Ray Family Update from April 2020

Dear Praying Friends,

As you are aware, the world around us is changing at a pace we have never before experienced. The last time I wrote to you, I pastored a church in Knoxville, Tennessee (a place located in the southeastern United States and often deemed to be the buckle of the Bible Belt), a city in the freest country in the world. As I now write, I do so from the same location, but as a missionary pastor to a closed field.

Our Roman Catholic leaders first warned that COVID-19 was not to be feared at all and encouraged public mass gatherings that may have eventually led to the virus’ spread. Now they “expertly” tell us the country needs to stay shut down indefinitely, because anything less than that is just not safe. Their prescriptive solutions have brought about the sudden destruction of religious liberties. To the astute Bible student, this comes as no surprise. We have always understood that religious liberty and separation of church and state are great obstacles to the state church and one-world religion Roman Catholicism desires.

When the dust settles “from the virus,” we will be left with a far more socialistic country. Sadly, where the Bible is minimized, socialism/communism run rampant. On the other hand, where the Bible is maximized, its light dispels the darkness of socialism/communism. In short, the only answer to our present distress is MORE Bible. It is up to us to change that by “holding forth the word of life” (Philippians 2:16).

Counting Blessings

The results of the shutdown have not been all bad. For one, doing church online only forced me to consider our services through the eyes of a church member or visitor. As such, I was able to question what we do well and what we could and should improve. It also opened doors of outreach and correspondence with individuals with whom we may have never come into contact had the times and circumstances been normal. In addition to that, I have heard from several that the separation from church was a wake-up call at just how careful we need to be in regards to taking the Lord, church, and all things related for granted. There was a reason why the old-time Christians wrote and sang songs of dismissal at the close of services wishing their brethren well and commending them to the grace of God until such time that they could meet again. Now we understand!

Staying Busy

This week will mark the close of another semester of Bible Institute. Things were obviously a little different this semester with the shutdown, but we finished nonetheless. Teaching is a great deal of work, but I enjoy the challenge to consistently grow in my own understanding of God’s word as well as the opportunity to pass what I learn and am assured of on to others who will hopefully one day do the same. The close of the semester will hopefully allow time for the completion of two books: (1) The Little Maid: The Girl Who Saved a Captain and (2) an untitled book coauthored with Brother Knox. At the same time, we are turning our full attention to our June Bible conference.

During the shutdown, my family has also helped to build and maintain a blog. This is not and will not be your typical blog, but includes music recorded by my family, sermon outlines, articles, devotions, and a testimony section that is currently under construction. We hope that you will visit our site (PastorAndrewRay.com) and sign up in order to keep up with the goings on of the ministry God has given us. By the time it is complete, we hope to have over 1,000 devotions, 500 sermon outlines, and an ever-growing article and blog section.