December, 2007

New Sponsoring Church

The big news for this month (and maybe for the year) is that we have a new sponsoring church.  First Baptist Church of Bryant, AR, has been a great help to this work for over a year.  In fact, their youth group came and helped us with our Bible Day camp this summer.  That event helped us further a good relationship into one of a sponsoring church / mission work. 

Having First Baptist as our sponsoring church will help us as we advance into further stages of the work.  First Baptist will be able to help us as move into rental space and as we eventually look for land.  We are looking forward to this new relationship with First Baptist and seeing what the Lord will do.

We appreciate Grace Baptist Church and are thankful for what they have done for us.  This change is not because of problems between them and us.  This change is a result of what we all believe to be a natural progression as the Lord leads and provides.

Click on the links to see letters from Bro. Phillip Miller, pastor of First Baptist Church, and Bro. Doug Burch, pastor of Grace MBC, explaining things better.  If you have any questions about this change, please contact either of these brethren or myself.

Also, please send any checks to:

First Baptist Church

P.O. Box 267

Bryant, AR  72089

Please make them out to First Baptist Church with Friends In Faith or Stephen Lee on the memo line.

Winter Weather

December had us seeing the first winter weather of the year.  Beautiful snowy scenes are great, unless you are a preacher on Sundays!  For a preacher, a wintertime dreamscape can be a nightmare!  On the second Sunday of the month, we had a half inch of ice on the trees.  Fortunately, we did not lose power like many people did in that ice storm.  The following Sunday, we had 6 inches of snow.  In spite of this, our attendance remained good.  We did have our joint Christmas cantata with Brookside MBC postponed until January.

Christmas Card Project

Last month I wrote about making a Christmas card for our folks to hand out with their Christmas goodies.  We made the cards and  a Christmas tract that went out to about 70 friends and acquaintances of our people.  Plus, Mark started a forwarded e-mail campaign.  The cards had a Christmas message, a personal invitation, and a website address.  The tracts had a Christmas message and website address.  We do not know the effect that these have had, but the Lord does.  Please join with us in praying that God will use them for His Kingdom.  If anyone would like to see this website, please go to:

www.friendsinfellowship.com/thegift

Prospects & Progress

There were two families that said they would visit us for Sunday morning worship during December.  Unfortunately, weather, sickness, and families visiting for Christmas has kept them away.  Please pray that the Lord will work in their hearts and draw them closer to Him through us.

For our Bible Studies, we have had good lessons.  For example, one Bible Study lasted 2 hrs and 15 minutes, talking about everything from salvation to baptism to many things in between.  I would like to report about the work making great strides with people being saved and baptized or with many first-time visitors, but these baby-steps are better than no steps at all.  Please continue to pray that the work will go forward at any pace.

Personal Matters

As I’m writing this, I’m sitting on my couch with my daughter Mckenzie.  She is recovering from having her tonsils and adenoids out, plus having a tube put in an ear.  She is doing well, despite being in a lot of pain.  Shannon, Mckenzie and I appreciate everyone’s phone calls, emails, and prayers.

· Prospects attending on Sundays

· Continued progress for the Bible Studies

· Recently sown seeds