Surrendered Service

A description of last nights prayer service. Humid near 93 with a ¼ moon out. About 60 folks in service under the old leaky tent with 3 light bulbs run on a 200 of extension cord. The recent rains finally compacted the ground so Carlos could move his wheelchair. I had Carlos preach and the Holy Spirit use him in an excellent way. The bugs had come out in force and 2x during the message I went forward to help brush them all off Carlos as he was directly under a light to see his Bible and notes. The message of the good servant and the 10 talents challenged the folks and when it was invitation time and the “altar” (we do not have one) was opened, the entire church came forward. Every adult, every teen and most of the children. The only ones still sitting were a few small children. I was humbled to tears during prayer. As a Pastor/missionary what better reward could you have than to see all your flock want to serve Christ….
Our flock is poor and reminds me much of the Church of Macedonia who first gave of their own selves to the LORD… It has been 2+ years meeting in a hot, dusty, muddy, rainy, tent with holes. Yet no one complains. I have seen them sacrifice to serve others. I have seen them take up offerings to help others, I have seen them at a moments notice drop what they are doing to visit someone in need. Our offering plate was a broken basket bowl with wash cloth. Not only could everyone see what you put in it often fell to the ground. It burdened Fanny one of our ladies who lives on about $100 per month and feeds her 2 children. So she cut a tree branch and sewed some cloth, painted it and made a new offering basket. She proudly took up the offering with it last night, it was her gift to the LORD and to the church. It doesn’t look like much, but I would rather use it than a gold plated shiny offering plate…What better way to collect the widows mite.