here and pleased to be here. It doesn't matter how many times I've ever spoken in this pulpit, by the way, probably thousands, 40 years. I still get nervous. Doesn't matter how big the crowd or how small. So I probably get a dry mouth before it's over, but I'll get used to it. Anyway, it's an honor. Mike Biddle just reminded me that he was in this church before I came. 45 plus years ago. And some of you were here when I came or before I came, Bob Boone, Bob and Beth. And I'm gonna miss somebody. But I, and Shelly, if she were here, would go way back before then. So I appreciate your faithfulness. And those of you who have come since then, we're just amazed at what God does through his people. I want to give you just a mini update on my health, because I know a lot of you have been praying for me. I had what they call a PET scan Friday of this week, I believe it was, Thursday maybe. And I hadn't ever had one of those, but it's kind of like an MRI. where you go into the tube, only it's not as rattling as the MRI. It's kind of a mini MRI. So you go not so far. You go halfway in. There's no banging and no music. And it's 15 or 20 minutes. And they take a scan of your chest, basically your abdomen, down to the upper thighs. And so the picture they get is like a 3D picture. They can really tell better what's going on. with your cancer that way, so. And I was amazed that before the afternoon was over, I got the results of the test from St. Francis, and basically, and I talked to my family doctor about this, Basically, the cancer is not doing any damage anymore than it already has. It's kind of at bay because of the medication I'm taking and so forth. And so, that's good. It's not a remission, that's not good, but we pray the Lord's will be done, so that's okay. And that's good, it's his will. So, appreciate your prayers. We're just gonna see, I think they're gonna have to change my medication. in a few days because the insurance said they're not going to continue to pay for what I've been taking for three years. So probably have some generic thing, but thank you for your prayers. And Ellen's making good progress, too, with her therapy after total knee replacement. So she appreciates your prayers, too. Take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 14, if you would, please. Acts chapter 14. I've announced the subject, Minding Missions. And of course, the early church in embryonic stage in Acts chapter one was told by Jesus to meet in an upper room and Jerusalem would wait for the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon them. They did so. The day of Pentecost came, Acts two, and thousands were saved. multiplied thousands after that, and the church had a mushroom growth in the beginning. Gentiles were brought in along with Jews. The Apostle Paul was saved and became a great missionary. So those first few chapters and acts record all of that. And Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch, And by the way, that's where the disciples were first called Christians. It says, then departed Paul Barnabas to Sarsis for to seek Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So they were there, had a great time preaching. And then we're gonna go to Acts 14 to bring us up to date for the message tonight. In this early exciting phase, stage of the church age, missions was on the front burner, of course. Jesus has said, you will receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and they did. And that power resulted in powerful preaching, preaching repentance, Acts chapter two, for salvation, faith and repentance. And then many were saved. Okay. Verse 1 of Acts 14, and it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together to the synagogue of the Jews and spake that, and so spake that a great multitude, both Jews and Gentiles and Greeks believed. But back up to chapter 13, I'm sorry, I really needed to start here. Chapter 13 of Acts, verse 1, now there were in the church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon. It was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manin, which had been brought up with Herod, the Tetrarch, and Saul. And as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work wherein I have called them And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed unto Seleucia and from thence sailed to Cyprus. And then the rest of that chapter and most of chapter 14 tells us about their first missionary journey. I think they visited at least nine churches, nine cities, maybe you can find another one or two, but they were They were received by some cities, but had opposition in most of those cities from unbelievers. Paul was stoned and left for dead in Derby, I believe it was, and they were run out of other cities. They shook the dust and went to another town and preaching the gospel, usually in the synagogues. But it's an amazing thing how they were able to get a nucleus of believers by the power of God together in most of these locations. They had, by the way, they