Friends and Family,

The past few weeks have been quite difficult on Beth and me. Many of you heard about Matt and Lana Cretzman and the accident in North Carolina where their three year old daughter was killed.  Matt and Lana are dear friends of ours. On the same day of their accident, one of our best friends passed away here in Canada. Brother Brian Booth was in our church in Pickle Lake. and he surrendered to the mission field under our ministry.  After his wife Sherrill passed away in 1999, he returned to England to plant churches.  While there, he met and married Helen Rempel, whose first husband died on the mission field in Mexico.  He later returned to Canada to help form CanAmera Baptist Mission and served as the General Director.  I talked with him just a few days before his death, and he seemed to be doing well.  While in Manitoba for Brother Booth’s funeral, I received a call that a long-time supporter of our ministry also entered Heaven’s glory.  Brother Charles Arnott has supported our ministry for the entire time Beth and I have been on the field. Please pray for these dear families who have lost loved ones.  The Cretzmans will remain in Winston-Salem for several weeks while Lana receives therapy.  Please pray for Helen Booth and Grace Arnott as they begin to adjust to life without their husbands.

Things are rapidly moving forward for our spring church plants.  Brother Rowland will be looking after the church plant in Cranberry, PA, in mid-April, and I will be holding the meetings in Orangeville, ON, the first week of April.  I will be going to Vernon, BC, to hold the pastor’s luncheon for the church plant scheduled the first full week of May.  Please pray for me as I travel. I am “off the leash” for this six day trip, and I will be responsible for taking all the “things” I am supposed to take.  Beth has done a wonderful job looking after me.  Please pray for her “not to worry” while I am gone.

We are also working on something we have never done before.  Lord willing, we are going to plant two churches in the same city at the same time.  I mentioned this in our last letter, and this project is coming together.  I will be meeting on the 16th with the planters, along with several other pastors, to lay the groundwork for these church plants.  Please pray that we can find the right buildings and come up with the money for these plants.  It will be very expensive because it is in the Greater Toronto Area and the city is large, over 300,000 people.  We are looking at October start-up dates for both churches.

Pray as well for our annual meeting and staff retreat.  We are going to Branson at the end of the month for the retreat.  During that time, we will hold the annual meeting and most of the board members will attend by “electronic” means.  We now use “GoToMeeting.com” for our weekly staff meetings and meetings with church planters.  I was able to use points for the rooms in Branson so we have no expense for accommodations.  We praise the Lord for that.

We praise the Lord for answered prayer.  For the past eight months, I have not been able to get travel health insurance, but we switched banks, and they offer a plan for their clients that allows me to have insurance and travel.  We also praise the Lord for allowing us to get the hospital bill in West Virginia (from the kidney stones) reduced from over $24,000 to $9,400.

Physically, I am doing pretty well.  I am walking a mile in eighteen minutes and doing some strength exercises.  We are praying we get a good report from the next CT Scan which is scheduled for April 2.  Please pray with us to that end.  We will hold off our next monthly letter until we have the results.

Thank you so very much for all you do for us in this ministry.  Without your faithfulness to us in prayer and financial investment, we would not be able accomplish what the Lord has allowed us to do.  Thank you for these investments during February.  We appreciate it so very much.

2012 Church Plants- We have been busy working on eight church plants already for 2012. Four church plants will be in the US:  Cranberry, PA; Belleville, KS;  Medina, OH;  and Thornton, CO.  The remaining church plants will be in Canada:  Orangeville, Ontario; Vernon, British Columbia;  and two in Markham, Ontario.

Support- We have also had the privilege of preaching and presenting BCPM in several mission’s conferences and special meetings.   Several churches have partnered with prayer and financial support. Pray that we will raise this support quickly so we can spend the needed time and attention on the church plants.

Praises

Recent Church Plants- Praise the Lord for the reports of recent church plants. Many of these young churches have had their first mission’s conference and have taken on missionaries for support. The churches that BCPM have helped start are now giving over two million dollars to missions every year.

