Thank you so much for sticking with us during these many months of deputation travels. It hasn’t been an easy road by any standard, but it has been a blessed one for sure. I have much to write about June; many of the blessings that I will try to convey didn’t start out as blessings but rather as problems. This month will be about twists and turns.
Having ended our time in the New England area, Liz and I headed over to Groton, New York, for a meeting at Heritage Baptist Church. It was my privilege to preach and present our ministry to their church family. We really enjoyed seeing the Stout family once again, and their cheerful company was a welcome refresher to our road-weary hearts. The first twist in our schedule occurred when I tried to confirm what was supposed to be our next meeting. The meeting ended up being canceled due to issues beyond my control. We were troubled by this news, but we believed God had it under control. Because our next meeting was in Pennsylvania, we started looking for a prophet’s chamber near our next meeting where we could hold over between meetings. Once we found a place to stay, we searched for a church to visit in place of our lost meeting, and we came upon Community Baptist Church in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It also occurred to us that we had lost our place to go soul winning as well, so we also decided to drop in on Community Baptist for soul winning. This turned out to be a great decision because we had the best time out soul winning with Pastor Mahan and his family. Pastor Mahan even invited us back to speak about our ministry the following Sunday morning. It was so refreshing to be with likeminded servants of the Lord like the Mahans and their church family. I asked Pastor Mahan for a suggestion about another church to visit, and he suggested Bible Baptist Church in Tyrone, Pennsylvania. We did that and were again invited back to present our ministry the following Wednesday night! God did that for us twice, and we were so blessed to be at both of these places. We dropped back by again for soul winning at Community Baptist on our way to our next meeting, and I got to lead 2 men to Christ! God sure made up the difference of losing that meeting!
Our next official meeting was in Spring Mills, Pennsylvania, at Grace Baptist Church. Pastor Codner and his wife were kind enough to have us out at their house a couple of different times for meals, and we got the wonderful opportunity to catch a small glimpse of their heart for the people there. They’ve got a growing church in a small rural community, and I’m glad we got to visit. I presented our ministry to an enthusiastic audience that asked great questions and listened intently. God laid it on my heart to preach a message I don’t usually preach that I thought would encourage the church family. It was an obvious blessing to the church and a great blessing to me to be able to help.
The second twist occurred when I found out late one night that another meeting was going to be canceled due to similar reasons the last one was called off. We got the distinct impression last month that the Devil was fighting us and many other churches around the country. This call-off allowed us to get into town early for our next engagement at Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Randleman, North Carolina, with our old friends, the Broadstreets. Their fellowship was yet another welcome refresher to us. We came to help them with their Vacation Bible School and went out each day, passing out flyers and tracts. It was my privilege to teach the boys’ class for boys ranging from 12-16 years of age. We really enjoyed teaching these guys, and we were able to see one of the boys from our class get saved. Most of them don’t go to church regularly, so pray that they get plugged in to the church there. After VBS, the church ended up taking us on for support. This now makes six months in a row that at least one church has taken us on for support. Folks, don’t stop praying. We need you!
Pressing toward the mark,
Brian Hebert