Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Explanation: I am sorry for the delay in getting this prayer letter out to you. Early last month my computer broke down and I have not been able to get it up and running again. This resulted in two things relating to the ministry. First, I was not able to send out my monthly report in September and most of my email addresses were lost.
I spent some time recovering as many email addresses as I could but, still, I do not have them all. Please pray with me as I go through the process of buying a new computer and then seek to build my email address book again. If you get this prayer letter and know someone who does not get it, please contact me with their address and I will send it out to them. Thanks!
Prayer Letter for the month of September 06, 2009:
The Lord continues to bestow His great mercy and grace upon this unworthy servant.
Certainly it is true that when we have done what we could do of our duty to our God we remain unprofitable. (Luke 17: 10) Yet what may be accomplished by the grace of God upon an unworthy servant? (1 Corinthians 15: 0) It is significant that in Luke 17:10 our God did not say his servants were useless or disobedient, only unprofitable. When we have done only our duty we are viewed as unprofitable. Yet, we may also know that the grace of our God can make us fruitful beyond what our duty can accomplish. So, it is to grace that I am a debtor! (1 Corinthians 15: 10)
It is also attributed to the great mercy and grace of our God that when we have done our duty we shall be rewarded with fruit. (John 15:10) I never cease to be amazed at such grace. I trust your heart can bear witness to this same truth. The work of God in India continues in its forward movement. Our God continues to open doors of ministry because of personal contact as well as through our literature.
Meghalaya:
Shilong is the capitol of Meghalaya and the second largest city in North East India. Several weeks ago I sent Bir there to seek to make some contacts and to distribute our literature. The primary religions in Shilong are Catholic, Presbyterians, and Charismatics. Baptists are almost nonexistent in that city. So a contact here and there would be very significant to us. Bir went to Shilong to meet with a friend named C… who is presently in a charismatic church. I think our God may be opening a door with him. He seems to be a faithful man and one who is truly interested in truth. Although he has never heard of some of the things we preach and teach, he is not rejecting them. In fact, he and his wife are presently studying some of our literature and have made arrangements for Bir to teach some of their friends. We will see what develops here. In addition, I recently received an email from another man in the city of Shilong. I told Bir about this man and asked him to make contact with him as soon as he could. He did so last week. After making contact with him, Bir wrote me the following:
“Sir, few days back I had talk with H… V… from Shilong. He seemed to be very interested to the doctrine we practice. He is living in Shilong. He is … Khasi tribe as well. It seems before he was one of the active members of one of the charismatic churches in Shilong. Few months back a friend of him handed him our literature. Upon the study from our literature he was deeply convinced that he was at the wrong side; therefore, he resigned from the church membership and now with few friends he has been sharing the new faith found through our literature. When I called him he was so excited to meet us; therefore, tentatively we fixed the date to meet on Monday…” It seems that our God is working, not only in his life, but in the life of a few others who have also read our literature. Let us continue to pray that we will see fruit from the word of God in printed form.
Bir stayed in Shilong with H… V… and others for four days and then returned home. Now, H… V… and another man want to come to where Bir is staying for another four days of study. Next week they are supposed to come to our place of operation. We have already given them a lot of literature as well as two books – The Trail of Blood and The History of Baptists. The four days they spend with Bir will be to seek out the Scriptural basis for the gospel of the grace of God as well as the doctrine of local church perpetuity and the biblical implications of those doctrines.
Pray for them because, even though both men profess to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ neither of them has a strong and clear testimony of a biblical baptism. This may prove to be an open door for the organization of yet another church in N. E. India. We will wait to see what our God will do.
Recently, through the mercy of two churches, I was given 100 copies of a book on Baptist History. I mailed them to Bir and they arrived safely in India. Although about 20 of them were damaged by water we have been able to distribute a number of the others to men whose hearts seem to be open to truth. Pray with us as we slowly increase our literature ministry. We have learned that good Baptistic literature with an emphasis upon the gospel of the grace of God and the doctrine of the local church is very rare in India. We are presently having a major impact upon the lives of many individuals as well as many churches with our literature. Pray that it might increase and abound.
Tripura:
Between September 30 and October 1 Bir will hold a conference in Tripura among the Historic Baptist churches there. After the conference he will spend another three days for personal interaction among the brethren and for consideration of organizing another church in an area which is called Kumulung. We have been praying and working toward organizing a church in this area for more than a year and there is still much work to do. Let us continue to seek the Lord regarding this very strategic place.
Manipur:
I first made contact in the state of Manipur in 1990. Since then, I have made many contacts and have sent them a lot of literature. Yet, still, today, though I have some whom I may call my friend, I have yet to see the Baptist religious tradition broken and replaced with “thus saith the Lord” on any significant scale. Since I last left N. E. India, I have sent Bir to Manipur three times. He has held conferences with a number of people from various areas attending. Yet, still we have not found one man who is willing to make a thorough break with the Baptist religious traditions and tribal cultures which are so entrenched there. But, we continue to hope that God will use His word. It is our hope that by mid October Bir will return to Manipur for yet another conference. Pray with us as we are still looking for fruit.
Texas:
Dianne and I continue to meet with several others each Sunday. During the course of the last few months we have had contact with a few others but we have not yet seen any additional fruit from our labors. Yet, our God continues to encourage us and we are convinced that He will build His church in this place (Matthew 16:18).
As we continue to seek for further open doors, we ask that you join us in asking the Lord to build a church in this area. I have seen the good hand of God with me for many years in the establishing and organizing of many churches. His arm is not short to save and add to His church! So, we pray and wait to see Him work in hearts even as we seek to spread the gospel in as many ways as we know.
It is my hope to be in bible conferences with brother Orval Heath in Mean, AK and with brother Joe Maldonado in San Antonio, TX over the next two months. It will be good to be there among those who love truth. Please pray with us that our God might use these meeting to refresh our souls.
Thank you for you constant and faithful prayers and support. We greatly appreciate all of you,
The Lord bless you all,
Pat Horner (phorner1@yahoo.com)
Sent from:
Raleigh Springs Baptist Church
PO Box 34788
Bartlett, TN 38184
Jack Duplechain, pastor (jvdup1@hotmail.com)
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