Thank you to all those who prayed!

Yesterday was such a precious day. I give God thanks and praise for His goodness. Debi and I had the opportunity to go to Morrison Memorial Methodist Church in Chico, TX, and then to People of the Way Methodist Church, which is currently meeting in Sunset, TX. We had the blessing of worshiping with some very precious believers! It was such a blessing to have the opportunity to preach the Word of God—twice in one day! Debi and I so appreciate those of you who took the time to pray for us. Prayer coverage is so very important in ministry! We are thankful for the safe travel of the day as well.

I thought for the blog post today that I would not only thank those of you who prayed, but that I would also share with you the sermon which I preached. I am continuing to pray that God will open the eyes of my heart so that I can see people the way that He sees them and then love them the way that He loves them.

I should also say that in this sermon I mention the book Theo of Golden. As I mentioned it at the two churches, I asked how many of them had either heard of it or read it. Not one of them had even heard of it, much less read it, so that was a bit surprising to me. One woman said that she was going to order it later that day. I hope so.

Sermon: Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord

Matthew 9:35–38

35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease [a] among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

There is a prayer that I like to pray, and I pray it often:

“Lord, give me eyes to see and ears to hear.”

As I prayed and asked the Lord regarding what He would have me preach this morning, my heart went to Matthew 9:35–38, and these verses focus on Jesus seeing people with eyes of compassion. So, I am praying for each one of us here this morning that God will speak to our hearts about seeing people with eyes of compassion.

I have always loved the story in Mark 10:46–52 about Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus was a blind man sitting by the side of the road begging. Then there was a commotion, and Bartimaeus learned that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He had heard about Jesus, so he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

The people around Bartimaeus told him to be quiet, but instead, he shouted all the louder and all the more, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

So, Jesus stopped and asked that they bring Bartimaeus to Him. Bartimaeus, throwing his cloak aside, jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

What happens next seems so crazy. Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Our need or needs may seem obvious, but God invites us to ask.

The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

My heart so resonates with this prayer, and I truly do pray it often.

“Lord Jesus, open my eyes that I may see. Rabbi Jesus, I want to see.”

When I pray this prayer, there are two specific things which I have in mind.

First, I want to see where God is working.

In Psalm 90:16, the Psalmist says, “Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children.”

I don’t know if you have ever gone through Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God workbook, but he speaks about the importance of seeing where God is working so that you can join Him in that work. It is important for us to learn how to see where God is working so that we can join Him.

Then, the second aspect which comes to my mind is to have my eyes open so that I can see people with eyes of compassion. This aspect relates more specifically to our Scripture text for today. I want to see people the way that Jesus sees them, the way that God sees them.

Matthew 9:36

36 But when He (Jesus) saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

I would guess that you know that we can see people without really seeing them. Sadly, we do it all the time.

Recently, I read the book Theo of Golden. This is such a powerful book for our day because it is about an older gentleman who has learned how to see people and to speak blessing into their lives.

Lord Jesus, open my eyes that I may see, and particularly, Lord, I pray that I can learn to see people as You see them!

It is important for us to learn how to truly see people if we are going to learn how to love people with the love of Jesus, to love people the way that Jesus loves people.

Ah, look at all the lonely people, all the lonely, lost, hurting people! Where do they all come from? Where do they all belong?

When Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

Luke 19:10 tells us,

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

There are so many lost, hurting, and lonely people. Where do they all come from? Where do they belong?

2 Corinthians 5:20 reminds us,

“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”

God is sending us out into the world day by day by day to be His ambassadors, to seek and to save the lost. It is so easy for us to get wrapped up in our little worlds and so focused on our problems and challenges that we begin to live with blinders on. We don’t really see the people around us, or we only see them as they relate to us and to our own problems and situations. When we do this, people can become more like irritations or problems to be dealt with.

God wants to open our eyes so that we can see people as He sees them. He loves them. Jesus died on the cross for them.

I want to encourage you this morning to think back over your week this past week and to ask God to bring someone to your mind that He wants you to remember, that He wants you to see.

Can you think of someone?

Now I want to encourage you to pray for them. Lift them up before the Lord.

Now I want to encourage you to pray and to think if there is anything more that you can do for them.

(The Story of the Cashier - Paris - at the Gas Station)

I was visiting a friend of mine, and on a Wednesday evening, he and I went to a worship and prayer service at a nearby church. At one point in the service, the pastor asked if there was anyone who wanted prayer so that they could be more bold in their witness for Jesus. My friend stood up and went forward for prayer.

On our way back to his house, we stopped at a gas station, and he and I went in to get something to drink. It was around 9:00 p.m., and there was a little bit of a line in the store, which seemed unusual to me. As we were standing there, I began to notice the cashier, and she seemed so sad. She was going pretty slowly, which was one of the reasons why there was a line.

Finally, my time came, and I put my things on the counter and asked her how her day was going. I can’t repeat what she said in church. I told her that I was so sorry to hear about her day. I told her that God had better plans for her life than working here at the gas station. I asked her if I could pray for her, and she said that would be great. Mind you, there were still people waiting in line, and now I was taking a bit longer than just getting my stuff paid for. As I was getting ready to pray, I looked around for my friend for support, and he was nowhere to be found. He had gone back to the truck. I was flying solo, but I got her name, Paris, and I prayed for her. And I could tell there was more of a peace present than there had been before.

When I got to the truck, I asked my friend, “Where did you go?” He said, “Man, you were taking too long. I thought she was going to get mad or that one of the people in the line was going to shoot you for taking too much time.”

I said back to him, “Well, so much for that prayer for boldness tonight at church!” And we both just cracked up laughing.

The next day I went to Mardel’s, and I bought a card and a book for Paris. I stopped by the store to see if she was working, but she was not. I asked when she would be working again, and it was after I was going to be gone out of town. It ended up that I had to ask my friend’s wife if she would drop it by on Friday while Paris was working, and she agreed to do that. She reported back to me that she had delivered the card and the book to Paris and prayed for her once again.

I have no idea if that encouraged or helped Paris at all. The next time I was in that town visiting my friend, I stopped by that gas station, but the manager said that she no longer worked there. I hope that means that God moved her on to bigger and better things. I still remember Paris, and I pray for her as God brings her to my mind. I would like to think that I saw her! I would like to think that I saw her with the eyes of Jesus.

I know there are a million times when I miss it, but I am thankful for the times when I know that God opens my eyes to see someone, and I do my best to respond in obedience and love and seek to be His ambassador of love and grace to that person.

Ah, look at all the lonely people, all the lonely, lost, hurting people! Where do they all come from? Where do they all belong?

Matthew 9:36

36 But when He (Jesus) saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

But Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and He is always seeking His sheep. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. I want to be like Jesus. I want to see people as He sees them.

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord!

Today I was finishing reading a book, The Listening Life by Adam McHugh. He begins the Epilogue by saying, “Listening goes last. When I worked in hospice, I always told families to keep talking to patients, because no matter how unresponsive they seemed, they could still hear. On a deep level, as deep as the soul, people on the brink of eternity could hear the whispers and songs of love their families offered them as parting gifts.”

Reading this took me back, way back, to something that happened early in my years of ministry. I was serving as an intern at First United Methodist Church of Texarkana. The church wasn’t too far from Wadley Hospital at that time. One time in January, we got a call from a staff person at Wadley Hospital, and they said that there had been a family in a very bad car accident and that the family members were spread out all over the hospital according to their differing injuries. They said that either the father or mother had been the one who was most coherent in filling out all the forms for the family and that they had checked that they were Christians of the United Methodist denomination. They were wondering if we might be able to send someone over to visit the different family members. Did I mention that I was an intern? This apparently seemed like the perfect assignment for an intern.

I went to the hospital, and I believe there were five different family members. As I mentioned, they were spread out all over the hospital. The thirteen-year-old daughter was the one in the most serious condition. She was in a coma. We had numerous people from our church in and out of the hospital, so I was usually going to the hospital for visitations twice a week. Now I had some additional people to go visit. After a week or so, all of the family members were healing and getting better, except for the thirteen-year-old. I had always heard that people in comas could still hear, so as I visited the family, I made it a point to visit the thirteen-year-old daughter last. I would go in and sit down by her bed, and I would tell her how all the other family members were doing. I would talk a little about my family and basically just spend a few minutes trying to come up with things that might be of interest to her.