came back, and that's Acts 14, and drop down to verse 26, if you would, in Acts 14. And then sailed to Antioch. This is after they had visited nine or 10 cities, and then revisited some of them on their way back to Antioch. And then sailed Antioch from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. And when they were come and had gathered the church together, that's the church that sent them, Antioch. They rehearsed all that God had done with them, how that He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles, and there they abode long time with the disciples. And they had a great ministry there. That's in Antioch, if you look at a map. a couple hundred miles, I think, on just north of Jerusalem, near the Mediterranean Sea. So it was a center of early Christian mission service. So I want to impress upon you the fact that it was a local church, church at Antioch, in which men were serving the Lord, including Paul and Barnabas, busy serving him. And this church, led of the Holy Spirit, separated a couple of these men that were serving in the church and sent them out as missionaries. That word missionary may not be used there, but that's what they were. They were sent out to preach the gospel, which they did. John Mark went with them about halfway and then turned back and came back. You know that story. But they had phenomenal experience, success, I think you would say. And so, churches ever since then, including our church and churches today, have been doing the same thing. We've been praying for and we've been laying hands upon men, women, who in this church are busy serving God and we thrust them out into the field of the world. Now, God has to call them. We don't call them, but God calls them and We send them as churches. That's how missionaries from America in the last several decades have flourished, missions have flourished, basically, by churches just like this one sending out missionaries to the far-flung corners of the world. I want to highlight some missionaries that we have had the privilege at Thompson Road Baptist Church of sending out over the years. By the way, this church was birthed with the spirit of world missions. I've read the early records. Thompson Road Baptist Church was started just about a block over here on Matthews Avenue in the garage of one of the members. They had a pastor, I believe his name was Savage. Shelly's not here, she can confirm all of this. Her mom and dad were charter members of this church. And I read the record of their annual budget, first years, first two or three years, and a good percentage of it was for world missions. I think they even used the word faith promise, and that was a very unheard of term back in those days. But it was a missions-minded, a church that was minding missions from the very first day. Eventually, the man that owned Longacre Park gave the church this plot of land, and so they built a building. First of all, what's called Grace Place now, that's high wooden beams, that was their first auditorium. And they had a missions heart then, and they have ever since. Roy Julian became the pastor in 1973. Some of you knew him. He had a great vision for world missions and an evangelistic spirit. In 1973, he came before. He came about 67 and left in 73. Dr. Fred Morse came in 73. and was here until I came in 79, and Dr. Moritz, of course, continued that missionary emphasis, and under his ministry, there were missionaries sent out from here, and we've had the privilege of doing so since. So that's kind of a background. By the way, about 1969, this auditorium was built, and so the church moved out of Grace Place, where the bookstore is in my old office. That was a wing, not really connected to except down at the end to this church. So they built the building, the auditorium, 69, moved in, and then we were able to build the multipurpose building about the year 2000. In fact, 2001 is when we moved into the new building. Some offices began to occupy it September the 9th, September the 11th, 2001. Pastor Mawson had his U-Haul loaded up. He had served here several years. The Lord called him to the Milwaukee area. And on his way up is when he got the news of 9-11. So, background. So, number one, Ed and Sylvia Christie. I want to begin there. Ed was a member of the church because when he graduated from Beach Grove High School, he was working beside a man that was a member of this church. His name was Dick Reed. And Dick Reed, if you go way back, you might remember Dick Reed. I knew him personally. But anyway, Dick Reed said to Ed Christie one day, he said, are you saved? And Ed had never heard of being saved. He grew up at a mainline denominational church in Beach Grove. He and his family attended there. probably regularly, Sunday after Sunday, but never heard the gospel. So Dick Reed said to Ed Christie, well, why don't you come and visit our church some Sunday? Would you do that? And Ed later testified, he said, okay, just to be, you know, get him off his back, so to