The Prayer Link

Thursday

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit.”

~Matthew 28:19a~

Continue to pray for Mr. “Cete” Dillon. He’s not well yet.

Pray for Rev. Butch Reviere as he has a MRI today and meets with his doctor tomorrow.

Mrs. Margurite Vernon of Arcola is in ICU at North Oaks. Pray for her and for her family as they continue to help care for her.

Tiffany B. Currier

The second try to open a valve did not work. Pray for Tiffany as she takes blood thinners and waits to see if her body will solve this problem on its own. Pray for Tiffany as she lives daily with this health concern.

CaringBridge Sites

KneEmail

“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2:10

Mike Benson, Editor

THE BIBLE ACKNOWLEDGES the problem of anxiety…

An awful lot of people’s answer to anxiety is medication. I certainly don’t want to make light of the very serious issues of anxiety with which many people must cope in their lives. Often, medication must be a part of the response. Peter shows us something important, though. He calls on us to cast our anxieties on Christ because He cares for us. There is an answer for our anxiety and it’s found in Christ. But notice what else we learn from this context.

Starting in 4:12, Peter begins mentioning the suffering Christians must endure. It begins here with the “fiery ordeal” and goes on to talk about suffering as a Christian in verses 14, 16, and 19. Then, in chapter 5, he picks up the theme again in verses 9 and 10. This discussion in chapter 5, though, is also where Peter talks about Satan as a “roaring lion” prowling about, seeking someone to devour (v. 8). It is just prior to this that Peter says we should cast our anxieties on Jesus because Satan is looking for victims and immediately following encourages us to resist him, knowing the “same experiences of suffering” is common to Christians throughout the world (v. 9).

Anxiety is a weapon in Satan’s arsenal. Often it does come from the suffering we must endure as Christians. If we think we’re going to be able to reach a state of zero anxeity we’re mistaken. Paul does tell us to be anxious “for nothing” (Philippians 4:8). But, he goes on to tell us to do the same thing Peter does. Paul says pray about it, Peter says give it to Jesus: same thing. We have responsibility here. We must resist Satan. We must look to others who are also suffering.

We mustn’t give up and give in to anxiety. It is a real, everyday issue to be faced by Christians because Satan will use it to devour us. (David Deffenbaugh, Bill McFarland)

“Casting all your care upon Him,

for He cares for you.”

1 Peter 5:7

LOTTIE MOON (Part 3)

Lottie extended her work into the interior, especially P’ingtu and Hwangshien, until additional missionaries arrived to carry on the work. Only then did she allow herself to take a much-needed furlough, the first in 1892, and the second in 1902. Lottie was very concerned that her fellow missionaries were burning out from lack of rest and renewal and going to early graves. The mindset back home was “go to the mission field, die on the mission field.” Many never expected to see their friends and families again. Lottie argued that regular furloughs every ten years would literally extend the lives and effectiveness of seasoned missionaries. (Today missionaries get a furlough roughly every four years.) She also took a month of rest during the year.

The War with Japan (1894), the Boxer Rebellion (1900), and the Nationalist uprising (that overthrew the Qing Dynasty in 1911) all profoundly affected mission work. Famine and disease took their toll, as well. When Lottie returned from her second furlough in 1904, she agonized over the suffering of the people who were literally starving to death all around her. She pled for more money and more resources, but the mission board was heavily in debt and could send nothing. Mission salaries were voluntarily cut. Unknown to her fellow missionaries, Lottie Moon—the Southern belle who was once described as “overindulged and under-disciplined”—shared her own meager money and food with any and everyone around her, severely affecting both her physical and mental health. In 1912, she only weighed fifty pounds. Alarmed, fellow missionaries arranged for her to be sent back home to the United States with a missionary companion, but she died on Christmas Eve on board ship in Kobe Harbor, Japan. Her body was cremated and the remains returned to loved ones in Virginia for burial.

