Ray Family Update from March 2022

Dear Praying Friends,

It has been several months since my last update, but it has not been for want of news. In short, since I last wrote, our oldest daughter Hannah married David Walker, we celebrated Antioch’s 50th anniversary, we built and published a church website (www.antiochbaptistchurch.com), we have been putting the finishing touches on a rebuild of our content website (www.learnthebible.org), and plans are well underway for our June Bible conference. Far more could be said about each of these matters, but I will spare you the details.

Another semester of Antioch Baptist Bible Institute is nearly in the books and for the first time in sixteen years, I was not one of the teachers. Brother Jonathan Judy and Brother Nathan Hollingsworth have done a great job filling the need and teaching the word of God. Their willingness and faithfulness has freed me up to give attention to some church ministries that have long been neglected because of my inability to keep up. I hope to return to teaching in the Institute, but several major projects need completing before I will be able to do so.

Looking ahead, I have so many things that I want to accomplish that I tend to get overwhelmed. I start looking at each project like it is a fire that must be put out immediately or people will perish. I get so entrenched in the work that completing it becomes an addiction. I want and need so badly to grow in my trust of the Lord when it comes to the ministry. I am certain that the pressure I put on myself to get work done is more of a reliance upon the strength of my flesh than it is the leadership of the Holy Ghost. I hate to confess such things, but I have always strived to be transparent, even when it is not flattering to do so. Can you pray with me that I will accomplish the Lord’s work each day, even if it means my schedule and my to-do list is left undone?

Another adjustment made this year involves my travelling. We have purposefully minimized the number of preaching engagements I take and have done so for numerous reasons. That being said, I will be travelling to Statesville, North Carolina, in April to preach for Pastor Jason Boger and Northmont Baptist Church. If you are in the area, we would love to see you there. If you would like more information on any of the meetings where I will be preaching, you can find that at www.pastorandrewray.com/updates.

As for our Bible conference in Knoxville, it is soon approaching. The dates for the conference are June 6-8 with services being held on Monday night, Tuesday morning and night, and Wednesday morning and night. The theme for this year’s conference is The New Testament Church in Light of Its Local Bodies. Each preacher will cover a different New Testament church and expose its strengths and weaknesses. Our preachers will include Noah Broughton, Brent Logan, James Knox, Jason Boger, Tim Crotts, Adam Summers, Tim Fellure, and Tony Mai. If you plan to attend and have yet to let us know that you intend to do so, please contact us as soon as possible to let us know so that we can plan accordingly. As much as we would love for everybody to be able to attend, we do have somewhat limited capacity. That being said, we anticipate this being one of our best conferences yet. We are certainly praying along those lines.