One of my favorite things about being a Christian, aside from fellowship with God, is fellowship with God's people. We've got the body of Christ here locally. We've got other believing churches in our area that bring joy to my heart. We've got workers that I've known in times past that are in different places, different states, different countries. And we as a church, we've got connections. We've got family connections. We've got ministry connections. And a lot of those are missionary connections. And so I wanted to take a time this morning to refresh your memory and to bring you up to date as to what's going on in the life of those that we know and love and fellowship together in the work of the gospel. And before we dive into the individual missionaries, I thought I would frame our discussion with a look into what is the mission. I mentioned it briefly earlier, but let's open up our Bibles to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28 has the Great Commission. there at the end of Matthew's gospel, sending out the disciples to make more disciples. Disciples making disciples. That's the plan that Christ set into motion. You probably know this passage well, but let's just go ahead and read it together, starting in verse 16 in Matthew chapter 28. Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So here's the plan until the end of the age. The disciples go. And as they go, they make disciples of all the nations. This started in the book of Acts, as Christ sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the beginning of the church there was in Jerusalem. That's where God wanted the mission to start. And as the gospel was preached in Jerusalem, a church was founded, a church of thousands of believers. And what a wonderful church they had, with the apostles, the miracles, the power of the Holy Spirit, the teaching of the word, and that initial period of growth. But then persecution broke out on that church and many of the disciples scattered. And as they scattered, they took the word with them. That's what the book of Acts says. As they scattered, they took the word with them. And so God disseminated the word by bringing persecution on the church. And now God has many ways of disseminating the word. He calls some people to leave their country and go to a foreign land. He calls others to minister where they have been born and raised. The ministry is the same everywhere. We're making disciples, forming churches, teaching those disciples to obey everything that the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded us from Genesis to Revelation, teaching the whole Council of Scripture. And so we've got ministry partners that are involved with that in different places around the world. And when you think of the word missionary, I looked it up in the dictionary, and it had a very useful definition, one who engages in missions. Okay, a missionary is someone who engages in missions. And then of course you have to look up what is a mission. And so a mission is a ministry commissioned by a religious organization to propagate its faith or carry on humanitarian work. What a dry definition, but that sounds really boring. So I like a biblical definition of what the Bible is talking about when it's talking about missions. And for that, I think you wanna turn to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13 verses two through four. You really see the missionary enterprise at work in the book of Acts as God selects those that he is going to send to new areas to bring the word of Christ where it had not been preached before. And of course, the Apostle Paul is the major figure that the book of Acts focuses on, but don't lose sight of the fact that the Holy Spirit was using thousands, if not more, people at this time. And Paul is given to us as the example that is recorded in scripture, but just as significant in many ways were the no-name Christians who were going and spreading the word. For if you heard the gospel, At this time period, it doesn't matter whether Paul was the one who brought you the gospel or whether it was some other no-name in church history. The important thing is that you heard the gospel and that you got saved and that that transformed your life. And so Paul is giving us as an example, but know that there's much of this going on even as it is going on today. Look at Acts chapter 13 verses 2 through 4. We're here at the church in Antioch, kind of a center for the Christian church after they spread out from Jerusalem. And while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So notice this is not a religious organization that is commissioning a ministry in order to propagate its faith or carry on humanitarian work, but this is the Holy Spirit of God choosing his instruments, to do the work that God wants to do in the world. See, now that's an exciting thing. That's not a human work, which is the dictionary definition for a mission. And what characterizes so many of what is called missions in the world today, it is just a human work. Just religious organizations sending out people to propagate their faith. I'm not interested in any of that. I'm interested in what the Holy Spirit of God is doing in the world today. And I'm interested in being a part of that work. And we are all. If we are connected vitally to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and we have His Spirit, we are all sent out into the world. Whether we're sent here or whether we're sent someplace else, whether God changes that in the course of your life, you don't know what's going to happen. You might end up being a missionary sent someplace else and you have no idea, no clue that God is going to do that. And He has many ways of moving us around and getting our attention and redirecting us. And we want to be open to go where He calls us to go. and do whatever he calls us to do. So as you hear this morning about the missionaries that we support, don't think of them as a separate class of Christian. Think of them as just a Christian who's doing the ministry that God has called them to do, just like you're a Christian who has to do the ministry that God calls you to do wherever that is. Now when we talk about our church supporting missionaries, that's what we're going to look at first, is those missionaries that we financially