August 2008 Report

Mission: Brownwood VBS wins gold at Brownwood Housing Authority

Our Vacation Bible School efforts at the Brownwood Housing Authority yielded good fruit with one profession of faith at the VBS, and one at our home services for two professions of faith. The girl saved at the VBS wants to be baptized and join our mission in Brownwood.

We averaged 30 kids per week, with attendance peaking at 43 kids on Aug. 16. Special thanks go out to South Union MBC of Daingerfield, TX; East Side BC of Jacksonville, TX; Rocky Springs MBC of Jacksonville, TX; Veal Switch MBC of Hughes Springs, TX; Fostoria Oaks MBC of Cleveland, TX; Salmon MBC of Elkhart, TX; Concho Baptist Church of Coleman, TX; Rosevine Baptist Church of Bronson, TX; Muse MBC of Grapeland, TX; Memory Lane MBC of Palestine, TX; and Calvary Baptist Church of Silsbee, TX for their generous donations of decorations and literature, which saved the mission hundreds of dollars on teaching material.

We would also like to thank Bro. Ron and Sis. Betty Shaw of Midland, TX; Bro. Roy Ramon of San Angelo, TX; Sis. Victoria Williams of Brownwood, TX; Bro. John and Sis. Teresa Kight of Coleman, TX; Bro. Harold and Sis. Sylvia Acker of Jacksonville, TX; Bro. Jaime and Sis. Regina Hogan and family and Nick from Grapeland, TX; and Bro. Chuck and Sis. Sharon Johnston and Sis. Judy from Elkhart, TX; for volunteering to teach classes, cook lunch and set-up and clean-up the community center for VBS. This victory would not have been possible without your help.

Home Bible Study attendance grows

We averaged 9 in our Home Bible Studies on Sunday mornings, with an attendance high of 13 on Sunday, Aug. 24, and a low of 6 on Aug. 10. Our visitors are returning with strong prospects of joining.

Mission: Brownwood begins services at Market Place Apartments

We have been invited to hold Wednesday evening services every week and Sunday evening services every odd-numbered week at the Market Place Apartments in Brownwood. Look for more developments on this in the weeks to come.

FINANCES

OFFERINGS RECEIVED:
58th Ave. MBC (Amarillo, TX) $104.91
Bethel MBC (Tatum, TX) $50
Quaker BC (Lubbock, TX) $100
Wyndrock MBC (Abilene, TX) $80
Rocky Springs MBC (Jacksonville, TX) $150
Sublett Rd. MBC (Arlington, TX) $100
East Side BC (Jacksonville, TX) $100
Denson Springs MBC (Grapeland, TX) $50
Crestview MBC (Arlington, TX) $100
Muse MBC (Grapeland, TX) $400
Nevill’s Chapel MBC (Mt. Pleasant, TX) $205.22
Hickory Grove MBC (Newport, AR) $87.47
White Rock MBC (Center, TX) $100
Memorial MBC (Rusk, TX) $200
John Nickle (Rusk, TX) $25.

EXPENSES:
Salary $700
Housing $720
VBS $937.56
Mission Needs $269.38
Market Place ministry $49.26
Fuel $137.02

El Fin de VBS

We wrapped up VBS at the Brownwood Housing Authority today with 35 children and 8 volunteers in attendance. The kids were more hyper today after spending a week in school and our volunteer staff was out of sync due to a stomach bug which has taken over. All-in-all, it was a good day.

VBS Stats:

Attendance:

8/2/08- 20

8/9/08- 22

8/16/08- 42

8/23/08- 28

8/30/08- 35

Average Attendance: 30.

Professions of Faith: 2

Additions:2 (pending Baptism)

Financial Expense: $2,265.46

Financial expenses were mostly food cost to serve lunch at VBS... with some being spent for publicity. Curriculum costs were close to $1,300.

Final VBS Tomorrow

Tomorrow (8-30-08) will mark our final one-day VBS at the Brownwood Housing Authority. I have mixed emotions about the whole thing. On one hand, all the preparation and working all day every Saturday has been taxing on my family and I. However, on the other hand, I'm going to miss working with these kids every single Saturday.

I do think we have made some friends here and have doors open for further ministry, but we'll have to conduct that ministry without the luxury of the community center. Not only will they not rent it to us every Sunday, but it is set to undergo remodeling as soon as we finish up tomorrow.

We had two professions of faith at VBS this summer. One was my son, the other was an apartment resident. She has decided to join our work in Brownwood, and I feel we will have the opportunity to minister to hers and other families we have been in contact with. This was the goal of the VBS... so at least that goal was accomplished.

