A Slow Week!

It has been a slow week, not really anything new to share with you this week. I expected this week to be slow since it is Christmas. The next few days I don't anticipate much activity as well but God could have a different idea than I do, guess I'll just have to wait and see. We have a very busy schedule ahead of us starting on the 3rd of January. Many speaking engagements that will keep us away from our church for the next 3 Sundays. Also some meetings during the weekdays as well. As of this moment there is only 33 days left before we are to leave, that is just under 5 weeks. God has brought in $12,000.00 in the past 4 weeks we need another $12,000.00 and we have 5 weeks to go. Can He do it? Do you really doubt Him? I don't doubt that He can do it, I am excited to see how He does it. Before I get ahead of myself, let me stop and say that I do believe He can do it, if it is His will that it be done. I trust that the plans that I have laid are in line with His but if not I trust that He will bring in the rest in His timing. The hard part is waiting to find out what His timing is. Well folks keep praying for us, He is working in our lives and we are doing our best to follow His leading. Pray that we are able to work out all of the many details that come with planning a trip like this, especially since we have never done anything like this. Pray that we will be able to get all of the loose ends here tied up before we are supposed to leave. We are not sure what all of the loose ends look like, my prayer is that God will not allow me to overlook something that will cause me hardship once I am gone. Hope your Christmas was wonderful and may your new year be the same.

Thanks for reading,

Gary Phillips

50%

We hit 50% in just 4 weeks and we still have 5 weeks to go. God has already proven that He can bring in our support in the time we have left. We are just watching to see how He does it.

Gary Phillips

A Journal of God Sightings!

While we are preparing for this upcoming trip to Africa, God has been doing many neat things in the lives of my family and myself. As I have been sharing some of these stories with others, I have received many questions and many different responses. One reoccurring response is "Are you journaling or writing any of this down?" Until now my response has been, "not really". I have shared many things through this blog but I don't really go into a lot of detail so that I can keep the posts short. So I decided to write down as many of the God sightings that we have had as they relate to our trip to Africa.

I am not sure that what I am about to write is a God sighting related to this trip but it is in my opinion a part of what God is doing. Some may say this is prophecy, I'm not sure that it is, but it is the closest I will ever come to being a prophet. It sure seems a bit prophetic but only God truly knows if it was.

It all started about 16 years ago when I first met Chad & Marnie Butler, we were attending Calvary Baptist Church in Xenia at the time. Chad was a student at Cedarville University and was studying to be a Pastor. He was invited to do his internship at Calvary Baptist, during this time we became very good friends as did our wives. Not long after graduating Chad found a job as an Associate Pastor with a church in Wisconsin. I was excited for them but was sad that they would be moving away. About 6 months into his new position a couple of things happened. I accepted a call to the Mission field and the church that Chad was with had a split. The Pastor that hired Chad left the church and took with him those who supported him. Chad was left to fill the pulpit while the church looked for a new Pastor. Being hired by the Pastor that had just left the church left Chad and Marnie in a less than desirable position. They were let go by the church once a new Pastor was hired. Being their first foray into ministry they were disillusioned and decided to move back to Chad's hometown. It had been over a year since we had seen them so we decided to go and visit them, while we were there I told Chad about my calling to the mission field. I half jokingly, half seriously told Chad that "in light of his experience maybe he should give up on the Pastorate and be a missionary". I said "we could all (all being his family and mine) go to Africa together as missionaries". With a slight chuckle Chad told me that he was not cut out for the missionary thing that he just needed some time to get his head straight and then he would look at the Pastorate again. It was about 4 years later that I got a phone call from Chad our conversation went something like this, (Chad) "Guess what?" (Me) "What?" (C) "I accepted a call to the mission field!" (Me) - "I told you so! Who with and do you know when and where you are going?" (C) - "ABWE (Association of Baptists for World Evangelism), we just started the candidating process but we are looking at Africa." (Me) - "Do you remember our conversation about 4 years ago?" (C) - "Yes" (M)e - "I told you so, I wish we were going with you." (C) - "You should come to, at least for a visit." Well that is the important part of the conversation I won't bore you with the rest. Some say that God has a sense of humor this proves it to me. Like I said I don't know if this can be considered a God sighting but I think it is a cool part of our story. After Chad accepted his call and candidated it took them 41/2 years to raise just half of their support, so ABWE agreed to let them go to Ghana for a couple of years to get some experience. They arrived in Ghana in May of 2009 and are currently there. When they were getting ready to leave they had a huge yard sale of the things they no longer needed. We decided to go and help them with the sale and spend some time with them before they left. While we were there Chad mentioned that there is a huge need for electricians where they are going in Ghana. He said I should consider coming over and visiting them and working as a missionary electrician. I told him once he gets there to let me know if there is still a need and we will see what God can do.

