God is so good! We have been running seemingly nonstop since the beginning of the year. My family, even though it is shrinking, is extremely busy. Bubba is enrolled full-time in a technical college for barbering. He should be fully qualified by August if all goes well. Abby is studying Year 12 and wanting to be a nurse at this point.
Family Camp in January went extremely well. The Evans family, one of our church families, had a huge blessing. They are still trying to get used to the independent Baptist way. The preaching by Evangelist Neil Smith and Missionary Christopher Eckels was spot on. Mrs. Evans decided to rededicate her life to the Lord at camp, and they have been with us every possible service since.
But every blessing seems to have a down side. We have lost two families this year. One family left because they didn’t feel comfortable in our church. We have tried to talk to them about it, but they won’t give us any reason except their feeling of not belonging. Please pray for the Slocombe family: Darren, Karen, and Hannah. We also had the Mills family, an older couple, leave over my doctrinal position on pre-destination. Bro. Mills is heavily into Calvinism and doesn’t believe we should go soul winning. I believe John 3:16 is still true, and so is Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I believe anyone can be saved. It is so sad that people all over the world get locked into big-name preachers who are on television or who write books with false doctrine, and they believe these men are their pastors and do not want a local-church pastor. Please pray for Australia, as we are finding more and more evidence that people think that they are part of the universal church and don’t see a point in joining a local, New Testament church.
Out soul winning in a new construction area where they are putting about 2,000 houses, I have had some really good experiences with being able to give the Gospel completely and also meeting people who already have a salvation testimony. One man in particular had tattoos from head to toe. He was washing his Ute (pickup truck), but he took the time to let me give him the Gospel. He gave me the same response to salvation, however, that even the Apostle Paul got, “Not now, Mate.” (The Apostle Paul may not have gotten the “Mate” part.) His neighbor was a born-again Baptist, and I told him, “Make sure you witness to your neighbor; he is not saved, but he is open.” The man replied by hanging his head and saying, “I know I’m supposed to witness, but I haven’t for years.” I tried to encourage him and departed. I can’t express enough that we need your prayers to soften people’s hearts and encourage people to witness and go soul winning here in Australia and around the world.
Please pray for the Blanchard family, as he readies for surgery and for her pregnancy. Please continue to pray for our finances and for our supporting churches in America. Pray for more souls to be saved and baptized and for church growth.
Sincerely,
Ron Back
Missionary in Australia