Rushmore Newsletter and Gospel Gazette Online

Over the last few days, we have been able to publish the August edition of Gospel Gazette Online and the Rushmore Newsletter for July. The former is only available over the Internet at www.GospelGazette.com. The latter is available via snail-mail as well as over the Internet at http://www.gospelgazette.com/Newsletter/2019/July.pdf. In addition, I have a new book published, which will soon be available. Until such time as it arrives, please make free use of about 100 issues of The Voice of Truth International and around three dozen books—all in PDF files in the digital library for Gospel Gazette Online; go to http://www.gospelgazette.com/library/ and scroll down to the magazines and books. Enjoy, and let us hear from you at rushmore@gospelgazette.com.

16 Days on the Road

Tuesday, June 11, Martha, Rebecca and I returned to Ocala, Florida from 16 days on the road; Rebecca was 18 days on the road, counting her 2-day journey to us in Ocala. During the 16 days, we met with brethren and family in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. Whew! We were like an out of control ping pong ball, crisscrossing our own travel in Ohio.

Bobby’s wedding on Saturday, June 1 to Sharon, both members of the Ashland, Ohio Church of Christ, proceeded as planned. The following day, we three travelers assembled with the Vermilion, Ohio Church of Christ for a.m. class and worship; there I spoke about missions and presented a biblical lesson. Without delay, Martha, Rebecca and I made our way to Hanoverton, Ohio for a 4 p.m. worship with the Lord’s church in that farming community. The Hanoverton Church of Christ is vibrant with young offspring populating the pews; corn and cows aren’t the only avenues of farming there. That evening, we met with Martha’s grandchildren in Chester, West Virginia.

Monday and Tuesday, we visited with my father, my brothers and one of my late wife Bonnie’s brothers in Pennsylvania and New York; James and Kay Reed and we three, per Martha’s request, visited a causeway where we fed fish and geese that congregate near a spillway between sides of a large lake. Wednesday we made the second of two visits to the grave of Martha’s late husband Bob Noland in Calcutta, Ohio. That evening, we assembled with the Chester, West Virginia Church of Christ, whereupon I spoke about missions again.

Thursday, June 6, we three drove to Mineral Wells, West Virginia to meet with several of Martha’s siblings and a brother to Bob Noland. Friday through Sunday afternoon, we lodged with my son Raymond and his family in Pickerington, Ohio. Sunday morning, we assembled with the Pickerington Church of Christ. That afternoon, we all enjoyed the combined birthday party for two of Raymond and Crystal’s children—our grandchildren, of course. Our visit to Ohio also afforded us the opportunity to see, hold and spoil our newest grandchild of about four months.

Sunday afternoon, Martha, Rebecca and I began our return journey to Ocala. Finally, we arrived Tuesday afternoon.

Whenever and wherever we go, Martha and I make sure that we visit brethren, even if we are also traveling to spend some time with family members. We are ever conscious of being a servant to our Lord Jesus Christ, at home or while traveling stateside or abroad.

The grass was really high and thick upon our return to our home. Between spurts of rain, finally, I was able to bully it back into being a law and flowerbeds. Maybe sometime soon Martha and I will able to establish a routine in our new home, but interruptions of foreign and domestic travel over the last six months has prolonged our adjustment in that regard.

I continue to submit myself to a battery of medical tests and examinations; most of my ailments thus far are simply inconvenient rather than serious. Martha is experiencing significant pain beyond the ordinary daily pain. We hope to have some satisfactory diagnosis and remedy soon.

Our next stateside travels are planned for July, whereupon we return to Winona, Mississippi for the annual World Evangelism team meeting. We will plan excursions to congregations within a radius of there or along our route of travel. Lord willing, we are still looking forward to foreign travel beginning in late September and through most of October. We are to travel to be with brethren in Myanmar (Burma) and India.

Of course, we remain diligent in the production of Gospel Gazette Online and The Voice of Truth International. Others and I are working currently on volume 101 of VOTI. We rely on Christian families and the churches of Christ for underwriting financially our livelihood and labors for God. Thank you.

Warehouse with Bedrooms

I tell people that it took Martha three weeks to snag me (i.e., stalk, bag and mount me above the mantle) and two years to move me from Mississippi to Florida. I say a lot of silly things sometimes.

