Derek Thomas

Mar 04, 2024

Clifton Booth

Feb 29, 2024

David Sutton

Feb 29, 2024

True Hawkins

Feb 26, 2024

Arthur Lockard

Feb 22, 2024

Paul Chappell

Feb 15, 2024

Jason Tate

Feb 15, 2024

Philip Moore

Feb 15, 2024

Sent Through: World Baptist Fellowship Mission Agency Field Address: Caixa Postal 29724 P. O. Box 13459 04836-970 São Paulo, SP Arlington, Texas 76094-0459 Brazil, South America JERRY & ATALIAS Dear Pr. Smith & Faith Baptist Church Family, January 31, 2024 Greetings from Brazil. A new year has begun with its many challenges. We took advantage of school being out to hold extra meetings with our couples. Every Tuesday evening we met at one of the couples homes or our home at 9:00 PM for dinner, a time of fellowship, but most importantly, time in God’s word and how it can and should guide us in our lives as married couples. It has been a tremendous blessing filled with blessings and spiritual growth, unfortunately with February on top of us, these Tuesday evenings will come to a close. Classes are beginning again at the universities and thus we will be returning to our Sunday afternoon every other week timeslot. Please continue to pray for Gabriel, Janaina, Eduardo and Raianne. An update on irmão Antero; he was hospitalized for a good portion of January due to covid and pneumonia, but he is now back resting at home. Irmã Bernadete continues to care for him but has developed some heart problems. We ask that you remember both of them in prayer. Also irmã Ednair is continuing to improve and has been able to attend church for some of the services. Still no news yet on her retirement benefits application. Please continue to pray for a quick approval. January also proved to be a bit taxing in as much as I needed to take care of the services at the church in Jd. Varginha along with the regular services in Vargem Grande. Pr. Vicente needed to take some time for some much needed rest. He is now back in the pulpit. January also saw us doing some back breaking work at the house in order to get final approval to be able to finish construction of the missions apartment. Due to new regulations we needed to remove 77.75 meters of concrete from our lot to provide a permeable area for drainage for rain. So with a rented jack hammer and a few weeks of determination, we finished the work with a great sense of satisfaction and bodies full of aching muscles. All that is left is for the final approval of documents so we can finish what needs to be done. Once again, as always, thank you for your faithfulness in supporting us both prayerfully and financially. You truly do make a difference in the ministry to which God has called us here in Brazil. May GOD continue to bless you, the people and the ministry of Faith Baptist Church. All Because of JESUS, Jerry & Atalias Lantz

Jerry Lantz

Feb 12, 2024

So sorry this is late but January was a very busy month here in the Philippines.  The New Year started off with a BANG....horns blowing, engines revving, etc.  Happily it last for about 20 minutes and quit.  We visited several churches in the province and in Manila.   We have had Pastors and Christian workers coming daily to pickup materials.  A 20 ft. container was released and delivered on January 8.  We had 15 men from several churches to help unload.  There were 1,010 boxes....8 million tracts, 80 boxes Tagalog illustrated Romans, and 130 boxes of Salvation Coloring books.  We were just about out of Tagalog/English New Testaments and BLMF started printing more in December and they were ready for shipping by February 8.  Amen.  Pastors have been coming by daily to pickup tracts.  Several churches  got 10 boxes of tracts - that is 100,000 tracts at a time.  Some it was there first time others it was a wonderful time of fellowship and renewing friendships.  Roger and I went to get my driver's license renewed.  I don't intend to drive over here but it is a good identification document.  I had to take a test but it wasn't a test about the laws and rules but motorcycles and other local rules.  I didn't pass on my first try so the fellow at the LTO came and reviewed what I had missed and I was able to pass the next time.  Then we were informed that they could only give me a temporary license since they didn't have any of the plastic cards to print in on...oh, ok.  We have given hundreds of tracts out as we go to the shopping malls and travel.  Roger won two cab drivers to the Lord.  He also witnessed to a woman standing in line at the grocery store and won her to the Lord and was able to give her one of the New Testaments.  We met sales workers at our local mall who we had met last year and they had gotten saved and in church.   We submitted paper work for our Permanent Resident Visa which is good for 5 years.  We also got the car registered and the title in our name.  This all takes time and patience to wait for them to get done.  God has been good to us and both of us have been healthy and safe.  Our worker, Bro. Ramil is a blessing and a great help to Roger.  He is pastoring a small church he started during Covid and the people are growing in grace.  We have one more month here in February that is jammed packed and then we will fly back to America on March 5.  Thank you for pray for us and your faithful support.  Romans 8:28  Roger and Cheryl Riley Missionaries to the Philippines 