It ended up that after about eight weeks or so, all the other family members were doing well enough to travel back to their home in another state. They made arrangements for the thirteen-year-old daughter to be transported to a hospital not far from their house.

The outlook wasn’t necessarily the best for the daughter, and I figured that I would never hear from that family again. It ended up that about two months later, there was a call to the church, and the woman on the phone asked for me. It was the mother of the thirteen-year-old girl. I felt myself tense up, thinking that this was probably going to be bad news, although the mother’s voice didn’t sound sad. She began by telling us how much the visits meant to their family while they were in Texarkana at Wadley Hospital, and she asked me if I remembered their thirteen-year-old daughter. I most certainly did.

She told me that in the past week, the young woman had come out of her coma. After a day or two, she asked her mom, “Who was that man who would come sit by my bed and talk to me while I was in the hospital in Texarkana?” The mom said she was absolutely dumbfounded by the question. She couldn’t believe that her daughter could have any awareness of what was going on while she was in Texarkana, and she also didn’t realize that every time I came to see them, I would go sit and talk to their daughter.

Adam McHugh, in the Epilogue of his book The Listening Life, reminds us: “When I worked in hospice, I always told families to keep talking to patients, because no matter how unresponsive they seemed, they could still hear.”

I can most certainly vouch for the truth of this statement!

Prayer Requests

I Believe in the Importance and Power of Prayer

I am going to list several things where Debi and I need some serious prayer coverage, and I so appreciate each and every one of you who will take the time to read the list and then pray for us.

First of all, please pray for Debi’s health. There are numerous ongoing challenges, and we are praying strongly and seeking to be diligent in getting all the proper medical care. Debi is such a trooper, and I know she wouldn’t really want me putting this out there, but I believe in the importance and power of prayer. Please pray for me to know how to support and love her in the ways that she needs.

This Sunday, I am going to be preaching at Chico Global Methodist Church and at People of the Way Global Methodist Church. These are the same two churches where I interviewed with the possibility of going to be the pastor. The presiding elder called and asked me if I would fill in at these two churches this Sunday. It looks like they have someone lined up to begin on the first Sunday in September. Pray for God’s anointing for me as I prepare and as I preach. The Chico service is at 9:30, and the People of the Way service is at 11:15 a.m. There is a good bit of driving involved as well, so pray for safe travel. Pray for anointing for the people who attend, that they would have ears to hear and eyes to see. My sermon title is going to be “Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord,” based on Matthew 9:35-38.

Please pray that God will bless our next Maximum Investment Seminar(s). Debi and I will be traveling to Harrisville, MS, so that I can do the Maximum Investment Seminar for a group of 41 junior and senior high school students on Friday, September 18th. Then there is a chance that I will be presenting the seminar on Saturday, September 19th to a group of young married couples and young adults. We are seeing if there is enough interest for that to happen. Then Debi and I will attend church on Sunday morning at New Covenant Church in Harrisville. The pastor is Trent Grantham, and his wife is Hillary Grantham. They are an amazing young couple, and God is doing some incredible things at this church in this small Mississippi town. Hillary used to be in my youth group at First Methodist Carrollton many years ago.

I am already working to prepare my teachings for the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Discipleship Training School. I will go to Liberia, Costa Rica, on Saturday, October 24th, and I will begin teaching at the Liberia YWAM base on Monday, October 26th, through Friday, October 30th. I will have about three hours each morning with eleven young people.

The eleven young people are from five different countries. Six of the young people are from Costa Rica; two are from Mexico; one is from Trinidad and Tobago; one is from Peru; and one is from the United States. What a wonderful opportunity this is! I am still in touch with most of the young people from last year’s DTS. I am praying and expecting a great week.

I will also be preaching, teaching, and doing some other ministry on the front end and back end of the DTS. I will be preaching in the Assembly of God Church on Sunday, October 25th. This is a very special place for me, and I am excited about this opportunity!

We are also working to make preparations for the next Flechas de Luz Conference, which will take place in January 2027 in Liberia. I believe the dates are going to be Wednesday, January 13th, through Friday, January 15th. We are expecting some great and mighty things to flow out of this conference!!! Please pray that God will guide our preparations and give unity in the leadership and with the churches involved!

I would also ask you to be praying for the finances of Arrows of Light, the ministry which I lead. We have been stretched pretty thin as we are trying to help some young people in Guatemala get through seminary, and also helping some young people in Costa Rica who are involved with Youth With A Mission. Arrows of Light also enables the Maximum Investment Seminars, so there is no cost to the churches. Arrows of Light helps cover many of the expenses associated with the Flechas de Luz Conference in Liberia.

Thank you so much for your prayers! It means so much! God is working, and I am so thankful and blessed to get to be involved in His work and to be a dot on the page, watching Him work.

Psalm 90:16-17

Let Your work appear to Your servants,
And Your glory to their children.

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.

So Beautiful! I Know It Was the Blood!

In the powerful, fictitious “backstory” of Nicodemus and Lilith (Mary of Magdala), Nicodemus is called upon to go to the troubled, demon-possessed Lilith to bring her healing and deliverance. But during this encounter, Nicodemus realizes that his religious knowledge is no match for whatever is troubling Lilith. Ultimately, Nicodemus flees from Lilith in fear, frustration, and embarrassment. He is not able to help her. Her situation is beyond him.

It ends up that Lilith encounters Jesus. It is such a powerful scene. Jesus calls her by her name, “Mary,” and He heals and delivers her, although Mary doesn’t yet know who He is.

Nicodemus hears that someone has seen Lilith and that she seems healed and whole. He can’t believe it. He seeks her out and asks her what happened. Mary tells Nicodemus that she met someone who delivered her from her darkness and her torment. Nicodemus asks her who it was, and she says, “I don’t know His name.”

Nicodemus was one of the most respected and educated leaders of Israel at that time. He knew the Scriptures, the traditions, and the laws, yet he encountered something that he couldn’t understand, much less handle. Lilith was lost in darkness and oppression, but she encountered Jesus. Her heart, mind, and life were transformed by the encounter!

This past Wednesday, I had a wonderful encounter.

About three years ago, Chris Gordy and I went to a Wednesday evening worship and prayer meeting at New Beginnings Baptist Church in Longview, TX. We sat on about the third row down to the left of the platform. There was a young couple sitting on the front row, and they had a young baby with them. They were in constant motion during the whole service. Some of their motion was centered around the baby, but it also had the agitated nature of addiction. If you have been around addicts, I would guess that you know what I mean. It bothered me that I was putting that label on them, but it sure seemed to fit.

Later in the service, the pastor, Todd Konitz, said that if you are struggling with addiction, he would invite you to come forward for prayer and healing. The young man immediately went forward. The young woman was not in the sanctuary at that moment. There was prayer for healing and deliverance.

After that, the young man returned to his seat. Then, a few moments later, Pastor Todd Konitz said that if you felt led to go pray for someone, you should follow that leading and go pray for them.

Chris and I looked at each other, and we knew we were both thinking the same thing. The young woman was now back beside her husband with the baby in tow, so Chris and I went to them and asked them if we could pray for them. They welcomed the prayer, and it was such a blessing. We got their names and the name of the baby boy. I know I continued to pray for them for a couple of weeks, but they soon drifted out of my focused prayer times.

This past Wednesday, I was able to once again attend the Wednesday evening worship and prayer service at New Beginnings. I sat about eight rows back in the center section, and as I looked toward the platform, I saw the young couple from a few years ago.

The young woman was holding a tiny baby.

There was a peace and a calm over them. It was obvious that their lives had been transformed! Jesus had transformed their hearts, their minds, and their lives, and it was such a powerful and beautiful sight to behold.

I was able to greet them and bless them.