India Trip- I recently traveled to the country of India to teach and preach on church planting at an annual First Bible Conference held at South India Bible Baptist College (www.sibbc.org). There were over 500 pastors and students attending, and they received the teaching well. The founder, Dr. Charian, is praying for a church planting movement in India and Asia and would like me to work on a strategy to help him do so. This trip has been very beneficial in opening my eyes to the challenges of global church planting, and I believe this will be a help in developing effective strategies. I want to thank all of those who prayed for me while in India and also for those who invested financially. I believe there will be much fruit from this meeting.

Prayer Requests

Wife, Teresa- Teresa has had some problems recently with a racing heart rate and near-fainting spells. After seeing several doctors and having numerous tests, she has been diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).  “POTS” is a condition in which an excessively reduced volume of blood returns to the heart after an individual stands up from a lying down position. In POTS, the lightheaded-ness or fainting is also accompanied by a rapid increase in heartbeat of more than 30 bpm, or a heart rate that exceeds 120 bpm, within ten minutes of rising. Teresa’s faintness or lightheadedness is usually relieved by lying down again. Doctors are not sure yet what causes the reduced return of blood to the heart that occurs or why the heart begins to beat so rapidly in POTS. She will see a specialist in August, the earliest available opening.  She is still able to travel, but we just need to be more careful. Please pray that we have wisdom to deal with this.

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.

Many years ago, men would use oil-lamp lighthouses to warn pilots of dangerous coastlines. In addition to the lighthouse, the keeper placed smaller oil lamps along the coast to lead the ship to the harbor.  Along the coastline of Lake Erie, this combination of lights was used. One night in the late 1800’s, the keeper of Lorraine Harbor was tired, and he decided that since no ship had navigated the difficult shoreline at night, no one would need the lower lights that night. He did not fill the oil reservoirs and went to bed.  While he slept, a storm came up and a ship did search for the harbor. Because of the lack of lights, the ship crashed into the rocks and sank. Only a few of the men survived. Philip P. Bliss heard the story and became angry that such a thing happened only because of lazy neglect. He felt that he and other Christians were like the lighthouse keeper. Unsaved people in the darkness of sin are often dashed along the coastline even while the light of Christ’s love is shining. He wrote the words of “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning.”

BCPM has had the honor of helping Mt. Zion Baptist church in Denver, PA, establish Anchor Baptist Church in Wellsville, NY.  Pastor Dan Cacciola is planning an outreach ministry in the community as P.P.Bliss lived there for many years. The community highly regards this famous hymn writer. The church family is excited as by April 1, they plan to be in their own building.  They have purchased a Presbyterian church.  The sellers have included much of the equipment (like tables, chairs) in the building for a selling price of just $25,000.  This money has been raised by their faithful giving and sizeable gifts from a couple of other churches.

Bev and I were blessed to be able to spend time with several dear friends as we went to Florida in honor of our 50^th wedding anniversary in June.  We enjoyed meeting new friends and renewing past friendships in Jacksonville, FL.

It was also an honor to stand in the pulpit of Indian River Baptist Church, under the leadership of Pastor Dan Cox, and preach the Word and bring a report of BCPM to this church that we helped re-establish several years ago.

At this writing, the 13,000 John/Romans to be distributed in Cranberry, PA, are being bagged for door hanging.  Please pray for Pastor Snode who will pastor this church.

Thank you for the honor of being an extension of your missions program.

If this year goes like the past several years, I guess we can say, “2012 is in the history book.”  Bev has often said, “When January is past, the rest of the year is history.” Almost all of the Christmas decorations outside and inside are put away.  Most years here in Minnesota, our outdoor decorations are mostly buried in snow and frozen fast in the ground requiring them to stay in place until spring thaw.  This year we have had maybe a couple of inches of snow.

Towards the end of January, the covers for the first John/Romans project of the year arrived ready for collating.  Plans are all falling into place as Pastor Kurt Skelly is working with Bro. Nathan Snode getting ready for the birthing of Lifeway Baptist Church near Pittsburg, PA. They have been making preparations for this project for over a year.

