Raleigh
North
Gideon
Newsletter
December 2002
"For
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the
Lord…Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
(Luke 2:11, 14)
Faith Fund
Dinner Theme:
“What’s a
Bike?”
In 1903, the first effort to extend the
Gideon ministry to other lands took place—a
Gideon from Chicago visited the British Isles. In November of that year, Robert
G. McInnes of Glasgow, Scotland became the first Gideon outside of North
America. Last night, some 99 years later, a man named Bruce Benskin came to the
Area 8 Faith Fund Banquet in Raleigh to tell 43 Gideons and Auxiliary from 5
local camps what the Gideons are doing in some 176 countries today!
Dinner features all-you-can-eat buffet. | Ten to a table provides maximum fellowship! | Cindi Whiteside sings solo after duet with husband Tim. |
Bruce is from Cincinnati, Ohio and is
the IEC (International Extension Committee) Representative for Area 3, which
serves many of the countries of South America. A 20-year Gideon, Bruce has served as Ohio’s State President (3
years), Vice President, Secretary, Church Assignment Coordinator and Scripture
Coordinator. He has also served in various local and regional positions, and 2
years on the International Program Committee.
He
came on the program just before our camp’s Tim and Cindi Whiteside sang a very
beautiful duet and just after a powerful testimony by Pastor Ron H. Wood from
Chapel Hill. Ron told us he had become a Christian because several years ago
“one man was faithful by placing a Gideon Bible in my hotel room. I read that
Bible until sunup and was saved. Soon, my wife was saved, and then my
daughter.” Since then, with God’s help, Ron and his wife Kaye have built the Celebration Assembly of
God church in Chapel Hill from scratch. He encouraged us by saying, “There’s
another Ron out there that needs a copy of God’s Word.”
Then it was Bruce’s turn, who spoke extemporaneously without
notes or text but was obviously well prepared as he spoke stirringly in front
of the podium about the things on his heart—the lost people of
this world who need copies of God’s Word. “The Faith Fund,” he said,
“essentially buys scriptures for the rest of the world.” He talked about the
lost souls in Peru, in Columbia, in Argentina, in Peru—the list goes on. He said he’s identified well over 100 cities that qualify
for a Gideon camp, but lack the required 25,000 Bibles to start up. He told us
about the recent Bible Blitz in Lima, Peru where 460,000 copies of God’s Word
were given out to cupped empty hands. He spoke about the heartbreak he felt in
Botswana after giving out 800 testaments in a school only to discover 50 more
schoolgirls without one—how sadly they gazed!
Pastor Ron H. Woods commends Gideons for their faithfulness. | Bruce Benskin inspires audience with accounts of God’s doings in South America. | Frank and Dot Rawley pray with waiter after the meeting. |
He closed with the story of the little mountain boy who had
just received a Gideon testament. He joyfully accepted Jesus Christ as his
Savior and then came down from the mountains to the village where he attended
church for the first time. At the end of the service the people began moving to
the front of the church to place their meager peso offerings into a collection
bucket. The mountain boy wheeled his only worldly possession, his bicycle, to
the front, leaned it against the bucket and walked away. It was all he had to
give. Someone asked him, “Why did you give the only thing you owned?” He said,
“My God gave His Son to me. What’s a bike?”
“What’s a bike
indeed?” asked Bruce as he closed the program. “How can anything we own compare
to what God has already given us?” The Faith Fund offering was then taken up.
Praise God, moderator Bud Gross announced that Gideons and Auxiliary had
faithfully given $10,281 to purchase scriptures. Our thanks to everyone for
their generous offering and who worked so hard to make this Faith Fund banquet
undeniably one to remember.
Reminder: If you couldn’t attend, but would like to donate, please send your check to Faith Fund Chairman Ray Cooksey at 1300 Shadyside Drive, Raleigh, NC 27612. During this holiday season, hands are reaching out in 176 countries around the world for a copy of God’s Word!
Come in out of the Cold for
Christmas Fellowship!
Our
annual Christmas Fellowship camp dinner meeting will be held at Embassy Suites,
4700 Creedmoor Road, at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, December 17. Don’t miss this time of
food, fellowship, singing and the sharing of God’s blessings as we come
together to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
If
you made a commitment to be at our last meeting but couldn't attend we were
still charged for the meal. Please consider offering your meal cost ($16 per
person) to the camp fund c/o Gideons International, PO Box 33635, Raleigh, NC
27636.
P.S. Ladies—The special feature for January’s camp meeting will be a showing of the Victor Goncharenko videotape from last year’s International Convention.
