God has showered His blessing upon Fairhaven Baptist Church in recent months starting with our 23-day revival in July. We prayed that our congregation would move ahead spiritually by it, and our prayers were answered. The majority of our membership made sincere decisions, and we've seen the results over the past couple of months in many wonderful ways.

Our fall campaign and 35^th Anniversary were blessed with souls and prospects. An average of 2,312 rode the buses, and it seems as though many were touched of God. In addition to this, we made about 120,000 contacts this year. Our plan is to follow up on all we can over the winter months. We hate the way some will trick people into a "sinner's prayer" or skip over repentance when "leading someone to Christ." On the other hand, we want to go into all the world and preach the gospel, going into the streets and the lanes giving out God's plan of salvation. My goal when coming to Chesterton was to saturate this area for God, "like butter on hot toast." Because many have turned evangelism into a phony numbers game does not alter Christ's command for us to do all we can to win souls.

As we celebrated 35 wonderful years here in Chesterton, Sharon and I were reminded over and over of God's myriad blessings through this time. We came here realizing the blood of this community was on our hands, begging for God's enduement of power to win souls and truly touch Chesterton. As we look back, we are dissatisfied with our efforts but thrilled with His mercy and showers of blessings.

The academy and college have had hundreds of graduates, with the majority serving God as laymen in local churches or full-time servants across America and even around the world.

Our day camp has been in business for 33 years with thousands attending. The bus ministry is also 33 years old with over one million riders. These ministries, along with Jolly 60's, jail work, retirement home ministries, back yard clubs, work with Spanish-speaking people, and others, have made Fairhaven Baptist Church the most well-known organization in Porter County. Many hate us, yet many others have accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour because of these efforts.

At 62 years old, the deacons and I are in the process of praying over God's will for the future. If things go the way we desire, we would like the church to have her next pastor in place for our 40^th Anniversary. Personally, I believe retirement from God's work is wrong for any Christian, especially those called to full-time service. Depending on the wishes of the new pastor, I would want to stay involved with the college and other ministries of the church as an assistant pastor. That is the way I wanted to spend my life when I entered the ministry, and I look forward to helping a young man lead Fairhaven Baptist Church to greater heights.

Our church is stronger than it has ever been spiritually. The college has lost numbers in recent years; however, the caliber of students is better. Our faculty and staff are outstanding, fundamental, soulwinning Christians, and the academy is growing. We praise God for this along with the nicest group of buildings of any independent Baptist church I know of.