Robert Foster Update

Family, Friends & Supporters,

First of all, we pray that you have enjoyed a blessed Christmas!! We spent yesterday with kids and grandchildren and are grateful that we were in a position to do so!

Second, we wanted to let you know that Robert's upcoming surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday, Dec. 30th, at 12:15 PM (EST). This is the minor surgery that will hopefully make it possible for him to avoid a major surgery. We will appreciate your prayers for this delicate laser procedure and for the recovery. Please pray that Dr. Roper will have all of the skill and precision necessary to do exactly what needs to be done and that the problems that Robert has been experiencing since Nov. 4th will be resolved.

We pray that 2009 begins in a very special way for you, bringing you God's peace and spiritual prosperity!

Thank you for praying,

Robert & Mary Jo
EE-Brazil

Clay Hilton Update

Please pray that our Tuesday night Bible Study would grow.

We have had two BibleStudies so far on Tuesay nights. The first time we had four people show up and the second due to illness we had just one other guy show up. Please pray that our bible study would grow. This next Tuesday we are inviting a good number of people over to sing carols, eat snacks, read the Christmas story, and talk about Christ's reason for coming at Christmas. I am asking you to pray that 8 new people will show up to this next bible study.

Robert and Mary Jo Foster Update

Family, Friends & Supporters,

I want to give you a quick 3-point update, since we are in perhaps the busiest month of the year for all of us.

1. EE-Brazil ministry: On November 29th, we held our second The Gospel in Your Hand Workshop at a church in Salvador, Brazil. I'm still waiting for confirmation of the exact number of participants, but it is believed to have been more than before and in the neighborhood of 650. That means that in November we trained, in how to use one's hand to share the Gospel, about 1200 leaders in two seven-hour Workshops at this church! And the church has at least another 800 leaders they want us to train early next year!!

We are grateful to see this fruit from a two year project to get these new Portuguese materials translated, published and field tested in Brazil. As in the first Workshop in Salvador, one of the participants felt sufficiently equipped to share with a lost couple there at the church, and both husband and wife accepted Christ! How Great is Our God!!!

2. Regarding my health: My urologist called last Thursday, suggesting that he refer me to Emory Hospital/Healthcare to be evaluated by someone in their Urology Department. (For those who may not be familiar with Emory, it is a well-respected hospital in Atlanta and is in U.S. News & World Report's list of top hospitals in the US.) While waiting for this to be scheduled, I am able to continue working at my computer, meaning that ministry projects are still moving forward. We'll appreciate your prayers that the doctors will be better able to understand what is going on, in order to recommend a good long-term resolution.

Hays Community Church Update

The Halloween Outreach went great. We hope you enjoy the pics of the kids in their costumes. It was a great way for us to serve our community. We had about 100 to 200 people come to the two Halloween parties that we did. Thank you so much for praying. The Lord continues to add to our church family. We are now about 14 or 15 families strong, and we average about 30 every Sunday night. Again, we are mostly thankful that it is unchurched people that we are reaching. We are excitedly looking forward to starting our second house church in Kyle in January. The weekend before Thanksgiving, we participated in the Missions’ Conference at First Baptist Euless. We felt so encouraged by the folks at that church. While there, Josh was ordained as a minister of the gospel. To the right is a pic of the men who were a part of Josh’s ordination process. This was a very affirming experience for Josh. We have one awesome story to share. We had a girl in our church pray to receive Christ last week. Praise the Lord!!! Her family had no church home. She got plugged into the after school club we do at Kyle Elementary School, and eventually, her family came to our church. This family lives across the street from us. We feel so privileged to be used by God to make disciples, build His church and expand His Kingdom. Your partnership with us makes that a reality. Thank you.

Prayer Requests:

We want to give you an update on Gracie. We found from the testing that they did that she is no longer severely dyslexic, but she is moderately dyslexic. This is a huge praise. What this means is that all of the intervention we have done with her is working. It is a slow process, but it is working. Praise be to the Lord Most High!!! Thanks so much for praying. Continue to be in prayer about our second house church that will be starting at the first of the year. We also ask you to pray that we would continue to abide in Christ. Only Jesus can bear the fruit. We must abide in Him. Finally, we would ask you to pray that we would trust God to be our provider. He has been so faithful to always provide what we need for our physical, emotional and spiritual needs. In these uncertain economic times, pray that we would praise Him for His faithfulness and trust Him for future provision.

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Philippians 1:3 says, “I thank my God every time I remember you.” This verse really sums up how we feel about you.

Internet Evangelism

We have all heard of Internet dating, but what about Internet evangelism?

Well, this last week Brad and his wife Katy came over due to a little Internet evangelism that I did last month.

The story is pretty simple. It goes like this:
There is a website here in Fort McMurray that is used as a community classified ad and also a community event page. The website is called mymcmurray.com

One of the sections on this site has a long, long list of parents looking for child-care. Their are very few day care centres here, and none of them take drop ins. Many parents here have a live-in Philipino nanny to take care of the kids. Cinnamon and I took a quick look at our bank account and a long look at our kids and decided that their would be no such caretaker for our babies.

Katy was no live-in nanny fan either. Katy's post intrigued me when I read it a few weeks back. Katy indicated that she had moved to Fort McMurray from British Columbia and could not find child-care/babysitting for her kids so that her and her husband could go out on a date. It had been almost three years since they had gone on a date alone.

I thought and prayed about that, and wondered what could be done to help Katy and her husband.

I then decided to email Katy and tell her that my wife and I were new missionaries in town and had done a little babysitting co-op back in Texas with some good friends. I typed her an email and suggested that her and her family should come over for supper and we would get to know each other and maybe some time in the future we would watch their kids for them.

4 minutes after I sent the email, certain I would not get a response since I had made it really clear that I was a baptist missionary, Katy wrote back. Katy and Brad did want to come over and would love to eat and meet us. Last Friday they came over, with three kids and one on the way, and a dessert.

5 hours later they left. They enjoyed hearing why we left Texas, they enjoyed our hospitality, and most importantly they enjoyed seeing Jesus in us. She has never gone to church, and he is a self-confessed "former Mormon turned hellraiser", but they admitted that they did since a "missing piece/peace" within themselves.

