Fred Potter preaching from: Colossians 1:1-29
"Filling up that which is behind" 7-26-98 PM
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Missions Updates
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June 2024
“And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in
it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light
thereof.”
Revelation 21:23
To Family, Friends, and Fellow Saints,
The older we get and the longer we serve the Lord, the more Heaven means
to us. Maybe it has to do with us having more people over there than
here. I was with a preacher the other day who turned 87. He was on his
way to preach in the prisons. When asked why, he said something to the
effect that he was looking to see old friends. A fellow preacher
responded, “You’re 87; if you’re looking for friends, they’re more
likely in the graveyard than the prison.” My old dad would often peruse
the county cemeteries looking at headstones. When I asked why, he
replied, “I know more people here than I do anyplace else.” Heaven is
sweeter because of the certainty of a reunion.
Maybe Heaven means more because of the vexation of our spirits living in
this wicked world. I know there’s nothing new under the sun. I know that
history repeats itself and that the days of Noe and Lot have once again
come upon us. And yet, the days of Noe and Lot run concurrent in our
day. In addition, according to my humble interpretation of scripture,
the devil knows he has a short time left and has redoubled, or trebled,
or multiplied his energies at wreaking havoc. His mask of subtlety has
slipped, and his hatred is manifest everywhere. Every means of media has
been infiltrated and blares out with reckless abandon and obnoxious
repetition the odious and outright abominable message of the age. If you
make the effort to shut it out, you still have to endure the effects on
those who take it in. Only in Heaven will we be once and for all freed
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, having passed out of the
devil’s domain into the Kingdom of the dear Son of God. Heaven is
sweeter because of its absolute purity, its wholesomeness, its goodness.
Maybe Heaven means more because of the pains we bear. There are physical
pains: pains that come with age, pains that come with disease and
illness, that the passing years exacerbate. There are pains that come
with experiences, misfortune and misunderstanding, trials and
tribulations. Sometimes the physical hurts are easier borne than the
emotional. Regardless of their source or sustain, these burdens grow
heavier with the years; or perhaps we grow weaker, too frail to endure
long what we once bore patiently. We long to lay off these weights, soar
homeward, and be at rest. Heaven is sweeter because all of the things
that trouble and have troubled us will be gone forever.
Maybe Heaven means more because we long to worship. There might be some
reading this that view worship as an abstract idea. You’ve read the word
and even looked up its definition, but you’re unsure of its application.
Some folks’ understanding of worship is cultural, i.e. what they do down
South, or in a particular church, or at a particular meeting. Some
people’s understanding of worship is based on their negative views of
the “contemporary” church: “Well, if that’s worship, I don’t want any
part of it!” (It isn’t; and you probably won’t.) And there are even some
who’ve searched the scriptures and can give a chapter and verse
definition of the term, straight from the KJV, who are as much out of
practice or unwilling to participate as the modernists they condemn. But
the lover of the Lord Jesus longs to lay at His feet and bask in His
glory. Have you ever tasted and seen that the Lord is good? Have you
ever once experienced His presence?
Have you ever forgotten your cares and lost track of your requests as
streams of gratitude poured forth from your heart? Heaven will be
worship. Hearts unbounded, free at last, unhindered by any carnal or
worldly consideration, will break forth in unceasing praise of Him who
loves us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Songs will swell
the vaulted corridors of the celestial city. Jeweled crowns of
unimaginable splendor and inestimable worth will sail across the throne
room and clang at the feet of Jesus without a second thought given.
Creatures hitherto unknown and unguessed and unfathomable will chant His
praises in perfect harmony with the saints. Heaven is sweeter because
we’ll finally get to worship the way the soul intends, and the flesh can
no longer hinder.
I guess the list could go on and on, couldn’t it? In the end, Heaven is
what it is because of Him. Sam Richards, the old, white-haired Sunday
school teacher, would say, “He’s the highlights of Heaven.” In fact,
everything there is a reflection of Him. Paul, while referencing Moses
and the tabernacle, said, “He who hath builded the house hath more
honour than the house.” And just as everything in the tabernacle pointed
to Christ, so everything in the New Jerusalem points to Him. The street,
the foundations, the walls, the gates, the river and trees – He’s in
all, over all, above all – Lord of all! Not to sound masonic, but He’s
the architect, and everything reflects His genius. Everything
reverberates with His praise. Everything echoes His goodness.
