Prayer Requests
1. God has chosen to take Belva Swanson HOME, and her memorial (graduation) service is scheduled for March 10th at Turner Christian Church. Please pray for her husband, George and family and friends. We miss her! We have a picture of her and George in our hallway, so we see it every day that we are at home.
2. Please pray for God to supply the needed funds for both the Training Center/Creation Museum for Christian Center for Science and Apologetics and for the Student Center for Commonwealth International University. Pray for peace in the midst of the stress for Sergei and Olga Golovin and George and LaVerne Carillet – and for health and strength for them now and for years to come.
3. Rejoice and praise God again for His amazing answer for Olga’s health and recovery last month.
4. Please pray for God’s supernatural guidance in every contact for me on my mission trip – on planes, trains, buses, sidewalks, and in classrooms, churches, universities, etc. And please pray for yourself, “Lord, please fill me with Your Spirit and put me in the right place at the right time with the right words to honor You.”
5. Lifeline Pregnancy Care Center in Nampa: Pray for effective fund raising at their annual event at Nampa Civic Center the evening of March 14th. Dan Buck invited me to speak, so pray for God’s anointing for me and those who share testimonies.
6. Continue to pray for Norm Fox, Christian leader at Garden Way Church in Eugene, Oregon, brilliant journalist, founder and editor of The Times and the Scriptures, and long-time friend who suffered a debilitating stroke. Thank God for the recovery he has made, and please ask God to restore him completely for more years of productive, godly service.
7. Please keep praying for complete recovery for Delbert Pratt, who had a biopsy in February for what might be a cancerous mass under his arm.
From Our Mailbox
In this section you will find more prayer requests and many praises.
“We always enjoy reading your Newsletters and there always seems to be many answers to prayer in each issue and that is a great encouragement to Bob and me personally. It is such a blessing to read how God is working out His purposes throughout the world. It prompts us to more fervently pray without ceasing.”
Bob and Patty” (Compton)
*********
“Congratulations on your 50th Anniversary! It is always great to know examples of successful marriages. You are still in our prayers.
Blessings, Tim (& Joy)” Coppess
“Thank you for another wonderful letter with good news and prayer requests. Dee and I will celebrate our 50th anniversary in August. So I had extra appreciation for the beautiful expressions you shared with each other. Praise our Father for life lived so well. Praise Him that life and love continue to give more as we keep our commitments in marriage. Thank you for sharing about growth and victories. Thank you for sharing about the answered prayers. Thank you for being full of faith and being faithful.
Here is a beautiful verse which includes so very much, including both Christmas and Easter (Resurrection) I Tim. 3:16 ‘And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified by the Spirit, seen of angels, preached among the gentiles, believed on in the world, and raised up to glory.’
Gratefully,
Dick Halaas”
***********
“Wow! Dear Rick and Della, we were so excited to find out about your 50th anniversary! May the Lord bless you abundantly! We had our 25th only recently and see great model of love, faithfulness and commitment in you!
Yours by the grace of Jesus
Sergei and Olga” (Golovin)
***********
“It was a joy to get your call a few days ago.
I hope Christ graciously gives you and Della His strength and peace and the joy of seeing fruit through yourselves to His glory. Alas, the schedule between now and your flight to the Ukraine is too tightly fixed. Would you please preach to us on Pentecost, May 19?
Delighted in Christ,
Gary D. Anderson”
************
“One of my English-speaking friends has asked me about your book in Russian he saw in my hands. I told him and I also suggested him to distribute the free copies at his office as well as among his friends. He asked me if I can share the English version in electronic format. Do you have pdf file of your book in English? My friend is an apologist and I believe this book is very good for distribution.
Stas”
************
“Thank you for your words of encouragement. You are an example for me. Will pray in regard to your requests……
In Him,
Victor” (Barviks)
*************
“Your last letter was both encouraging and inviting. I am glad for you and your 50th Anniversary. Evelyn and I reached 63 before she ‘left me’ for a far better life of health and happiness. I am doing well at Boise Christian Retirement Home. There are some things to do and activities, but the days seem long and pass slowly. I pray God’s continuing blessings on you, your work, your family, and on the continuing work across the seas and the world. From my own experience I know there are blessings you are unaware of. God leads and guides if we let him and really want Him to. ‘Count your Blessings’? Impossible – we don’t even know all of them. So – aware or not – God bless you and Della and the work you are doing.
My prayers,
Harold Snow”
**********
“I saw in your last newsletter that you are coming…yippee! Of course, you would be more than welcome to stay with us! We’ll plan on it, and I’ve already written it down on our calendar!! Just give us a holler when the time is getting closer, and let us know if we can pick you up anywhere and bring you over!