As I greeted them, I thought about Nicodemus as he encountered the new, healed, redeemed, and restored Mary Magdalene. There is such wonder in seeing how God can heal, redeem, and restore.

During the worship portion of the service, we sang a worship song that I had never heard before. I have since researched it and learned that the name of the song is “The Blood” by David Funk.

Here are the lyrics to the first portion of the song:

1 Verse:
Everything changed, it’s getting harder to recognize
The person I was before I encountered Christ
I don’t walk like I used to
I don’t talk like I used to
I’ve been washed from the inside
I’ve been washed from the inside out

Chorus:
Hallelujah, hallelujah
I know it was the blood
Could have only been the blood

The first portion of the song speaks about how everything changed after encountering Christ and concludes with the powerful declaration that it could have only been the blood.

It is powerful to sing these words, but then it is even more powerful when the Lord allows you to see a walking, living example of it!!! I know it was the blood!

Glory to God!

Seeing Their Face AND Knowing Their Name

Such a Powerful Combination!

So, the story is told that there was a medical class which met from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday evenings. The professor of the class knew that the custodian usually mopped the floors of the buildings in the evening, so he asked the custodian if he would make a point of mopping the floor of the hallway where his Tuesday evening class met, either just before 7:00 p.m. or around 10:00 p.m. This put the custodian in the hallway around the door of the classroom as the class was either about to begin or when the class was over.

Over the course of the semester, the professor was always telling the students how important it was to pay attention to the people around them, especially the people who could be considered inconsequential.

The first question on the final exam for that semester was: “What is the name of the custodian who mops the floor in the hallway where our classroom meets each Tuesday evening?” The question was worth five points on the critically important exam.

In the last blog post, I wrote about the importance of faces and seeing people’s faces. I want to follow that up by also mentioning the importance of doing our best to learn people’s names. I want to remind you that God knows your name.

Isaiah 43:1 says, “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.’”

It is so important when we meet people that we develop a way to remember their names. It is incredible how challenging this can be. When we meet someone, we often have so many things on our minds as we are navigating the conversation, and we don’t make it a point to remember the person’s name!

Case in point: When there are visitors to a church, many people in the church will go meet them and greet them and let them know that it is such a blessing to have them visiting the church. But five minutes later, if you went to those church members and asked them the name or names of the guests, they wouldn’t be able to remember.

Case in point: At one church where I was serving, there were four or five men who would serve as the ushers, and they would greet people as they came into the church. Initially, what I observed was that when a member would walk in, the ushers would greet them and hug them, and it was a beautiful thing. Then, when a guest would walk in, they would just hand them a bulletin.

I began to challenge them to greet the guests more warmly and to ask the guests their names. Over and over again, when a guest would attend, if I would go ask one of the ushers the name of the guest, they couldn’t remember. They did get better over time while I was there, but it was a struggle.

I believe that for churches and church members, we need to know that guests to our church are a precious gift from God. There was something that caused them to attend our church that day. How we handle each one of these gifts will determine whether God continues to send us more gifts in the future!

There may be moments when God sends someone across our path. God knows that we could minister to this person and help them. How we respond in these moments is very important to how useful we are for God and for His Kingdom.

We want to learn how to do a better job of seeing people and seeing their faces. And as we do this, we can be certain that it also becomes important that we develop a good system for learning and remembering people’s names.

Help us, Lord Jesus, so that we can be conduits of Your love and Your grace to those around us. In Jesus’ name and for His Kingdom and His glory!

See His Face!

Inspiration from “Theo of Golden”

The author of the New York Times bestseller Theo of Golden walked into a Columbus, Georgia, Fountain City Coffee Shop, and he was fascinated by the artistic portraits that covered the walls of the coffee shop. These portraits became the inspiration for Allen Levi’s novel, Theo of Golden.

Theo, the main character of Theo of Golden, walks into a coffee shop and has a similar experience. Theo is intrigued as he looks at the many different faces that decorate the walls of “The Chalice,” the coffee shop in the novel. Theo loves to study the faces and tries to discern their character from the artistic portraits of their faces.

Chapter 42 in Theo of Golden has a lot to say about faces. Kendrick Whitaker, a custodian and a father of a young woman who had been injured in a car accident—the same car accident in which his wife was killed—was on his way to the office of Derrick Prentiss, the state’s counsel who was representing Kendrick and his daughter. As he walked to the lawyer’s office, it is stated, “Two faces kept coming to his mind: one, the suffering young face of his daughter in the first weeks after the crash; and the other, the weary, frightened face of Mr. Mateo Mendez, the little man.” Mateo Mendez was the illegal alien driving the car that hit the car his wife was driving on the night his wife died and his daughter was terribly injured.

Later in the chapter, after Kendrick has been incredibly gracious toward Mr. Mendez, he is in a conversation with Derrick Prentiss, his lawyer. Toward the end of this already intense conversation, Kendrick looks at Derrick Prentiss and says,

“Lawyer Derrick, can I ask you one more thing?”

“Sure.”

“I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but you don’t remember do me, do ya?”

Derrick looked closely at the young man across the desk. He frowned, then he shook his head. “No, sir. Mr. Whitaker, I don’t. Where would I know you from?”

“From the courthouse, about eighteen months ago. I think maybe you don’t remember me ‘cause you never looked at me. You didn’t look at me a single time. You put me in jail eighteen months ago for something I didden do. My little girl was seven. I was in jail almost a year. When she nearly died, I was in jail.”

Derrick shifted uncomfortably in his leather chair. “Mr. Whitaker, I’m sorry but I don’t remember anything about that. I handle a whole lot of cases. Sometimes too many and too quickly. I admit, I don’t really have time to look at everybody. What was your case about?”

“Oh, it don’t really make any difference. My real crime was that I was too poor to hire my own lawyer. The lawyer the court appoints, he don’t have time to look at nobody’s faces either. I told him I hadn’t done anything wrong, and I could prove it. But he said if I was smart, I’d plead guilty, even though I didn’t do anything wrong. I know you hear people say that all the time, even when they’re guilty, but sometimes it’s true. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, Mr. Derrick, and I know you deal with some mighty bad people, but it might do you good to look at some faces sometimes. There are some real people in those faces.”

Derrick sat quietly.

How many people do we see in a day? How many people do we truly “see” in a day?

There are some real people in those faces!

One of the things that makes Theo of Golden so powerful is that it is about a man, Theo, who had learned to see people.

One of my friends whom I talked into reading Theo of Golden told me a day or two later, “Well, I have started the book, and it is going pretty slow. But you are most certainly a good salesman.”

I am confident that if she will stick with it, it will be worth her while. This book is slow on purpose. It is calling us to slow down and learn the power of seeing people, seeing their faces.

In Psalm 27:8, we read, “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek.’”

I believe that God’s face is on display all around us in the faces of the people whom God places in our path day by day by day. Do we see their faces? Do we see His Face?

Final Report on the Baseball Camps for Jesus

To God Be the Glory!

This will be the final blog post this year regarding the Baseball Camps for Jesus in Germany led by Mike Garst. I will conclude this post with Mike’s latest and final report from the Vechta Baseball Camp, but I also wanted to give a final overview of the bigger picture as well.

Mike Garst, age 73, left the United States to fly to Germany on Thursday, July 2nd, and he returned to the United States on Sunday, August 9th. During his time in Germany, his primary purpose was to lead three Baseball Camps for Jesus in three different locations.

The first camp was in Aurich, Germany. He has been doing this camp in Aurich for a number of years, and as a result of the fruit of the labor from previous years, they had 125 participants in the camp and 45 leaders comprised of people from Germany and the United States. At the Aurich camp this year, there were seven baptisms.

The second camp was in Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany. This is a bit of a newer location. There were 55 participants and 25 leaders from Germany and the United States. It was such a blessing that there were roughly 25 young people who said they wanted to follow Jesus as fully devoted disciples of Jesus.

The third camp was in Vechta, Germany. Mike started this camp eleven years ago. There were 90 participants at this camp and 40 leaders from Germany and the United States. At this camp, there were 23 participants who declared for the first time that they wanted to follow Jesus, and there were 14 who affirmed their commitments from previous years to follow Jesus as His disciples.

