Friday, June 26th

[Jeffrey Surrett]

We left the house around 7:10 for a school presentation of both elementary and secondary students before heading to a second smaller school for a second presentation. After the second one, we some time to go back home and get lunch and a couple hours of rest. Joy's voice was doing better by now though she is still fighting a cold but Emily Barto was not feeling too well so we left her at home with my parents so that she could get some extra rest.  We left the house to go for an evangelistic presentation in a church which runs a Compassion feeding program. Once a month, they have a special meeting for all the parents so that they can talk to them about Christ. We had the opportunity to give the gospel through our songs, skits and message. After the program, the pastor showed us some of the workshops where the kids fed but also are taught skills and crafts to help them to develop their talents and to pursue a career. One of the workshops was about picture engraving and we were shown several pieces that the students had made or were in the process of making. Abby especially was excited to see their works as we all were impressed with the quality of the work. After the tour of the workshops, we headed out for a church presentation. This year's schedule was fraught with uncertainty as we have had some pastors delay in getting back to us about the schedule or had canceled after scheduling. As of Wednesday morning, it looked like we would not have a service on Friday night but we were able to contact another pastor and setup a meeting. As we arrived, I really was not expecting many people since it was such a last minute meeting. At first it was just children that were arriving but then more adults and young people arrived. We had to keep getting more seats for the people as they arrived. We gave up our seats while the congregational singing was taking place to make more room for the people. Since there was still a fair number of children and because the pastor told me that there were many that were not saved that were there that evening, we combined a couple different elements of our typical church and school program having an emphasis on showing our love for God by obeying Him and how that first starts by having a relationship with Him by admitting our sinful condition and accepting Him as the only way of salvation. At the end of the service, the pastor had people who were interested in finding out more about giving their lives to Christ to go out the back to meet with some counselors who would show them from the Bible what they should do. There were about 15 people who went back, some of which were children but also several adults and teens. Some of the decisions were for assurance of salvation but others were for salvation as well. It was interesting to see how God worked in this last minute meeting when my original expectations were low. It just shows that God's ways are not ours, and this way we cannot take any credit. After sharing a small luncheon provided by the church, we headed home to make the final preparations for two conferences that we would be hosting on Saturday. 103_4188.JPG

Sending Church Emmanuel Baptist Church 4681 East Trindle Rd. Mechanicsburg, PA 17050 717-761-7000 www.ebc-ebca.org

Contact Information 225 Gettysburg Pike Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 717-791-9116 www.surrett.org je...@surrett.org

Mission Agency Open Door Baptist Missions 1115 Pelham Road Greenville, SC 29615-3603 864-297-7890 www.odbm.org