We had a second visit up to Auckland while preaching for Mount Zion Bible Baptist Church this month. When we were leaving the same hotel as our visit one month previous, the valet approached us and commented that it was good to see us again and thanked us for the gospel tract we had given him. I voiced my surprise that he would remember us, to which he replied that we left a big impression. We didn’t converse any further as he was called away for a task; however, never underestimate the influence of handing out a gospel tract!
Half of the soulwinning endeavors the past few months have been spent training one of pastor’s sons. We met a young lady on a recent Saturday who visited the following day. The expression on the young man’s face was priceless when he saw them at church. Although not the first visitors he’s seen from soulwinning, it was the quickest any have attended after being invited. The past two weeks specifically has seen a dramatic increase in opportunities to witness, both personally and corporately as a church family. Thank you to those who pray during and for our scheduled soulwinning times.
One of the direct causes of this effect is the men’s Bible Institute. Since February, each of the eight men enrolled has seen dramatic improvement in ability and confidence of their knowledge of the Bible and also of their public speaking. The practicum of the course has varied, beginning with “Toastmaster” style sessions of preaching and speeches of recent lesson material, evaluated by their peers. The current format is delivering a witnessing testimony from that week. The testimonies are full of boldness, eccentricity, mistakes, conviction, and fruit. Just in several weeks, there have been visitors to church, witness to family and co-workers, and an increasing compassion for the lost.
In addition to the light of the gospel going out individually, several of the men are scheduled to preach next month in church. One of the men will be filling my role of preaching the youth group messages, and a Filipino man is starting a Bible study in his home in July. Please pray for the Bible study, and the man who will lead it. This will be evangelistic in nature and there is already a lengthy list of prospective families being invited.
At our most recent nursing home service, we distributed large-font Gospel booklets and Pastor Fraser began a sermon series on witnessing – yes, at the nursing home! It only took several days for all of the booklets to be given out and more requested. We have seen interest in our church and visitors to church from the employees of this nursing home as well.
The theme of June has been 2 Timothy 2:2, as this letter has been a sampling of our experiences this month. Virtually all aspects of ministry that we have carried in our short time at the church have been organically accounted for by the church membership in anticipation of the November church plant.
We have a stateside trip scheduled in August and September, prior to jumping into the church plant. We anticipate seeing many of you at various events during this time!
Thank you for praying,
Josh, Alyse, Bentlee and Raelynn Szwarga