I hope you will take a moment to pause, reflect, pray, and give thanks to God for the labor put into these baseball camps and the lives that have been impacted, not only this year, but throughout the years since Mike Garst first started going some 24 years ago.

There is a story from the last camp that is so important to the overall picture and to the overall desire that Mike has for these camps. There was a young woman who started coming to the Vechta Baseball Camps eleven years ago when she was ten years old. That was the very first baseball camp at Vechta. There is a woman from the United States who has stayed in contact with this young woman over the past two years. Usually, they have a weekly call. This year, the 21-year-old young woman was baptized by the woman who has been encouraging her in the faith on Saturday after the conclusion of the camp.

One of the reasons why I share this story is because one of the greatest prayer requests of all the prayer requests comes into play now that the camps are over. We need to pray that there will be leaders from the camps who are compelled by the love of God to stay connected with young people from the camps and encourage them in their journey of faith!

I know that Mike Garst has stayed in touch with two young women, Julia and Madeline. I met both of these young women at the camp when I was in Germany with Mike. Madeline actually went on a mission trip with us to Costa Rica, and she has visited us in the United States. Their lives have been filled with ups and downs, spiritual struggles, and questions. Mike has stayed connected and stayed faithful to these friendships. He continues to do his best to encourage them toward faith in Jesus.

We pray that the leaders will have this kind of faithfulness and love!

Now here is Mike’s final email update:

Dear Faithful Prayer Warriors,

Thanks again for all your prayers for the Vechta Baseball Camp that ended Friday evening with perfect weather for baseball, as well as the barbeque and final ceremonies. We had one more person from the all-day camp sign the “Book of Life” for the first time which raised that number to 23. Plus, we had three more from the junior half-day camp say they wanted to follow Jesus, which put that number at 14. Then there were 20 who reaffirmed their commitment to Jesus from previous camps. So, 57 of the 90 participants in the camp said they either wanted to follow Jesus for the first time or to reaffirm that decision.

We also had great weather for the baptism Saturday at a lake not too far from Vechta. The young woman who was baptized has been having weekly calls over the last two years with the American leader who baptized her. As part of those calls, they read the Bible together, which led to a discussion on baptism.

Please continue to pray that all the American and German leaders would do their part to stay connected to as many of the participants as possible over this next year, including reading the Bible together, so they can encourage them to grow in their relationship with God or grow closer to making the decision to put all their trust in God.

All the Americans flew back to the USA yesterday and got to their homes late in the evening.

I am in the process of writing a summary report for all three camps using the input I get from the other Americans and German leaders at the camps. I’ll include some photos and hope to get that out in the next couple of weeks.

In Christ’s ever-increasing glory,

Mike

Thank you so much for praying over these weeks and now as God puts it on your heart, I would ask for you to pray that there will be adult leaders who stay connected with the young people who participated in these camps!

From Mike Garst:

Dear Faithful Prayer Warriors,

Thanks again for all your prayers. I’ve been praying and hoping that this camp in Vechta will, like the first two camps, be both the biggest and most fruitful Camp we’ve experienced at this site. Today was a significant day because we make as clear as possible what the gospel of Jesus Christ is and ask all the participants in the all-day camp (ages 9-19) to sign a book that we call the ‘Book of Life’ if they want to follow Jesus. We also distinguish between those who are doing it for the first time and those who want to reaffirm that decision. We do our best to make sure each participant knows what they are doing before we let them sign the book, but we also recognize that there are some who may take this decision more seriously than others and that this is just a first step toward becoming a fully devoted disciple of Jesus. Regardless, we praise God that 22 of the participants signed the “Book of Life” for the first time and 20 more reaffirmed that decision!!! Of the 22 who signed it for the first time, 19 of them are at this Camp for the first time.

Since we had 64 of the participants in the all-day camp there today, that means we had about 66% of them either sign for the first time or reaffirm that decision.

In the half-day junior camp, we also asked two of the three teams so far if they want to follow Jesus, and 10 of the 16 said they did. Again, at this age level, we are not sure what they understand, but we rejoice and praise God that they say they want to follow Jesus.

Praise God, we will also have a baptism on Saturday after the camp at one of the lakes not too far from Vechta! A young woman, who was 11 years old at the first camp and has been at all the Camps since then will be baptized by one of the Americans who has been mentoring her the last couple of years.

We were also blessed by a great day of weather today with a high of 77 degrees after having high temperatures of 90 and 82 the previous two days with lots of sunshine. Tomorrow’s forecast shows a high of 70 degrees, with no rain in the forecast. So we’ve had three baseball camps without any serious rain issues. But I feel for the farmers and homeowners in this area especially since they’ve had very little rain lately and the crops, gardens and lawns are not looking very good. So I’m praying for rain as soon as possible.

Please pray that even more hearts will be opened to the gospel tomorrow and that we can continue to share and show the love of Christ with everybody in the camp and with the parents and families that will be at the BBQ and closing ceremonies tomorrow.

HEY! Don’t Miss This!
“Theo of Golden”

I sometimes joke that there was a road sign near our house when I was growing up that read, “SLOW – Children at Play,” and my mom went outside one day and put a comma after the word children—“SLOW Children, at Play.” Punctuation is important.

The point of telling you that is that I am, in fact, often slow. I want to confess that I have been slow to get on board the Theo of Golden bus, and I have learned that I have been really missing out! I want to encourage you: Don’t miss the Theo of Golden bus!!!

I was first encouraged to read Theo of Golden by my wife, Debi. She read the book for a book club, and she absolutely loved it. She encouraged me to read it, but I don’t read a lot of fiction, so I didn’t get on board.

Then, a month or so later, the Theo of Golden bus went past me again as I saw it being referenced on Facebook and began hearing more people talking about it. Yet I still wasn’t fully persuaded.

Then, about two weeks ago, I reached the tipping point. I had several people tell me about it once again. One friend of mine told me that he still had 40 pages to go and that he was so torn because he desperately wanted to read the conclusion, but he also didn’t want the book to end. That comment certainly piqued my interest to the point that I decided I wanted to read it. This happened on a Sunday evening.

On Monday morning, Debi and I were traveling through Waco on our way to Kingsland, TX. I told her that I was going to read it. She ended up pulling up an Oprah’s Book Club: Presented by Starbucks podcast in which Oprah Winfrey interviewed the author of Theo of Golden, Allen Levi. It was so good and so powerful. I would encourage you to listen to it even if you have read the book or especially if you are thinking about reading it.

The story behind the book is fascinating, and that is part of what helped me get on the bus and begin reading it.

Allen Levi, the author of the book, was 62 or 63 years old when he began writing it. He had been an attorney, a judge, a singer-songwriter, and a speaker. He had never written a book, and he decided that writing a book was something he wanted to do. He wasn’t writing the book to have it published. He simply wanted to see if he could write a book.

It took him around three years to write it. As he was writing, several of his close friends learned about the project, and they would ask him about his progress and encourage him. Finally, one day after he had finished writing it, they asked how it was coming, and he told them it was finished. They asked if they could read it. He reluctantly gave them a copy of the manuscript so they could read it.

One of those friends called him back after reading it and told him that it was so powerful and so good that he needed to have it published.

In 2023, Levi decided to publish the book, but he decided to take the self-publishing route. He hired his niece, Aron Ritchie, to help him. Neither of them had any publishing experience, and they basically had a zero-dollar marketing budget. Usually, self-published books sell around 250 to 300 copies.

Aron relentlessly promoted the novel by contacting book clubs, engaging readers on Facebook, arranging appearances for Allen Levi, and reaching out to churches and libraries.

By 2025, the self-published edition of Theo of Golden had sold more than 100,000 copies.

Eventually, Atria Books (a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster) acquired the novel in a seven-figure deal and republished it nationally in 2025. After the Atria release, the momentum increased exponentially, with the book selling more than one million copies in the United States and becoming number one on the NY Times Best Seller List. It has now sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide.

