CHURCH PLANTING IN AUSTRALIA
JUNE, 2001
Dear Prayer Partners,
Proverbs 17:6
"Children's children are the crown of old men"
We are the
proud grandparents of a new bouncing baby boy, William Robert Skinner. William
was born on our youngest son Matthew's birthday, 27 May at 4.24 p.m. He weighed
six pounds eight ounces and was twenty inches long. The weight and measurement
was for the lady readers. There were some complications but mother and baby are
home and doing fine. The birth of this little one means God has blessed us with
six grandchildren. Praise the Lord! The seventh is due 28 October this year! We
want to thank Pastor Bruce Feuerbach and Calvary Baptist Church, Grinnell, Iowa
for printing and sending out our prayer letter. Calvary Baptist's labour is very
much appreciated. Their reward awaits them in heaven! THANK YOU!
With
the rising cost of postage we do ask that if you
would rather not receive this letter please let Brother Feuerbach know either by
writing him at Calvary Baptist Church, 1625 Penrose Street, Grinnell, Iowa 50112
or by email at cbcgrinnell@yahoo.com. Calvary Baptist and we want to be good
stewards of the finances God has entrusted to us.
It
seems like when someone begins attending the preaching services
we take one step forward and then all at once we take two back. Andy and Ellen
Thompson were gone most of the month of May. Andy had a doctor's appointment in
Sydney early May and then they baby sat for their grandchildren near Orange, NSW
for a couple of weeks while their daughter went into hospital for an operation.
Hopefully we will see them back in June. David King (the young man from
Queensland) has taken a job in Narromine about forty five minutes west of Dubbo.
Right now he doesn't have his own transport but hopefully when he goes back to
Queensland for a visit he will be bringing his vehicle back and then he will
able to get to the services. We continue to see the Veridels from time to time
and have a good visit but they continue to be absent from the preaching
services. Jim and Margaret Ogden, Abel and Phyllis Morgan continue to be
faithful to the Gilgandra meetings. John and Rose Ferguson are pretty faithful
when they are in town but have been to Bourke now for several weeks. A month or
so ago the Aboriginal Inland Mission work in Gilgandra had a split over various
issues. The split (about six or eight adults) have begun meeting in the Morgan's
home Sunday mornings. We trust this doesn't mean we will be losing the Morgans
now.
The
18-20 May was the Dubbo Show (fair). We were able to
distribute gospel tracts and literature for which we praise the Lord! The Dubbo
City Council exhibit occupied the booth across from ours. The first day of the
show the man in charge of the Dubbo City exhibit came over to David and said he
sought to follow David's advice from last year. David did not remember giving
him any advice but the gentleman said he did so he must have. Anyway, during the
last eleven months he and his wife had divorced. He said she had been seeing
another man for the past three years and he was not aware of it. He said he was
getting through it and David and he had a little talk. How far does one have to
go before they turn to Christ? Pray for God to work in the heart of John Cromton.
