Jan 19, 2007
Out With The Old...In With The New
OUT WITH THE OLD (YEAR)
"Thou crownest the year with thy goodness" - Psalm
65:11
Dear Praying Friends,
Well, another "old" year has
passed into history and a "new" year is upon us. As for our family, we are still
amazed at all the Lord did in our lives last year.
For instance, we had
no idea when we came back to the States on furlough that we would see our two
oldest children married in the same year!
Our oldest son, Cameron, married Katy Crane on December 30th.
Katy's family are missionaries with New Tribes Mission serving in Paraguay. The
Crane's became good friends of ours while we were in Paraguay.
Our oldest
daughter, Autumn, & her new husband Justin (married June 10th) spent their
Winter Break with us. What a blessing it was to have them with us for almost a
month!
Both couples are now back at New Tribes Bible Institute in
Waukesha, Wisconsin. Autumn & Justin will graduate this May, and Cameron
& Katy will graduate the following May.
In addition to two new
members being added to our family (Justin & Katy), the Lord gave us a new
home/sending church. We have now been working with Northside Baptist Church in
Fort Stockton, Texas since September. And what a great four months it has
been!
Northside is in essence a mission church itself, being restarted by
a missionary pastor, Scott Owens and his family from North Carolina, after
several years of being closed. The church is very involved with missions, both
foreign (through their sponsorship of the Pryor family & support of other
missionaries), and right here in Fort Stockton.
In additional to precious
souls being saved at almost every church meeting (including the Christmas play),
several new ministry outreaches have been started in the church:
*
Bible College - The church is in the process of setting up a full-fledged
Bible college & David has been asked to serve on its Advisory Board due to
his past experience with a Christian college. Classes are scheduled to begin in
August.
* Book Store/Library - Due to the distressing lack of
solid, fundamental Christian material in this part of Texas, Northside is
opening a Book Store & Library. It will be open both to church members &
the general public. The goal is to provide Bibles, books & other resources
which are doctrinally sound & God-honoring.
* Literature
Distribution Center - In cooperation with Anchor Baptist Ministries
International out of Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, Northside Baptist is now a
distribution center in their network of churches across the US warehousing
Gospel literature for missionaries. Our first truckload of material is due in by
the end of January.
* Internet Radio Station - With a new church
website to be soon inaugurated, Northside will be expanding its outreach
globally. One of the main purposes the website will serve is to host the
church's own internet radio station. This will give the ability to broadcast
sermons, Bible teaching, music & even classes from our Bible school around
the world. In time, it is hoped that this will grow into a local Christian FM
radio station to reach the Fort Stockton area.
* Discipleship Class
- Sherri is continuing to disciple the women of the church through monthly
Ladies Meetings. David has been teaching the Adult Sunday School class. With the
new year now here, he will be starting a systematic discipleship study for this
class. We have many new believers in the church & the Lord is working on
several calling them to special service. For instance, one man feels strongly
called to prison ministry. Our desire is to see all the believers grow in grace
& maturity so that they might bring glory & honor to our Lord in every
aspect of their lives & families.
Well, as you can see, a lot has
been happening in our lives during the "old" year that has just gone by. Seeing
the Lord's hand at work in the past year, we are exciting about what He is going
to do in this "new" year that is upon us.
IN WITH THE NEW (TRIBES)
So, just what does the Lord have in store for the Pryor family in 2007? As
we have already shared in previous newsletters, we felt led last year to join
New Tribes Mission (NTM). As a result, we are candidate missionaries with NTM
(NOTE: We encourage you to visit NTM's website at: http://www.ntm.org/).
The rest of our family (David, Sherri,
Bethany & Matthew), will be heading off to begin training with NTM in August
of this year. Although we are thrilled at all that the Lord is doing in our new
home church where we have been working since September, we are anxious to make
our transition to NTM. Because we have been involved with missions for 18 years
now, we will not have to go through NTM's full training regiment, only their
9-month Support track. Then we will move to Chihuahua City, Mexico to increase
our Spanish proficiency before we finally return to Paraguay.
Are you
aware that of the earth's 7,000 ethnic groups, 3,000 are still unreached! These
unreached people, living without Christ, without God's Word, without hope, are
NTMs' focus.
NTM's purpose is steadfast: to reach new tribes & people
groups who have never had a single opportunity to hear the Good News. Their
vision is for every tribe to have the opportunity to hear and respond to the
Gospel.
Missionaries, sent out by local churches in more than 25
countries, serve through NTM. Utilizing evangelism, Bible translation and
discipleship, NTM missionaries are planting churches among unreached people
groups in over 18 countries around the world.
Paraguay is one of those 18
countries. Paraguay has seventeen tribal groups and NTM has been working among 6
of those groups for 60 years. Now, NTM is working to expand its efforts into 8
more tribal groups that have yet to hear a clear presentation of the
Gospel.
