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