Since her sacrificial death at the age of seventy-two, Lottie Moon has come to personify the missionary spirit for Southern Baptists and many other Christians, as well. The annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Missions has raised a total of $1.5 billion for missions since 1888 and finances half the entire Southern Baptist missions budget every year.

http://www.trailblazerbooks.com/books/Moon/Moon-bio.html

Mrs. Willie Mae Page Lee
(December 29, 1922 – December 9, 2009)

Mrs. Willie Mae Page Lee was born on December 29, 1922 and passed away at 4:55 a.m. on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at Golden Age Nursing Home in Denham Springs. She was 86, a native of Mer Rouge, LA and a resident of Denham Springs.

Mrs. Willie Mae is survived by 5 daughters, Margaret Ann Lee, Albany, Barbara E. Collier, Ponchatoula; Sue L. Glass and husband, Bobby, Denham Springs, Pattie Page Lee, Sharon, TN, and Cara W. Fonrouge and husband, Pete, Albany; 3 sons, Percy Truman Lee and wife, Jackie, Healey Field, MS; Mickey Lee and wife, Sandy, Kentwood, and Billy Lee and wife, Annette, Independence; numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Preceded in death by her parents, Bunyan and Dora Thompson Page; previous husbands, Percy T. Lee and Lonnie E. Williams; 3 sisters, Evelyn Hudson, Fannie Lee Allen, Lois Carrier; 4 brothers, Hirm Page, Edwin Buck Page, Robert C. Page and Harold Page.

Visitation will be at McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, on Saturday, December 12, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. until Religious Services in the Funeral Home Chapel at 1:00 p.m. with Bro. Jessie Tate officiating. Interment in the Loranger Cemetery.

An on-line Guestbook is available at http://www.mckneelyvaughnfh.com.

McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, is located at I-55N & Hwy 16W behind Mr. Tom’s Car Wash and Bill Hood Chevrolet.

Pray for the Wilkinson family as they have final services for Billy Wilkinson today.

Merry CHRISTmas!

Jesus is the reason for the season!

Anna Lee

Wednesday Afternoon

Will you please add my niece Nikki Sharp to the Prayer Link. She will be having gallbladder surgery Thursday. Nikke is the daughter of Keith and Donna Carter.
Mason (Carter) went to Dr. Austin today and is very stopped up. If he is not cleared up by the 23rd he will have surgery again after Christmax.
Lawana

Update on Caleb Estay (written by mom, Alisha, and passed on by Nana, Annette.

Caleb continues to do well, neuro surgery is still monitoring his head circumference for need of a shunt, so far so good. The longer we can hold off the better. He is eating 2.5-3 oz a feeding already, moving his legs. The only affect we see so far from the spin…a bifida is a little leg w…eakness and that is it. Should be home Friday. Continue to pray.

Wednesday

“Then the angel said to them,

“Do not be afraid, for behold,

I bring you good tidings of great joy0

which will be to all people,”

~Luke 2:10, NKJV~

Dr. Earl Council is home and feeling better. Continue to pray for him.

Mrs. Della McDaniel is in North Oaks. Please keep her in your prayers.

Pray for Kathy Wales.

Kathy Wales is having toe surgery Monday, December 14 to repair damage from a previous surgery. She will be totally non-weight bearing for two months in a cast. Please keep her in your prayers.

LOTTIE MOON (Part 2)

Edmonia didn’t last as a missionary, but Lottie did. She was a petite woman, only four foot three, but she had stamina, a lively spirit, vision, and a passion to win souls for God. Mission policies of the time limited what ministry women could do. But Lottie waged a slow, respectful, but relentless campaign to give women missionaries the freedom to minister and have an equal voice in mission proceedings. A prolific writer, she corresponded frequently with H. A. Tupper, head of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board, informing him of the realities of mission work and the desperate need for more workers—women and men. She encouraged Southern Baptist women to organize mission societies in the local churches to help support additional missionary candidates—and to consider coming themselves. Many of her letters appeared as articles in denominational publications. Catching her vision, Southern Baptist women organized Women’s Missionary Unions (WMU) and even Sunbeam Bands for children to promote missions and collect funds to support missions. The first “Christmas offering for missions” in 1888 collected over $3,000, enough to send three new missionaries to China.

