Hi all! I pray you are doing well, and God is giving you opportunities to share the wonderful message of the Gospel. By God’s grace, we have had many opportunities in the last couple months, and for this newsletter I’d like to share some highlights. I hope they encourage you.
The first report is on our trip to Ecuador for our international conference and outreach trip.
The second and shorter report is from my trip last week to Echo Ranch Bible Camp in Alaska, where I was chapel speaker for a week.
As always, if you’d like to hear more about what God is doing, if you’d like to join us on the street or be trained in evangelism, or if you’d like to find out more about supporting our work financially, please reach out and let me know. Thanks!
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First, a short video of our first week from Bill Iztel, who led worship for the conference portion. If you like the music, check out the Izels’ web page. They are a family band from the East Coast who partner with OAC.
OAC’s International Conference in Ecuador
Recently Becky and I had the privilege of joining missionaries from around the world for our Open Air Campaigners International conference in Ecuador! It was an amazing time for fellowship, development, prayer, refreshment, and if course LOTS of outreach! Our teams had the chance to share Christ with thousands of people in cities, schools, police and military bases, churches, parks and indigenous villages from the Amazon rainforest to 14,000 feet up in the Andes Mountains.
Below are some of my favorite pictures and stories. I could go on for days, and I heard so many similar stories from other missionaries, but this is a taste of what went on, including people, places, and witnessing encounters I’ll never forget.
This is us arriving in Ecuador. A couple other OAC folks arrived on the same flight. On the right is Traian Opruta from Romania, and on the left is Hernán and his daughter Nati from Paraguay. It took several days for everyone to arrive, since we had members from almost every corner of the globe.
Our first day was traveling and getting a taste of Ecuadorian culture. This is at the Center of the World museum near Quito, the capital city. Among other things we actually stood on the equator. Pretty cool!
This picture is most of our international conference team. We had people from 21 countries and all 6 inhabited continents.
Here we are at the hotel and conference center, at Puyo, in the Amazon rain forest. Through the first week we spent a lot of time in prayer, devotions and worship, along with teaching sessions, reports from branches around the globe (including some, like our Ukraine team, due to the war, who could only send a letter or video), and sharing new outreach methods and ideas. The teaching and fellowship was amazing.
This is my good friend David Proaño. He is our current OAC international president and the first international president from a country whose primary language is not English. We just re-elected him for a second term. He does the administrative work, and he does it well, but he’s a minister of the Gospel first and foremost. In fact, to my knowledge, none of our leadership staff, in the US or abroad, are simply administrators. Every OAC staff member is a faith missionary with a heart for lost souls, who raise funds like we do, and all are actively involved in Gospel ministry. It’s one of the things I love about Open Air Campaigners. Low overhead and high impact
This man, who I was looking forward to meeting, is David Wilson. If there’s anyone I would call an elder statesman of gospel ministry alive today, this is him. He has planted mission branches in a dozen countries on multiple continents, and at 84 years old he is still traveling the world to find the men God has appointed for this kind of work. His next goal is a OAC branch in Nepal. Please pray for God to keep using him powerfully. He shared stories of some of his experiences over the years. It is amazing the miraculous things God is doing that we never hear about!
A Visit from the Waodani
You wouldn’t know this man, and I can’t recall his name, but you likely know about his people. He is a member of the Amazonian Waodani tribe. If you’ve read or heard the story of Nate Saint and Jim Elliot and their team, who were martyred in the Amazon while trying to reach tribal people there, then you’ve heard of them. This man’s grandfather was one of the Waodani (sometimes called Auca, though that is considered a derogatory term) who speared the five missionaries to death. He traveled with his grandfather as a translator for years. Sadly, his grandfather, who is well over 100 years old, was sick and unable to come. But the story we heard of the impact on his tribe, many of whom are now Christians, was amazing. He, as part of his ministry, also maintains the house once used by Nate Saint as the Operation Auca headquarters.
Village Ministry and Chief Luis
There were often multiple outreach groups each day going to multiple locations. We had more testimonies of God working than I could possibly talk about! This was our team, after preaching in a local church, (I had the privilege of giving the morning message) visiting an indigenous village to share Christ. It was a great meeting, but God kept us there longer than expected. Our bus got stuck in the mud! It took hours to get it out. But God had a purpose.
