April 2012
Greetings in the name of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. 2012 is off to a busy start for us. Susan and I are three weeks away from going home for the first time this year. It will be good to see our family and friends again back in Dayton, Ohio. Since leaving home in December, we’ve seen the Lord do “great and mighty things,” from the saving of souls to God’s people resolving to stand fast in the evil day. He has taken good care of us along the way, met our every need, and blessed us with the fellowship of some of the neatest people I could have ever imagined being involved with.
On January 14, Pacific Garden Mission recorded my testimony for “Unshackled.” It is scheduled to be broadcast May 6 through May 12 on radio stations that carry the program. I wasn’t there when they did it in Chicago because I was preaching in Texas that week. I haven’t heard it yet myself, but I have asked for prayer that the Lord might use it for His glory. I hope He does.
In November, I received my first order of the book, Bikin’ and Brotherhood: My Journey. It was a long time in coming and I want to thank everyone who prayed for it, helped proofread it, and contributed to make it a reality. Now please pray that it would accomplish its intended purpose of getting the Gospel to the motorcycle crowd. It is being well received in the churches I’ve been to since it “went live,” and has already gone farther than I dared hope it would in such a short amount of time. I was able (through an attorney) to send one to Harry “Taco” Bowman, an old “friend” and former international president of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, now in federal prison for life. A dear friend, Pastor Lantz Shapiro of Fundamental Baptist Church in Ventura, California, was able to personally give a signed copy to George Christie, a former high-ranking member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. My prayer is that the Lord will save these men, and many others. I believe He can, I believe He wants to, and I believe He will. If you would like information about the book, call or e-mail me.
On February 1, I took my motorhome to a shop in Mesa to determine why the engine light was on, apprehensive about what it might reveal. I was relieved to find out it was simply a vacuum line issue. The “noise,” however, was another matter. I never even heard a noise. A compression test revealed the dreaded truth. I was assured the engine we had put in back in 2010, and for which some of you sacrificially gave, was about to leave Susan and I stranded, mostly like in the California/Arizona desert. $10,000 later, that problem was fixed. Thank you again to those who helped pay this bill. Through all that, Susan and I never had to stay in a hotel, and never missed a meeting. Thank God for hospitable Christians like Jean Stephenson of Bible-Believers Baptist Church in El Cajon, California, and for the suite-grade prophet’s chamber of Bayview Baptist Church in San Pedro, California. Pastor Steve Andrus even flew to Phoenix with me to help bring the repaired motorhome back to Los Angeles! As has been rightfully said many times before, “Through it all, God’s been good.”
Thank you for your prayers, your kindness, and your friendship.
