A Good Month and A High Sunday

"And [Jesus] said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3"

Jason and Tony were able to secure a different classroom at Eindhoven Primere Skool because the other 3 church groups who also meet at the school have very loud contempory music. We have been struggling with the noise, because they begin their music after the message has begun in our room. We trust that this new modular classroom which is outside the main building where the noisy groups meet will allow us to worship with much less disturbance. We rejoiced to have twenty-two attend the service at Eindhoven Baptiste Kerk this past Sunday. Of the 22 there were 6 first-time visitors (5 adults and a baby) A man and his mother came as a result of being witnessed to on door-to-door visitiation on Thursday; and Leonard brought two neighbours who live on either side of him. Pray for Faiza and Warren who both requested follow-up visits this week. Both Jason and Jeremy preached once during this first month of services at Eindhoven Baptiste Kerk, so Tony is already busy training the national leaders to teach and preach.

After the Afrikaans service at Eindhoven, we travel to Northpine where the service is in English.
Tony is preaching through the Sermon on the Mount in Northpine and fortunately he only occasionally forgets an English word! Cedric told us after the service that it was a record Sunday with 5o in attendance. We are praying for an opportunity to share Christ again with the 12 first-time visitors who heard the gospel. One family of 5 from the Northpine community came on their own, but the other 7 visitors came with friends or family who invited them.

After the two morning services each week, we have a quick lunch and a quick rest before returning to Delft for more outreach and for our weekly Bible club. I am very pleased to see how Jason and June are developing their abilities for teaching children. June did very well when she taught her first lesson this week. Jason taught the memory verse and helped with the worksheets and Andre, from the Northpine assembly (below, on the left),began his training for children's work by observing the club for the first time.

Last week after Bybelklub was over, we surprised Jason with a cake for his 20th birthday. This week when Bybelklub was over we had the joy of seeing two of our faithful children come to have a second birthday! Mickayla maneuvered me aside and told me that she and Lawrence needed to speak to me. She said she wanted to give her heart to the Lord and that Lawrence also wanted to be born again. Jason took Lawrence outside back behind June and Jeremy's home to deal with him, while I shared with Mickayla in their bedroom. Mickayla told me she needed to be saved because of her sin. She said she hadn't learned to say "no" to her "chummies" when they did wrong things. She knew that Christ is the only one who can forgive us our sins and give us a clean heart. Both of these children will need the grace of God to stand against their culture and live for the Lord Jesus.

Saying “Thank you”

“When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. “ Proverbs 16:7

Over 10 months ago, we were witnessing to George and Eva when their neighbour came in and sat down. Tony turned to greet her. He extended his hand and introduced himself and me, but the woman folded her arms and looked away without giving us her name. Later she refused to accept a tract which he was offering to everyone in the home and she left the house waving in disgust. Because Tony has kept a visitation journal for all our contacts in Delft, we know this contact was first made on 28 May 2008. Since Jeremy and June are also her neighbours, we have opportunity to greet her often. We’ve sought to build a bridge to get acquainted, but not only does she usually turn away, sometimes she walks past where we are witnessing and spits on the ground in contempt.

Imagine Tony’s surprise last Thursday when he and Jason heard someone calling them and turned around and saw this woman. She came to tell Tony that she was concerned for him to park his car at the opposite end of the street when he was making visits. She gave him a little “lecture” about safety and told him she couldn’t be responsible if something happened to it. He listened and then thanked her for her concern. A few minutes later while Tony and Jason were in a home making a follow-up visit, this woman came inside and began to tell the homeowner that Tony was humble and that he’d told her thank you. She kept saying how he was a true man of God and how God was going to bless him. So Thursday was a date to circle in red. We learned that her name is Sharon!

On Sunday aftenoon, when we were leaving Jeremy and June’s to drive to a joint service at Immanuel Baptiste Kerk (IBK), where Tony was going to preach for 4 assemblies,Sharon ran out in the street to wave us down. Tony stopped the car and rolled down the window, hoping that Sharon wouldn’t speak too long and make us late for the service in Eersterivier. Sharon began to speak about how he had impressed her by telling her “thank you” on Thursday. She said she believed God was going to bless us and add to our church. Then she said she wanted to go to church with us someday, so I asked if she wanted to go with us right then. She asked if we could wait five minutes, but before we could reply she ran into her house. Fortunately, she immediately came out with her shoes in her hand. When she got in the car, tears were streaming down her cheeks and she thanked us over and over.

When Pastor Kevin’s ladies warmly welcomed Sharon, her tears began to roll again. When Andries greeted her, she told him that she knew him. He had not recognized his cousin whom he had last seen in 1992, before Tony led him to the Lord in Eersterivier! Andries took Sharon’s hand in both of his and encouraged her to trust the Lord and to stay with our ministry. After the message Sharon, (on left) seated beside June,told a number of the ladies that although she was rude to us, we had never been rude to her. She spoke about seeing God’s grace in our lives. On the way home, she began to speak about some people that she wanted us to visit. When we told her that we have visited everyone she mentioned, she said she wants to invite them (“twist their ears and make them come” :-), so we gave her some invitations to take to them!

Eindhoven Baptiste Kerk

Jesus said, "I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH." from Matthew 16:18

Last week Tony prepared maps and printed the church invitations that Jason designed for distribution in Eindhoven, Delft. On Saturday, 28 February, 17 believers from Eindhoven, Northpine, Eersterivier and Kuilsrivier took to the streets of Eindhoven to personally invite each household to attend the first morning worship service of Eindhoven Baptiste Kerk. It was a great blessing to be able to get back to over 300 homes where we've given the gospel during the past 10 months. With 8 teams, we accomplished 25 1/2 hours of visitation in 1 1/2 hours! The next day, the core group arrived early to set up for the service at Eindhoven Primere Skool. Jason and Jeremy posed by the sign that Jason had prepared and placed on the fence outside the school building. Some of our Bible club children arrived early enough for me to take their photo at the door of the classroom. Jeremy led the service and Tony brought the message from Mark 2 on the healing of the paralytic.Christ's words emphasize the truth that man's spiritual need is greater than his physical need. Pray for the Lord to illumine the hearts of the people of Eindhoven to this truth. The Enemy's age old tactic is to convince men to concentrate on their physical needs and neglect their greatest need--that of loving and worshipping with all their heart, soul, mind and body. Pastor Delphin Mintoor encouraged us by attending with about 20 people from Kuilsrivier, where he pastors. They inflated our first Sunday attendance to 36. Pray for the Lord to build His church to the glory of His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We are thankful for the 4 who came as a result of the invitation that they received the day before. We had not met them before as they were never home when we knocked at their door in the past.