We had a great week of Ministry at Faith Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. The youth group had their first ever Cola War on Thursday night. There was just the right amount of visitors for the event, and a few teens made professions of faith that night.
The highlight of the week was the Valentine’s Banquet on Friday night. Pastor Wooten, along with several church members, worked hard throughout the week to make the evening a success. Praise the Lord for the hard work of His saints to invite their friends to hear the Gospel.
-Elise Lafferty
Reaching out to the community is important for every church, and this past week in Lehigh Acres, Florida, our team was able to help Gunnery Road Baptist Church host an event for their preschool, seeking to reach their families with the gospel. Gunnery Road Christian Academy Preschool has a unique opportunity to educate children from various backgrounds, so when this preschool event took place, many unsaved parents and children were able to hear a clear presentation of the gospel. That night our children's program ran about 100. Eight children were counseled for their need of salvation. Will was able to preach to forty families about biblical parenting and also presented the gospel. The response from the families was excellent! Parents of this generation are seeking help to properly bring up their children, and the foundation they need is love. This love cannot be expressed without knowing God's pure love for them and then communicating that love back to their children. We praise God for the great turn out and that the gospel was able to go forth into the community of Lehigh Acres this past week.
Our travel through Utah to Colorado had some of the most beautiful scenery I had ever seen.
Snow capped mountains, red rock canyons, and portions of the Great Salt Lake.
The team was awed at how beautiful God has designed this world, and how true it is that creation is an evidence of God’s existence and His mighty power.
God’s power was also evident at Pear Park Baptist Church in saving souls and in causing others to seek Him more.
Jared and I (Laura) felt a burden for our outreach night on Wednesday, and felt the need to pray specifically for Will’s gospel message for the adults and Josh’s gospel message for the children. By God’s grace I was able to lead a girl to the Lord that we were specifically praying for, and Jared was able to give the gospel to a visiting boy.
Our team is constantly reminded that it is not we who have the power to save or to convict; it is all through the Lord.
-Laura Kennedy
This past week in Meridian, The Lord allowed a great work to be done at Fellowship Baptist Church. We were able to go door to door witnessing with the teens on Tuesday and Wednesday, and by God’s grace each day we were all able to share the gospel with at least one person. One teen girl was able to lead a Spanish woman to the Lord!
Pastor Jeff Estes was a huge blessing to our team. He was always there to help us out through the week. The love that he has for his congregation is an evident fruit of His love for The Lord. God has blessed him with a congregation knit like a family. Pastor Estes declared Tuesday night, Orange and Blue night to celebrate the pride of the Boise Broncos. The entire church building was full of orange and blue; even pom poms were hung up for decoration.
Assistant Pastor Best has been burdened for his neighbors to come to Christ. Thankfully he has been able to bring some of his neighbors’ children to church. After much prayer from the Best family, two of them accepted Christ this week!
Over the past few weeks, we've enjoyed meetings with two special churches in two very different parts of the country! We were with our dear friends at Littleton Baptist Church in Littleton, CO for a half week of meetings. In our short time there, we were able to have a Cola War and a Sacred Irish Concert, which was almost snowed out! However, the snow stopped right before the service--many visitors were able to come out, and at least one lady was saved! We enjoyed fellowshipping during lunch times with Pastor and Mrs. Davis, and the ladies who made our wonderful meals every day. We had a great week for the Amazing Grace Race, and we were excited to see several children trust Christ as their Savior!
Click here to see pictures from this week.
This past week took us to Highlands Baptist Church in Centennial, CO. God was working in the hearts of the people of this church long before we arrived, and it was blessing to do ministry with them! Although the weather frequently changed, the attendance to the services was solid. We had a great Cola War on Wednesday night, seeing several teens come out from our canvassing efforts. Thanks to the generosity of God’s people, the church was able to mail out invitations to the community, and we saw a large group of visitors for the Irish Concert. We’re thankful for the souls that were saved and the growth we saw. We had to cancel the service on Thursday night because of a snow storm, but we are thankful God is in control and we can trust Him as the Lord of the harvest! We had the extra blessing of spending time with dear friends of ours, Terry and Michael Pettit. (See Reba’s article for more of the fun news.) Praise the Lord for a great week!
