From the Good Shepherd Conference Center high in the Lebanese mountains
A godly Lebanese preacher is on the left who was a great blessing and encouragement in our early days in Lebanon, now in his nineties. In the centre is a member of our Sydney church who came to the Lord some 35 years ago;. On the right is a man in hi thirties who pastors a church down the mountain from the camp. He also is the site manager, “Mr. Make-it-all-happen” for all the camps. His father came to some of our activities in the nineteen sixties simply for curiosity and to get a ride in our van
Sunday was Father’s Day in Australia.
I spoke at our Faith Baptist Church at a joint English-Arabic Sunday morning service. I could not but remember my wonderful godly father who was such an example to us children by his love and respect for our mother. He taught us so many important values, using some very practical methods. I resorted to some examples recorded in our autobiography, Cast Your Bread:
“His father taught him the value of money by different methods. For example, he took his five-year-old son to meet the bank president to ask for a $50 loan to buy a calf to raise. The banker agreed to extend the loan and asked the lad to sign the loan papers. As a matter of precaution, the father was asked to sign as well! After feeding the calf for a year and showing the fatted calf in a county livestock show, the lad sold the calf, paid off the bank loan and tithed on the profit after deducting the expense of the cattle feed.. Prior to the calf project the father led his son to raise some chickens and tithe on the profit when he sold them.”
* To get him started, he led the boy to buy a dilapidated bicycle and, under his supervision, completely rebuild it.
Praise and Prayer Points
- Recently an all-night prayer meeting was held at Faith Baptist Church.
It was around 3am and I went to the office, unable to sleep (normal). An email came in from the prayer meeting: “Just wanted to let you know that we are currently praying through the night and we’ve just thanked and praised God for you. Your testimony and hard work in ministry have been a constant and consistent anchor in the life and path of our Church. We are thanking God for your passion for Him and His house. We are thankful for the wisdom that God has blessed you with, especially helping us through the recent turmoil. We are also thanking him for your sweet supportive wife who has been by your side for many decades. Truly, our Lord has blessed us abundantly with your leadership and pastorship in our midst. We are also thanking him for your sweet supportive wife that has been by your side for many decades. - One of our members recently visited East Timor, a small Catholic country next to Indonesia. He reports that the missionary is using our Old Testament materials for their Wednesday evening Bible institute with great blessing! He reports, “Many students I have spoken to have said it has been a blessing. They are amazed that I go to the same church as the Pastor they see on the screen every Wednesday night!”
- Another member previously visited Papua New Guinea and saw our materials being used in their Bible institute. It is exciting for us to see these materials being used even in places of which we are not aware.
- We are seeing a good number of new visitors in the services these days which is encouraging. Please continue to pray for several important steps ahead for the church’s transition to the new pastor
- I’m asking special prayer for a matter affecting the Lebanon camp ministry. The camp season is closing out and I will give more details later. Thank you for your prayers and all you do for us.
- Email: MissionaryOutpost@gmail.com or hrichardhester@gmail.com
Missionary Outpost 