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Mackinac Island
On Saturday 17 July 2010 - 09:03:25 | LAN_THEME_7 Bill James
Last year when we were in Wilmington, NC we were blessed to meet a writer from Charisma Magazine who did a story on our ministry. Shortly after the article was printed, we were contacted by Pastor Ken Straight from the Mackinac Island Bible Church who invited us to come to the island to do outreach in the summer of 2010. It is hard to believe that it is July 2010, but it is true. Wow time flies!
The LORD used this invitation to help plan our entire 2nd Missionary Journey. That is how the LORD worked the first year and He has been faithful to do the same this year. He opened a door that directed our steps and then He filled in all of the stops in between wherever He desired us to go!
Well as we left Cleveland and headed north through Michigan to Mackinac Island, we had our first major roadside incident. Our motor home had a blow out on I-75N in a little town in the middle of nowhere. Thank God for AAA! We waited for AAA, got the tire changed and were back on our way. Of course we shared the Gospel with the tow truck driver!
We made it to Mackinaw City and spent the night in a local RV park before heading out to the island. Mackinac Island is a 20 minute ferry ride out in the middle of Lake Huron. The island allows no cars (or RV's), only bikes and horses, so we were blessed to stay in a hotel on the island. Pastor Ken met us at the dock, we parked our RV's in the parking lot and headed out to the island. The water in Lake Huron is amazing. It is very clear and reminded me of Hawaii. We enjoyed the boat ride and getting to know our brother in Christ.
We arrived on the island and were very excited. We had heard how beautiful it was, and it was, but we were more excited about what an excellent witnessing spot it was. The island attracts thousands of tourists every weekend and we were excited to see what Divine appointments the LORD had for us. We were also blessed by the hotel we were staying at. It was an old mission that had been converted into a hotel. Mackinac Island Bible Church holds their services at the hotel, so we were blessed with a great deal at a great place!
We got checked in and all settled in our temporary home. We passed out tracts all around the hotel Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night we put on our School of Evangelism Class. Thursday, we rented bikes and rode the eight mile highway around the island. It is a state highway, but there are no cars on the island, so it is actually a bike highway. It was fun enjoying God's creation, getting some exercise and sharing the Good News! Friday afternoon and Friday evening, people from the church joined us on the streets and we shared the Gospel with hundreds of people and had some amazing Divine appointments. Saturday, we hit the streets again and saw a miracle as one man came to Jesus Christ! Sunday morning, Dave, Dee and Logan led worship and I preached a message from Acts 9. After the service, we had lunch with the Straight's and then left the island heading for Wisconsin. We serve an AMAZING GOD! He led us to this beautiful place, allowed us to enjoy Him and His creation and used us for His glory; AMAZING!
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Back in Cleveland
On Friday 09 July 2010 - 11:42:26 | LAN_THEME_7 Bill James
We left Upstate NY and headed west to Cleveland. On the way, we made a stopover in Erie, PA. While in Erie, the sky became erie and the thunder and lightning began to rumble and flash. All of a sudden the wind picked up and the trees started to whip. We knew that an intense thunder storm rolled through, but we had no idea how intense it really was. We lost our power and went over to speak with the park manager. While in the office a man came in and said "was that a tornado, it ripped my new tent to shreds." The park manager confirmed that a tornado had just ripped through the area, barely missing the RV park.
The next morning the power was still out and we discovered that the tornado had caused a lot of damage in the area. It had ripped through the area taking out the power, ripping down giant trees and causing complete havoc. We drove and checked out the damage and discovered that the tornado had touched down less than half a mile from our camp. Praise the LORD for his hand of protection!
We left Erie, PA and continued west to Cleveland. We arrived and set up camp in the church parking lot and prepared for a busy weekend with Calvary Chapel Cleveland. We had several classes, numerous outreaches and a Sunday morning teaching ahead of us. We were excited and prayed for the LORD's strength.
We taught our second evangelism class called "Evangelism 101" on Wednesday night and challenged the body of Christ to get busy for the end is near and people desperately need Jesus. Thursday was July 1st, Natalie's 14th birthday. We had a great day celebrating Natalie's life. We had three special meals that she chose and went to a the Women's Air and Space Museum in Cleveland. Natalie desires to be a pilot and she really likes Amelia Earhart, so the fact that the only air and space museum in the world dedicated to women pilots and astronauts is in Cleveland, Ohio was quite the birthday blessing! After the birthday party Thursday night, we had a sweet time of prayer and worship, covering the weekend in prayer and crying out to Jesus. Friday afternoon at lunch time, we hit the streets in downtown Cleveland. We had an excellent time sharing Jesus and one young lady surrendered her life to Jesus Christ.
