What a thrill! We are publishing our first edition of the True Hope Times!
Just a little over a year ago when we sensed the Lord directing us to change the name of our Church and Ministry to True Hope Churches & Ministries, we had little idea of how the Lord was preparing to enlarge our little congregation's impact on the earth!
We have been honored to be joined in ministry by a group in India and now we have been bombarded by requests by churches and ministries all over the world to carry the name and message of True Hope!
Just before this "went to press", we received a completed application from a church in Uganda! If everything checks out on their paperwork, this will be the first church to affiliate with True Hope Churches & Ministries ... IN AFRICA! Praise The Lord!
You too can become involved with the ministry of True Hope ...
Are you a minister? Register for consideration to be granted minister's credentials by True Hope Churches & Ministries.
Are you a Church? Register for affiliation with True Hope.
Are you a concerned saint? Contribute to the ministries of True Hope!
When you donate to True Hope Churches& Ministries, your money literally helps deliver the love of God around the world!
Of course, our prayers and getting the Word of God, actual Bibles into the hands and hearts of these around the world are the most important and we have constant requests for both! Thank you so much for your support of every type!
I hope you are greatly blessed by your subscription to the True Hope Times!
Thank you for joining with us and until next week, and always, be richly blessed by our Father in Heaven!
True Hope Ministry Institute
We have the opportunity to begin an accredited Bible Study Institute which will be able to award diplomas and undergraduate degrees!
We will be able to make the tuition quite affordable so that everyone that has the desire to study the Bible to advance their ministry will be able to do so!
This will be a distance learning/internet based Bible School, again, fully accredited. Fundamental, evangelistic and strictly Biblical, the True Hope Ministry Institute can be a tremendous resource for our ministry vision.
First, we have always had the vision of training/educating up and coming ministers of the Gospel.
Secondly, a VERY LARGE percentage of the proceeds will go to national and international ministry support!
There are two ways you can help ... first, we are only $500.00 away from making this vision a reality, so every dollar you give to this will help fulfill the vision!
Second, you can help establish a scholarship fund to help domestic or international students who cannot pay the full tuition get the Bible education that will help them progress in their ministry.
This gift is totally tax deductible and will be used for this and other education or outreach uses of this ministry.
News From India . . .
Rev. Henry Devadas D.D., our Director of Ministries for India has just today informed us that True Hope Churches & Ministries now has a parcel of Real Estate in India!
Recently, a Church Member from THCM of India gave Pastor Henry a rather sizable contribution of money with the instructions to do what he needs to do with it.
While Pastor Henry began to use the funds for a different purpose, he states:
"Three days ago a man donated to me this amount (650,000 rupees) to use as I needed. I need to pay for (a personal matter-left out by editor) ... but Jesus guided me to pay this amount for this land. So, I paid the total amount to (pay for the full price of) the land!"
Pastor Henry continues, " ... if God will, next month I will register d this land on True Hope Church(es) & Ministries. "Next month I need 35 thousand rupees for land regis-tration so please pray only to Jesus ...
" ... this land will be belongs True Hope Churches & Ministries of India not my property. Amen!
"If god will I am going to register next month sir ..."
What a TOTAL SURPRISE! Pastor Henry had not mentioned any of this to me until this very morning ... after everything was signed, sealed and delivered! In fact, he and I had not yet ever, even dis- cussed the possibilities of acquiring any property at all! But God's Word again confirms our circumstances ... "A man's heart devises his way, but The Lord directs his steps!" Proverbs 16:9
Praise God for faithful men such as Pastor Henry! We are blessed that God has joined this man to True Hope Churches & Ministries.
HOW ARE CONTRIBUTIONS FROM AMERICA SPENT IN INDIA?
In India, we have hundreds of pastors ministering to hundreds more families in an impoverished society. The money you give enables the pastors to deliver the Gospel sure enough, but it is their methods that make a huge difference ... they feed the hungry, care for orphans and widows and provide for lepers living in leper colonies! Pastor Henry says that an important part of delivering the Gospel is to give medical treatment when and where possible!
At least 90% of the money you give for India actually reaches these dedicated ministers of Jesus Christ ... 10% is retained for adminis- trative expenses ... and if our admin costs exceed 10%? We absorb it in order to insure that the maximum amount possible reaches the areas of need!
Thank you for every dollar you ever contribute! To make a tax deductible donation, simply click on THIS
Prophecy In The News ...
God tells us quite pointedly that the last days of the Church Age will have one undeniable symptom ... people of Christ denying or falling away from The Faith. (2 Thess. 2; 2 Tim. 3)
This article illustrates just how far this symptom has developed!
Utrecht, Netherlands
(ENI). Two regional church
authorities in the Netherlands
are reported to have decided to take no disciplinary action against a
self-proclaimed atheist pastor, Klaas Hendrikse.
