The Kentucky Surge, Part 2

Where to begin?! Our two weeks in Kentucky were very busy, but it was a great time. Julia wrote about about our first couple days already. She was hoping to post as things happened, but time and energy did not allow for that! Here's an overview of what went on during the outreach. More pictures will come in future posts!

Believers came from around the country (and other countries!) to help the saints at Bluegrass Bible Fellowship in Richmond, Kentucky. The Good News on the Move (GNOM) team was there also. The team had been on the road for about 9 months traveling to different assemblies around the US helping with more localized gospel outreaches.

Well, it was a great blessing being able to go to this outreach. Working together with other believers, especially sharing the gospel, is a great thing. I'm sure you're dying to know what happened, so I'll leave off the sentiments and begin reminiscing...

This outreach was divided into three weeks. During the first week, the materials were prepared and packets were hung on the doors of homes throughout Richmond.

Over 100 people traveled to Kentucky for Week 2 of the outreach. This week's activities included going back to the houses that had packets hung on the doors last week, and seeing if the residents had a chance to look through them and find out what they thought of them. Many times this led into an opportunity to talk with them further about the gospel, and many people wanted some of the believers from Bluegrass Bible Fellowship to come back and have a Bible study or talk with them more.

There were a series of gospel meetings held on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night on the topic of "Peace in the Eye of the Storm". Several unbelievers came, including two young ladies who were spiritually awakened during the last few days, and recognized that God was trying to get their attention. They both were very interested and took some literature with them. They proved to be very good contacts, and are excited about starting a Bible study with some of the local believers.

There were also four kids clubs going on every day in different locations. During a couple days, two of the clubs didn't get any kids, and some days only two or three came. I helped at one kids club for a couple days. The gospel was clearly presented in a memorable way through paintboards, Bible stories, verses, and songs, and the kids listened very well. One girl seems like she is saved, and one of the boys was asking questions about salvation and eternal security. Please pray that all the kids would remember what they heard and not just forget about it, that they would understand salvation, and that they would be able to keep in contact with the local believers. They plan on having once-a-week kids clubs as a follow-up.

About 50 people, including folks from Bluegrass Bible Chapel, remained for the third week of the
the outreach. This week we mostly followed up with contacts from the previous two weeks, going back to their houses and seeing if they really were interested in someone coming back. Some wanted more visits, others wanted a Bible study, and some were not interested in further contact. We also did a little more door to door, as we didn't finish it all last week, and we had one kids club on Thursday morning. The two afternoon kids clubs got rained out.

We really enjoyed spending time with all the people there. We played lots of volleyball, had impromptu Bible studies, sang, talked, played games, laughed a lot... it was fun. You really get to know people when you work (and play!) with them for two weeks!

Well, it's kind of hard to sum up everything that went on during those two weeks, but I think that about covers the main events. Christ was proclaimed, people were reached, lessons were learned, friendships were made, and fellowship was enjoyed. All in all, a great and profitable time. Please remember to keep the saints at Bluegrass Bible Fellowship and the others still working with them in your prayers, as well as the people they are still reaching with the gospel. It's exciting to see how the Lord has been working in Richmond!

The Kentucky Surge, Part 1

Well, we are here in Kentucky at last!

Friday the 19th and Saturday the 30th
On Friday we drove down to the K's house. We were going to take Mr. Mrs. K and Rachel. On Saturday, at about 6:10 AM we left to go to Kentucky. We had a nice, uneventful trip. The scenery was beautiful! We listened to music and a few songs on our way down, and of course, we visited a lot.

We dropped off Mr. and Mrs. K at their host home, and then we went to the hotel where we were going to stay. We got to the hotel around 8:00. We visited with some of the other people that arrived from Connecticut. Then we all went into out hotel room and unpacked. We met a few people that we had met at a previous outreach in the hotel, and it was nice to see them again.

Sunday, the 31st
On Sunday we slept in a little bit. Then we got up and Rachel, Jessica and I went down to the breakfast nook. We were joined by another Rachel and two of her friends, Jessica and Michelle. Then we finished breakfast and went to the room where we were going to have the church meeting. The meeting began at 9:30.

The Lord's Supper meeting was very nice! There was a lot of nice sharing from the men and singing. There was a half-hour break where we were able to see people that we hadn't seen in a while and meet new people. After the break Mr. N gave the message. It was on different objections that people have to the gospel. The verse he preached from was John 3:16.

After the church meeting, most people headed over to the home of one of the local believers. They lived about 8 minutes from the hotel. We had great fellowship with the people there. We also played from volleyball and a little soccer. It was a lot of fun! We stayed there for most of the aftenoon. At that time most people were leaving to go out to eat. We went back to the hotel and ate a light supper. We visited with out friends until 7:00 when the evening church meeting began. Mr. H brought a stirring message about just going out and reaching the lost.

After the meeting we visited. A bunch of the young people started up a game of mafia. I didn't play, but I took some pictures instead. It was fun watching! The circle gradually got smaller and smaller, and I left as it went down from about 15 people to 6. I later heard that they had played another game after that one was over, and that some people got to bed around 3:15 AM! I went to bed before the first game was over, though.

Then, needless to say, we went to bed!

More updates from the Kentucky outreach should be up sometime in the near future.

Please keep this outreach in prayer!

You can sign up to the Good New Now mailing list and get updates from this outreach and others by going to Uplook.org.

Good News Kentucky, Coming Up!

From May 23rd to June 12th a major gospel outreach will be taking place in Richmond, Kentucky. The Good News on the Move 4 team (GNOM IV) will be finishing up about 9 months of traveling around the U.S. helping assemblies organize gospel outreaches in their local areas. The Kentucky outreach will be a larger town-wide outreach. There are generally more people involved during the outreach at the end of the year, as well, both on the giving and receiving end of the Gospel.

You can find out more information about the Richmond outreach by going to http://GoodNewsOutreach.info. Mom, Jess and I plan on going down for the second and third weeks (May 30th through June 11th). We're pretty excited! We were able to go last year's major outreach (Surge) in Waterbury, CT (which you can read about here) and it was a good time of fellowship, encouragement and witnessing (both giving people the gospel and seeing the neat things that God did throughout the week!).

Please keep this outreach in prayer!