Nevertheless, Martha and I have moved from Winona, Mississippi to Ocala, Florida. I’ve learned not to go window shopping with Martha unless I’m willing to lug something to the car and later drag it into the house. Now I’ve learned also that just looking at some houses equates to a purchase of a new home. To my surprise, we looked at 10 houses on December 5, put an offer in on one of them the next day and closed on the house on December 31. That night, we slept on a mattress on the floor, but we lodged in our new domicile the very first night we and the loan company shared ownership of 8295 SW 56^th Terrace, Ocala, FL 34476.

 

New Year’s Day, our two-year anniversary, we started back to Mississippi from Florida so we could pack and move our household. For two years, we had been hauling some of her belongings from Florida to Mississippi, and now we were carrying it all back—plus much, much more. Her son Bobby arrived in Winona with his tractor-trailer, and we, with the help of others, loaded everything from the bulkhead to the back doors of that 53-foot trailer. Still, we left a shed full of things and more things in the office to be retrieved at a later time. This, despite pulling a utility trailer and cramming the van as full as possible, too.

We constructed a 16-foot long ramp from 2×12’s and 2×4’s to accommodate hoisting things to the five-foot high truck bed. We mused that atop two furniture dollies, we essentially had a 16-foot long skate board that we could ride down the sloped driveway to the road—and possibly beyond!

Several brethren from two congregations in Florida helped us unload the tractor-trailer. Literally, our new home became a warehouse with bedrooms. Boxes and furniture filled the rooms and the garage wall-to-wall. It has been slow trying to unbox everything, and the job will not be complete until after we return in early March from our mission trip to Guyana, South America.

Martha and I are continuing our association with other team members of World Evangelism, though we have moved to Florida. The main difference is that we will not be making a daily presence at the Winona office and warehouse. I will continue to edit The Voice of Truth International and Gospel Gazette Online, and we will continue to visit stateside churches, as well as continue overseas mission trips to Asia and South America. January 30, we depart for Guyana; after traversing that nation with workshops, seminars, Gospel meetings, classes for children and classes for women, Martha and I expect to return to the USA on March 4. We solicit your prayers and invite you to participate with us financially; monetary gifts can be sent on our behalf to our overseeing congregation, the Siwell Road Church of Christ, 4075 South Siwell Road, Jackson, MS 39212.

November Rushmore Newsletter

Whew! Rebecca, Martha and I just sent off the November 2018 edition of the Rushmore Newsletter, plus past, leftover newsletters to additional recipients. For several days, our living room looked like something between a warehouse fiasco and an obstacle course, as we processed about 2,000 newsletters for mailing. In addition, just a few moments ago, I sent 762 email notifications with links for the current newsletter. Altogether, then, nearly 3,000 physical and email addresses have been apprised of our mission labors. Imagine how 3,000 prayers could aid us in our meager efforts to spread the Gospel of Christ. Just think of how even small amounts of financial participation with us could fund our overseas mission activities and related fare. We humbly solicit your prayers so that God may be glorified and so that souls may be edified—Christians and non-Christians—worldwide.

October Gospel Gazette Online Published

 

Just now, Gospel Gazette Online for October was published to the Internet. View it at www.GospelGazette.com. GGO is the result of the collaboration of several brothers and sisters in Christ who make it possible through a labor of love for souls. One unnoticed but vital contributor to publishing GGO is my daughter, Rebecca. She has ample credentials, education and experience to do a stellar job of proofreading. Her mission is to find all of the errors that I have overlooked or made myself, so we can amend the pages before they are published. She inspects formatting, spelling, word choices (e.g., “seen” when it should be “scene”), punctuation, clarity and, if necessary, questions content.

Gospel Gazette Online is in its 20^th year of continuous publication on the Internet. Readers from around the world regularly contact us to express their appreciation of GGO. Please peruse the current October edition as well as the thousands of archived pages. Let us hear from you.

Leoma Church of Christ

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Visitors from the Leoma, Tennessee Church of Christ came our way recently and spent two days helping us at the World Evangelism Building in Winona, Mississippi. Adults and children worked alongside of us Tuesday and Wednesday, September 18-19. Some bundled tracts in anticipation for calls from them for church tract racks and outreach. Others helped pack books into boxes for distribution without charge to stateside preacher students. Several helped process the newsletter mailing for sister Betty Choate. (Martha and I mailed our newsletters the week before, and Jerry and Paula Bates will mail their newsletter this week.)