Raised in a family “of culture and means,” Lottie at first thought of the Chinese as an inferior people, and insisted on wearing American clothes to maintain a degree of distance from these “heathen” people. But gradually she came to realize that the more she shed her westernized trappings and identified with the Chinese people, the more their simple curiosity about foreigners (and sometimes rejection) turned into genuine interest in the Gospel. She began wearing Chinese clothes, adopted Chinese customs, learned to be sensitive to Chinese culture, and came to respect and admire Chinese culture and learning. In turn she was deeply loved and revered by the Chinese people.

Lottie began her tenure as a missionary by teaching in a girls school—but while accompanying some of the seasoned married women on “country visits” from village to village outside the bigger cities, she discovered her passion: direct evangelism. But there were so many hungry, lost souls, and so few missionaries! For forty years she kept up her not-so-gentle pressure for the Southern Baptists to become giving, sending, missions-minded people.

Lottie’s home base as a missionary was Tengchow (today Penglai) in Shantung Province in North China. T. P. Crawford was the senior missionary there, but he had a reputation among both missionaries and the Chinese as an inflexible, contentious personality. Lottie often functioned as a peacemaker, able to see both sides of a dispute. She had her own strong opinions about different things, but she always worked respectfully with the Foreign Mission Board and with her fellow missionaries. Eventually Crawford resigned from the mission and formed the independent Gospel Mission, taking several Southern Baptist missionaries with him. After Crawford’s death, however, Lottie encouraged the board to receive the remaining GM missionaries “back into the fold.”

KneEmail

“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2:10

Mike Benson, Editor

WE ALL HAVE walls…

Not the stone, concrete, or wooden ones that typically surround properties, but emotional ones. Ther are parts of our lives that we keep walled off from other people. The closer we are to someone, the fewer walls there are, the more self-disclosure we allow. But even with those with whom we are the very closest, perhaps our spouse and/or very dearest friend a wll or two remains in place. The walls are there to keep us from hurting. Maybe what we are keeping to ourselves is something we’re afraid will cause the other person to think less of us or even reject us. A wall is in place to protect us from that kind of hurt. Believe it or not, we likely even have walls when it comes to our relationship with God. Really.

The candid request of our text is remarkable. It is full disclosure. No walls. My heart, my anxious thoughts, my actions are all open to scrutiny. Something has to be understood here, though. This isn’t actually an invitation to all God to do something He was not otherwise able to do. Notice verses 1-12. God already knows everything there is to know about me. He knows me better than I know myself. No, this invitation is in reality an acknowledgment, an admission on my part of what is already a reality. God knows my heart. He knows my anxious thoughts, He knows not only what I do, but why I do it. The only thing that is left is for me to acknowledge what God already knows, own up to it, and allow God’s will and purpose to change and shape me even to my innermost being.

Walls separate; bridges unite. We already have a big enough problem of separation from God caused by sin. He provided a bridge in His Son. We need to be rid of the walls that only further separate. With God we must have no walls, only a bridge. David Deffenbaugh; Bill McFarland

“Search me, O God, and know my heart;

try me, and know my anxieties;

and see if there is any wicked way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.”

~Psalm 139:23-24~

Have a great day!

Anna Lee

Tuesday Update

From Rev. Marshall Wallace concerning Larkin Parker

******My daughter (Sissy Riouxs) just phoned advising the test performed yesterday has revealed the area behind both eyes as being normal. They will now continue to work with him to determine the reason for all the pressure he is experiencing to the eyes. Thank you all for your prayers… You have been a blessing to me and the family….

Tiffany Bankston Currier needs our prayers. She having health issues similar to what led to major surgery early last summer. Today’s procedure was unsuccessful, so another one will be done tomorrow. Pray that works well so more invasive surgery is not necessary.

Tuesday

From Bill Frazier

Please add Laken Parker to the prayor list, He is just 17 years old and the doctors told him today that he would totally lose his sight. Please pray that the doctors are wrong, and something can be done.