speak. But one cold winter morning, Ed woke up and decided this would be a good Sunday to, To keep my promise, I told him I'd go visit some Sunday, so I'm going to. So he came, and Dr. Moritz was not feeling well that day. He was sick that day. The youth pastor was preaching, and he talked about being saved and salvation, just like Pastor Jeremy did this morning so aptly. And so Ed responded to the invitation, came forward and said, I need to be saved. He'd never heard about being saved all of his life. He was just out of high school, I think. So a personal worker knelt at the altar, opened the box, showed him exactly how to be saved. He accepted Christ. Shortly after that, he felt called to go to Tennessee Temple School. where he went and majored in, I think, secondary education. I'm not sure. He didn't, was not enrolled in a Bible course that time. Graduated from there, probably was there about the time Shelly Grossman was a student at Tennessee Temple. Came back home and then he decided to go to San Francisco Baptist Theological Seminary. Back in that day, that was a good fundamental sound seminary. Arnold Winnegar was the president. and Archer Winograd, his brother. So anyway, Ed went there, got an MDiv, that's a Master's of Divinity, which is a degree for those who are headed to ministry. After that, he came back and he decided that the Lord would want him to go to Bob Jones University where he would pursue a PhD in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament. He did that and was awarded. All the time, those of us who knew him, and we became pretty well acquainted over the years, became burdened for Ed to get a wife. He was very, it wasn't that he hadn't dated. In fact, he told us about some, he dated quite a bit, as much as he could as a student, but never found the right gal that would meet the nine or 10 qualifications on his list. The last one being, I think, pianist. And so my thinking was, maybe you better shorten that list down a little bit, Ed. That's about the time he got his PhD, but he didn't short it down. When he was down there, there was a young lady named Sylvia Carr. She was a nurse. She'd gone to Bob Jones University and graduated and stayed on to work at the university hospital called Barge Memorial at that time. I don't think it's still in existence, but that's where she was working. I don't know whether Ed got sick and met her as a nurse there, but anyway, they met, and that's all it took. The rest is history. She was from Iowa, by the way. Her dad's a pastor. She grew up in a Christian home. She had a burden for mission since she was a young girl. So they went to, they were appointed by Baptist Mid Mission. You see the letters B-M-M, that's Baptist Mid. Every one of our missionaries has been appointed by a credible, independent Baptist board because they can do things for missionaries that we can't as a local church do something. We're responsible for the missionaries we send out. But we work with boards. Boards work with us. Pastor Jeremy's father has recently taken a position with Baptist Mid as a field director for Far East, I believe. But it's a great asset to a local church to have a good board because, for instance, we had a missionary, not our church, but our board, the one I've been with for 44 years now, Baptist World, had a missionary come down with, oh, the cow disease, I forget what they call it. But anyway, you know, it was deadly. Hardly anybody ever saw it. So he was med-vacced. In fact, he's a missionary that we still support. He was made back out of Germany to Indiana University Hospital, and the Lord just healed him. The Lord saved him. Mad cow disease. The Lord just spared his life, and he's back over there now as a missionary. You can look him up on the prayer sheet, Missionary to Germany. So it would have cost our church more than we could have even imagined to med vacuum home, boards help with visas, getting commissioners and a lot of other things. So it's a good thing to have. Baptist Mid-Missions, it's a good board out of Cleveland. And they were appointed in 1985, Sylvia and Ed, to go to France as missionaries. And they arrived on the field after deputation in 1990. So they reported 40 years ago, they've been on the field 35 years. They've started two churches there, Ed's pastored. And all the while he's been teaching. block courses in a Bible institute in the Paris area, I think a week or so a month. So he's been very busy doing that. And Shelby is the essence of a perfect missionary's wife. She's just an amazing woman. She plays the piano too, by the way. They have had two children. They have two children, Grant, who lives in the Paris area, works there single, and Jana, And Jaina married a French man a few years ago, Karan Zandri, I believe his name is pronounced. They had three children, Casey, Wesley, and Eva. And I sent out a little questionnaire to these missionaries I was gonna feature. I said, what are your goals for the next few years? And Ed wrote back, my goal