Please pray that they will keep their promise and come back over again, maybe for the Christmas Bible story time in a couple of weeks. Brad said that he might bring his guitar and play some Christmas carols. We will see, but for now pray that the Spirit would convict them and draw them.

Clay Hilton- Church Plant update

There is no Johnny's Pizza in Fort Mac like there is in North Louisiana. There is no Calhoun's restaurant in Fort Mac like there is in Knoxville, There is no Dreamland BBQ lin Fort Mac like there is in Tuscaloosa. There is no Catfish Junction in Fort Mac like there is in Leesville, and unfortunatly there is no Simply Burger like there is in Euless. However, we do have my house, and I seem to be doing a lot of cooking around here.

Why? Well the restaurants here are way understaffed due to the fact that no one wants to work at a restaurant making $14 an hour when they can work in the oil or construction industry and make a minimum of $25 an hour. So the service in the restaurants is poor, the food is undercooked, and the prices are high. Think $11 for a burger and fries. So when you get invited over to somebody's home to eat, people tend to be more apt to accpet the offer. Last Sunday, these four guys accepted my free food offer. I made homeade pita bread, greek salad, corn, hummus, chicken, beef, and cookies. They devoured it and enjoyed getting to know each other.

Before they left I got a chance to pray for each of these four guys out loud.

If there is one thing that being in Fort Mac has reminded me it is that prayer works and is crucial to survival here in the spiritually dark Fort Mac. So I am asking that you please pray for these four men this week. Pray that Terry would come to Christ. Pray that Nick would be comforted by God. Pray that Dan would put God first in his life. Pray that Michael would find his significance in Christ. Also please pray for more meals like this one where people come together and share their hurts, struggles, and victories and allow the Holy Spirit to work on them.

CLay Hilton- Church Plant Update

Free Cookie Lady Needs Jesus, Please Pray for Her!

Mary is such a sweet lady, pun intended. She is the free cookie lady at the Safeway here in Fort Mac. The girls love her and give her hugs She gves them cookies. The kids and I have gotten a chance to really connect with Mary. She is way overworked due to a shortage in staff in the store bakery and has been at the point of tears two times while I was there. I have shared with her why I am in Fort Mac and told her that I am praying for her. Please pray that she will give me the open door to share with her about Jesus. Please pray right now, really right now for Mary's openness to the gospel and for her salvation. Open doors are crucial to evangelism here in Canada. Please pray right now, that God would continue to open doors of evangelism for me.

The Church at Sun Valley

The Church at Sun Valley was recently written about in the state convention's magazine. To read the article click the pitures below:

Angela Baker Update

Here are a few excerpts from Angela Baker's newsletter:

The Big Small Group
September kicked off the return of our small groups. The first month of my small group has seen and average of 20 people each Friday night! We have put people on every square inch of anything that even resembled a seat– exercise benches and balls included! It is very exciting to see such explosive growth and we are now working towards a plan on how to best divide the one group into three! We are working to maintain the warm, caring and informal environment in each of ours small group to allow us to delve deeper into God’s word and further develop our
relationships with one another.

Wednesday Night Small Group
Our Wednesday night group, which consists primarily of non-believers has also seen a good amount of growth with 10-15 people averaging attendance. The group is currently studying Ecclesiastes, which always proves to stimulate very interactive discussion among Russians– particularly non-believers. One of the exciting things with the Wednesday night small group is the excitement and initiative the participants themselves are taking. It thrills us to get phone call and emails from participants who were eager for small group to start back up and who do “homework”- that is what some of the none believers have taken to calling our application portion of the study.

Life on the Edge Seminar
At the end of this month we are bringing a small group of American businessmen and pastors over to participate in our Business Seminar "Life on the Edge: 5 Steps Away from Abyss" The theme of the breakfast is to share how prioritizing according to God’s principles can enable even the busiest professional or executive to achieve overall balance in life and work. Our keynote speakers will be Bob Forseman, Deputy Chairman of Renaissance Capital Investment and Mike Mellace, President Mellace Family Brands, Inc.

I have been very busy making all of the arrangements for this trip and for the seminar. It has been full of new and challenging experiences for me. The night before I left I was at a travel agency buying 18 train tickets. I booked the venue for the seminar, communicating solely in Russian and on my own! I will handle basically all of the details for the group once they arrives and until they leave a week later. In addition to my regular duties, this has kept me very busy, but it a great experience and I am very excited to see how God will use the seminar to impact the lives of those who attend! We are planning for 100 people to attend and appreciate your
prayers.

Chili Cookoff- Miracle Moment
Krysha will hold it’s Annual Chili Cook-Off next month. The Chili Cook-Off serves as one of our Momentum Building events, which provide us with a great opportunity to invite and develop relationships with non-Christians. Last year, while I didn’t win first place for my chili, I had the privilege of getting to know a young Frenchman who had come with his girlfriend, who is a Christian. She was a bit nervous to invite him, as he was an unabashed atheist, who had no patience for her “religious” stuff. Through the time he spent at the Cook-off and the time he spent in particular with a amazing Christian couple– his perception of Christians and “religion” was changed. We are praying that even more people will attend this year and that God will
again use it to draw people to Him.

New Roommate and Apartment
I moved into a new apartment three days after returning to Moscow in August. My new roommate, Aida, and the apartment have both been a great blessing. Aida is a volunteer with
Krysha and a good friend of mine. We have both enjoyed being able to use our apartment and our love of cooking to have a hospitality ministry by having people over for dinner about once a week.

A Miracle Moment in Colombia

As our team from FBC Euless, TX prepared to head back home, we stood in the airport and joked about who might look "suspicious" enough to be asked to go through the "special" check-point. As in most airports these days, there are several security check-points one must go through before finally boarding their plane. Although we joke about how time consuming they can be, I have really learned to appreciate the added security that it brings!

