to canvass the city, led by a faithful man in our church. Within the past year, as this ministry has grown, all homes within a twenty minute drive of our location have been canvassed. It has been exciting to start training some of these members in soul winning now.
I know there are some of you who pray specifically during our soul winning hours. On days when hearts seem most tender, I hear from one of you that you had been praying during that time! These times have evolved in recent months to be Mondays at 7:30pm, Wednesdays at 5pm, and Fridays at 8pm. (Central Standard Time) Oceania and Shannon are two who were witnessed to last week but did not get saved. Please continue to pray!
God has added several Filipino families to our church recently as well, and we took the opportunity to have them all in our home last month. Those who are familiar with their culture know that the in-home Bible study is a major outreach tool in their communities. Pray that God would use this core of Filipino families in our church to reach the increasing population here from their nation. God has already been working in one man’s heart regarding hosting a Bible study.
You may remember from a previous letter that we started a youth choir last year. This has been handed off to pastor’s son, who has just graduated high school and is studying in the Bible institute. His musical training has paid off already as he in an integral member of the orchestra, special music, songleading and the choir. As our time in Grace Independent Baptist Church winds down this year, we will be looking to pass on all other areas of involvement in the ministry here, training others in our place.
While preaching at youth group last month, there were several visitors who raised a hand for salvation and one young man who stayed afterwards for an hour as pastor witnessed to him. God has clearly been at work in the hearts as people have been praying!
Thank you for praying and for giving,
Josh, Alyse, Bentlee and Raelynn Szwarga