support and have a more personal connection with on a regular basis through prayer and other means. We have four principles that we use to determine which missionaries we're going to focus on supporting because, like I said, there's thousands of Christians doing thousands of works and we have to choose a small number that we as a church are going to focus on because ministry is relationship. And you can't have a close relationship with hundreds of missionaries in a church our size. We have to be somewhat choosy about the missions that we support. And so how do we determine as a church which missionaries God wants us to make the strongest connections with and to support with the most support? Well, the first principle is that yes, we want fewer missionaries with more contact. We want We want a relationship with our missionaries, and that's something that starts with the elders keeping a good relationship, but it doesn't have to end there. It's through the whole church. We have a mission Sunday, so you're aware of who our missionaries are, and you can do work of encouraging and connection and fellowship with these missionaries, and these are the ones that we're encouraging you to do that with. And secondly, we look at those that our church has a family connection with or we have a history with. ministry is relational and so those that are a part of our church family or have been a part of our church family, those that have been our friends, those that we have ministered with, those are the ones that are going to rise to the top of our list of missionaries who we want to support. Thirdly, we look at how we can maximize the growth of the word and that is done by training national pastors for ministry and training national evangelists, indigenous people, to reach their own culture. A transcultural ministry is a great thing. However, it does take more time and more resources to train somebody in a foreign language and in that foreign culture and to then have them travel over to a foreign nation and to begin to minister. Whereas if you put your money into training those who have already grown up in that language and in that culture, then they are going to be instantaneously ready, if they have good theological training, to reach their people for Christ. And so we want to support those ministries that are making the most, maximizing the growth of the word with the resources that we have. So that's helped to guide us in some of our choices here, and you'll see that as we go through some of the different ministries that we have felt really are maximizing that growth and the input, the biggest return on investment. And then finally, but not least, very important, is the doctrinal purity of the missionary. That missions have to be done by those who know the Lord, who know the Word, who have faith in the Word, and who are not mixing together, mingling together human methodologies and human wisdom with the wisdom of God and the Holy Spirit. As you study through the Bible, you find out that Man's wisdom and God's wisdom are opposed to one another. You can't mix these two together. And yet mankind keeps trying to do it, and the church keeps trying to do it. Try to find, well, these are the methodologies that work for business, so let's bring these methodologies into the church. Well, this methodology seems to be working for this non-Christian group, so let's start doing that with our Christian group. And then we're just acting like the world, and we've lost our salt. We've lost what makes us distinct. We've lost the Holy Spirit and become just men out there propagating our religion. And that's not what we're looking to support. We're looking to support those who are sold out to the scripture, who are filled with the Holy Spirit, and who have doctrinal purity and a biblical methodology. So those four things. We want fewer missionaries, not more. We want family and close contacts. We want those who are training national pastors to reach their own people. And we want those who are pure in their doctrine and biblical in their methodology. Those are our guiding principles and missionary support. Now we're a small church, and so many churches will dwarf our missions budget as far as the total number of dollars given to missions. But as you know, the Lord Jesus Christ does not judge a ministry according to its size or the amount of its budget. The Lord Jesus Christ judges according to the percentage of the gift, as he illustrated in the gift of the widow's mite at the temple in Jerusalem, that the smallest gift given out of poverty is a very big gift to the Lord Jesus Christ. And over the years I've commended our church for being a church that gave a significant portion of its budget to missions. Years ago our church had a big problem, we had too much money. And tried to figure out what do we do with all this money that we have? And so instead of saying we're going to invest it in our building or into our Sunday morning worship here or advertising or hire another person or any of that, we decided we want to focus on giving to missions. And I want to continue that focus. Now, the budget has tightened up over the last couple of years, and so we haven't had as much money to give to missions. But as the Lord puts on the heart of the people, as He grows the church, as money comes in, any extra money that we have, I want us to continue to focus on giving it to missions. I don't want us to think, well, it'd be nice to have this or that or a bigger building or whatever. I want us to focus on missions because we are well supplied here. We've got a huge library full of books for our pastor. We've got all kinds of great resources in English and preaching and teaching. You can hear thousands of great sermons on the internet and we are so well supplied with our bookshelves full of study Bibles and concordances. But you go down to a place like Nicaragua and the pastors there have nothing. They have one Bible and their radio and their radio has a bunch of bad teaching and they're getting the bad teaching from what's on the radio and that's what they give to their congregation. And so rather than building a gymnasium for our kids, why not build a Bible institute for pastors in Nicaragua? Just that kind of thinking. What are we investing in? Where do we want our money to go? And