As our team filed through the first check-point, we missionaries were standing behind the security gates, watching to make sure the Spanish-to-English exchange between them & the security officer was being understood. Of course, in a big group like theirs, the officer decided to check at least one of their bags. You'd imagine that when a group says they've been doing "mission" work, that the officers would think you were the most innocent people in the world. In our country, many so called "missionaries" are actually drug traffickers...sad, but true.

Decked out in his new traditional, hand-crafted Colombian hat, our fearless team leader Keith was chosen out of the bunch. He walked over, smiling like he'd one a prize, and watched as his old fashioned, hard cover suitcase was inspected. As the officer inspected his suitcase he founds something interesting...a box. As he opened it, Keith began to explain to him what it was. It was an Evanacube. Keith took the cube, and using his basic Spanish began to explain each picture, opening the cube, showing man's sin, Jesus' death, burial & resurrection, the choice we have to accept his free gift of forgiveness....and the officer stood there staring, listening to every word he said.

We missionaries stood there watching. Keith offered to give the officer the cube...and the Spanish-English New Testament that was also sitting on top of his luggage. (What divine placement of those two items!) After Keith had moved to join the rest of his team members, waiting to check in at the airline desk, we kept an eye on the officer. Immediately he took the cube and showed it to the other 3 officers who were also checking luggage. Serious & stern faces turned to smiles as he opened the cube and began to repeat what he had heard! He then took the cube to show more officers down at the next check point. We all stood there in utter amazement! What might the Lord have in store for this man!?

More than 30 minutes later, we saw the officer, walking down the airport, Bible & cube in hand...I think this was a gift he intended to keep.

Thank you Lord, for preparing Keith's luggage in just the right manner, for giving Keith boldness to use the little Spanish he knew to be obedient and share your Truth. Thank you for opening the heart of the security officer. For giving him the desire to share this new Truth with others around him. Give him the desire to learn more about you, to read Your Word and to come to know you personally.

What we thought was a routine security check-point, might have been the check-point that officer needed to find everlasting security in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have..."

-1 Peter 3:15a

Clay Hilton- Canada Church Plant Update

"Don't you go all religious on me" exclaim Terry's friends "Aw don't worry about that I have a really cool pub-crawling preacher that I really like." That is what Terry, the guy that I met while drinking a diet pepsi at Brewbaker's Pub, is telling his friends.

God is working on Terry. He called this week when I was out and left this message on my phone "Hey Clay this is Terry. I was reading this book that you gave me and had some questions about it. Let's get together and talk about it. Okay talk to ya' soon."

We had some coffee today as we talked about life, love, God, and the kind of life that Jesus wants for Terry.

This is as great of a picture as you get up here. 2 Tim Horton's empty cups of coffee and an open Bible. Terry, a rough edged, blue collar, molson drinking, ladies man teared up as I shared with him John 10:10 and other verses. He is still checkling out Jesus, but wants to come over reguarly to learn more about Him. God has Terry's number please continue to pray for him.

Hope and Help Update

A new Timothy Leadership Institute is just now underway in West Bengal India. The class of 27 men is made up of pastors, evangelists and church planters who are actively involved in ministry but have had no training. These students come from the Indian states of West Bengal and Manipur, as well as the countries of Bhutan and Nepal. The teachers for this TLI are HHI Director Larry Malone and Robin Webb, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas. They are teaching Bible Doctrines and Bible Study Methods. The TLI provides a good solid foundation for Christian teaching so that these church leaders will be able to explain why they believe what they are preaching and teaching. The study methods course teaches the men
the proper ways to study a passage so that they will be able to understand the truth of God’s Word. May we ask you to pray for this TLI? Here are a few specifi c prayer requests:

● pray for Larry and Robin as they teach each day

● pray for Rupak who is the local coordinator of the TLI and will do most of the translation work

● pray for the students

● pray for Reuben, Rupak’s brother, who is assisting with the TLI

● pray for the families of the students who are left alone during the TLI class time

● ask God to give Larry and Robin the exact words they need to say in order to make the material clear and understandable

● pray for safety in travel and for good health for the students and the teachers

● as Larry and Robin go into the villages to preach on Sunday, please pray that God will give them opportunities to clearly present the Gospel to anyone who is still in spiritual darkness and to encourage believers

Clay Hilton Update

Here in Fort McMurray there is a really bad sinful side to the city. Few places in the city are as bad as the Boomtown Casino.

Drug deals, prostitution, assaults, and gambling happen all the time at the Boomtown. On Wednesday, October 1st one other thing happened outside the ol' Boomtown Casino- Jesus was shared with a hopeless group of people.

With the sweet, stale, nauseating smell of marijuana in the air Michael and I shared real hope to the people outside the Boomtown.

Michael, a guy that is partnering with me to reach Fort Mac, and I had a really good visit with a guy named Chad. Chad went to a baptist high school in British Columbia and knew he was not living for God. We prayed with him and gave him our contact info. Please pray that Chad and others will bend their hearts to the Lord in this cold sin city.

Clay Hilton- Canadian Missionary

I met Terry a few weeks back when I sat down at a bar, ordered a diet pepsi and then prayed God would send somebody for me to talk with. He sent Terry to sit down beside me at the Brewbaker's Pub.

As you might recall, Terry said that he was interested in "being my first church member". We hit it off and Terry said he wanted to talk again at another time.

Last Sunday, was that other time. I invited Terry over to our home to enjoy some chili (made from chili mix sent up from the Bridger Sunday School class in Alabama). He loved the good ol' southern cooking and had never had chili with cornbread.

We then went downstairs and talked for two hours about life, love, God, and the Bible. As a matter of fact. I gave him his very first Bible. He had never seen the inside of a Bible ever before.

Terry was a little perplexed by all the little numbers and big numbers and different names at the top of each page. I explained to Terry how and where to read in his new Bible and most importantly I shared with Terry how to start a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Terry was not uninterested about a relationship with Jesus, but wanted to think about that decision a bit more. Terry said he would read his new Bible and talk more with me later.

We plan on getting together soon. Pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to touch Terry's life and call him to repentance.