Roger Riley

Feb 12, 2024

December 2023 to January 2024 Dear Pastor and Church Family: Christmas Musical: We held our first Christmas musical at our church on December 10. We prayed, we worked, and God blessed in an amazing way. Our people invited lost friends and relatives. We had over 2,500 people attend that night with over 160 people being saved. You can view it on this You tube link: Pastors’ Meeting: We had a Pastors’ meeting with local pastors nearby and 129 Pastors attended. It was a great blessing to have Pastor Kerry Nance and his wife from Tampa, Florida with us. They were such a great blessing to our family, our church, and other churches. He not only spoke in the Pastors’ meeting, but also spoke in our church and college chapel. I had never met Pastor Nance until he visited us here, but we plan on having him with us again in the future. We are so blessed that God has allowed so many good Pastors over the years to visit us here in the Philippines. Soul Winning Week: We try three to four times a year to have soul winning week to increase our visitation. We have sign-up sheets for our teens, our singles, and our adults. During this week, we try to get every member to go visiting with us during this time. We try to line up people who have never gone before, and to get those who have stopped to start back. It is amazing how many people get involved during this time. In the coming weeks and months after this event, God blesses our church in an amazing way. On Saturday night, January 12th, we had 102 men go with us on visitation. We have never had that many. The following week, we had 100 men out visiting and this past week there were 70. God is blessing our church in a great way since our soul-winning week. I read something sometime ago that Dr. Lee Roberson said, and I believe it to be so true, “The greatest thing a Christian can do after salvation is to share the Gospel with others. It not only helps others, but also it helps the Christian in his Christian life so much.” Prayer Request: City Youth Rally on March 1st. We are praying to have 20 to 25 churches to attend. We want to challenge young people to serve the Lord in a greater way. Missionary Doug & Becky Sisson Sending Church: Higher Plains Baptist Oklahoma City, OK

Doug Sisson

Feb 12, 2024

Dear Churches and Friends,                                                                            Bible Baptist Church started the year with a revival. Our revival theme was families and relationships. We met at a nearby resort, and had Bible studies, prayer, and singing. The food and fellowship were good. There was an excellent spirit and all were challenged by the word of God. Deat’s older sister came to visit us for the new year along with her husband and four-year-old son. His sister Buu, and her husband Baln, were not saved. We have had Deat’s sister on our prayer list for a couple of years. I’m very pleased to report that she received Jesus Christ as her Saviour while she was with us. She repented of her sins and called on the name of the Lord for salvation. Three days later her husband Baln repented of his sins and received Jesus Christ as his Saviour as well. An interesting side note: After Baln got saved, he admitted that he was not wanting to come and visit us and had much turmoil of heart. When his wife Buu got saved he said he was angry at everyone. However, after accepting Jesus as his Saviour, he said a great weight was lifted off his heart. He was in a great spiritual battle for months. Praise the Lord. We thank you for your prayers and support. Prayer: Growth of our men: Deat, SingTo, Burt, Mike, ToToe, New, Thu, Ice, Naiy Together for His service Jeff Gross Prayer Salvation: Baus, Aa, Kreem Salvation: Mai, Pen, Champ Learning Language & Culture Churches in Thailand               

Jeff Gross

Feb 05, 2024

Dear Fellow Soldiers of the Cross at Faith Baptist Church,                                  Greetings from South Korea! “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17, In January our Church congregation is focusing on living by faith. God has directed the messages to be on the subject of faith. We have been studying the book of Romans and Hebrews chapter 11.  It is so exciting to live by faith in these last days. Thank you so much for praying for Kristen Forbes, she is growing in the faith and taking discipleship classes. Please continue to pray for her. We have had several visitors in the past month and a few people need to be saved. Please pray that the seed that was presented in their hearts would produce the fruit of salvation. We had a men’s prayer breakfast on January 20th and it was a great time of encouragement.  There are unique challenges for Christian men serving in the U.S. Military overseas. It is a blessing to hear the testimonies of our men standing strong in their circle of influence. These men have a burden to see the lost saved. I thank God for being able to serve alongside these men on the frontlines of the spiritual battles of our day.    Please continue to pray for our health. Sue has much pain in her right shoulder and anytime she uses it she has difficulty sleeping at night. Also, keep me in your prayers for my back and knee pain.   Thank you for your continued prayer and support!  A Soldier of the Cross,  Bruce R. Rosko 