thinking about others and not thinking about ourselves. So that's the purpose of a Mission Sunday, is to give us that big world vision and to keep ourselves from becoming self-centered, remembering the work of God that he is doing all around the world. So first off, I want to look at and work that God is doing. In Papua New Guinea, there are many unreached villages and tribes and people. It's one of the places in the world where world evangelism is still working to penetrate and get the gospel to unreached people groups. And if you're gonna go into the mountains there and the jungles, you need transportation. And so a mission is not just the person who opens the Bible and shares the truth of God. It's not just the person who lives in the village and learns the language, but it's also the support team that has enabled that person to get there and to do that. And so Ethnos 360 is the name of the mission agency that is focused on reaching those villages in PNG, Papua New Guinea. And they have to have, therefore, airplanes and helicopters. That's the lifeline for the missionaries as they go out into these areas. And so our church for a number of years have been able to have that relationship with a partner in ministry, some of the people behind the scenes that make the whole thing function. And we don't want to look down on that type of ministry. Sometimes we think, well, we just want to support the exciting missionary, the one who's actually going into the village. But that's not the way God looks at it. You remember in 1 Corinthians how Paul describes that there's many parts of the body and each part depends upon the other parts of the body. So it's not just the soldier who's storming the beach that wins the war, but it's all the people that have enabled that soldier to be there to do that work. And that's the way God looks at the church and looks at each individual part is very important. And so Dan and Linda Bolling were called by God to support missionaries on the field by being a part of the aviation team. And the aviation team has a headquarters there in McNeil, Arizona. And so here's a part of the team that is not overseas, but is here in the United States. And Dan and Linda worked for years as administrators, as part of the network and overseeing the communications and telephone services of New Trimes Missions Aviation. Country Bible Church was their original sending church. And they've served there faithfully for decades. And then we being a close by nearby church with a family connection with the Bowlings in our congregation, we've been glad to be able to partner with them and support them financially as they support the missionaries on the field. And so they are semi-retired now, still living in McNeil, Arizona, and still serving the Lord, because there is no such thing as retirement from serving the Lord. We just change from one type of ministry to a different type of ministry. And they found 2020 to be somewhat lonely there in McNeil, Arizona. Not as many people traveled this year, and so they didn't get as many visitors. And so if you would like to drop a line to Dan and Linda, I'm sure they would appreciate it. And if you ever happen to be traveling through Arizona, plan on stopping by and visiting them there in McNeil. We do appreciate their godliness, and every time they come and be a part of our church, they bring the blessing of their Christian spirit with them. Another missionary that we support financially, regularly, monthly, is the Ministry of Rick and Ferry Hatton, and you see that they are Awana missionaries. And so our church began Awana over 30 years ago. And Rick and Ferry, as Awana missionaries, you might wonder, well, what does an Awana missionary do? Well, the ministry of Awana also needs support. It's a ministry that is done by local churches, but those local churches need help in training their workers. They need help in starting clubs, in keeping the clubs going. They need counsel from time to time on how to deal with problems that arise in their club. And so Rick and Ferry Hatton, they're the ones that keep Awana clubs in our region going strong. That's their ministry among the churches. And I really appreciate Rick and Ferry, and every time I get to visit with Rick, he's such an encouragement to me. And this last year in particular, he struck me with his godliness because he actually asked for us to stop giving him so much money. And that's not something you hear from missionaries very often, this request to decrease the amount of giving that they receive. because they knew of a need that was more pressing than their own. And so their partners as an Awana missionary in this region is the Harkness family, Paul and Janet. And Paul and Janet's funding was dangerously low, and they were just about ready to have to go on deputation and step out of the ministry for a while. And Rick and Ferry didn't want that to happen, so they said, well, would you be willing to take some of the money that you give to us and give it to the Harknesses? And we said, sure. So we voted on that. So this year we've got two Iwana missionaries that we support, both Rick and Ferry and Paul and Janet. Now Paul and Janet, I'll tell you a little bit more about their story. They became impressed with Iwana and they were actually the pastor and pastor's wife here at our church when Iwana started in Firth. So Paul was the pastor here from 1986 to 1991, so there's a connection with our church. And then in 2009, having served not only here but in other churches and having seen all the good in that 20 years of pastoral ministry that came from Awana, he knew that God was calling him then to become an Awana missionary. And so he serves in Nebraska, parts of Wyoming, parts of South Dakota and Minnesota. They'll travel around with the Hattons, they'll put on conferences, they'll visit clubs, and they'll give encouragement and support to all those clubs. And so it's great for us to not only enjoy Awana, but also be a part of making sure that other kids around our area, our region, can enjoy Awana also. Of course, 2020 has been a difficult year for Awana as well, as clubs have been trying to figure out how do you meet and when do you meet and how do you handle all the restrictions. And so that's been the focus for Rick and Ferry and Paul and Janet this