I was slow to get on the Theo of Golden bus, but now I am firmly onboard. I want to encourage you: if you happen to be someone who hasn’t boarded yet—or perhaps you were unaware there was a bus—purchase a copy of Theo of Golden and start reading! You will be glad that you did.

This book is a healing balm for the craziness and divisiveness of our day. Its themes of kindness, gentleness, generosity, and compassion are so desperately needed today. This book will slow you down and help you reflect on your life and on the people around you!

Initially I was thinking there probably wasn’t much reason to write this blog because I was probably the last person on earth to read the book. However, over the past week or so, I have made it a point to ask several friends and family members whether they have read it, and surprisingly, more have answered, “No,” than “Yes.” So, I decided to go ahead and write this.

First Day Report on the Baseball Camp for Jesus in Vechta, Germany

For the blog post today, I am sharing Mike Garst’s email report on the first day (Monday) at the Vechta, Germany Baseball Camp for Jesus! Having good prayer coverage is so important for ministry opportunities such as this, so I want to give you an update so you can join with me in praying for Mike and his team. God has been doing some mighty things, and the camp is off to a great start. Remember that they are about seven hours ahead of us so pray as you go to bed for the camp for the next day. It will begin while you are sleeping. When you wake up, pray for the afternoon and especially the evening worship and ministry opportunities for that day. If you have been keeping up with the reports, you will see that they are having record attendance for each of the camps. This is so encouraging, and we want to see God move in power so that hearts and lives are transformed for His Kingdom and His glory. Thank you for reading, and especially thank you to those who will take the time to pray over the course of this week!

FROM MIKE:

Dear Faithful Prayer Warriors,

Thanks again for all your prayers. Kameron Bolding arrived early yesterday evening as scheduled, got a good night’s sleep after being up over thirty straight hours and had a good first day, along with the rest of us. This BBC will also, like the other two camps, be the largest camp we’ve had at this site with about 90 participants. We have ten teams, with one of them being a cheerleading team for the first time. And that team is full and already, like some of the other teams, asking some good questions about faith.

Sunday was another good day of preparation, plus we had the largest number of people at the worship service at this Camp site. Our oldest American, Charlie (76) preached a good sermon on encouragement.

The biggest challenge we have through tomorrow is the hotter than normal temperatures and lots of sun. The high temperature today was 86 and tomorrow will be a high 90, with a chance of storms rolling in late in the day. The forecast after that is 82 Wednesday (with some chance of rain), 74 Thursday and 72 Friday. I’m looking forward to seeing and experiencing what God will do through the people who are either participating or helping to lead the Camp.

Please continue to pray for our original prayer requests, which include:

1) The American and German leaders would quickly unite their hearts and minds so they can share and demonstrate the love of Christ in a way that shows all the participants and helpers that they deeply care for each other and for all the people involved in the camp.

2) That the leaders who will be preaching, teaching, and sharing their testimonies would be ready and willing to boldly talk about their faith and how it has changed their priorities and lives.

3) That all the participants who are being drawn to the Lord for the first time would take that step of faith to follow Jesus and get connected with a believer who can mentor them on the journey.

4) That all the participants who have started the faith journey would take the next step to grow in their faith and love by connecting with other believers so they can encourage each other.

5) That God would provide favorable weather for playing baseball.

6) That the Americans would develop lasting relationships with new host home families. And that the Americans who will be staying with a host home family they’ve stayed with before would continue to strengthen that relationship.

7) That all the German and American leaders would do their part to stay connected to their team members and continue to deepen their relationship with them after the baseball camps are over.

A Report on the Maximum Investment Seminar

On Friday morning, I left the house around 10:00 a.m. I was planning on going to the funeral of a dear friend, Roger Knapp, at Gladewater Methodist Church in Gladewater, TX. Then I was going to travel from there to Texarkana so I would be there and ready for the Maximum Investment Seminar on Saturday morning at Hardy Memorial Methodist Church.

I wasn’t even two miles from my house when I was involved in a fender-bender accident. Fortunately, no one was injured, but I wasn’t going to be able to drive our Highlander on the trip, and I had to come home and get the insurance claim started. I was able to change into some more comfortable clothes, and I left for Texarkana around 1:00 p.m. It is interesting how difficult it can be to drive after just having had an accident. I made it safely to Texarkana around 4:00 p.m., and I had the honor and the blessing of going to dinner with my cousin, Paul Miller. I am so thankful for our friendship and our heart connection.

I got up early on Saturday to do some of my normal devotional activities, and I left the hotel around 7:41. I filled the gas-guzzling Sequoia with gas on my way to Starbucks, where I got some more coffee and something to eat. I arrived at Hardy around 8:10 a.m., and the young people began arriving around 8:15 a.m.

We had eight students and their Sunday school teacher and leader, Billy Witt, who helped organize the whole thing. I so appreciate his efforts. We got started with the seminar around 8:34 a.m. There were eight young people and Billy Witt. It was a great group. Three of the young people were children of my cousins, so I had some family members involved in the seminar. That made it extra fun and interesting.

The oldest student was 24. She was there with her 23-year-old fiancé, and they are well established in their finances and budgeting. There were two other 23-year-olds there. Both of them have graduated from college. This was a significantly older and more mature group than the group I taught in Hot Springs, AR. I enjoy the challenge and the opportunity to meet the group where they are, and I like having a smaller group so that it can be more personal.

Two of the young people who attended yesterday will be freshmen in college this fall. One will be attending Texas Tech, and the other will be going to LeTourneau University in Longview, TX. It was a great group of young people. They were very attentive and engaged, and I pray that the seminar was helpful and beneficial and that they came away with some meaningful takeaways. I will continue to pray for them in the days ahead, and I hope that I may be able to go back next year and meet with this group again. That would be a blast.

Traffic was pretty heavy on I-30 both going and coming back. I had the accident on Friday on my way there, so it wasn’t necessarily an easy trip, but after it is all said and done, I wouldn’t take anything for the privilege and the blessing of the opportunity to teach those young people.

One of my key takeaways is that our young people are not being taught about the joy and the blessing of giving. One of my key motivations for doing these seminars has been to warn young people about the dangers of credit card debt, but as I was preparing and presenting the material to this group, I became aware of how old-fashioned the concept of the 10–10–80 budget is. Even though it may be old-fashioned, it is not obsolete! It is still such a powerful and beneficial way to live!

One of the 23-year-olds said, “I had never considered the giving component.” Wow! I pray that he will give it prayerful consideration and that God will guide him. It is a path of blessing.

One other takeaway for me from the preparations for this seminar came when I asked another one of my Texarkana cousins what her father had taught her about finances. She paused for a second and then said, “One thing I know—my dad was a saver and a giver!” I realized that this is a part of my heritage! My dad was a saver and a giver! I might tend to say that he was a giver and a saver! But I am so thankful to God that this is my heritage, and I pray that I can continue to lean into and live out that heritage as faithfully as possible.

As I reflected on those two moments—the young man saying he had never considered the giving component and my cousin describing her father as "a saver and a giver"—it struck me that this seminar is about much more than budgeting or avoiding debt. It is about passing on a godly legacy. Values like generosity, wise stewardship, contentment, and living within our means are not automatically passed from one generation to the next. Someone has to intentionally teach them and model them. I am deeply grateful that my dad modeled those values for me, and I pray that, in some small way, these seminars will help pass that same legacy on to another generation. If even a few young people choose to become faithful savers and joyful givers, the impact could extend far beyond their own lives and bless their families, their churches, and God's Kingdom for many years to come.

I am so thankful to God for the eight young people, ages 18 to 24, who took the time to be a part of the Maximum Investment Seminar yesterday. I pray God’s richest blessings over their lives and their futures! I pray that they received something yesterday that will help them on their journey. I also pray that God will guide my steps as I seek to do more of these seminars.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your goodness and grace!

THRIVE to 85!
Moving Forward Toward Improved Life Circumstances!

I am currently 66 years old, and 67 is getting closer by the day. It is on the near horizon.

When I retired almost two years ago, I came up with the slogan, “THRIVE to 85!” I want to do my best to live into and up to that slogan.

