We have just wrapped up perhaps the busiest January we’ve ever seen. We spent most of our time in Louisiana, but because it wasn’t cold enough to suit our needs down there, we decided to go up North for those comforting, crisp, single-digit temperatures (sarcasm alert!). We were blessed with several good meetings in the same general area for the first couple of weeks, which was such a blessing to us. We began at Beckwith Baptist Church in DeRidder, Louisiana. It’s interesting to note that while we were at Beckwith, we met some other Heberts we weren’t related to. (Our name is pretty common down in Louisiana, but this still doesn’t happen very often.) We were also blessed to be able to present our ministry at Vincent Baptist Church in Sulphur, Louisiana. They graciously let us stay in their prophet’s chamber for the week, which really let us get to know Pastor Cantrell and his family as we served alongside them in soul- winning ministry and ate a couple of delicious meals together. On the night I presented and preached at Vincent Baptist, the Lord touched the heart of a young man, who was a first-time visitor, about his salvation. With the tears of a heavy heart, he came forward, and I was able to lead him to the Lord during the invitation. We had one more meeting in Sulphur at Calvary Baptist Church. Pastor Avera and his family are some of the most down-to-earth folks, which made for a very wonderful meeting. Next we headed to the southern swamps for a meeting at Central Baptist Church in Patterson, Louisiana. This was also a wonderful meeting with some great Cajun folk who love the Lord. We wrapped up our Louisiana trip with a quick visit with my parents, whom we don’t get to see very much because of our many travels.
When we headed to our next set of meetings, we were expecting that maybe we’d see snow, but what we didn’t foresee was that we’d see significant snow in Mississippi! God protected us mile after mile through a couple of precarious situations. There were several accidents with semi-trucks jackknifing or flipping their trailers; thankfully, we were nowhere nearby when they happened. Safely, albeit close to frozen solid, we arrived safely for our meeting at Fellowship Baptist Church in Marshalltown, Iowa. We were so delighted to discover that Pastor Hannahs already had a heart for the people of Toronto. He was excited to hear about our work, and I was doubly excited to preach and present for him under those conditions. After this meeting, I fell prey to this obstinate cold and flu bug that’s been going around. For the first time during deputation, I had to preach our next meeting while under the weather. All things considered, we had a great meeting with Pastor Dan Kemp and his church family at Olive Branch Baptist Church in Linton, Indiana. Feeling much better, we moved on to Olney, Illinois, where I preached and presented at Calvary Baptist Church for Pastor Chris Jennette.
There was much to rejoice over this month: a teenager saved, God’s protection on the road, strength to preach despite being sick, and three new ministry partners coming onboard with our ministry. These new partners were from our meetings this past fall season. God is so good! Keep praying, friends.
Pressing toward the mark,
Brian Hebert