Friday night we hit the streets again in downtown Cleveland and had an awesome night of street witnessing. Saturday afternoon, we went to Huntington Park on Lake Erie. It is a beautiful park on the water and the weather was perfect! We shared the Gospel with hundreds of people. Sunday morning was the 4th of July. Dave and Dee led worship and I taught at both services. It was a great morning worshiping the LORD. After church, we prepared for a big 4th of July outreach on Lake Erie at Edgewater Park. We got set up early and spent most of the afternoon and all evening sharing the Good News and giving away free hot dogs, chips and water. We ministered to hundreds of people and ended the night watching the local fireworks show. Monday morning, we got up, packed up and headed north to Mackinac Island!
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Calvary Chapel Greece
On Monday 28 June 2010 - 14:13:06 | LAN_THEME_7 Bill James
We drove 150 miles on the NY throughway and landed at our last stop in Upstate NY, Calvary Chapel Greece. On the way through Rochester, we made a wrong turn and ended up staring at a dead end. We were about to get upset, when we realized that this was a Divine Appointment with someone on this road. While we were unhooking our vehicles and turning around, four people came and and talked with us. We shared the Gospel with every one of them. Nothing spectacular happened as far as we could see, but God's ways are higher than our ways and He knows what He is doing!
We got turned around and made it to the church just in time to get set up and get prepared for the School of Evangelism class that night. Pastor Micah and Sandy Chappell blessed us with an awesome meal and then we taught our class to the body. It was a great night! The next morning, Danyal and Deanna headed to Toledo, Ohio for a family reunion, while Dave and I took care of the family and our churchy opportunities.
Friday and Saturday night, we hit the streets at the Rochester Harbor and Carousel Festival. We had about 30 people from CC Greece hit the streets as well as about 30 people from CC Seneca Falls. Friday night the festival was packed with people and the Gospel went out in a big way. Saturday night, about 15 of us hit the streets. There were less people at the festival because of the weather, but we has some amazing conversations. We ended Saturday night by watching an excellent fireworks show at the beach in Rochester.
Sunday morning, we shared IMPACT with the Youth at CC Greece. We shared our testimony with about 30 kids and were blessed to impact their lives with the Gospel. Sunday afternoon, we packed up, said "Good-bye" and headed west to Cleveland!
3 Days in Herkimer
On Monday 28 June 2010 - 13:54:38 | LAN_THEME_7 Bill James
We left Farmington, NY and headed east to Herkimer, NY. We had three days planned in Herkimer at Harvest Hills Baptist Church with Pastor Dale and Lori. We got on the 90 freeway east and drove on the NY throughway until Sarah (our GPS) told us to get off the freeway. We followed Sarah on a wild goose chase through the hills of Upstate NY. It was very beautiful, somewhat entertaining, but took us far longer to arrive at our destination than we had originally planned.
We finally arrived safely at our destination, got set up and hurried to the church for an evangelism class. It was a small class, but we were excited that the LORD brought exactly who He desired to the class. After the class, we dined in style at Denny's. We had a great time of fellowship with our new friends. Tuesday night, we had a sweet time of prayer and worship at Harvest Hills and then Wednesday we hit the streets with the Good News!
We went to Wal-mart to share the Gospel. In a small town, Wal-mart is sometimes the only place where you will find people. We spent a couple of hours at Wal-mart and as usual the LORD led us to several Divine appointments. Thursday morning, we spent a couple of hours with Dale and Lori and then hit the NY Throughway back to Rochester. We serve an AWESOME GOD!
Calvary Chapel Finger Lakes
On Wednesday 23 June 2010 - 09:57:37 | LAN_THEME_7 Bill James
We left Seneca Falls Tuesday Morning and headed west about 30 miles to Calvary Chapel Finger Lakes. This church was the very first Calvary Chapel in the Northeast and was started bu Bill Gallatin. Last year, we had hoped the LORD would open the doors for us to share at CC Finger Lakes, but our schedules didn't jive, but this year we were blessed to partner with them.
Pastor Scott Gallatin, Pastor Steve Popen and the rest of the fellowship made us feel very welcome. They went out of there way to make sure that we were blessed. The blessings started by being put up in a fancy KOA Campground one mile from the church. Pastor Steve said they wanted to bless us with meals and everything else that we needed. 
