February 2018 – The Armor Bearer
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” ~John 3:16
We love reaching our heroes by telling them that God loves them and He has a plan for them; the plan begins with salvation. As we reach out to these heroes, in time we see many of them get saved, and we watch how the Lord changes them. Thank you for allowing us the privilege to serve in this way. We hold all of you in high esteem and pray often for your churches and people.
Our ministry reaches our heroes using four ministry strategies through local churches: 1. Plant local Independent Baptist Churches outside of military bases without a solid witness. 2. Work under local churches to start Servicemen Centers whose goal is to reach out to those serving in our military by evangelizing them, bringing them into the church, and training them to work as a witness in their commands. 3. Distribute Bibles to our heroes, pointing them to the Savior and to a local church where they can hear the Gospel and serve. 4. Provide materials and training for people with PTSD. After the training, point them to a local church and ministry in which to serve.
From our PTSD Pillar: Paul and Sarah Phelps, along with their four girls, began deputation after Candidate School in August 2016. They finished their deputation in December 2017. Paul and Sarah focus on working with veterans and others dealing with PTSD; teaching at the Wounded Spirits conferences; coordinating camps for AFBM; developing curriculum; and doing crisis counseling. They just put on a Wounded Spirits Conference in Indianapolis, IN last month. They are currently scheduling PTSD Training throughout the world and country. Also, they are supervising two translation teams for the Wounded Spirits book in two languages, Russian and Vietnamese.
They will be going back down to Las Vegas to work with victims struggling with PTSD as a result of the shooting, as well as working with first responders. They will help put on a Wounded Spirits Conference in Las Vegas at a local church and some sessions reaching police and fire chaplains. They expect to train at many conferences throughout the year. Please pray for them as their ministry expands, that the Lord will continue to use them in this very worthwhile cause.
Recently, after many months of research and hard work, we released the website for Wounded Spirits, (woundedspirits.com) our PTSD pillar. It includes information and materials for those with PTSD as well as a church locator. Though we spent many hours ensuring every supporter made the list, you know how electronics can be. So, if your church is not showing, please call and we will add it immediately. Additionally, for supporters, you may send a church picture and office times to admineb@afbmissions.com for Miss Brown to add to your page. Please be patient as they will be loaded when time becomes available. We will only help missionary and AFBM supporters in this way. Feel free to call me with any questions.
Our AFBM Board meeting is the last Thursday of February. Twelve local church pastors and church leaders will make recommendations to Pastor Ascher and Good News Baptist Church for the coming year. If you would like to share an idea or any input which may help our ministry please forward it to me at director@afbmissions.com.
On behalf of our AFBM Missionary Family, Doug Carragher