Friday, October 25, 2013

Email Update 10-25-2013

Hello Everyone,

We've had a busy, but exciting couple of weeks. October is Missions Conference month all around the country. We are currently in the midst of a conference in Johnston, Rhode Island.

This is the fourth conference we have had the privilege to participate in. We've been in Texas, Canada, and Connecticut for our other conferences and will finish up with a conference in Indiana, plus we will be participating in another church's missions emphasis month.

We've seen God do a mighty work through these conferences. We've seen souls come to know Christ, lives surrendered to missions, large financial gifts given, needs met (both physical and spiritual) whether large or small, and hearts set on fire to serve the Lord.

In our current conference, the Lord has spoken to my heart each night and I have been encouraged to trust Him more and to give more of myself, my time, and my money to Him. I know that God is working in our midst and I would like you to pray with us. Please pray that God will touch the hearts of others concerning their giving, not only of their money, but of their lives.

Amy and I pray every day according to the Scriptures, and I hope that you will commit to praying this as well, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest" (Matthew 9:38). We have a God who hears and answers prayer and we continually pray that God will raise up someone in this church, and in the next church, and in the next one, who will give their lives to Him.

We may not see the fruit of it, but we trust that God has allowed, and will continue to allow, us to plant the seed of missions in the hearts of people all over this country.


Praises in the Spotlight 

Additionally, I would like to say thank you to those churches who have recently taken us on for support. We are currently at 27% of our support in just 5 months. They say the first 20% is the hardest, and with that behind us we will continue to trust the Lord for the rest. Please continue to pray with us that God will allow more churches to partner with us.

I wanted to update you that our schedule for next year is continuing to fill, just 3 more Wednesdays for our time in February down in the Pensacola area, and 2 Wednesdays in April and 1 Sunday in July when we will be in Pennsylvania. Once we fill all of those spots, we will begin working on August-December which we plan to spend out west in Utah, California, and everywhere along I-15 in between.

As always, we appreciate you all so much. We heard a powerful message last night that reminded me yet again how your prayer support truly does mean so much more to us than your financial support. Your financial support allows us to do earthly things like eat, purchase supplies, and pay for a building, but your prayer support allows us to do spiritual things like see souls saved, lives changed, and many other wonderful works of God.

We desire to pray for you as you pray for us, many of you have asked for prayer from us in the past and I wanted to remind you that we are always here for you. We may be in another state, and eventually, another country, but we are only a click away. Truly from the bottom of our hearts, "Thank you!"

In Christ,
Traver Freeman


(P.S. We share this missions-loaded picture with every church, if you don't know what it means, either wait until we come to your church, or feel free to ask and I'll share it with you.)

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Traver's Ordination

This past weekend, September 28 & 29th, 2013, I was ordained by our sending church,
Pine Forest Estates Baptist Church, in Pensacola, FL. The questioning council was held Saturday from 8:30-11:00 and the actual services was Sunday evening.

The day of the questioning, I was more than a little nervous leading up to it as I paced back in forth in the fellowship hall snacking on the goodies that were set out for everyone. As it came time to begin the questioning, Amy was able to sit with me for a brief moment as she gave her testimony and then she took her seat with my mom in the pews behind me.

The following 2 1/2 hours were some of the most humbling hours of my life. Everything I knew (and thought I knew) was thoroughly questioned. We went through my doctrinal statement which I had prepared. Most of the questions were practical application of the beliefs listed in that statement. I was relieved when it was finally over.

Sunday was the easy part. We sat and listened to a charge to the candidate (me) from Dr. Karl Stelzer, one of my teachers from school who was on the ordination council. Then there was a charge to the church from our pastor, Mike Davis. The night concluded with the church ordaining us to the gospel ministry.


Here are some more pictures from the evening:



Email Update 09-23-2013

Greetings!

Fall is here and September is just about over. Where has the time gone? I repeatedly find myself not knowing what month it is as we've been extremely busy on the road. Since our last email, we've gone from California to Florida to Texas to Louisiana back to Florida.

We've been in some awesome churches. We've seen a few more take us on for support and others that would like to in the coming months. God has richly blessed us.

Two weeks ago we were in a Missions Conference in Texas. It was an amazing conference and God's power was clearly evident. Four young men came to Christ that week and God used me to lead one of them to Him. We also saw two men surrender to missions that week, one young man having grown up in that church. We pray daily that God would send forth more laborers into the harvest and it is always thrilling to see God answer that prayer.

We have two more conferences coming up in just a few weeks. One is in Ontario, Canada, and the other is in Connecticut. Please be in prayer for God's continued work during these conferences.

We are continuing to schedule meetings and God is answering prayer there too. We are still seeking to fill our February calendar in the south. We have two Sundays and Wednesdays still open. February is quickly approaching and so I ask that you would continue to prayer for those dates to fill.

This Saturday and Sunday I will be ordained at our sending church, Pine Forest Estates Baptist Church, in Pensacola, Florida. Saturday morning will involve a 3-4 hour long counsel meeting that will basically be an oral test of Bible comprehensive knowledge from several pastors in the area. I would greatly appreciate your prayers at this time.

Remember to keep your heart up and eyes focused on God. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Let us not be weary in well-doing. Let's press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You have the light that a dark world so desperately needs. I hope you will be that light in your communities and that you will help us take the light to Australia.

Your servants in Christ,
Traver and Amy Freeman