Not too long ago, I read the book Think Forward to Thrive by Jennice Vilhauer. That book was instrumental in helping me not only develop the slogan, “THRIVE to 85!,” but also gave me some good insights and ideas about how to do that.

I thought I would share a few of those with you in today’s blog post.

“Thriving is defined as a dynamic state of growth and of moving forward toward improved life circumstances.”

“Thriving is about constantly feeling you can grow, move forward, and improve your life circumstances.”

“By now, we know that the present moment is where we create the future.”

“Maintaining good friendships is an activity with a very high thrive value.”

When I think about “thriving to 85,” most of my focus is on my physical well-being. However, I especially appreciate this last quote because I am so thankful to God for the relationships and friendships in my life. They give me the greatest motivation to press forward physically toward greater vitality and a longer life!

It really doesn’t matter how old you are - ”THRIVING” is a good goal. It is worthwhile to think about what it means for you to thrive. One key aspect of this is thinking about your preferred future. What future are you seeking to create for yourself and for those you love?

Please Pray for My Maximum Investment Seminars

Sometimes a decision that seems like a good opportunity can actually take us away from another opportunity that God is leading us to pursue!

If I had taken the assignment for the two-church appointment, it would have effectively brought an end to my attempt to get started with my Maximum Investment Seminars. I am so thankful that I did not take that assignment, because I believe God is opening some exciting doors for these seminars.

I want to ask for your prayers because next Saturday, August 1, I will be leading a Maximum Investment Seminar in Texarkana, Texas, at Hardy Memorial Methodist Church for a group of approximately 15 young people, ages 18 to 22 or so. I am very excited about this opportunity!

I am also in conversation with two other pastors about two more Maximum Investment Seminars, and I am praying that God will open these doors, as well as many others, in the days to come.

The Maximum Investment Seminars are something I thoroughly enjoy doing, and I truly believe they can be helpful for the young people who attend. I believe that learning how to handle money wisely is one of the most practical ways we can help young people prepare for their futures.

Several of the key points from the seminars are:

1. God owns it all. We are merely stewards of what God has provided for us, and we will give an account to God for how we steward what He provides.

2. You need a budget! This is crucial for being a good steward of our financial resources.

3. You should know your net worth. You should be keeping up with this on at least a monthly basis.

4. You should always be seeking to increase your financial intelligence. This will help you on multiple levels throughout your life.

One of the key things in establishing a budget is knowing your percentages for the different budget categories. As I grew up, I learned the 10–10–80 plan for budgeting:

• 10% or more for GIVING

• 10% or more for SAVINGS

• 80% or less for your LIVING EXPENSES

You will also have categories within this 80% for housing, utilities, insurance, groceries, eating out, subscriptions, cars and gas, entertainment, and other living expenses.

I think it is very interesting that if you try to go online or ask ChatGPT for a model for budgeting today, you will most likely see the 50–30–20 model for budgeting.

This model generally says:

• 50% for living expenses such as housing, utilities, groceries, vehicles, gas, and insurance

• 30% for enjoyment

• 20% for savings, debt reduction, and giving

Now, I am certainly not suggesting that everyone who follows the 50–30–20 model is making poor financial decisions. However, I do think it is interesting to consider the emphasis that each model places on the different areas of life.

In the 10–10–80 model, giving and saving are placed at the very beginning. They are intentional priorities. The first 20% of your income is set aside for giving and savings, and then you live on the remaining 80%.

In the 50–30–20 model, giving is almost always the very last thing mentioned, and savings can also seem to be an afterthought.

I believe this difference in emphasis is incredibly important.

I hope you can see why trying to educate our youth and young adults regarding finances is so very important! How we handle our finances can totally shape our lives and our futures!

So many young people have no real financial plan at all until they are so far in debt that it can seem hopeless. Many other young people are adopting a financial model that places a much greater emphasis on enjoyment than on giving and saving.

And the decisions we make when we are young can have consequences for many years to come.

I sure hope that I can make at least a small impact and some kind of difference for at least a few young people. I hope that I can help them understand that financial decisions are not simply about money. They are about priorities, discipline, stewardship, generosity, and the kind of future we are preparing for.

How we handle our finances will most certainly shape our future.

So, please pray for me as I lead this Maximum Investment Seminar next Saturday. Please pray that God will use me to make a difference in the lives of these young people. Please pray that the Lord will open additional doors for these seminars. And please pray that I will always remember that the ultimate goal is not simply to teach people how to manage their money.

The ultimate goal is to help people become better stewards of everything God has entrusted to them for His glory and for His Kingdom!

In the Fullness of Time

Galatians 4:4-5

4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Ephesians 1:10 (NLT)

And this is the plan: At the right time God will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.

There are three things which I am seeking to remember in these days. and I thought it might be an encouragement for you as well.

First of all, I believe it is very important for us to always remember that God has a plan. God has a plan for our lives. God has a plan for the world. When I was teaching the youth and children at First Methodist Gladewater, I would also add that Jesus is a key part of God’s plan.

I hope today that you know that God has a plan for your life. Right now, for me, this is an important thing which I want to remember. After my interesting journey regarding getting excited about a ministry opportunity, only to realize that it wasn’t the right fit, it is important for me to remind myself that God has a plan for my life.

It is also so powerful to know that God is at work… all the time! God is always at work around us and within us. He is working toward the fulfillment of His plans and His purposes. I pray for each one of us that either we will have eyes to see what God is doing or that we will have the faith to be patient when we can’t see or understand what God is doing. Faith and patience go together in such a powerful way. Faith and patience are the power twins.

Hebrews 6:12 (NIV)

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

So, we want to remember that God has a plan and that God is always working, whether we can see it or understand it. And then we also want to remember that God’s timing is perfect.

This is the key point which I am reminding myself of in these days.

Habakkuk 2:2–3 has long been a favorite passage for me, and it helps me know that it is important to wait on the Lord.

Then the Lord answered me and said, “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come. It will not tarry.”

God’s time is perfect. I will wait upon the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord.

Then finally, Ecclesiastes 3:1 states, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

It is important and encouraging to know that God knows the perfect time and season for each and everything. He has a plan, and He is working in His perfect time to fulfill it and to bring it to pass. I want to do my best to cooperate with the Lord and to be led by the Holy Spirit so that His plans and purposes for my life do come to pass. I know that He is always working, and I know that His timing is perfect.

Sometimes, I just have to remind myself and my soul of the spiritual truths which I am seeking to live out on a daily basis!

Relief and a Bit of Sadness!
An Interesting Turn of Events.

It can most certainly be a bit confusing when things appear one way and then turn out differently.

In a recent blog post, I shared how I had been reading Matthew 9 as part of my morning devotional time, and the verses about the harvest being plentiful and the laborers being few really spoke to my heart. That moment was followed by a call from the Mid-Texas Conference of the Global Methodist Church. That, in turn, led to a whirlwind week that included Debi and me going to two interviews with two different churches regarding the possibility of my becoming their part-time pastor.

It all seemed like God was lining something up!

But after the two interviews and continued prayer, it seemed fairly clear that I was not going to take the appointment to serve at the two-point charge. There were some pretty serious challenges for each of the two different churches, and there also would have been a lot of driving—a whole lot of driving—for me if I had taken the assignments. Much of which would have been on two-lane highways.

On Thursday, after the two interviews on Wednesday, I called the presiding elder (the equivalent of a district superintendent in the United Methodist Church) to tell him that I was no longer interested in this particular appointment. He had been incredibly gracious and had put a great deal of time and effort into the whole situation, so I felt really bad calling to tell him that I was not going to continue in the process.

I was also a bit disappointed on my side of the equation because everything had seemed so promising. It really looked like God’s hand was upon the whole thing, setting it all up.

But once everything was on the table and out in the open, it was very apparent to both Debi and me that this was not something we wanted to add to our lives in this season. It doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t take an appointment of some kind if the situation seemed right and good, but this situation did not fit in the “right and good” category for us.

I say a big thank you to those of you who took the time to pray for us. I really appreciate it. It was a good process for Debi and me, and we both know we made the right decision.

