Ray Family Update from August 2021

Hello friends! We sure do appreciate your love and prayers for our flock and for our family. In life and ministry, we often face crossroads where multiple paths lie ahead, generally one good and one bad. Should we choose God’s path forward, we may face trials and difficulties, but we will be the recipients of God’s blessings and will ultimately please Him. I get a sense that we are in such a place right now. I can see some good things happening at our church and I think to myself that this could be the time where we turn a corner in certain aspects—available sources for leadership, increasing our church’s local outreach, ministering to the world through our internet ministries, etc.

In our local ministries, we have some people stepping up to share in our burden. While it is not difficult to get people to volunteer, it is monumental when somebody follows through and fulfills the ministry. Why? Most ministry is behind the scenes, redundant, labourious, and receives little praise from men. People who are willing to serve so long as it brings enough personal benefit, praise, or thanks here and now, generally do not last long enough to complete or maintain the ministries for which they volunteered. We currently have some people who are taking some of this load and we are cautiously optimistic that they will follow through. Even with that, there is a need for more helpers as key ministries are suffering because of a lack of help.

In addition to some prospective new leaders, we also have several people who are going through a new member’s class in hopes of uniting with our church. The new member’s class is new to our church but needful to be sure that these believers can make informed decisions as to whether or not they want to identify as part of our local body. This class includes six lessons: (1) Why We Believe the King James Bible; (2) Why We Are Baptists; (3) Why We Study the Bible Dispensationally; (4) Why We Are Particular in Our Music; (5) A Doctrinal Survey—Part 1; (6) A Doctrinal Survey—Part 2. We decided to add the new member’s class for two reasons: (1) to help those who show a desire to unite with us to determine whether they are agreeable with us in doctrine and in practice, and (2) to offer a layer of protection for the body from those who are disagreeable in doctrine and practice from flippantly joining our ranks. Again, we are cautiously optimistic that these believers can become a fruitful and joyful part of our church family.