We find ourselves now the beginning of the greatest year that God has granted us – a great opportunity to serve our Lord!

God has been so wonderful to answer the many, many prayers that you have offered up on behalf of Dr. Jessup and his health, as well as ours. God’s Word has not changed the commission to plant churches. We are excited to be in the midst of planning that will see at least eight new churches birthed this year.

Thus far, the winter has been unusually mild for Minnesota. We had a brown Christmas (no snow on the ground). Temperatures have been often in the 30′s and 40′s. There are still a few motorcycles on the road.

The covers for the John/Romans for the first church start are being finalized. This church has been in the planning stages for over a year and will be in Cranberry, PA. Plans are progressing so that each of the church plants this year will have full-color covers. They will be very attractive, and by ordering 500,000, we can get the cost down to where they are affordable. There has been one individual who has underwritten the cost of the $11,000 for that order. Praise the Lord for this anonymous giver! We will begin to build an account to cover the next printing for when these are used. These will probably last three to four years.

I would ask that you put Pastor and Mrs. Mike Frey, of the Northern Lights Baptist Church in Waconia, on your prayer list. They are expecting a baby in the spring. Mrs. Frey has been hospitalized and must stay hospitalized until the baby is born. She has just passed the 27th week. Satan will try and discourage this new pastor and his flock if he can.

Bev and I have had a blessed Christmas season and now are regaining our breath and sanity. Bev did a lot of baking and entertaining. Many boxes of Christmas goodies from her ovens went to many different homes and ministries. I will be teaching the adult S.S. class at our home church much of this month. We will be on the road a brief time.

In February, Bev and I will be going on a cruise with Dr. & Mrs. Ed Johnson and some couples from First Baptist Church in Rosemount. This will be to commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary, which we will celebrate in June. God has been so good to us.

Would you join with us in determining to distribute at least three gospel tracts a day? This will enable each of us to reach into at least 1000 homes and lives this year.

Again thank you for your love and support. Things will really be vamping up soon for the spring season. Please pray for the safety of our team as we serve our Lord and you.

We hope you had a wonderful end to 2011 and a great beginning to 2012.  The beginning of a New Year always brings reflections from the past year and projections for the New Year.

For us, we are thankful that we were able to spend another Christmas with our children and grandchildren.  As we began 2011, we had no idea what the year would bring and again we face the same situation again this year.  I know this is true for all of us but when cancer is always shadowing over you, it really brings it home.

Please pray for us over the next couple of weeks.  We are making some significant decisions regarding my health.  We have two differing opinions on the tumor, and we want to be comfortable with what we do regarding this.  At this point, we believe the best action is to wait until April for another CT scan to see if the cancer has spread, but we are getting another opinion on that soon.  We also are considering a change in the supplements that I have been taking and will be discussing that with the doctors in Mexico and Barrie.  Please pray we make the right decision on that as well.

Our ministry has had a great year, and we look forward to another great year. The Lord has done so much for us.  Our staff has been able to handle all six church plants with little help from me other than some consulting and coaching. This year, we already have four church plants in the works with several others that are considering a church plant.  We praise the Lord for this. Please pray we can get everything ready for each of these plants.

We should have the 500,000 color covers for the John/Romans done in a few weeks.  These covers will help provide John/Romans for church plants for at least two or three years.  We praise the Lord for providing the funds for these covers.  This is one of the most effective tools in reaching a new community and many have been added to churches by receiving a John/Romans.

Please pray for our staff as they travel during the winter months.  The weather so far has been pretty good, but that could change quickly.  Pray the Lord will protect us and allow us to get the work done as we help these churches prepare for planting new churches.  Also, pray the Lord will provide the monthly support needed by Brother Rowland and Brother Moore.  They are between 60% and 70% right now, but they need to get the support in quickly so they can give more time to work on the church plants.