“And when I see Him face to face…”, that’s Heaven. “For now we see
through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.”
In the meantime, we endure as seeing Him who is invisible; and we walk
by faith until we walk in sight.
Gracious that’s not half bad, even if the worst missionary you know did
write it. Until we see Him, we’re carrying on doing what we can for all
we can. We’ve only got a few more weeks left in the country, then we’re
headed back to Bulgaria. We fly out of Dulles on the 23rd of July. The
good Lord has provided us another apartment in Shumen, only a few blocks
away from the one we had to leave. We’re excited about taking up
residence in it.
The boys will be attending a couple of youth camps in July, before our
return. Keep them in your prayers. There’s lots to do and get done
before our exodus. Pray we can get it all accomplished.
Bro. Zach wrote in his prayer letter about the Turkish Bible. The
proofreading is finally done. They want to get it recorded, like Scourby,
and put the recordings on the radio in Turkey and on YouTube. To get the
whole Bible professionally recorded will cost a big chunk of money,
$25,000. A number’s a number to God. What seems big to us is nothing to
Him. Help us pray.
Because of a living Savior,
The William LeFevre Family
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April 2024
“My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come … Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Song of Solomon 2:9-13
To Family, Friends, and Fellow Saints,
Winter is that season of the year when, due to the earth’s tilt on its axis, a hemisphere is farthest from the sun. As such it is defined by coldness, being farthest from the source of its warmth, and by darkness, as the hours of daylight are brief. Without heat and light, growth ceases; plants wither and die. The landscape appears barren and lifeless. Creation is held in suspended animation until in the process of time the planet in its orbit draws nearer to its center once again. Our God in His wisdom ordained the earth’s circuit, and by its placement in the heavens created the seasons we sometimes enjoy and sometimes lament.
You can draw many parallels to life from the circuit of the earth. And yet our text points to a contrast. When the Shulamite’s Savior appears, calling her to come away with Him, winter is past. Not that winter has passed, as time passes, but is past, as in gone or done away with.
I’m fully aware that when the Lord Jesus appears to summon us to Himself, and we go to forever be with our Redeemer, winter will never come again. The long nights will be over, and we’ll bask forever in the unceasing rays of the Sun of righteousness. Not a single cloud will pass between us again.
But I know this as well, that when He comes by His Spirit, through His word, now, in this life, regardless of every contrary consideration – winter is past, as if it never occurred. In the presence of Jesus, the dreary, gray clouds –pouring rain and portending more – vanish, revealing the brilliance of the azure sky. At the sound of His footstep, flowers spring forth, bud, and blossom brightly, exhibiting their most vivid hue. The melody of the song birds fills the air heralding His arrival, every note audible sweetness. The glory of creation flows from Him, reflects Him, and adores Him.
And yet for all that, it’s to me He comes. My beloved has eyes and ears only for me. How can winter linger when love burns so vehemently? And who could recall the winter in the wonders of such a spring?
That’s a big, fat, flowery way of saying God sure is good, and there’s nothing better than being saved! I hope these few scattered thoughts find you faring well and weathering the storm.
We haven’t quite been everywhere since the last prayer letter; it just seems that way. We’ve put some miles behind us, nevertheless. It’s been good getting to places and churches new to us, and equally as good revisiting friends and familiar people and places along the way. It’s refreshing to meet pastors, who are well aware of the times we’re living in and see the storm clouds approaching and yet are still eager to do more – in defiance of the devil and the age. Praise God. We’ve had a number of churches, new to us, take us on for support. I’m always humbled by it, as I wouldn’t support me. I sure am glad they’re trusting the Lord though.
