Hey, Everyone!!!

The 'Gospel on Trial & Stage' conference at Jacob's Well Baptist Church in Mississippi last month was in many ways a success, but I would like to focus on my time at a church in Louisiana and at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I thought that I was going to do a Gospel of Mark presentation at a church on the day before I came back, and was ready to do so, but I learned that I would be ministering to an Hispanic group for whom English would not be the best language to communicate. So, instead of doing an English Gospel of Mark presentation, I gave my first public talk that was principally in Spanish on that day, April 20. I already had powerpoint slides for my positive argument for the resurrection talk, and so I translated material on the slides and made my own comments on the spur of the moment in Spanish. I needed vocabulary help at different points, and the pastor or person(s) there were able to help in such cases, but people in attendance were understanding and the experience really boosted my confidence in my ability to minister in Spanish speaking contexts.

I taught two of Dr. William Warren's classes at the seminary, in both cases doing a Philippians 2 Spanish recitation followed by a Gospel of Mark 2-3 English recitation and then followed by some of my material looking at objections to traditional authorship of gospels and why the objections fail. Two Spanish speakers came up after the first class and I had the pleasure of chatting with them in Spanish. I met a number of other Spanish speakers, and learned about the seminary's outreach to and connections with the Spanish speaking world. As one who has studied Spanish on his own, the missional focus of seminary faculty was encouraging to me. I have started work on memorizing at least almost all of the Gospel of Matthew in Spanish and Gospel of Luke in Portuguese. When I am ready to do a Spanish Gospel of Matthew presentation, I may get to travel with Dr. Warren to Cuba and Colombia and do evangelistic ministry in those places.

I also participated as a panelist at Bradley University on April 26 on a panel that looked at the question, 'if God exists, why is there evil?'. I argued that a God who wants to redeem and save humanity would have to permit horrendous evils if that redemption and salvation were to occur. Much of last month was spent in preparation for the 'Gospel on Trial and Stage' conference, including adapting talk material into a powerpoint format. This month I will probably be calling pastors and working on a talk that would examine objections to Pauline authorship of 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians.

PRAYER REQUESTS
1. Fundraising. Financially, one of the hardest seasons for a ministry is the beginning. Please pray that God would bring monthly supporters alongside Credible Faith. Credible Faith is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and donations are accordingly tax-deductible in the US as permitted by law.

2. The Donation of a Used Car. My car is a 2002 Saturn with over 130,000 miles on it. In itself, that is not very bad, but it became something of a money hole. When I was at Trinity, I think that much of the transmission was replaced, and in January over $700 was paid for fixing part of the transmission system. Yet, there continues to be jolts when shifting, and I am concerned that it will deteriorate as has happened before and again be in a situation where a large expenditure is required. There has also been battery failure and the failure of the starter, both of which were replaced. I do not have much money and don't have enough to buy a good used car. Pray that someone would donate a used card before I would need to sink a lot more money into the one that I do currently have, or pray that the current car would not need significant expenditures.

3. Ministry Opportunities. Pray that doors would be opened for ministry in churches and on campuses and for relationships to be formed that would be mutually beneficial for ministry in those places.

Have a great month!!!

Sincerely,

Paul

Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Illinois, USA

Quote of the Month

A poem of Annie Johnston Flint: Faithful Is He Who Has Promised Are you passing through a testing. Is your pillow wet with tears? Do you wonder what the reason, Why it seems God never hears? Why it is you have no answer To your oft, repeated plea, Why the heaven still is leaden As you wait on bended knee? Do you wonder as you suffer, Whether God does understand, And if so, why He ignores you, Fails to hold you in His Hand? Do black doubts creep in, assail you, Fears without--and fears within, Till your brave heart almost falters And gives way to deadly sin? All God's testings have a purpose, Someday you will see the light. All He asks is that you trust Him, Walk by faith and not by sight. Do not fear when doubts beset you, Just remember - He is near; He will never, never leave you, He will always, always hear. Faithful is He who has promised, He will never let you fall, Daily will the strength be given Strength for each and strength for all. He will gladly share pain with you, He will gladly give you peace. Till your tired and weary body Finds its blessed, glad release. When the darkened veil is lifted, Then, dear heart, you'll understand Why it is you had to suffer, Why you could not feel His hand Giving strength when it was needed, Giving power and peace within Giving joy thru tears and trial, Giving victory over sin. So till then just keep on trusting, Thru the sunshine and the rain. Heb. 10:23