November was a special month with a lot of blessings in it. We spent the lion’s share of our time in Florida last month, wonderfully avoiding any semblance of the tough winter weather many of you may have endured. We started the month out with a bang by attending two missions conferences back to back. We started out in Cumming, Georgia, at Greater Heights Baptist Church for their Missions Jubilee, and a few days later, we scurried over to Morning Star Baptist Church in Pacolet, South Carolina, for our other conference. There is much to say about both, but the common thing that stands out about both conferences is the wonderful people we met, whether they were pastors, missionaries, or laymen. At Greater Heights, 10 people raised their hands signifying that they would each do something to help us get to Canada!
Our first Florida meeting was in Jacksonville at Regency Baptist Temple. The Saturday before our meeting, I went out soul winning with Pastor Flowers and his men. It was such a blessing to go out with those men, because even though we didn’t receive the warmest greeting in the neighborhood, the joy of the Lord filled us with laughter throughout the entire trip. The meeting the next day was no less joyful. We eventually headed south to Ocala, Florida, for our next meeting at Memorial Baptist Church. Our introduction to this church’s heart for the world came when we met for soul winning on Saturday; my wife and I were the youngest participants by 40 years, as we were accompanied by men who were in their mid-70s! They knew the joy of the Lord as well, and we spent much of the day laughing and serving the Lord together. Two men were saved after being witnessed to by these senior saints, while I got to have a lengthy witnessing opportunity with Jorge, a Spanish-speaking man who had only a partial grasp of English. He didn’t get saved, but his heart was obviously tender to the Gospel. We rejoice in a seed well planted for the next soul winner who comes along to harvest. The next day I taught Sunday school to an adult class, while Liz got to teach a group of young girls. Liz went all out by making up bags with treats and tokens of her lesson about being God’s princesses. She truly has a zeal to help young girls know that God has a great plan for their lives if they would only trust Him with their hearts. That night I presented and preached. Our last meeting of November was at Bible Baptist Church of Palm Harbor, Florida, with Pastor Jason Wiley. We had a great meeting there in the Tampa area. This was the first time that I’ve ever preached in a church with a deaf interpreter. We were loved on by this church very much.
As this year is closing soon, many churches will be discussing and voting on new missionaries to support. Would you pray that God will direct some of these we’ve visited in the last couple of years to vote for us to be their new missionaries? We have seen a spike in our support recently, and we praise God for that! We need to have 66% or higher raised by March 2016 in order to stay on track for a three-year deputation.
Thanks to Calvary,
Brian Hebert