Praises:
Texas meetings are going well.
Prayer Requests:
Safety, health, homeschooling, and resilience.
All Over Texas
In November we went to churches in Abilene, San Antonio, Alvarado, Burleson, Waxahachie, Hallsville, and Jefferson. That’s a lot of driving! I am thankful for the privilege to present in these places. In Abilene we had a missions conference at Pastor Hightower’s church, and the people there were very kind to us and we loved meeting other missionaries as well.
Then we had a missions conference in San Antonio. My friend and former Bible Institute student, Assistant Pastor Ashton Yeargin, invited me to this conference over a year ago. Texas is a long way from our sending church in PA, so I started making calls. What a blessing the conference was! Another great friend of mine “Shawn the Baptist” (Shawn Holes) was there and it was great catching up with him.
In Alvarado we were blessed to meet Brother Lindsey, a pastor and former missionary to PNG. In Burleson, Pastor Graves and his church was a blessing on a Wednesday night. In Waxahachie I was able to attend a Friday night “Men on Fire” meeting and it was encouraging to see men of the church take the role of spiritual leaders in their homes.
The meeting in Hallsville was unique in a positive way! It was Lily’s birthday (she’s 18 now) and the pastor invited us to visit his pizza shop. There he gave Lily a hat and an apron, and we all went into the back and watched as Lily got to make her own pizza. It was very thoughtful of him, she said it really made her birthday. That night, being close to Thanksgiving, the mid-week meeting was a little different and girls wound up singing six times!
After Hallsville we went to Pastor Buckner’s church in Jefferson. We found out then his church was actually the sending church for the church we were just at in Hallsville! The pastor and church were very kind to us. He joked to the church that our love offering got smaller every minute after 7pm – I finished at 6:59 on the dot.
Outreach Efforts
Anytime I’m at a church and there’s visitation, I go. If there’s any kind of outreach, I want to be a part of it, because who knows if that is the time someone gets saved? I certainly don’t want to miss out on that! Our job is to be a witness when and where we can, whether or not people get saved is up to the Lord.
In Abilene Pastor Hightower and I went door knocking. I was reminded, yet again, how everyone in Texas is already saved. I say that in jest of course. It’s just that in different parts of the country you face different challenges. In San Antonio, I was able to go with “Shawn the Baptist” and hand out a few hundred tracts to the students on campus and do some preaching as well. Shawn Holes has an excellent “Charlie Kirk type of ministry” to college campuses, he has a real gift for engaging with young people. In Waxahachie we handed out Bibles by a Target for about 5 hours. It was great to see people genuinely looking for a good church to go to, and our outreach efforts was encouraging them to visit.
Looking Ahead
Around the middle of this month we head to Pensacola for a meeting, and will get to see some family there. Please pray for safety as we drive. The end of December all the way through March we have meeting all through Florida.
Thank you for your kindness and prayers,
Rick Schworer
