The Wilder family is excited to have Lydia home after her first year of Bible college. So many of you went out of your way to make her feel loved and cared for while she was there. This, of course, made the transition from the mission field to the States much easier for her. Lord willing, Charity will be joining Lydia at Bible college in the fall. She has been anxiously looking forward to it. In the meantime, we are going to enjoy the next three months as a complete family in our new house, which so many of you helped make possible. We have been humbled by your support and outpouring of love toward us.
We just finished a five-week program at our church, which was used to promote church attendance. We averaged 210 each Sunday morning, with 125 first-time visitors attending throughout the program. Our goal is to average 200 in Sunday school before the year ends. To be able to accomplish this goal, we are going to need more Sunday school teachers and Junior Church workers. “Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2)
We recently started a ministry to reach the drunks in our town. We go out early in the morning to where they sleep on the streets and give them a sandwich and coffee. We use the food as a “hook” to get the Gospel to them. While many are still not sober enough to understand, we have had about 10 accept Christ as their Saviour. Not only do we reach men, but we also reach women. Ana was an 18-year-old girl who got saved through this ministry. She had many problems in her home and personal life, so she, like so many, turned to the bottle. One month later, we saw a picture of her in the newspaper under a piece of plastic. We were told that she had taken a poison pill to kill herself. Although we don’t know what really happened with Ana, we do know that time is short for so many people. “. . . Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” (Luke 14:23)
We are currently working on raising the rest of the money we need to put up the exterior walls of the church auditorium. A church recently gave $5,000.00 of the $15,000.00 needed to make this a reality. Once we get the walls up, we will be able to meet in our new auditorium, which will give us the opportunity to reach many more souls for Christ. Our goal is to be able to meet in the auditorium for our 17th anniversary, December 3, which my pastor, John Wilkerson, will be preaching. We are thrilled to have him as our special speaker.
His for souls,
Daniel and Misty Wilder, Lydia, Charity, Emily, Hannah, Serenity, and Benjamin