This brings us to the part of the story that we are currently living. About a month ago I was on Facebook when Chad popped in an instant message asking me if I was still considering coming to Africa. To which I replied "Sure! If there is a need for an electrician I would love to come and help?" He said, "We need someone to come and help us finish the construction of a house that is being built, we are supposed to move in it in June and it will not be finished if we don't get some help. You could also run electric to the homes in the villages, the government has installed electric to the power poles but it is up to the villages to hire an electrician to install it to the homes, most cannot afford this so they don't have electric." It was at this time that I started praying and asking God if this was what He wanted me to be do. As much as I wanted to be a missionary I never truly considered using my skills as an electrician or maintenance worker on the mission field before this time. For the past few years I had been trying to find a way to use my photography skills on the field, usually to no avail. When I finally accepted that God wanted me to use my abilities as an electrician and agreed to it, I actually got excited about it. I can look back over my life and the experiences that I have had and can tell that God has been preparing me for this for a long time. But that is a story for another time, I want to share with you some of the things that God has been doing over the past 4 months.

As I said I wasn't really excited about using my skills as an electrician on the mission field but after praying about it God gave me and excitement for it. My wife on the other hand is a different story, she was not as excited about the idea of this trip as I was. I knew that she didn't feel the same way as I did but I was sure that this was what God wanted me to be doing. Then one night while discussing the trip with Kelly, she told me how she really felt. She told me that she did not think this was what God wanted us to be doing. She said she thinks this is what Gary wants to do and that Gary has a way of making things happen when he wants them. She asked me to not talk about the trip in front of the girls anymore as she didn't want them to get excited about a trip that wasn't going to happen. She then said that she didn't want to go and that she wasn't going to go. All I could say was WOW, she really let me know what she thought about me! The problem was I began to wonder if she was right and I was wrong, I did want to go to Africa and have wanted to go to Africa since I was boy. I do have a way of making things that I want, happen. So that night I prayed, I said God, I really believed until now that this trip was your will after hearing Kelly I am not so sure. I don't want to make this trip happen if it is not your will. If it is your will, I know that I cannot change Kelly's heart I will leave that to You. I will continue to quietly step through doors that I see you open and I as I do please let Kelly see you at work and not me. Allow her to get excited about this trip as you have allowed me to. Over the next week God did just that, She went from "I am not going!" to "I am not saying we are going to Africa, but if we go we need too...." to "If we go to Africa we need to get...." to "Now Lyndsey, when we get to Africa you will still have to do dishes!" After this comment I knew that God was changing her heart so I went to visit one of our Pastors at church and share with him about our trip. This turned out to be another God sighting to me another confirmation that this is what God wanted me to be doing. When I told him about our possible trip, he got excited and said this is great. We (the Elders) have just been having discussions with Sharon Rahily in Togo and we want to send some folks to Togo this summer to visit her ministry. If you are going to be in Ghana you will be right next door, why don't you just stay while longer and be our representatives? I said o.k. what do we need to do? He then said go home send an email to Sharon (to see if there is a need for us to come during the time frame we will already be there), make up a rough budget for the trip and get back with me. When I got home that night I was excited the trip had just gone from 3 months to 6 months. I wasn't sure how Kelly would take it but I knew that God was working on her so I left it up to Him. That night I wrote an email to Sharon explaining who we were and what we were planning and asked if we could be of use in Togo for 3 months following our stay in Ghana. I also made a rough budget based on being gone for 6 months. When I asked Kelly to look over them she did and when she finished she promptly stood up, put her hands on her hips and proceeded to put me in my place. She said Gary I have never talked about a 6 month trip, I have only agreed to 3 months, I am going to bed! As she walked away feeling like she had made her point clear, I was ecstatic. I was quietly pumping my fist in the air (while hoping that she didn't turn around) and praising God saying Yes God we are going for 3 months! She had never once agreed to going for any length of time prior to that moment. After that she had accepted in her own mind that we were going to go for 3 months. It was about a week later that she decided that she could go for 6 months if all of the girls were going. Our son is 18 and she said she could allow him to stay home as she knew he would prefer that (though she would prefer him to go if she could have her way). This all took place over a period of just two weeks.

For a long time this was the biggest confirmation to me that this trip was of God. There have been many smaller confirmations and recently some more larger ones. Before I share the larger ones I want to document some of the smaller ones. - My employer (Legacy Ministries International) is in a financial pinch and needed employees to take unpaid leave, this trip will help the overall budget as I take 6 months unpaid leave. - The huge need for an electrician in Ghana and maintenance/construction projects in Togo. All of which God has been preparing me for over the past years in my career. - The open invitation to come to both countries and limitless possibilities to serve. - The fact that I want to do this type of missions work. - The many contacts that God has brought into my life who are helping us financially.

There have been other smaller confirmations that I cannot think of but will add them as I remember them.

Let me share with you another of the big confirmations God has given me, this is by far the most humbling thing that God has allowed me to be a part of.

To be continued........

Bon Voyage to our barrels!