I also had a message yesterday from Laken’s grandfather requesting prayer for this situation.

Wallace B. Carney, Sr.
(September 10, 1926 – December 7, 2009)

U.S. Veteran Wallace B. Carney, Sr. was born September 10, 1926 and passed away at 11:30 p.m., Monday, December 7, 2009 at his residence in Tunica, LA. He was 83 and a native of Independence, LA. Mr. Wallace was a retired security officer from Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and also served our country during WWII in the US Army.

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Eva Mae Jones Carney, Tunica; 2 daughters, Ann Carney Lane and husband, Michael, Amite and Denise Carney Lemoine and husband, Donald, Mt. Hermon; 2 sons, Wallace “Sonny” Carney, Jr. and wife Nancy Ritchie, Tunica and Johnny Carney and wife Alana Courtney, Tunica; 10 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandchild; numerous nieces, nephews and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents Alex Bradford and Lillie Ballard Carney; a sister, Eloise Mamie Carney Lilly; 2 brothers, Herman Redell Carney and Glen Leland Carney.

The family would like to extend special thanks to Jess & Jerry Ridgedell, Malcom “Coon” & Kathy Willson, David & Jane Regan, Senior Hector Barrios, P.T. and to all those who helped care and pray for Mr. Wallace when he needed it most. Also a special thanks to Pinnacle Home Health and Dr. Medina & Staff.

Visitation will be at McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, on Friday, December 11, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. until Religious Services at 12:30 p.m. Interment in Ford Cemetery, Independence.

An on-line Guestbook is available at http://www.mckneelyvaughnfh.com

McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, is located at I-55N & Hwy 16W behind Mr. Tom’s Car Wash and Bill Hood Chevrolet.

LOTTIE MOON

Southern Baptist Missionary to China

Lottie Moon was born in 1840, third in a family of five girls and two boys, on the family’s fifteen-hundred-acre tobacco plantation known as Viewmont. Her father, Edward Moon, was the largest slaveholder (fifty-two slaves) in Albemarle County; he was also a merchant and a lay leader in the Baptist church. But Lottie was only thirteen when her father died in a riverboat accident.

The Moon family valued education, and at age fourteen Lottie went to school at the Virginia Female Seminary [e.g. high school] and later the Albemarle Female Institute, where she earned both her bachelor’s and Master of Arts degree in teaching. A spirited and outspoken girl, Lottie was indifferent to her Southern Baptist upbringing until her late teens, when God touched her heart during a spiritual revival at Albemarle.

There were precious few opportunities for educated females in the mid-1800s, though her older sister Orianna became a physician and served as a Confederate doctor during the Civil War. Lottie helped her mother maintain Viewmont during the war, once hiding the family silver in a field from approaching Union soldiers, but when the threat evaporated, she was unable to find it again.

After the Civil War, Lottie taught at female academies first in Danville, Kentucky, and later helped set up Cartersville Female High School in Georgia. The school was thriving academically (though not financially) under her leadership as associate principal when she felt a quite different call: to go to China as a missionary.

Single women on the mission field? Most mission work at that time was done by married men. But the wives of China missionaries T. P. Crawford and Landrum Holmes had discovered an important reality: Only women could reach Chinese women, and they needed help. To everyone’s surprise, Lottie’s younger sister Edmonia accepted a call to go to North China in 1872. Lottie followed a year later. She was thirty-three years old.

(To be continued tomorrow)

I saw photos of the Lottie Moon Tea at FBC, Ponchatoula. It was beautiful! I’m looking forward to the Lottie Moon Tea at FBC, Amite on the 19th at 2 P.M. All ladies and girls are invited to attend. Just let me know so I can put your “name in the hat”.

Merry CHRISTmas!

Jesus is the reason for the season!