This is my new friend Luis. He is the village chief. We had a chance to minister and pray for him while members of our team and of the tribe worked to get our bus out. He got his first Bible that night, and we’ve been in touch online since, and spoke on WhatsApp today. I’m trying to help him grow in his faith and have been sharing resources with him. Please pray for him! God got his attention through sickness, and now he has a hunger not only to know God, but to lead his tribe to know Him as well.
A Man in a Window
Sometimes public ministry impacts people you would never expect. We did a ton of public school ministry, and during this visit I noticed an old man listening from a nearby roof. If you look at the first picture you can see his head, right up at the top. He was clearly listening, since he had moved closer to hear the presentation, and he removed his hat when we prayed. One of the Ecuador team and I got help from a teacher, and were able to go next door and contact the man. He was very happy to talk with us, and took a tract. The second picture is him in the window, reading the tract. He was in poor health and couldn’t go out, so he needed the Gospel to come to him. And it did!
Park Outreach and Two Special Conversations
One of our final outreaches was in a large public park in Riobamba, where our hosts the Proaños live. We set up for a kids club, and a good number of kids and adults came by to participate. Then we broke into groups and walked the park, handing out tracts. Becky stayed to help watch the gear, so I ended up working with David Proaños wife, Monica, who is a gifted evangelist and translator. The first conversation in the picture below was with a young girl who came to me to ask questions as the club was finishing up. She’s 15 and did attend a church sometimes, though it became clear that she didn’t understand the Gospel. She had many good questions about God and knowing Him. She also told us about a friend of hers who had been abandoned by much of her family and had been physically abused, and who had started cutting herself as a coping mechanism. Then she said “I’m that girl” and showed us the scars on her wrists. We were able to pray for her, and Monica connected her with a local woman who could help connect her with a Biblical church. Pray for her.
The second picture is us with a group of siblings. Originally there were nine brothers and sisters, but the others had died. Again, they had attended church and knew some basic ideas, but didn’t understand the Gospel, and how they could be saved. They said they hoped to get to heaven, and we told them how they could know! It was a wonderful talk, and they said they were very happy to have met us. I believe it is likely one or more of them came to know Christ that day.
There are so many more stories, but I’ll just share a few more pictures. Reach out if you’d like to hear more.
Highlands Village Ministry
School Ministry
Church Ministry
Police/Military Base Ministry (other teams, but an amazing opportunity!)
The beautiful country of Ecuador
Echo Ranch Bible Camp, Alaska
This was my second year visiting Echo Ranch Bible Camp. The camp is off-grid, north of Juneau, and is on one of the most beautiful pieces of land I’ve ever seen. Just being there is a privilege, but it’s an even greater privilege to spend time sharing the Gospel with the kids. Last week’s camp was for 7 to 9-year-olds. Over four days I gave 6 chapel messages, starting with the nature of God and the days of creation, working through sin and the fall, the law and God’s justice, the life and ministry of Jesus, and of course the cross and the resurrection. The kids were very engaged, with lots of good questions, and like last year, the counselors (all who raise their own support to come, and then work for just room and board) did a great job going deep into Biblical truth. I spent time with the kids at chapel, participating in counseling after the messages, and then hung around the camp store mid-day so we could talk more when they came to buy candy and soda. It was another fantastic year, and I’m already starting to think about next year. Please pray for this amazing, Gospel focused camp and the fantastic people who keep it running!
Prayer Requests
We still have a lot of stuff happening this summer. Please keep us in prayer for:
SET (Sketchboard Evangelism Training) in Baltimore next week. I leave Sunday and will be one of the instructors
Training with Tiny Heartbeats (prolife) Ministries from Idaho. This is the third your they’ve traveled to California and I’ve had the opportunity to mentor their interns in street evangelism.
Our church’s 5-day club, in partnership with CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship). I’ll be assisting and helping with difficult questions.
The True Love Christian Music Festival later this month. OAC Norcal will have a booth, and I’ll also be running the security team (security is my professional/secular background). Pray It will be safe, the Gospel will be clearly preached, and that we will find more ministry opportunities and partnerships.
Please pray for unsaved family members.
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