The subsequent two projects will both be in Canada; one in Ontario and the other way out west in Vernon, British Columbia.  Bro. Clarence Moore and Dr. Jessup have been busy working with Pastor Tom Klein and church planter Richard Aulin on the Vernon church.  It has presented a number of special challenges due to being very far from any other churches to assist in finding locations, preparing timelines, etc. We are thankful for internet services like “Go To Meeting” that have enabled on-line conferences which has saved much travel time and cost.

Please continue to pray for Pastor and Mrs. Mike Frey of Northern Lights Baptist Church in Waconia, MN.  This church is only about four months old.  Mrs. Frey has been hospitalized for about six weeks to date so that they do not lose their new baby. She will be kept in the hospital until the baby is born. Many helping hands have reached out to them, to help care for their other four children.

Bev and I are doing well and staying busy visiting with pastors and churches that BCPM has assisted with over the years. It is an honor to hear their prayer requests and be able to lift them up in prayer.  Being home some of January has enabled me to teach our adult Sunday school class at New Hope Baptist Church in Shakopee, MN. I would ask that you pray for our grandson Jake Girdner as he travels to Georgia from Arizona for the next six months of training for his position in Arizona as Border Patrol.

We are so grateful for those that have sent gifts to assist with the new church plants and shipping for the John/Romans.  We are thankful that we are able to now put colored covers on upcoming projects. Please remember, however, the color covers will not accomplish the work of the Spirit of God to convict hearts of their sin. Please pray for each home and the people in those homes that will read them.

May God’s richest blessings rest upon each of you.

Spring is just weeks away and with it comes new church plants around the country.  This spring, we have three churches we are helping reproduce new churches.  The first will be in Orangeville, ON, in early April followed by one in Cranberry, PA, two weeks later. The third church plant will be in Vernon, BC, in early May. Lord willing, I will be able to be in the Orangeville church plant and possibly in the Vernon plant as well.

As we prepare for these plants, we are busy with the pastor luncheons and the John/Romans preparation. We will be distributing over 75,000 John/Romans in these communities.  Please pray that these preparations go well, and that we can get them on site and distributed to these communities prior to the Get-Acquainted Meetings.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to use these booklets for our church planting ministry.  I believe it is one of the most useful tools in reaching families.  We praise the Lord that there is still some respect for the Word of God.  We are also thankful for the churches and individuals that have given help in getting the John/Romans into homes around the world.

I have spent some time over the winter writing.  I am working on a book on the church and also the manual on church planting.  It seems that much time is taken with the day-to-day operation of the ministry, but I want to give some time to writing.  Please pray that I am able to do this.

I would like for you to pray about a church planting project on which I am working. There is a community of nearly 75,000 homes in Canada, and we have two church planters interested in going to this community.  I would like to put together a concerted effort to plant two churches in the same community at the same time.  I have just begun working on this, and I need to get all the participants together to discuss the details of this project.  To my knowledge, this has never been done before, but it would be a wonderful testimony to see two men work in reaching such a large community.  There are no other independent Baptist churches in the city.  We would like to see this come together by the fall, if all goes well.  Please pray to that end.

I am also spending some time in appointments with medical personnel.  I cannot go into detail at this point, but I would appreciate your prayers concerning another medical “issue.”  Hopefully, it is nothing serious and at this time it is not keeping me from the ministry, but it is a concern and the doctors involved want me to get more testing.  Because of this, my travel is limited, but not my preaching.  I am holding meetings, but most are pretty close to home.  Please pray that the Lord will continue to allow me to be used in helping churches.

Thank you for your faithful prayers for us.  As for an update on the cancer, right now we are waiting on the April 2nd CT Scan.  We will know something pretty soon after that, and we will hold off writing the April letter until we have that information.  I am getting along fine and beginning to exercise on a regular basis.  I am now walking .75 miles in fifteen minutes.  I would like to get up to two miles in forty minutes by spring.  Please continue to pray for me.

The Lord has cared for our ministry through the past few years of economic downturn.  We know this is due to your faithfulness to pray and giving to meet the needs.  Without your help and sacrifice, we would never be able to continue.  Thank you so much for it.  The new churches that have been planted owe a great debt of gratitude to you.  We love you so much for all you have done for us. 

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.