Mike Nixon preaching from:
Genesis 18:14 "Is anything too hard for the Lord" 12-22-24 PM
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Missions Updates
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Ukrainian Crisis Letter Fall of 2024
Dear Praying Pastors, Brothers & Sisters,
Oksana’s Operation in Odessa on Oct. 8th was very Blessed! We thank Everyone who prayed for her operation and speedy recovery! She is feeling well, everything healed up. There was no cancer in the tumor!
Praising the Lord for your Prayers and His Protection as missiles & drones hit Odessa ~4+ times/week now! We are Encouraging a couple Churches in Odessa as well as Ministering through Lakeside Baptist Church in Lemansky, Ukraine as we travel to other cities teaching Evangelistic Seminars & Evangelizing.
December 13-15 Missions Conference in Dnipro: Pastor Slavic will be teaching Missions and I will be teaching Practical Personal Evangelism at a Missions Conference. Pray the Lord stirs up this Church and their new Pastor. Dnipro is constantly under drone and missile attacks!
Evangelistic Crusade to Zaporozhe: The Lord Blessed and saved 13 souls as a team of six of us Evangelized from house to house in three smaller villages. He gave us great opportunities to preach at three different locations where Churches pass out food every week and where another Church passes out Bread!
Visiting Widows from Dec. 1-8th: Oksana and I travelled to Chernivtsi to help Pastor Valera and his wife in their monthly ministry of comforting and presenting the Gospel to 65 families who’ve lost either Husband, Son or Daughter due to this war. PLEASE Pray these distressed souls will come to Christ to find Comfort and Rest from Him. Matt 11:28 Praising the Lord for 72-year-old Ekaterina who called upon the Lord for salvation.
Ongoing Evangelism: Project (1) Pastor Eugene’s small bakery bakes loaves of bread. These are distributed with Gospel Tracts as they Preach the Gospel in the town of Northern Sumy Region where daily Mortar Attacks are forcing the Evacuation of five border counties! * Just 50 cents will bake a large loaf of “Bread” to reach a lost soul!
Project (2): Preparing Care packages for Soldiers to be distributed on the front lines. Pray that the Goodness of God will lead them to Repentance and Faith in Christ through His care from Christians. (Rom 2:4) * Includes: First Aid, Hygiene supplies, Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, three tracts, a Gideon’s New Test. and Gospel Postcard Calendar ~ $15. * Two Evangelism PROJECT(s) for your Church to pray for &/or participate in: Please make checks out to: Charity Baptist Mission, PO Box 692, Bristol, TN 37621-0692: Write in memo: Maher- Ukraine – Bread or Maher- Ukraine – Care Package
Local Evangelism: Sharing the gospel with Displaced souls who resettled to Odessa seeking refuge from the war
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Prayer Needs:
1) Learning to Speak and Preach in the Ukrainian Language. Pray for Me!
2) Evangelistic visits to sow and water the Gospel to Displaced souls resettling here seeking refuge from the bombings.
3) Eugene’s Church: Baking loaves of Bread to distribute as they Preach along the front-line towns in Sumy!
4) Soldiers to read the N.T. and Tracts & to be Saved!
5) Zaporozhe: The Sowing of the Gospel Seed at the three Food and Bread Distributions!
6) For the Lord to Open Hearts among the 65 Widows and Parents who lost a son or daughter
7) L.B.C.’s Printing and Correspondence Ministry – Printed our new Gospel Door Hangers with the Romans Road
8) L.B.C.’s Yearly Devotional Calendar distribution of 8,500 packets in 12 villages Sowing the Gospel Seed
9) Pray for L.B.C.’s Missions Conference to be held either Dec. 27-29 or Jan. 3-5.
10) WARSAW POLAND – Evangelism Seminar in a Polish Baptist Church in the end of February!
For the Souls of Ukraine,
Richard, Oksana, Elisabeth and David Maher - A printable PDF version is available here
Remember Phil. 1:12 Things Happen so God can Further His Gospel!