The decision of the authorities in the southern Dutch province of Zeeland
was published in a letter to their congregations, the Protestant daily
newspaper the Nederlands Dagblad reported on 24 March.
The church authorities said disciplinary proceedings against Hendrikse, who is
a pastor of the ProtestantChurch in the Netherlands, would be likely to
lead to, "a protracted discussion about the meanings of words that in the
end will produce little clarity". The letter also noted that people have
debated the issue of "God's existence" throughout time.
Hendrikse gained attention with his book published in November 2007, in which
he said that it was not necessary to believe in God's existence in order to
believe in "God". The Dutch title of the book translates as,
"Believing in a God who does not exist: manifesto of an atheist
pastor".
In his book, Hendrikse recounts how his conviction that God does not exist has
become stronger over the years.
"The non-existence of God is for me not an obstacle but a precondition to
believing in God. I am an atheist believer," Hendrikse writes in the book.
"God is for me not a being but a word for what can happen between people.
Someone says to you, for example, 'I will not abandon you', and then makes
those words come true. It would be perfectly alright to call that
[relationship] God."
Hendrikse has been a minister for more than 20 years in the southwestern town
of Middelburg
and a nearby village. His two congregations have belonged to the ProtestantChurch
in the Netherlands
since it was formed in 2004 as a union of a Lutheran church and two Reformed
denominations. Hendrikse's congregations also belong to the Association of
Liberal Protestants.
As each congregation belongs to a different church district, the issue of
possible disciplinary proceedings was a matter for two regional church
authorities.
The national leadership of the ProtestantChurch in the Netherlands has
in the past said that church law prevents it from initiating disciplinary
measures against incumbent clergy. That task falls to the church's regional
authorities.
Hendrikse welcomed the decision not to opt for disciplinary proceedings against
him.
The spokesperson of the national leadership of the Protestant Church, Jan-Gerd
Heetderks, was quoted by the Reformatorisch Dagblad newspaper as saying
that the national church leadership would wait until it had received the letter
and had a an opportunity to study it before making any comment.
Meet Rev. Paul Guerin! Paul is a good friend of ours and as this will show, he has a heart for both Jesus and the people of this world!
Paul is the Founder and Senior Pastor of Destiny Fellowship, Alton IL.
He is doing something this week that is just too awesome to pass up sharing with you!
What some people may have seen as a difficulty or challenge, Pastor Paul immediately recognized as a powerful opportunity for Church Outreach ... here is the "short version" ...
Paul shared this with me today during a phone conversation . . .
The neighboring property to their church complex is an apartment complex. The manager of the apartments called to ask for a big favor that was needed by all the tenets of the complex.
The apartment complex parking lot is in need of repaving and was scheduled to be done this week, but in order for the work to be done the tenets needed another place to park their vehicles over two nights.
Paul was ready to agree, but the work was scheduled so that the tenets needed the Church parking lot on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights ... well, that presented a small conflict since Wednesday night was needed for Church members.
Pastor Paul informed the apartment manager that if the work could be scheduled differently, the tenets were welcome to use the Church parking lot. The manager called back to inform Paul that the contractors agreed to reschedule the work and the tenets would need to use the Church's parking lot on Thursday and Friday nights.
Then, KAZAAM! A wonderful idea hit Pastor Paul! He called his Outreach Director and quickly set up a tremendous event that will have a nearly guaranteed 100% reach!
Paul called the apartment manager back and informed him to announce to all the tenets that not only will they be able to use the Church parking lot ... but on Friday night, Destiny Fellowship is going to conduct a Parking Lot Cook Out ... FOR THE APARTMENT TENETS!
WOW! Talking about seizing the opportunity of inconvenience!
This just goes to show that God presents opportunities for us to minister the Gospel to those around us, if we will just open our eyes to see every situation as just that ... an opportunity!
Let's all agree to pray that the Parking Lot Cookout that will be held this Friday evening at Destiny Fellowship will be a "seed planting" time that produces much fruit of the harvest for the Kingdom of our Christ!
"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
"Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
"Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved!"
1 Corinthians 10:31-33.
Closing Comment
Thank you so much for supporting True Hope Churches & Ministries by subscribing to the True Hope Times! Although your subscription is free, by your subscribing it shows that you care about and are a part of what this Ministry is doing!
NOTE TO PASTORS . . . Please feel free to send us your articles, studies or life accounts of Ministering Christ Jesus! We want your participation because you have much to add to the benefit of all who read the True Hope Times! Send your submissions to TRUE HOPE TIMES and put Newsletter Article in the Subject Line.
NOTE TO READERS ... You are also invited to share true life accounts of "Jesus in Action" that you either are/were a part of or that you personally witnessed. These accounts must be true and illustrate God's Truth and Love being demonstrated. Send these submissions to TRUE HOPE TIMES and use "Readers Articles" in the Subject Line.