Wrapping Things Up in the Northwest

Preaching Wednesday Night

On Wednesday night we presented our mission at the Berean Baptist Church in South Hill. This church is led by Pastor Bob Reno. Pastor Reno was at junior camp this Wednesday, but I did get the opportunity to drop in the Sunday night before and meet him and spend some time in fellowship with him. The church has beautiful facilities and a great group of friendly people. I also preached the evening message and hearts seemed stirred at the invitation time. God is truly blessing this missions minded church.

Pastor Joel Byram

Then on Saturday we went to Kent to go soul winning with Open Door Baptist Church. This church was started by Pastor Joel Byram in 1997. They have a very culturally diverse church and are starting churches on mission fields on the other side of the world. What a fantastic vision they have for reaching the world!

My girls and Tira out soul winning

While out door knocking I met a Spanish lady that was loading a bounce house into the back of a vehicle. After talking with her, I discovered that her and her husband have a business renting things for birthday parties out. I invited her to church and began to talk to her about eternity. She said she was not sure if she would go to Heaven or not. I presented the Gospel to her from my New Testament. Her husband came out from behind the house and asked what I was showing, so I explained to him what we were talking about. I then took him through the same plan of salvation and both the husband and the wife bowed their heads and asked Christ to save them. Praise God! This was truly a divine appointment as these folks were just here picking up their equipment. They live almost an hour away. 

Jerrse Wang and Na Ny Sar

On Sunday morning I met a married couple staying across the hall from our hotel room that come from Thailand. Their names were Jerrse Wang and Na Ny Sar, they are Rawang. (That is a people group that comes from Burma.) I gave them a tract and witnessed to them a little bit. The wife didn't speak much English, but the husband spoke great English. (The wife is actually still living in Chiang Mai, Thailand. They are recently married and she has not gotten her visa yet.) They were on a vacation trip out here to see Mt. Rainier and the husband actually lives in Fort Worth, Texas. I got his phone number and will actually be in his area the end of August. I told him I would call him so we could sit down and go over the Scriptures more closely. Please be praying that he will get saved!

Teaching Sunday School

On Sunday morning I gave my testimony in Sunday school and taught a lesson. Then the pastor preached the morning service. Then at the invitation time a lady named Kenya who thought she was saved already came forward to make sure of her salvation. My wife was able to lead her to Christ and give her assurance of salvation. She is getting ready to take a trip out of town, but then wants to be baptized after she returns. Praise the Lord for His conviction on lost sinners.

Kenya after trusting Christ

Sunday night I presented more of our mission and showed another video. Then Pastor Byram preached a great message. We enjoyed visiting with many of the church folks after the service. Please pray for this church as they are doing great things in the way of missions. (Nine of them just returned from Africa.) Also, please pray for us as we will now journey toward Ohio for our next series of meetings. We thank the Lord for the month we spent out here. We already had one church from a meeting out here contact us and tell us that they are going to start partnering with us in August. (Liberty Baptist Church in Tacoma.) That is the third church we picked up this month as we had two others from previous meetings in different parts of the country pick us up. One church was from a meeting over a year ago. Glory!!! We rejoice that we are getting closer to our goal!    

More Great Meetings Just Outside of the Tacoma Area

Pastor Terry Minge

On Wednesday night we went to Bethel Baptist Church in Spanaway, Washington. This church is led by Pastor Terry Minge who is doing a great job. They have beautiful facilities and the people were extremely friendly. This church is very international because of the heavy military influence in the community and the church. 

Preaching the evening message

I was able to give testimony and preach the evening message. Hearts seemed stirred as the invitation began and many people came by our table after the service. It was a blessing to talk missions with the people of the church. Especially since many in the church had been to Thailand at one time in their life through the military, some even having spouses from Thailand.

