Behind the Scenes

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Sunday, July 15, 2018, Martha and I assembled for the a.m. Bible class and worship with the West President Church of Christ in Greenwood, Mississippi. I talked about missions during class time and preached during worship about “Biblical Interpretation.” Sunday evening, we dropped in on the Coffeeville Church of Christ in the Mississippi town by the same name. The congregation’s new preacher, Ben McRee, was preaching. Brother Don Roberson, Coffeeville’s former preacher, led singing.

Monday and Tuesday, young people the Leoma, Tennessee Church of Christ came to work at the World Evangelism Building in Winona, Mississippi. For two days, teen boys and girls as well as their chaperones attended to a lot of chores. Several mailings were prepared whereby copies of Global Harvest magazine and sister Betty Choate’s newsletter were dispersed throughout the country. They also loaded a utility trailer with nearly $28,000 worth of literature—a little over 2,400 pounds. Eventually, this shipment will make its way to about a hundred churches of Christ throughout the South American country of Guyana.

For lunch Tuesday, brethren Joshua and Kabita Gootam from Kakinada, India—plus their son, daughter-in-law and grandbaby girl—joined the whole crew. Boys and girls got to hear firsthand from brother Joshua about the introduction of the Gospel into India in the 1960’s through the present. Finally, everyone departed, and the Winona bunch retired to their homes.

There are a lot of components to the foreign mission work of World Evangelism team members behind the scenes and of which Christians are largely unaware. We travel nearly every weekend to congregations throughout the USA—trying to speak for two churches each Lord’s Day that are within driving distance of each other. We keep literature going (e.g., The Voice of Truth International and Global Harvest magazines, tracts, books). We are responsible for international radio and television Gospel broadcasts, massive distribution of literature, the Internet magazine Gospel Gazette Online, worldwide teaching (e.g., Bible schools, churches, streets, homes). Each of us, amenable to our respective overseeing congregations with their elderships, voluntarily cooperate to provide a comprehensive approach to evangelizing the world. There is a whole lot of what goes on behind the scenes to make it possible to fulfill today the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Great Commission. We couldn’t do any of it without the prayers, physical help from time to time and financial participation of fellow Christians and the churches with which they worship. Thank you!

Collierville Workday

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Today, Saturday, April 7, 2018, we were blessed with volunteers from the Collierville, Tennessee Church of Christ coming our way. Those who didn’t take the “shortcut” arrived around 9 a.m. at the World Evangelism Building in Winona, Mississippi. The others arrived about an hour later.

We packaged, inventoried and loaded into a cargo trailer, thousands of dollars and many hundreds of pounds of literature. In about two weeks, Martha and I will haul it to a shipping agent in Nashville, Tennessee for shipment to Guyana, South America. The wholesale value of the books and tracts amounted to over $17,000. Once in Guyana, brother Nigel Milo and the Amelia’s Ward Church of Christ in Linden will see that the literature makes its way to nearly 100 congregations of the Lord’s church scatted throughout the nation.

Our dear brethren worked the warehouse, including restocking shelves, inventories and compacting boxes to make room for a tractor-trailer of The Voice of Truth International and Global Harvest coming next week. Even the little ones helped with shredding paper and moving broken-down boxes. It was an all hands on deck, from which activities we forced ourselves to pause long enough for pizza and salad for lunch. We had brownies for dessert.

We are fortunate to have the encouragement such as this and physical help. That and the financial participation with us in our efforts for the cause of Christ make what we do stateside and abroad possible. Thank you.

They Came, They Conquered & They Went

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Youthful and not as youthful visitors from the Double Springs, Alabama Church of Christ convened Monday and Tuesday July 10-11 at the World Evangelism Building in Winona, Mississippi. Altogether, about 18 assembled for the workdays alongside of the five of us who labor side-by-side daily, plus Rebecca.

