Ray Family Update from October 2016

Dear Praying Friends,

I hope this correspondence finds you well. As I opened a new file to write this letter, I noticed that I am approaching two years of monthly letters. Doing this has served two major purposes in my life: (1) it has given me a greater appreciation for missionaries who provide frequent reports to supporting churches, and (2) it has challenged me to make a monthly evaluation of my efforts in the Lord’s work. I am sure every pastor does not need to write monthly prayer letters in order to accomplish the two things, but I believe it has served me well.

As I examine the month of October, I am reminded of God’s goodness in allowing me to pastor the flock here at Antioch. Together, we have weathered difficult storms, and, at times, growing pains, but a nucleus of saints have unwaveringly held up my arms and served as great encouragers for both me and my family. I truly marvel that God put me into the ministry with these faithful soldiers.

Outreach

Our church is not your typical church as it pertains to outreach. We are constantly seeking new and unique opportunities to reach our community with the word of God. A little less than ten years ago we began a weekly outreach of preaching the scriptures on the corners of our nearest community, Fountain City. I have been amazed at the elderly saints of God who have come out to hold scripture signs, and, at times, preach the word of God. Some of these saints have no business standing up for any length of time but have done so for the sake of spreading the gospel of Christ.

This year, we began a quarterly outreach of holding scripture signs over a mile-long stretch of highway that leads up to our meeting house. One of the families in the church even made smaller signs for the smaller children to hold. Here again, we have been so blessed by the turn out of saints who have been willing to stand by the side of the road and hold forth the word of life.

Additionally, we have handed out thousands of gospel tracts at UT games and one special event called Mardi-Growl. We have also provided baskets and devotional books to new mothers at a local hospital. One area we have desired to get back into is door-to-door visitation. We have several things we would like to do in this area of outreach, but as an initial effort we are going to focus in on one subdivision with a personalized invitation to church. Lord willing, next month we will have some outreach through singing songs of the Saviour’s birth. At the end of the day, I desire a church that is so focused upon the Saviour, His word, and witnessing to the lost, that we have little time to feel bad for ourselves.

Current Events and Upcoming Schedule

The work continues to move forward on a number of fronts. Sometimes I feel like I move at a turtle’s pace, but we are making progress. In the next few weeks, the third volume of the devotional book will arrive and be shipped out before the holidays and the work is already well under way on the fourth, and final, volume of this series. We also near the halfway point on the illustrations for the children’s book and the second book of the Rapture Commentary Series (covering Matthew chapter 24). We also just completed the twenty-fourth lesson of a Sunday School curriculum, and perhaps one of the most exciting things to happen this month was seeing the 350th song laid out in the songbook. We completed the section on the Resurrection of Christ and it was a joy to be reminded of both the familiar and new-to-us songs. I hope the saints receive half the blessings from these songs that I have in discovering and learning them. Only our Saviour could have so many wonderful songs written about and to Him!

Prayer Requests

* I ask that you continue to pray about my preparations for the upcoming Bible Conferences in Cana, Virginia, and Deland, Florida, as well as the reinstitution of the Bible Institute courses, all of which happens in January.
* There are some areas where I really need the Lord to raise up some saints to help. The Lord knows what these areas are better than I do. Please pray that God will supply the needs as He sees fit.