(a recent prayer letter received from Michael and Tammi Nelson, Australia)
“I’m really looking forward to another year of growing and seeing how else I get closer to God.” – Matt is a man in his mid-30’s who suffers from a debilitating disease that gives him extremely limited mobility and requires fulltime care. He met Jesus after coming to church to find the answer to, “Why would God do this to me?” Ted is a changed man who is confusing his family and friends with his new way of living. After decades of anger and alcohol this mountain of a man is now kind and caring. It is a thrill to hear him pray for the salvation of his family. It is wonderful to see eight people take the next step of obedience and witness to their unsaved families through baptism.
2020 was a year that saw many youth saved and committing to grow in their relationship with God. A few highlights were baptisms, Bible studies, game nights, and growth conferences. The focus of the conferences was growing to be the man or woman that God created you to be. Please join us in prayer for Summer Youth Camp later this month. We will be taking over 150 youth and leaders to a three-day adventure camp. The youth from our church have been challenged to invite their unsaved friends. Maddie, in 6th grade, accepted this challenge and at her school, with the teacher’s permission, went class to class sharing her reasons why she loved camp and they should come too. There are several youth coming to camp as a result.
The hot Christmas season has not stifled the opportunities to share Christ with our community. In early December, there was a record crowd at our local Community Christmas Festival. Over 4,000 of our neighbors attended the evening as we joined other community groups to sing carols and celebrate Christmas. The church family wore their church t-shirts and invited hundreds of families to visit church. Christmas Eve was a very hot evening as we joined as a church family for carols. It was a wonderful evening of celebration and a great testimony to our visiting families. We have seen new visitors every Sunday and we look forward to seeing what God will accomplish in Bunbury, Australia in 2021!