“Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? Wilt not thou, O God . . . .” (Psalm 60:9-10) Mrs. Hudson Taylor, while awaiting news from her husband regarding a place for their Chinese mission team to stay, calmed the fears of their young missionary companions first by reading this passage of Scripture and then by praying a faith-filled prayer for God to get them into Hangchow, from which they would begin the infant stage of the China Inland Mission. The faith that Hudson Taylor and his wife displayed has been a source of great encouragement these past months as I read his biography. I am encouraged that we will soon be led into the “strong city” of Toronto. God has always come through for us, and April’s travels have once more shown us that we have a great big God Who will lead us into Toronto.
We began April in Parishville, New York. We were blessed to attend the missions conference of First Baptist Church, which is pastored by Pedro Morales. Our week was made very special by this very thoughtful church. The beauty of this area’s many streams and rivers made me think of Psalm 29:3. Our next destination was Old Paths Bible Baptist Church in Holley, New York. We had a great week at this conference getting to know many wonderful people. We even got to take part in their Street Preaching Ministry. Pastor Cammilleri did the preaching while many of us held Scripture signs for passersby to read. At the end of the conference, they tallied up the Faith Promise cards and determined that they would be able to take us on as their new missionaries. Our third missions conference in a row was at Faith Bible Baptist Church in Rome, New York. Again, this was another wonderful week. We went soul winning each day and knocked on many doors with our fellow missionary friends. Three souls were saved that week, one of whom I was able to lead to Christ after the service I preached. We even got to add a last-minute meeting in King Ferry, New York, at Bethel Independent Baptist Church. This is a fairly new church doing a good job in a Gospel-needy area. Our last meeting was at Faith Baptist Church in Sparta, New Jersey. It was the final Sunday of their Missions Month. We got into town early and went soul winning with them; and, though I can’t relay a powerful story about someone’s conversion, I can relay story after story about how this church has continued to be faithful in soul winning despite continual satanic attacks in a difficult area. Despite all this, they run church buses for kids and are constantly out soul winning. They even have bus kids, like I was, who are in Bible college studying for the ministry. This church impressed upon me how important faithfulness is to the ministry, especially in an area where the Gospel often falls on hard ground. Galatians 6:9 has rung true in this ministry.
Thank you for reading a much abbreviated version of our April travels. Please be in prayer for Dan, a young man I led to Christ. He’s had a hard time before Christ, but now he has Jesus to guide him through the rest of his life. Pray that he grows in the Lord. Pray for the churches we’ve visited that are soon tallying their Faith Promise pledges; an increase will mean we can soon join the missions family of these churches. Lastly, please continue to pray for a full schedule this year; we are very close but have one pesky month, August, that is lacking. Thank you so much for being a part of our lives.
Pressing toward the mark,
Brian Hebert
