Heritage Baptist Church held its first Faith Promise Missions month in September, and to God’s glory, the initial commitments that have been collected are enough to partner with our first missionary! We plan to partner with either an international or local church planter, cultivating HBC’s heart for church planting.
At the end of September, Alyse made a brief trip to Chicago for a family event, leaving many gaps in areas of service within the church, especially with several events on the schedule. Over the past month, many roles in the church have been filled by members stepping up and volunteering to serve. A church planter’s goal is to “work himself out of his job” and God is bringing the right people in order to do this. Thank you for praying for Alyse as she spoke at the Ladies’ Retreat. Many ladies gave feedback of how much help they received from her and the other speakers. Our church had about a dozen attending.
Regarding the outreach ministries, prayer stand has continued to be our most profitable avenue of witness. Saturdays have proven particularly effective, usually being able to pray with, witness to, or give a Gospel of John to over a dozen people. At times, parents will reject our message, only to have their teenager scoop up a John with excitement to read later. A young adult, atheist man was saved one morning. His testimony and salvation could fill this page. Praise God for saving this man who grew up in a Christian home, but turned from the truth. As you prayed in our last letter for increased opportunity with the youth, a man in our church suggested setting up a prayer stand outside the high school at dismissal time; pray for this new opportunity taking place on Monday evenings (CST). Four churches in our fellowship have interest in starting prayer stands or already have. Pray for the multiplication of this ministry and the seed of the Gospel to be sown.
One of the notable attendance growths has been the midweek prayer meeting. There were thirteen men present last week, projecting a strong male leadership group within the church. They are hungry to grow! For Father’s Day this month, we gifted a prayer book (a miracle in itself that we received these to gift), which has had really exciting feedback from the men of the help it has been to them. In September, we held HBC’s first nursing home service. Several of the men in the church attended, helping with the singing and ministering to the residents. The gospel was preached and will continue to be each month as time is seemingly more precious at this stage to reach them. This is a special ministry to us, as the first place I was given opportunity to preach regularly was in a nursing home at age sixteen.
Late in the month, Bible Tracts, Inc released four New Zealand Gospel Films through Facebook advertising. These will be expanded to advertising on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube. We are spending $50/day to put these videos in front of thousands of Kiwis per day. Another church here has taken the videos and started paying to advertise them also. Many Christians are sending them to family and friends who have been difficult to witness to for years. There has never been a digital gospel tool like this available in New Zealand before and we praise God for your regular support enabling this plus several project donations from a few supporting churches. The more money spent on advertising these videos, the more they are seen, so any project donations for this are appreciated. You can send via regular support channels but specified ‘Gospel Films.’ View at realbibleanswers.co.nz and share from their Facebook page.
Pray for revival services (Oct 11-15) at FBC, Hamilton with Evangelist Caleb Garraway. Also, for our friends, Greg and Bekah Freyer as they have moved to Gisborne, NZ aiming to plant a church in February 2026!
Thank you for praying and sacrificing for the gospel’s sake,
Josh, Alyse, Bentlee and Raelynn Szwarga