Praying Friends,
Katy, Texas was settled in the 1870’s and was known as “Cane Island” after a local creek. It soon became a railroad hub for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (or M-K-T) Railroad. When the town was officially laid out in 1895, they named it “Katy” after the K-T branch line on which it stood. German immigrant farmers arrived in 1901 and introduced rice farming, which became the dominant industry in the area for the next half-century. Although the rice fields have all disappeared and have now been replaced by modern housing developments, the massive, abandoned rice silos still stand tall beside the railroad line, only a mile from our home. From these immigrant roots, Katy has grown into a sprawling suburban community bursting with immigrants from many nations. These immigrant peoples are the spiritual harvest that drew us to Katy. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight!
June and July have flown by for us. In mid-June Good News BC conducted an evening VBS program for kids. We had about 30 children attend and about 15 adults from the congregation were mobilized to help run the program. Although we did not see any salvation decisions, the gospel was presented daily both through the Bible lessons and through personal interactions with the children. The big win was seeing believers in the congregation take steps of responsibility by accepting important roles in this outreach ministry. The following week, Marla and I sponsored our church group to attend Southland Christian Camp in Ringold, Louisiana. We had 11 campers split between junior and teen camps, which ran concurrently. One of our teens made a profession of faith and other campers made significant decisions for Christian living.
In early June, I (Matt) started up an informal Bible Institute for our congregation with a course on New Testament Survey. We have a few young men in the congregation that have expressed interest in future ministry; my intent was to provide them with some direction, instruction, and encouragement. I was shocked when 9 members of the congregation expressed interest in joining the class. Some of these are listening to the recordings at home, but we still have a good group coming out weekly to attend this evening class. We will complete the first quarter of the material in mid-August, and we will continue the second quarter course at a future date.
Marla has been planning, organizing, and helping to teach the children’s church program on Sunday mornings. Because currently GNBC does not have a Sunday School, this is the main teaching opportunity for the kids in our congregation. On Sunday evenings, Julie Hawk (our co-worker) will be heading up a children’s Explorer Club, which reaches out into the community with the gospel during the school year. Please pray for these children’s ministries.
Men’s and Ladies’ Bible Studies will also be starting up soon for the fall. Additionally, it will soon be time for us to begin planning and preparing for Christmas outreach ministries. The weekly home Bible Study that I have been holding with H. has run through the summer and will continue, Lord willing. Pray for H. to grow in Christ.
The building program continues to move forward. The architect has nearly completed his drawings for the proposed sanctuary and educational wing; the next step will be hiring a civil engineer to prepare a site plan. One of the early phases of construction will involve putting up a large garage where we can securely store tools and materials, while the main building is going up. Building funds have continued to flow in from both inside and outside the congregation toward our goal of about 1.4 million required. We have now reached about half of this amount. Please pray for this project and its financial needs.
In late October, I am planning to travel overseas to teach a Bible course to national pastors and other church workers. I have taught in this program previously and it has been a blessing to spend time with these brothers and sisters in Christ. This teaching program provides church leaders—who have few other resources—needed Bible instruction in their own language. I hope to teach overseas in this or similar venues about once a year. Because travel costs to this location are significant, please consider a special contribution toward this need. Please send gifts for this purpose through Baptist Mid-Missions with our name on it and designated “for overseas ministry travel expenses.”
While our partners in ministry, Gerald and Julie Hawk, were away from Katy for a few weeks, Marla and I carried some extra responsibilities to take up the slack. Now, we plan to get away for a week or so for some R&R around our 40th anniversary. We are also planning a trip in late November to visit our daughter’s family about the time that she is due to deliver our third grandchild. Our children and their families are all doing well.
Thank you for praying for us through these busy summer months. Please continue to uphold us as we serve in the harvest.
In Christ,
