The Greatest Kindness

Dear Praying Friends,
 
In his reading Ray ran across this quote from J. C. Ryle:

“While we live, let us pray for others. It is the greatest kindness we can do to any one, to speak for him to our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“The greatest kindness.”

Those three words sum up why we value your prayers so much. Because our ministry spans the globe, there is never a time when all the friends of KBM gather in one place. We’re scattered in many different cities and in countries around the world. From Dallas to Dalian to Mombasa and all points between and beyond, we’re part of a worldwide family.

When you pray for us, that’s the greatness kindness you could do.

We had an amazing weekend at America’s Keswick. When Ray preached on “Will Only a Few People Be Saved?” on Sunday night, the altar at the front was crowded with people praying for their loved ones to come to Christ. He told them to hold on to the little word “yet,” as in “He is not saved yet“ and “She has not come to Christ yet.” It was especially refreshing to hear the testimonies from the men of the Colony of Mercy who are being delivered from drug and alcohol addiction through the life-changing power of Jesus Christ.

We have often asked you to pray for our health because travel does take its toll. At the moment a bug of some sort seems to going through our home and several of us are under the weather.

Next week Ray will teach the book of James at Word of Life Bible Institute in Hudson, Florida. Pray for him as he teaches and for Marlene as she holds down the home front. Two weeks from now (September 20-22) we have a Keep Believing Team Retreat at a conference center near Chicago. Pray with us that this will be an uplifting time as we consider the next steps for our ministry. We’re taking “Something Big is Happening Here” as our theme and Ephesians 3:10 as our theme verse.

We’re glad to report that we have received $18,000 toward our goal of $60,000 for the 100,000 Anchors that arrived last month. Thank you for your generosity and for your prayers. Here are two reports that encouraged us. The first comes from a friend in Maine:

“Just a few hours ago I was conducting a one-on-one with an inmate at my local jail who has gotten 1/2 way thru your book (An Anchor for the Soul). As an unchurched man, he knows very little (which can be an advantage in some ways), but is finding great help with the way you have articulated the Good News in your book. I look forward to receiving more volumes of this book to distribute in jail.”

The second comes from Brian Bill in Rock Island, IL:

As you know, we passed out 600 copies of Anchor at our new church when Ray was here and Ray signed about 400 of them. We encouraged people to read it and then pass it along to a neighbor or family member.

A woman told me yesterday that she had Ray sign a book for her 21-year-old son who is very far from God. He parties a lot and works at a local correctional center as an officer. When she handed her son a copy he said, “Where did you get this?” She explained everything. And then he said, “I see this book all over the prison…all the ’mates’ are reading it.”  

Because he has seen the book he was curious about it and when his mom gave him a signed copy from the author, he said, “I’ll read it.”

We continue to receive requests for Anchor from prison ministries, homeless ministries, military ministries, and from crisis pregnancy centers. We keep printing and shipping the books as God opens the door because of your prayers and your gifts.

Thank you for praying. Your prayers are the greatest kindness you could do for us. Please let us know how you are doing and how we can pray for you.

God bless you!

Ray and Marlene