October 2005 UpdateDear friends, October 2005 �I pray that your love for each other will overflow more and more and that you will keep on growing in your knowledge and understanding.� -Philippians 1:9. As I look back on the first three quarters of this year, this verse has been my family�s cornerstone. We have been disciplined and taught by the love of God, and it compels us to go further in every circumstance that we find ourselves in. Whether we are preaching, counseling, or having people in our home, we are learning to let the love of Christ overflow out of us. It is so exciting! The Prison Ministry has seen over 96 men accept Christ as their personal Savior already this year. Praise God! Also, the Lord opened a door in the women�s correctional institution this year for the first time ever in our ministry, and we have increased to three Bible studies a week now at Kirkland Institution. For next year we have over nine worship services lined up at different institutions across Columbia. All this would be useless if we did not share the love of Jesus, that is why He wants it to overflow out of us so that people from prison cells to the four corners of the earth can be full with His love. Please pray that God would continue to work through us to draw these lost prisoners into Him, and that they would see the hope and life that is Jesus Christ (Jeremiah 29:11). This year God has also been purposeful about disciplining me in evangelism. Remember I spoke in my previous letter about feeling called to evangelize Gonzales Gardens apartment complex. I thought God wanted to do it with a tent and a loud p.a. system, but He had other plans. He wants us to go in and find two or three people who live there who love Jesus and start to disciple them and let them become hungry to see the Lord move in their own community. Pray that I will be sensitive to who those people are, and pray for revival in the people�s hearts in that place. I truly believe that there could be apartment churches started there that forever change that community for Jesus. Now let me tell you about the door that God is opening up for my family: God is calling us into full-time missions. We feel that we are to go with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a faith-based organization that has the same heart Melanie and I have for reaching the lost of the world. We plan to sell our home in the next few months and move into the mission house at our church to pay off our remaining debt and begin to work on the cost of the school. September of 2006 we will move to Orlando to train with YWAM for a year. We are praying that during that time God would make it clear where He wants us to serve in the world as missionaries. We are completely thrilled to be following this path God has laid out before us, and we know that He will be with us every step of the way! Please pray that God would provide for our needs, that He would guide our every word and decision, and that He would enable us to boldly proclaim the Good News wherever He sends us. We want to sincerely thank you for all your prayers and financial support to our ministry. Without God moving through you, our ministry would not be possible. We will write again soon with more updates. Until then, we remain your servants, Tommy, Melanie, Ella |