The visit started out a little rocky. We pulled into the campground and were setting up, when the bomb exploded. Danyal's stomach exploded and she was down and out. We left her at the camp in her misery and headed to the church. At the church, Dave began to feel sick. We met the staff at CC Finger Lakes and got directions to the host home who were providing a meal for us that night. On the way to the house, Deanna, Logan and I started feeling crumby. The sickness hit Dave and he was so wiped out that he couldn't eat. He laid in the car the whole time.
We had a great meal and then headed home. On the way, Logan turned white as a ghost, Deanna got worse, Liam got sick and so did I. We barely made it home. We spent the next few days, wiped out by the flu or food poisoning. The only two agents who didn't get sick were Natalie and Nicolas. The devil tried to knock us down, but the LORD was victorious!
We shared our School of Evangelism Class on Wednesday night to about 200 people and were totally blessed by the fellowship. Thursday and Friday we finished recovering and spent time resting before the big outreach on Saturday. Our new friend Glenn, from the fellowship totally blessed us with some much needed RV repairs during those two days as well!
Saturday morning, we went to Canandaigua, NY for the Outreach. Pastor Steve had set up an awesome event with music, puppets, face painting, balloon animals and an army of people hitting the streets with Jesus. It was a great time! We handed out a ton of tracts, talked with a ton of people and two people committed their lives to Jesus Christ. We had an awesome time and then the rain came and shut us down. The weather stopped the outreach, but not before many people heard the Gospel.
Sunday morning, we enjoyed going to church at CC Finger Lakes and being fed through the Word of God. Sunday afternoon, we went over to Glenn and Kathy's house and were fed like kings. Sunday evening, we taught our IMPACT class to the youth group. We ended off our time at Finger Lakes with some ice cream and then we had to say "Good-bye." If you ever are in Upstate New York and looking for a great church filled with people who love Jesus, I would highly recommend visiting Calvary Chapel Finger Lakes in Farmington, NY!
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Week in Seneca Falls
On Wednesday 23 June 2010 - 09:33:43 | LAN_THEME_7 Bill James
It is hard to believe that we made it all the way back to Seneca Falls, NY! WOW TIMES FLIES! Last year when we pulled into Seneca Falls we were tired and discouraged and God brought Ray Torrey in our life. Ray is full of energy and was such a great help to all of us.
This year, we are in a different place. We have come so far and grown so much. We are still tired, but are amazed to be used by the LORD for His glory. As we pulled into the church parking lot, we were all excited to see our friends. How sweet it is to be reunited with good friends that you haven't seen for a year. We were blessed to see some familiar faces and meet new people as well. From the first moment we arrived, until the moment we left, we were showed with love by the people at CC Seneca Falls! 
When we arrived, we set up camp and got ready to speak with the youth group. We didn't have much time before we were sharing with about 30 students, challenging them to share their faith. The next day, we went and shared at CC Geneva, which is a church plant from Seneca Falls. Friday, we hit the streets with the youth group. We went to downtown Seneca Falls and shared Jesus with everyone on the streets. Saturday, we went to a festival in Interlaken, NY. Small town, big gathering, big opportunity to share the Gospel. Sunday, we shared with the church body at the morning and evening service and Monday morning we shared with the Christian school. Whew what a crazy week! Add in fellowship, food, fun and we had a busy week!
We really love CC Seneca falls. God is doing a great work there. LORD willing we will get to see them again before we leave Upstate New York.
Indiana PA
On Saturday 12 June 2010 - 17:53:52 | LAN_THEME_7 Bill James
We spent the past week with our good friend Pastor Bill Frey and his family. It was a very busy week. We went back and forth several days to outreach events in Greensburg, PA about 35 miles away and spent several days ministering with Bill in Indiana. Bill joined us for most of the events in Greensburg and he had an amazing Divine appointment there (see stories from the street).
The last few days in Indiana, PA were great. Natalie and I went site seeing to Punxsutawney, PA, which is the home of Punxsutawney Phil. We got to see Phil and the town. On the way home, we cut through an Amish community and were amazed to see how they live! Sunday we were blessed to join Bill at his church for a Sunday morning service. Dave and Dee led worship and Bill Frey preached. It was a great service!
Indiana, PA is the home town of Jimmy Stewart, so on Monday they had a big event in town honoring him. We hit the streets with the Gospel and shared Jesus with tons of people in there. Tuesday morning, we helped Bill Frey and his church hand out food to the local community. About 100 families showed up and we got to pray and share the Good News with most of them. Sadly, we said "Good-bye" and drove away Tuesday afternoon. We will miss Bill Frey and his family very much. Sometimes it is very hard to leave our friends behind. The LORD is still moving us forward on this 2nd Missionary Journey; next stop Upstate New York!
