Greetings from the guest house at Crown College in Powell, Tennessee. Since I last wrote, we were able to finish our time at Indiana Baptist College. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously there. We were privileged to bring chapel messages all through the week, which seemed to go well. The school was kind enough to allow me to complete the section on Spiritual Warfare when it became obvious that we would not have time to complete it on Monday and Tuesday, and so we finished up on Thursday night. Then Friday night I spoke on the Persecuted Church.

That Wednesday, we were able to speak at Faith Baptist Church in Avon, Indiana, about 30 minutes west of the college. This church is a very solid work with a fine pastor, Mark Monte. Pastor Monte had literally just returned from Florida, and arrived back directly at church just minutes before the service. We had a great time there.

Sunday and Monday, we were able to see Ethan and Kim Champlin and 6 of our grandchildren at a mission conference at Thompson Road Baptist Church. We spoke to the Auditorium class for the Sunday school hour, which seemed to go well. Pastor Anthony Slutz has now completed 31 years at the church. It has grown considerably since we were first there about 25 years ago. We enjoyed the preaching of Dr. Ron White, who was the keynote speaker. On Monday, the missionaries were treated to seeing a dairy farm (they have regular tours there). It was fun seeing the kids enjoying their time there, including going through a maze, and a play area built mostly of hay bales. Elisabeth Champlin, age 4, had fun trying to “milk” an artificial cow as well.

Tuesday morning, we traveled north to Ravenwood Baptist Church in northern Chicago for a mission conference with Pastor Phil Stringer. That was an eye-opener. Pastor Stringer was very kind to us, showed us around, discussed some important issues confronting the church today, as well as taking us to dinner. We also enjoyed meeting Dr. Humberto Gomez, who has spearheaded the new translation of the Spanish Bible - the RVG Bible, to correspond to the Textus Receptus. Dr. Gomez is a very humble man whom God has used greatly. He was the keynote speaker for the entire conference, and preaches with power. We also saw that a church can reach out in a multi-cultural area with a multi-national church. There were people from all sorts of backgrounds at the service, showing great Christian love to each other. I had a much better appreciation for the great opportunities for an inner-city ministry. As Dr. Stringer said: “We can reach the world because the world is coming to us” - especially in the area of northern Chicago.

We then travelled back to Fairhaven Baptist College, where I was able to teach the Christian Education class for two days (virtually all the students in the college attend), as well as preach in the midweek service. I spoke on God’s Way of Working. God’s way is not our way (Isaiah 55:8-9) He uses our weakness to demonstrate His strength. His so-called foolishness (we are fools for Christ - serving Him rather than the world) is wiser than the wisdom of men. And His way is first the cross, and afterwards the crown. Of course, this is precisely the opposite of man’s way. We were so pleased to have our daughter Becky and her husband Ernie join us, and then have a time of fellowship with them after the service.

Fairhaven Baptist Church and Dr. Voegtlin have been unbelievably good to us, not only in their generous support of our ministry. The church also encouraged us to get books from their book store to help us grow. That is a “dangerous” thing to do, because I love to read. I think that we will have a year’s reading challenges ahead of us. Now if the books will actually get to Suriname.... (last year, I mailed a box of books which stayed in Central America for about 6 months before finally arriving shortly before we came to the USA). Assistant Pastor Jeff Voegtlin and his wife took us into their home in their downstairs apartment for 3 months starting when Liz was recovering from her kidney stone and kidney infection. They treated us like family.

Saturday, we traveled nearly 500 miles (fortunately south - it is a bit warmer) to Powell, Tennessee. We are in a lovely guest house right at the edge of the church property. I had the opportunity to give a brief Sunday school lesson to the international Sunday school class, which seemed to go well. It is a very interesting class. In addition to the normal songs, prayer time, and announcements, they have a brief description of American culture to help the students. Today we had about a 5 minute lesson on Columbus day (tomorrow). They also have an “idiom of the week.” Both help the international students. I still remember when I was in Liberia years ago, and a Liberian student had told me an unusual story which was unbelievable. I said: “O, you’re pulling my leg” without thinking. The student looked at me, and especially at my legs. He said that he had not touched my leg. Then I realized that I had used an American idiom which he took literally. Imagine the confusion some students from other countries have in adjusting to the USA.

We would appreciate your prayers for the next three weeks until our return to Suriname on November 3rd. This week, I will be teaching at Crown College in Tennessee for a week block course on World Religions and Worldview at a graduate level. Next weekend we travel to Ajax, just on the border of Toronto, Canada and will be teaching another block course on missions at Faithway Baptist College. Please pray for that 760 mile drive. Following that course, we will be heading back to our home area, and have 5 churches to speak in before our return to Suriname on November 3rd.

I found out that the men reversed some of their plans in building the Sunny Point church, and have put in the floor and the platform before doing the roof. I am hoping that the roof will be complete by the time of our arrival, but that is uncertain. We continue to pray for their financial needs. We are seeing some of these financial needs being met, and count on your prayers.

Prayer requests:

1. Spiritual growth
2. Our health and strength for the ministry
3. Safety driving
4. That we might be a blessing, and that the word of God might impact lives
5. The churches in Suriname - their growth, outreach, and spiritual impact
6. The church building in progress at Sunny Point - both the work and finances
7. Our ministry in teaching in Bible colleges these last two schools this year