Bruce Rosko

Feb 05, 2024

  Hope and pray you are well. Just a quick update on what the Lord has been doing here in Galway, the west of Ireland. January started with my being able to attend Bible Baptist Theological Seminary in Dublin for a week long seminar. Hosted by a sister Baptist church, it was a privilege to be able to go deeply into Scripture. Preaching on Sunday and teaching on Wednesday also has been a blessing to dive deeper into the Scripture, both to study and to follow.   Our services are averaging 6-10 and slowly but surely we are watching we are watching believers grow. Bran, the young man who trusted Christ, upon preaching of “thy kingdom come," last night, said very directly, “I am not afraid to die, especially now that I have trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior.” What a blessing that was to hear. Also John, the young Irish man has recently started to join weekly for evangelism (currently, winter is leafleting / Spring - fall is door knocking). We also were recently “bombarded” with emails of people interested in coming. I say bombarded, because in a couple of days, we received emails from three separate people, which in comparison to the typical pace, we felt like we were bombarded! Thank you for praying, when contacts from the relatively local area come in, we can attribute it only to prayer.   Please pray for boldness as we begin again to call back on those who received John/Romans in their letterboxes, that the Lord would give liberty and wisdom as we “preach the Gospel to every creature.” Please also pray for wisdom as we disciple and plan evangelistic efforts for the coming year.  Thank you so much for your prayers and support. 

Andrew Canavan

Feb 05, 2024

dear pastor and church. This is an update of last months of my ministry. My prayers are with you, and your family. Last year we were blessed to see three new converts baptized. Our sister Jacquel- ine Urbina and her son, Jimmy Urbina, and sister Raquel Urbina. They are coming to church, and we are committed to disciple them. We are joyful to see our new plant church growing. It is located at 45 minutes away from Managua, in a city called La Concepción ”, and the pastor s name is Francisco Barberena jr. We did evangelism, and also we were able to provide for them a Christmas basket, as the pastor there recently got married with one of our finest young girls at church. They both love the Lord, and are doing a amazing job for God s Glory. On a happy personal note, Last year was our 5th wedding anniversary; and also, we found out my wife is pregnant! She is due to April. We are having another boy! Sadly, my dad passed away last year. But we are comforted by the reality of heaven, where we will see him again! I was so blessed to be able to attend two conferences beside the one at Honduras. God stir my heart, and provide so I could travel with my wife so she would be re- fresh in God s Word as well. In Christ, Pastor Carlos Murillo Prayer request: 1. My wife s health and pregnancy 2. Church growth 3. New audio system 4. Second floor project