Anna Lee

Monday Evening

URGENT PRAYER UPDATE
IMB
DECEMBER 7, 2009

AFRICA. Thank you for your continued prayers for the national Baptist partners in a southern Africa country that you are lifting before the Father’s throne. Strong disagreements have resulted in false accusations, police intervention, and upcoming court appearances. Despite the daily “bad” things that are happening, good things are happening each day as well! God is in control, and He will overcome. As you are able, please pray these promises over the entire issue: 2 Chronicles 20:15; Joshua 1:9; Isaiah 43:1-2; Psalm 121:7-8; Psalm 120:1-2; Psalm 33:10, 11, 18-22; Matthew 16:8; Ephesians 6:12; Romans 8:28; Jeremiah 29:11; 2 Peter 2:9; Psalm 37:3-9, 23-25; Matthew 10:18-20, 26; and 2 Corinthians 4:7-10, 15-18. Thank you for praying!

Billy L. Wilkinson
(June 7, 1941 – December 5, 2009)

Billy L. Wilkinson was born on June 7, 1941 and passed away at 10:25 a.m., Saturday, December 5, 2009 at MD Anderson Medical Center, Houston, TX. He was 68 a native of McComb and a resident of Fluker.

Mr. Billy is survived by 2 daughters, Ginger Darlene Gaskin and husband Geoffrey, Newnan, GA and Misty Rae Nichols and husband Josh, St. Clairsville, OH; 2 sons, Patrick Shane Wilkinson and wife April, Fluker and Benjamin David Wilkinson, Kentwood; 2 sisters Barbara Jo Williamson, Collins, MS and Brenda Rollinson and husband James, Smithdale, MS; brother, Thomas Merle Wilkinson and wife Donna, McComb, MS; 6 grandchildren, Jordan, Kadence, Owen, Isabella, Gracie and Adalena.

Preceded in death by his wife, Barbara Darlene Wilkinson, father, William H. “Willie” Wilkinson, “Paw Paw Wilk”; mother, Eva Mae Sanders; step-father, Stanley Sanders.

Visitation will be at McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. and on Thursday, December 10 from 8:00 a.m. until Religious Services at 1:00 p.m. Interment in the Roberts Cemetery, Osyka, MS.

Pallbearers will be Marvin Zeigler, Rudy Landry, Doug Gardner, Don Kent, Eric Kent, Benji McNabb, Audie Braase, and Walter Doty.

Special thanks to cousin Beverley Stewart of Osyka. We know the sacrifice you made to put our father’s care first in your life. There are no words that can say how much we thank you & love you for being there for us and him when his care was needed most. Also for providing our dad with a spiritual guidance each and every day.

An on-line Guestbook is available at http://www.mckneelyvaughnfh.com

McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, is located at I-55N & Hwy 16W behind Mr. Tom’s Car Wash and Bill Hood Chevrolet.

Monday

You became imitators of us and of the Lord;

in spite of severe suffering,

you welcomed the message with the joy

given by the Holy Spirit.

And so you became a model to all the believers.

~ 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7 (NIV) ~

Dr. Earl Council is in Ruston to get some units of blood this morning. Pray the doctors will soon determine the problem so it can be addressed.

Mrs. Kathrine Sanders has appointments scheduled for this week. Pray for her and Alice Mary this week.

Caleb Estay was continuing to do well. He may be able to go home real soon. Pray for Landon and Alyshia as they care for him that they will have wisdom and confidence.

From Mrs. Ann Chapman

Dear Family and Friends,
Wanted to let you know the halo is gone…Praise God! I now have a neck brace on. I have to wear it 24/7, no removing. I will go back to the doctor in six weeks for an X-ray. The brace certainly feels better than the halo. The halo had a vest, lined with lamb’s wool, that went down to my waist. I now feel like I can fly, I feel so free and light. The brake is healing, but not well…please keep praying.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love,
Ann

Continue to pray for Mrs Faye Price and her family. Pray for energy to continue to face each hour of each day.

Pray for the sweet Morris family as they have the wake and celebration of Wayne’s life this morning at Kedron. I thank God for allowing me to teach with Cora and to teach three of her four children.

