Dear Friends,

Several years ago, some friends of my ministry suggested for financial security reasons, that I start my own ministry. That seemed like a lot of work to me, so I put it off. Then in the spring of 2015 I found myself looking for a new job. I thought maybe now is the time to take my friend’s advice and start my own ministry. However that still seemed like a lot of work, and I am really not a maverick, and would rather work more directly within the Seventh-day Adventist organization. So one morning I woke up with an idea. Instead of asking people to contribute to my own ministry, why not ask them to contribute to something that is already organized within the church? So I asked the Plant City Seventh-day Adventist Church, if they would set up a fund that people could contribute to so that I could continue my ministry not only at Plant City but all over the place. As you know the rest is history and they said, “yes!”

Having been given the opportunity by the Plant City Seventh-day Adventist Church, I stepped out in faith, relying upon people being moved by the Holy Spirit to contribute. Amazingly, after a year and a half the contributions are still steadily coming in! I am delighted that so many of you are still faithfully supporting this ministry so that I can focus all my time on actual ministry instead of fundraising. Now, I have been advised by the Plant City SDA church that the monthly contributions are down just a tad. God is still providing, so nobody is in panic mode, but if you are a faithful contributor, and believe God is blessing you for being a contributor, I would ask you to pray and ask God if He would like you to invite others to contribute.

Since my last newsletter God has blessed in many ways. Thank you for allowing me a moment to share just a few of those ways.

Plant City:

Last June I had my first Baptism at the Plant City Seventh-day Adventist Church. Joyce and her 13 year old daughter Madeline were not attending church, but Madeline wanted to learn more about Jesus, and this touched Joyce’s heart as well. Soon we were studying the Bible together and they both were baptized together. Joyce writes, “I am not perfect. I thought that God couldn’t love someone like me. I was so wrong. Through my bible studies, I learned how God loves me and is there for me. Each time I read the bible, it opens my eyes and heart to a loving and forgiving God.” I am currently teaching a baptism class during Sabbath School time, and Madeline wants to help me in this class.

In May and June we had students from Southern Adventist university come to the Tampa Bay area, holding prophecy seminars at Plant City, Tampa and other areas. I was able to attend some of the training and planning meetings to do a little mentoring and even taking some of the student Bible Workers into the community to invite people to the seminars and begin personal Bible studies.

The Plant City Seventh-day Adventist Church has fully embraced me as their own and even asked me to serve as head elder for this current term.

Tampa Bay area:

In the Tampa Bay area, I had personal Bible studies with Hans (Pictured) Cleveland, Paul and Nicson, who were all baptized during the June 2016 prophecy meetings at the Tampa First Seventh-day Adventist Church. In addition to personal Bible studies my group Bible studies continue to grow strong in the Tampa area as well. Last Friday night, my group Bible study had 11 non Adventists, three of which have begun attending the Tampa First church after being in this study group. My other group Bible studies keep me busy as well. My Thursday afternoon teen Bible study group, again made up mostly of teens with no church, has some very faithful members. A few times a teen cannot make it to the study for family reasons or whatever, but they will join on Facetime or Skype.  This week Tampa Adventist Academy confirmed with me, my Bible chain referencing schedule for the new school year. This will be the 7^th year in a row that I have been teaching the 5^th and 6^th graders how to chain reference their Bibles and give their own Bible studies to their friends and family. All this in addition to baptism classes and taking my turns with the weekly chapels. 

Around the World:

As many of you know, my mother passed away in the middle of June.  I had several unexpected expenses from last minute airline tickets to funeral costs and so forth. Right before flying out, I prayed and told God that I wanted to stay out of debt, but of course would do whatever my family needed me to do. Right after my prayer, a faithful contributor in Texas saw on Facebook that my mother was dying. She sent me a message telling me that I needed to be with my family and that she was sending a generous gift which helped me with all my expenses! This was truly a sad time for me, but I was very comforted to see God’s loving hand as everything unfolded.

Being in Tulsa for my mother’s funeral and caring for my family afterwards, gave me opportunity to continue my Bible Work in Oklahoma. I was able to reach out to former Bible students during my Oklahoma days. Alan, who I began Bible studies with back in the ‘80s and even came to the Owasso Seventh-day Adventist Church when I would preach there, was able to connect with me again, and I connected him with the current Owasso Bible Worker. Alan wants to resume Bible studies after all these years, and will be returning to the Owasso Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Twice while visiting my mother while she was sick, I was able to share the gospel  at the Broken Arrow Seventh-day Adventist Church.

I continue to write for the Sabbath School network, SSNET.ORG as well as my own website Inlightofthecross.com. Both websites are read from around the globe. A while back a church in Connecticut contacted me through ssnet.org and had me visit their church in Torrington twice to hold gospel meetings. Recently they told me of their plans to share my sermon on Youtube during the worship service.

So you see, even though Plant City SDA church opened up a fund where people can contribute to my ministry from around the world, this ministry also reaches beyond Plant City and goes around the world. It can even reach your neighborhood. All you have to do is give me a call. Thank you again for being such faithful loyal supporters and continuing to support this ministry, and for inviting friends to join you in supporting this ministry. Please follow me on Facebook and at InLightOfTheCross.com.

As always your tax deductable donations can go to the Plant City Seventh-day Adventist Church, P.O. Box 5379 Plant City, FL 33563. Please mark your contribution “Bible Worker Fund.” Thank you!