year, is helping clubs deal with virtual clubs and all kinds of different scenarios that have arisen as a result of people's response to the COVID virus. So keep on praying for our Juana missionaries. Now, when we talk about missionaries who are on the field and doing exciting work, nobody is a better example than the Ellis family. James and Lindsay Ellis were here a couple years ago when he was taking a break from his ministry there in Africa because he had been bashed over the head with a metal rod. And that kind of persecution that him and his family experience as they're on the ground planting churches in a hostile environment, we appreciate their bravery, courage, and their back. They didn't say, well, I got bashed in the head and had brain damage. I think I'm done with this missionary stuff. But nothing stops those who are called to the mission. This is exactly what we see in the life of the Apostle Paul, that if he was stoned, he just got back up and walked back into the city and started preaching again. And so James and Lindsay, they just had a time for recovery, had some time to get his brain working again, and then they're right back into the mission field. I encourage you to look up on our website the last time that they were here and the message that James shared with us at that time. When he was doing that, his short-term memory was still all that he had. His long-term memory hadn't fully come back yet. So he couldn't remember anything that would happen more than a week or two ago until that part of his brain was healed. by the Lord, and yet he was here ministering and preaching even though his mind was still recovering from that injury. So what are they doing right now? Well, I think they put out a video, we got ready for that. This last year they put out a video that talks about kind of where they are, what's going on, and I thought it'd be good for us to watch that together as a church. So let me pull that up for us. So we decided to do a video update this month instead of our usual written correspondence. Since we last communicated with you, we've completed phase one of language study in Madi. So what is phase one language study? Basically, we learned a lot of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. One exercise we did, our language helper made a real complex sentence in Madi and then asked us a bunch of questions in Madi. And then we had to discern the answer to those. After we finished phase one, we had a big celebration. We did a barbecue, you know, to say thank you to our language helper. So in the meantime, though, before we move on in language study, we've got a lot of paperwork to do for the government. 2020 is a heavy year of paperwork for us. Not only does our NGO expire, my work permit expires, Lindsay's dependent pass expires, the boys The student passes expire and Esther's work permit expires. All of that this year. Plus, this year they just implemented a whole bunch of new regulations that nobody really knows how to do. All on top of, it's the year of Corona. And that just makes everything harder. So as of two days ago, the boys' student passes are actually already expired. So sometime in the next few weeks, we're going to have to go down to the capital city, Kampala, to get that worked out. And things are still on lockdown, so we don't really know how that's going to work. So continue to pray for us with that. Okay, so when we're done with the paperwork, when we get back, Lord willing, we'll be beginning Phase 2 language study. Now, Phase 2 language study is very different than Phase 1. There's 80 common daily activities that we're going to, Lord willing, participate in, in the community, and learn the vocabulary associated with them. Like this? No. No. Okay. Yeah. Can you show me? Okay. And then I just like this. And then you just push forward. Oh my goodness. In the meantime, phase two language study requires a high level of enculturation. So we've designated one day a week that we turn the internet on to complete our correspondence. Thank you for your patience with this as we really are using this time to dig in to the language and culture. So just an update on the guys in the refugee camps. During this time, they have made it illegal in the refugee camps to do any preaching. You can still have meetings of five people or less, but you can't do any preaching in these meetings. Well, Esban was going around to the different homes of people that he's discipling, and one of their neighbors called the cops on him. So just a little bit of perspective difference. When he was telling me this story, he was saying that they went to the house and drug him to the police station, and he was laughing while he was saying it. And I said, you know, that's not really something to laugh about. He's like, ah, well, they didn't like beat me or anything. They just let me go afterwards. So very different perspective than ours. Continue to pray for Esfahan. And, you know, we already know this, but just to give you an example, the Lord is still at work during the time of Corona. David had a big meeting with the clan that he's a member of. And this meeting was about, because things are locked down, a lot of funerals are taking place here in Uganda. and they're worried that when the lockdown is finished, they're going to have to take those bones back into South Sudan and that'll disturb the spirits and basically their whole clan will be haunted because of it. So David stood up and said, well, that's not necessarily true. These are just bones. They're spirits either in heaven or hell. And they said, well, tell us more about this. So David spent two weeks in the bush with the leaders of his clan telling through the beginning parts of the chronological story. So continue to lift David up in prayer as he's working through this new ministry of his because they actually declared him as the spiritual advisor for the clan. So continue to lift the guys up in prayer as it's really difficult right now for them in the refugee camps not being able to have meetings to teach people the Word of God, but also for their security as right now in the camps there's tribal fighting between the Kuku and the Nuer. Just in the last few days, they've had 150 huts burned. And for us, continue to lift us in prayer, to pray for our diligence in