Corey and Elizabeth McDonald Prayer Letter: Making Improvements in Our Church

Earlier this year, I was reading several books on planting churches. It was during this time that the Lord directed me to make some improvements to our church appearance and services. We looked at our room to see what we could do to make it look more appealing. We chose to add some plants, a carpet, some banners, and a few lamps to dress up the room. We also started a website for the church and improved our Gospel tracts. One of the biggest improvements that we made was adding a piano to our singing time. Corey has been practicing the piano for a couple of years. He now plays all of our congregational songs and special music. Annabelle has been playing the offertory. It’s been such a blessing to see them grow in this area and be able to serve the Lord in music.

A young lady, who has been attending our church for over a year with her three sisters, recently invited two young men to church. After the service, I asked both Moses and Samuel if they would like to get together during the week to talk and have coffee. We arranged to meet on Wednesday morning. As I was getting to know them, I asked them if they knew for sure they were going to Heaven. Both were not sure, so I was able to give them the Gospel, and each called on Christ to save them. Since that time, we have been able to meet for Bible studies several times. Samuel has been very faithful and recently invited another young man named Alpha to our Bible study. Alpha is an interesting young man who is in university for mechanical engineering. He is also very knowledgeable about the Bible, but in our conversation, it became evident that he had never called on Christ to save him. Praise the Lord, he did just that in our Bible study. That next Sunday, Alpha also attended church for the first time, which is a great blessing.

Every Saturday, we go out as a church to invite people to join us. Many times, this ends up being just my family and me. I decided to try having a once-a-month promotion to encourage the entire church to participate. We had our first Super Saturday Soul Winning, and several people came to join us, despite a flash rainstorm. In particular, Henry, who’s been coming to the church for two years, and Brenda, who’s been attending for over a year now, came out soul winning for the first time. It was so exciting to see them take this step in serving the Lord. We look forward to having our second Super Saturday Soul Winning this coming week! A number of people have committed to come join us. Please pray for God to move in the hearts of our people when it comes to soul winning.

During the month of March, I spent several Sundays teaching and preaching on the Lord’s Supper. I really wanted our people to understand why and when we should partake in it. The Sunday before Easter, we celebrated our first Lord’s Supper. It was really a beautiful time of service.

Once again this year, we had a choir for our Easter service. I was really pleased with the spirit of those who participated. We took time each week after the services leading up to Easter to practice. It is wonderful to see the commitment and the growth in them spiritually. We have now continued the choir every other week, and another five people have joined.

I have had the pleasure to go soul winning with a couple of young men in the church. Both have recently finished their schooling. We have had the opportunity to give out Gospel tracts and have seen several souls saved. Just this week, one young man found a job, and the other enrolled in Bible college.

Our family is doing well. We have the occasional sickness here and there, but God has been so good to us. Our firstborn Corey recently got glasses. On the way home from the optician, he went on and on about all of the things he was amazed to see! We praise God that He continually cares for our needs and takes care of us better than we could ever imagine.

The Lord has blessed us with a large group of teenage attendees. We have tried to capitalize on this by nurturing relationships and pointing them to Jesus. During their school breaks, we host weekly game days with a snack and a devotional. They are under attack from the Devil from all sides and desperately need a Godly influence in their lives. Please pray for these young people. In August, a group from our home church in Maine will be coming to help us put on a three-day regional Teen Rally. Pray for this group. Pray for God to be glorified during the conference and for other local like-minded churches to join us.

In His service,

The McDonalds
Kenya