Gideons
Visit two more Hotels
Two
hotels targeted for our camp’s November 10th Bible blitz had to be
rescheduled for Sunday, November 24.
Scripture Chairman John Kay later reported: “We
praise the Lord for the opportunity to rededicate these silent missionaries and
pray they will be used to attract many people to put their trust in our Lord
Jesus Christ.”
Fulgencio Flores (in shirt) opened all the doors for us at the Fairfield Inn (Crabtree). We placed 25 Bibles and provided 2 English and 9 Spanish PWTs to hotel personnel. From left: John Kay, Jim Singer, Mr. Flores, Ray Cooksey. | Richard Justice (dark suit, left), Tim Whiteside (leaning on reception desk), and John Kay checked the rooms at the Holiday Inn (Crabtree). They placed 7 hotel Bibles and gave 2 English and 2 Spanish PWTs to hotel personnel. |
Bible Blitzes Around the USA
Date |
Place |
Contact |
Phone |
E-mail/“Snail-mail” |
March 2-7 |
San Jose, CA |
Jerry Schrimsher |
510-881-0243 |
GideonJerry@hotmail.com |
March 9-12 |
Mobile, Alabama |
Jim Blanton |
205-456-2426 |
PO Box 794, Grove Hill, AL 36451 |
March 23-27 |
Charlotte, NC |
Don Rhodes |
704-394-4811 |
CharlotteScriptureBlitz@hotmail.com |
April 7-9 |
Albuquerque, NM |
R.E. Stinebaugh |
505-275-3170 |
RCStine@MSN.com |
Right
now our Church Assignment Chairman, Cliff Merrill, is carrying a tremendous
year-end workload in his chosen construction industry career. He cannot devote
the time he would like to in obtaining church services for Gideon reports, even
with his very able assistant, Larry Davenport. But Cliff is only one man. Larry
is only one man. They desire your help! Cliff says the biggest thing right now
is to “keep me in your prayers.”
Remember,
a successful church service is a vital link in extending a chain of hope around
the world. It doesn't always take brains to figure out God's will for your
life. If you can speak, speak. If you can contact a church by telephone, then
contact. If you can make a personal call on a pastor, just do it! If you can
pray, pray. Then call Cliff at 844-1418 or Larry at 841-4610, give them your
support, and tell them what God has done.
Back
in 1986 there were only 381 home schools in all of North Carolina. As of late
2001, there were 1,742 home schools in Wake County alone! North Carolina has so
many home-schooled children—38,000 last year, a 57% jump over
two years—that
their numbers eclipsed the size of all but five school districts across the
state!
Some
parents say, “If you can’t teach the basics of the Ten Commandments in school,
then where’s our world going?” Wake Forest mother Catherine E. Hamidi is in her
fourth year of teaching her two children at home. She says the only things her
kids miss out on are having to wake up at 5 a.m. to catch a bus, and peer
pressure (News & Observer,
p. 25A, 11-25-2001).
As many of you
know, the International Cabinet has approved the distribution of Orange Youth
Testaments to home school students at home school association meetings. Camp
members Tim and Cindi Whiteside have just taken up the challenge.
They have been involved in the Lighthouse Home School Association in Wake Forest for a number of years. Scripture Chairman John Kay recently gave them 100 PWTs to be given to the students at their upcoming annual Christmas gathering. Pray that God will bless this new ministry. Are you involved in a home school association? Become a part of this ministry.
ONLINE
NC Division of Non-Public Education |
919-733-4276 |
|
North Carolinians for Home Education |
919-790-1100 |
|
Home School Foundation |
540-338-8899 |
|
Home School Legal Defense Assoc. |
540-338-5600 |
Pray for Donnie Harrison, our new Sheriff of Wake County! | Goodbye Sheriff John Baker, and thanks for your faithful support of the Gideons! |
Nadine
Kay and Karen Rabb visited the lady prisoners, one on each side of the
facility. Several prayed with Nadine to receive Christ. On Karen’s side,
several more joined in a circle for prayer, when something unusual happened—a lady security guard joined in. She was very emotional as
she prayed and said she was very concerned about another officer, who was
dying. Another lady began singing a song in honor of her father and asked the
others to join in. But nobody knew the song. She sang it anyway, tears running
down her face. Altogether, about six ladies prayed the sinners’ prayer that
night.
Tom
Wallace and Garland visited the Hammond Road Annex and gave away several copies
of God’s Word. They prayed with many prisoners, at least one of whom (James)
professed Christ as his Savior and signed the back of a PWT.