Thank you for all you have done for us, and please continue to pray the Lord will direct us in the ministry and in the other decisions we need to make.  We will post updates through the website as we have new information.  Thank you as well for your financial investment in this ministry.  You will be receiving your annual statements soon!

What a privileged it is to be counted worthy to serve the LORD! We do not take this lightly.

It is hard to believe that another year has come and gone. We have seen the LORD do great things this past year. We were able to assist in the planting of five new churches in 2011. The LORD is blessing all of these works and we are excited about the potential through these churches to reach so many more souls for Christ. We also were able to assist with many building projects both in the U.S. and Canada. We know the LORD provides for the needs of his people but we also know that He uses people to supply these needs. As a family we want to thank you for your faithfulness to the LORD because without your faithfulness it would be difficult to accomplish the job that is before us.

We have already begun preparations for three new churches in the spring. One is in Cranberry, Pa. and we are pleased to say that the other two are in Canada. (Orangeville, Ont. and Vernon, B.C.) In our travels we have heard of many other church plants scheduled to take place in the county of Canada. I know many of you have been praying with us for more churches to be planted in Canada. Please continue to pray for this request. We learned from Dr. Jessup in the Soul Winning Conference in Barrie, Ontario this past year that, on average, three churches in Canada die or take a different path. This means that we need to plant at least three churches just to maintain the number of lighthouses in cities and communities in our country. Matt 9:38 rings out as a desperate plea not only for Canada but also for the entire world. These statistics are sadly not only true about Canada but are true around the world. We have several church plants planned for the fall of 2012 but please continue to pray for even more churches to be planted this year.

The LORD has blessed us with good health this year in our family for which we are thankful. We have seen our children grow both physically and spiritually. Our oldest daughter begins her second semester in Bible College. She has been doing very well. Please pray with us that she would continue to grow closer to the LORD as she prepares for life and ministry. Homeschooling continues to be a challenge as we bounce between our house and the road. Travelling always seems to create challenges. We are still praying for a bus to make this situation easier and travelling more safe. We need His grace as we try to raise our children. Please also pray for our two youngest children, Delaney and Ethan, that they would understand their own need for salvation.

We are looking forward to what the LORD will do in 2012. Pray with us that we would remain faithful to His leading and that He would use us according to His will.

The Christmas season is a wonderful time of the year as we focus on the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is a great time to share the gospel with the unsaved and to encourage other Christians with the fact that God is truly with us. May the peace of God give you joy and comfort this season.

Update

Over the last several weeks we have had the privilege of preaching three mission’s conferences and several day meetings. I preached a full conference for Dr. Gary Jackson of Liberty Baptist Church in Sarasota, FL. Liberty is where I was saved, baptized, married, ordained, and was also the reproducing church for the church I started in North Port, FL.  Liberty has been a tremendous encouragement to us over the years. It was a joy to be back at Bethel Baptist Church in North Port, FL for a Sunday morning. This is the church God led us to start nine years ago. The church is doing well and has seen steady numerical and spiritual growth. I also had the opportunity to preach the first Mission’s Sunday for Broomfield Baptist church in Broomfield, CO. This is a church BCPM helped start one year ago in October. Pastor Jason Walker is doing a fine job and has a good nucleus of faithful members. The church took up their first faith promise cards which totaled over $900 a month. I was also able to preach the second mission’s conference for Open Door Baptist Church in Catalina, AZ. This is a church BCPM helped start in Feb. of 2010. Under the leadership of Pastor Kurt Kramer, this church promised over $1,250 a month to missions this next year. It has been a joy to see these churches giving to missions early on. I believe this is key to God’s blessing and a tremendous step in reaching the world with the gospel. The churches BCPM has helped start give over two million dollars to missions every year!

Praises

Dr. Jessup’s health- After seeing two different doctors, there seems to be no tumors, only scar tissue, in Dr. Jessup’s lung. Continue to pray that no new tumors appear.