Billy L. Wilkinson
(June 2, 1941 – December 5, 2009)

Billy L. Wilkinson ws born on June 2, 1941 and passed away at 10:25 a.m., Saturday, December 5, 2009 at MD Anderson Medical Center, Houston, TX. Mr. Billy was 68 and a resident of Fluker.

Arrangements are incomplete at this time.

An on-line Guestbook is available at http://www.mckneelyvaughnfh.com

McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, is located at I-55N & Hwy 16W behind to Mr. Tom’s Car Wash and Bill Hood Chevrolet.

Pray for the Wilkinson family as they have services for Billy.

A church mobilized

When God’s people pray, the Gospel can penetrate difficult places. Just ask members of Beulah Baptist Church in Hopkins, S.C.

Beulah Baptist is a 200-year-old church that averages about 275 people each Sunday. In 2007, pastor Brad Bessent led the congregation to begin praying about partnering with the International Mission Board. They specifically prayed about adopting an unreached people group, those with an evangelical presence of less than 2 percent.

Through prayer the church recognized and answered God’s call to take responsibility for spreading the Gospel among the Bambara. The Bambara are a West African people group of 6 million — nearly all Muslim.

Working together with IMB missionaries Steve and Susan Roach, the church set its sights on a village of about 3,000 Bambara in Mali. There were no evangelical churches in the village and no known Christians.

Short-term missions teams from Beulah continued praying for the people and visiting their village every six weeks. They openly shared the Gospel with anyone willing to listen.

After nearly two years of prayer and 12 trips to the village, Beulah Baptist witnessed more than 100 Bambara come to faith in Christ.

“I’m convinced that God called every one of us to fulfill the Great Commission,” Bessent says.

“If we don’t get our churches mobilized, there are going to be millions of folks who continue to die and spend eternity in hell because nobody told them about Jesus.”

Pray
Pray for more churches to catch the vision of adopting an unreached people group and having a part in bringing them to Christ.

CaringBridge

Remember to collect blankets, hats, and gloves for distribution to the homeless in New Orleans. You can learn more about needed ministries there through http://www.brownbagsforjesus.com.

Another reminder is the Lottie Moon Christmas Tea on December 19th at 2 PM at First Baptist Church, Amite. Let the church know is you will be able to attend.

Thanks for praying today. Your prayers mean so much to so many people. If you have praises, updates, or requests to share, please contact me through this site.

Have a great day remembering that Jesus is the reason for the season!

Anna Lee

Sunday

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?

Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.

I’ll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it.

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

~ Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)~

Ethel Mae Durbin Bourgeois
(September 26, 1923 – December 4, 2009)

Died at 7:00PM on Friday, December 4, 2009 at Lane Regional Medical Center in Zachary, LA. She was a native of Montpelier, LA and a resident of Zachary, LA. Age 86 years. Visitation at McKneely Funeral Home, Amite, from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. on Sunday and from 8 a.m. until religious services at 10 a.m. Monday. Services conducted by Rev. David Luce. Interment Montpelier Cemetery, Montpelier, LA. Survived by her husband, Percy Bourgeois, Zachary , 2 daughters, Gloria Mobley and her husband, Andy, Calhoun, and Susan Durbin, West Monroe , daughter-in-law, Jennifer Bigner Durbin, Amite, 2 step-daughters, Linda Redden, Watson, and Susan Simpson, Baton Rouge, grandchildren, LaDonna Coleman Bender and her husband, Mike, Keller, TX, Clint Coleman and his wife, Tammy, Calhoun, Scott Coleman and his wife, Tracey, Plattsburg, NY, Mellissa Durbin Leto and her husband David, Sr., Amite, Kimberly Durbin Curry and her husband, Stephen “Nim”, Hillsdale, John Daniel Durbin and his wife, Andrea, Gulfport, MS, Ken Rogers, West Monroe, and Nichole Smith and her husband, Cody, West Monroe, 18 great-grandchildren, 1 great-great-grandson, Preceded in death by, first husband, Leland J. Durbin, Sr., and son, Leland J. Durbin, Jr. Pallbearers will be grandsons, Clint Coleman, Scott Coleman, Ken Rogers, John Durbin, David Leto, Jr., and Clinton Coleman.

