Ray Family Update from June 2016

Dear Praying Friends,

I hope this letter finds you prospering in the Lord’s will and work. If your life is common to others, I would imagine you are facing your fair share of spiritual battles. Different people respond in various ways when confronted with such adversity. Some back down or retreat in hopes the pressures will lessen. Others determine to dig in deeper and fight on for the Lord. The truth is that it does not get easier either way, but the latter path is much more victorious and pleasing to the Lord in the end. I hope you are choosing to fight on.

The month of June came and went in a flash. It feels odd to say, but the King James Conference now seems like a distant memory. The Lord blessed us with a good meeting in every facet possible. We had wonderful preaching, singing, fellowship, and tremendous food. We are already working to finalize some preparatory decisions for next year’s meeting. If the Lord does not come first, we fully expect to have another special meeting next year.

With the conference past, one might think things slow down, but the opposite is true. In addition to the regular schedule of preaching, teaching, writing and editing, songbook work, and outreach efforts, we have to finalize the schedule for the Bible institute which resumes in January. It is also in the plans to take a few trips (mostly ministry, with one personal). We hope these will be profitable in their intended purposes.

In the Works

There is some debate as to whether it is better to swiftly move forward on one task at a time or deliberately and continuously on multiple tasks. I am sure different strategies work better for different people, but I almost require the latter. For one, it keeps me from becoming too focused in on any one subject. Secondly, it allows for a constant change of pace. At the time of this writing, I am currently involved in the efforts of a prophetic book on Matthew chapter 24, an updated edition of One Book Rightly Divided, a new songbook, Daily Strength 3 (a devotional book), and a collection of Sunday School outlines to be used by Bible-believing Sunday School teachers. If I had the time, there are about three or four booklets I would like to produce right now. I hope to get several of these projects completed within the next six months.

These things do not include the great work being done through multimedia. Brother Jonathan Judy continues to build our YouTube channel with preaching and teaching. The choir continues to produce scriptural and enjoyable singing on YouTube which will hopefully produce CDs in the near future. Brother Jonathan is currently looking into the option of purchasing a printer so that we can do some things in-house. In the long run, this would not only potentially save money, but would also open the door for more to be done.

A Report on the Church

Things are going really well at the church. For one, our outreach efforts and participation are steadily growing. I can recall times when there were three or four of us going out on a weekly basis, and now there are commonly twenty to thirty individuals participating. Additionally, the services have been very well attended. If we were all to show up at the same time, we could have problems comfortably seating everyone. I struggle to know exactly what the Lord would have us to do. One part of me looks next door and thinks we need to consider preparations to acquire Skatetown. Another part of me thinks it foolish to even consider such things. After all, building projects are painfully torturous for a church and I have no desire to enter another building project. Call it faithlessness, but I also fear acquiring something larger only to have people vacate in the process. Please pray for me in this matter.

Prayer Requests

* Please pray for wisdom as it pertains to any property plans moving forward.
* Pray for my own spiritual growth as well as my family and our congregation