Safety during a car accident- We were recently driving in our car to TN from a meeting in SC when we hydroplaned off I-65 and into a ditch in the median. We were sliding right toward a sign, but just missed it and miraculously our car did not flip or roll.  Our car had damage to the front, but even the body shop said that they were amazed the damage wasn’t worse.   No bones were broken, but my wife and son, Caleb had minor injuries to their backs and neck.  We praise the Lord for no serious injuries!

Pray

2012 church plants- Pray as we are now planning and organizing for several church plants for 2012. Pray that they will each be a success and that many will receive Christ as Savior. Pray for the seed bank  offering that will help fund these plants. This offering is a tremendous financial help.

India trip- I will be able to influence over 500 India pastors to reproduce more churches. It will be exciting to see the impact this conference will have on church planting in India. Several churches have given but I still need about $1100 for this trip. Pray that this comes in before the end of Dec.

Support- We are waiting on several churches to start support and have a full schedule for the spring. We are praying to be at 80% by summer.

Thank you for partnering with us as we seek to help churches reproduce churches that will reach the world. May God bless you for your sacrificial giving.

The following is an update from Dr. Jessup from the afternoon of Friday, December 9, 2011.

UPDATE – UPDATE – UPDATE

THIS IS NEW INFORMATION REGARDING MY CANCER!!!!!! PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

As most of you know, I had a CT Scan on November 28th and I met with the oncologist Dec. 5th.  He told us that the radiation in September did not slow the growth of the tumor at all. He explained that the tumor had doubled in size and encompassed about 20% of the lung. He went on to say the tumor was located in the vital area of the lung and it was the reason for the restriction in my breathing.  He said the tumor was inoperable and if it continues at the present rate, it will continue to create great difficulties for me within a short period of time. He suggested I begin chemotherapy immediately to treat the cancer. Obviously, we were devastated by this news. We wrote our first letter and sent out updates on my health with this information.    It was posted on the website.  On Tuesday evening, we spoke with the oncologist in Mexico and he questioned the finding of the chemotherapy oncologist.  He wasn’t sure the entire mass was the tumor but said our best option would be the chemotherapy that was suggested by the previous doctor.  On Thursday, Dec. 8, we met with the radiation oncologist who did the focused radiation.  He is convinced that the mass on the CT scan is scar tissue from the focused radiation.  He said the findings are “consistent” with the results of focused radiation  and they believe the cancer in this tumor was taken care of.  He strongly suggested I not take chemo but to wait four months and take another CT scan to see if there are further tumors.  He said the restricted breathing was from the two major lungs surgeries over the past two years and the fifteen sessions of radiation which scarred 20% of my lung.

We are thrilled with this wonderful news.  We fully understand that this is only a step in the right direction but it is a first step in our battle of over two years.  We are so thankful for all who have prayed for us and now is not the time to stop.  We know there will be some very difficult days ahead where we will need the grace of God to carry us through.  Please forgive me for being too quick to send out our first update.  We just trusted the doctor in Barrie.  We should have waited until we talked to the doctor in Toronto.

We continue to rest in the will of God for our lives and we wouldn’t trade what the Lord is doing in our lives for anything in this world.

We made it to Iowa safely!! The temp is 12 F.  Oh to be back in CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!!

“O Give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever. “ I Chron. 16:34

We are truly thankful to the LORD for all He has done for us this year. What a tremendous privilege to have a part in what God is accomplishing in church planting. We recently returned from Ladysmith, Virginia where BCPM was assisting Calvary Baptist Church as it planted Vision Baptist Church. The reproducing pastor has been at Calvary Baptist for over eight years and has had a burden to reproduce the ministry there for as many years. A previous church building was turned over to the church and this enabled them to step up the process of reproducing itself. The preparations took nearly a whole year, much like the physical process of bearing children. Anyone who has ever had a child will understand the commitment and sacrifice involved; yet how insignificant these become when that new life appears. The church is a living organism and holds so many similarities to that of a family bearing a new life fashioned after itself. The interesting thing about Calvary Baptist Church and their sacrifice is their willingness to allow the LORD to use thirteen of their own members to join Pastor Jeff Hill. We are excited about the days ahead for Vision Baptist Church. Please pray with us that the LORD will continue to use the John and Romans and advertizing to bring visitors to build His church.