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Great time in Greensburg, PA
On Sunday 06 June 2010 - 20:40:45 | LAN_THEME_7 Bill James
We said "Good-bye" to our family in Virginia and headed into Pennsylvania; Destination Indiana, PA. We drove about 7 hours and were excited to pull into the church parking lot and meet our old friends Bill and Tina Frey and their daughter Brittany. We had a great time catching up with our friends. Wednesday at lunch time, we hit the streets with the Gospel. Dave and Bill and Bill Frey went out on the streets and had a blessed time sharing Jesus with the people in Indiana. Bill Frey had referred us to his friend, Pastor Clarke Lauffer at CC Westmoreland in Greensburg, PA, which was about 30 miles away near Pittsburgh. We were scheduled to spend several days partnering with CC Westmoreland and were excited to see what the LORD was going to do.
Wednesday evening we put on our School of Evangelism Class, Thursday evening we had an evening of prayer and worship, Friday we put on our IMPACT Class, and Saturday afternoon we hit the streets with the Gospel. We were so blessed to be used by God to encourage and equip this church. Every night we had a great turnout of people who wanted to draw near to Jesus with us! People commonly say that we really encourage them to follow Jesus, but I say the feeling is mutual. We encourage people and they encourage us as well. That is what it is all about. Paul writes in Romans 14 "For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." We are to die to self and live for Christ. It is obvious that our brothers and sisters in Greensburg desire to live for Christ and share Christ with the people where the LORD has planted them.
CC Greensburg was blessed with an old Lutheran church building that was built in 1895 and is planted in the middle of a neighborhood in Greensburg. Saturday afternoon, we walked out of the church and went out in all directions from the church, sharing the Good News with whoever the LORD put in our path. We all spent about two hours on the streets and then met back at the church and shared the amazing stories of how the LORD used us. After sharing our stories and praying for the people we witnessed to, we hugged our new friends and parted ways. We our excited to hear the amazing things that God is going to do with this little fellowship in the future!
Outreach in DC
On Friday 04 June 2010 - 09:49:56 | LAN_THEME_7 Bill James
We were blessed again to visit Patrick and Deb Skeldon in Springfield, VA. Pat and Deb are Danyal and Deanna's Aunt and Uncle and they live in a beautiful area of Virginia, which is only a few miles from Washington DC.
Sunday afternoon, we planned to ride the Metro train to DC, see some sites and do some street witnessing. Last year in DC, we passed out hundreds of Obama million dollar bills and planned on doing the same thing this year. It was Memorial Day weekend, so we knew the city would be packed. We rode the train into the city and starting walking around. As we walked, we passed out hundreds of tracts. It was amazing! We have noticed lately that people don't want to take a tract with a picture of Obama on it. He has seriously lost his popularity and we have found that over and over people refuse to take the million dollar bill because his picture is on it.
That was not the case in Washington DC. The town was filled with people from other countries. There were people from all over the world and they were swarming us for the tracts. It was AWESOME! we handed out hundreds of tracts and were thrilled to see people sitting down and reading them. We did not get a chance to have very many conversations, but God's word will not return void. There are countless stories of people who were convicted of their sin, repented and trusted in Jesus through reading a tract.
The Outer Banks
On Monday 31 May 2010 - 20:42:08 | LAN_THEME_7 Bill James
We felt sorta like we were heading out to Key West when we started down the two lane road to our destination on Hatteras Island. It was very pretty, but very windy when we arrived. Praise God the RV park that we had reserved was very nice and our sites were right next to the laundry room, so that made doing laundry a breeze.
We spent the first two days chillin out and catchin up on some work that was overdue. The weather was bad, so it gave us a chance to get the work done. Wednesday, the weather changed for the better. The wind stopped, the sky cleared and we were blessed with a perfect day! I must admit that when the weather is good, Hatteras Island is a great place to be.
Thursday afternoon, we met Pastor Billy and spent some time getting to know each other. Thursday night we put on a School of Evangelism class and about 45 people came. Dave and Dee led worship and then we taught the class. It was a great night! Friday, was the last day of school for the kids, so everyone was excited. After school, we went to Billy's house for dinner and then out on the streets to share the Gospel. About 25 people showed up for the outreach, so four teams went out to four different locations. It was not very busy, but we still has a great night on the streets.
After the outreach, we met back at Billy's house and had a debriefing. We all shared our stories from the streets. Billy closed out the night with some motivating words about their plans to make evangelism a regular part of the church schedule and a heartfelt prayer. To God be the glory!