The year 2021 is almost over, and we are grateful for the sustaining, guiding, and loving hand of our Saviour all along the way. We finally got to have our annual Men’s Prayer Breakfast and Revival Meeting this year after not being able to do it the year prior due to COVID. There was a ton of food that was fit for a manly men’s meeting! I’m just happy that the eggs I was asked to cook didn’t kill anyone! We had men come from different independent Baptist churches in Ontario, including several of our own men. I’m very glad that God laid it on Pastor Johnston’s heart to restart this great meeting. It encouraged my heart and helped encourage our men in the Lord. Pray for our church, as we will be hosting another meeting like this in the near future.
The last two months have gone by very quickly as we worked here in the ministry. What a blessing it has been to work with our teens and junior-aged kids for our Christmas play, “Just a Little Christmas.” Every Saturday, we worked at nailing down the motions, lines, and gestures for each of the parts. The kids and teens alike worked very hard at perfecting their respective parts until I had to do very little directing, just more affirming and praising their work. On the morning we performed the play, I’m not sure who was more nervous—the kids or the director. Nevertheless, things went off without a hitch, and all was done in a Christ-honouring manner.
Allow me to brag on our teens for a moment. From the start of our Teen IMPACT program to this point, our youth group of 9 has given a Gospel of John to 33 teenagers in either their schools or neighbourhoods and memorized over 400 Bible verses, and most have been very diligent to read the articles and booklets I’ve given them to read. The competition is very interesting, as it has shown our newest and youngest youth group additions to be very ambitious about winning. Please pray that we can help train the next generation to be bold with the Gospel, love God’s Word, and have “a reason of the hope” that is in them. My heart’s desire is that the young people of our church would go from being consumers to co-labourers in the Gospel ministry. “The future is as bright as the promises of God.” (William Carey) This project of getting the Gospel to teens in our area started with something that God laid on my heart some time ago, and I’ve asked our teens to partner with me in this project in sharing the Gospel and praying for God to awaken the hearts of teens in the Toronto area. Would you, too, join me in praying for this project? The ground is hard, but God is the best Husbandman Who can make “streams in the desert.” Recently, one teenager left me encouraged and laughing at the same time: I approached a group of teens and attempted to give them a Gospel of John. One teen refused it outright, but the other had a polar-opposite response and said something like, “I’m a Christian too. What you’re doing is awesome. Evangelism is hard!” He then fist bumped me and went on his way. There is hope! We just need to stay faithful.
Pastor Johnston has led our church to begin our second Gospel-mailing campaign using http://www.thejohn316story.com. We’ve been getting them out (on foot) to homes in our area too. When we speak to people, we say something like this, “Hello, my name is Brian, and I’d like to invite you to watch the story that changed my life.” Most of the time, instead of getting shooed off the porch, we’re met with smiles of curiosity and an encouraging affirmation that they will check it out. Pray for God to awaken hearts and homes to the truth of the Gospel.
Pressing toward the mark,
Brian Hebert
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- The backdrop for our Christmas play, “Just a Little Christmas”
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- The teens “waiting in the wings” to perform our Christmas play, “Just a Little Christmas”