Per usual, otherwise, the five of us in Winona fulfill daily orders for books and tracts in the USA, plan our overseas mission trips, visit congregations in the USA to apprise them of their investment in our labors, work on The Voice of Truth International and Gospel Gazette Online and a zillion other things behind the scenes to foreign missions.

Today, we met with a new team member, Cloyd “Ben” Frock. He has newly moved to a congregational work in Arkansas, but he will be participating with World Evangelism from afar as he has time. His expertise and experience promise to bring a whole new and much needed interface with users of our extensive base of Christian literature via the Internet. In the months ahead, the face of the online presence we already have will be upgraded and modernized. In addition, we will make available as much as we can the hundreds of books, tracts and magazines we have to work seamlessly on all contemporary media devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, etc.).

Volume 97 of The Voice of Truth International is on its way to Winona and ought to arrive sometime this week. Volume 98 is being printed, and we are beginning to work on volume 99. The October edition of Gospel Gazette Online has been completed, and once the proofing and corrections are made, we will publish it to the Internet. Brethren, we are never idle—always covered up in what we do, and we thank you for making it possible to serve our Lord Jesus Christ in this capacity.

August Rushmore Newsletter

For the last two days, Martha and I have been processing the August 2018 Rushmore Newsletter—getting it ready to mail on Monday. This afternoon and in addition to that, the August newsletter has been added to the Gospel Gazette Online site. Subsequently, I have sent out email notifications to additional persons regarding the availability of the newsletter on the Internet.

This issue of the Rushmore Newsletter includes an update regarding the acquisition of an ATV (a rural Gospel chariot for a remote part of the globe) for Amerindian brethren in Guyana, South America. Not long from now, Martha and I will return to Myanmar (Burma) in Asia, where we will be teaching for two weeks in a school nestled in a jungle setting. We love being with fellow Christians and non-Christians, too, around the world who eagerly embrace every opportunity to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are indebted to the churches of Christ and the Christian families who make it possible for us to serve at home and abroad.

Months from Now

Months from now, Volume 98 of The Voice of Truth International will make its way into printed form. Nevertheless, I’m pleased that the local World Evangelism Team in Winona, Mississippi has put to bed this future issue. Volume 96 has been newly distributed in printed form in Asia, Africa and North America. Volume 97 is available to be printed, and now, Volume 98 also awaits its turn to be published in printed form.

The Voice of Truth International is a quarterly Gospel journal, which appears in several languages. In addition to the printed quarterlies, each issue of VOTI can be read on the Internet without charge. However, the online version is available through PDF files, which require a fairly fast Internet connection, and which will take a few moments to download.

Regarding volumes 97 and 98, one can read them before he or she can actually hold them in his or her hands! Access to all of the editions of VOTI as well as about three dozen other PDF (book) titles can be had at the following URL. Scroll down the page to see the full offering.

http://www.gospelgazette.com/library/

Let me hear from you. Tell me how you use The Voice of Truth International or the other available titles. Email: rushmore@gospelgazette.com

Winona to Memphis to Nashville—and Back

Saturday, July 28, Martha and I departed Winona, Mississippi at our leisure. We headed for Rebecca’s home in Collierville, Tennessee. We drug along behind us our utility trailer, loaded with about $28,000 worth of literature. Since we would be in the Memphis, Tennessee area on Sunday—about two-thirds of the way to Nashville, Tennessee from where we ship to Guyana, South America—it was an opportune time to tote the trailer.

Lord’s Day morning, Martha and I convened with the brethren of the East Frayser Church of Christ for Bible class and worship. We always receive a hearty welcome, which we did this time as well. During class time, I talked about foreign mission work. For the sermon later, I preached about “Bible Authority.” Brother and sister Green, who labor with the congregation, treated us to Panda Buffet for lunch.

By 1:30 p.m., Martha and I had made our way to the meetinghouse of the Collierville Church of Christ. Once more during this church’s afternoon worship, I talked about mission work in which we are involved.