is to finish well the race. running across the finish line by the grace of God, and then also to find a national pastor that he can train to take the place, take his place when that time comes. They want to buy a building. They've already reached 75 in attendance, which is amazing. We were there for Jaina's wedding a few years ago, I think it was 2015 maybe, and the church had a handful of people and they've grown. to 75 now, it's amazing. And Ed said once, I remember he said, it's nothing we've done, it's just the Lord's blessing. So we have been privileged, so we've been privileged for 40 years to be co-labors with this superb couple, missionary couple. Grew up in Beach Grove, never heard the gospel when we came here. Got saved, prepared, commissioned here at the church and sent out. to the field of the world. Secondly, second missionary, a couple I want to feature is Mark and Diane DuPont. Mark and Diane DuPont. The DuPonts are with Northwest Baptist Mission. By the way, the picture you see there is of Diane. She's on my left. I guess it's your left. She's on the left, and Sandra, our daughter, who lives now in northwest Indiana, is to the right. And they were, I think, Sandy was 13 when we moved here in 79, and Diane was 14. So they were buddies, same youth group. Diane sent that picture some time back and said, Sandra would kill me if she knew I sent this. But anyway, I thought it would be kind of fun to see it. Okay, you can move on to the next picture. The Oxleys. By the way, Diane grew up as a bus kid here at Thompson Road Baptist Church. She had virtually no parents. And she had no encouragement from anybody in her home to attend church. Bus workers went every week, made sure she was coming, picked her up, faithful bus workers like Dick Hall, who's now with the Lord and others, and brought her. And then there were some families that realized that Psalm 27, was true in her life. When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Psalm 2710. She had nobody, really, except this church family. And so there were families that helped her. She went to Suburban Baptist Christian School, graduated, went somehow, mustered up enough help to get to BJU, Bob Jones. And when she was there, the Lord began to speak to her heart about missions. First summer home, she said, she heard a message from the pulpit here about John 15, 16, I believe it is. You've not chosen me, but I've chosen you to go forth and bear forth much fruit. That stuck with her. Went back to school, and at the time, Tony Miller was preaching in chapel one day from that particular text in John. And so she was burdened again for missions. She said, Lord, I'm willing, and by the way, he assembled a missions team to the Intermountain States out west and challenged the students to go out on this summer missions trip. Diane had nowhere to go, but she said, Lord, I'm willing, but you'll have to supply the needs. Well, don't you know, she soon found out, a little bit later, that her dad, who wasn't ever a part of her life, when he passed away in his will, there was a bank account that nobody knew about, and she got the money from it, and it was enough to go on the mission trip, also the next year at college, Bob Jones University. That next year's when she met Mark DuPont. He was out from, I think, Vermont or somewhere out east. And they met on that missions trip, by the way, I think, out to the Intermountain States, and fell in love. They courted, fell in love, and were married. And so, the DuPonts have been serving in Utah since 1993, 32 years. They were appointed in 89. and they were on the field in 93. In the last 21 years, they have served in Beaver, Utah. I think our youth took a trip out there maybe a year before last, a little church. I had the privilege to go out and hold a meeting for them a few years ago, too, and it's a great work. So they have been married 40 years. By the way, you got that wedding picture? Is that still around? If it's not, okay. There was a picture of their wedding, there it is. I think Marty and Sandy are in there, and I think Show Worker girl to my right is there, Angie Show Worker, some of you remember some of those people. By the way, that wedding was a historic event for our family. Mark had to get some groomsmen to come up to stand up here with him, marriage right here in this pulpit, at the wedding, and so he just kind of passed the word out, hey, do you want to take a trip to Indianapolis for the weekend? I need a groomsman or two. Well, a guy by the name of Dale Nye didn't have anything better to do that weekend, so he He volunteered, he came up. We had rehearsal Friday night over at the Parsonage. After rehearsal, we had some fellowship with the groomsmen. Hadn't met them before. Hadn't met Mark, really. It was time to get together. So we were just kind of going down the line, asking some questions. Where are you from? What are you doing? Where are you majoring in? One of those guys was Scott Paisley, I believe, friend of Dale. He's