Robert and MaryJo Foster- EE Brazil Update

Well, how about a few minutes of breaking, good news? Last month from Brazil, I asked you to pray for our activities there. A lot happened as a result. For example, we were able to advance the project of the videos that need to be filmed, by talking with the young university student who had offered to help. The scripts were finished and a schedule was established. There were many meetings with EE leaders about current projects.

Much of my time in Sao Paulo was spent making various contacts. Here are three highlights:
We visited with pastors and EE leaders of a church that has hosted past clinics about an idea of mine as to how that church could partner with us in a new way, holding what we call a "missionary clinic" in another state/region where we do not currently have a church using EE training. A missionary clinic is not for missionaries. Rather, it operates as a short term missions project.

One Sunday, I visited one of the larger Baptist churches in the capital in order to meet the pastor and to learn a little about the church. This resulted in a meeting with the pastor later in the week. He has been at the church about 9 months and told us: "I want EE in my church!" From there we discussed/shared how to bring this about.
One day while working in the EE office, we received a call from a pastor in the city of Salvador. He asked if he and an associate pastor could meet with us in Sao Paulo the next day. So, the next day we listened to him tell of his desire to train his churchʼs 2,000 cell group leaders by November of this year, in order to reach a large group of people by year's end. He told us that his church's total weekend attendance in five services is now 8,000 and that he is dreaming of having 10,000. Needless to say, he got our attention!
Here is some background on that last contact: In 1999, we held a leadership training clinic in a Brazilian church in Pompano Beach, FL. Both the pastor and his associate from Salvador were clinicians that week, as they were living and pastoring in the area at that time. As we visited and discovered this, it was an important "it's a small world" moment.

Recently, as the pastor began to have a vision for training his cell group leaders, he remembered the training he received in 1999. For this reason, he traveled to Sao Paulo to talk with us. We listened, assured him of our desire to work with him and the church and mentioned our new Workshop.

The next day we talked with other members of our team and were urged to travel to Salvador and work out the details of the Workshop. A few days later we found ourselves riding to the church in the car of the associate pastor, as he pointed to a large favela (shantytown) there in Salvador. He told us, "We have 400 cell groups in that favela."

We learned that the church is 126 years old, making it the oldest Baptist church in Brazil. And, in the next 24 hours, we worked through most of the details of holding the training at their church. To be able to train 2,000 leaders of the church is obviously an incredible opportunity AND challenge for EE-Brazil.

Well, we are still working on a date for the Workshop, as the initial suggestion for October was met with some conflicts in calendars. We are now trying to nail down dates in November.

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING so fervently for this trip! As you have just read, the Lord heard and answered. Now, I ask you to pray for the follow-up on these opportunities, especially for this training in Salvador.

One closing bit of news about our family: We spent this past weekend with Brian and Taunya who are expecting their first child in January. They are expecting a boy, our first grandson. Needless to say, we are very excited for them. Please pray for the remaining months of Taunya's pregnancy and all of their preparations.

Thank you for holding us up in prayer! Finances, both personal and ministry funds, continue to be a serious matter for prayer. We remain very grateful to those who support us in this way and welcome others to become financial partners with us, too.**

And, let's pray fervently for our country at this momentous time in history and for displaced Galveston and Houston residents!

Blessings,

Robert & Mary Jo
EE-Brazil

Beach Clubs Kickoff

I wanted to give you our first Beach Club Report this year! It was a great week!

We kicked off 10 clubs!

Clubs: 10
Kids: 446
Leaders: 38 (actual is almost 80)
Total: 484
Professions of Faith: 5

Talk about Miracle Moments!!! I can’t wait to see what God does this week as we kick off our 11th club, Bear Creek!

Privileged to serve,

Tammy Terrell

Chinese Bibles Unpdate- Mandarin Gospel of John at Summer Olympics

Copies of the Gospel of John, using the new Mandarin Chinese Standard Bible (CSB) translation, were given out as gifts at the summer Olympics in Beijing. The CSB New Testament is the most accurate translation of God's Word in everyday language and will be a true source of encouragement for those who have struggled to understand outdated Chinese translations. The CSB translation of the Gospel of John has already won critical acclaim by Chinese Christians all over the world.

Hope and Help International- Ministry Report

BLESSINGS AMID BURDENS

Everyone loves blessings but human nature tends to shun burdens. However, it is often out of
burdensome situations that the greatest blessings arise. This is the case with our partners in
India.

Kukil is one of Hope and Help’s Timothy Leadership Institute students from the state of Assam. Sadly just two weeks after he had finished the second year of his TLI studies in May, 2008 his
precious wife died of breast cancer, leaving him with two young children to raise and his wife’s ailing mother to take care of. In spite of the challenges he his facing right now, he is still faithful
in God’s service.

Kukil just returned from visiting an isolated village for the first time. During his seven day stay he was able to share the Gospel with many people and four of them trusted Christ as Savior. Praise the Lord! Since the village is so isolated and poor, Kukil did not have good food or water
and he became very ill as he traveled back home. When he finally arrived home he found out that both of his children had contracted viral fever. Please be in prayer for this father and minister of the Gospel.

Since Kukil is too sick to return right now, our partner Avinash has spent the last week in this village doing follow-up work. In a report sent to us just today, this is what he says:

“The village has a major problem of alcoholism. All of the men work in farming in which they get only about $1 a day. Children and the women have a problem of malnutrition. We have a great great opportunity to serve them. Because they lack money they push their children in a very young age to work; they have no future. The government has help for them but on the way to those who need it, it is taken by the people in authority. We can be the hands and feet of our LORD to them in the mission of God. When we were there our eyes were opened and we wished we could have some more equipment to help them to know our Lord. I have now a laptop computer in which I showed them The Jesus Film and Passion of the Christ but very few of them could see the screen. I wish I had a projector; you know a big crowed turned out to see the films. All of them are hindus, but soon many of them will follow our LORD!”

Please pray for this village and for Avinash and Kukil as they continue to minister. The village
is open to the message of the Gospel. What a great encouragement to Kukul to have a hand in
taking the Good News to this unevangelized village during a year that has been such a challenge
and filled with sadness.