Among the activities were preparation of two separate mailings, counting thousands of pieces of literature and packaging it for shipment to Nigeria, shipped out cases of The Voice of Truth International to congregational subscribers, loading two trailers with literature for overseas destinations, rubberstamping mailing envelopes by the hundreds, counting and banding tracts for future distribution, painting the interior of a cottage, and cleaning the warehouse and the office. The sheer volume of work accomplished was far more than what we in Winona can address on a day-to-day basis and still keep everything else going related to the behind the scenes details to mass evangelism and follow up. “Thanks” hardly seems adequate, but we are very grateful for the investment of interest, time and effort with us in this godly endeavor. These helping hands not only touched paper and cardboard in middle Mississippi, but they touched the hearts and souls of the recipients of literature, some headed to precious ones on far away continents. Make God be blessed as we partner in Christian service.

Air Brakes and Diesel Engine

Thursday, December 8, we were listening for air brakes and a diesel engine—circumstantial evidence that the tractor-trailer bearing 8 pallets of literature had arrived at the World Evangelism Building in Winona, MS. Onsite were Jerry and Paula Bates, Betty Choate, Martha Noland—visiting me from Florida—and members of three area congregations of the churches of Christ; of course, I was present, too.

Naturally, we had home cooking while awaiting the freightliner. Paula made chili and “mystery soup,” while Martha whipped up some very tasty and hearty potato soup. Betty added cornbread to the mix.

Two of the youngest helpers—elementary school age—did their share in unloading and carting literature into the warehouse. I entrusted them with a box knife to free the pallets of literature from plastic wrap and strapping; they excelled, and there was no bloodletting! Previously while waiting for the truck to arrive, the young men and pored over the photos of my recent mission trip to Myanmar and India. Besides that, I enjoyed interacting and discussing with them things that matter to them. These are fine, promising young men—certain to be assets to the body of Christ in the present and in the future.

The shipment consisted of Volume 90 of The Voice of Truth International, Global Harvest, tracts and books. Now, our attention turns to distribution, especially of The Voice of Truth International and Global Harvest to subscribers. In addition to individual subscriptions, many congregations order bulk subscriptions for use in their churches as well as in their communities.

Newsletters, Newsletters, Newsletters

It may have never happened before, but this time the newsletters for Betty Choate, Jerry and Paula Bates, and me all arrived at the World Evangelism the same day. Hence, the repetitious title for this blog entry is “Newsletters, Newsletters, Newsletters.” Around 2,000 newsletters combined for Betty and for me were mailed today; the Bates will mail their newsletters on Monday.

Preparing these newsletters was not without some frustration as well as help to git’er done. Confusion over current tabbing procedures necessitated re-tabbing everything, and a handful of newsletters have five tabs on them! We were aided over the course of two days by brothers and sisters in Christ and some youngsters representing three area congregations of the Lord’s church. A little skeptical at first, the three young people helping me for a little bit – ranging in age from 10- to 12-years-old – were as or even more proficient and faster than some of the adults who helped.

In addition to the 1,028 copies of the Rushmore Newsletter that I mailed today, I also sent out 690 email newsletter links at just after midnight today. It is my hope and my prayer that not only will friends and brethren be aware of my efforts for the cause of Christ, but that many Christians will also offer prayers on my behalf in service of our Lord. Furthermore, I hope that some Christian families and churches of Christ will participate financially with me in my mission pursuits.

Plans are for me to depart for the Asian nations of Myanmar (old Burma) and India in the middle of October and to return to the USA about the third week of November. About two months later, if our Lord wills, I will leave the States once more, this time for several weeks in Guyana, South America.

Between now and my foreign trips, I have much work ahead of me – stateside travels and speaking appointments, publishing Gospel Gazette Online and The Voice of Truth International, and hauling around two tons of Christian literature (books and tracts) to Nashville, TN for shipment to Guyana. I won’t publish another Rushmore Newsletter until I return from Asia.

May our loving God shower you and me with His grace and mercy as we endeavor to be true followers of Him throughout life. To God be the glory in any faithful service that we may be able to offer for the cause of Christ.

Boonville Entourage Descend on Winona

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Today, a dozen members of the Boonville, MS Church of Christ descended on Winona, MS to help the Winona World Evangelism team of Betty Choate, Paula and Jerry Bates, and Rebecca and Louis Rushmore. Those attending ranged in age from teenage years to seniors of a different kind. Together, we successfully tackled several projects – most of which had to do with foreign mission work.