We've had a lot of help with this VBS. Special thanks go out to the Shaw's from Midland, who helped us our first week. They went so far as to use video and powerpoint presentations. Then there was Bro. Roy Ramon from San Angelo, who led music the second week. Last week, we had Bro. Jaime and Sis. Regina Hogan, et. al. from Grapeland, John and Teresa Kight from Coleman, and tomorrow we are expecting Bro. Chuck Johnston, Sis. Sharon and Sis. Judy from Elkhart. Numerous churches have contributed supplies to our VBS, which has been a real big blessing. Cost of food for lunches, snacks and cost of arts and crafts supplies has been astronomical. Not having to pay for literature, as all of our literature was donated, has been a real blessing. A complete list of VBS donors will be released in my upcoming report.

Surprises on the field

Preparing to go onto the mission field in Brownwood, I prepared myself for a number of spiritual battles. There are the battles of temptation, the battles of getting up the courage to regularly evangelize, witness and share my faith with complete strangers, the financial struggles, the adjusting to a new environment, discouragement, etc. I expected to move to Brownwood and for no one to care that I was there, or for everyone to disdain my presence because "Why would we need another Baptist church?" (Actually, the only people to ask that question were the station manager at the Christian station and a local Baptist pastor's wife).

Things I was not prepared for were:

• Isolation- If you've never gone to church faithfully, you never miss church. However, if you have ever been a faithful church member, then were suddenly placed in a situation where you had no church family, you feel isolated and alone. I never realized how much strength I drew from being in the presence of other Missionary Baptists. Even at Denson Springs when things were going badly, members of the congregation still prayed for me, and a couple even took time to lift me up. I had one church member, that, even though we were at odds at times, he would still let me know he loved me and was praying for me and wanted the best for me. Things are getting better as we begin to see the beginning of the core group emerge in Brownwood, but the absence of regular Sunday worship drains a person.
• Newfound "friendships"- I have been approached by other groups wanting me to join their movement. It's not a problem, I am properly handling the requests, it just surprised me.
• The Enormity of the Mission- It is not easy to start a church with nothing. At Mission: Brownwood, we did not have the luxury of moving onto the field with a "launch team." (I'm not knocking missionaries who did, it's a great thing, when it's available). We did not have displaced Missionary Baptists on the field looking for an ABA church. We don't even have a meeting place, outside of my living room (which we are close to outgrowing). Nope. No buildings, signs, advertisements, history in the community, community ties, heritage or launch team members to rely on. We have to build the core group from scratch. Now, before I get a barrage of messages saying "God builds the church, not you, dummy!", let me say that the progress that has been made has been by God's grace. I think it was God who provided for us living in the neighborhood that we are in... which is next door to our best core group prospects. It was God who prodded the teenager who was on the brink of salvation to come to VBS so we could share the Gospel with her. Still, something from nothing is a tall order. With God's help, we'll fill the order. Let me just say that anyone who says "It's easier to start a new church than to put up with the traditions of an old one" is an idiot if they truly believe it, or, they've never planted a church. It may be easier to split a church and form a new congregation, but it is not easier to start a new one from scratch as opposed to pastoring. It's even harder to plant a church with a launch team and a meeting facility than it is to pastor one that has heritage and a history in the community. As much as I have been through in the pastoral ministry, that was easier than this. I just thought I'd throw that in there.

Things are going well at Mission: Brownwood. Y'all continue to pray for us. We saw God do a lot of good things in August at the apartment complex (VBS every Saturday), with two professions of faith and friendships being built with residents along the way. We just hope to be able to continue that momentum and ride it into a self-supporting church in the near future.

God bless you, thank you for your prayers and support.

Leland

Just in case you wondered...

We had 13 in my home for Sunday services this past week (8-24-08). Most were visitors who were helping us with VBS, but the young lady who accepted Christ at VBS is still attending faithfully.

The most exciting news, though, is the salvation of my oldest son, Joshua, who broke into tears at the beginning of Sunday school, telling my wife that he had broken God's law, and wanted God's forgiveness. It's great knowing the older two of my children are saved, but I know we have got some work to do with JJ teaching him about the Lord. Please pray for him. He's only three, but he's what James Dobson would call a "strong-willed child."

Mission: Brownwood VBS continues to gain traction

We had 28 kids and 10 volunteers for a total of 38 people at VBS today at the Brownwood Housing Authority. We have two who are close to making decisions for the Lord, in my assessment.

Pictured above is Bro. Jamie Hogan, member of Muse MBC of Grapeland, TX, teaching the juniors class. We will hold our final one-day VBS at the housing authority next Saturday from 10-2.

Special thanks go out to Bro. Hogan, family and guests for traveling all the way to Brownwood to make this VBS a success!

Lessons learned from John 21

In John 21, Peter got discouraged in Jerusalem and decided to return to his old profession of fishing. He took several of the other disciples with him. While fishing, several events took place, from which I have made some observations.