Hope and Help International Update

We are sometimes asked why so few people are baptized in relation to the number of people who have trusted Christ as Savior. In answering this question we will include a letter we recently received from one of our partners who was planning a baptism for 37 new believers. Albert writes:

“We had a baptism service and it was very hard but our God and your prayers allowed us to overcome. Some people from the area came over and made a big problem. I was only able to baptize 5 new believers before they stopped us by force. So please continue to pray for us.”

Because salvation is free to us we tend to forget that it came at a great price - the life of Jesus Christ. And even for those who are involved in the spread of the Good News of salvation today, many times there is a price to be paid. As you give to and pray for these missionaries, you are partnering with men who are worthy to suffer shame for His name.

As a follow-up to Albert’s report about their baptism being forcefully stopped, we wanted to thank you for praying. In an email from Albert today he states:

“Yesterday we held another baptism and were able to baptize 15 more without any problem.”

On another issue, Albert shared that he has another 25 pastors praying and asking that we begin another 1st year Timothy Leadership Institute for them sometime in 2009. HHI held its first Timothy Leadership Institute with Albert as our coordinator in Karnataka and this past July we were privileged to see these students graduate having completed all three years of study.

Hays Community Church Update

We now have nine families coming to HCC that make up 33 total people. Of the eight families we have reached, seven did not have a church home prior to HCC. This past week we did another week long Kids’ Beach Club. It was very exciting because our old church, Eden Road Community Church, sent seven students and two adults down from Arlington to help with Beach Club. They did an outstanding job. We had 17 children participate. Four of those kids were from unchurched families, three of the four had never come to any event that HCC had put on and one of the four had never been to any church function ever. Last week he heard a Bible story for the first time. He now owns his own Bible, and he will be playing on Jacob’s soccer team. God is so good how he connects us with people.

We also wanted to tell you a story of a woman named Les. We met Les at an event we did last Christmas. She was unchurched. We found out in May that she needed a fence built for her backyard. We felt the Lord leading HCC to build this for her, and Les agreed to let us do this. Josh and three other men from our church built this fence for her. Josh was definitely the unskilled labor. She was so touched by this that she started coming to our church. A couple of weeks ago she committed her life to Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord! We are experiencing the kingdom of God coming to Kyle, Tx at HCC.

Prayer Requests:
Praise the Lord for Les’ salvation.
Praise the Lord that He has added more families since our last letter.
Praise the Lord for the friendships he has given our family.
Please pray for the unchurched families we connected with at Beach Club.
Please pray Psalm 91 for our church.
Pray for Kelly for this new school year.
Most importantly, pray that we would have sweet times with Jesus, that we would continue to stay connected as a couple, that we would invest in our children well, that we would continue to sow seed and that we would effectively disciple those God has entrusted to us.

Missionary Update- Robert and Mary Jo Foster

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Please pray as I continue to adapt/translate Youth EE materials for Brazil. There are other projects, too, awaiting completion of this one. So, please pray for good time management.
• Pray for the filming of three short videos this month and next to be used in conjunction with our new Workshop.
• Please pray for important meetings/discussions here in Sao Paulo during the next 2 weeks.
• Please pray for good attendance at our remaining 2008 training clinics.

PRAISE:

• Praise the Lord for Kids’ EE training clinic held in Araçatuba, Sao Paulo, last month.
• Praise for a Kids’ EE workshop held this past weekend to equip hospital chaplains and volunteers who visit hospitalized children with terminal illnesses.

ANSWERED PRAYER (update on previous requests):

• The first unit of Youth EE has been translated/adapted for Brazil.
• EE Brazil’s new website is up and running.
• Material sales have been up…a positive sign in many respects!

Pregnancy Center Update

On July 18th , First Euless hosted our MCPC benefit concert “An Evening with Steven Curtis Chapman”. Steven and his family are strong advocates for women in unplanned pregnancy, adoption, and the unborn. He presented an inspiring evening of worship and we all enjoyed the outstanding talent God gave Steven to write and perform his music. We were able to highlight the pregnancy center ministry as we shared about our client Meagan, who came to the center as a frightened, confused 17 year old girl. She was facing a dilemma-- to have an abortion or give birth to her child. She met with our volunteer counselor, Linda Bussey. She talked with Meagan about her options and about how God had a special plan for her child. Meagan chose to sacrificially place her little boy, Tyler, into the loving care of Melissa and Jeff, now Tyler’s parents. She went on to graduate high school, and recently college. Jeff and Melissa have a great relationship with Meagan, and she visits with Tyler often. We were so happy that Meagan, Tyler, Jeff, and Melissa were willing to share their story-- a story of how God took a difficult situation and made something beautiful.





It was such a wonderful evening. When we received the news about our ministry offering, we were amazed that God had blessed us with almost EXACTLY what we had budgeted for the start-up costs for the new Irving office! We hope to finalize soon a contract for an office location that is strategically located where we should see many women who desperately need options other than abortion. We are so grateful for God’s provision through "The Miracle” and for the generous caring people who gave so that we can begin to reach the city of Irving. Please continue to pray for us as we move forward, and that many lives will be saved for now, and forever, through this ministry.

COUNTED WORTHY TO SUFFER SHAME FOR HIS NAME

In Acts 5 we read that after the Apostles were arrested they were beaten and commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and then they were let go. And we are told they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

In the western world today it is hard to believe that such persecution still happens. However, we can assure you that it does happen throughout India as well as in many other countries of the world. We know firsthand of instances that have happened to pastors and church planters that we are working with. Some have been beaten, others tied up and doused with gasoline only to be saved by sympathetic villagers before the match was lit, others have had their churches burned to the ground.

Hope and Help International recently received statistical information from the national missionaries that we are sponsoring as well as information from all of the pastors and church planters that are being trained in the Timothy Leadership Institute. We were thrilled to see what they have accomplished with few resources. In the first six months of 2008 these men report visiting 494 villages, making 993 new contacts, seeing 998 people trust Christ as their personal Savior, and baptizing 258. This is even more amazing when we realize that all of this has been accomplished by 55 pastors and church planters.