We’ve enjoyed missions conferences, revival services, youth meetings, and just good, old-fashioned church. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate Christians meeting with no other agenda than to pray and sing praises and hear the word of God preached. That’s what refreshes the saints. All the programs and extracurricular activities might occupy time and prevent a foray into worldliness, but nothing builds up the child of God like Jesus-centered, Bible-founded worship. That’s our heart and soul. That’s what we want for our family, for your family, for the mission field.
I hear from our fellow missionaries overseas that the building in Avren is nearing completion. That’ll be a blessing. I’ve also heard the Turkish Old Testament is nearly finished being proofed. The believers continue to meet monthly in Dabravino for the big Turkish meetings. The pastors are also continuing their monthly fellowship services. Please pray for them. Pray for the children of the pastors. Pray God would touch their homes and help their families.
Keep us in your prayers. Time is running out on our furlough. Pray what time we have left, the Lord would use us to be a blessing.
The Lord bless y’all and keep you in His love, praying in the Holy Ghost, and looking for His daily mercies and His soon glorious appearing.
Because of a living Savior,
The William LeFevre Family (A printable PDF version is available here) www.facebook.com/bulgarianlefevres
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June 2024
Dear Brothers Sisters in Christ,
We hope this finds you all enjoying the blessings of our Lord and Savior. This
month marks one year since our ministry drastically changed with the departure
of some of our workers. It happened quickly and we were forced to make decisions
we otherwise wouldn’t have considered. We ended up moving to our church in
Calarasi and within a couple of months we fixed up two rooms for my family and I
to live in. This ended up being the best decision for our ministry.
We’ve seen the Lord bless our church, sending in people who would never have
come if we weren’t there. Our family has found so much joy and contentment here
and we feel the Lord is blessing our efforts. It encourages and refreshes us
when we see the Lord working in these people’s lives and seeing new believers
born again into the family of God.
One lady who recently started coming to our morning prayer meetings is named Ati.
She’s a lady to whom our workers owed a large amount of money. I reimbursed her
the money and asked her to come to our services and she promised she would. She
started coming shortly thereafter and we saw the Lord begin to work in her
heart. One week Jacob had a meeting at his church in Pecineagra and I took some
of our believers from Calarasi to the service and Ati came with us. We had a
powerful service where the Lord blessed in a mighty way. The people were crying
and shouting and praising the Lord for all His goodness. On the way home, Ati
said she felt the Lord so strong in the service she started crying and wanted to
shout. Please help us pray that the Lord saves her. She has a lot of influence
in this village and her testimony could reach a lot of people who are Muslims
and want nothing to do with us.
As the weather has warmed up, we’ve begun having our morning prayer meetings
outside again and just as the Lord continues to bless the devil continues to
fight. Last week during one of our services, as we were singing, someone outside
the gate began throwing rocks over the fence at us. One rock almost hit Teresa
in the head while other rocks hit Brother Marchel. He and I ran out the gate to
try and catch whoever it was, but they were gone. Brother Marchel decided he’d
sit outside the gate in the middle of the road to guard us as we continued the
service. Before this happened, I wanted to put up a shed roof over the area
where we meet outside to shade us from the sun, but I’ve been so busy, I haven’t
had time to add the roof yet. After this happened, I knew I could wait no longer
and had to get it done. Last year, some gave money for our bell tower and the
shed roof and this week we’ve finally been able to pour cement and add the shed
roof. We now have a very nice place for our people to come and worship, shaded
from the sun, rain and protected from any future rocks being thrown at us.
We appreciate all of you, your prayers, and your support for our ministry, and
we pray for each of you, that as the days grow darker and the evil waxes worse
and worse, that your light for the Lord will shine brighter, and your hearts
will be more and more encouraged as we see the day approaching. Please continue
to pray for our other seven meetings and our daily travels back and forth. May
God richly bless you, is our prayer.
From Calarasi, Romania
Nathan, Teresa and Nate Reed
A printable PDF
version is available here
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June 2024
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I hope this letter finds you well and in His nurturing grace. I’m thankful for
how God is working in the meetings this summer. It’s become very hot these past
few weeks with the temperatures reaching into the high nineties. The heat can be
very oppressive, but it doesn’t stop our believers from coming to our services
and we are thankful for that.
