From Greensboro to Hillsborough

Pastor James Tester

We arrived Saturday morning at the Triad Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. This church was started by Pastor James Tester in 2003. I have known Pastor Tester since 1998 as we attended Bible college together. His church was our first supporting church since we started deputation, but I had never been here before. Since we are working this area and I had an open spot we decided to stop in and meet his people and give them prayer cards.

My wife and the pastor's wife soul winning

We spent Saturday out soul winning and visiting for about 4 hours. God really blessed our time out as we talked to many folks about Christ and had sweet fellowship while we went. While out I had the opportunity to meet a lady named Poe Ray, she is a Karen lady from Thailand. We greeted her in the Karen language and held a small conversation with her in that language until we realized she spoke good English. She then invited my wife and I to follow her to her home. There we met her family. Upon gathering them around I asked them of their eternal future. They said they didn't know where they would go when they died. They had been raised Buddhist, but were no longer practicing Buddhism as they had started attending a Baptist church in the area. There was no evidence of any idols in their home, but some family pictures taken in front a Buddha at a temple. 

Poe Ray and her family

I discovered that the church they have been attending was a Southern Baptist church. So I asked them if I could share with them the story of Jesus Christ and what he did for us. They wanted to learn more, so I used a illustration booklet that has the plan of salvation verses along with detailed picture illustrations. They gathered around as we basically had a mini church service in their living room. At the end I gave an invitation and asked if they wanted to trust Christ. The father of the home, Roh Ree, said they would and they bowed their heads and asked Christ to save them. What a precious thing to see an entire family asking Christ to save them. A father, a mother, their two older children and an adult cousin who was there. Praise God!!! Please pray for them to come to the Triad Baptist Church, they told me that they would like to come but had already committed to be picked by the other Baptist church who sends a van by for them. I appreciate that they want to keep their word, but Triad Baptist Church will be the better church for their spiritual growth. 

Pastor Tester Preaching Sunday Morning

Sunday morning I taught Pastor Tester's adult Sunday school class. Then he preached the morning service. There were many visitors as the church had a great crowd in attendance. During the invitation many came forward to make decisions. A man named Jason came forward to submit himself for baptism. Pastor Tester told me he had trusted Christ as his Saviour before, but asked me to speak to him about his salvation. I did and he had a good testimony, so I explained baptism to him to make sure he understood and then they had a baptismal service after the invitation for Jason.

Jason getting baptized

Sunday night we journeyed to Hillsborough, North Carolina to attend Iglesia Bautista La Fe. This church was started by Pastor Marc Johnston in 1997. It is a Spanish church and they had a great crowd Sunday night. The auditorium was filling up fast as we were greeting people by our display table. Then one of the men came and asked me to join a group of men for prayer in a side room. We spent about 15 minutes in prayer before the service. The spirit was a sweet one as we prepared to start the service.

Pastor Marc Johnston

In the service I was called up to give testimony while the pastor interpreted for me. Then they showed my video and the pastor called me back up afterwards to answer questions. After I was done they played a game on the platform where people were called up to answer questions from the previous weeks sermon. Tonight they had four ladies come up and each one has a buzzer in front of her that they push, kind of like a game show. It is an interesting way to see how much people can remember from the previous Sunday night message. I like the innovative way they are getting people to continue thinking about the Word of God and the lessons taught throughout the week! 

Ladies answering questions

Then Pastor Johnston preached the evening message. At the invitation many went forward to make decisions. Then the pastor had us go to our table for the people to come by and visit with us. Many did and we appreciated the great amount of interest shown by the people. We then packed up and headed back to where we are staying. On the way, I received a text message from Pastor Darren Tharp telling me that their church just voted to partner with us. Praise the Lord for a new partner in Independence, Missouri. Thank you New Hope Baptist Church!!! Pray for us as we head toward Charlotte this week.

Pastor Johnston preaching