language study, and the work the Lord has called us to, and strength, and for our health. Coming up, there's a long road of language study ahead. Also, continue to pray as we navigate through the government bureaucracies with this NGO paperwork. I just wanted to thank you guys so much for your continued faithful prayers and support. God bless. So that gives you a good window into what's going on with the Ellis family. They originally had gone to South Sudan and then because of war and problems in South Sudan, they fled as refugees to Uganda and that's where the refugee camps are and some of these men that they've been discipling, they started in South Sudan and then they've gone into Uganda until things settled down. And so now they're focused on the language and cultural study to be able to work with the Mahdi people. And that's exciting work because that's a group that has never had a linguistic survey done. And so it's a new area to be able to bring the gospel into their language. So one of the big challenges of ministry in Africa is illness, sicknesses. So in November of this year, Lindsay had a bad reaction to the anti-malarial medication that she's been taking for years, and so she developed a form of toxic hepatitis, and that was a severe problem for them during the month of November, but we're thankful they figured out what was causing it, and they've got her on a different medication that is not causing that problem now. And then the boys and Josh, they get bouts of malaria, and so Josh had two strands of Asian malaria, and Caleb got malaria, James says that he also got a malaria. They said it was not the most deadly, but was definitely the most miserable And so just a lot of difficulties and then the paperwork I do have an update on the paperwork on Friday December 11th He writes he says I was at the immigration in Kampala for the cutting of the cake To commence the 2020 and the close the immigration office for the holiday election season The Lord allowed me to acquire a three-month special pass. My work permit will have to wait until March when the NGO officials will be present to stamp the correct forms because they've been traveling with the president who's on the campaign trail. So, so far, so good. Looks like the NGO renewal for the next five years is gonna be done. Continue to pray that that'll be no problem. Well, those are the missionaries that we're currently supporting financially on a monthly basis. But I have a lot of other work that is going on that our church is connected with and I thought for Mission Sunday it would also be good to continue to highlight the ministry of chaplaincy that our church has been able to share in through Dan and Deb Bedeer, members of our congregation. So Dan, would you come forward and share with us about the ministry that God has called you to and Deb? Thank you. Good morning. I have some notes from Deb to share with you, and then I'll share with you a little bit about the prison, a quick update on the prison, because there's some things happening there, too. This has been kind of a transitional year for Deb. She's kind of transitioning out of the Grand Lodge ministry a little bit, and moving a little heavier into the volunteer chaplaincy. So at the Grand Lodge, kind of January through July, she was really not allowed in. due to a number of different restrictions and leadership roles and things like that. So she was in some Zoom chapel and prayer meetings weekly for a while. There was a number of them. There were a number of those. And she still emails and visits some folks kind of on a one-on-one basis. And also hospice chaplain work to 101-year-olds and also to call and pray with people, individuals over the phone. She's been able to do that and be an encouragement that way. And then in May, She became the Assistant Senior Chaplain for the Lincoln Chaplaincy Corps. And this is where assisting the Lincoln Police Department, Lincoln Fire and Rescue, and Sheriff as Chaplain. There's a number of people that are volunteers and there are a number of new folks that are wanting to become a chaplain that have applied and they've got to go through sort of a vetting process, which is happening right now. So in the senior chaplain assistant position, her responsibilities are two to three 24-hour duty shifts per month. And there's transport, you know, with a van and a feather. It can be grief counseling. It can be just being there for folks that need some encouragement. They're going through a difficult time or somebody may be going into a short-term incarceration situation or something like that. So there's a lot of support. But she also schedules, there's an administrative work that she's doing to schedule other duty chaplains, which is difficult to do because with the coronavirus and everything, people are a little bit skittish sometimes, and so they don't want to make themselves available. So sometimes there's blank periods of time when no one has volunteered. So, we need to pray that God raises up the right people so the calendar can be full of people that are available throughout the month for when calls come in from dispatch. So, he supports chaplain spiritually and emotionally. In fact, we've had two different times, I think, we've had chaplains come to our house and had kind of an open forum session, which hadn't really happened before. And that was really good because these people, you know, are going to sometimes, I mean, one of the guys had witnessed and been counseling with four suicides in one week, if I'm not mistaken, or more than that. Very difficult, heavy stuff to carry. And so, there's some camaraderie that she's been working on developing, which I think has been very, very good. And I've met several of them. And she's also created a prayer communication and kind of decompression sessions and created a training calendar, updating documents that have been old and kind of helping to organize the office downtown at the police office as well. And there are now eight new applicants that are being processed. and visit and pray with the chaplain. At Christmas time we took some baklava and stuff and went to sing Christmas carol to a few length of fire and rescue. offices. That's kind of cool. That's kind of rare. They don't do stuff like that. So that was kind of fun. So it's that kind