Over the past several weeks, I sort of feel like the Apostle Paul, as I have gone to churches to share a report of what God did during our Providence Gospel Crusade. What a mighty God we serve!
Acts 14:26,27
“And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.”
The Providence Gospel Crusade was a plan birthed in the heart of Pastor Chris Baker and carried out by the amazing Knotty Oak Baptist Church this past July. Many thanks go out to Interim Pastor Justin Martin and the Knotty Oak family for carrying out the plan for the Gospel Crusade. The people of KOBC are excellent, faithful servants of Christ.
Several key areas of great gratitude come to my mind for what God did in and through the campaign.
1. Souls Who Were Saved.
We rejoice in the many souls saved during the week of the Gospel campaign and in the weeks leading up to it. 61 precious souls trusted Christ as Saviour during the tent meeting and we are so thankful for that! We had souls saved during the morning VBS time. There were people saved every day during soul-winning efforts. And praise the Lord, each evening in the preaching service, we had people come to Christ as Saviour! Of course, we will not know until we get to Heaven all the fruit for the labors of the Providence Gospel Crusade, but we rejoice in the 61 souls that we know of that trusted Christ!
Each soul saved is an amazing story of the wonderful grace of God, but I will share a couple of quick stories that might encourage our hearts together.
One of our evangelists, Brother Denton Bell, was out soul winning one afternoon and came across a man named Elvis. Elvis was walking down the street. He had just lost his job, was going through some other trials in his life, and was praying, asking God what He was trying to say to him. As Elvis was walking down the street, he came across Evangelist Bell, who witnessed to him and told him about the love of Christ and salvation. Elvis trusted Christ as Saviour! He learned what God was trying to teach him because a soul winner was faithful to go soul winning and share the Gospel.
We had some young men come from Neighborhood Bible Time (NBT) to help us with the VBS each morning, which was such a blessing. The Saturday before the tent meeting, Brother Zeb (from NBT) witnessed to a young man named Joel. Joel came on Monday night and trusted Christ as Saviour. Joel brought a couple of his friends to VBS, and they got saved too. We did not know Joel was going to the Dominican Republic for a family vacation on Wednesday night in the middle of that week.
What if we had not reached him before he left? He ended up being out of the country for almost a month, and after he got home, he wanted to get right into the church.
Thank God for teenagers who are still getting saved!
Another story that comes to my mind is about a boy named Nathan. I went to a neighborhood on the Saturday before the tent meeting and met Nathan. He was riding his bike and playing with his friends. He quickly let me know that he was not coming to a church meeting and rode off with his buddies.
Later, while I was visiting people and making connections, he rode back up to me and said, “I would like to come!” Within an hour, he was taking me to all of his friends’ houses (mind you, he’s on his bike, and I’m walking…). We had people come that week because of his help. Well, better than all that, Nathan got saved that week!
On Friday night, the last night of the meeting, ten people got saved, and Nathan was used in the sermon illustration, illustrating Jesus being the door to Heaven! In less than one week, Nathan went from not wanting anything to do with church to coming to VBS and the Friday night evening service and wanting to share Jesus with others! Praise the Lord!
Also, that Friday night, I received a message after the service that a family in Massachusetts watched the service via livestream. During the invitation, one of the children in that home told his dad that he wanted to go through the door into Heaven and trust Christ as Saviour! And that family made an altar in their home, and little Daniel trusted Christ as Saviour! Somebody say Amen!!!
We praise God for the souls that were saved.
2. Churches Working Together.
Occasionally, someone says, “You just had to be there.” Well, I would have to say, you would just have had to have been there to see the AMAZING TEAMWORK demonstrated during the week of the tent meeting. I am still awe-struck by the whole thing. Churches were working together— INDEPENDENT, FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST CHURCHES—for the cause of Christ!