We have already begun preparations for church plants in the spring and fall of next year. Please pray that the LORD would give the necessary funds for the seed bank as we already have a lengthy list of new church plants for 2011. If you would like to make a donation to the seed bank this can be done through the “Reaping the Harvest” offering. These offerings help with the preparations for new churches. Details can be found on the web site at www.bcpm.org.

We thank you again for your prayers on our behalf.

This fall was one of the best church planting seasons we have ever had. We had five church plants over a six week period and every one was well attended and supported by local churches.  All the new churches are doing well and had great Grand Opening Sundays.  I am very thankful for the wonderful staff the Lord has given me. They were able to assist the reproducing pastors, the new pastors and the helping churches in a wonderful way.  We praise the Lord for the souls that were saved and the families that are now attending a solid fundamental Baptist church in their communities.  Please pray for each of these new churches.

I would like to ask you to pray with us about a major project we are undertaking.  Over the past few years, we realized that one and two color covers for the John/Romans were not as effective as four-color covers.  The problem was the cost of individually printing four color covers for each church plant.  We are working toward printing 500,000 covers for John/Romans in color. The cost for this will be just under $11,000.00. We are going to use two templates that our church planters and pastors can choose from and then we will run them through the printer one more time with their personal information at a cost of .01 per copy. This cost will be added to the budget for the church plant.  Of course, we do not have the $11,000 we will need for this, but we are going to proceed and believe the Lord will provide.  These J/R will reach into 500,000 homes with the gospel and the number of souls saved will only be known in Heaven.  It will help us with approximately 15 to 20 church plants depending upon the number needed for each church plant. Over the next three years, we will try to build up another $11,000 to purchase more for the next twenty church plants.  We have everything in place for this (except the money) and are planning to get them done over the winter.  This will shorten the time needed to prepare for a church plant as well and will streamline the planning procedures for each plant.  We asked one pastor familiar with printing, and he said this was a “gift” if we could get them done for this price. We agree and believe the Lord will provide.

Every church and friend of our ministry should have received the “Reaping the Harvest” brochure for this year.  God has been so good to us and every need has been met for this year.  However, the Seed Bank must be replenished for the church plants for 2012.  We are so thankful for all those who help us with this one-time offering.  Please pray about what the Lord may have you do to help us help these churches.

I am recovering nicely from the radiation treatments and getting more strength back each week.  However, I am still struggling with stamina and endurance.  Maybe I just need to work out a bit more!  I am scheduled for more tests and a CT Scan late this month, and we will know the status of the cancer on December 5 when we see the oncologist.  We are praying that the tumor as been reduced dramatically or gone all together.  Please pray with us to that end. Our next letter will be written following that appointment, and we will also get something out on the web as soon as we know something.

Thank you for your faithfulness.  Beth and I are so humbled by the number of people that tell us they pray for us every day.  Thank you so very much.  It is an investment in our lives that we believe God has used to keep me alive a bit longer.  Thank you as well for your financial investment in our ministry. I have said it many times.  We could not do this without you and God will bless you for your sacrifice for us. 

Volume 19, Issue 1 of the Cultivator is available. There are several articles which will update you about Baptist Church Planting Ministry in this issue.

Click here to view this issue of the Cultivator.

October saw our fifth church plant this fall take place in Ladysmith, VA. Pastor Owens of Calvary Baptist Church in Spotsylvania, VA, was the reproducing pastor, and Pastor Jeff Hill was the new pastor of Vision Baptist Church. The area was thoroughly saturated with John and Romans, tracts, fliers, signs, and advertisements. The response from the community was great with twenty-eight visitors during the Get- Acquainted Meetings. With other churches attending, the meetings averaged over eighty each night. The highlight of the week was the final night when Pastor Hill preached and fourteen people came during the invitation to join the new church. Since those first meetings, Vision Baptist Church has had thirty-four visitors, with many returning. Pray for this new, thriving church. I will have the privilege to preach their first missions conference in March of 2012.