Peoples of the Canary Islands

Pepe and Shari Lopez (names changed) rely heavily on relationship-building to enhance their ministry opportunities in Fuerteventura, one of seven Canary Islands located off the west coast of Africa.

Many islanders are immigrants from northwest Africa who have come looking for a better life in the European Union. Some enter the country legally, while others go a more dangerous route on rickety boats or makeshift rafts.

Earning these people’s trust is a lengthy process, but the Lopezes have found that providing free, no-strings-attached services — such as teaching — help tremendously. Shari leads multilingual children’s camps, and Pepe teaches a free Spanish class. Omar, a Muslim, is one of Pepe’s most dependable students. Because of Pepe’s dedication and free teaching, the trust level among his students has skyrocketed — especially with Omar.

The friendships built during the classes and camps have helped Pepe and Shari reach areas of the community that previously would have been nearly impossible.

Pray
Pray that Pepe and Shari will continue building deep relationships with fellow islanders.

Because you give
“The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is our ‘life support.’ We could not live, function or remain here should Southern Baptists not be praying for us all the time,” Pepe says. “We are the tangible extension of your life and your ministry. So much of what we see around us — schools, hospitals, people and government … they are all in dire need of the Gospel. How could we continue to reach out to them if you do not pray and give?”

Don’t forget to bring your blankets, hats, and gloves to me so I can pass them on to Dena P. Simmons. She’s going to work through BrownBagsandJesus.com to get these into the hands of the homeless in New Orleans who live under a bridge.

Catalog

TIS THE SEASON to receive catalogs in the mail….
Every trip to the mailbox ends with an armload of slick holiday catalogs. Each one claims to offer me something I need–immediately. “Don’t wait!” “Limited offer!” “Order now!”

The lure works. I open the pages to discover what I didn’t know I needed. Sure enough, I see things that suddenly seem essential, even though a few minutes earlier I didn’t know they existed. Manufacturers use catalog illustrations to create desire for their products.

In a way, Christians are God’s catalogs. We are His illustration to the world of what He has to offer. His work in our lives makes us a picture of qualities that people may not know they need or want until they see them at work in us.

As you browse holiday catalogs, consider what the “catalog” of your life says about God. Do people see qualities in you that make them long for God? (Julie Ackerman Link)

“You are our epistle written in our hearts,

known and read by all men.”

~2 Cor. 3:2

Posted by Mike Benson

Jesus is the reason for the season!

Anna Lee

Saturday

“Your generosity …

not only provides for the needs of God’s people,

but also produces prayers of thanksgiving to God.”

~2 Corinthians 9:12~

From Trisha (Mrs. Dwayne) Wilson

Thanks, again, my friends for your prayers. Today’s outreach with Graham’s class went well. 10 kiddos came, along with 5 moms, a friend from my Community Bible Study (wanting to get ideas for her outreach next week) a 2 yr. old, and a 5^th grader (came to help out a bit)….quite a houseful including my 4 kids!

Love and appreciate your support!

Tricia

Caring Bridge Sites

KneEmail

“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2:10

Mike Benson, Editor

VICTOR FRANKL COULD have been forgiven if he had displayed a bad attitude…

As a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, he was witness to some of the most indescribable horrors in human history.

How, then, did Frankl avoid the fate of pessimism and bitterness? He wrote: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way.”

Our attitude is a matter of choice? Few ever come to that realization. They merely take the mood that comes with the events of their day and act correspondingly. If someone cuts me off in traffic, I’ll be in a foul mood for awhile. If I get that promotion, I’ll be on top of the world. If not, stay out of my path!

What can a person do to test Frankl’s theory of choosing one’s attitude? Here are some ideas from one who was described as having a heart like God’s (Acts 13:22):

• Practice Praise: “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together” said David in Psalm 34:3 (NKJV). When we take time to realize how much greater God is than the problems of our world, we’ll be encouraged. Life won’t seem so dismal to one who is a child of the Omnipotent Father!

