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.