Well finally our barrels have been packed and delivered to Rapid Performance Inc. in Columbus. They will be Africa bound in a few short days and should arrive in Ghana just after us. Yesterday we were given many tests of patience and I think we handled them very well. God is trying to give us a taste of what it will be like in Ghana I think. We are still not sure why God did not allow us to get our barrel out yesterday but we now know that we had grossly underestimated how much would fit in a barrel. So today we delivered our first barrel to Rapid Performance and took the stuff that wouldn't fit in it and put it in a second barrel. We still didn't have enough room so the rest of the stuff will have to go in our suitcases. Good thing we can each take 3 suitcases. I uploaded some short videos so you can see us as we deliver and pack our barrels. In the video you will see Rajah Ishwar who runs Rapid Performance Inc. he is a native Ghanaian who now lives in the U.S.

Please continue to pray for us and rejoice with us that we were able to get our barrels shipped.

Gary Phillips & family

Shipping a barrel what a chore!

Well let me just tell you, shipping our barrel has turned into a huge project. We have needed to ship our barrel for about a week now and have not been able to for various reasons. I decided last week that I would ship the barrel on Wednesday but that didn't work out so I decided then that I would ship it the following Monday. Well that didn't work so I decided to try today (Wednesday) for the 3rd time. As the saying goes 3rd times a charm, right? Wrong!! We had been waiting to hear from the missionaries in Ghana about some specific items that we might need to pack, they must be having computer issues as we have not heard from them for the past few days. Anyway we have not been able to get the info we need not to mention the shipping address, I was able to obtain that info after making a number of phone calls. We now know where to ship the barrel but we still are not sure if we have all of the items that we will want or need. That said, we are going to try and ship the barrel tomorrow now. The only thing keeping us from shipping today is a financial matter. We were not able to obtain the check the we need to pay for the shipment, we are told that we will have the check tomorrow. I am not sure at this time why God does not want us to ship today but I know He has a good reason for keeping it from happening. We are going to get the barrel today and then pack it and take it for delivery tomorrow. My first thought is that God knows of something that we need for the barrel, we will have to wait and see. I feel like I am rambling so I am going to stop writing and go get the barrel. Please pray that God willing we will be able to get this barrel shipped tomorrow.

Excited to serve,

Gary Phillips and family

Our Current Speaking Itinerary

Our current itinerary for speaking in churches is as follows:

Dec. 13th Pleasant Grove Missionary Alliance Church @ 9:30 a.m.
Dec. 20th Arrowbrook Baptist Church @ 6:00 p.m.
Dec. 27th No church scheduled
Jan. 3rd New Song Fellowship of Fairborn @ 9:30 a.m.
Jan. 6th Emmanuel Baptist Church Xenia Awana Clubs @ 6:45 p.m.
Jan. 10th Calvary Chapel Beavercreek @ 10:00 a.m.
Jan. 10th Shawnee Hills Baptist @ 6:00 p.m.
Jan. 17th Calvary Baptist Xenia @ 9:30 a.m.
Jan. 24th Emmanuel Baptist Xenia @ 9:30 a.m. (Christening Service)
Jan. 31st (unconfirmed) Twynholm Baptist Church of London, England (a.m. or p.m. service)

That is a current list of the churches where we are scheduled to speak about our missions outreach to West Africa. As you can see there is still plenty of open times for us to be able to visit other churches. So if your church is not listed and you would like us to come please tell your Pastor or missions committee about us. I am available any day of the week to speak it doesn't have to be a Sunday or Wednesday, I am willing to come and share with your home church, small group, Sunday School Class, Youth Ministry or whatever you have in mind. Please feel free to contact me through this blog or through my church Emmanuel Baptist Church of Xenia at 937-372-5887.

Gary Phillips

Passports & 40%

Kelly and the girls passports came today, I was surprised that it took so long to get them. When Taylor and I had to get them a couple years ago we got them within just a couple of weeks. This time it took 5 weeks almost 6 to get them. The important thing is that we now have them and now we are ready to get our visas, which we plan to order just after the first of the year if not sooner. I am very happy to say that at this time we have received or been promised just over 40% of our support need. We are not quite half way there but it is starting to get exciting. I also wanted to let you know that we have another scheduled speaking engagement. We will be speaking at Calvary Baptist Church in Xenia on Jan 17th during the A.M. worship service which starts at 10:30 a.m. Feel free to stop in and visit, I am sure that the church will welcome you. I also have a meeting this week with another Christian Business owner and 2 more Pastors. So keep praying that the money will continue to come in and that those who I talk with will be receptive to our ministry.

Gary Phillips

Thank You Oak Creek Worship Center!

I want to express our thanks to Oak Creek Worship Center in Kettering for welcoming us into their church to share about our upcoming trip to Africa. From the moment we stepped into the church we were greeted with smiles and handshakes from everyone who saw us. It was a very pleasant experience, it was as if we were visiting a church where we knew everyone already. It was a gratifying experience to say the least. Pastor Jim and Pastor Scott were very kind and in my opinion went out of there way to make us feel welcome in their church. Oak Creek Worship Center is blessed to have such fine men leading them. I look forward to when we return home so that we can have another opportunity to visit Oak Creek and share with them how God has used us while we were in Africa. If you are reading this and you live in the Kettering area and are looking for a home church I highly recommend you visit Oak Creek. I don't believe you could find a more caring and loving church than Oak Creek Worship Center. They are located at 4800 Bigger Rd. in Kettering, Ohio.