Continue to pray for our support level. I will be in three mission’s conferences and three one-day meetings over the next few weeks. I am praying for our support level to reach over 80% by May of 2012.

I am excited to be a part of a great opportunity to influence over 500 pastors at a conference in India. I will be preaching and teaching on church planting that will hopefully have a great impact on reaching India for Christ. I will be joining Ken Fielder of FirstBible International, along with several other pastors January 27 through Februrary 4, 2012. Please pray about the funds needed to make this trip. I have been given special gifts of $750 towards the trip. Pray for the additional $1500 needed to be raised by the first of December.  These funds will cover all travel, lodging, and meals.

The “Reaping the Harvest” brochure has been sent to churches over the last few weeks. Please pray about helping us this year. We are already working on eight church plants for 2012, and there will likely be several more.  It will take a great offering to accomplish the task before us in 2012.  Thank you for your prayer and financial support. Your faithfulness has been a blessing to me and my family. I do believe that with your help, we can see the world reached through church planting. May that be our desire and goal until Christ returns.

“Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father…” wrote the hymn writer. How thankful Bev and I are for His unchangeable nature. We are so thankful for your faithful prayers and giving that allow us to sow the Gospel seed for you.  Every soul that is saved through the church plants we have worked with is adding to your account spiritually. Reports come back to us weekly of new folks that have come to Christ because of a new church planted.  God has been so very gracious to grant us health, strength and safety through the year and across the miles we have been honored to travel.

The new church plants scheduled for 2011 have now been completed and work has begun in earnest for several on the calendar for 2012.  There will be still be more added to the calendar for next year, I am confident.

We are excited to see an added dimension to the John/Romans for the upcoming churches planted.  We are anticipating being able to have four-color covers on the majority of them.  We are sure that this will add a greater impact to the tool of the Word of God.  The impact of the Word cannot be improved upon as it is the inspired Word.  The color will enhance the visibility of the booklets that are placed in each of the homes where a church is to be planted. Through a great deal of searching and planning, it looks like the color will add one to three cents to the cost of the booklets.

The first of the churches for next year will be in a northern suburb of Pittsburg.  Please be sure and read the report by Bro. Jeremy Rowland who was with Bro. Nathan Snode, the man who will pastor the new church.  This report is in the newest addition of the Cultivator on the front page entitled “Only God Could Do This.”  You will be blessed as you read the great provision of God.

We are thankful for each one of you who have sent a gift for the “Reaping the Harvest” offering. This is the account that is used only for expenses of new church plants.  Nothing is taken from this account for administrative expenses or salaries.  If you would like to have a part in this, you may send your gift to the office or you can give on-line through our website. You can also view pictures taken at many of the church plants during the past years.

Thank you so much for your prayers for us health-wise.  Both of us are doing well.  Bev is back to here normal coloring as the bruising is gone from her fall last month.

The month of October was closed in Rochester, MN, at the Rochester Baptist Church.  There was a special Harvest Day celebration.  The dear folks at the church made us feel so welcome.  Pastor and Mrs. Noonan are building a great church near the downtown area of the city.  Several souls had made professions of faith due to their soulwinning outreach door –to-door the previous day. Among the visitors that day was an individual on staff in the oncology department at Mayo Clinic.

Bev and I then drove down to Missouri for a couple of days of relaxation.  One of the couples from our home church provided us with tickets to view the “Miracle of Christmas” at the Sight and Sound Theatre.  They had the gentleman who has played Noah in another production as one of their students while teaching at Pensacola Christian College. What a marvelous blessing to see the Christmas story reenacted so completely.

May God’s richest blessings rest upon each of you.  May this month truly be a month of Thanksgiving for you!