pastored many years over, not only a great guy, But one of them was Dale Nye. And when I came to Dale Nye, I said, Dale, where are you from? And he said, well, you'll have to ask Dale what he said. Maybe Marty will tell you. So he said, and then he said what he said. I'm not going to tell you. But he was, by the way, grew up in the Cleveland area, Ohio. But he later told me, he told us what he thought also, not only what he said, but what he thought. He saw Marty walk through the living room and back to the bedroom a time or two, he was 17 then. And he said to himself, I'm gonna marry that girl. And he did. So a little bit of extra history, extra missionary history. The DuPonts have three children, Mark, and Ruth and Joel, very talented young people, and they had 12 grandchildren. They said their goals are to add on to the building they have. By the way, I think, I'm pretty sure they are self-supporting now. We've supported them all these years, but I believe they're self-supporting. We may still send mission money to them, I'm not sure. But the church has become, under the leadership, mentorship of Mark DuPont, and the labors of Diane as a team, self-supporting. So they're wanting to add on to their building, have a nice little building. It's right smack in the middle of the heart of Mormonism. An hour and a half from, I think, from the capital city. So, great opportunity, and they've been faithful. They said, we'd like to add on to our church building, and we'd like to get $100,000 before we do that, and we've got $30,000 saved up already. Mark is 62. So he said, I'm not planning to resign anytime soon. Diane's 60. So they've got some probably some fruitful years left to serve. And so we couldn't be more proud of this bus kid. Thompson Road, married a missionary and became missionary team and been in Utah for 40 years, 36 years. That's just a work of grace. And I don't know how you feel about it, but I know how I feel. I couldn't be more proud, not just in a bad sense, but proud, happy, thankful that God would choose to use you, our church, to cull and cultivate a young life that was, in the eyes of most people, wasted. No family. No encouragement to serve God at all except through the walls of this church and the Blessed Message. And God did it. God did it through love and through generosity of God's people. Thirdly, I want to talk about the Bandas. Some people pronounce it Banda, but I'm just going to do it the English way, Banda. They're missionaries out of the Baptist mission also. which has their headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. Michelle, when she came to this church with her family, she was in about fifth or sixth grade. My wife, I think, had her in a Sunday school class. And Michelle made it known that she, when she was able, when she got older, she wanted to be a missionary. That was her lifelong ambition, her goal, her dream, to be a missionary. When she graduated from high school, she enrolled in the college down on County Line Road. I think it's Heritage Baptist. It might be called Indiana Baptist College now. They've changed the name a time or two, but that's the school she went to. Graduated as a single gal, and still had a burden for missions, and was appointed as a single missionary. by Baptist mid-mission. Ellen and I had the privilege to go up when the day that she was going to be appointed. By the way, and Larry Young is one of my best friends, but he would be the first to admit he opposed her going to, he opposed her being a missionary. Tried every way he could to discourage her. He wasn't saved at the time. Since has been saved in one of her, he would not oppose it at all, but at that time, He didn't want her to go to the field as a missionary. So we were up there in Cleveland the day she was appointed by Baptist Mid. And after her examination by probably 15 or 20 august pastors, sober, somber, I'm sure, pastors, Gary Anderson, who was president of Baptist Mid at the time, came in and said, He was introducing the missionaries that had been examined and were going to be appointed. Came to Michelle, and he said, now, this young lady is single. We interviewed her, and it was unanimous amongst the board that if she were a man, we would ordain her on the spot. I mean, she flew through the interview. She knew the answers to every question. She was solid in her doctrinal beliefs and so forth, so they were very, very impressed with Michelle Young as she was interviewed. Well, she wanted to go as a mapper to a certain place, and that door was closed, so she said, where can I go then? And she was given counsel by either a teacher or a board member. Well, Zambia would be a good place. We've got a good work there. Pray about that. She did. And she was appointed to go to Zambia. She did her deputation crisscrossing the country as a single gal. We kind of, we just kind of kept us on our knees praying for her. But she did well and before long had her support and went over to Zambia in 2002. While she