You can visit their website at www.oakcreekworshipcenter.org/home

Gary Phillips

A Night of Confirmations!

Tonight was a big night for us, it was our first speaking engagement at a church other than our own. I had good intentions to sit down and prepare an outline of what I wanted to talk about, do I need to say any more? I started and didn't get far when my computer started ringing, we have Skype on our computer and we can use it as a phone to talk to other people who have Skype. If you don't know what Skype is you should check it out, it's free and you can talk to anyone in the world who has it for free via your computer. If you have a camera on your computer you can see the person as well as talk to them. Anyway our friends in Africa were calling us and to cut to the chase, I didn't have time to work up my outline. When I got to the church I wasn't sure exactly what to say first, so when it was my time to speak I just started talking. It was unrehearsed and I just let God guide what I said, it felt awkward at times as I would get off track and forget where I was. When I was finished, I didn't feel that I had spoken eloquently at all. After the service a young man came to greet me and the Pastor, after I shook his hand and spoke with him a moment I walked away so he and the Pastor could speak. The Pastor came to me and asked me to pray with them. He then explained that the young man had told the Pastor that after hearing me speak he felt compelled to get saved. All I could say was WOW, it was so exciting to think that God could use the simple things that had I said to bring someone to the realization that they need to become saved. Again, I say WOW! When I am telling people about feeling called to Africa I am often asked how I know this is of God and not just something that I want to do. My response is usually something like this "there have been so many little things that have happened that confirm to me that this is of God and not me that I can't even remember them all, but there is 1 big thing that to me is all confirmation that I need". Then I proceed to share with them what this 1 thing is. Well tonight though was another of those big things that prove to me beyond a shadow of doubt, that we are doing exactly what God wants us to be doing. This is huge to think that God could use us in this way, I hope that when we get to Africa that I will have an opportunity to see someone come to Christ through our ministry there, but I never thought about it happening here in the States. God has opened my eyes wide tonight and showed me that He is bigger than I realize. The title of tonight's blog "A Night of Confirmations!" you will notice is plural because that is not the only confirmation that we got tonight. The last thing that I shared with the church tonight was a couple of prayer requests, I asked them to pray that we would get the financial support that we need and that we would be able to get into some more churches to share with about our trip. On the way home I told my wife and oldest daughter that I would like to get another church scheduled for the Dec. 13th as we were only scheduled for the 6th and the 20th. We had been home for about a half hour when the phone rang, you guessed it, another church was calling asking us to come and speak on the 6th or the 13th. So if you are following our speaking schedule you can add Pleasant Grove Missionary Church to you list for Sunday morning Dec. 13th. God is AWESOME! I don't believe that this is coincidence!

I have told many that this is going to be a faith building experience for the whole family as we watch God provide the finances for this trip. My faith has been both tested and strengthened already and I look forward to what God will do next. After I was finished speaking tonight the Pastor didn't have time to share what he had prepared so he gave an impromptu message on Faith. I think his message was fitting! Thanks for reading our blog and for praying for us.

Here are a few prayer requests:
Pray that Shawnee Hills Baptist Church will be able to add us to there Jan. schedule
Pray that the Christian business men that I have approached will be able to pick us up at the level of support that I spoke to them about.
Pray for Mike he is the young man who received Christ tonight.

Gary Phillips

Church added to the schedule!

We just added another church to our schedule, we will be speaking at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Sunday Dec. 6th in the morning service. Service starts at 9:30 a.m. I will be sharing with the congregation around 10:00 a.m. This is my home church so I will be able to share with my own church family as a whole. No other churches yet, still looking for other churches to allow us to come and share. Please continue to pray as things progress.

Gary Phillips

Prayer Requests

I thought that I would share a couple of prayer requests with those of you who are taking the time to read our blog. I know that a few people are reading this and I hope you are keeping us in your prayers. We could really use some more churches to allow us to visit and share with their congregation about our trip. We also need to ship our barrel by next Wednesday, it will cost $250.00 to ship but we need to fill it with food which will cost around $800.00. We have the money to ship the barrel but we don't have enough to fill it. We are supposed to ship as much food up front as we can so that we have less to buy while we are in Africa. Pray that God will intervene in the next week and supply the food or the money to purchase it. These are our two biggest requests at this time, I could fill this blog with other things to pray about but for now these are the ones that are on my mind.

Here is a list of churhes that I have contacted and have tried to arrange an opportunity to share with. If your church is not listed please let me know and I will contact them. I have found that it is easier to get into a church if I have someone who is a member of that church asking for me. I will still personally contact the church but if someone in the congregation make the request on my behalf it helps immensely in getting me in the door. So I would ask if you see your church listed and I am not scheduled to speak, please contact your church and ask them to allow me in to share. We are not looking to fill the pulpit, just to have about 15 minutes to share with the congregation during a service.

