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Grace Prayer Bulletin # 41
A ministry of The King's Chapel
Grace Prayer Bulletin #41
1-31-99
Tom and Peg Gaunt family are in Sicily:
On a Saturday in the fall of 1990, twelve men from Christ's Covenant Church (Warsaw, Indiana,USA) were playing golf together. The discussion among these men was about how a church, specifically our church, needed to be involved in missions. Our church was supporting missionaries, but they sensed that God was calling them to be personally involved. One man in the group believed that the Lord was calling him to organize a short-term mission tri to Guatemala. He approached the church body during a Sunday morning service and shared that there was a Bible institute in Guatemala where they trained nationals to evangelize their own country. The school needed help with some building and he was asking people to go with him. I was sitting in the congregation that day. My family and I had just started to attend this Reformed Baptist church. We had been searching for a church since the Lord saved my wife.
The Lord saved me when I was twelve. It was during a Sunday service that I became aware of my sinful nature and my need for a Savior. I grew in the Lord for a short while, but as a teenager I became more interested in the world. I met Peg who was not saved nor was she raised in a church, but the Lord provided a family of believers who became dear friends to her family.
This family spent many summers renting a lake cottage from Peg's family. They eventually moved near Peg's summer home where the father taught at a nearby Bible college.
Peg and I married at a very young age. We were looking for independence and believed marriage was the answer. We worked hard and we were anxious to get ahead in the world. There didn't seem to be anything stopping us and we were accumulating everything we wanted. Then God chose to keep something from us
that we wanted more than anything. Peg was not able to get pregnant. We went through years of medical tests and agony. We filled our lives with many abuses and we were near divorce.
During this same time, Peg's friends of the family were still witnessing to her. They were a true example of Christ as they continued to love us in spite of our miserable and sinful lives. Their prayers for us were finally answered in the winter of 1981. One evening, just as we thought there was no hope, the Lord spoke to our hearts. Everything that Peg's friends had shared with her suddenly went from her head to her heart. I also realized that God had been dealing with me and calling me to repent. We both knew Christ was the only answer to our present and eternal situation. We praise God for that evening and three months later Peg was pregnant with our first child. God has blessed us with a total of four children who are Lindsay, Michael,
Matthew, and Natalie.
The Lord eventually led our family to Christ's Covenant Church where we have grown and served for 9 years. I did go to Guatemala, but that was only my first short-term mission trip. The Lord took Lindsay and me to Sicily in 1994. Then Peg, Lindsay, Michael, and I went to Haiti in 1995. With each trip we were exposed to different types of mission work, and it was getting harder to leave the work behind and return home. We suspected God was calling us to full-time missionary service. We began praying that He would make the path clear. It was in Isaiah 6:8 that we heard Him calling. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
It was during the short-term mission trip to Sicily that God gave me an amazing love for the Sicilians and Jonathan Gilmore. Jonathan is a second generation missionary to Sicily who has an intense desire to reach Sicilians who are steeped in Roman Catholicism. That is where our heart is and we desire to serve by his side.
After extensive examination and evaluation by the leadership at Christ's Covenant, the church overwhelmingly supported the recommendation to send us as missionaries to Sicily. Our family arrived in Sicily on November 23, 1998 and we are presently preparing for ministry. Our family is adjusting well to
the culture, learning the language, and beginning to build relationships. We are meeting with a small group of people in the Rometta church where there is a great opportunity to witness and disciple. Another evangelical church located in Messina owns property in the country where they hold camps as an
outreach ministry. My sons and I have begun working on the grounds to encourage the Messina church. This could also be an excellent place to organize seminars for training nationals for ministry.
It is a privilege for our family to be a part of the Lord's work in Sicily. We pray that He will continue to work in us and through us to further His kingdom. May our lives glorify the Lord.
1-31-99
Tom and Peg Gaunt family are in Sicily:
On a Saturday in the fall of 1990, twelve men from Christ's Covenant Church (Warsaw, Indiana,USA) were playing golf together. The discussion among these men was about how a church, specifically our church, needed to be involved in missions. Our church was supporting missionaries, but they sensed that God was calling them to be personally involved. One man in the group believed that the Lord was calling him to organize a short-term mission tri to Guatemala. He approached the church body during a Sunday morning service and shared that there was a Bible institute in Guatemala where they trained nationals to evangelize their own country. The school needed help with some building and he was asking people to go with him. I was sitting in the congregation that day. My family and I had just started to attend this Reformed Baptist church. We had been searching for a church since the Lord saved my wife.