was there, she met a young man who had grown up in a missionary home, a Baptist missionary home. They became friends and then they began to court and eventually they came back here as single. two single adults in this church were married in 2000, I think it was 2010, maybe before that, maybe 2008, somewhere in there. But anyway, you know the rest of the story there. They've been on the field, ministering. since 2010, so they probably began their deputation shortly after their wedding. She already had some support, so it wasn't quite like she started from zero. Harrison has had a ministry, Harrison and Michelle, in Zambia of training nationals. By the way, some of you have been there. Pastor Joel, too, and Mike Fulton and others. Training nationals, they bring them in for a week, maybe at a time, sometimes two times a year, but most usually once at least. I don't know how many, 30, 40, 50 pastors nationally come in and they have intense Bible training. And so some of our men have gone over to help them build buildings to have these meetings in. So that's one of the ministries they've had. They have a small farm where they grow vegetables. They raise chickens and pigs. And one other thing, but I forget what it was, but anyway, they have a small farm. And they have an effective ministry of late, the last few years, with the youth of the area playing soccer. And I think even now, Harrison is kind of coaching on one of the local soccer teams. He's probably an expert at it. So they have, they've done that. Michelle has said that before they came home on Furler, she was, checking into some opportunities at a local college where she could be a teacher and influence young people there. And so she says when she goes back, she would like to pursue that. The band has had three children, Hadassah 16, Hadassah, maybe it's pronounced, 16, Josiah 14, and Michaela 12. I think Michelle said she's almost 12. She might be 12 by now, so it doesn't matter. You probably know that they've been here on furlough more than a year, and Harrison has had heart issues that he's under doctors' care about, and they really haven't got a good resolution as long as he's on medication that he can get here. I think it helps. He's not sure he can get it back there. So just pray for them, considering what is going to happen in the next chapter of their life. He needs the medication. He's a little fearful of going back without it too. So just pray for them and that they'll have wisdom. And pray for their supporting churches. We are their sending church. But other churches have joined with us. And I think they have full support. Maybe they could always use more. But if they're not going back soon, they may begin to lose some of that. So we really need to pray that God would give them wisdom about going back and when and whether. So anyway, a girl from her middle school days at least, I think before that, before they came here, they'd been members of another Baptist church. Michelle had harbored that dream in her heart since she was very young, to be a missionary. And so you, teachers, nurtured that, encouraged her, coached her, and helped her financially as well as spiritually. And for the past 15 years, she and her husband have been serving, and she before that, on the field faithfully. Next, those three are the three active missionaries still serving, multiple years, 36 years, 40 years. By the way, I regret as pastor that when Ed and Sylvia reached their 40th anniversary on the field—I believe they'd been there 40 years, I said. Maybe it was 36. We need to be really sensitive. Yeah, they were appointed 40 years, so they weren't on the field 40 years, but 36 probably. We need to make a big deal of it, and we didn't, and I'm sorry as a pastor, I didn't, I wasn't awake on that. Make a big, and honor them with some kind of recognition. Here's another family that we didn't do it for that I regret, Steve and Teresa Fox. Now you see the word in memoriam, and I'll explain why. Steve was another local Indianapolis Southsider Some of you who are native Indian people might remember Fox Skating Rink. It's probably about two miles from here, off Sumner and near Madison. I mean, the shell of the building, skating rink. His dad owned that, Mr. Fox. Steve probably grew up there. Well, his life as a young man was pretty rocky. He ended up at Tennessee Temple University, or college at the time, maybe. But he went there via the Lester Roloff home down in Corpus Christi, Texas for troubled young people. Evidently, he got the help he needed because he ended up at Tennessee Temple. There was a young girl from West Virginia. I don't know her maiden name, but her first name was I know it as well as I know my own, but the best, Teresa, Teresa, it's not Teresa, it's Teresa, the foxes. So they met at Tennessee Temple, and they married, and both of them had a heart for missions. They wanted to go to Trinidad. Probably have to look it up on a map, see where it is. It probably wasn't the easiest place