APEX Church any region (I must be invited to speak to a house church) none scheduled yet.
Fairhaven Church (was told no)
Beavercreek Christian Church
Dayton Avenue Baptist
Grace Baptist Church Cedarville
First Church of Christ (Ledbetter Rd. Xenia)
Crosspoint Vineyard Church
Aley United Methodist Church
AHOP Church
Kirkmont Presbyterian Church
Xenia Grace Chapel
Shawnee Hills Baptist Church
First Church of the Nazarene (Xenia) I have not contacted this church yet!
Cornerstone Bible Church (Xenia)
Patterson Park Church
Northside Christian Church
Arrowbrook Baptist Church (scheduled Dec 20th @ 6:00 p.m.)
Freedom Baptist Temple
Bible Baptist Church (Xenia)
Stillwater United Methodist Church (Frederick Pike)
Stillwater United Methodist Church (Miller Lane)
Calvary Baptist Church (Xenia)
Kettering Church
New Song Fellowship
Oakcreek Worship Center (Scheduled Dec. 2nd @ 7:00 p.m.)



Thanks again for reading and praying, hope you all have a great thanksgiving.

Gary Phillips

Giving God Control

Church was very good today, many moving testimonies and many great stories of how God is at work in our church and the lives of those affected through our church. One story shared was of a young couples plans for the past 7 years to adopt. They had been preparing and saving for this day for 7 years and the day finally came for them to meet with the agency to find out what their options were. When asked how much money they were able to put into the adoption they repeated the amount that they had promised a year previous. They were then told that this was no longer a good amount of money and they would have to be able to come up with at least another $5000.00 but more like $10,000.00. Already stretched to their limit they were devastated. They had poured themselves into this for the past 7 years and now it seemed that God was closing the door. They began to question if God had wanted this at all or if it was just what they wanted. Finally they told God that they were o.k. with whatever He decided and that if He wanted them to wait they would wait but if it was to happen now, God would have to prove Himself sufficient and make something big happen. Needless to say God proved himself BIG within a few hours after this prayer they were connected with a family who was looking for someone to adopt their daughters baby privately. God had this planned for them even though they were not able to see it. Their human plans led them to an adoption agency just to be let down, so that God could show Himself mighty and able at the last minute.

This story resonates with me as I try and determine what it is that God wants for me and my family as far as missions go. I have never tried to adopt so I have never had this exact experience but being called to full time missions work and waiting on God to show me when and where has been a challenge. I have tried to make decisions and take steps that will keep me headed in this direction, most of the time the doors are closed at some point. It is when I finally give up and say o.k. God I am at a lose here what is it You want me to do or where do you want me to go. Sometimes like the couple who was trying to adopt I even get to the point where I think that maybe this is not what God wants but just what I want. I know how they were feeling but God has proven Himself to me over and over and every time I doubt, He comes through and shows me that He still has plans for me. I am not sure exactly what, when or where or if He will ever have me in full time missions work but I do know and believe with all my heart that He wants my family and I to go to Africa. The only thing that I am not sure about at this time is the timing of the trip. We are praying for Jan 29th to depart for Africa as this is when the missionaries in Ghana would like for us to come. The finances however have not been arriving like we had hoped they would (at least not yet) and so I am beginning to wonder if we will get to go when we are planning. I am at the point in this process that I have turned it over to God and said "O.K. God whenever you want us to go we will go, You know about the timing of this trip even though I do not and I am trusting You to work it out." Now the hard part for me is to do just what I have said and wait and trust God to prove Himself, if He wants us to go Jan 29th then He will have to move mightily to bring the funds in. It will be an interesting 10 weeks if He does.

Gary Phillips

Ouch!!

Well today was the day we started our vaccinations, all of us are sitting around the house with sore arms. We went in to have 1 shot each done and ended up with getting almost all of them today. The girls each had 4 shots, Kelly had 6 shots and I had the most at 7 shots. I am glad that I had to have the most, I don't think the little ones could have handled 7. They didn't want the 4 that they got. Fortunately for the the girls it is over for a while. Each of them needs one more shot in 6 months, we will likely be in Africa by then. I on the other hand have to have 2 more shots, 1 in 1 month and 1 in 6 months, so I will need to go back in a month and get another shot. Yeah!!

There have been a couple of churches that have scheduled us in to speak about our trip. On Dec. 2nd we will be visiting Oakcreek Worship Center in Kettering at 7:00 p.m. to share with their congregation about our ministry. On Dec. 13th we will be visiting Arrowbrook Baptist Church in Xenia at 6:00 p.m. to share with their congregation.

That is about all of the big developments so far, I will keep you informed as things happen.

Thanks for praying for us, please continue to pray.

Gary Phillips

Prayer Card Back

Prayer Card Front

Were Getting There, Still Many Questions!

