 | By Ron and Louise Maynard (Mankato Church of Christ) Ron and Louise Maynard’s Fishers of Men Newsletter January 10, 2015 58117 238th Street, Mankato MN 56001 fomrlm@aol.com 612-963-2808 WEBSITE / FACEBOOK |
FOM in St. Vincent
| We’ve returned to St. Vincent in the Caribbean, once again enveloped by the warmth of this island and the Christians here. Last January we came for seven weeks and taught the full course, hosted by the Biabou church, meeting twice a week. The course was well received, and other churches asked us to return. We were eager to accept their invitation, planning to stay for the full 11 weeks. This time we sent 90 sets of material, and we’ve run out and had to order more at the end of the first week! |  Ron and Louise at Kingstown Church of Christ |
Three congregations are hosting classes: Richland Park on Tuesday nights, Kingstown on Wednesday nights, and Sandy Bay on Thursday nights. Christians are coming to those three locations from 8 different congregations. The numbers are not firm after the first week, but so far we have had 26 students from Richland Park, 16 from Sandy Bay, and 43 confirmed at Kingstown. However, 92 were in attendance for the first class at Kingstown, and families are sharing binders and materials until more arrive. We are confident that more will officially enroll next week. What a great beginning!
Numbers, of course, do not tell the whole story. There is a great excitement and interest among the people. One young woman said, “I am the only Christian in my family, but I think this course will change that.” Two young men at Kingstown, baptized on January 2nd after personal Bible studies, attended the first class.
Numbers, of course, do not tell the whole story. There is a great excitement and interest among the people. One young woman said, “I am the only Christian in my family, but I think this course will change that.” Two young men at Kingstown, baptized on January 2nd after personal Bible studies, attended the first class.
Atlantic Ocean view on the eastern coast of St. Vincent.
We are indebted to the Jimmy Bracken family, who have encouraged us, transported us, helped with loading and unloading materials, and recruited students and congregations to be involved. Brother Bracken is the evangelist at Sandy Bay now, having returned to his hometown. Sandy Bay is supposedly 1 ½ hours from Kingstown where we are staying. Actually, I don’t believe we’ve ever made it in less than 2 hours! St. Vincent is home to a live volcano, so the roads are winding, steep, hugging the coast and then going inland above deep gorges. Mark Bracken, who has been driving us, describes them as “somewhat narrow.” That’s an extremely optimistic description. A number of pictures are posted on the Kingstown church’s website. [CLICK FOR MORE]
ChangesWe reported last month our sorrow at the loss of Darrell O’Rourke, co-founder of this ministry, author of FOM materials, director for many years, and teacher until his death on November 4th. We miss Darrell. I miss not being able to call him up and talk about our mutual work for the kingdom, as I often did. I haven’t been able to bring myself yet to remove his name from our stationery letterhead. But we have a positive change to report. On January 1, Timothy Wilkes II became a fulltime Fishers of Men instructor. Tim’s dad is our current director of the FOM ministry, and Tim has been an effective part time instructor, both in the U.S. and abroad. He has “hit the ground running” with three classes this quarter. Welcome aboard, Tim. | Can you commit to our work in 2015?We need your financial support. In addition to our need to meet the regular salary and travel expense levels set by the Cordova church, we project the cost of the St. Vincent trip (housing, airfare, food, transportation on the island) to be $9,800. We have not been able to recoup our travel expenses for the last two years. Please prayerfully consider this need. Funds may be sent to Cordova church of Christ, 7801 Macon Road, Cordova, TN 38018. THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHOSE PRAYERS AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT MAKE THIS WORK POSSIBLE. |