I also want to give a brief report on the Baseball Camp for Jesus in Osterholz-Scharmbeck. Mike and the crew had an incredible week. In his latest update, Mike made the following comment:

“We had an amazing finish to this week, easily our most fruitful camp at this site. Our goal was to be able to discern as much as possible which of the participants were wanting to put their trust in God and Jesus. So we needed to present the gospel message as clearly as possible, not only with words, but with drawings and in everything we said and did throughout the week.”

There were many who said that they wanted to follow Jesus, and now we pray for follow-up in the coming weeks and months to help them walk out this commitment.

Mike will be spending a couple of weeks in the eastern part of Germany checking in on relationships that have been formed through the years in previous baseball camps that are no longer having baseball camps. The next Baseball Camp for Jesus will be in Vechta, Germany, beginning on Monday, August 3, and continuing through Friday, August 7. Please be praying for this camp in advance, asking God to continue working, touching, and transforming hearts and lives.

Thank you so much for reading these blogs and for supporting the causes and ministries discussed here with your prayers. Debi and I most certainly felt the strength and blessing of your prayers as we processed through the decision regarding the difficult opportunity to serve at the two-point charge. It was a difficult decision, but we know that we made the right decision. Your prayers most certainly helped.

Thank you!

Interesting Days! Important Decisions!
Please Pray for Wisdom and Clear Guidance

Retirement has been an interesting season of life for me on many fronts. Sunday mornings have been one of those interesting “challenges.”

When we moved to Fort Worth in full retirement in October 2024, Debi and I weren’t fully settled on what we were going to do on Sunday mornings. Our main thought was that we were going to go to Restoration Baptist Church with Mark and Lauren and our grandkids. We also hoped that, from time to time, we might check out a few other churches just to see “the state of the church” around us. I was also hoping that I would get a few invitations to preach from time to time just to keep active at some level on that front. It has been a blessing that this has happened a number of times.

Now, almost two years into this “interesting season of life,” we have mostly attended Restoration Church, and it has truly been a blessing. The preaching at Restoration Church is incredible! We have met some absolutely amazing people. We have gotten involved at a decent level in a community group. I love that Restoration Church is so multi-generational and that it also has a very solid path of discipleship for those who attend.

With all of this said, there are many Sunday mornings when I wonder if I am where I am supposed to be. I am very aware that there is a pretty severe shortage of pastors these days! It feels a bit strange, knowing this, to be sitting in a chair on Sunday morning, mostly in receiving mode. We know that once we join Restoration Church, we could serve as greeters or in the children’s ministry, which is the greatest area of need at the church. But still, I often sense the fire of God’s Word burning in my bones on Sunday mornings, even as I hear some amazing preaching.

All of this helps set the stage for what happened last week. I was doing my morning Bible reading, and one of the passages for my assigned reading was from Matthew chapter 9.

Matthew 9:36–38

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

I really soaked this in and prayed along these lines as I read this passage.

That seemed to set the stage for a phone call that I received later that morning from the main office of the Mid Texas Conference of the Global Methodist Church. Now that we have moved to Fort Worth, we live in this conference and no longer in the Trinity Conference of the Global Methodist Church.

They were calling to verify all of my information, including my address, phone number, and email. After all of the verification, she asked me if I might be interested in serving as a pastor in the Mid Texas Conference, as they had several openings where pastors were needed. That was certainly an interesting question for me after my Bible reading and prayers that morning. I told her that I would be interested in learning more. She told me that a presiding elder named Rob Price would be getting in touch with me soon.

OK! Wow! This is an interesting development.

Around 4:30 p.m. that afternoon, I connected with Rob Price by phone, and he began to tell me about an opportunity nearby. He and I then met for lunch the next day so that we could get acquainted, and he could tell me more about the opportunity.

Now, I will meet with Rob Price tomorrow at 4:30 p.m., and we will be going out to the two churches that comprise this newly developed two-point charge. They will be interviewing me, and I will be interviewing them. If it is a match, then I will begin preaching at the two churches on Sunday mornings beginning September 6.

I hope that you will join me in prayer for God’s clear guidance! This is an important decision on numerous fronts. I sense God’s call through it all, but I most certainly need to be sure! Thank you for your prayers.

Also, I am most certainly praying for Mike Garst, Caleb White and his daughter, Reece, and his nephew, Lincoln Vashey, at the Baseball Camp for Jesus in Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany, this week! I hope you will be praying as well. I will share updates as I receive them.

Last Day in Aurich, Germany
And Transitioning to Osterholz-Scharmbeck

I hope you will bear with me in these blog posts because I am very excited about how God has worked so powerfully this past week in Aurich, Germany. Mike Garst has been praying and working and preparing for months for these baseball camps, and it is such a blessing to see how God is working. Also, I know that the more people who are praying, the better things are going to go.

In each of these three baseball camps, they build toward the conclusion on Friday. Mike’s previous update took me a bit by surprise because so many things were happening on Thursday at the camp. Even as I was reading about the Thursday baptisms, my heart was becoming very curious and excited about what might happen on Friday! Friday was obviously another powerful day.

Also, we want to be praying for Mike and the American leadership team as they transition to Osterholz-Scharmbeck. We want health and unity and a strong focus for these leaders. We can remember that some of the American leadership team struggled with a stomach bug for part of the week in Aurich. We don’t want anything like that in Osterholz-Scharmbeck, so please be praying. Obviously, we want to be praying that God will continue to move in power next week as well.

Here is Mike’s email telling about the last day at Aurich and sharing just a bit about the transition to Osterholz-Scharmbeck. Please continue to be in prayer for Mike, the leadership team, and these camps! Here is his latest email update:

Dear Prayer Warriors,

Thank you again for all your faithful prayers! What an awesome week as we finished the camp Friday with two more baptisms!! So, we had six Baseball Camp baptisms plus one from one of the churches, a total of seven—a good biblical number, which could have several implications! Plus, one of the Germans said that somebody had prophesied that there would be seven baptisms this week. Praise the Lord!

As predicted, the weather was great, and all the Homebases and games went very well, along with the final ceremonies and barbecue with hamburgers and pulled pork. We did the baptisms as the very last thing. We do the baptisms in a lake about a quarter of a mile from the fields that we can easily walk to. So, it seems God directed us to these fields for that reason eighteen years ago. It’s a God story in itself how we ended up at this campsite.

Today, eleven of us are being driven to Osterholz-Scharmbeck, where we will meet up with two more Americans from Maryland to start the preparations for that camp. Please pray for God’s traveling mercies and favor and that we will use our time wisely today and tomorrow to get ready. We are not sure who will be preaching at the worship service we will be having to kick off the Baseball Camp, so please pray that we will follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to make that decision.

The weather is forecast to be in the high 70s and low 80s, with no possibility of rain until Friday. So please continue to pray for the weather we need to glorify the Lord.

God is good, all the time!

In Christ’s faithfulness,

Mike

There is no doubt that God is working, so let us continue to give prayer support and prayer coverage for Mike, the leadership team, and each young person and adult who will be involved in the Baseball Camp for Jesus this week! We also give God praise for the way He has worked this past week, and we pray that the fruit will abide for His Kingdom and His glory!

Dear Prayer Warriors,

Thank you again for your faithfulness in praying for the first Baseball Camp for Jesus here in Aurich, Germany. We had the most incredible day ever during the 18 years of this camp. I’m not sure we’ve ever had two baptisms on the same day at the camp, so having four baptisms on the same day with three participants and one leader far surpassed our expectations.

I had shared in my original prayer requests that we knew we would have at least two baptisms. But today we had two more participants say they wanted to be baptized, and they asked me to do their baptisms. What a blessing it was to baptize three people and help baptize the fourth. Plus, there was a 79-year-old lady from one of the churches we work with who wanted to be baptized. So, I helped with that baptism since I was already in the water. So we had a total of five baptisms, praise the Lord!

And it appears that we will have more and more baptisms in the coming years based on some of the conversations we are having. Two of the younger participants on my youth team said they trusted God 100%, but weren’t ready to be baptized.