Well, it is looking like we are going to be leaving around the same time as we had originally planned. We will be spending about 3 months in Kodzobi, Ghana and then heading to Mango, Togo and working on the construction on the new hospital until the end of June. A that time we may be heading to Adeta, Togo (or we could just spend the entire time in Mango). Where we will work on the existing hospital before heading back to Ghana. We will try to plan it so that our last 7 to 10 days are spent in Ghana with the Butler's before we have to return home. If anything, we may have to push our departure date back 2 or 3 weeks so that we can make all the timing work out. So, we look to be leaving some time between Jan 29th and Feb 18th and arriving back home some time between July 29 and August 18. None of this is definite yet, just as soon as I know definite information, you can be sure that I will get it posted on here so that you can read about it.

As for the finances, I am still relying on God to provide the necessary finances to get us there. I believe that He has asked us to go and that He has a plan for getting us the needed finances. In the meantime, I am contacting Churches to see if we can go and share our ministry with them. I have contacted many and am waiting to hear back from many. I currently have 3 who would like us to come and share with them but am waiting for them to give us a date to come. I have also contacted Christian business owners and have shared with them about our ministry. All those I have met with have agreed to help us but have not given us a $ amount. Individuals who have heard about our trip have also said that they would like to help us. We received our first check tonight from an individual, two others have told us they plan to support us. God is already starting to show Himself faithful, this is perfect timing as we need to start our vaccines this week. Many have come forth with advice or concerns and this has proven to be very helpful as I have never tried to do anything like this before and am learning much.

Thanks for praying but please don't stop. There are many unanswered questions and much money still needs to be committed before we can purchase visas, get our vaccines and ship a barrel of tools and food over. All of which need to happen in the very near future (3 to 4 weeks) and will cost approximately $3500.00. As soon as that is all done it will be getting close to time to purchase our airline tickets, approximately $9000.00. I can't wait to see how God is going to provide for these needs.

Gary Phillips

Dancing with God

I am not sure who the author of the following verse is but I really like it and I thought I would share it with those of you who are reading this blog.

When I meditate on the word Guidance,
I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.
I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing.

When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.
The movement doesn't flow with the music,
and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.
When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead,
both bodies begin to flow with the music.
One gives gentle cues, perhaps a nudge to the back
or by pressing lightly in one direction or another.
It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully.
The dance takes surrender, willingness,
and attentiveness from one person
and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.
When I saw "G", I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i".
"God", "u" and "i" dance.
As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust
that I would get guidance about my life.
Once again, I became willing to let God lead.
My prayer for you today is that God's blessings
and mercies are upon you this day and everyday.
May you abide in God, as God abides in you.
Dance together with God, as God abides in you.
Dance together with God, trusting God to lead
and to guide you through each season of your life.

I hope you Dance!

This verse is a great reminder to me that I need to be aware of God when He is nudging me to do something. I have been guilty of overlooking His nudges or gentle tugs He often gives me. I am so thankful that God is gracious as I have surely stepped on His toes when trying to lead instead of being led. Kelly and I are both learning to trust God to lead us in amazing ways as a result of this journey that He has asked us to take. I hope that I can learn to be led rather than always trying to lead.

Gary Phillips

The Latest

Tonight I had a meeting with my church missions committee to fill them in on the details of our trip, more specifically the financial details. We are looking at some significant financial needs in the next 2 to 4 weeks. We need to ship a barrel of tools and some food items over to Africa in 2 weeks (approx. $800-$1000), we need to start our vaccinations on Tuesday (approx. $1200-$1700 total) and we need to apply for our visas in about 4 weeks ($1600). These items total approx. $3600.00-$4300.00 and all of these things will need to be paid for within the next 4 weeks. These items in no way fit into our family budget and we have not received any support as of today. I am sure that God will supply the money when we need it and no sooner, this is going to be an exciting time as we wait on God and watch how he supplies for our needs. In our simple human ways we are much different than God. When God asks us to do something like going to Africa we make budgets and lay out plans as to how we think things should work out, all the while God has a plan of His own. So when things don't work out the way we planned it feels like maybe God isn't really listening to us. In reality it is us who are not paying attention to Him and His plan. I say this to explain that as a responsible Christian I have done my best to lay out a budget and make plans for this trip just so that I can sit back and watch God's plan unfold. I hope that I am able to accept his plan with humbleness and without worry and frustration, I am after all human. I believe that God has already put a burden on the hearts of those who are going to help us financially on this trip. They may not know how it is that God wants them to help or who it is that they need to help, but I believe that God will direct me to these divine appointments and when I share with them about our ministry they will know and they will be ready to help us. If you are reading this would you please pray for me that I will respond properly when God prompts me to share with someone even if the person is a complete stranger. Also pray as I have been asked to share my ministry with the Christian Business Men's association this week, that I will allow the Holy Spirit guide me when I speak to them.

