2013 Year End Report

Ending 2013

REPORTING ON THE REVIVAL MINISTRY OF DR. RICK FLANDERS

We are thanking the Lord for blessing us this year and this past month (December).  Here is where I went to promote revival in recent weeks.

• ·         Crooked Creek Baptist Church, near Athens, Georgia.  Pastor Tom Miles planned a Revival History Conference, December 1-3, and I delivered five what I called “preachy” lectures.  I took my scripture texts from the book of Acts, and much of my content from revival history (Europe and America in the 1700s on Sunday, American revivals in the 1800s on Monday, and revivals around the world in the 1900s on Tuesday).  In this fast-moving set of meetings, we saw the Lord work, and also experienced the counterattack of the enemy.  Sickness raised its ugly head, and we even had a major electric failure!  But the Lord prevailed, with the victory evidenced especially in the response to the invitation Tuesday night.
• ·         I taught a block course in First Corinthians at Baptist College of Ministry, December 4-6, 9-13, and 16-17.  I am always very happy to teach at this revival-oriented school, usually about twice a year.  I had a good class of men studying for the ministry this time, and we studied together one of the most important Bible books for pastors to know well.  The classes went well, and I got to speak on fundamentalism and setting standards in a couple of freshman orientation sessions.  It is always good to visit BCM and its sponsoring church, Falls Baptist.
• ·         I visited Grace Baptist Church of Moline, Illinois, December 8.  My friend, Pastor Chris Cain, invited me to preach in the Sunday services, and I was able to do it during the time I was staying in the Milwaukee area to teach at BCM.  They are an important work in this town, and we all should pray for them.  A young man was led to Christ after the evening service by a good man.
• ·         I was asked to preach at Falls Baptist Church of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, in the morning service, December 15.  My topic was “What Christmas Proves,” and I thought that God really helped me.  The facts about the birth of Christ (which I pointed out in the book of Matthew) prove that Jesus is the Christ, that the Bible is the Word of God, that there really is a God, and that all men are morally obligated to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.
• ·         I preached that same Sunday in the 1 p.m. meeting of the Souls’ Harbor Baptist Church in downtown Milwaukee, which is led by Pastor Paul Hoover.  We had a good group and a good service focused on the gifts of God, and our responsibility to receive each of them.
• ·         Then I preached at Tri-County Baptist Church of Franklin, Wisconsin, in the Sunday evening service.  I think that everybody there would say that God gave us a good measure of revival that night!  It appears that God is going to give this important congregation a new start in fruitful evangelism.  Do remember to pray for Pastor Jones and these good folks as they spread the Gospel and seek to win souls in the Milwaukee area.
• ·         I was scheduled to preach at the church my son leads, Landmark Baptist Church of Clio, Michigan, on Sunday morning of the 22^nd, but a terrible ice storm and power outages forced them to cancel the service.
• ·         On Sunday night the 22^nd, I was able to get down to the Pontiac area to preach at Shalom Baptist Church of Orion, Michigan, the home of Midwestern Baptist College.  The Lord gave us a good meeting centered on the fact that Jesus is “the Savior of the world.”  God moved some to give their lives anew to the Lord Jesus to labor in the harvest field in partnership with Him.
• ·         The last Sunday of the year (the 29^th of January), Toni and I went to Victory Baptist Church of Marysville, Michigan, where I preached in three services.  My friend, Pastor Don Barth, founder of the young congregation was away to visit his daughter and her family on the mission field, and gave me the opportunity to help in the ongoing work here.  It is phenomenal what God is doing at Victory Baptist, as the church is being built on revival truth.  When we were driving home late in the day, we were involved in an accident on the ice just south of the Birch-Run exit on I-75, but with startling protection by the Lord and His angels.  Although the Mercury suffered considerable damage, nobody was hurt, and we surprisingly avoided hitting any other car!  This day did a lot of good in our own hearts.  In a few days I could see how the lessons of the sermons I preached at Marysville were brought home to my own life by the accident and our being spared.  This week we were all helped to reflect on many incidents of providential protection and provision in 2013, all to the glory of God!

In the next year (in January) I am to preach on the fifth at the Northwoods Baptist Church of Clare, Michigan, where Jim Shuster is pastor, teach at the Baptist College of Ministry the block-class “Baptists and Revival” (the seventh through the seventeenth–and you can take it for credit if you will contact the college and invest the time with us), preach on Sunday the twelfth at LaGrange Baptist Church in Lagrange, Indiana, and embark on the Mission to Nairobi with Toni from O’Hare Airport on January 17^th.  Then (in February) after we return from Africa, I am to preach in revival campaigns at the Lighthouse Baptist Church of South Bend, Indiana, and at the First Baptist Church of Greenfield, Missouri.  Toni and I will be part of the great Four-State Couples’ Retreat in Branson, February 21-23.  You can learn more about this outstanding event by calling Pastor Steve Brudnak of Springfield, Missouri, at 417-869-1336.

Do remember the Victory Conference at Falls Baptist Church, February 24-27.  God has made this annual meeting a powerful revival conference, and you really ought to pray about attending this year.  The theme will be “The Revival Road,” and the messages will point the way to victory in the lives of Christians, leading to the multiplication of disciples in the churches, as in the book of Acts.  More than in previous years the conference will aim at bringing New Testament Christianity into our local churches!  The speakers will include several who have helped in the past: Wayne Van Gelderen, Jim Van Gelderen, Mark Gilmore, Gary Hirth, David O’Gorman, and me.  This year several outstanding leaders and preachers who are not as often participants in the Victory Conference will join us: Pastor Tom Miles of Athens, Georgia (what a wonderful man!); Pastor R.B. Ouellette of Bridgeport, Michigan (my own pastor!); and Jim Schettler of West Coast Baptist College (another one of the best preachers in the land!).  Learn more about it by means of the website, www.victoryconf.org, and call Falls Baptist Church of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, at 262.251.7051, to obtain conference info at extension 221.

Please keep on praying for us!  Rick and Toni Flanders Acts 1:8