2023 Florida School of Preaching Lectureship

The church is different from the world, and so it should be in so many ways. Martha and I were privileged to attend this year’s Florida School of Preaching lectures (January 16-19, 2023). It is always pleasant to be among the caliber of Christians who assemble for such occasions.

One facet of the communal gather of saints this week must be reflective of the masses to be in Heaven. Several ethnicities or races came together without notice of those incidental differences. Likewise, various nations were represented, too – also without distinction. Surely, of such races and nations will Heaven be comprised (Revelation 7:9-10).

I’ve found it largely so overseas as well. Races are politically divided in Guyana, South America. However, inside the church, it does not matter whether someone is of African, of East Indian or of Amerindian descent. We are brethren (Genesis 13:8Hebrews 13:1).

Burma or Myanmar in Asia is made up of tribal peoples, who historically hated and even warred against each other. Inside the Lord’s church, though maybe with tears (I have witnessed personally), Christians love and labor with each other because of Jesus Christ in them.

Martha and I were edified and encouraged in so many ways from the all day, everyday lectures. In addition, it was good to renew old acquaintances and meet other brethren for the first time. Just imagine the reunion with dear brethren and the awesome opportunity to meet other brethren from across the ages when we arrive in Heaven!

2014 Summary

Periodically, we published a blog, which was visited 6,300 times over the course of 2014. In the blog, we chronicled stateside visits to churches of Christ where either Bonnie or I or both of us presented biblical lessons or apprised brethren about our mission work. Whereas Bonnie spoke to ladies’ classes, I spoke to elders, preachers’ meetings, Bible classes and worship assemblies. Bonnie and I were able to travel together on a 4-week mission trip to Guyana, South America, and we posted information and pictures regularly about the progress of that effort. It was unsurpassed in personal gratification and we think in usefulness for the cause of Christ among the various endeavors in which we invest ourselves. A special program for the India Missions Conference, of which we were cohosts, had its representation on our blog, too. Readers could vicariously travel with Bonnie, our daughter Rebecca and me as we visited my uncle Mount (Rushmore) in South Dakota in 2014; I’m just a chip off the old block. Work groups that visited the World Evangelism Building in Winona, Mississippi were duly noted in the blog as well. In addition, we kept visitors to the blog up to date regarding Bonnie’s medical battle against the resurgence of pancreatic cancer. Blog readers found us through following our blog or followed links from either our Internet magazine Gospel Gazette Online or from our Facebook pages. Our blog readers reside in 80 countries spanning the globe with the largest percentage of readers living in the USA, India and Guyana.

Bonnie and I participated with other core World Evangelism team members in publishing four issues of The Voice of Truth International, which is distributed in dozens of countries in numerous languages; 40,000 or more of the 116-page magazine are published quarterly. Furthermore, dozens of new tracts and several new books were published and made available stateside and abroad. Thousands of pounds of Christian literature and books were shipped overseas at no charge to the recipients. In December, Gospel Gazette Online completed 16 years of uninterrupted publication on the Internet. Thousands of articles remain archived and digitally available to anyone worldwide who has Internet connection. Work is underway for the continuation of Gospel Gazette Online in the new year.

In 2014, the Rushmore Evangelism Fund assumed the responsibility of seeing to the funding and payment for a Hindi language TV program broadcast from New Delhi, India. We have made provisions to provide financially for its continuance for a dozen years or more. This could only be made possible by the generous donations of Christian brethren here in the States.

Typically, Bonnie and I travel up to 3,000 miles monthly stateside by car as we teach or update brethren about our mission work. In addition, we usually spend three months overseas annually working in the countries of India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Singapore and Guyana. Both stateside and travel abroad were impacted in 2014 by Bonnie’s medical condition as she continues to experience difficulties from prior surgeries and now that her cancer returned. Two days before we were to board airliners for a 9-week mission trip to four Asian countries, we got the bad news that Bonnie needed immediate medical treatment for a suspected rebounding of pancreatic cancer, which proved to be the case. Bonnie continues to undergo a battery of treatments, and every day is a challenge for both of us, with Bonnie, of course, bearing the brunt of it all.

Summarized, 2014 was a good year in which we feel that we made a difference for the cause of Christ. Daily, adapting as necessary, we continue to make a difference in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Voice of Truth International and Gospel Gazette Online continue unabated, of course, in partnership chiefly with sister Betty Choate, Jerry and Paula Bates, and Byron and Gay Nichols. Typically, we still go to the office/warehouse weekdays to help with shipping and a myriad of other behind the scenes that make the ministry in which we are involved successful.

We are thankful to the sea of Christians who make it possible for us to do what we do for the cause of Christ in the USA and across the world. Thank you for your prayers.

August 2014 Rushmore Newsletter

Bonnie and I with the help of Betty Choate spent most of the day (August 27) processing for mailing 989 copies of the August edition of the Rushmore Newsletter. However, we were not able to prepare the mailing in time to get it into the US Mail today. Therefore, we will take the three mailing trays to the local Post Office on Thursday morning. Enclosed in each newsletter is a 2-sided postcard and a return envelope. One side of the postcard depicts Bonnie and me in front of the Taj Mahal in India. The reverse side contains information about how someone can participate financially with us in our foreign mission efforts.