to go to. In fact, the door was closed. They could not get Mises into Trinidad, so they went to St. Thomas, and they worked in missions there for a while. Not too long, maybe less than a year. And then they went to the Philippines, and they were there several years as missionaries. While they were there, Steve's heart and also Teresa's became burden for the American Indians southwest. And so they came back from the Philippines and they were sent out under BIMI, Baptist International Missions Incorporated. By the way, back in those years, some of the best missionaries I've ever known came out of BIMI. Ron White is one of them. Otis Seals is another. Missionaries that we as a church supported for 40 years. Otis died a few years ago. We supported his wife for several years until just recently. But anyway, they ended up, they went to Arizona. They were appointed by BMI and began deputation in this church. Theresa just told me on the phone two days ago, this church was the first church to take them on. And we became their synod church. And that was in 1973. First church to support them in 1973. I'm not real good at math on my feet, but that's probably over 50 years ago. And they served in Arizona on the Salt River Indian Reservation, beginning their ministry there in 1985. Salt River Indian Reservation. There are several tribes there. Apache, Pima, and a couple others, and they're kind of come together on that reservation. It's in Maricopa County, which is where Phoenix is the capital city. So it's not in an isolated place. My wife and I had the privilege of visiting the foxes in Arizona some years ago when they were living on the reservation. And let me just say this, and Teresa's probably gonna listen to this on YouTube, but she would not be, she would agree. It was a place where most any woman that I know wouldn't want to live there. It was a difficult place. Their main business on the reservation is casino, and they have drinking problems, of course, and so forth, and so it would be a hard place. They had some boys, three sons, I believe it was, And so we visited them and were just amazed. They lived there till 2009. I got to make sure I've got the right date. They lived there till 2009, from 85 to 2009. That's 24 years, I guess. That's amazing. And the reason they moved, was because they had scorpions that they could not get out of their living quarters. They had to move. It was a matter of self-preservation. Scorpions. I don't think I would have been able to stay for 24 years, but they did, and they're just choice, first-class missionaries. They never made a big splash in the world, but Steve, as a Bible teacher, Met with those men, discipled them, we attended one of the services when we were there. Discipled them, poured his life into them, Teresa also, as a missionary wife. I just can't say enough about them. And I talked to Teresa, even today I wanted to make sure how many sons, they had three sons. And she was very thankful for what we have done through the years in supporting them. And I apologized. I said, I should have had our church give you some special honor for years. By the way, Steve passed away in 2015. He'd been diagnosed with cancer, I think in 07 maybe, and lived with it, still ministered every day with cancer until the Lord gave him his graduation to heaven in 2015. Teresa stayed on six more years on the reservation as a single missionary ministering to women in churches there. This is just amazing. I'm sorry that my heart's broken for joy and humility. These ambassadors for Christ The guy like Steve that was sent to roll off home, let's roll off for troubled youth, and probably most people said, well, he'll never amount to a hillbilly. Well, so much for that. 30 years on the Salt River Indian Reservation, ministering to the Creek, the Apache, the Pima, and the Navajo Indians. What a story. And then she's staying on six more years. And then she met a man when she was, I think, in Tennessee where one of her sons lived. And they married a few years ago. And I asked Teresa, I said, are you living in Tennessee? She said, no, we're living, what did I say? Huh? The villages, you ever heard of the villages? I said, yeah. We drove through there once. I mean, it's a place I couldn't stay very long. The rent's pretty high. So we're thrilled for her. Not that Steve's in heaven and she was single, but we're thrilled that God brought her together with somebody. And she's not living in a trailer. She's living in the villages. We thank the Lord for that. Last missionary is Kelvin Kruger. Kelvin was born when he was five years of age, diagnosed with a cranial tumor. He was taken to one of the best hospitals out east, and the doctor said, we're gonna do surgery, but probably he'll never have any normal use of his motor, of his skills. Well, they did the surgery, and by the way, Kelvin did have use of his hands and feet. He was a little off balance, as many of you knew him, in his wallet, but he had a good mind, and he had a heart