Bro. Nichols running Saturday meeting

On Saturday we attended the soul winning / bus meeting. It was a blessing to listen to Brother Jerry Faulkner preach the morning message. I had just listened to him the week before at a men's meeting at Liberty Baptist Church in Tacoma. He did another fantastic job stirring hearts before we go out with the gospel!

Dennis after getting saved

My family and I went out with a group of four men door knocking at a residential neighborhood not too far from the church. While going door to door my daughter Debbie and I met Dennis who was working in his garage. I visited with him for several minutes telling him how beautiful his home and yard is, to which he thanked me and told me that he works very hard on it. We got around to discussing his eternity. He told me about a community church in the area that he faithfully attends with his family. (Some of the men from Bethel told me later that it is a Gospel preaching church.) He also told me that he thinks he might go to Heaven, but his reasons all revolved around good works. I asked him if I could show him from the Bible how to go to Heaven. He was very willing to listen. I started by showing him from several Scriptures that it is not good works and then I showed him the Romans Road map to Heaven through Jesus Christ. He almost had tears in his eyes as he bowed his head and asked Christ to save him with his voice cracking. Praise God!!! I showed him eternal security before I left and he thanked me multiple times for helping him to clarifying about his Salvation. He told me that I was able to make it crystal clear for him! I say to God be the Glory and thank God for Jesus Christ and His precious Word which shows us the way!

Faith Baptist Church

Sunday we traveled to Ashford, Washington which sits at the feet of Mt. Rainier. Here we attended Faith Baptist Church which is beautifully nestled along the highway just outside of the town. This was a church plant from Faith Baptist Church of Tacoma and was started in 2005 by Pastor Joe Koehler.

Pastor Joe Koehler

    Pastor Koehler had me present our ministry during the Sunday hour and teach a lesson. Then he had me preach the morning message as well. God blessed as their seemed to be a good crowd on hand for the service with a couple of visitors. Several seemed touched by the morning message, thank the Lord for the working of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Koehler is doing a good job in reaching this area. They are building relationships in this rural community and they also ministering to thousands of tourist coming through each year.

Preaching the Morning Service

Sunday evening I did not have an actual scheduled meeting at any church, so we attended the evening service at Berean Baptist Church in South Hill. This church is led by Pastor Bob Reno and is a great church. I will be presenting there Wednesday night, but I had previously found out that the pastor will be gone Wednesday. So we attended in order to have a chance to meet the pastor. We were very glad that we did. The service was a blessing as there was a missionary to India presenting. Afterwards we went to dinner with the pastor and the other missionary couple. It was a blessing to fellowship with Pastor Reno and we look forward to spending more time with the church folks on Wednesday evening.    

Two Great Meetings in the Tacoma Area

Pastor Mark Smith

Last Wednesday we were at Faith Baptist Church in Tacoma. This church is led by Pastor Mark Smith who has been there for 25 years. This church actually took us on for support last Fall before we came, so we are very thankful for them. However, since we were going to be in the area we wanted an opportunity to meet the church and give out our prayer cards. Pastor Smith had me present our work and preach the evening message. It was a blessing. While we were there Pastor Smith showed us their King James Bible Museum that they have assembled together in their church. It was amazing! I love the King James Bible and it was great to be able to see someone standing up for it and promoting it. God is truly blessing this church for their stand and for their great missions emphasis, as they regularly send out mission teams to help in different mission fields around the world. In fact they sent out a group to Honduras last Friday. Please pray for their safety and prosperity in accomplishing their mission there in that needy place.

Part of the Bible Museum

On Saturday we went to Liberty Baptist Church in Fircrest to go out soul winning with the church. This church is led by Pastor Michael Richter who has been here 9 years. He is doing a fantastic job at reaching out to his area with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We really enjoyed our time at the church meeting the church folks and getting to know the pastor and his family. 

