What Happened in the Month of November 2018 with Rick Flanders

REVIVAL CAMPAIGNS AND A CONFERENCE

What Happened in the Month of November 2018 with Rick Flanders

This has been a wonderful month of serving the Lord and encouraging people about revival!  Take a look at where we’ve been and where we are going.  In November of 2018, I participated in these efforts:

• The Revival Campaign at Gospel Light Baptist Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee.  The meetings began on the 28^th of October and concluded on the second of November.  Pastor Bill Adams shepherds this young church, and is leading them in an earnest quest to bring people in this community to Jesus Christ.  When I showed up at the church, there was a good group gathering to set out evangelizing!  The campaign services were well attended, and several remarkable decisions to turn around took place among us.  We had revival prayer meetings, and also a public testimony time.  The Lord worked among us, and many in the congregation said that they experienced revival.  One unusual aspect of what I did in these days was that I held a prayer meeting over in the “E.M. Bounds Prayer Room” of Franklin.  You may know who Brother Bounds was.  He served in a church in the town of Franklin during the time of devastation and misery after the Civil War.  In his time of ministry here he led a group of Christian men in a weekly prayer meeting for revival in their lives, in their church, and in their town, to which God responded in a powerful revival that converted a great many.  Later, he wrote several books on prayer, most of which were published after he died, which have since become spiritual classics.  You ought to find a book by Bounds and read it before the end of the year.
• The Revival Campaign at Bethel Baptist Church in Jackson, Tennessee.  Beginning on November 4, we held meetings in this good church, which has for many years been led by our friend, Dr. Rick Savage.  The pastor said that the particular sermons the Lord had me to preach were remarkably helpful to the people at this time.  They believe in revival, and experienced some of it this week.  I was excited to see what spiritual victories where won in lives, including the lives of some impressive young people. Pastor has some serious physical problems, and I am regularly praying for him and his congregation.  Would you join me?
• The Michigan Revival Conference, November 12 through 14.  We have been telling you about plans that were made for this important gathering.  Well, it happened, there at the First Baptist Church of Bridgeport.  Our speakers included evangelists Chris Miller, Jim Van Gelderen, David Young, and me.  The concluding sermon was preached on Wednesday night by our pastor, Dr. R.B. Ouellette.  Every one of these men was well versed in what the Bible teaches about New Testament Christianity and revival.  Each of them also is a fervent and effective winner of souls, as is also each of the pastors of this church.  Evangelist Dave Young preached an encouraging series of messages from Matthew 16 about Christ building His church.  Evangelist Chris Miller covered many vital revival subjects, including the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the practice of abiding in Christ.  We were impacted by the scriptural messages we heard from Evangelist Jim Van Gelderen on underlying problems that hinder or prevent experiencing the fullness of Christ in our lives.  These were amazing sermons on revival subjects, and they should be heard by all (no kidding).  You will find them (there were eighteen in all) at the Conference website, ReviveMichigan.com.  My messages explained Acts 1:8 and its relationship to what happened at Pentecost, the way to pray for revival according to Second Chronicles 7:14 (as explained by James 4), how to have effective prayer meetings, and the hindrance of what Jesus called “offences” and how to prevent them.  Dr. Ouellette’s concluding message was about our Lord’s command that we pray for laborers to be sent into His harvest.  The whole conference focused on the need we have for the kind of spiritual revival that will prepare us to win multitudes to the Lord Jesus.  At the end of the last meeting we shared requests for us to pray for the efforts of the others in coming days to present Jesus to lost souls.  Many folks from many churches participated in this year’s MRC, and plans have been made by several pastors to get together to plan for another one next year.  So pray for us as we meet on Dec. 3.  On November 18, Dr. David Gibbs preached a sermon at the First Baptist Church on doing the impossible, which was phenomenally along the line of the Conference sermons.  We sense that God is really at work.

Of course, next month is the last month of the year, December, but there is more planned in our lives than Christmas.  The big one for us is the wedding of our daughter Susanna to Pastor Cranston Knowles, which will take place in Nashville.  Susanna and Cranston first became acquainted when he was coming as an evangelist to preach at the Bill Rice Ranch, where she served the Lord Jesus for some time.  Now the Lord has called them to join and serve Him together.  They will be moving to Nassau in the Bahamas, where Brother Knowles serves the church in which he was brought up.  Pray for them.

I am set to preach all day at the Nolensville Road Baptist Church in Nashville on December 9.  Later that week I will teach a graduate block-class to students at the Baptist College of Ministry in the Milwaukee area, on “Sanctification.” Then the next Sunday (December 16) I am set to preach on Sunday morning at Falls Baptist Church in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.  The rest of the month I will preach in three good churches in Michigan!

Do remember MY MISSION TO KENYA, which will begin on January 20.  As you know I am asking friends to pray for me and to help me to raise the funds I will need to go on the trip and serve in Nairobi for just over two weeks.  I have made some real progress, finding plane tickets for just $1059, which is much less than we had anticipated.  As many of you know, I expected to need several thousand dollars total, including expenses at home, but now the estimate is about a thousand dollars less.  We have received some funds into the account at First Baptist Church of Bridgeport for this mission, and understand that more free-will offerings are planned for this purpose.  So pray about this need.  It will be important for us to receive the needed amount for the Kenya mission by the arrival of 2019.  After that, I am teaching on THE REVIVAL TOUR OF ISRAEL which is planned for March.  The folks at the Baptist College of Ministry (262.251.7051) can give you the details of this combination revival conference and holy-land trip.  Do pray for us, and for my personal needs at home, and consider going with us!  The College can also tell you about the HISTORY OF REVIVAL class, January 7-18, in which you can be involved.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE AND PRAYERS IN 2018!  STICK WITH US TO THE END!  RICK FLANDERS