for missions, and he wanted to go to Africa. He had done some service in Australia. came home. I met him probably about 2010, maybe eight, nine, 10, on the campus of Maranatha Baptist University. Our Baptist World Mission had a board meeting there. He came in for appointment. I'd never met him before in my life. He sat down on a chair, and he was looking at those 32 august pastors, sober, somber guys. And he said, they asked him a couple questions, and I'm not sure what the next question was, but he said, do you want me to go out and get my dummy? Well, that kind of broke the ice. Everybody had a good laugh. I didn't know what he meant by that, but we found out. Next picture, there's the dummy. His name is Zeke. And Kelvin had a ministry with Zeke. He was able to drive. He came down here and did an internship before he went to South Africa on our staff. He was involved in every aspect of our ministry, choir, bus ministry, every Sunday morning visitation, whatever. And Mrs. Bertram Shelley, took it upon herself to tutor Calvin so that he could make a presentation. His mind was good, but it didn't think like ours. He didn't have an outline and so forth. But he was good, and he had a heart for children especially. And so when I heard his testimony at the board meeting, my heart, there was an instant bond. And the church that had been his sending church had reservation about sending him to Johannesburg with his disabilities. And I pretty much, before I even ask anybody at church here, volunteer, we'll be his sending church. We'd be glad to. The church agreed, of course. He came, did an internship, and did himself to us. And in 2010, we commissioned him here at this church to be a missionary in South Africa. He went. He was able to drive from here, his mom and dad lived in a suburb of Chicago. He drove back and forth sometimes. He was able to drive, navigate, just by himself. And if you saw him, you'd wonder how could he drive, but he did. Went to Johannesburg Catholic Church there that wrapped their arms around him, Calvary Baptist Church. And he served there faithfully. Every week he would go with Zeke at first to a home where disabled children in wheelchairs gathered, about 50 of them. We've seen pictures of them. I think on our website there might be a picture. of Calvin meeting with these wheelchair-bound children, just little kids. And the first time he went, he took Zeke with him, and they were scared to death. They thought Zeke was, you know, demonic. And so he had to put him back in the box, Calvin did, Zeke. So he did so, but still went week after week ministering to those people and doing visitation and helping the pastor in any way he could. And then in 2015, he suffered a disabling stroke and had to come home. and was pretty much bedfast till the Lord called him home in 2021. And I close with this. We had a commissioning service, as I said, for Calvin here. Had one of the officers from Baptist World, I think it was Dr. Kennedy, because Dr. Kennedy, before he became Philip Eppsworld as field director and staff, was a missionary in Canada, and before that he was a, after that rather, he was a, maybe before, he was on the staff at a church in Chicago, in the Chicago area, where Calvin and his family attended, so they were old-time friends. So Dr. Kennedy came and I think preached the commissioning service, but I was able to, to read a poem that I wrote for Calvin on behalf of the church. To ripe fields we send you, with our prayers you'll go, telling folks of Jesus so his love they'll know. We've grown so to love you, love you and the Lord for your love of children, teaching them his word. You have served amongst us with a servant's heart, We are kindred spirits, have been from the start. You've shown us Christ's spirit by your words and deeds. We've seen him in you, meeting others' needs. You've taught us his virtues by your godly talk. He has loved us through you, by your humble walk. So to the fields you go now, Africa, the South. Your words will be mighty, as if from God's own mouth. You will reach his littlest, lovingly bring them in. Their lives will be salvaged from a life of sin. And when at the Bema we lay our worn tools down, they'll be great rejoicing when you get your crown. Father, thank you for these missionaries, that this little old church, we're not a big church, We're not a wealthy church, so to speak. You've always supplied our needs, but nothing over, nothing lacking oftentimes. But we've had people whose hearts are burdened for world missions, and they have sacrificially, over and above, through faith-promised giving to world missions, set some of their hard-earned money aside every month, every week, for missions, world missions, so that we could 35, 40, 25 years support missionaries like the Christies, the Duponts, the Bandas, the Foxes. And dear Calvin Kruger, thank you so much by your grace that you've given us this privilege. We praise you. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Pastor Joe.