The Lord saved me when I was twelve. It was during a Sunday service that I became aware of my sinful nature and my need for a Savior. I grew in the Lord for a short while, but as a teenager I became more interested in the world. I met Peg who was not saved nor was she raised in a church, but the Lord provided a family of believers who became dear friends to her family.
This family spent many summers renting a lake cottage from Peg's family. They eventually moved near Peg's summer home where the father taught at a nearby Bible college.
Peg and I married at a very young age. We were looking for independence and believed marriage was the answer. We worked hard and we were anxious to get ahead in the world. There didn't seem to be anything stopping us and we were accumulating everything we wanted. Then God chose to keep something from us
that we wanted more than anything. Peg was not able to get pregnant. We went through years of medical tests and agony. We filled our lives with many abuses and we were near divorce.
During this same time, Peg's friends of the family were still witnessing to her. They were a true example of Christ as they continued to love us in spite of our miserable and sinful lives. Their prayers for us were finally answered in the winter of 1981. One evening, just as we thought there was no hope, the Lord spoke to our hearts. Everything that Peg's friends had shared with her suddenly went from her head to her heart. I also realized that God had been dealing with me and calling me to repent. We both knew Christ was the only answer to our present and eternal situation. We praise God for that evening and three months later Peg was pregnant with our first child. God has blessed us with a total of four children who are Lindsay, Michael,
Matthew, and Natalie.
The Lord eventually led our family to Christ's Covenant Church where we have grown and served for 9 years. I did go to Guatemala, but that was only my first short-term mission trip. The Lord took Lindsay and me to Sicily in 1994. Then Peg, Lindsay, Michael, and I went to Haiti in 1995. With each trip we were exposed to different types of mission work, and it was getting harder to leave the work behind and return home. We suspected God was calling us to full-time missionary service. We began praying that He would make the path clear. It was in Isaiah 6:8 that we heard Him calling. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
It was during the short-term mission trip to Sicily that God gave me an amazing love for the Sicilians and Jonathan Gilmore. Jonathan is a second generation missionary to Sicily who has an intense desire to reach Sicilians who are steeped in Roman Catholicism. That is where our heart is and we desire to serve by his side.
After extensive examination and evaluation by the leadership at Christ's Covenant, the church overwhelmingly supported the recommendation to send us as missionaries to Sicily. Our family arrived in Sicily on November 23, 1998 and we are presently preparing for ministry. Our family is adjusting well to
the culture, learning the language, and beginning to build relationships. We are meeting with a small group of people in the Rometta church where there is a great opportunity to witness and disciple. Another evangelical church located in Messina owns property in the country where they hold camps as an
outreach ministry. My sons and I have begun working on the grounds to encourage the Messina church. This could also be an excellent place to organize seminars for training nationals for ministry.
It is a privilege for our family to be a part of the Lord's work in Sicily. We pray that He will continue to work in us and through us to further His kingdom. May our lives glorify the Lord.
From Mark and Nancy Summers and family, Missionaries in Quito, Equador with HCJB:
Please pray for us. We leave tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. on an 8 hour trip to the eastern border for a Pastors' Workshop with 30 participants the whole week beginning Monday morning at 8:30 until 6:30 p.m. every day. We plan to return Friday morning. Hard work! I just finished last night a 1 week every night 6:30 - 8:30 course on Conquering the Promise Land at our church. Great fun! but very tiring! Pray for us this week. I will be teaching discipleship again, "Dare to Form Disciples". I don't like to be away for the family so long. Please pray for a possible trip to Argentina also. We are looking at the possibilities of teaching my disciples material in Buenos Aires where I went as a summers missionary, Jun to Aug, 79. I would love to return to the
same churches. Pray with me. The trip could possibly include other countries also, like Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Thanks for your support and prayer.
Mark Royce, Nancy, Yadi and Niki - Ps 119 The Word!!!!
Email: msummers@hcjb.org.ec
Send Email to: robjenny@netzero.net
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