On Sundays, I am in three meetings. We meet at the Children’s Home for our
English service, then afterwards my dad and I, with some Turkish believers, go
to two other meetings in the village about an hour from where I live in
Constanta. At the first meeting in the village there is a man whose house we
meet at that gathers up all the children in his area for the service. His name
is Cerkez and he’s a blessing to us all. One day when we arrived, I said to him,
“It sure is hot today.” He replied, “Well it’s hotter in hell, thank God we
aren’t there and thank God for this beautiful weather.” Talk about putting
things into perspective, this humbled me to my very soul. I’ve found that it’s
easy to complain when we should simply give thanks every day for how good God
has been to us. The children have learned the hymns and sing passionately and
some of their parents have begun to come to the services.
In my last prayer letter, I spoke of a man who comes faithfully to our meeting
in the village of Medgidia. His name is Yildiz and he’s handicapped in both of
his feet and walks with a cane. He also cannot speak clearly but we have learned
to understand his speech. Last week, without anyone telling him to, he started
sweeping outside the church. He simply wanted to help clean up even though he
had to use a cane. Both of his feet were burned as a child, and he also damaged
his tongue and vocal cords so badly that it’s hard to understand what he says.
But after a few years we’ve learned to understand him and I’ve learned it isn’t
the great or the learned, it’s the humble that get blessed. Let that be a lesson
to all of us.
“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and
God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are
mighty;” 1 Corinthians 1:27
With the help of several churches, I have been able to build a church in the
town of Pecineaga, where my wife’s parents live, and the Lord has blessed
tremendously. Every Thursday, we have people from different areas around the
village, along with my dad bringing believers from Calarasi, to meet for a
service and a meal afterwards. My wife and I have many nieces and nephews who
attend these meetings, and we are praying for their salvation as well as others
who are now coming. Even though we have adversaries who live across the street
from us, who don’t like that we have a church, we are still excited to see what
the Lord has in store for us. Please help us pray the Lord will touch their
hearts and they too will come to our church services and be saved. Thank you all
once again for all you do.
From Constanta, Romania
Jacob Reed and Family
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April – May 2024
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The months of April and May were
busy with meetings in OH, KY, IN, MI, and NC. During my last visit
My family and I would like to thank you all for your friendship, fellowship,
prayers, and support of us in this work that God has given us. May the Lord
Jesus bless you as you continue to serve Him.
That Ukraine May Know Him,
Christopher Rue
https://www.facebook.com/p/Rue-Family-Missionaries-to-Ukraine-100068352738533/
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The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Psalm 68:11
June 2024
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We trust this letter finds you continuing steadfast in the faith and looking for the coming of our Lord. Our heavenly father has been good to us in answering our prayers. In Avren the work on the church buildings continues.
This past Sunday we were able to hold services there in the upper room. Below there is a room for the Turkish church to meet; there will also be a kitchen and bathrooms. It's been about two years ago that we first began to pray for the funds to do this work. Now, the work is almost complete.
The Turkish Bible translation work is nearly complete. This was a work started by missionary Ralph Cheatwood back in 1980. He spent over thirty years of his life working on this so that the Turkish people might have a reliable translation of the scriptures. For several years now the preachers in Bulgaria and Romania have been using his New Testament translation. We have produced these paperback New Testaments here in Bulgaria. Back during the Covid epidemic we began to pray about making an audio recording of the Bible so that those believers who never learned to read could at least listen to the word of God. The Lord has answered this prayer in part. The New Testament has been professionally recorded and is now available for listening on a website, also it can be heard on the internet radio in Turkey. The internet radio station plays the Bible being read eighteen hours a day. As soon as possible we would like to begin recording the Old Testament as well. This project will cost around twenty-five thousand dollars. We will need half of this by August in order to begin. Those of you who know the Lord, ask him to send it to us.
Thank you all for your continued prayer and financial support.
In Christ, Zachary LeFevre