of thing, the support role. Also took donations for Stuff the Animals and Stuff the Animals Community Blankets and Set a Cop, which is a program that they have from March. And Cindy McNeice, thank you very much for doing that. That's really going well. And they're also fixing teddies for me as well, she said. So quite a bit of grief counseling, support role, administrative role during this transition time for Deb. So please visit with her if you want to find out more about it. There's some really interesting things going on. And pray for her and other chaplains to be doing what God would want them to do. Interestingly, I find it interesting that the organization that said, you know, we need a Catholic because if somebody goes and they're Catholic, they want to request a Catholic person, maybe a Jewish person, and people from a different faith. But interestingly, these other folks are not interested for the most part in serving. It's been very difficult to find a Catholic person to serve, a Jewish person, but it seems fairly easy to find Christian people to serve. Isn't that interesting? So praise God that God is raising Christian people You know, to think like we do, to serve in all these different venues and different situations so that we can communicate the word effectively and maybe get them to think about something. And sometimes it is just a service role where you don't really get to share the gospel, and that's okay too. So, that's a quick update on the chaplaincy, continue prayer in that area, and then my services as clergy with prison administration primarily work at Tecumseh, which many of you know. There are a number of different prisons, but that's kind of my focus area because there's a great need there, and they don't have a lot of people there. It's kind of a void. over 1,100 inmates in its high and medium security primarily. And just recently in the last week, you know it's been shut down since February pretty much, but just a week and a half ago they opened the door just a crack for a visitation which is great, we've been praying, you know, that that would happen, so that's an answer to prayer, that's a praise item. But now we are, it's one-on-one visits only, not one with four like I used to be able to do. You're not allowed any refreshments from the vending machines, we can't drink coffee, you know, juice, sandwiches, or anything like that. And you have to wear a mask, and you have to sit about eight feet apart. They check your temperature and everything when you go in, so some additional. And you have to go online, request the time for a visit with the specific inmate, and get approved each and every time. You know, before we had this automatic time, we would go, people would be available, and we would just meet with group 1, 2, 3. That's not the case anymore. So I've got to go in each and every time and request online and then wait for the approval to come in for the times they give you these two slots. And a lot of the slots are very, very limited based on the housing units. So, there's not too many times you can pick from, you know, it's either that or nothing. So, we're trying to make it work, but I had a really good one-on-one visit with Larry, one of my main guys, this last week. It was great, hadn't seen him for a long, long time. And we had a good visit, and also we're praying for The Grateful Heart Quartet, which many of you guys sing with, to sing at their event for the platoon in May for Memorial Week. We've been invited back on the 25th, which is a Tuesday, and so we've got to submit all background check information again, all new paperwork, and the stuff we did a couple years ago, we've got to go through all that again. So we've started that process. Talk about paperwork, you know, in Africa, this is probably similar. Paperwork is paperwork, yeah. It's never a lot of fun. But I'm hoping that they'll actually allow this event to happen. Because with coronavirus, last time we had 50 people that came. And it was fabulous. We had a meal, and we got to sing for an hour, share the gospel, talk to the guys. It was fantastic. It was a great warm reception. So we're praying that everything works, that this could happen again. We could touch a lot of lives, more than just one or two. So pay for that, but thank you for your efforts, and we, you know, I consider this as a tent ministry. You know, we fund it ourselves, and it's great. We enjoy doing it that way, and one of the things that, because we haven't done much in terms of, you know, buying food and things like that this last year, there's been a few times when One of the wives of one of the inmates who lives in Mexico has had financial hardship, physical difficulties, illness, getting laid off from work. So we've been able to send some funding to her in Mexico for basic needs, which really means a lot. That goes a long, long way. The dollar to the peso. So we just did another one of those recently and that's been really cool to be able to do that. One of our guys actually found out maybe moving to a facility in Omaha. So he's been approved to go to a less secure facility as he's getting closer to time of parole. So maybe if he goes to Omaha, then we would be visiting in Omaha and Tecumseh and you know, kind of drive around. So thank you for your prayers and thank you for your time. Well, there are a few other ministries that I want to focus on this morning that are not regularly part of our giving, but we do give to time to time or we have given in the past and still love these ministries. The first one I'd like to bring to your attention is the Gideons Ministry, the Gideons International. Our church has had a long-time connection with the Gideons through some precious members of our church, Carl and Phyllis Hartman, and I've got a dream, a prayer, that God will raise up some more Gideons from among our congregation. So I bring this here before you to allow the Holy Spirit to prompt the one that he wants to consider this ministry. So what are the Gideons? What do they do? Many of you probably know that Gideons International is an association of Christian business and professional men and their wives who together work to share the gospel by distributing scripture. That's the major work of the Gideons, is to place Bibles in many places, schools, hospitals, hotels, where