To top everything off, we had a perfect day of weather with a high temperature of 70 degrees and clouds most of the day. Wednesday was a similar day, but we had lots of sun and needed to encourage everyone to put on sunscreen. Tomorrow the high temperature will be about 76 degrees with sun most of the day. So we’ll need to use some sunscreen.

The American family with a dad and his two teenager daughters were all finally at the Camp today as well, praise the Lord! The stomach bug kept all of them out on Tuesday, and only one daughter came on Wednesday. So it’s been a tough week for them, but we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purposes.

We also had three people from Texas and one from Arkansas arrive early in the afternoon to spend some time visiting the Aurich Baseball Camp before traveling with us to the Osterholz-Scharmbeck Camp next week.

Please continue to pray that we can encourage others on our final day tomorrow to take the step of faith that will enable them to put all their trust in Christ the Son and God the Father, so they can experience the peace and joy that is only possible with Jesus living in you.

In Christ’s perfect peace and highest joy,

Mike

Salt and Light

God Is Working!

Certainly, there are times when our world can seem so dark and so lost. There are moments when we can come close to being overwhelmed by the darkness and all the bad news! It is in these moments that we must learn to remind ourselves that God is working! We must remind ourselves that there are so many people out there in the world seeking to be salt and light for the glory of God and for the advancement of His Kingdom, and as we remember and make our list, we should make sure that we pray for them and also do what we can to support and encourage them.

Today, as I remind myself of the truth that God is working, I am giving thanks for the young people I know who are doing their very best to be salt and light for the glory of God in this dark world. In fact, I stretched our Arrows of Light finances just a bit by sending out $1,500 in support to a good number of these young people.

I would ask you to bear with me just a moment as I share with you the names of some of these young people, and I would ask you to take a moment and to pray for them and lift them up before the Lord that God will give them strength to stay in the battle, and that God will make provision for them so that they can continue in missions and ministry.

Last October, I had the blessing and the privilege of being able to go teach at the Liberia, Costa Rica YWAM base, and God connected my heart with some awesome young people there.

Tony and Rosella del Rio, who lead the base. They have two children, Amalie and Frankie. They are also very involved with Homes of Hope, which is doing a great work in the Martina Bustos neighborhood just outside of Liberia. Also, helping lead the base are Abraham and Mailyn. They are refugees from Cuba, and they have two sons Lucas and Eric.

Nathan and Pedro are two awesome young men from Costa Rica who were part of the Discipleship Training School last fall, and they are both now serving as staff at the YWAM base. They come from difficult family situations and have very little, if any support.

Alina was also one of the students in the Discipleship Training School last Fall. She is now attending university. She is also a tremendous worship leader, and God is using her mightily in these days in that role.

Camilo and Alejandra are in Guatemala, and they have two sons, Josue’ and Juan Pablo. They help lead the Hacedoras de Tiendas ministry, but Camilo, who is originally from Colombia, is also involved with the Faith Comes by Hearing ministry, and he travels frequently to Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico. God is using him mightily.

Evelyn, Walter and Albin are all three from San Juan, Guatemala, and they are all three attending seminary and praying for God’s guidance for how He will use them in the future. They have very limited resources for how to pay for the seminary expenses, but they are walking by faith and trusting God step by step.

Erica Tumina is a very precious young woman. She is from Colombia. She was a student in our Hacedoras de Tienda in San Juan, Guatemala. She is currently serving in Honduras. She comes from a small village in Colombia and struggles to have support for her ongoing missions. She has the most precious heart!

Yesterday Caleb White who is a young man around 50 years old, and he was taking his youngest daughter, Reece and his nephew, Lincoln, to Germany to be a part of the baseball camps which Mike Garst is leading. Continue to pray for Mike and the baseball camps, and also for Caleb, Reece and Lincoln.

Also today is the last day of the Desperation Conference in Colorado Springs, CO. Eddie Hewitt is an amazing young man in his mid-20’s. He is the part-time youth pastor at First Methodist Gladewater, and he has taken a group of youth from Gladewater to Colorado Springs to this conference. This conference has been incredibly powerful in my heart and life and for many other young people that I have taken. I am praying that God will bless these young people today who are at this conference, and I am so thankful to God for Eddie and for his faith and his leadership with this group of young people!

God is working! Yes, these are some pretty intense days in our world, and we can sense the spiritual intensity of these days. But we don’t lose heart because there are so many out there seeking to be salt and light for the glory of God and for His Kingdom. I would encourage you to pray for these whom I have listed here and then make your own list – your pastor and any on staff at your church and every missionary or minister that you may know. Our prayers are so important, and as we pray, God may also lead us to figure out how to give financial support as well. For many of these that is so important!

Mike Garst and the Germany Baseball Camps for Jesus
First Day at Aurich Report

I had planned something else for today’s blog post, but when I received Mike’s email reporting on the amazing first day at the Aurich Baseball Camp for Jesus, I thought I should share that. I asked you to be praying for Mike and his ministry efforts in Germany for the upcoming weeks, so I thought I should also keep you up to date to some level to keep Mike and this ministry in our thoughts and prayers!

Here is Mike’s email reporting on the first day at Aurich:

Dear friends and prayer warriors,

This is an update on our first baseball camp in Aurich, Germany, after the first day of camp. Our first praise is that all the Americans arrived with all their luggage on Friday. I was the only person who missed my last connection in Munich, but the American team from Maryland was going through Munich a couple of hours after me, and I was rebooked on their flight. That turned out to be a blessing since I was able to spend some time with the people in that group who were coming for the first time and whom I didn’t know.

We had better weather than expected because the forecast had rain in it. But it only rained lightly off and on in the morning, and it didn’t keep us from playing baseball. Plus, the wind dried it out in the afternoon, and our high temperature was 68. That’s the forecasted temperature for the next two days, and then it is supposed to warm up to 75 by Friday. There’s only a small chance of rain in the forecast for tomorrow in the late afternoon, and the rest of the week isn’t showing any rain at this time.

We had about 115 participants today and expect 5–10 more by the end of the week. If you add to that the American and German team leaders, as well as the German service team, that would put us over 170 people involved in the camp and make it the largest camp we’ve ever had.

The unity of the American and German leadership team is excellent, and it appears that most of the teams had two good Homebases (Bible time) today. We will be focusing our Bible time around John 3:16. The only challenge we’ve had is that one of the American families here—a father and two daughters—has been hit with a stomach bug. So please pray for God’s mercy, that it will not spread, and that they will all be healed and at the camp tomorrow.

Please continue to keep all the original prayer requests in your prayers.

In Christ’s unconditional and unfailing love,

Mike

Please take note that this has the potential to be the largest baseball camp Mike has held in the 24 years he has been doing these camps. That is awesome and amazing.

If you are able, I would encourage you to go back to the first blog post I sent out to see Mike’s list of prayer requests. He had ten, and they are certainly important. But at this moment, for those of us reading this blog, I want to give you four so that we can really focus the intensity of our prayers:

1. Pray for God to move on the hearts of the youth and adults who are participating in heart- and life-transforming ways. This would include people being saved!

2. Please pray for those who are teaching, speaking, and leading, that their hearts will be filled with the love and the grace of God and the power of His Word.

3. Please pray for the weather. This is always so important. They need to have good weather to be able to have the camps.

4. Please pray for unity and love within the team, which includes the American and German leaders. When the camps get larger, this becomes all the more important.

I would also remind you that Germany is about seven hours ahead of us, so you can try to time your prayers accordingly. For me, this means praying for Mike and the upcoming day as I am going to bed. By the time I wake up in the morning, they are in the afternoon activities. As we sit down to eat lunch, they are moving into the evening activities, which include the worship services and the opportunity for God to really move in power.

So, as we go to bed to sleep and as we eat lunch, those are two of the most important and powerful times to pray!

Move in power, Lord Jesus! For Your Kingdom and Your glory! Touch hearts and lives. Use Mike and the leadership team to touch hearts and lives with Your love and Your grace! In Jesus’ name!