We are sometimes asked why so few people are baptized in relation to the number of people who have trusted Christ as Savior. In answering this question we will include a letter we recently received from one of our partners who was planning a baptism for 37 new believers.

“We had a baptism service and it was very hard but our God and your prayers allowed us to overcome. Some people from the area came over and made a big problem. I was only able to baptize 5 new believers before they stopped us by force. So please continue to pray for us.”

Because salvation is free to us we tend to forget that it came at a great price - the life of Jesus Christ. And even for those who are involved in the spread of the Good News of salvation today, many times there is a price to be paid. As you give to and pray for these missionaries, you are partnering with men who are worthy to suffer shame for His name.

Next WorldWide Update

THANK YOU FOR NOT TAKING US ON A MISSION TRIP. These were the words of one of the pastors that went with us last week to Mexico. He then went on to clarify his statement. He said, “Most mission organizations make the “trip” the center of what they do. At Next you provide students an experience that puts them in an environment where God can radically change their lives. For most North Americans the mission trip is more about “them” as opposed to the mission.”

It has greatly concerned me since day one, that we might someday lose the real focus of our ministry. We do not exist to simply give light skinned children a place to take pictures of dark skinned children so that they have pictures for their album. But rather to introduce students to a Missional God who is as passionate about missional living in their Jerusalem as He is in the uttermost parts of the world.

This past week, Sherry, Laura and I were in Xalapa, Mexico. We had the privilege of taking 13 people from our church as well as students and adults from two other churches. Over half of the students that we took had never led someone to Christ before. Before the end of the week, all of them had led multiple people to faith in Christ. We had 188 professions of faith and were able to plant one new church.

As much as I love seeing students share their faith, that in and of it self is not what drives me. What motivates me is seeing students realize that the end of the trip is not the “end” but the “beginning.” That what God does “to” students on the field is simply to prepare them for what He wants to do “through” them at home.

We truly had a miraculous week. I regret my inability to truly reveal all that God did during our campaign. As one mom said, “I have watched people return from the mission field for years. Time and time again I have heard the frustration in their voices as they tried to reveal what God had done. For the first time I truly understand what they were feeling.”

Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for helping send Sherry and me to the field. On several occasions last week, Sherry and I talked about you. We know the sacrifices that you make to be able to send us out. No one has a more generous support team than we do. You truly humble us.

On a personal note, I wanted you to know that I was scheduled to be in Ecuador at the end of August. Because of an old football injury ( heavy emphasis on “old”) I have had to find someone to take my place because I am having knee surgery in early August. Please be in prayer for Sherry. She and I both know that I am not a good patient. We would really appreciate your prayers. We dearly love you.

Because He Lives,
Warren Samuels

Tanzania Update

Paul Buhwahwa, the E3 mission leader in Tanzania, just returned from Magu and Musoma to meet with the pastors of the churches we will be working with on the campaign to Tanzania in September. Last October we conducted two day church planting conferences in Magu and Musoma and challenged the churches to plant 10 new churches in each city (20 total churches).

Instead of 20 new churches they are ready to plant 60 new churches on the campaign.

That's 60 villages/communities where there is currently no evangelical church.

There is such an incredible hunger for the gospel. It is hard to describe.

Jesus said, "Look at the fields; they are ripe for harvest. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest field."

In Christ,
Mike Talley

Hope and Help Update

Below are a few pictures from the lates Hope and Help Leadership Conference, held in Chickabalapur, India.

So far in 2008, there have been 996 salvations, 256 baptisms, and28 new churches started through the work of Hope and Help International.

Hope and Help International

Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,

Below is a short email from Lori in regards to the Timothy Leadership Institute being held in Chickabalapur, Karnataka, India with our coordinator Albert Jayaraju during the next two weeks. This is the 3rd and final year for these 30 students. Please be in prayer for God’s continued blessing and strength as the teachers share and encourage these Faithful Men.

"After a missed flight we arrived in Bangalore a day later than planned. The TLI was scheduled to start on Wednesday, June 25 and it did, but because we were late getting in the night before, we began in the afternoon rather than the morning.

All the students had arrived on time so they spent the morning in prayer for the training. They were much more relaxed about the delay than we uptight Americans were!

Albert, our coordinator, had been in the hospital just a few weeks ago. He had severe headaches and high fever. He is somewhat better but it's obvious that he is not completely well. The doctors still don't know what caused his problems. We are praying that he will be OK throughout the TLI.

Ed began the TLI by teaching on evangelism, with a focus on the biblical elements of the true Gospel. He encouraged the men to develop their testimony, giving a brief background of their life before Christ, but with the main emphasis on what Christ has done for them.

Mike is teaching on developing biblical messages. He emphasized the need to understand the context, to interpret the passage correctly and to always include an application.

The students are eager to learn and are participating in the classroom discussions and answering questions in a way that makes it apparent that they are understanding the material. We pray that the rest of the TLI goes as well as the first two days."

Blessings,

Larry Malone
Hope and Help International

FBCE Missionaries- Robert and Mary Jo Foster

The following is an update from FBCE Missionaries Robert and Mary Jo Foster, who are working with Evangelism Explosion in Brazil:

Friends & Supporters,

The other day the latest edition of SouthwesternNews arrived in the mail. On page 64, seminary professor, Dr. David Mills, starts his article by saying: "One could say that it is nearly impossible to exaggerate when speaking of the importance of personal evangelism."

His statement causes me to reflect on the "tagline" for EE-Brazil's new Workshop training for personal evangelism: "Easy to learn...fun to share...and hard to forget!" In the Workshop that I taught in São Paulo on April 26th, the participants found this to be true. Since personal evangelism IS so important, how cool is it that EE-Brazil can offer training for a Gospel presentation that is easy to learn, fun to share and hard to forget? God is certainly good!

I just spent 26 days in São Paulo. It was the latest in my string of marathons! Much of the time was spent on finalizing the Portuguese materials for our Workshop. PTL this phase of the project is completed, as the materials are at the publishing house! God is really good!