Carlos Murillo

Feb 05, 2024

Hello from Botswana! This letter is long overdue and we appreciate your patience and understanding. We’re also working on a new highlight and update video that we hope to send out later this month. After 4 months of non-stop coast to coast travel, reporting to churches in the U.S. and Canada, Cindy and I arrived back in Botswana on December 29 and there literally has not been a moments pause for the past 36 days. Accordingly, the blessings of God have also been non-stop and His unfailing grace has given us the strength needed for this very intense and demanding season. I was reading 2 Corinthians chapter one this morning where Paul said that they were pressed out of measure, above strength, (vs. 8). In vs. 11 he wrote, “Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.” You hold us up in prayer and it makes all the difference! There is so much to thank the Lord for and we thank HIM for YOU! We have needs but I’ll leave them as unspoken for now (God knows) as I want this letter to be nothing but PRAISE and THANKSGIVING to GOD! Please, take a moment to pray and give God glory with us. Here are some highlights in a bullet point list of blessings. The abbreviation PTL for “Praise the Lord” will save some space. • PTL for safe travels, blessed fellowship and hospitality, new supporting churches, souls saved, and a family surrendered to FT missions service during four months of furlough. • Thank you for a gracious outpouring of love offerings for Christmas. Christmas spent together with our families made this year extra special and we were able to give “above and beyond” to our son Brock and Shane & Emily. • BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: PTL – upon our return home we were awarded permanent residence status in Botswana meaning hundreds of dollars and a lot of headaches saved, no longer having to worry about our residence permits being renewed every five years. We’re here for the long haul! • THREE ADULTS WERE SAVED in 3 days this past week. The leaders of the church have led well in our absence and the church has grown – glory to God! We have found it “teeming” with folks who are ready to be saved and many desiring to be baptized and added to the church. • PTL – The White and the Visscher families arrived safely with all luggage (and tools) intact, are now settled in, and already hard at work on the GRACE OASIS PROPERTY. Both families are a unique blessing and bring A LOT to the table in skill, ministry gifts, and their willingness to serve. Please pray for their safety and productivity. There’s so much that needs done! The focus just now is on repairs to the mission house and water supply to the property. • PTL - Monies have been given to drill a new well on the property and, though it’s very deep, it’s possible that the geologist has found “a miracle” underground convergence of three streams where we can drill. Water is gold in Botswana and good water volume is very rare in Ruretse. Many of the local residents and farmers have to truck it in. How awesome would it be if God allowed us to hit a mother load? After all – with a name like “The Grace Oasis” - Well, I think you get the idea! We’re pretty excited about the prospects of extending that grace to the local community and let me tell you that the doors of opportunity that will open for the gospel to be preached and the love of Christ shown are incalculable!!!! • PTL – Ms. Pamela has started the new school year with a full house of 18 students at the Grace Academy Christian School. There is desperate need of a qualified associate teacher that she can train to help her. We covet your prayers for the Lord to raise up and lead us to that “right” person. • I want to close this letter with a shout out to Mom Cindy! I am so grateful for such a hard working missionary wife. When we got home to Botswana she was BURIED with year end admin work that has to be done for both BIMI and the government here in Botswana. After four months “on the road” she had to get us settled back in to the house we’re renting temporarily, and had two weeks to get everything prepared for the arrival of two families. I gave her an honorary degree in building and breaking down bunk beds! ALL GLORY TO GOD – but please allow me to give honor to whom honor is due to this amazing woman, an unsung hero, that we all know and love as Mom Cindy! Mike

Mike Haley

Feb 05, 2024

Dear praying friends, February 5, 2024 The month of January was both the busiest and fastest month yet in Uganda! We began in the city of Masaka helping another veteran missionary with a music conference, and we were blessed to see over sixty people in attendance for the four days of teaching. Many native pastors and ministry leaders dedicated themselves to taking a stronger stance for Godly music! This was the third opportunity to teach the Philosophy of Music here in Uganda, and the more occasions I have to teach this course, the more thankful I become for the many people who taught me about music. The investment of others is now benefiting many people here in Uganda. Also in the month of January, we saw the completion of our first songbook translation into a native Ugandan language. About two hundred English hymns were translated by a local pastor who expressed his desire for good music that could be sung at his church. With his initiative and hard work, the Runyakitara language now has its first completed lyric book. This means that about eight million Ugandans have songs with correct doctrine that they can learn and sing in their native tongue. In addition, it is estimated that five million people can also read and understand this local language. To our knowledge and the knowledge of the translator, this is the first completed work of its kind in Runyakitara. The local officials were gifted a copy and expressed their gratitude for the work that was done. Our next step is to get some of these songs recorded and distributed among the Bunyakitara people. Please pray with us that God would use these songs to encourage His people and to bring more souls to Him. During the second half of January, we had two more conferences. God blessed the one-day youth seminar hosted by our local church in Kasese with over thirty youth in attendance. Many dedicated themselves to remaining pure until marriage, and several made commitments to be witnesses for Christ! The following Monday, we traveled back to the capital city and enjoyed a refreshing time with our BIMU missionary friends at our annual conference. Dr. Tom Williams traveled from the States to be our guest speaker, and his testimony and preaching encouraged and challenged everyone in attendance. The following are some specific requests for the month of February: 1. Kasese Couples’ Conference. We will be teaching a one-day conference for married couples on the last Saturday of February. Please pray that God will give us wisdom in planning and leading this meeting. 2. Music Conference in Arua. God continues to give us an open door to teach the Biblical Philosophy of Music. Just last week, we scheduled our fourth conference that will take place during the second week of March in Northern Uganda. 3. Runyakitara Recording Project. Please pray for the finances needed to have Godly music recorded and produced in the Runyakitara language. We have found a recording studio in Hoima that will edit and produce an album of fifty songs for about $1,500. 4. Carson’s schooling. Carson has almost completed kindergarten! He will end his lessons in March, and we ask that you pray with us for him to finish strong. 5. Our first furlough. We will be returning to the States in April to begin our first furlough. Please pray that we will be able to fill the remaining available meeting dates as well as prepare ourselves to leave our home here in Uganda for an extended period of time. 6. My father’s health. Please continue to pray for my father as he battles the many health issues he is currently facing. He concluded his radiation treatments in December and has a PET Scan scheduled for next month to find out the results of the treatment. 7. More People to Surrender to Worldwide Missions. While the need for more laborers in North America is still very great, we also need more laborers to surrender to be used of God around the world. Your faithful servants in Christ, Caleb, Abbey, and Carson Turner