Some of the men, Rebecca and I prepared, marked, recorded on a computer shipping manifest and stacked 110 boxes of two issues of The Voice of Truth International. These will be shipped to Guyana, South America and distributed to all of the churches of Christ in that nation. Then, we marked and recorded on the shipping manifest numerous other boxes that had been prepared already; these boxes contain used songbooks, miscellaneous Christian literature and thousands of tracts. Total, we have about 1,800 pounds of literature ready for the next shipment to Guyana – probably in August when I haul it to the shipper in Nashville, TN.

Jerry Bates with helpers prepared “preacher boxes” to be shipped overseas at some future date. Jerry, many helpers and I prepared and packed four large boxes with The Voice of Truth International that will be shipped to the Philippines in a few weeks. Paula Bates with an array of helpers in a different part of the building sorted and prepared boxes of children’s literature to be shipped overseas.

Several of the men and a couple of the women helped Jerry and me to shift walls of various issues of The Voice of Truth International. So that we can make room for future incoming magazines and books, it is important to tighten the stock whenever the magazines and books are shipped out. However, everyone was “saved by the bell” so to speak when 3 p.m. arrived and our visitors had to depart for home. Before the next tractor trailer pulls up out front, we will with or without help shift the remaining boxes to accommodate the next influx of The Voice of Truth International, which will be Volume 89.

Of course, we paused in the middle of all the hustle and the bustle to enjoy a meal and fellowship together. Help like we had today enables the little crew at the World Evangelism Building to accomplish a whole lot more in short order than we could possibly do by ourselves. Thank you.

Sister Cheryl & Brother Kishore Etwaroo

Tuesday, June 21, 2016, visitors from afar arrived at my Winona home. Brother Ed Ditto drove up into my driveway midafternoon with two passengers, sister Cheryl and brother Kishore Etwaroo. These latter two travelers are a wonderful couple and fellow Christians with whom it is my pleasure to interact for the cause of Christ annually in Port Kaituma, Guyana, South America. Brother Ditto drove them from Huntsville, AL, and tomorrow afternoon, I will take them back to Huntsville in time for midweek Bible class at the Central Church of Christ.

Having my daughter Rebecca with me this summer is special to me. It also meant that brother and sister Etwaroo had a better supper than what otherwise might have resulted from my efforts alone. Rebecca rustled up a delicious meal of homemade pizza and a nice salad. Mmm Good!

It was a delight to have in my home a fine pair in whose home I am regularly when abroad in Guyana. In addition to enjoying one another’s company and pouring over literature at the warehouse, they graciously agreed to help my daughter Rebecca and me process a small mailing of The Voice of Truth International magazines to be mailed later in the week.

My first year in Guyana for a traveling, mobile seminar, brother Kishore was my co-speaker, or I was his co-speaker. Indeed, we are Christian friends, brother Kishore and his dear wife Cheryl. They are not the first to make my Winona home and our warehouse/office at World Evangelism a destination, and I hope they are not the last. Further, I look forward to future occasions when they may be my guests, and when I may be their guest. Isn’t it great to have Christian friends all around the world?

Work Day, Load Day, Boy Song Leaders

Wednesday, March 30 was a multifaceted day. First thing, brother Jerry Bates and I loaded my van from the back bumper to the front seats with literature and Bibles; the seats fold completely under the floor, and I readied them for this purpose before I left the house. Included in the load were about 2,000 copies of volume 86 of The Voice of Truth International, the one with memorial information for Bonnie Rushmore on the back cover. These will be distributed to every congregation in Guyana, South America and used for outreach among non-Christians. Also, thousands of tracts and 40 Bibles are in the mix, and these are being sent on behalf of a congregation in Florida to a missionary they support in Mabaruma. Thousands of additional tracts, hundreds of books (mostly for preachers and church leaders), songbooks, lectureship books, miscellaneous Christian books, communion cups and suchlike are aboard as well. My little freighter will haul all of it to a shipping company in Nashville, TN for shipment to Guyana.

Around 10 a.m., several Christians from the Huntsville Church of Christ outside of French Camp, MS arrived at the World Evangelism Building to help prepare the Rushmore Newsletter for mailing. Counting sister Paul and brother Jerry Bates and myself, there were a total of eight of us. Ages ranged from a precocious 10-year-old to “none of your business.” Together, we made short work of the job, enabling me to get it to the Post Office the same day. We rewarded ourselves with takeout pizza that I fetched from the local Pizza Hut.