1. Jesus gives us the fish (verse 6). The disciples had not caught anything all night, but once they threw the net where Jesus told them, the caught more than they could really handle... which brings me to my next point....

2. Jesus directs us to where the fish are (verse 6). While we are out being fishers of men, we need to go where the Lord calls us. Sure, there may be better markets and bigger cities, but the Lord knows where the fish we can catch are. Therefore we need to follow His leading. If we operate outside the Lord's will, success will be limited and empty. Oh wait... that's my third point.

3. Efforts apart from Christ are fruitless (verse 3). They didn't catch anything.

4. What God gives us will suffice (verse 11). Notice that their net didn't break.

5. God provides for our needs (verse 13). Jesus fed them breakfast.

6. Our love for Christ is indicated by our obedience to Him. (verse 15-17). Jesus was asking Peter, "Do you love me, more than these?" I believe "these" refers to the fish. Jesus was asking Peter if he loved Him more than worldy and commercial success. If so, Peter would "feed His sheep."

7. Our commandment from Christ is to feed His sheep. We are also to go forth and make disciples (Matthew 28:19) and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).

8. Christ wants us to follow Him (verse 19).

9. Following Christ means giving up our lives (verse 18), meaning we give up our personal dreams, ambitions, goals, etc. It may even mean dying for Him, which is what Christ was telling Peter he would do. You see, the Christian life is not about fulfilling our needs and dreams through Christ, rather we sacrifice that which means a lot to us to honor and glorify God.

10. Jesus doesn't want us preoccupied with others. (verse 22). Don't worry what others are doing, concern yourself with where you stand with God, and whether you are obeying His call in your life.

It's not ground breaking theology, I'll admit. However, I drew some encouragement through these verses during my recent Bible study time.

So, with these guidelines in place, let's go fishing!

Mission: Brownwood to begin Wednesday evening services

I am pleased to announce that I have been asked to hold services at a local apartment complex (not the housing authority) on Wednesday evenings beginning in September.

Our ministry in Brownwood is starting to get attention locally, and I am very excited about what God is doing here. More details on those things will be included in my monthly report, due out in two weeks.

I also had a great time of encouragement and refreshing while studying John 21. I'll post what the Spirit taught me through the scriptures sometime after work today.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Grace Pointe has 10!

We had 10 in attendance at our morning worship services in our home Sunday. We were expecting 11, but one fell ill. I am excited as those who are visiting with us are returning.

We also had a singing with 24 people at the retirement apartments where my wife works Sunday afternoon. Things there are also looking promising.

We are still hoping to be able to position ourselves to continue the momentum we are enjoying with the VBS at the Brownwood Housing Authority. I'll report the news as it happens.

Another successful VBS day!

By the end of the day, we had 42 kids, 7 volunteers for a total of 49 in attendance today. We're really beginning to build momentum at the Brownwood Housing Authority, with VBS volunteers and children getting to know each other on a first-name basis without the need for name tags.

We are working to find a way to keep this momentum going after VBS at the apartment complex. Hopefully, a solution can be found soon so we can continue to minister to these families.

Access Denied

Talked with the folks at the Brownwood Housing Authority today about holding worship services in their community room on Sundays. They politely turned me down, saying they didn't want the community room tied up every Sunday. They were agreeable to letting us hold a service once a month.

We have made some good progress with several prospects at the housing authority. I sincerely hope we can locate a meeting facility close by so that we can minister to those people, disciple them and help them grow in the Lord.

VBS Day 2 Update

Today was another good VBS for Mission: Brownwood. We started out with just a handful of kids, but one of the local residents rounded up a bunch of kids to give us a total of 22 kids for the day, six adults, 28 people in all. No professions of faith were made today, but my class now knows the greatest two commandments. The above video is of Bro. Roy Ramon, pastor of Beacon Baptist Church of San Angelo, leading singing with his guitar. This was before the sudden influx of kiddos.

Mission: Brownwood July 2008 Report

Isaiah 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, [that] the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? [there is] no searching of his understanding.

July was a busy month in preparation for our first major outreach event in Brownwood. We spent many hours preparing for Vacation Bible School to be held at the Brownwood Housing Authority’s Wendell Dodds Community Center. We were blessed with several people from churches all over the state of Texas volunteering to help us with VBS, and several churches sending us VBS supplies. God blessed our efforts the first weekend of VBS (Aug. 2) with 20 kids present, one adult from the apartment complex and nine volunteers for a total of 30 people. One teenage girl repented of her sins and trusted Jesus Christ as her Savior. She has since decided to follow her Lord in Baptism and will join our mission in Brownwood. We are also seeing doors opening to minister to other families in the Brownwood Housing Authority.

