Our Missionary Daughter, off to Fiji Islands

Andrea leaves us tomorrow, headed for the Fiji Islands in the West Pacific. After about 18 hours of flying plus who knows how many hours of layover time, our tired but enthusiastic little girl ( with a very BIG GOD) should arrive once again in a foreign land, ready to preach and assist other preachers---delivering the message of eternal life to a people whom God has prepared to receive.
She is scheduled to be there a couple of months, finishing this phase of missionary training with YWAM (Youth With A Mission), Pittsburgh Base. After that? Only God knows, but when the time is right, we are trusting God will have both Andrea and her parents ready.
Please pray for Andrea, as her heart grows continually and more deeply in tune with the Holy Ghost and His holy calling.

Victory Community Church in Reedsville, WV...

A couple of years ago, I felt led to help another brother who felt called into full time ministry as pastor, but though he had served in the past as an associate pastor, his contacts from those days were gone and he had nobody to help him as far as building a new, start-up church. That has been my calling and occupation since 1982 so I offered to set up his charter, articles & by-laws, etc., and showed him how to file the necessary papers. I provided his sound equipment initially and led his church in praise/worship...

I am not writing this to draw attention to anything I did. I gladly did it and did not charge anything, knowing that God repays and I figured the day would soon come when I would be getting a church started here and anything I gave this brother would be a seed planted in the work God was preparing for me. That is simply how God works, and I discussed it many times with the pastor of that new little church. Some of the conversations we had were helpful to him but many were not. Sometimes men have their own ideas how things should work and choose to learn the hard way that they just don't work that way.

Without going into detail as to why---this brother's choices to do things his way led to the failure of his church. In the last few months of his church, and during the time it was going 'out of business', I had reluctantly given up on the idea of being able to help, so we thought the time was right to go ahead and start the new church we had been [not too] patiently waiting to start.

We had already tried once in Morgantown, but decided the timing was wrong; and part of me (the part I should have been listening to) was trying to tell me again... 'It's still not right'---not only the timing, but the place. The most revealing sign that we were still missing it, concerning God's timing, was just about to come to light...

It was but a couple of weeks after we had purchased a new sound system (to replace the one I had given away) and had begun holding worship services; I decided to pay a visit to the V.A. Hospital/Clinic in Clarksburg and was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. That was in the beginning of August, 2007. I had a tumor as large as a grapefruit which was later determined to be inoperable. The rest of that is history, recorded in various health 'updates' throughout the recent 'blogs' dating back as far as November.

Our church had not had time to do any growing so I knew I could not afford to devote time, energy, finances etc., to anything other than this new challenge and my family's well being. We thus, began our quest once again for a church in which we could not only sit and be fed ourselves, but fill a vital role in helping the pastor and the church to grow. After visiting many churches (some of them, many times) the Lord has finally led us to one, I believe we can be a part of...
Victory Community Church, in Reedsville, WV.

James Sabin is cut out of the same preacher mold I was. To some, that may not be a good thing, but I cannot say it any other way. He is a Word Man---A God-taught man. That does not mean he has not submitted to others in his life for learning and spiritual growth/development. But it does mean that he does not allow his doctrinal viewpoints to change with 'whatever is popular'---he is not moved by 'every wind of doctrine'. He changes only as God reveals the meaning of His Word in deeper stages. His desires---his vision for the church becoming more of a Spirit-led, than a purpose-driven church are the same as mine.

A few days ago, he came by the house to visit by appointment, just to 'go over some things about the church and answer any questions we may have'. We initially set the appointment for 7PM but moved it up to 6PM as he needed to be home early, in order to pack for an upcoming trip to a conference. He showed up right on schedule. And as we began to get acquainted, we got into one of those extremely enjoyable (in my opinion) conversations about everything in God's global church, not to mention just about every Chapter of the Bible.

As 12 Midnight approached, he was about ready to go, so we enjoyed 15 or 20 minutes of prayer, most of which was 'in the spirit' and reluctantly we let our 'meeting' come to an end. Wow! There are only about 2 or 3 others, with whom we enjoy fellowship like that.

I know that I know that I know---God has good things in store for Victory Community Church and for our relationship there.
If you happen to be local and looking for a church... Get yourself out there! They meet Sundays at 10:00 AM at the Vol. Fire Hall, on Route 7 in Reedsville. Can't miss it... Well, you can---but you shouldn't.

Healing Update... The GREATEST REPORT YET !!!

Got a great report today concerning my health situation. I read it and re-read and it still thrills me as it did the first time I read it. You see it's a copy of an old report. And I wish I could remember it verbatim so I could quote it to you, as I don't have it sitting right in front of me. But as my memory serves me, it goes something like this...

A rather unusual procedure was performed to remove this malignancy once and for all. It hasn't been totally removed yet but as His 'resident assistants' continue to apply the associated treatments, the cancer is losing its dangerous and deadly effects and will continue to do so until any remnant of the tumor has been rendered harmless.

This radical procedure is not surgery, as we have previously announced in our updates, surgery is not an option. It is, however, actually more effective than surgery could have been, considering the limited surgical skills in removing this type of tumor---and considering this particular Physician's success rate with every single procedure he has ever performed, believe it or not...

He's awesome! So much so, they call him 'The Great Physician'.

Anyway, back to the report...

I wish I could have him talk to you about this, himself, as he did to me... He's much better at making it clear and understandable, in layman's terms. That might be arranged, by the way---let me know if you would be available for a personal, one-on-one session with him and if you don't know him already, I might be able to introduce you.

His official report goes something like this:

He (the Physician himself) somehow, was personally wounded on behalf of my wrong attitudes and actions (he told me he had to get to the root of the cancer or any other disease). Then he subjected himself to the deepest and most deadly forms of hematoma, somehow connecting those to my wrongful attitudes which, contrary to what many believe, directly affected my physical body in every area, becoming the source of every form of malady and disease... His procedure, however, reversed that terrible effect and brought healing to those areas, even though it left wicked looking scars on him, resembling 'stripes' and bruises.

According to the official, summary statement of his report... I have been cured. I believe that report.

By the way... I found (and believe) a similar report about your situation.

If I have totally confused you by now, take a good, long, meditating look at ISAIAH 53: verses 1 and 5.

[ Follow-up NOTE: ] In light of at least one response to the above and possibly the 'lack' of response as well, I am moved to make it a little more clear, that the "Great Physician" I wrote about is NOT my cancer doctor (literally speaking). The "Great Physician" represents the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the one who was 'wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, [suffered deep "hematoma" for my sins, wrong attitudes, actions, etc.); and it was by His stripes we are healed'.
And Isaiah's prophetic account of this awesome event is none other than "the report" I have 'read and re-read'---it is that 'report' I believe and put my full trust in (Isaiah 53:1-5). And lest my earthly doctor awaken some morning with CNN, FOX, National Enquirer, etc., along with a multitude of reporters and camera men (however unlikely that is), I thought it wise to clarify.