In addition, I rewarded myself with a little nap back at the house, though I didn’t actually go to sleep. I was unable to sleep very well the night before, and besides, I wanted to clean up after the day’s activities, especially loading and reloading my van. The tire sidewalls were touching the pavement and the tires were rubbing the car body sometimes. I unloaded some things – not my shipment – and Jerry and I redistributed the weight more evenly. I still drug the bottom of the car in a parking lot later in the day.

Wednesday evening, I assembled with the saints at the West President Church of Christ. The evening was dedicated to young boys practicing being in front of the congregation and “leading” some songs. I snapped a picture of a cutie with my camera phone. A Christian youth also presented the devotional and extended the Lord’s invitation. It’s good being with God’s people, irrespective of the occasion for the coming together. Of course, it is good to groom young people for future service and devotion to the Lord’s church.

Thursday, I start out for a several-day road trip, making a huge circle, to Tupelo, MS; Nashville, TN and Huntsville, AL. Have computer, will travel and set up my office anywhere I please. The workday and the place varies, but I live to serve irrespective of the task at hand or where it may be. Thank you for making that possible.

 

Coming and Going

Booneville Church of Christ

After lunch on Wednesday, August 5, I headed out of my Winona, MS driveway toward Jackson, MS. There were several items on my “To Do List” that I intended to accomplish. An hour and a half later, my first goal was simple enough – to get the oil changed in the car. Well, the quick-change oil change establishment was anything but swift between waiting to get inside the bay and having a new, inexperienced employee trying to figure it all out. As a matter of fact, the building was the same place to which I had been going of late, but none of the staff were the same. Nevertheless, I got the oil changed in preparation for my weekend foray into Alabama near the Georgia line, and I resisted “additional services.”

That crazy automated “time to change oil” message finally came on after 30,000 miles, and it was a booger to get turned off – trying off and on for three days! It’s a good thing I wasn’t relying on that nifty message on the digital dial above my steering wheel; I make sure that the oil is changed regularly irrespective of special Chrysler technology.

Next with the help of my smart phone and the car’s GPS, I found a nearby Goodwill outlet. I donated a leather briefcase and four boxes of hairdryers, heated curlers and miscellaneous items. Last week, I took children’s toys to the office for the amusement of small children who occasionally accompany their parents on workdays at the World Evangelism Building. Previously, I took Bonnies clothes, purses and shoes to a Christian friend and best friend of Bonnie in Florida, and I sent all of Bonnie’s sewing machines and accessories to a church sewing ministry in Tennessee. All that’s left are cookbooks, which two of our children will acquire eventually and a stockpile of children’s books. Everything else for now graces the walls, floors, etc. is not going anywhere soon.

Apparently, I didn’t time my expedition to metropolitan Jackson overly well since I had time on my hands before the supper hour. So, I nursed soft drinks at Chick-fil-A, careful not eat anything and spoil my supper. However, while killing time, I scrawled on a napkin paragraphs that later that afternoon would make it into my next Rushmore Newsletter. Back in the car, I penned another paragraph for the back page of The Voice of Truth International, volume 86, which back cover will be dedicated to my late and dear wife, Bonnie Sue.

Finally, it was time to force myself to eat at Red Lobster! Delicious!

Even though I got gasoline on my way to my Wednesday evening appointment, I still managed to arrive at the meetinghouse for the Clinton, MS Church of Christ way too early to see another living soul anywhere around. I climbed into the midsection of the van and fired up my laptop computer, and transferred the scribbles from napkin and tablet into digital files.

As always, I was well received by the Clinton congregation. I made my PowerPoint presentation “Overview and Update” of World Evangelism and offered the invitation. This church is one of my monthly supporters, and the elders elected to double my support!

Leaving there, I stopped for a handful of groceries and household goods on the way back to Winona. I arrived home shortly after 11 p.m.