Wondering how God will move next,

Gary Phillips

Revelations and Tears

Well, tonight we had a long conversation with our oldest daughter. One that began with tears, was full of accusations and misconceptions when it ended there were more tears but most important "a revelation". No, I am not about to replay an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond! I am talking about life in the Phillips household. Lest you get the wrong idea, this is not a regular occurrence in our home but ever since we announced that God was calling us to Africa we have had a few conversations similar to the one I mentioned above. These other conversations were similar in that they were full of tears, accusations and misconceptions but none of them held any revelations. What was the topic of these conversations, you ask? I think I have mentioned in a previous post that my oldest daughter had not been able to make up her mind about going on the trip, o.k. now you can guess what we were discussing in these tearful conversations. Yep, you got it, myself, my wife or both of us had been trying to convince our daughter that she should go with us, let me tell you that was no easy task. I finally gave up as it seemed every time I tried I just drove a wedge between us deeper and deeper. I decided that if God wanted her to go He would have to convince her, just as he had convinced my wife she should go. So I turned it over to Him and I did my best not to mention it to her again. Well tonight was another story, I didn't bring it up it was my wife and she had good reason to. She had also up until this point tried to just let Taylor work it out with the Lord. Tonight however, Taylor was wanting us to sign some school related papers and it was something that would possibly interfere with the trip to Africa, so it was a quick slide down a very slippery slope that was by far the most tearful confrontation that we had had up to this point. After all was said and we had told her to just go to her room and pray about it more, she stopped us and said that she had just had a revelation and said that she would go with us. We were dumbstruck, after all that she had said, she just changed her mind in less than a second. I asked her had she been praying and she shared that she had but that she was still not sure what to do. So after her revelation we told her to just go to bed and pray about it and let us know tomorrow what she wanted to do. She then told me that she would but that she was pretty sure she was going to go with us. My wife and I had succeeded in wiping away some misconceptions that Satan had planted in her mind. It was a good night in the Phillips household, I know that my wife will sleep better tonight.

Gary Phillips

Keepin You Up To Date

I really felt like writing so I decided to let everyone know what we are up to at this time. We are currently in the stage of raising support. I have been busy making calls to churches and trying to set up appointments to visit and share our ministry. This is unfortunately a slow process but it is necessary. I have also been talking with some Christian business owners and sharing with them as well. I currently have 3 business owners who are praying about what they should do to help us and feel confident that if God brought them to me that He will show them what they can do to help us, be it financially or through prayer. I have not yet been able to get into any churches to share our ministry with them but have had many good conversations. I truly believe that God has already prepared the hearts of certain people and churches for our ministry and that He will direct me to them in His time.

Gary

Togo

I have had a couple pf people ask me today what type of ministry the missionaries in Togo have. While I was trying to learn more about the ministry I came across this web page that explains the ministry quite well. If you would like to know more about the ministry in Togo please have a look at this website http://www.togo.abwe.org/home-page. Our ministry will likely be in Adeta or Mango.

Gary Phillips

The Latest Scoop!

I was able to make contact yesterday with the missionary from Togo (where we hope to spend some time serving) and we had a good conversation. I am still not 100% sure what it is that we will be doing in Togo but I can at least say, it looks like we will be working in both Ghana and Togo. There is a huge need in Togo for those with the skills and abilities that God has blessed us with. I say, it looks like we may be going, as there are still a couple of issues that need to be worked out. But unless the Lord keeps them from being worked out, Sharon (the missionary) would love to have us come to Togo. Adeta, which is in the Southern part of Togo has many needs. Sharon works in a mission run hospital and says there is a need for a full time maintenance worker, as well as construction workers for the new maternity ward that will soon be under construction. I, can fit into either of these roles easily, there is also a few roles at the hospital in Adeta that my wife could easily fill. There is also a possibility that they could have us go to Mango in the northern part of Togo. In Mango they are just about to break ground on a brand new hospital, so there will be plenty of construction work that needs done there. There is also a guest house where those who come for short term trips can stay. Kelly would be able to assist in the day to day operations of the guest house as the lady who currently runs it has her hands full. Sharon works with a team of missionaries in Adeta and Mango and is contacting them and explaining to them that we are interested in coming along side them and helping in any way that God so leads us. She wants to let her team mates know about our skills and abilities so that they can decide as a team where we would fit best in there ministry.

That is the latest news I have in regards to where we will be going, the latest on when we go still depends on our visas. I recently made airline reservations for Jan 29th to leave for Africa and a return flight on July 27th. It is truly exciting to think that if all goes well we will be leaving for Africa in just 3 months. As I said these dates are target dates as this is when the missionaries in Ghana would like us to arrive. The dates are dependent on when we are able to get our visas and also on the length of the visas the Embassies will give us. Our friends who are currently in Ghana applied for a 90 day visa and only received a 60 day visa. We hope to be able to spend 90 days in both Ghana and Togo but at this time only the Lord knows how long we will be there. The flight reservations are just reservations, they are also able to be changed at any time with no cost to us. Once we book the flights that all changes but God has opened so many doors, some that I thought would never be open, that I am confident that this trip is exactly what He wants us to be doing at this time in our lives.

