Ray Family Update from November 2020

Dear Praying Friends,

As 2020 relegates itself to the history books, the thing that stands out most to me is that this year has been a year where fear has been weaponized to wield tyranny and oppression. Sadly, a nation forged by risk is now willing to give up all of its rights in order to avoid it. Worse yet, Christianity, a religion based upon faith in the martyred Son of God, whose adherence and propagation cost untold numbers of saints their health, wealth, and lives now cowers in caves for fear of disease or dignities. Ultimately, the answer to fear is to trust the Lord. That being true, the presence of tyrannical fear in one’s life is likely proof positive of a shortage of faith.

When the Chinese virus first entered the discussion, there was a great deal of unknowns. As such, we were dependent upon the wisdom of those we deemed to be superior in knowledge and experience and whom we hoped were honest and sincere in their guidance. As a church, we initially went to online services before finally resuming in-house, in-person services at the beginning of May. Even when we returned to the meeting-house, we modified our outreach to include street preaching and sign holding only, understanding that many would be fearful to answer their doors and receive materials. As time has passed, we have grown increasingly aware that many of the experts were guided, not by science but by political allegiances. The more we learn, the more we return to ministry as usual and we fully expect to be back to full speed ahead at the first of 2021.

By the grace of God, we were able to have and complete another semester of our Bible Institute. It was well attended both in person and online. We are thankful for all who come our way to receive training concerning the precious word of God. Our next semester will begin on January 18, 2021, and we will announce the specific schedule and classes in the month of January. Our classes are completely free of charge and we would appreciate you helping us get the word out to encourage more to take advantage of this ministry of our church.

In the meantime, there are two conferences of which I would like to make you aware. At the end of this month (December 28-30), I will be one of seven pastors preaching at the fifth annual Bible Conference at Bear Trail Baptist Church in Cana, Virginia. This year’s theme is Rejoicing in Romans and I will be preaching twice on Wednesday, December 30th on The Blessing of Imputation and Saved from Wrath. The conference should be streamed on the Bear Trail Baptist Church YouTube channel for those who are unable to attend in person. Soon after we return home from that meeting, we will move full swing into preparations for a weeklong meeting at our own church majoring on the history of the King James Bible with Pastor James Knox preaching. This meeting will be held nightly January 4-8 with two sessions each night.

Before concluding, I would like to appeal to each of you to pray for our church regarding some important ministries/decisions we face in 2021. First, our website is limping along and in need of a rebuild. If I am understanding correctly, the foundational software upon which our site is built is no longer supported and we can only continue to put bandages on the site for so long before it falls apart. Secondly, we are gathering quotes to see what it would take to rotate our auditorium and bring all of our seating into one main room.