Thursday morning, we at World Evangelism in Winona had company coming. Around 20 Christian senior citizens and two recently graduated high school seniors drove down from the Booneville, MS Church of Christ. They had come to help us do some things that the four of us in Winona cannot easily accomplish on a daily basis and keep everything else going. They worked on several projects. Some assembled over 100 packet samples of the more than 100 shirt-pocket sized full color tracts that we have available at World Evangelism. Others prepared an outgoing mail of nearly 1,000 envelopes to stuff, label and seal. Still others worked in the warehouse (i.e., inventory, bundling tracts in groups of 25, packing boxes, loading boxes of literature on a tractor-trailer, working on the fulfillment shelves for daily orders, etc.). Yes, fellowship often involves eating together, and it did on Thursday, too. Yet, fellowship is also working together. A lot goes on behind the scenes aback of visual manifestations of mission work, and all who help us in Winona know that firsthand.

Thursday night and Friday I continued to work on The Voice of Truth International, Gospel Gazette Online, the Rushmore Newsletter and a book by Wayne Barrier soon to be published. I finally sent off my newsletter Friday to the printing company (in Michigan). My collaborators and I are closing in on completion of volume 86 of The Voice of Truth International and the August edition of Gospel Gazette Online, and Wayne’s book may go out Friday night to a printing company in Hong Kong; I have a new book also and The Voice of Truth International, too, will be produced in Hong Kong as well.

A little later tonight, I must pack for a three-day trip to Piedmont, AL and back. Lord willing, I will preach for two churches there on the Lord’s Day.

My days are full of triage, triage, triage! What’s next? All I humbly request of my Lord is the health and presence of mind to be a useful servant for Him as long as I live. Several of you reading this blog (my near daily therapy) make that possible, for which I thank you.

Woodsy Gospel Meeting

The Old Union Church of Christ in Carroll County, Mississippi hosted a Gospel meeting Sunday, July 12 through Tuesday, July 14. “If you don’t know how to get there, you can’t get there from here.” The white frame chapel and accompanying cemetery is tucked away as if secretively in a clearing amidst dense trees and pervasive kudzu vines in rural Carroll County. The Old Union Church of Christ is the only congregation of the Lord’s church in that Mississippi county, and it can only be reached by carefully traversing a series of gravel roadways and selecting the correct forks in the road. Our visiting song leader was late Sunday morning as he (a precocious high school young man) and his father opted for the wrong fork along the way. Recently, I came to know that one family who had attended my wife’s funeral got lost leaving the meetinghouse and wandered about, finally from house to infrequent house, trying to find their way back to civilization. I joked with the visiting Gospel preacher that I was going to have to blindfold him before I took him to the Old Union Church of Christ so that he would not discover its location and divulge it to others.

One of the Old Union members developed an appreciation for the digital podcast sermons of brother Mark Posey from the Austinville Church of Christ in Decatur, Alabama. Subsequently, I provided the contact information for brother Mark, whose articles also appear monthly in Gospel Gazette Online. It was my good pleasure to have brother Posey in my home from Saturday through Wednesday morning to accommodate his participation with the congregation for its Gospel meeting. I was really the beneficiary of it all as my daughter and I were banqueted along with Mark Posey by brethren.

I am indebted to my daughter Rebecca for helping me for not only the occasion of brother Posey’s visit, but for several weeks since her last day of teaching school this past school year. She is leaving today (Wednesday) for her home in Collierville, Tennessee so that she can make final preparation for her mission trip to Guyana, which begins Saturday.

Brother Mark Posey did not disappoint. His refined presentation and years of experience as a student of God’s Word charmed all present with the simple and pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. Typical attendances of 30 or less were bumped up to a full house!

Jerry & Paula Bates

Tuesday morning, Rebecca and I helped brother Jerry and sister Paula Bates load recycled Bible literature and new copies of The Voice of Truth International into a trailer. Periodically, the Bates or I haul literature to some point to be loaded into an oceangoing container for transport to some foreign nation.

Tuesday was also the 42^nd wedding anniversary for my late sweetheart and myself. Singing hymns about heaven and death during the Gospel meeting was a near impossibility for me. These days, tears come and go without prior notice. Overall, I am doing as well as can be expected, and life goes on – until it doesn’t. In the meantime, I busy myself as best I know how in the service of our King. Please kindly remember me from time to time in your prayers.