• Try Thankfulness: In Psalm 103:2, David gave this admonition: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” After writing that, he listed some of his many blessings. It will work the same for us. When we count our blessings, we remember that God has not forgotten us. Every day his mercies toward us are rich.

• Break Out The Blinders: Hear David again in Psalm 101:3: “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.” Is television filling our souls with discouraging images of problems or with scenes of wickedness? Would our attitudes improve if we spent time meditating on good, wholesome ideas and images (cf. Philippians 4:8)? “Garbage in, garbage out” was first applied to computers, but it also explains many a bad attitude.

Christians should demonstrate attitudes that are markedly different from those of the world. Jesus said so in John 15:11: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” Ask someone close to you: “Does my joy show?” If it doesn’t, it’s time to choose a better attitude – with God’s help. Tim Hall at http://www.forthright.net

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true,

whatever things are noble,

whatever things are just,

whatever things are pure,

whatever things are lovely,

whatever things are of good report,

if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—

meditate on these things.”

Philippians 4:8

Lottie Moon Christmas Tea

First Baptist Church, Amite

Saturday, December 19

2:00 P.M.

All ladies and girls are invited.

Sign up at your local church or here on The Prayer Link.

Come and learn more of Lottie Moon

and her commitment to missions.

Jesus is the reason for the season.

Anna Lee

Lost cities of China

During the past two decades, central China’s urbanization has grown at full-throttle. Workers migrating from the countryside to new urban centers have transformed 223 towns into cities, each counting more than 1 million people.

The lure? Money. A city job pays three to four times the salary possible in villages. But in the past, moving to find that job put rural people at risk because government policies denied them the documentation they needed to work in the cities. Last year, thousands of Chinese took to the streets to protest their dire economic situation. The government responded by allowing 20 percent of them to move into cities — cities with insufficient housing, factories and roads.

And little Christian witness. As these metropolitan areas continue to sprawl, there’s a growing concentration of people who don’t know Jesus and have little opportunity to meet Him. In essence, they are a collection of lost cities.

Finding a way to share Christ’s love, developing a plan to reach these urban centers is critical. Now is the most opportune time as workers arrive and struggle to find their way. They — and the relatives they left behind — need the stability found only in Jesus.

Pray
Pray that God will call more Christian workers to take the Gospel to these unreached peoples.

Friday Night

Kenneth Wayne Morris, Sr.
(August 20, 1941 – December 4, 2009)

Kenneth Wayne Morris, Sr. 68, passed away peacefully in the early afternoon of December 4, 2009 surrounded by his family at his home in Amite. He was born in the Woodland Community August 2, 1941. Mr. Wayne served as a Deacon of Kedron Baptist Church, a graduate of SLU with a degree in Biology and a Master’s Degree in Administration and Supervision, and was a retired dairy farmer.

He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Cora Strahan Morris, Amite; 3 daughters, Debra Morris Pizza and husband Joey, Hammond, Donna Morris, Amite, and Kim Morris Sims and husband Shane, Brandon, MS; 12 grandchildren, John, Joede & Little Joey Pizza, Ricky LeBlanc, Gabbie Morris, Trey, III, Kaitlin, Nicole, & Austin Morris, TJ, Tyler Grace and Baby Sims; numerous niece & nephews.

Preceded in death by a son, Kenneth Wayne Morris, Jr.; parents, Alton and Alma Lee Sharkey Morris; 2 brothers, Alton Morris, Jr. and Danny Morris.

Visitation will be at McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, on Sunday, December 6. 2009 from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. and on Monday, December 7, 2009 at Kedron Baptist Church from 8:00 a.m. until Religious Services at 11:00 a.m. with Bro. Jake Williams officiating. Interment in the Kedron Cemetery.

An on-line Guestbook and to view a Video Tribute is available at http://www.mckneelyvaughnfh.com

McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, is located at I-55N & Hwy 16W behind to Mr. Tom’s Car Wash and Bill Hood Chevrolet.

Pray for this sweet family. Wayne fought a long hard battle. He’s now in his heavenly home!