If anyone who reads this blog has any questions, please do not hesitate to leave your questions as a comment, I will do my best to answer any questions we receive.

Please pray, that God will direct me to the people and places that I need to be in order to share our vision with those God has already prepared to help us financially to get to Africa. Our church has said that they will be our sending agency and that our funds can be sent to them on our behalf. If you are reading this blog and feel led to give to our trip please check back. As soon as an account has been set up, I will let you know how you can help out.


Thank you for your prayers,
Gary Phillips and family

Our purpose for going

When I tell people that I am planning a missions trip to Africa, I always get the question "What will you be doing when you get there?" So I thought that I would share with those who read this blog what it is that we will be doing in Ghana and Togo. I am not sure exactly what we will be doing in Togo yet as I am still waiting to hear back from the missionaries in Togo as to what they will need me to do while there. I will likely be doing maintenance in the mission hospital as well as in other buildings that is used by the missionaries to minister to the people of Togo. I have recently heard that they are just about to break ground on a new hospital so I may actually get to work on the construction of the new building. My wife and girls will likely work alongside the missionary doctors and nurses as they tend to the needs of the locals. We will all have opportunities to work in the churches as Sunday School teachers and what not. There are any number of ways that we can be used and I am speculating that we will work in the above ways. God may have something totally different waiting for us to do, I can honestly say that regardless of what it is He has for us to do I will be excited and ready to serve. Ghana is a different story as I have had plenty of contact with the missionaries there. The list of need is long and will take a long time to complete (more time than we will be there). The list starts with Preaching and Teaching in 8 churches (not my strong suit);
Maintenance work on our Bible college property
-All the electrical wiring needs to be rewired because of lightning strikes
-fans, lights, electrical sockets, etc. for the main building and the dorms
-Support posts for a canopy need replaced
-guard shack is needed to be built
Construction work on Missionary House
-electrical work,
-floor tile
-plumbing
-cabinets
-windows
-drop ceiling installed
Other projects
-electrical wiring of houses in a nearby village that is in the process of receiving electricity.
House owners pay for their own electrical parts but need to pay electrician to install it.
This would be a free service and an opportunity to share Christ. There is almost
an unlimited # of villages that are in need of an electrician who would install electric
into their homes for free.
Well that is just a touch of what I could be doing for the next who know how many years of my life.
Things that my family will be doing (I also will be doing some of these things)
-teach S.S. and evening services at several of the churches
-teach English to village children and women
-minister to the current missionaries on the field in many different ways
-music ministry in the churches
-work with the Ghanaians side by side and share Christ in the villages
-host backyard Bible clubs
As you can see there are many many opportunities for my family and I to serve the people of Ghana while we are serving Christ. This is becoming a long post and I don't want you to get bored reading it so I am going to share one last thing that the missionaries in Ghana shared with us in relation to the needs in Ghana. "There are many more ministries that could be a part of your life here in Ghana. God is doing some great things and is bringing up some strong young leaders in the churches. We would love to have your family here indefinitely if God would allow." I do not know where this trip will lead but I look forward to what God will teach me and to see how He will work in the lives of my family and myself while we are in Ghana and Togo. Please pray that we will not take anything that happens for granted and that we will give all Glory to God as He sustains us throughout the process of preparing for this trip.

Gary Phillips and family

The Beginning

I am not sure where to start so I will start with who we are. We are the Phillips family and though we all have not been called to full time missions work, I have. I am Gary and my wife and 4 kids have not been called but are supportive. It has been almost 10 years since I made my most recent decision that God is calling me to full time missions work, I say most recent because as a child of 6 or 7 I made a public decision that God was calling me to become a missionary. It wasn't until some time after making the decision as an adult that I remembered this happening as a child. As a child I would relish the times that missionaries would come to our church and share what God was doing through them on the mission field. It was during this time of my life that God put a strong desire in me to some day go to Africa. Though I had forgotten the childhood call to missions work I never overcame my desire to someday go to Africa. I am confident that God gave me this desire as a child and knew that one day as an adult I would remember my childhood promise and be ready to go. I believe that the time has come and that God has been preparing me for this trip ever since. I believe that God is calling us to Ghana and possibly to Togo as well, not for full time at this point but for an extended short term missions trip of 4 to 6 months. I also believe that this is just the beginning and could some day turn into a full time mission for us. Please pray for us as we prepare to leave that we will be open to God's leading, that we will not put our desires above His. Pray that God will us for whatever it is that He has in store for us when we get to Ghana and Togo. Pray that we will be able to raise our support in a timely manner. Pray that through this trip that God will receive glory and honor as we serve Him in humility, putting the people if Ghana and Togo above ourselves. Pray for health, strength and safety while we are home and while in Africa. Pray that God will help us get our passports and visas in a timely manner and that the exact dates and a good budget will be prepared soon. I will post updates soon and hopefully will have a photo to post soon as well.

Gary Phillips