We had ten evangelists from all over the country come and help us. EVERY ONE OF THEM had a selfless, Christlike spirit! It was not a “what am I leading” spirit but a “where am I serving” spirit. The evangelists God brought in were a huge part of the success of the meeting.
The churches that came alongside were a huge help and blessing, too. Some churches picked people up to help us get people to the evening services. Pastor Tom Krampert did a great job leading the choir and moderating the services each night. On several nights, there were 50 people or so in the choir.
Several churches brought choir members to help us sing in the choir or to provide special music.
There were great Gospel salvation messages preached each night. The lost heard a clear Gospel message each day. And, of course, evangelists and churches that came from afar were able to come alongside because of the fantastic example demonstrated by the Knotty Oak Baptist Church! While the church was still navigating grief because of the homegoing of their pastor, the church family pressed on with vigor and determination. Over 40,000 John and Romans packets were distributed the six weeks before the meeting because the church family rolled their sleeves up and had packets (with six items in each) ready daily.
Pastor Justin Martin (with the assistance of Pastor Zach Rusaw) tackled mailing 40,000 EDDM cards three weeks before the tent meeting. Delicious meals (lunch and dinner) were provided during the week of the tent meeting for over 50 people because of tireless workers from KOBC. Knotty Oak Baptist Church is truly a citadel of servants for Christ in New England.
We saw before our eyes the famous cliche, “Teamwork makes the dreamwork,” come to fruition!
3. The Power Of Working Faith.
In Acts chapter 14, the Apostle Paul is heading back to Antioch at the end of his first missionary journey. They gathered the church and shared the stories of what God did as they stepped out by faith, willing to share the Gospel with others.
On a much smaller scale, we are gathering the churches together to rehearse what God did in the Providence Crusade. Every blessing was made possible because people in New England (and around the country, especially through prayer) were willing to say, “we will blanket a city with the Gospel of Christ!”
Where is the money going to come from to finance such an undertaking?
How are we going to put 40,000 packets out in 4-6 weeks and spread the Gospel?
What if no one shows up?
What kind of opposition will we face?
Quite honestly, these questions and thoughts came to mind as we considered such a task.
But I will tell you quite emphatically that those thoughts did not dwell very long as we considered the burden and responsibility of reaching a city with the Gospel far more significant. And I am happy to report to you that the Providence Gospel Crusade was ALL what God did with us because we stepped out by faith.
While we rejoice in all that God did during the Providence Gospel Crusade, we are even more committed to doing what we can to reach more cities with the Gospel of Christ! Paul did not stay home after the first missionary journey. He reported and went back out to the work!
Let the blessings and goodness of God propel you to find the next step of faith He wants you to take, and do it! This is not a time for us to kick back and just tell stories; this is a time for us to roll our sleeves up and do our part, in whatever God calls us to do, BY FAITH! It encourages me to think that God has something for each of us to do to share the love of Christ with someone else. It concerns me to think that some do not even have enough faith to go across the street to share the Gospel with someone else. Step out by faith!
In conclusion, we made a video last October presenting the burden and a small portion of the vision for the Gospel Crusade.
We showed it first at the Save New England Conference at Curtis Corner Baptist Church in Wakefield, Rhode Island. (By the way, after hearing and seeing the burden and vision, a pastor who was there for the Conference sent $5,000 to help with the Crusade.) In making the video, the Lord put in our hearts to consider three ways to encourage people to be a part of the Crusade.
1. A Commitment to Pray.
2. A Commitment to Volunteer.
3. A Commitment to Give Financially.
We plan to use the same model to reach other cities for Christ!
What I learned personally and what we saw collectively was that it is not enough to just talk about it but to decide what we are going to do about it.
I know that sounds quite elementary, but we decided we were not just going to talk about it; we were going to do something about reaching a city with the Gospel. And I saw that there are still scores of people, both in New England and around our country, willing to do something for God. They just need someone with a burden and vision to let God give them a plan and be willing to share it with others. And then rehearse to others all that God did through them, giving God the glory.