Rejoicing in 84 Gracious Years

“Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed!”

Richard’s 84th birthday with Kathleen

A Snowy Day in Oklahoma

The beginning of these 84 years occurred in an Oklahoma farmhouse on a bitter-cold stormy day before the doctor could arrive to assist with the birth.

The first highlight has to be conversion and the soon call to the ministry after one year in secular college.

The second highlight was the birth of Temple Baptist Church in El Dorado, KS, after preparation for the ministry at Bob Jones University. That church and Pastor Ron Jones continue to be a huge blessing to us, including distributing our books. We are so grateful!

The third highlight was our 17 years of missionary ministry in Lebanon. The memories include         Faith Baptist Church in Tripoli and the building of a camp and conference center below the cedars of Lebanon with its fruitful ministry. This phase ended with a destructive civil war that uprooted our ministry.

The fourth highlight has been the most fruitful-of-all ministry of Faith Baptist Church in Australia. Every ministry in which we have been involved is currently headed up by godly successors who are doing a faithful work for God. This includes the Lebanon camp ministry and the Sydney Bible Baptist College. It is a huge blessing to see each ministry manned, going forward and still loving to associate with us! To God be all the glory and honor for it all!

Sons in Ministry

The church in northern Lebanon is pastored by a godly, very capable preacher who surrendered to the ministry in one of our meetings in Lebanon after the war. God is greatly blessing Bassam’s ministry!

Nabeel was born in Lebanon the same year we arrived in 1959. We saw his wife in Lebanon as a little girl. Nabeel is one of the most gifted and godly Lebanese preachers I have ever known. Faith Baptist Church in Regents Park, Sydney is totally self-supporting, zealous in evangelistic outreach and has a great teaching and training program for members. Our OT and NT Survey courses are included in their program. We are greatly blessed to sit under the ministry of Pastor Nabeel!

Another dear son in the ministry pastors the Blacktown Faith Baptist Church which started out of the Regents Park church. It also ministers in both Arabic and English. Pastor Sam was the first person I pointed to Christ in Sydney. He is a gifted Bible teacher and also is the academic dean and a major lecturer in Sydney Bible Baptist College of which I was the principal for 13 years and a lecturer since we arrived in Australia in 1976. God’s paths for us have been pleasant and perfect! Thank you for your invaluable help and prayers!