Our week at Western Avenue Baptist Church was a blessing and encouragement! Throughout the week, many people made salvation decisions, and we had a good number of visitors at our Sacred Irish Concert. We know that God's Word will not return void, and we were thankful for the opportunity to both sow and reap in this church. We were blessed by the kind and giving people in this church, through their meals, hospitality, and service to us. Reba and Caroline enjoyed a special treat--staying in their very own trailer for the week! They were excited about this opportunity, and they learned a lot about trailer life. It was a great week of ministry! The team parted ways on Friday for a week of vacation--the Coffeys headed to Washington to visit Aaron's sister and her husband, the Galkins travelled up to our next church, Westside Baptist in St. George, UT, and Josh, Reba, and Caroline took a visit to Josh's sister's house in San Diego (see Reba's article for the story.) We are grateful to be reunited again, and looking forward to the ministry here in Utah.
Last week, we had the joy of serving with the people at Messiah Baptist Church in Wichita Falls, Texas. Although it feels like the week went by too fast, we enjoyed ministering with Pastor Lukus and Liesl Counterman—Christy and Liesl traveled together on the Pettit team several years ago. The week started out strong, as we rejoiced in the two souls that were saved on Sunday morning. With inclement weather throughout the week, and an ice storm on Tuesday that caused us to cancel our service that evening, it was a comfort to know that God is sovereign, and that He works out all things to bring Him glory! We were able to go canvassing in two public schools on Thursday for the Cola War that night, and from the teens that came, three received Christ! We are thankful that we saw at least one teen, adult, or child saved every night of the meetings! Aaron had the opportunity to preach at a Hunter’s Banquet the weekend before, so they joined us a little later in the week for our Sacred Irish Concert—and we are very grateful for the safety God granted them as they drove through the ice. The church family at Messiah was a blessing to us this past week, and we left on Friday morning thankful for our time with them and looking forward to seeing God’s future work in and through this church!
As our team ministered in Huntsville, Alabama at Calvary Baptist Church last week, we learned many things--that cold weather and ice do exist in the South, that Huntsville has more earned Ph.D.'s per capita than any other city, and most importantly, that God is working in the lives and hearts of the people in this church! From the very first service on Sunday morning, our team enjoyed the warmth of and fellowship with the congregation at Calvary. This week was a blessing to us in more than one way. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we enjoyed canvassing with many of the teens from the church, inviting teenagers out to the Cola War. We even got to pass out invitations in a public high-school, thanks to the good relationship between the youth pastor, Derrick Suttles, and the administration of the public school. Thursday night, we saw over 150 teens come out for a cold but fun Cola War, and we praised God for answered prayer as He called 17 teens to salvation! Despite sickness amongst team members, which often resulted in lost voices, we were able to have a wonderful Sacred Irish Concert, and saw many church members bring visitors. Although the week was fun and encouraging, we are most of all grateful for the way God brought souls to salvation, called wandering Christians back to Himself, and reminded those who love Him that He is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure!
Warmer weather and sunny days greeted us at Faith Baptist Church in Warren, MI. Not only was the weather a blessing to us during the week, but we were also blessed by the excitement and evangelism of the people at Faith Baptist. The Irish Concert on Wednesday night was filled with unsaved family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers of the members of the church, and we were thankful for the souls that were saved throughout the week. The team got a chance to work with hundreds of children on Wednesday night that the church buses in weekly for services. We held an after-service Cola War for the teens that was well attended by the church members and their friends. We even had some extra excitement added to our week when William woke up with the chicken pox on Monday morning. (see Christy's article and video) The generosity and kindness of the people at Faith was a blessing to us, and we enjoyed serving along side of them for the week and seeing people brought into God's family!
Starting this Fall, our team will be enhanced by the addition of two new members. Reba Snyder and Josh Roland will be joining up with our team to help with the ministry of the Gospel. We are very excited about this new addition and know that the Lord is going to bless and work through and in our whole team as we strive together in love for the labors of Christ.
Reba Snyder is originally from South Bend, Indiana. She grew up playing the piano and received a degree in Church Music. She traveled with the Steve Pettit Evangelistic Team for 3 years where she not only developed other musical talents but was able to begin arranging music and writing music of her own. The Lord has gifted her in music and she wants to use her gifts for the furtherance of the Gospel.
She loves Starbucks coffee and enjoys running. Her jubilant attitude will be a joy to have on the team. We are looking forward to what God has in store while laboring together.
Josh Roland, originally from Denver, Colorado, will also be joining us in the fall semester. He, being Christy's brother, will have no trouble finding his niche with the nephews and nieces. He too has been gifted in music and wants to use his talents in whatever way possible for the cause of Christ.
Josh will be assisting Will with administrative tasks as well as helping Aaron with the teen and children's programs. He received his M.A. in Bible and desires to eventually get involved with Church Planting in some facet or another.
What a joy to return to Northland and preach where Will was a college student.