March Prayer Update

Again, let me thank you for joining us in praying for the ministry God has given us in preaching His Word for the reviving of His people. March was a month of blessings, and I am happy to report a few of them.
My first preaching place this past month was the Olive Branch Baptist Church of Linton, Indiana, where Dan Kemp is the pastor. I first met Brother Kemp several years ago at a special event held at Pensacola Christian College, where we discovered our mutual friendship with Mike Hegenauer, a wonderful soul-winner who for some time was an active member at the Juniata Baptist Church. Brother Kemp pastors a good church in southwest Indiana, and I got to preach a three-sermon revival effort there on March 7. The people were responsive to revival truth, and this was especially evident in the evening service, when I preached from James 4:1-10 on the subject, “Can Olive Branch Baptist Church Have a Real Revival?” In the morning service, a young girl was saved, and the whole Lord’s Day brought many blessings. We are praying for the congregation and Pastor Kemp, and hope to go back some day for a week of revival meetings.
From March 10 through the 14th, Toni and I were at the Believers Baptist Church of Carrollton, Illinois, for a “Missions Revival” series with our friend, Pastor Jason Valentin. We saw the Lord work in several hearts, and saw the pastor’s vision expand. I also got to speak on revival prayer meetings with a fine pastors’ fellowship that met during our time here. Some really needy folks attended these special services, and we were able to minister to their needs. I look forward to hearing more about the ongoing work of God at Believers’ Baptist.
A revival campaign at the Calvary Baptist Church of Charlotte, Michigan, was held March 21-26, and I got to be the preacher. This is a very good church, and it was prepared for these meetings. Their pastor is Mark Booth, whom I have known for some time, but whom I got to know much better during the revival effort. Wow! Did we see God work in our midst! Some of the teenagers got fired up about bringing friends, and we saw at least two of them make salvation decisions. I preached three of the sermons from our Lord’s talk with His disciples the night before He died (John 13-17), and I believe we took definite steps forward toward revival these three nights. Without question, we saw God answer prayers that were offered up to Heaven in a few small prayer gatherings (you only need two—Matthew 18:18-19!) during the week. The last couple of services, people gave testimonies, some publicly and some to me personally, about powerful changes God has brought into their lives and families through the revival He gave us. Pastor has asked if we could come back for another revival campaign in two years.
Finally, Toni and I got to go to the Faith Bible Baptist Church of Lake Odessa, Michigan, where Bruce Barker is the able and zealous pastor. These also were very good meetings, with souls saved and many decisions of repentance and faith made by Christians. It was also a revival campaign (March 28-April 1) in which we had some very powerful prayer meetings, blessed with the evident presence of our Lord. Some of the folks who were at the Charlotte meetings (the two towns are not far apart) came over to these meetings, and we also got to see our old friends, Mark and Priscilla Studer. Mark’s family were members of the Juniata Baptist Church for a number of years, and Mark graduated from our Christian school. The campaign continues as I write this report, and so I will tell you what happened in my next report.
Thank you so much for praying this month. Let me ask you to keep a few unusual things in mind as you pray for us in April:
1.I am trying to get my website fixed and reorganized. Pray that it will all work out.
2.I have been asked to preach in a revival conference in Ireland late in June, and at a Bible college in Kenya next January. Pray for God’s blessing and supply in these efforts.
3.I am working with some good folks to get the annotated edition of the Book of John I published at Juniata back into print for churches to use in evangelism. We hope to get something going about this project this month.
In April, we are set to preach at Believers Baptist Church in Winona Lake, Indiana (the 4th through the 8th), Fellowship Baptist Church in Whitmore Lake, Michigan (the 11th through the 15th), First Baptist Church of Laurel, Montana (the 18th through the 23rd), and Broadview Heights Baptist Church outside of Cleveland, Ohio (the 25th through the 30th). I am also to preach in a conference at the Dayspring Baptist Church of Trafalgar, Indiana, on April 9. I am to conduct a daytime seminar on the history of revival at Whitmore Lake on April 15. Do remember to pray with us about all of these opportunities (some 31 times to preach, not counting the revival seminar!). Contact the churches and come to any of the meetings you can.
A number of our friends have been asking about my former co-workers, Bro. Dean Bryan and Bro. Marc Knoedler. You have been praying for them, and wondering where they are and how God is using them. I certainly have good news to tell you about these things. Pastor Knoedler is now (since January) the pastor of a young Baptist Church in Florida. Dr. Bryan is principal of the Westgate Christian School (a ministry of Westgate Baptist Church) in Tigard (by Portland), Oregon. Both are well-suited for their new positions, and are doing well. If you were to contact them, I am sure they would be glad you did. You can reach Brother Bryan at dabryan1@hotmail.com, and Brother Knoedler at marckno@gmail.com, You will be interested to know that Mike and Bonnie Foster (our daughter and son-in-law) are now serving the Lord with Pastor David Mulvaine at Troy Baptist Temple in Troy, Ohio. Mike is the assistant pastor, and his e-mail is mkfoster@juno.com. Write them all if you can, especially if you know them.
The Lord really answered our prayers this month, especially about seeing souls saved and believers revived. God was with us every day, and your time before the throne surely made a great difference. Thank you again, and please keep us in your prayers!

RICK FLANDERS
Acts 1:8