Upon returning, I remember saying to one Brazilian in São Paulo in an online conversation that "so many good things are happening within EE-Brazil that I can't keep up!" Truth is that when good things are happening, it generates additional work, too. I confess to being a little overwhelmed right now by all the opportunities and resultant new tasks! But, God is good, and "His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path." (Psalm 119:105) We'll appreciate your prayers during these busy days!

Here are a few Praises:

Praise the Lord for the excellent contacts made among pastors while in São Paulo.
A Kids’ EE clinic was held in Rio de Janeiro in April.
We met with the director of a hospital chaplaincy ministry and discussed how we could work together in training chaplains and hospital volunteers, using our new Workshop and Kids' EE.
A Share Your Faith Workshop was held April 26th in an English-speaking church in São Paulo , as part of EE-Brazil’s intercultural ministry to other language groups in Brazil.
Praise for the Lord leading us to a Brazilian pastor who is well-connected in the Korean

community in São Paulo . He speaks Korean and will be able to help us discover key contacts
among the Korean churches there. We want to offer our training in Korean to these
pastors/churches.
Continued praise to the Lord for the churches, Christian businesses, friends and family that pray
for us and give faithfully to our support!

...and, a few Prayer Requests:

Please pray for my next major project, as I begin to adapt/translate Youth EE materials into
Portuguese for Brazil. There are other projects in line, too, awaiting the completion of this one.
So, please pray for good time management.
Please continue to pray for EE-Brazil’s need for a greater number of clinic teachers for both
Adult and Kids´ EE.
Plans for a Chinese clinic in São Paulo have been shifted to 2009. Please pray for these plans to
mature and for a possible Workshop in April 2009 to promote a training clinic later in the year.
Pray for the launching of the Kids' EE EvangeCube in Brazil. I am working now on details of how
EE-Brazil will become the exclusive distributor for this witnessing tool in Brazil. This should
generate training opportunities and needed income for EE-Brazil.
Pray for the development of a new website for EE-Brazil. Work began last week.
Pray for the filming of two short videos to be used in conjunction with our new Workshop.
Pray for training material sales in Brazil to continue to increase in order that adequate funds for
the ministry will be available.
Our family must find economical health insurance without sacrificing too much more on
coverage. Pray that we can find a solution to this constant financial burden.
And, perhaps the most urgent at the moment: Please pray for adequate family support and that
eventually we can raise sufficient funds in order to return to full financial support.

Chinese Bible Translation Update

The goal of this project is to enable Chinese scholars to create an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand contemporary Chinese Mandarin Bible that also is theologically accurate. Recently the CSB New Testament was completed, which is especially timely due to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Holman Bible Outreach has a distribution strategy in place, and initially will give away 200,000 copies of the New Testament to Chinese people around the world.

"Most of the brothers and sisters agree that this new translation is making better sense, and is easier to understand. Beijing church is surprised and excited to receive the newest translation from U.S. church; they appreciate it greatly," writes Lu, a Chinese house church member.

The Old Testament translation work continues to progress, with a target date of 2011 for completion.

Hope and Help International Update

Hope and Help sent this update from their latest project in Assam, India.

258 Salvations
201 Baptisms
142 Villages Visited
15 New Churches

Miracle Freestone Update

The following is an update from Scott Sheppard on the Miracle Freestone Project:

Greetings!

God has been so good, working out the details and saving us money so we can do more!

In chance meeting at lunch, when we were just about at the end of our Heat and Air rope, Gary Phillips and I ran into a member who is in that business commercially who said he’d like to help!
Low and behold, where we thought we were going to spend $4500, we received a totally new Heat and Air System, all new ducts, removed, and replaced for $1100!

That’s God for you…in His timing.

Our Tape Bed and Texture bids were all in the $2500-$3000, and we found a contractor who is starting today, for $1400. Wow! That’s $4500 to $5000 in savings right there that will allow us to do additional projects with the City of Euless.

Here are the next two steps:

Paint:
We are scheduling a painting party for Saturday, May 31st. 9 AM.
Our Tape Bed and Texture work should be finished by mid week, with enough drying time to begin painting the walls, ceiling and trim next weekend.
If you are interested, available, and pretty handy with a roller or brush, please contact Beth Harris or Scott Sheppard so we can schedule the work, and have enough tools/supplies.


Siding:
We need a couple of things to happen this week, and we may start our siding project next Saturday as well. We are waiting for a crew that will come in and grind down the stumps that are against the foundation and have grown up over the siding. Ff you are interested in helping with the vinyl siding, please contact the church as well.

“Lederrick”

Reaching Out Ministries sent the following Miracle Story:

Lederrick came to the DFW area as a teenager to visit a sick relative. He got involved with the wrong group of people and ended up running away, living on the streets. His aunt left message after message on the streets for him to come home but he did not return. His mother died when he was a toddler and nobody knew for sure who his father might be. His grandmother had been raising him, but still without that parental involvement, he felt unloved and unwanted.

Lederrick heard on the streets that the “Star house”, a house of God, could help, so he came by just asking for prayer. He was searching for safety and guidance as he attempted to get home. He received a meal, clean clothing and a bus ticket home to Texarkana.

Lederrick’s grandmother had been praying for two years for his safe return and freedom from drugs. Lederrick had been dabbling in soft drugs in Texarkana, and got involved with much worse in the DFW area. He returned drug free.

Another miracle is the impact this story has had on another person. Floyd was asked to encourage and support Lederrick during his 5 hour wait at the Dallas bus station before his bus would leave. The bus station is a very bad area and the station itself is filled with drug dealers who are on the prowl. Lederrick would have been a target. Floyd became personally involved in this boy’s welfare and trials. Floyd is the person who received the phone call from his grandmother and heard her tears of graditude and joy in response to her answered prayers with the return of her child.

Although Floyd is a believer, it is not always easy to see the Lord’s work in your own life. It is so much easier to take the credit for yourself. To see answered prayer in the lives of two other persons has radically affected Floyd’s life and his perspective on the mercy of God and personal prayer life. Sometimes the answer is immediate, other times we must wait and be patient.

