Evangelist Craig Cobb: DAY #4 - MISSIONS CONFERENCE

We are now past the halfway point in our annual Missions Conference and again tonight we had another great service. Tonight was not just another night - it was packed full of MISSIONS WORK. One of our young men, Tom Rood, read excerpts from some missionaries that our church supports:

Angelo Serino - he is a missionary to Italy. Currently he is in the United States taking care of the necessary paperwork to go back to Italy.
Stewart Harvey - Exeter, England. They just celebrated 18 months of having a bus ministry in the church there and it is growing very fast.
Dan Roberts - Japan. They have been in a rented building for ten years and are having to do some remodeling. A group from Michigan will soon be arriving to help with the work. Their emphasis recently has been massive tract distribution.

After these updates we connected via Skype to veteran missionary Craig Ledbetter in Ireland. He has been on the field for 19 years and is pastoring two churches. Here are some highlights from the conversation:

He has recently had to have a battery replaced in his pacemaker and is doing good from that.
They are still trying too purchase a building - something that has taken two years so far and is still not done. In Ireland the government has to give a church permission before they can purchase and that is what the big hold-up has been.
A 19-year old single mother was saved last week.
They currently have 9 people in the Bible institute.
The average church attendance has been around 120 on Sunday mornings.

Next we heard from Pastor Ram Angad who is a native from Georgetown, Guyana. Bro. Angad was raised by his parents in the Hindu religion and was even named after one of their false gods. Seventeen years ago Bro. Ram was saved by the grace of God and then called to preach. He served as an assistant pastor for a while on the island of St. Maarten and then God called him back to Guyana to start churches. On the church's third anniversary there was over 300 people in attendance and they just celebrated their fourth anniversary this past Sunday. During this time under Bro. Ram's leadership they have started two other churches - one 15 miles away and one over 70 miles away thru the jungle. Pastor Ram Angad is a good man who has a heart just to do whatever God wants and he wants to see people saved.

All this was good and then it was PREACHING TIME!!! Pastor Danny Farley preached a great message from Acts chapter 10 on the purpose of missions: to carry the true gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost. A great portion of the message was emphasizing and explaining what exactly the true gospel is: FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST! Religion will not get people saved. Works will not get people saved. Sincerity will not get people saved. Praying a prayer will not get people saved. The gospel is believing in Jesus Christ. It is always such a blessing and encouragement to hear the true gospel preached. Many of our churches today are preaching a perverted gospel - even in our independent Baptist churches. Praise God for the TRUE GOSPEL!!!