Blessings in abundance,
Sharyn and all” (Borodin)
***********
“I will be happy to review whatever you write for publication. I look forward to what you and the Lord can present to a struggling culture! God knows we need help in raising up victorious people who are not afraid to confront the market place of ideas with the truth of the gospel! I have a little trouble sleeping sometimes whenever I think of (or read) Revelation 21:8 regarding the fate of the “cowardly” (deilois). I think that scripture should disturb ALL us Christians! How can we remain cowardly about the good news of Jesus when so many atheists are becoming boldly militant in the dissemination of their corrupted falsehoods? I remember a line from one of Vance Havner’s old sermons where he likens the modern church to a lady sleeping in her rocking chair. He said something like: There she sits in her robe and slippers in her easy chair, and Jesus stands at the door and knocks, and the knock is disturbing, but she only rouses long enough to reposition herself and go back to sleep! He said a mouthful! Well, I rattle on. I look forward to your first edition!
God bless,
Rich” (Schell)
**********
“Glad to hear from you, brother. It’s kind of funny, but I told about you in my sermon today, bringing you in as an example of determination and commitment to witnessing and spreading the word about Jesus. I’m telling you this to encourage you and to make sure you understand we have noticed your faithfulness and labour. I’m sure God has, too. (Since even we have done so. :))) I’m positive, if we remain faithful, the merger will work out just right. We welcome any growing experience God may have in store for us to sanctify us. We just have to remain faithful and press on like Paul did.
We will be very happy to see you here in April. Hope Della is doing OK. Ksousha and the girls say ‘hello’. I will pass on your greeting to the rest.
Blessings in the Lord and I’m glad to be your brother, too! 🙂
Sergei” (Korniyenko)
*********
“I highly appreciate your trust in us, but this is not a good time for us to be involved in the special ministry to orphans. We are happy to teach them and spend some time with them for time to time (and we do it when God allows), but at this time we are not available for professional dedication! Consider us as orphans. We have no home, no income, no bank account, no close relatives who care and can help us, no citizenship, and no official rights in Ukraine. We have our passports keeping stored at Immigration Department and we even cannot change money for the local currency without somebody else’s help! We have to stay here until the total resolution of our case with Immigration Department of Ukraine and the Governmental Court. When and where will we go after that and what we do there? We do not know. Our life is full of stress. So please think and pray about us!”
Sincerely,
A brother in Christ, (name withheld for his protection).
**************
“Rick, thank you for your kind words. To be honest, I never intended to be a preacher, but God put me in such circumstances that I had to become one to help Yuri out a bit. Preaching well is hard, I must admit. I hope I will learn to do it really well some time, like Spurgeon or Lloyd-Jones or many others did.
Please pray that the Spirit moves me, God speaks through me and the Son is glorified through my preaching. For He said, ‘I have glorified you and will glorify you again’. This is a great promise that comes true again and again, including in the lives of His people. Pray that those who hear the sermon feel convicted of their sins and that the words coming through me are so powerful that the congregation has full understanding of our sinfulness and our need in the Gospel, and deep gratitude to our Saviour and burning desire to serve Him to reciprocate His love. This is the kind of preaching I’d like to be a part of. Anything less is worthless…..
Starting in March, we (the three preachers: Yuri Krocha, Vadim and yours truly) will be offering a series of sermons on Ephesians to help the merged congregation see the full glory of Jesus, how they had been
selected in Him before the world began, and their individual and corporate roles as and in the body of Christ. You’re invited to pray for the spiritual awakening and desire for God in our church. Our dream is that all people are ‘on fire’ for Him, that they burn for Him so much that their lives are filled with His light…..
God bless you and your ministry,
Sergei” Korniyenko
*********
Book Offer
If you would like a copy of “The Harbinger” or “Inspired Evidence,” you may request one with a donation of any amount to Overseas Outreach.
**********
Believe It or Not….
If you doubt my assertion in a former prayer letter that I believe Barack Obama to be the most dangerous hypocrite in the world, please carefully read the “Quote of the Decade” below and notice the date. ~ Rick D.
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.” ~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006
God has brought down emperors (and those who pretend to be) like Nebuchadnezzar and Napoleon – He can do it again. Napoleon Bonaparte wrote: “I know men and I tell you everything about Him (Christ) amazes me. His spirit overawes me, and his will confounds me. There is no possible comparison between him and any other being in the world. He is truly a being by himself. His birth, history of his life, the profoundness of his doctrine, his gospel, his march across the ages – all these are to me a wonder, an insoluble mystery.”
Here is another quote from Napoleon Bonaparte: “…..Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His Empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.”
Please pray with us for Barack Obama – and his liberal colleagues – to be truly converted. Not only them, but also many strong conservatives, like David Horowitz, Michael Savage, and Glenn Beck, who understand our political situation as a nation, but don’t yet understand Who Jesus is. Pray that they all bow in humble repentance before the King of kings and Lord of lords! Jesus is the one – and only – hope for America – and for the world.
Humor Based on Truth
“If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.” ~ Mark Twain
“I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” ~ Winston Churchill
“If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free!”
~ P. J. O’Rourke
*********
Dear Ones in Christ,
We want to once again tell you how very much we appreciate your prayers and financial support. Having such faithful partners in ministry is a HUGE BLESSING! We thank God for each of you!
Working together for His glory!
Rick & Della