Several states away to the east this morning, our courier received our Myanmar visa application, which she will walk through the Embassy of Myanmar in Washington, DC over the next few days. Also today several states to the west, a travel agent began working on our air travel tickets. In talking with her, we were apprised that there is a problem with our return to Memphis, TN after our 9-week mission trip to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, India and Singapore. Since we are scheduled to begin our return to the States on November 24, we are running into problems getting the flights necessary inside the United States due to Thanksgiving holiday travel. I don’t understand it, but we are being advised that irrespective of in whatever city we land in this country initially upon our return we will be stuck for days before we can get connecting flights to Memphis. I thought the hard part of our worldwide trek would be crisscrossing throughout Asia – not in the US. Stay tuned!

Otherwise today, we packed and shipped some tracts and books. Later, we hand delivered some beta test Bible class curriculum when we attended Bible class at a Mississippi church of Christ. We also mailed dozens of “Thank You” letters to donors who are helping us financially make our fall Asian mission trip. We fielded phone calls and attended miscellaneous other duties, even into the night after returning home from Wednesday night Bible class.

Time is counting down – rapidly – before our September 24 departure to the other side of the planet. We are working feverishly on so many fronts, and we full-well know that we cannot possibly accomplish some of those tasks before traveling 12 time zones away. Yet, we long to renew friendships with foreign brethren, edify them with the Word of God and acquaint Buddhists, Hindus, Animists and denominational people the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here or there, Bonnie and I remain devoted to each other in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. We covet your continued interest and prayers.

Whew! Glad That’s Done

The week of August 10, Bonnie and I were still the lone team members in town. Our week was consumed with various office duties, including shipping out orders daily to individual Christians and congregations, preparing our newsletter digitally for sending to the printing company we use, and a BIG mailing. Wednesday and Friday combined, we had prepared and mailed 995 letters to Christians and churches of Christ, encouraging them to participate financially with Bonnie and me in our upcoming nearly nine-week mission trip to four Asian countries. Over the next four weeks, we need to gather sufficient funds to permit us to labor in the Gospel at several venues in Myanmar and India, plus single sites respectively in Sri Lanka and Singapore. It is quite a puzzle trying to schedule all of the activities, flights, land travel, lodging, etc.

Saturday morning, I was able to finalize the digital files for the next issue of The Voice of Truth International and get it mailed to the printing company. Saturday afternoon, Bonnie and I aimed the Gospel chariot toward McMinnville, Tennessee, where I was to speak at two congregations on Sunday; however, we lodged that night in Manchester, TN.

Sunday morning, Bonnie and I assembled with the Pleasant Cove Church of Christ, one of our monthly supporters. I showed the PowerPoint “2014 Guyana Mission Trip” during Bible class, and then for a.m. worship, I preached “Understanding How God Communicates with Mankind, Today?” Afterward, the congregation and we enjoyed a fellowship meal together. Often, we manage to visit a congregation (unwittingly) on potluck Sunday, or as in this case the brethren used our visit as an occasion to get together and eat. Either way, it works for me!

Sunday afternoon, Bonnie and I enjoyed the hospitality of brother Ray and sister Charlotte Weddington in their living room. They have been long time encouragers and supporters of Bonnie and me in our efforts for the Lord. Brother Ray especially likes Gospel Gazette Online (Website: www.gospelgazette.com) and has been a faithful reader for many years of its 16-year history.

Sunday evening, the West Riverside Church of Christ was gracious enough to permit me to make the PowerPoint presentation about our 2014 mission trip to Guyana, South America. We are always cordially received there, too.

After grabbing a sandwich apiece in Manchester, TN, we continued a little further to Tullahoma, TN where we lodged for the evening. Heavy rain fell overnight and continued throughout the following day as we journeyed onward. We stopped for a few hours in Florence, AL where we met up with brother Wayne and sister Janet Barrier. We all conversed over a tasty meal at Red Lobster. Next, we stopped by Heritage Christian University in Florence, whereupon we unloaded two boxes of books for Joey Barrier to use in a new mission studies over which he is the director at HCU. It was good to see his sister Jenny, too, who came by. Finally, we continued toward Winona, MS, arriving back after dark on Monday.

Over the last three weeks, I have been digging a ditch to lead rainwater away from our carport and woodshop, which have been flooding. Actually, I think the ditch has been working on me as well; I’ve about come to the conclusion that at my age I have dug my last ditch! Of course, much of the time found me swinging an ax to displace pine tree roots the size of my upper thigh. If that were not daunting enough, the ground was so hard that I had to use a pickax to break up the ground. Wednesday morning, I was able to put the last of the pea gravel atop the perforated pipe that I buried and connected to other underground pipe installed last year. Lastly, I applied silicone caulk to seams in downspout connections to buried pipe, which had been leaking severely and contributing greatly to flooding in the woodshop. Whew! Glad that’s done.

Bonnie continues to face medical challenges on a daily basis. The extensive surgery under which she went to combat pancreatic cancer has left her with the inability to eat and digest her food properly. Day and night she experiences pains over which she cannot gain control. Nevertheless, she and I persist in the work for the Lord that lies ahead of us. We hope to remain tools in the hands of God as long as we live. Please pray for us.