Debby Williams
Jeff & Debby
Williams
New Zealand Sent By:
Emmanuel Baptist Bible Church PO Box 129 Martville, NY 13111 Pastor JB Lagoe
February - March 2017 Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro…” Daniel 12:4 February & March have been “to and fro” months with things happening non-stop! Somebody’s been praying – thank you! February saw mom and dad come to visit for a few weeks. We had a great time with them and were able to do a bit of sightseeing mixed in with a good dose of letterboxing just about everywhere we went. February also saw a constant stream of visitors coming through. On an encouraging note were three different correspondence school students who visited for the first time. We run the school to teach Kiwis the Bible and to reach them for Christ – but one strong side purpose is to garner contacts for our church and other Bible-believing churches up and down New Zealand. Over the years we have built up a list of about 20 students in Timaru – but none of them have to come church…and then suddenly in one month, three of them show up! One of them was a contact “on the back burner” for about 4 years – the other two had recently moved to town. Elaine has become a regular at every service and Raewyn has come with her son several times now – please pray for these ladies.
The Rest of the News: 1) Thank you for praying for Bro. Dave’s ordination! March 10th saw six preachers come in from out of town for an afternoon council and evening ordination service. What a blessing to see the church and Bro. Dave take this next step toward being a truly indigenous church. 2) Thank you as well for praying for Debby’s health. Her wrist continues to improve, but will still need much rehab. Nausea issues continue to crop up every few days, but not at the rate we were seeing NovJan. Please keep Debby in prayer! 3) We were blessed this month to have Jeriah Nase from TVBC in Boise, Idaho come work with us. Jeriah is 21 and emailed me last year about coming on a two-month missions trip. He has been a tremendous help around the house, working with folks in the church and
letterboxing! He and I took a five day trip up to Central Otago and completely letterboxed Queenstown (30,000 people) and most of Cromwell (5000 people). This area has no sound, Biblebelieving church within a four hour drive in any direction – in fact Queenstown has no Baptist church at all – the largest city in NZ with this claim to fame. This town is obviously in the back of our minds as a possibility for our next church plant, but it is an extremely tourist oriented town and probably the most expensive place in NZ in which to live. 4) Please pray as I have the opportunity to preach in Christchurch on a Sunday and at a family camp in Auckland in April. In June several trips to Blenheim will be necessary to cover for the pastor there being out of the country – more of those “to and fro” tasks! 5) We are still picking up more than one new correspondence school student a day – this picture is of one day’s lessons to correct! I signed two diplomas this month (students who took 4½ and 5½ years to go through the entire programme). One of these was a prisoner named Wayne who wrote with his last lesson, “Dear Dr. Williams, I am very grateful for the huge amount of work you and your team have done to deliver this Bible study course. I have really enjoyed it and have been challenged and encouraged with a new and better understanding of the Bible I have grown in my understanding and as a result my personal desire to serve our Lord of grace and mercy has increased. Respectfully, Wayne” Fruit added to your account brethren! Dave’s ordination was definitely a corner turning event in the ministry here in Timaru. As we enter the beginnings of a transition time Debby and I need your prayers as Dave assumes more and more responsibility and as we attempt to fade into the background and figure out what God wants us to do next. Please pray for: 1) Dave’s secular job – as a bivocational pastor, he needs a more suitable job than the one he has at the moment. 2) Timing – exactly when do we make this move to Dave becoming full-time pastor? 3) Where and what do we do next? We need the Lord to clearly show us where he wants us and to provide the means and personnel to carry out whatever form his call takes. 4) Grace! We are starting to notice that age is creeping into the equation. Moving house and starting from scratch again (especially without children this time) is a bit more daunting than the last time around. God’s grace would be appreciated! Thanks for all you do and God bless! Only Because of His Grace,
Email – [email protected] Phone – 011-64-27-364-8788 Skype – pastorw1611
Jeff & Debby
Williams
New Zealand Sent By:
Emmanuel Baptist Bible Church PO Box 129 Martville, NY 13111 Pastor JB Lagoe
February - March 2017 Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro…” Daniel 12:4 February & March have been “to and fro” months with things happening non-stop! Somebody’s been praying – thank you! February saw mom and dad come to visit for a few weeks. We had a great time with them and were able to do a bit of sightseeing mixed in with a good dose of letterboxing just about everywhere we went. February also saw a constant stream of visitors coming through. On an encouraging note were three different correspondence school students who visited for the first time. We run the school to teach Kiwis the Bible and to reach them for Christ – but one strong side purpose is to garner contacts for our church and other Bible-believing churches up and down New Zealand. Over the years we have built up a list of about 20 students in Timaru – but none of them have to come church…and then suddenly in one month, three of them show up! One of them was a contact “on the back burner” for about 4 years – the other two had recently moved to town. Elaine has become a regular at every service and Raewyn has come with her son several times now – please pray for these ladies.
The Rest of the News: 1) Thank you for praying for Bro. Dave’s ordination! March 10th saw six preachers come in from out of town for an afternoon council and evening ordination service. What a blessing to see the church and Bro. Dave take this next step toward being a truly indigenous church. 2) Thank you as well for praying for Debby’s health. Her wrist continues to improve, but will still need much rehab. Nausea issues continue to crop up every few days, but not at the rate we were seeing NovJan. Please keep Debby in prayer! 3) We were blessed this month to have Jeriah Nase from TVBC in Boise, Idaho come work with us. Jeriah is 21 and emailed me last year about coming on a two-month missions trip. He has been a tremendous help around the house, working with folks in the church and
letterboxing! He and I took a five day trip up to Central Otago and completely letterboxed Queenstown (30,000 people) and most of Cromwell (5000 people). This area has no sound, Biblebelieving church within a four hour drive in any direction – in fact Queenstown has no Baptist church at all – the largest city in NZ with this claim to fame. This town is obviously in the back of our minds as a possibility for our next church plant, but it is an extremely tourist oriented town and probably the most expensive place in NZ in which to live. 4) Please pray as I have the opportunity to preach in Christchurch on a Sunday and at a family camp in Auckland in April. In June several trips to Blenheim will be necessary to cover for the pastor there being out of the country – more of those “to and fro” tasks! 5) We are still picking up more than one new correspondence school student a day – this picture is of one day’s lessons to correct! I signed two diplomas this month (students who took 4½ and 5½ years to go through the entire programme). One of these was a prisoner named Wayne who wrote with his last lesson, “Dear Dr. Williams, I am very grateful for the huge amount of work you and your team have done to deliver this Bible study course. I have really enjoyed it and have been challenged and encouraged with a new and better understanding of the Bible I have grown in my understanding and as a result my personal desire to serve our Lord of grace and mercy has increased. Respectfully, Wayne” Fruit added to your account brethren! Dave’s ordination was definitely a corner turning event in the ministry here in Timaru. As we enter the beginnings of a transition time Debby and I need your prayers as Dave assumes more and more responsibility and as we attempt to fade into the background and figure out what God wants us to do next. Please pray for: 1) Dave’s secular job – as a bivocational pastor, he needs a more suitable job than the one he has at the moment. 2) Timing – exactly when do we make this move to Dave becoming full-time pastor? 3) Where and what do we do next? We need the Lord to clearly show us where he wants us and to provide the means and personnel to carry out whatever form his call takes. 4) Grace! We are starting to notice that age is creeping into the equation. Moving house and starting from scratch again (especially without children this time) is a bit more daunting than the last time around. God’s grace would be appreciated! Thanks for all you do and God bless! Only Because of His Grace,
Email – [email protected] Phone – 011-64-27-364-8788 Skype – pastorw1611
Jeff & Debby