We have a couple attending services in our home with us, as well as the girl who was saved at VBS. Our plans are to continue VBS at the apartment complex every Saturday in August, hopefully seeing more souls saved and the Lord adding more to His church. Most of the people we come into contact with at the apartment complex have no basic understanding of the Gospel. There are religiously lost people in Brownwood, but not at the apartments. I feel that this will be a good fishing hole for us.

Finances

Support Received:
Rocky Springs MBC (Jacksonville, TX) $150
Hickory Grove MBC (Newport, AR) $298.01
Nevill’s Chapel MBC (Mt. Pleasant, TX) $154.92
East Side BC (Jacksonville, TX) 100
Memorial MBC (Rusk, TX) $700
John Nickle (Rusk, TX) $25
White Rock MBC (Center, TX) $100
58th Ave MBC (Amarillo, TX) $104.91
Bethel MBC (Tatum, TX) $50
Quaker Ave. BC (Lubbock, TX) $100
Wyndrock MBC (Abilene, TX) $240
M.T. Blackmon (Palestine, TX) $200.

Expenditures:
Salary $1,000
VBS fund $500
VBS supplies $415.60
Mission related gasoline usage $39.51
Housing $720.

Work is going well

Things are going well at KSTA. Today, my interview with Coleman County Judge Jimmie Hobbs aired during the 7 a.m. hour of the morning show. Tomorrow, I interview the director of the Chamber of Commerce, and i interview the school superintendent Friday.

Ad sales are going well. It's way easier to sell out here than in East Texas.

More Praise

We had 8 in our home-based services this morning, including our neighbors and the girl from the apartment complex who accepted Christ yesterday. PRAISE GOD! Things are beginning to move in Brownwood.

Don't try this at home, unless you have a good vacuum cleaner

Jessica demonstrates how to color a picture of Miriam looking after the baby Moses as he floated down the river during crafts time at the VBS we held at the Brownwood Housing Authority Aug. 2.

The series of one-day vacation Bible schools continues every Saturday in the month of August. All VBS's will be held from 10-2 Saturdays at the Wendell Dodds Community Center of the Brownwood Housing Authority. Volunteers are still welcome.

PRAISE GOD! 20 KIDS! ONE SOUL SAVED!

Day one of our VBS at the Brownwood Housing Authority was a huge success!!! We had 20 kids and one adult from the apartment complex, and nine volunteers (ourselves included) for a total of 30 people. One girl, a teenager, accepted Jesus as her personal Savior within the first :30 minutes. She wants to be baptized and join our mission. We talked with her mom and everything is go... now we just have to find a place to do the baptizing.

We are expecting her to attend our home services, as well as our neighbors. If all goes well, we could have as many as 10 in our home tomorrow morning. Thank you for your prayers.

A special thanks go out to our partners, Ron and Betty Shaw of Midland, John and Teresa Kight of Coleman, Harold and Sylvia Acker of Jacksonville, and Victoria Williams of Brownwood. A very special thanks goes out to my wife Jessica, whose logistical planning and gathering of material and craft supplies, as well as food made this day possible.

We also received special live offerings from Wyndrock MBC of Abilene and Memorial MBC of Rusk that went toward this VBS. Donations of Good News Games materials are arriving daily, and we thank the churches who are supporting our VBS through these donations. A complete list of donors will be announced at a later time.

Thank you so much for your support.

It's in the Lord's hands

We have canvassed every door at the Sunset/Terrace complex of the Brownwood Housing Authority, put up a giant banner outside the community center, and had lots of one-on-one interaction with the local children.

We have been blessed with committments from volunteers, have plenty of material to get us through the first few weeks of VBS. Response in the community has been good, but that does not always result in good turnout. Never the less, we are doing VBS for God's glory, not our own. Whether we have 10 or 100 children, we will have VBS every Saturday, ministering to whatever children we have.

I'm hoping things go well. After talking with my pastor, Bro. Charles Swilling, we have decided to forego renting the building. Even though the rent is a good rate, we feel it would be best to take more time to build a core group before we make such a move. We have also decided to see how things go in the apartments this month to see if apartment ministries wouldn't be a better way to get started in Brownwood.

Speaking of apartments... my wife has landed a job as the recreation director of two apartment complexes in Brownwood. Look for more developments on this in the near future.

Things are going well at KSTA. I officially took over as station manager today and have already sold $2,250 worth of advertising.

I'm a little nervous right now. I have moved out here to Brownwood, accepted a ministry and a position and have not left myself a safety net. Basically, I have a slight fear of failure. This fear of failure motivates me to keep moving and trying.

Hey, if you myspace, check out my myspace page and send me a friends request. This is another tool I am using to network with people in the Brownwood area.

God bless,

Leland