We are so thankful to the Lord for all that He did for us in the month of May. He protected us, provided for us, and prospered us. We began the month continuing our home stint in North Carolina. It was a great treat to be able to go back to preach at one of our earliest supporting churches, Solid Rock Independent Baptist Church in Pink Hill, North Carolina. Pastor Humphrey was one of the first pastors I called who allowed us to come and had enough faith in us to take us on for support. I learned a lot about faith in those early days when it seemed every call was a leap of faith! I don’t mind telling you that I was pretty scared in those days to call, email, and even approach pastors about presenting our work; but God honored the small faith I had and grew it in His own way and time and continued to give us meetings and support. The following Wednesday night, I preached and presented our work at Heritage Baptist Church in Zebulon, North Carolina. This meeting came as fruit from dropping in for a service in December last year. After I wrapped things up that night, we were surprised to hear Pastor Dupree calling for a vote from the church family to take us on as their newest missionaries! This makes five months in a row in which we picked up at least one supporter. How great is our God?!
We ventured next toward territory in which we have previously been unable to schedule meetings—New England. The scenery was unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. The islands and the craggy coastline had us in awe of our great God. Our destination was ultimately Line Baptist Church, where Brother Charles Fields pastors a great church in the countryside of Rhode Island. We had a great meeting there, and it was a really pleasant time of catching up from our old college days. There was also occasion to drop in for a couple of services in the area. I learned a valuable lesson from these New England churches. Sometimes it may take a lifetime to build a great work, but faithfulness and trust in God always result in His blessing. Next we headed up to Maine for a meeting at Eggemoggin Baptist Church in Sedgwick, Maine. Pastor McFarland and his wife put us up in their beautiful home for the weekend. It was such a blessing to get to know this family and to have them show us around their beautiful town. It was my privilege to preach in the morning service and present our work in the evening service. After church they put on a great fellowship dinner, and we got to get to know many of the church members a little better.
Please continue to pray for our support to increase. We are quickly approaching 70%, but we’ve got a long way to go. Pray for those we have witnessed to this month. Pray specifically for Len, an elderly gentleman who didn’t have time to talk, but he was unsure of Heaven. Also, pray for a young man named Terrell, whom we talked to about salvation; he grew up in Romania and practices Paganism. Even after three years, we are still encountering firsts that are sometimes strange and sometimes beautiful.
Pressing toward the mark,
Brian Hebert