Dear Friend,
Your prayers are being heard! The Lord continues to open doors of opportunity for us in our neighborhood, church, and worldwide ministry. You are a source of vital encouragement and inspiration to us. Thank you for your prayers, cards, letters, emails and phone calls of encouragement, as well as your generous financial support! We miss you all and wish we could see each of you more often. It’s been exciting and refreshing to have recent visitors and get caught up with our dear friends.
It's our prayer that this month's letter can catch you up on how to pray for us as well as on the marvelous work God is doing through our mutual ministry. One of these works is the Response Center’s rapid growth and adoption rate. This is where volunteers, (like myself and a few of you receiving this letter), answer over a thousand emails daily from people learning on our websites and CD-ROMs. Daily, our volunteers gain experience helping desperate people answer the most important questions of life.
- A Muslim university student in Iran I’m working with, who read the entire gospel of John in a single day as I asked, says, “He (God) is with me, always, I can feel it, every where, every part of my life. I am not enough good, but He is good to me.”
- In Vietnam, an older sister who received Christ 2 years ago while an exchange student in the U. S. used our GodLovestheWorld.com site to lead her 12-year-old brother to Christ. Describing his reaction, she wrote back to me, “You would be very happy if you could see his face, childish but full of excitement and joy. In my country, it’s not as free for churches to reach out to people as it is in the U.S…my brother can’t go [to my house church meeting] because my parents wouldn’t let him.” “I pray that God will use you to reach more and more people in the world and help them know Jesus. May God bless you, your team, and your family.”
- In Syria, a woman who received Christ tells me, “I bought the Bible and I read it every day. I want to go to church near by my house, but I don’t know what it will be like, it’s a completely new world to me.”
- In Nigeria, James asks me, “How do I pray to receive Christ, remain in Christ and being protected by Christ?”
We want to ask you to pray for God's continued blessing, in team development and outreach efforts, as well as for creativity on the following ongoing projects we’re personally involved in:
- CD-ROM-WWW submission model: our CD-ROMs will be distributed by volunteers on missionary trips and will often change hands several times. Our plan is to construct something that can't be easily "hacked into" (hackers try to flood our Response Center with marketing e-mail) and can be updated remotely through online preferences files.
- For wisdom in our “Virtual Homegroup” a live online discipleship course Cindy and I host for those who have accepted Christ through CCCI websites. Scheduled for 9:30-10:30 pm, we have so many questions and people wanting more, rarely are we done until after midnight! Participants live on both U.S. coasts as well as in Sri Lanka, Philippines, Fiji, and Jamaica.
- For Mike's upcoming worship ministry opportunity with the praise band at Campus Crusade's Day of Prayer, Oct. 3rd.
- Please intercede for our family's physical health: Luke's eczema flare-ups, Emily’s illnesses, which worsen her asthma, Cindy's been sick for 4 weeks. Thankfully, Mike has remained healthy, but it has been very draining on our family's health and our finances.
Please join us in praise for the following:
We helped our neighbor, Alexandra, a friend of Emily’s, pray to receive Christ! This is the fruit of Emily's own efforts, as she tirelessly invites people to go to church with us. Emily’s joy and excitement is contagious. Alex was very excited as we took her to her first church experience ever… “What will it be like?” she asked… She loved it! Thank you for praying for Emily with her eye patching therapy. It IS working, Praise God! Her weak eye is improving!
We are so thankful for two new families and one new church joining our team of financial & prayer partners, as well as for increases in monthly giving and extra donations from current partners! It's been a huge blessing to us, and arrived in Gods' perfect timing. With all of our extra medical expenses these past few months and replacing some needed support, God is providing through each one of you, and we are so grateful.
Our local church, here in St. Cloud, wonderful Pastors and new friends there, are a source of encouragement. Mike leads an adult discipleship class and sings with the worship team; Cindy teaches in children's church and the KidMO program.
Thanks so much for the vital part you play in helping us reach the world for Christ!
With love in Christ,
Mike and Cindy
”One Day Closer” (Romans 13:11)