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November, 2024
Dear Brethren,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and hope this letter finds you well and in His nurturing grace. As winter begins, I’m honestly thankful for the cooler weather, but for many in this country this will only become the beginning of their hardships as they try to search for wood and anything to burn to keep their family warm. I want to thank the Lord for what he has done these last few months of summer and fall in the church here in Pecineagra. This is the village where my in laws live and help us every week with the Turkish meetings. Many of my wife’s relatives live in this village and come regularly to the services. We start with a meal and then we sing hymns, testimonies and then me or my father preach. It is a blessing to hear of the joy in the believers as they leave.
This past July, we had a church group come over from Texas to visit the children’s home, where we live, and they came out to Pecineagra. We had three days of church activities with Bible studies, and we cooked meals, and had evening services. It was a tremendous blessing for the children who have never experienced anything like it. Many started to come who have never come before and it was a blessing to see the American’s share the love of Christ. They couldn’t speak the language, but the adults and children could feel the love of God. It was a true blessing to me and my family also. After the group returned to America, our Orthodox neighbors with whom we’ve had problems in the past, went to the police and filed a noise complaint about our singing, comparing it to the sound of howling dogs. This is not the first time they have come against our church, and we ask you to help us pray the Lord touches their hearts and brings them to repentance.
In October, some of our fellow missionaries came up from Bulgaria for a big church service in Calarasi, where my dad and mom live. We brought the Turkish believers from Constanta and several other villages to Calarasi, where we had a meal and fellowship and then had a wonderful service. We sang and prayed, people gave testimonies of the Lord’s goodness, then we enjoyed the preaching. The believers were blessed and encouraged to see each other and to just enjoy a good time in the Lord. A couple of days after the meeting in Calarasi, I and some Turkish believers went to Bulgaria for a special service they were having down there. On the way back, at the border between Bulgaria and Romania I encountered problems with the border police who said my international driver’s license were not valid and told me I couldn’t drive until I got specific ones, they accept. My dad was able to get the ones we needed, but I couldn’t drive for around three weeks. It was a trying time, but the Lord showed Himself faithful and provided the funds I needed for Ubers, to get my kids back and forth to school. Several people helped me financially, and I can’t express how much I appreciate them because the Ubers were very expensive.
We want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the Lord richly bless all of you, the faithful.
From Constanta, Romania,
Jacob Reed and family
A printable PDF version is available here
“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1
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November 2024
Dear Brethren, Family and Friends,
Greetings from Romania and blessings from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Hope and pray this letter finds you well? We have been praying for the ones who have been devastated by Hurricane Helene and are thankful to hear of all the response and faithful testimonies of our great God and how his grace is sufficient. May the Holy Ghost strengthen, comfort, and keep you all, and know you are in our prayers daily.
What a wonderful and exciting day to be in our Lord’s work. Darkness only reveals the Light more clearly. So thankful we have the true Light to shine in these dark days and I have found that more people want to come to the Light than ever imagined. Light produces a hope that the captive hasn’t felt in years! We have seen this in our people here in Calarasi. They have been surrounded by religion all their lives but have seen that it is a false hope. We can’t trust in ourselves or our works to accomplish anything good for God. It is only through Jesus Christ we find the strength to come out of these dark places and find his faith in us, which produces a hope and peace that passes all understanding. Thankfully, through your prayers and faithful support all is growing so fast we have had to expand our church building to accommodate people who are coming to the Light. This past summer and fall we met outside under an extended porch roof and grapevine arbor. We would ring our bell, and all knew it was time to come together and sing praises unto our Lord and offer up prayers for our loved ones who are in great distress. What prayers we have seen answered by our faithful Lord, who bids us to ask anything in his name and he would give it.
Many new men are coming to the meetings. One man’s name is Ciprian. God has done real miracles in his life. He was in trouble all the time and was very violent and unstable. The whole village was afraid of this young man, but his wife continued to pray and come to church and by the grace of God he was converted, and it is a miracle how God is working in his life. He is always witnessing too many people and bringing them to church. Just last week he brought another young man who had taken some sort of drug and seemed to have lost control of his mind. After the second service the young man has improved, and we are looking for God to do the same work in his life as he has done in Ciprian’s life. Please pray for our meetings and new believers!
