Thank You for Praying in April

An Update for Those Who Pray for the Revival Ministry of Dr. Rick Flanders

How much we appreciate, and how much we need, your labor in prayer in our behalf (Colossians 4:12).  Briefly, here is what happened in our work in April of 2011.

• Meetings in New York: On the first day of April, I flew from western Canada to meet my wife in upstate New York for revival meetings.  First we were with Pastor Jack Young at the First Baptist Church of Black River, April 3-5.  The church was renewed, so to speak, more than a year ago after having fallen into a poor state of affairs.  Now, under the new pastor’s ministry, it has all the appearances of health and strength and is growing.  Many of those in the church are military people stationed at Fort Drum.  There are strong believers, and there are weak and needy folks, but we can see how the Lord is meeting the needs through this diverse body.  They moved forward down the revival road in response to the preaching of revival truth, and we saw important decisions made from the very first service.  The second set of meetings was at the Heritage Baptist Church of Palmyra, which is led by Bro. Young’s father, Pastor Tim Young.  This pastor Young has had a long and respected ministry around the country, and we were happy to serve with him in a short three-day campaign (April 6-8).  Again the Lord worked, and these good folks responded to revival truth in a way that encouraged us to think that greater things are ahead.  Some significant history occurred in this part of New York a long time ago, and I got to enjoy visiting some of the famous sites of revival with each of the two pastors Young.
• Meetings in the South: On the 9^th, Toni and I drove over 800 miles to Taylors, South Carolina, for a revival campaign at Fellowship Baptist Church with Pastor Bryce Hager (April 10-15).  In these meetings, we got to see old friends: the Terpennings (who were members of our church at Juniata, but now live down in the Greenville area), the Secords (more Juniata people who were down to see their daughter and her family), a couple of BJU students, Pastor Roger Powell, Kim Goff (Secord’s daughter), Dr. Chris Shepler, Terpennings’ daughter Joyce, as well as several preachers with which we have had contact.  These were good revival meetings where definite needs among the members were addressed and met, and we are praising God for what He did.  Then on the sixteenth, we headed across Tennessee to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where I was slated to preach in a Bible conference at Greater Cumberland Baptist Church.  On the way, we met up with our daughter Susanna, who is the registrar of the Bill Rice Ranch in Murfreesboro.  She had a week of spring vacation and met us in Nashville to take her mom “home” with her for those days.  I went on to Kentucky and had a productive and refreshing time with Pastor Ken Shaver and the people of their amazing church.  This congregation also has a ministry to military families, mostly from Fort Campbell.  A lady got saved after the morning service, and many Christians dealt with issues in their lives by letting the Lord have His way throughout the conference (April 17-20).  I am to go back to preach in next year’s conference.  The other speaker both this year and next is Pastor Terry Anglea, a fine man and a very helpful preacher of God’s Word.  I drove home on the twenty-first.
• Meetings in Maryland: I was home just a day or two, but we made all we could out of the pre-Easter opportunity to have fun with our kids.  As I said, Susanna was up, and so my wife and I took her and our son, Pastor John Flanders of Landmark Baptist Church of Clio, Michigan, to a Tiger game in Detroit on Friday.  We must have been crazy.  The weather forecast said that we could expect temperatures in the 40s and also rain, and we got both.  We left during the seventh inning, but felt we had had a good time.  At least our team was winning when we left.  The next day I flew to Baltimore for the Easter Bible conference at the Forest Ridge Baptist Church of Forest Hill, where Jeff Berg is pastor.  We started on Easter Sunday, the 24th, with good services all day.  I spoke to a combined Sunday school class on “Celebrating Easter” (by first-day gatherings, by believer’s baptism, and by the Christian life), in the big morning service on “The Announcement” (Peter’s Pentecostal sermon), and Sunday night on “Showing the Lord’s Death Till He Come.”  It was a holiday with both the usual advantages and the hindrances of a holiday Sunday, but we thought the Lord gave us a good start on a week of meetings which quickly took the form of a revival campaign as well as a Bible conference.  Thursday, the church hosted the Eastern Shore Preachers’ Fellowship, which was well attended by good men in the service of the Lord, as well as church members and wives.  We really had God meet with us in the preaching sessions that morning with sermons that seemed to complement each other and merge.  I got to preach on “Separation and Revival.”  The Lord led me all week in the sermons I preached to the church, I am confident, and significant things (I am told) happened in the lives of these people that week.  Then I flew to California from Baltimore on April 30.

The month of May will present some good opportunities to preach and teach both about and for revival.  Do remember to pray for me today as I preach at the Lancaster Baptist Church of Lancaster, California, May 1-2, in their conference to commemorate the 400^th anniversary of the first publication of the King James Bible.  Then, May 8-11, I will be in Baldwin, Michigan, for a revival campaign at the Baldwin Baptist Church.  Toni and I are to be in Maine May 15-27 for revival meetings in Sedgwick and West Sumner.  We serve first at the Eggermogan Baptist Church, and then at the West Sumner Baptist Church.  The next week, beginning on the 30^th, I will be teaching my class on the History of Revival at Indiana Baptist College.  If you are interested in finding out about this life-changing block class, contact the College at preed@indianabaptistcollege.com.   They have made arrangements for people in ministry to stay on the campus for the week.

2011 has truly been an amazing year in our life and service so far!  I have preached in Nairobi, Kenya; in Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Florida, Montana, New York, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Maryland; as well as in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada; and it’s only the first of May!  Although I usually am asked to preach to Christians about revival, we have seen somebody saved each month this year.  Join us in praising the Lord for His blessing, and be sure to pray for me this coming month.

RICK FLANDERS