people go. And so the Gideons have placed and distributed, not just in America, but worldwide, over two billion Bibles. Two billion Bibles. That is amazing. And so the Gideons, they get together, they share their testimony, they serve together, they study the Bible, and they are engaged in this work of distributing the scripture. And they've been doing this for over 120 years. Back in 1899 is when they started. And so this is one of those ministries where I'd like to see a new generation rise up and consider being a part of the Gideons and pass that on. Another important ministry in our area that our church has been connected with over the years is the Pregnancy Center in Lincoln, formerly known as the Crisis Pregnancy Center. And that is a ministry to young women, of course, who have a pregnancy. You can go there, you can get a free pregnancy test, free ultrasound, the counseling that is there to help you to prepare for motherhood, whether you're a single mother or married. And then just providing resources to encourage women to have their baby and to not be scared into doing something that is immoral and would bring lasting pain into their own conscience. And so the Pregnancy Center is a Christ-focused ministry. It's not only there to save lives of infants and to save the mothers from making a tragic mistake, but it's also there to share the gospel. And so they'll do that in their counseling. And so we appreciate both aspects of the ministry, that all is done in the name of Christ and love for neighbor. So it's a great ministry to be a part of. If you're looking for a ministry, if you want to be a counselor, if you want to support financially the Pregnancy Center, then please check out their website, contact them. Good work that's going on. I appreciate their leadership. Another ministry that we have given to this year, as the first time we've given to, is the Answers in Genesis ministry. We took a special offering for them as part of our Christmas Eve service. So Answers in Genesis started in 1994, and they built the Creation Museum in Kentucky in 2007. And then in 2016, they opened the Ark Encounter, about 45 miles away, also there in Kentucky. So we've got the two major sites that you can go to, the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. But there's a lot more to the Answers in Genesis ministry than that. A lot of books, a lot of material, a lot of great videos and resources online. And so I do appreciate their ministry and having to shut down a lot this year. It was great that we as a church could support Answers in Genesis. And I have this letter from Ken Ham that he wrote summarizing the giving that's come in this year. He said, dear friends of Answers in Genesis, and that would include us, As I think of all that has happened in the past 12 months, I thank you for supporting AIG so sacrificially. God has worked through your prayers and support to preserve and broaden this ministry during these turbulent times. Without fail, God's mercies have been new every morning. We are entering into such an important time as we prepare our attraction and develop important resources for homeschool, Sunday school, and VBS. Your continued partnership is so vital. We thank you for considering a gift to AIG, and please join me in praying that God will continue to use this ministry to impact even more people than ever in 2021. With gratitude, Ken Ham. So, many, many ministries, many worthy works that are able to be supported, and may God direct each one of us and our congregation to know where we should invest most fully. Another great ministry I have for your consideration this morning is the Todd Becker Foundation. Here's a picture of one of the events that would happen at a high school somewhere here in the Midwest. Each school year, the Todd Becker Foundation travels around the Midwest. They do assemblies in public high schools, government high schools, for grades nine through 12. And during that assembly, Keith Becker, the brother of Todd Becker, who's pictured there in the upper left, and Keith is speaking down on the lower right, Keith shares the story of his brother Todd, who died tragically in a drunk driving accident when he was in high school. God had saved Keith Becker and given him a ministry of evangelism and he uses the story of his brother to reach high schoolers with the good news of Jesus Christ and he's got a very clear focus on the gospel. He knows exactly what he can say and what he can't say during the morning. meeting and then inviting kids to come back and hear the rest of the story in the evening assembly where he has full liberty to share the gospel and he does an excellent job of sharing the gospel. So continue to pray for and support the ministry of the Todd Becker Foundation. He's been here to Norris twice. We were privileged to be the ones that were supporting him last time that he came and did that and hopefully when a couple years pass by and we've got a new crop of students at Norris we'll bring the Todd Becker Foundation back in, his whole team, to be able to share the gospel once again in a powerful way with our school nearby. The last ministry that I'd like to highlight here this morning, well, close to the last, is the ministry of Global Assist. And many of you have met Mark Vishwasam, and he is the director for Global Assist. And it was formerly called Kingdom's Harvest. So Kingdom's Harvest International has changed its name to Global Assist. That's why some of you might be confused saying, Global Assist doesn't ring a bell. Just a couple years ago they changed the name. And we really like the Ministry of Global Assist because it is a local connection. They're headquartered in Lincoln. And yet their ministry takes place in India and Ethiopia. And what they're doing is they're training indigenous pastors and evangelists to start churches in villages throughout India and there's a billion people in India. The gospel has been preached in most of the cities and there's churches established, evangelical churches established in the cities, but the villages are without churches. And so Global Assist comes in and assists Christian workers in India and Ethiopia to go from the city to get the training, to go out to the village, proclaim the Christ, start churches, and then that church goes to the