Now winter has come, and we are purchasing wood for our churches. We also purchase wood for our church widows, as well as the poor, sick, and elderly. It is very difficult for the poor here in Romania! Gas is around $7.00 a gallon and there is a standard 19% sales tax on all purchases and many times another tax can be added and runs the cost up to 30% just for taxes on needed goods. I have some men in our congregation who make their livings by selling wood, and they gather wood and sell it around the community for around $75 dollars a wagon load. This is almost half the market price for me and helps them provide for their families. This is a real need over here and ask you help us pray!
It is once again time for our year end Christmas packets. We hope to do over 600 packets this year. We are blessed by you who have given and by our mission board which sends us containers every year. We receive a lot of clothing, diapers, sanitation and medical supplies, as well as blankets, toys and candy. All these things we distribute throughout the year, but at the yearend, we put together what we call family packets. We put together a packet that has something for everyone in the family and a special toy, candy, and clothing for the child that receives the packet. What we have in storage, we give and what we lack, we purchase from local stores. It is the highlight of our year, and we absolutely love to see the little faces light up because most of these children will not receive anything for their birthdays or Christmas.
This also is a wonderful way we show the community we care and is a great way to open doors, and keep doors open for the ministry. This is a big job and a lot of work, so we covet your prayers for us and for God’s richest blessings on his children and his church. I will write more about this later.
Time would fail to tell of all the Lord is doing in our nine weekly meetings. Each year it seems he is doing more and more. Most of our older believers have gone on to their reward in heaven.
I have been with the faithful ones and the ones who weren’t as sincere as they pass. As they entered death, some held on to their former religious traditions and holy works in life, and that seemed to be their only comfort. It troubles me to hear someone speak of their accomplishments or even their failures more than Jesus and his accomplishments and forgiveness as the enter death. Unfortunately, our children know our hearts and because the parents lack of relationship with the Lord and only coming when it seemed there was something to gain, instead of having their sins purged, we’ve seen their children also lack the strength to fully come to Christ with all their hearts. There are exceptions, but most of the time the next generation falls away. Now with the faithful it isn’t the case. I’ve seen God bring wayward children to their dying parent’s side and with sincere desire to find their parents faith. I’ve seen God give the person dying, words of wisdom and experiences, to help the family members know that they weren’t sorry that they followed Jesus fully in life. Not that they lived a sinless life, like their former religion demands, but Jesus is real to them and no matter what they did he was faithful to supply all they needed in life by simple prayer and weren’t sorry they trusted this man called Jesus. This is the case with one of our national pastor’s named Kadir. We have known him for over 20 years, and he has remained faithful despite the devil’s many attacks on his health and though a tragic car wreck which broke his back. His biggest test was the loss of his dear wife to covid in 2021. He has remained faithful and untouched in his walk with his Saviour. He has helped us start four meetings and feeding centers over the years and was at every service we had with exception to the English meeting we have at the children’s home in Constanta and our meetings here in Calarasi. He is dying and I am watching God do these things I spoke about earlier. Please pray for him and his dear family. His family is gathered around him daily watching and taking care of him. He isn’t able to travel with us to the meetings any longer, but we have service in his house every week and it is amazing to see what God is doing before his departure to heaven. He sometimes can stand and sometimes he must sit on the edge of his bed, but always preaches from the Word of God. He will join us via phone video, just so he can hear the Turkish hymns and service. His children have no problem knowing his love and dedication to his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He is the only national pastor we had who has his driver’s license and he would always bring his family to the meetings. Now God is working with his youngest son. He never showed much interest in the meetings until recently, but now God is working strongly with this young man and all Kadir’s family. Now Etem is driving his family and in-laws to the meetings for his father! Please remember this young man when you pray.
Thank you for all you do and mostly for the prayers you offer up daily for this ministry. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May God richly bless you the faithful is our prayer!
From Calarasi, Romania
Nathan, Teresa and Nate Reed