Final China Update

While in China, we had the opportunity to visit a part of the earthquake area in the Sichuan province. The Chinese government has done an admirable job in settling the people in temporary housing. But winter is coming and the housing is really not designed to stay warm in the winter months. Several entire towns were totally devastated. And the building and houses were still standing were condemned. We also met with a Leadership Group that is taking the lead helping people get resettled.

We also met with a couple of pastors/evangelists while we were there that are taking trips into the very remote areas spreading the Gospel. Many people's hearts have been open to Jesus since the earthquake. Their plea to us was for prayer to keep people's hearts open to the Gospel until they could get there to present it to them! God made the way for two of the evangelists to get a motor bike to help them reach the very remote areas with both supplies and with the Gospel!

The absolute highlight for me was on the last Sunday night we were in Beijing; we had the opportunity to meet with a man who is considered the Billy Graham of the house church movement. He is a powerful man in his late 80's, in declining health, but still very strong to be that old. I won't tell everything he shared with us that night, but I left with the greater blessing! I asked him if he had to do it all over again what would he do. His reply was he would do more! As we fellowshipped around the dinner table, the Presence of God filled the room and we wept and wept, because we knew we were in the presence of a real man of God. No diamond rings on his hands. No entourage to follow him around and protect him from the crowds. No program on TBN. No personal airplane to fly him to the next stop. But he does have many scars on his wrists from being shackled in prison for months at a time. Scars on his body from the beatings he received while in prison for the Gospel!

Don't anyone tell me it's too hard to live for Jesus today! Tell that to this pastor who spent over 20 years in prison…for preaching the Gospel!

Thanks seem like shallow words to express my sincere gratitude for those who sowed seeds for this trip. Ever dime you sent me was placed in the hands of men and women of God who absolutely needed it! Thanks also to the friends who helped us get there! We absolutely could not do what we do without you standing with us both in prayer and in finances!

I know I have been very vague in these last couple of emails, but the situation is so sensitive in China, we don't want to make life any harder for these brothers and sisters than it already is. Pray for our Kenya brethren as we go again to minister to them in two great conventions in December; and pray for the church in China! When I told them people all over the U.S. was praying for them, their faces lit up with encouragement!

They could very well be the ones who win the last souls to Christ before His return!

And pray for us also! I had a wisdom tooth cut out on Thursday that has forced me to cancel a tent revival I had scheduled for Birmingham Alabama next week. The doctor will not allow me to preach for a whole week. The infection around my tooth was worse than the surgeon expected. But God has already done a miracle! He told me I would have permanent nerve damage to my lower lip because I had waited too long to get it out; but there is complete feeling in both my lips and jaw! Because I feel every ounce of pain that is in there!

We love you!

And thanks for your support!