There are several men that assist at the Dubbo City exhibit but there is one
gentleman who worked all three days. David saw him viewing the creation videos
quite often during those three days. One never knows how the Lord will work but
we pray there will be a work of grace performed in hearts perhaps even unknown
to us. We had several interesting people stop by the booth. One lady picked up
several pieces of literature and when David began a conversation did she have
stories to tell. She has seen eighty-one UFO's according to her. She related
about some UFO meeting in Washington, D. C. and who knows what else. Anyway
David talked to her and she went her way. Another gentleman related his story of
when he was on the farm in the 1960's and his wife passed away leaving him with
two small boys. After her death h said he was out plowing one evening close to
the house and heard her crying. He packed the boys up and left the farm that
evening never to return. He is now in his sixties and married once again but
that ended in divorce. The woman he now lives with is half his age and not his
wife. She is the sister to one of his son's wives. Boy, what you don't hear from
people. Anyway, he took a couple of tracts, which we trust he will read. The
couple in the booth next to ours were from Sydney. He is a retired over the road
truck driver. He said he had a hard time reconciling a God of love with all the
hurt he sees in the world. There is nothing new under the sun for we have heard
this before, haven't you? David gave him a couple of tracts which he said he
would read. The dates for the show next year are 3-5 May. This means we will
just get back from the mini-furlough in time to do the show. The same people
have booked the site next to ours so the Lord willing we will find out if he
read the tracts.>
Australia
has been in the midst of debate for reconciliation
between the Aborigines and Europeans for several years. It seems to be getting
more vocal in the last year or so. Dubbo recently had what was called a healing
day. The day after the event the local newspaper had this article "Response
to day 'a start' for city's journey of healing". It said in part
"Gathered in the shadows nearby a small band of 60 or so people stood
silent in the crisp morning air paying their respects to the original
inhabitants of Dubbo, the Wiradjuris. The occasion was the 34th anniversary of
the day, May 26 1967, when Aborigines were first recognised as Australian
citizens, counted in the census and given the right to vote. Later that
afternoon at 5pm a cleansing ceremony took place at the Cyril Flood Rotunda in
Macquarie Street. After being daubed with white ochre on their foreheads,
participants were shown how to clear and enhance their senses by bathing their
ears, eyes and mind with eucalyptus smoke."
Peter Rahme (an
independent Baptist pastor in Sydney)
wrote the Eternity tract last year and has now written a tract on the subject of
reconciliation. The front of the tract has a colour photo of a reconciliation
march held in Sydney and really hits the point that the most important
reconciliation is between God and man! The following is a portion of the tract.
"The love for the cause To some the message of reconciliation is just a
means to an end, the obvious one, politically speaking, is to get more votes
whether it be from carrying babies in the supermarkets or banners in the
streets. To others it is an end in itself, a fulfillment of a long held dream, a
lifelong pursuit, even a legacy to leave behind without it being stolen from the
next generation. The left out component
However
the picture does not seem to be complete and one
gets the uncomfortable feeling that something or someone is missing from the
equation. Question - What might that be? Clue-- Well, if we go back to the
beginning we'll discover the clue is in our Nation's pre-amble: "humbly
relying on the blessing of Almighty God ". You see in the midst of all the
passion and pride, "Almighty God and His Blessing" was left out in
what seemed to be either accidentally or deliberately or both. And as long as
God is either sincerely left out or strategically and systemically put out, the
message of Reconciliation - as it is now, would falter, fall and ultimately
fail. But our nation can and will experience the Blessed meaning of
reconciliation, only if and when, her people receive the Biblical mandate of
reconciliation of God's design."
David
has ordered one thousand of these tracts at a cost
of two hundred dollars. If you would like to help defray the cost of these
please send your gift to Brother Weinberg at Evangel specifying your gift for
Australian tracts. Pray God will be pleased to use these and other tracts, the
preaching services, door knocking, letterbox drops, the Dubbo Show, and the
letters and visits to new parents to reach some lost soul for Himself. Our
desire is to reach the lost for Jesus Christ but to do it in His way! Many today
seek to help God's work along by aligning themselves with the Devil's crowd.
Just today we received the minutes from the ecumenical Dubbo Minister's
Association. One of the ecumenical events they plan for this year is a combined
church doorknock. One goal they hope to achieve is to "Communicate to the
community a unity among the Dubbo Christian Churches." This unity includes
Roman Catholic, Assembly of God, Baptist Union and several other denominations.
We know we are not telling you anything new but it is never right to do wrong to
do right! Spurgeon well said "He who cannot calmly leave his affairs in
God's handΓÇ0 is very likely to be tempted to use wrong means to help
himself. This sin leads to a forsaking of God as our counsellor, and resorting
instead to human wisdom. This is going to the 'broken cistern' instead of to the
'fountain;' a sin which was laid against Israel of old. ΓÇ0. Thus want of
confidence in God leads us to wander far from HimΓÇ0" God never looks
with favour on our working with the ungodly. 2 Chronicles 20:37 "Because
thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works."
Please
continue to pray
as we seek to bring glory to God and reach the lost for Him. Thank you for your
prayers and financial support.
To
God be the glory,
David and Pam Bennett 