Caleb Turner

Feb 05, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, We praise the Lord for the beginning of this year and for the privilege we have to serve Him for another year. With that said, January sadly turned out to be quite similar to December. If you remember from last month’s prayer letter, in December we lost a great family, then lost our most faithful member, and then experienced our lowest average attendance since we began. Well, the attendance in January was even worse, and we ended up losing yet another family, the Coronels. Davisha Coronel, the mother, told me that they won’t be coming back because they want to find a church that has other kids and teens. Since we began having services last year, we’ve been able to reach so many people. However, this has been one of the common themes we’ve noticed for why families don’t stick around: they want a church with other children. We’ve reached many families with children, but they seem to have all come at different times and not stick around too long because of that. Hopefully we can get just one family that will stick around because they care more about the Bible than other things. Though in some ways January was disappointing, there were some good things as well. For one, I overheard Joell, the young man I’ve been discipling, say to a friend he brought to church, “I don’t care how small this church is, Jory has taught me so much and trained me how to read the Bible, so I’m committed to this church.” Joell and his family, the Andrades, have never ceased from coming both in December and in January. They have been such a huge encouragement to us. In fact, I’m meeting with Joell today to got over some doctrinal stuff, and then meeting with his cousin, Justin, on Saturday. Another blessing this month was this older lady named Kerry who reached out to me about doing some Bible studies for her. She wants to learn how to read the Bible (she’s confused when to take it literally and when to take it figuratively), so next Saturday my wife and I are going to start meeting with her. Lastly, the final Sunday of this month surprised us with a somewhat packed-out service where we had 25 people show up. Many of these people were first time visitors, so hopefully some of them come back! Though 2024 started out rough in some ways, we know that the Lord has only called us to be faithful, and that we cannot find success in numbers and responses. We look forward to continuing to be faithful for the rest of 2024, and for as long as we live here. Thank you to everyone who reads these prayer letters and to everyone who prays and supports us. We could not be doing all that we’re doing without you. Thank you and God bless! Prayer requests: - Pray that we’d be blessed with a family of children and teens that would stick around. - Pray for me as I increase my door-to-door efforts that I’d be able to see people get saved, discipled, and become faithful to church. - Pray for our visitors in January to come back to church. - Pray for Marisa and our baby boy due on June 10. In Christ, Jory Petitti Church planter to Springville, Utah

Jory Petitti

Feb 05, 2024

Ricardo Portillo

Feb 05, 2024

Greetings from Uganda! January was a surprising month! Starting on Christmas morning my dad flew up from South Africa to visit us. I was still recovering from Malaria and it was a special time to have him here for almost the whole month of January. We were able to go visit a couple of the old churches my dad helped to start. While in Busuyi (about 80 kilometers from Kampala) I was give the authority and purchase agreement for the church land. The pastor has since left the faith and they do not have any Baptist leadership. Our prayer is that we can help restart the Busuyi Independent Baptist Church. Please be praying with us as we ask the Lords guidance in that endeavor.   The Lord is blessing at Twin Hills Baptist in Busaabala and I am thankful we are seeing folks get saved just about every week. This month (Feb) we are sitting with the Landlord to renew the rental lease, please pray she will give us a long term lease so we can continue on serving the Lord in our current building.   If you would pray about one more request, we have an opportunity to buy land about 20 miles from our current church plant in Busaabala. Land is at a good price for the capital. We have the opportunity to purchase an acre of land for $8500. I am asking the Lord to give us direction and guidance of this would be a future church plant location and for the finances to purchase the land outright. We will need to commit within the next day or so if the Lord leads.   Thank you for praying for us and ministries we have the privilege to serve in. Have a blessed day!

Seth Demarest

Feb 05, 2024