Charlie
says he was talking about the Lord to a group of 10-15 men (in the downtown
jail) and led them in prayer. He went back to meet with Steve Wilson when
another man, with tears in his eyes, came up to them and said, “I need to change
my life.” Steve took him aside and said, “Let me tell you how you can change
your life,” and then led him through God’s plan of salvation. The man prayed
the sinner’s prayer and cried his eyes out. This was Steve’s first visit to the
jail and he said he “loved it!”
Frank
Rawley is planning to furnish 50 jail-destined used Bibles with new soft covers
this month. If you would like to experience the joy of serving Christ in this
ministry, call Charlie Rabb at 787-1488.
Butner Prison Ministry
John
Kay continues to fill in as teacher for Ray Cooksey, who is recovering from a
recent illness. Other Gideons from our camp have also been helping out
recently: John Dillard, Jim Loehman and Tom Wallace. The prisoners are studying
Mark, chapter 9. Another of their four “front row singers,” Bill, was recently
transferred to a prison in Kentucky after a long period “in the hole”
(solitary). Bill’s wife died last year while he was in prison. Please pray for
Bill and for this ministry.
After
being told by the chaplain that they were all out of Bibles, John supplied them
with 100 PWTs on November 29. The chaplain told John that “Sixty percent of the
people who get in jail decide to come to Christ.” Indeed, the Gideons are a
vital ministry at Butner!
The
Bible study meets Friday nights from 6:30—8:30.
If you want to be part of it call Tom Wallace at 782-0903.
New Tools for New Members |
||
Matthew 9:37-38: Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. | ||
Form 782 “A Step of Faith” is now available (a complete revision of the former “To Be or Not to Be a Gideon”). | New revision of Form 123, "Orienting a New Gideon in the Camp Program,used by camp cabinet to train new members. |
A Wonderful
way to Say “I Love You”
With Living
Memorial Bibles
Memorial
Bible Chairman Doug Schmidt says you can still order a supply of the new Gideon
Christmas cards in time for Christmas. They are available in packages of 12 for
$18 (4 cards of each style). Order them through the web page (www.gideons.org) or by calling headquarters
at 615-883-8533. $1.30 from each card will be credited to our camp’s Memorial
Bible program to help purchase Scriptures around the world. For tax
purposes you will get a receipt in the mail for this portion.
Doug
also encourages you to use the Memorial Bible Plan, particularly during the
holidays. For only $1.50 you can get a package of 6 Memorial Bible Cards: two
“In Memory,” two “In Recognition,” and two “Thinking of You” cards. For these
and other supplies contact Assistant Memorial Bible Chairman Frank Rawley at
847-1366.
New: We can now place
Memorial Bible racks in retirement facilities and in assisted-living
facilities!
DUES RENEWALS
Reminder: Membership dues are for a calendar
year, not the fiscal year, so they are due by the end of December.
NOTICE:
The cost of a second dues notice ($1.35) to you has
the
potential of driving a lost soul from receiving God’s Word!
Please
make it a matter of prayer and priority that you will not need a single second
dues notice to be sent. Pray that some lost soul will have a chance to receive
God's Word as a result. Please send in your dues before the end of the year—God
will surely bless your effort!
Ladies, Join us for Prayer!
Gideons and Auxiliary meet at 7:30 Saturday morning for
Scripture reading and prayer at the Crabtree Clarion Hotel (formerly Sheraton
Four Points Hotel). Stay for a great time of fellowship and breakfast! Ladies,
please call Nadine Kay at 870-9266 if you plan to attend. Also, bring your
husband to the next monthly meeting!
Camp Calendar
Dec 17 |
Camp
Meeting: Christmas Fellowship |
Jan 21 |
Camp
Meeting: Spiritual Objectives |
Feb 18 |
Camp
Meeting: One-on-One. Speaker, Jimmie
Coggin, Area 7 Director |
Mar 11 |
Camp
Meeting: Church Assignments |
Mar 17 |
Pastors Appreciation Banquet,
6:30pm, Salon ABC, North Raleigh Hilton; Kyle Compton, speaker; Tank Kersey,
testimony speaker. |
Apr 15 |
Camp
Meeting: Camp Elections |
May 1-4 |
56th State
Convention—Adams Mark Hotel, Winston-Salem |
May 20 |
Camp
Meeting: State Convention Reports |
Jul 22-27 |
104th International
Convention, Birmingham, Alabama |
Respectfully
submitted,
Pat
Simpson,
Newsletter Editor
(919-877-0434
or e-mail
PatSimpsonBooks@cs.com)