"Shorty"

Reaching Out Ministries sent the following Miracle story about a man who attended their recent Hootenanny in the Hood:

A gentleman named Shorty came to give his testimony May 5th, 2008 at the annual Reaching Out Hootenanny.

He knew about Reaching Out Ministries through the “girls” he had working the streets. Shorty was a pimp, drug dealer and “ran” a group of under aged boys to deliver his drugs and steal computer equipment and automobliue equipment.

Shorty attended a “Hootenanny” in 2003. A couple of months later he came to the house in the early morning/late night hours, depending on your perspective, and asked for help to get off the streets. He was placed in a rehab center and went through their program.

He was angry with Orlin for preaching to him as he had grown up in the church and believed he knew all there was to know about Jesus. After his anger cooled a little bit he admitted he did smoke crack, snort cocaine, and shoot heroin at every opportunity. Orlin’s pill was bitter to swallow.

Shorty said it was the first time he could see the plank in his own eye instead of the splinter in others.

He was use to being able to look down upon the people he used. He didn’t like seeing himself as others saw him.

Shorty has now been “clean” for four years and has an active, healthy life in society. He is also part of the leadership in the church he regularly attends. He just wanted to say “Thank You”. The “seeds” planted with the prostitutes and teens that came to Reaching Out Ministries were spread to Shorty. Shorty is now bearing fruit and spreading seeds of his own.

God is good. All the time.

Hays Community Church Update

Josh Proctor, Pastor of Hays Community Church, sent us this follw up to his last update:

Thank you so much for praying for Heather's parents. They came to church this past weekend. Praise the Lord!!! Also, this past weekend the Lord allowed us to baptize six people. We thought you would enjoy the pics.

Thanks for partnering with us.

-Josh and Kelly Proctor and family

Pregnancy Center Update

Most of the clients we see at Mid Cities Pregnancy Center are single. Not often do we see married clients in crisis, but when we do, we admire their courage. That is the case with this client. She already had two children and she and her husband felt like they couldn’t afford another baby. They felt like abortion was their only choice, so she scheduled an appointment. We did a sonogram for her and after seeing her baby, she cancelled her abortion appointment. She and her husband decided to choose life and place the baby for adoption. To say it was a difficult decision would hardly touch the meaning of the words. She recently delivered and placed her baby with a lovely Christian couple. Please pray for her as she continues to heal from this decision.

The Texas Department of Health Services reports that 79,041 women obtained abortions in Texas in 2006. Of those abortions, 11,479 were performed in Dallas County, of which Irving is a major city. Statistics indicate that having a life affirming Christ-centered ministry outreach to Irving could help to significantly reduce those numbers. We are excited that we are getting closer and closer!

Please pray for the family of Steven Curtis Chapman and the loss of their adopted daughter, Maria. Maria was one of Steven and Mary Beth’s six children, and the youngest of the three that were adopted from China. They are strong advocates for adoption and established a ministry called Shaohannah’s Hope that provides information and financial grants to families who adopt. Steven Curtis Chapman is scheduled to come to First Euless on July 18th for a benefit concert for the pregnancy center.

Hays Community Church

Josh Proctor, pastor of Hays Community Church in Kyle, TX, sent us this update:

I wanted to share a cool story with you. Scott and Heather prayed to receive Christ in December and were baptized in January. Scott had to go on temporary disability this spring due to some health problems. This has been very hard on he and his wife. We have been trying to teach them to trust the Lord and just surrender this whole thing to Jesus. Scott had surgery last week, and it seems that it was successful. We challenged Scott and Heather to fast before the surgery as an act of dependence on the Lord. They both did a one day fast. This is way cool. Here is the really cool thing though. Heather told one of her coworkers about the fast, and this coworker and her husband know the Lord and decided to fast with Scott and Heather. Check this out. Heather told her mom and dad, who don't know the Lord, about this fast, and her parents fasted with them and prayed. Heather's parents have indicated that they would be there this Sunday for church. God is good. Praise be to His name. Pray that Scott and Heather would continue to grow in being dependent on the Lord, and pray that Heather's parents would come this weekend.

Hope and Help International

Hope and Help International sent us this update about their latest leadership conference:

The Timothy Leadership Institute in Assam, a northeastern state of India, is at the halfway point, so we wanted to give you an update. Avinash just sent us photos and we will share those with you.

The teachers in this TLI are Trevor Overcash and Carl Forney and it is coordinated by HHI partner, Avinash Sarki. This is the second year of a three-year program. The TLI began last Monday, May 5 and will conclude on Thursday, May 15. The classes begin at about 8:30 each morning and end at about 4:30 in the afternoon with a lunch break and, of course, tea breaks.
The classes have gone well. The students are willing to share and ask questions and participate when they are asked to do so. Many have stated that the training they received last year has had a big impact on their ministries and that they are much bolder to share the Gospel since they are bet-ter able to explain and defend it. They were excited to get started with this year’s courses. Trevor and Carl speak at church Traditional welcome ceremony Trevor teaching; Avinash translating Each session begins with worship Carl gets the students involved Trevor emphasizes a point.

The big challenge is the heat. The lecture hall where the classes are held has fans, and the hotel room where Trevor and Carl are staying has air conditioning, but the power is off much of the time. Trevor and Carl are both trying to include inter-active assignments in their lessons, just so the students can move around a bit and stay alert.

One evening Avinash showed the movie “The End of the Spear” which is about the 5 missionaries who were martyred in Ecuador in 1956. As Trevor and Avinash were walking back to the hotel afterward, a guy on a motorcycle drove past them and shouted something; then he turned around and drove by shouting again. This happened a few times and Avinash simply commented that the guy must be drunk. The next day, Avinash said that the man said “White man, why don’t you take your religion and leave us alone!” This was just a reminder that not everyone is happy with the message that we bring and that we must be vigilant and wise.

This weekend, Carl and Trevor will be able to visit some of the villages where the TLI students minster. They will have Sunday services in a village church. Then on Monday, it’s back to the TLI. Before returning home, they will spend Thursday in a village conducting a Gospel Crusade.
Join us in thanking God for the great experiences so far and asking Him to bless the rest of the trip.