other villages and starts churches and it's just amazing the work that God is doing in this way and that it's being assisted right here in our backyard. The world has really become quite small in some ways. So continue to pray for global assist and keep Mark in your prayers as God continues to use him in mighty ways. I could also mention the ministry of Operation Christmas Child, Samaritan's Purse, that we are a part of each year and is a wonderful organization and a neat ministry. We talk about the Iwana Adopt-A-Club program that our kids are involved with in missions in Venezuela. We talk about the ministry down on the UNL campus of Adam Johnson with Ratio Christi and his ministry called Convincing Proof. There's a lot of ministry opportunities and partnership and too much to fit in here on one Sunday morning. And you go back and you look at the history of our church and you think about how we had that connection for so long with Back to the Bible, with Campus Life through Nathan Kroll, through Clarence and Pearl Shelley who are ministering with Gospel Radio, and Daryl and Cheryl Epler and Herb Clausen and so many that have been a part of our work. And each one of those works is written down in God's book. Each one of those ministers has a reward for the work that he or she has done. and that we have a reward who have been a part of that and partnered with them. Now, in closing, there is two more ministries that we no longer support on a regular basis but are still dear to our hearts. And that would be, first off, the ministry of Juan and Hannah Fernandez. They are no longer in Nebraska City. They've moved to the St. Louis metro area. And I try to keep in contact with Juan, and he's always such an encouragement whenever I talk to him or hear from him. And so his prayer request for this year was this. Pray for us as we start a new Hispanic ministry with the Baptist Missionary Association. Its national office has recommended us with the state and local office and the church in St. Louis to reach out with the Great Commission. So when I told Juan that we were going to be praying for him this morning and focusing on his ministry, he sent me an email. Brother Tim, this email is so encouraging for us. At this time, I'm in Houston on another training and will be back in St. Louis next Tuesday. Praising the Lord, since this coming Wednesday at 9 a.m., I'm going to receive my citizenship, my U.S. citizenship. On Thursday, a group of fellow pastors will be joining us for prayer for Hispanic family ministry in the city. In the near future, we will be celebrating an ordination and Eleanor's baby dedication. She's two years old now. I finally have a church to call home. Thank you for your prayers. We hope to complete the vision to reach out to Hispanic families and strengthening our prayer network. I will continue bringing ministry updates. To him be the glory. Un abrazo amigo y hermano en Cristo, Tim. So I appreciate Juan. Keep on praying for them. It's neat to see him continuing his work in another place. And then finally, a missionary that we've been closely associated with the past. I just wanted to give you an update and make you aware of the Scots, Edwin and Samantha Scott. They were married in our church back when I first came here in 2008. August 9th, 2008, I got to perform the marriage ceremony for Edwin and Samantha. And their family is in the area, and dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. And they work in Nicaragua with pawn ministries, although Edwin's health has been very difficult the last several years. And because of back pain and other problems, he hasn't been able to travel and do as much work in Nicaragua. The majority of the work for Pawn Ministries has been handed over to his close friend and ministry partner Jaime Blandon. So you can continue to pray for Pawn Ministries. Pray for Jaime as he trains pastors in Nicaragua to be able to minister the word. And pray for Edwin. He would be strong in the midst of difficulty and trial, and that God would show him what ministry he has to do next. And we really do appreciate the time that we had with Edwin and Samantha and miss them. They live down in Texas now, and we look forward to hearing what God is going to continue to do in their lives. Like I said, a lot of ministry. And if I didn't highlight your ministry, or if there's a ministry that you would like us to be aware of, then bring that to the elders, bring that to my attention. be happy to look into that. And we do have to be somewhat selective as to who we focus on and who we support, because we wanna build strong relationships and we wanna not just have a list of missionaries that we don't know anything about, but we wanna have a list of missionaries that we know and love and care for. And I appreciate the work that each one of you do to care for our missionaries, whether it's a package that's put together and sent over to Africa with lots of goodies for the Ellis family, or sending a note, or just sending an email of encouragement. There's many ways. You might not realize how much it means to a missionary to hear from people in the churches and to feel like they're a part of the body of Christ at large and not out there by themselves. So keep that in mind. I encourage you. Our scripture reading today is from Philippians chapter 1. And Paul wrote there in Philippians chapter 1, I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. Jesus Christ told his disciples in Matthew chapter 28, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. And so though there are many opponents, that's a sign of salvation for us. That's a sign that we're doing the Lord's work and that we're on his side. And God allows opponents to do what they do because he is going to use it for the greater progress of the gospel. And as Paul suffered in jail, being imprisoned for preaching the good news of Christ, he wrote the letter on joy. And so we can continue on doing the work of the Lord and encouraging those who are doing that in the midst of difficulty, suffering, and opposition, like the man who was arrested for doing Bible studies in the refugee camps and let go, that he just keeps on rejoicing and continuing the work. My situation has turned out for the greater progress of the Gospel. Jesus is Lord and His Gospel is unstoppable.