December, 2015 Prayer Update

CONCLUDING A WONDERFUL YEAR

DECEMBER 2015 IN THE REVIVAL MINISTRY OF DR. RICK FLANDERS

I really appreciate our friends who pray regularly for our life and our work, and I want to thank you for what you did in your prayers this past year.  Here is where we were the last month of 2015.

• Nassau, the Bahamas (November 29-December 4): The Selah Revival Conference, held at the Abundant Life Bible Church. Pastor Cranston Knowles has been in touch with me for a while about preaching in a revival gathering at his place, and the Lord brought it about a few weeks ago.  During our time there, Toni and I learned a whole lot about the Bahamas, their history, their culture, and their spiritual needs.  It was an island in the Bahamas that Columbus sighted in 1492 in what we call “the discovery of America.”  Waves of missionaries have travelled to these islands over the years, and particularly in the 1960s and 1970s there have been significant revivals here, with many saved.  One of the revivalists, evangelist Ed Allen (whom I got to meet in a memorable visit to his home during the conference) who founded the church where these meetings were held.  I am glad to tell you that several folks experienced revival this week, and some lost souls were saved.  We got to lead Mr. Ford to Christ in his home, somebody many had been interceding for.  His has been sick, and God opened his eyes to his great need of Jesus.  I found as I left his home that their son, Percival Ford, had played major league baseball for the Atlanta Braves in the 1970s.  Toni led a women’s prayer meeting each day, and taught some earnest Christian ladies the basics about revival and revival praying.  God also opened the door for her to lead a couple of ladies to Christ.  There was a great sense of conviction in each service, and there is reason to believe that the congregation is on the verge of a breaking, in the sense of a general repentance.  I hope you will pray for them and their good pastor in the new year.
• Baptist College of Ministry (December 7-17): teaching a block-course in First Corinthians. I always love to teach the eager students at this revival-focused college in the Milwaukee area.  The class went really well, and I think important foundational truths were absorbed by some fine fellows studying for the ministry.  I also got to be with them at the season when the Falls Baptist Church makes some of its most effective evangelistic efforts of the year.  The Lord also opened the door for me to speak at the RU meeting, and to a Bible study organized by one of the many in the church who are involved in multiplying disciples.
• Falls Baptist Church, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin (December 13): Sunday morning service. Pastor Wayne Van Gelderen, Jr., gave me the opportunity to preach Sunday morning on an important Lord’s Day the week before the big Christmas programs, and God helped me.  My sermon was “Lo, I Come,” from Hebrews 10:1-10.  I called that passage (as I have in the past) the Christmas story from the standpoint of the Son of God Himself (read it!).  The Lord used it to help Christians see the need to present their bodies in dedication to the Lord.  We also had lost people come to church to whom we were able the present the Gospel.  There was evidence all the next week that God used His Word in this chapter, and also this particular sermon, to affect people’s thinking and their lives.
• Willis Baptist Church, Willis, Michigan (December 27): Sunday services. On the last Sunday of the year 2015, I preached at this good church, founded and led by a remarkable man, Pastor Jim McKinnies, whom we have known now for several years.  The burden was that we concentrate on getting a good start for the new year.  The Lord gave us a great day.  In Sunday school, I taught adults and teenagers from John 14 about praying in Jesus’ name, and expecting the Father to nurture our relationship with Him by answering such prayers.  In the morning service, the Lord helped me preach from Acts 26 about happiness.  Paul, although a prisoner standing before rich and powerful men, was the happiest man in the room because he had hope, a clear conscience, and purpose for his life.  Then Sunday night we sought the Lord for a new song in the new year, based on Psalm 40, by seeking a new deliverance.  We saw a man who was visiting for the first time receive Jesus Christ, and many Christians seek help from the Lord on this day.

Looking into 2016 let me draw your attention to several events I hope you will hold up in prayer and also consider attending.  First, consider the seminary block-course titled “Baptists and Revival,” I am to teach at Baptist College of Ministry, January 11-17.  It will be a life-affecting class and is available to men in ministry and also to preachers in the Milwaukee area, as well as students in residence.  Call the Falls Baptist Church at 262-251-7051, extension #5, to learn more, and to arrange for enrollment and housing.  Preachers in the south should consider the Florida Symphony of Prayer in Tampa, February 4 and 5, a gathering to seek the Lord for revival.  Call Pastor Marc Knoedler at 941-456-2267 to learn the details.  Make plans also to attend the Victory Conference at Falls Baptist Church in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, February 29-March 3.  This year’s theme is corporate prayer (“The Bended Knee”), and, in the hand of God it will impact God’s servants everywhere.  Check it out on the internet (www.victoryconf.org), and make plans to attend.  Also be sure to get informed about the Western Revival Conference in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, March 28-April 1.  Every year this revival gathering has met, it has increased in size, strength, and influence.  Especially our Canadian friends in both the east and the west should pray about attending this year’s conference, which will be held in the “new” facility of the Prince Albert Baptist Church.  The host congregation bought and renovated it this year.  It is the oldest church building in town, used for over a century by the church founded by the missionary that founded the city.  Pastor Dave Webster led the church (formerly known as Beulah Land Baptist) in this phenomenal project, which has been followed intently by the local press and the townspeople, and will provide Prince Albert with a center for the Gospel, and western Canada with a new center for revival.  Evangelist Jim Van Gelderen and I will be among the preachers at the W. R. C. this year.  Attend if you can.

We are praising the Lord for His blessings in the old year as we start into the new year, as I hope you are doing also today.  Our ministry in partnership with our God saw souls saved, churches revived, individuals helped, truth proclaimed, and the Cause of Christ advanced.  Join us in the work of revival through your prayers again in 2016, and contact us any time the Lord has you do it.  Our phone rings at 989.863.0784.  May the Lord bless you.  Thank you for your love and friendship!

RICK FLANDERS