The end of spring and the beginning of summer bring about a busy time for us here in Canada, so let’s get right to it! The big highlight of May was the Niagara Bible Conference. This year was the second year this revived event was held, and it was amazing! God renewed and revived my heart in a special way that helped recharge me for the work of the Lord. Each day we all went soul winning down by the falls, and it was easily the most beautiful place to share the love of Jesus. Pray for the many people who received Gospel tracts.
Recently, I began tutoring one of our teenage boys for whom English has been a bit of a struggle. I’m using my college English training to help with his physical need, but I’m using Bible ESL to help with his spiritual need. Please pray for this discipleship opportunity and for me to be an effective English teacher. This should be a weekly meeting this summer on Wednesday afternoons around 1:00 EST.
Soul winning is a constant here, and I have some interesting stories and earnest prayer requests for you to pray about with us. I met Joben (Indian) and his dad Thomas one afternoon while out knocking doors, and while the conversation didn’t go very far with Thomas, the conversation is still ongoing with Joben. While giving Dad the Gospel, Joben listened intently, waited until we were done, and then asked if we could have a conversation sometime soon about some things on his mind. I was elated to hear that and have tried a couple of times to get a meeting set up, but to no avail. Please pray that we can have that conversation that he was so in earnest about at our first meeting. I’ve been going back periodically to see him, but he’s so busy that it’s hard to get anything nailed down. I believe he’s sincere, but Satan is good at keeping souls busy and blind.
I also met a young man named Etca (Turkish); upon inviting him to church, I learned he was a Muslim. He was very willing to talk with me about Jesus and all the things that we believe differently about Him. He was passionate about what he had been told “Christians” believed, but it was clear that he was confusing Christianity with Catholicism and Jehovah’s Witnesses after a while. By God’s grace, I was able to share the Gospel with him through the nearly two-hour conversation we had. It was a fantastic conversation, helped in great part by the influence of Bro. Bachman’s teaching on Muslim evangelism and the late Bro. Troell’s similar teaching about the same matter. I invited him to coffee to discuss these things further, but he was a little reluctant. It may happen sometime, so please pray that God would open Etca’s eyes to the truth of the Gospel.
A praise I’d like to mention is my encounter with Melissa. Hers was the last house we would knock on before calling it a day; and, in my feeble faith, I thought, let’s wrap this up and get out of the sun! (Oh my!) She readily listened to the Gospel and eventually called on the Lord for salvation. Pray for us as we try to follow up on her and her family. There are others I could share, but the last one is a bit funny, so I hope you’re still reading.
I knocked on a door with a Scripture verse taped to it, so I thought it was probably someone who would be easily brought into a Gospel conversation. I wasn’t wrong about that, but she told me that she was saved and went to a church near where I live! We talked for quite a while and got on the topic of unsaved family members. We both have the same burden for our families, but her way of praying for it was markedly different! She asked if we could pray right there, and there I heard her pray something I’ll never forget, “Holy Spirit, I pray you drop a bomb of your grace on them right now!” I wasn’t expecting that! I have often prayed passionately about my family, but I never “Holy Spirit bombed” them! Like I said, she had a different way of going about things. Though it was incredibly funny to me, I took it with the kindness and fervency she intended . . . but I should probably check on my family to see if they’re okay.
Praise the Lord, we have a couple of new Filipino teenage boys, Jarred and Yeshua, who are attending with their family. Praise the Lord, my wife and her soul-winning partner had a family from Mexico come to our church’s 20th Anniversary Sunday, and they have so far continued to attend; pray for Carlos and Nadia and their girls Regina and Isabella. Only Carlos speaks fluent English, so communication isn’t always easy. Praise the Lord, the Biblical Counseling classes are going well, and I’m learning much about how to counsel with a Biblical worldview. It’s helped me so much personally that I’m eager every day to study more! God is certainly at work up here. Please keep praying!
Pressing toward the mark,
Brian Hebert
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- Niagara Bible Conference pastors
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- Playing “Nine Square in the Air” with the teens at a youth activity
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- Standing in front of Niagara Falls, where we went soul winning each day during the Niagara Bible Conference