Hey Church Family,
We’re halfway through summer time and it is FLYING by. Our family vacation was just wonderful and I really appreciated the time away. Today I’m on the road with Jeff Hinton and Cody Hopper as we travel to Lesotho. We will be engaging with some unreached peoples in a valley region that we adopted a few years ago. We would all appreciate your prayers throughout the trip.
As you pray for us, please ask the Lord to open up doors of opportunity to share the Gospel and for favor among the village chief and key leaders. Pray that, as we share the Gospel, we make it clear. Pray that the Holy Spirit has freedom to move as He wills. Pray that the light overcomes the darkness in regard to the spiritual warfare that will take place throughout our trip.
Individuals who’ve taken trips to Lesotho in the past have talked about how dark a place it is spiritually speaking. They have syncretized previous efforts of evangelistic outreach with the tribal religion of that area which leans heavily on charms, witch doctors and other dark elements. There’s an oppressive spiritual darkness that prevents people from exercising a saving faith in Jesus and we need the power of the Holy Spirit to see those forces overcome. We really do need the help of your prayers.
Here’s a brief breakdown of our itinerary so you’l know how to pray.
Monday & Tuesday (today and tomorrow):
Leave Abilene at 5:30am. Flight from Dallas to Dubai. (15 hrs). Then from Dubai to Johannesburg,
Wednesday:
Drive from Johannesburg to Mokhotlong, Lesotho. (Up to the mountains!)
Thursday:
Drive to first village, meet the chief and request permission to teach (and maybe teach some).
Friday to next Monday:
Go to our two villages to teach and evangelize. On one of these days we will visit our third village to meet the chief and make a few contacts.
Tuesday:
Drive back to Johannesburg to stay the night.
Wednesday – Friday Morning:
Fly home back to Abilene.
As you can see there’s quite a bit of travel! We’re on the road to DFW as I type this and Cody and Jeff have already proven to be entertaining traveling buddies. Should be a fun week!
Before I sign off let me fill you in on a couple of things coming up soon at our church.
2020 Vision Celebration:
August 26th at 6:00pm we will have our annual missions and ministry celebration. We will celebrate what God has done through our church these past twelve months as it relates to our 2020 Vision.
It’s going to be really great to have this celebration at Broadview West because everyone will be able to see how big of a difference our Multiply; Bless The West campaign made in the facilities at Broadview West. I was blown away the other day when I went out to see the finished product.
Revive TX :: Abilene:
The last thing I want to mention is an outreach event coming up in September called Revive TX :: Abilene. Broadview will join alongside of several other churches in the city of Abilene to hit the streets and bring the good news of the Gospel to the people in our city. The event is held in partnership with ReviveTX.
Each day, Starting on September 8th, we will send out teams to do evangelistic outreaches in our city. These will include marketplace conversations, schools, field houses, going door-to-door, and various other forms of conversational engagement.
You can register now or check out the event page to learn more information.
We will send out teams to do outreaches from September 8th – 15th. There will be one training and outreach event each morning, one in the afternoon and a lunchtime gathering in-between. Each night, we will gather as a community of believers and celebrate what God has done each day.
Broadview is set to host the lunchtime gathering on September 13th.
We have a goal of mobilizing 100 people for the event! You can register for any of the outreaches but one of the best times to register would be Thursday since that is when Broadview is hosting the noontime lunch.
If our church is going to have a lasting impact on our community then we have got to get outside of our four walls and into the communities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We’re asking every person in our congregation to seek the Lord on how they’d should be involved with this great evangelistic opportunity.
Evangelistic Training:
In tangent with the Revive TX event, we are hosting evangelistic training on Sunday nights to help prepare people who want to share their faith.
1 Peter 3:15 says that we ought to always be ready to give an answer to anybody who asks you for the reason for the hope that is within you.
If you feel like you’re not equipped to do that then please join us for any one of equipping sessions on Sunday nights in August.
If you’ll just show up at the church at 4pm then we will have folks ready to work with you to answer any questions you have and show you some natural, non-intrusive ways of sharing the Gospel. Even if you don’t sign up for the event, being equipped to share your faith is one of the best things you can do with your time.
Jesus has given the Great Commission to each and every believer. We’re in this together. We are a Great Commission, Great Commandment, Acts 1:8 church. The Lord is doing some REALLY exciting things. We had fourteen baptisms yesterday and four more scheduled to be baptized. Our journey through the Gospel of Luke has been such a joy to me personally.
I’ll be offline for most of the next ten days but if you have anything you’d like for us to know about or pray about please comment below. Have a great rest of your week!
Blessings,
Pastor Wes