All day Monday was consumed in hauling the literature to Caribbean Shipping Services in Nashville, unloading the trailer, packing shipping barrels and driving back to Collierville. We prepared seven barrels for shipment to Guyana. After they arrive in Georgetown, South America, good Christian brethren with whom we partner will distribute the books, magazines and songbooks throughout most of the churches of Christ in that nation. This is the second shipment we have sent this year. (We welcome used but serviceable songbooks, leftover VBS and class literature, communion ware and Bibles for use among English-speaking brethren overseas. Contact me by email at: rushmore@gospelgazette.com.)

Tuesday, we arrived back in Winona in the middle of the afternoon. Wednesday, I published the August edition of Gospel Gazette Online to the Internet (www.GospelGazette.com).

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and participation that enables us to be some service to our Lord Jesus Christ. We are partners together in any good that through our hands occurs.

Noccalula Falls

Saturday, July 21, Martha and I drove from Winona, Mississippi to Piedmont, Alabama. We left at 11:25 a.m. and arrived at the home of brother Bob and sister Peggy Rogers at 5 p.m. They treated us to supper at a local Italian restaurant across the Georgia line and in another time zone. The tasty food was only surpassed by the company of dear brethren.

On the Lord’s Day morning, Martha and I assembled with the Highway Nine Church of Christ, whereupon I spoke for Bible class, a.m. worship and worship once more at 12:30 p.m. Between the worship periods, we were treated to an amply delicious cuisine, complemented by cherished brothers and sisters in Christ. Incidentally, one of our waitresses in the family run eatery was only 9-years-old. She did a very good job and was so cute. Her brother, mom and dad comprise the balance of the team.

Sunday afternoon, we caught up with our hostess, sister Peggy, at the local nursing and rehabilitation center where brethren from the Piedmont Church of Christ were conducting a devotional. A little over three hours later, we assembled with that congregation, and I was again afforded the privilege of speaking to this church, too. Following worship, youth loaded about a dozen boxes of used songbooks into the van; they will eventually make their way overseas to English-speaking Christians.

Passing through Gadsden, Alabama, we stopped briefly at Noccalula Falls; we enjoyed the natural beauty of the site nestled in the cityscape, and we noted the lore surrounding the spot. Then, through the dark of night, we aimed the car back toward Winona, and we pulled into the driveway at 1:00 a.m. In less than an hour, we had the van unloaded and readied ourselves for bed—thoroughly exhausted.

Monday and Tuesday, young people—10-months-old through middle teens—congregated at the World Evangelism Building. They came from the Double Springs Church of Christ in Alabama. For those two days, boys and girls prepared several mailings (i.e., the Bates’ newsletters, The Voice of Truth International), unloaded a truck and warehoused Volume 96 of The Voice of Truth International, packed boxes of books to be sent to student preachers (free of charge), shredded papers and cleaned. They also loaded literature into Jerry’s utility trailer; Wednesday he and Paula left for Texas where they will offload the literature for eventual shipment to African nations.

Wednesday, Martha and I personally delivered two cases of The Voice of Truth International #96 to the West President Church of Christ in Greenwood, Mississippi. We were passing through before services on our way to the Indianola Church of Christ in Indianola, Mississippi. Before we got to Indianola, we paused for awhile in Moorhead, Mississippi at the home of brother Gene and sister Madolyn Gibson. Gene has been and is valiantly fighting illness as they have tirelessly for many years operated a Christian Student Center across from Mississippi Delta Community College.

Brother Gene Hill taught the adult class at the Indianola Church of Christ. It was good to assemble with these familiar brethren. We were cordially greeted, and we left some The Voice of Truth International and Global Harvest magazines as well as a few of the Rushmore Newsletter. We arrived back home at 10 p.m.

Between incidents mentioned above, we devoted ourselves to sundry office duties. Martha has been contacting schools of preaching and Bible colleges associated with the churches of Christ to prepare for sending books to men in training to be preachers. I have been working on the August edition of Gospel Gazette Online and volume 98 of The Voice of Truth International. Today, we also prepared “Thank You” cards for our most recent donors over the past week. There is always much to do—often behind the scenes to further the cause of Christ. We are pleased to be of some service to our Lord, and thankful that congregations and Christian families make it possible for us to so do.