Pastor Michael Richter

On Saturday we went out and knocked doors in two different areas speaking to many different people. When we knocked on the last door, there was no answer so we began to walk away, but then someone answered. I returned and began speaking to a lady at the door, she didn't speak English, but held up a finger indicating she would be back in a minute. We waited several minutes and were about to leave when a man named Carlos came out the door. Carlos spoke very good English as we invited him to church. Carlos said he attends church sometimes, but not as often as he should. He said he knows it is important and he would like to come and visit. I then asked Carlos about his eternity. He said that he doesn't know where he will go when he dies, but he would like it to be Heaven. I was able to take my New Testament and explain to Carlos that good works of any kind don't save us and that it is only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. After I finished explaining it to Carlos he bowed his head and asked Christ to save him. Praise God! I then took my New Testament and explained eternal security to him. Carlos wasn't able to come to church on Sunday but I am praying he will be able to make it the following week as Pastor Richter is going to be follow up on him. Please pray for Carlos to come and for spiritual growth in his life.

Carlos after trusting Christ as Saviour

On Saturday evening there was a men's meeting. Brother Jerry Faulkner was the guest speaker from Bethel Baptist Church in Spanaway. I thought that was interesting because I will be presenting at that church this coming Wednesday night. He did a great job speaking to the men and I think everyone felt encouraged in the Lord! 

Bro. Jerry Faulkner

On Sunday I taught the adult Sunday school class and Pastor Richter preached a good Sunday morning message. Then on Sunday night I presented our mission and preached the evening message.

Preaching Sunday night

There was great special music Sunday morning and Sunday night, this church has been blessed with many musically talented people. I was very impressed with the energy put into their music by all those involved from the song leader down. Please pray for us as we continue on with our meetings in this area for a few more weeks.

Special Sunday night

Great Kickoff to a Month in the Pacific Northwest

Pastor Jeremiah Baird

We kicked off our month of July in the Pacific Northwest at Central Baptist Church in Silverdale, Washington. This church was started four years ago by Pastor Jeremiah Baird who had previously been a pastor in Fredonia, Kansas before coming to the Pacific Northwest. There was a good crowd as we presented our mission during his Sunday morning service time. After we presented, the Baird family sang a special and then Pastor Baird preached a great message out of the book of Genesis.

Baird family singing special

There was a luncheon following the morning service and the evening service was held in the afternoon. I preached that service for the church and the folks seemed to enjoy the message. Please pray for this young church as they continue to go forward reaching their area for Christ.

Pastor Rick Wilder and his wife

Then Sunday evening we were with Olympia Bible Baptist Church in Olympia. This church is led by Pastor Rick Wilder, who started the church in 2002. This was great for me to meet him, because we started our church in Lincoln just about the same time and shortly after we started there was a missionary on deputation that came through our church in Lincoln named Daniel Wilder. This is a younger brother of Pastor Rick Wilder. His brother Daniel was the second missionary that we ever took on for support and our home church still supports him to this very day. It truly is a small world sometimes!

Preaching the evening service

Pastor Wilder is doing a great job as his church has a great group of people and they have been blessed by God with a fantastic building and property. Pastor Wilder had me present that evening and preach the evening message. His people seemed stirred and a man came forward and got saved at the invitation. Praise God! I also enjoyed visiting with so many of the members after the evening service. I think every single adult got one of our prayer cards.

Victoria Ann Painter

After returning from Thailand and before leaving Lincoln to head to the Pacific Northwest, we received several blessings. First one was the birth of our fifth grandchild. My son and his wife were blessed with their second daughter, Victoria Ann Painter. She had a little rough go in NICU for over a week, but she is out now and doing well. Please pray for her and the family as she was diagnosed with down syndrome. It is considered to be a milder form of it, so we are thankful. Praise God for His goodness!!!

Shelia after getting baptized

Secondly, I was please to see one of my converts Shelia follow the Lord in believers baptism. It is always a blessing to see a convert go forward in their growth in Christ. She was actually one of two baptized that day. God is sure good! Please pray for us as we continue in the Seattle area trying to get the rest of our support needed to head to Thailand.