Last year, more than 200 people from local churches, mission
boards and other tribal groups gathered to celebrate New Tribes Mission's 60
years of ministry in Paraguay. Let us share with you what one of the attendees
had to say:
"I thank the Lord that now I know that the Lord came to
seek me, to buy me, and save me from sin," said Justino, the first Pai Tavy
Tera believer reached by New Tribes missionaries after their arrival in the
1940s.
Justino, a mature believer in the Pai Tavy Tera church, showed a
passionate desire to reach others with God's Word. "We Christians have a big
responsibility. We shouldn't be silent when we know the truth of being able to
share with others," said Justino in his address to the
celebrants.
"When I knew I had the knowledge of Truth, I knew that I
couldn't keep silent. We, as Christians, hopefully won't become like still,
non-moving water. We know that water, when it doesn't move, begins to smell and
is good for nothing. If, with the message we have, we don't share it, the same
thing happens to us."
May we, as believers from such materially
prosperous cultures as those of North America & Europe, never forget
Justino's words echoing from the spiritually destitute cultures of South America
& the rest of the world. May we be as faithful as he to proclaim the Truth
of Jesus Christ to those around us, wherever we may find ourselves, and not
become as "smelly water" in the eyes of our Lord and Savior.
PRAYER REQUESTS
Cameron & Katy (Crane) Pryor - Grace to balance studies, work,
and settling in as a newly-married couple. Financial provision as they finish
their first year at Bible college. God's blessings on their
marriage.
Justin & Autumn (Pryor) Bartron - Grace to balance
studies & work as their graduation from Bible college approaches. Wisdom as
they seek the Lord's direction & timing for additional training and future
service. God's blessings on their marriage.
David, Sherri, Bethany
& Matthew Pryor - Grace to balance our time between work, ministry &
raising additional support.
Local Ministry - God's wisdom and help
in developing the new ministries of Northside Baptist Church. God's blessings on
what is done in His name.
Additional Support - That the Lord will
provide additional individuals & churches to partner with our family as we
prepare to enter our training with New Tribes Mission in August. (NOTE: If
you would like to schedule us to speak at your church or group, please contact
us by mail at: 405 N. Everts, C-3, Fort Stockton, TX 79735, or by phone at:
(432) 528-6449.)
Yours in His Service,
David, Sherri,
Bethany & Matthew Pryor
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Dec 24, 2005
The Pryors of . . . Texas
Well, we have been back in Texas for several months now. Please forgive our lack of communication with you, but only recently were we able to acquire our own computer. Now, instead of using public terminals or our relative's computers, we are finally able to start getting back into a routine with our correspondence with you.
A lot has happened since we arrived in the States at the end of May. So, allow us to briefly bring you up to date.
We are living with our oldest son, Cameron (22), in his 2 bedroom apartment in Midland, Texas, our home town. It's a good thing we are a close family!
Cameron
has earned his private pilot's license and is now beginning to work on his
instrument rating, the next step on his road to becoming a missionary pilot.
Our oldest daughter, Autumn (19), is now attending Bible school at New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha, Wisconsin. This is the beginning of her goal to be a missionary to tribal people.
David is working in order that we can afford to live in the States (it is significantly more expensive than Paraguay) and save up in preparation for returning to the mission field.
Sherri is busy with home schooling our younger children, Bethany (13) & Matthew (10). She is also active in the neighborhood witnessing to several ladies.
THE "MISSION" WORK CONTINUES
In fact, not long after we arrived, Sherri had the privilege of leading a
Spanish-speaking neighbor named Socorro to the Lord. Shortly after that, Bethany
led Socorro's granddaughter, Jennifer, to the Lord, too.
Just this week, Socorro's daughter came to talk to Sherri. She was very
discouraged about her life & finally willingly listened to the Gospel. She ended
up trusting Christ, too. Now, this one neighborhood family has new believers
spanning 3 generations! Pray that the Lord will continue to work on the men of
this family. Also remember Sherri as she hopes to begin discipling these ladies
after the first of the year.
Autumn had the opportunity to work in Vacation Bible School before going off to
college. It was at the church a friend & former missionary is now pastoring. She
was able to lead a young boy named Logan to Christ.
Sherri was invited to share the story of our missionary efforts in Paraguay with
the women of a newly-opened Teen Challenge facility for ladies. Sherri had been
told that they were all believers, but one named Lindsey showed particular
interest in exactly what we tell Paraguayans about how they may be saved. It
turned out that she had never truly trusted Christ, and did so that night as
Sherri explained the message of the free gift of salvation to her!
Sherri saw Lindsey in a store just this week. She told Sherri that things are
going good and her whole life has turned around. Lindsey said, "Now that I'm
close to God, I don't ever want to be far from Him! I just want to learn more &
more & more about Him. I feel like a sponge soaking everything up." Would not it
be great if all new believers were this enthusiastic about their new life in
Christ?
But these new believers in the Lord are not the end of the spiritual blessings
the Lord has given us since we have been back. He also has given us a new church
home.
THE NEW CHURCH HOME
One of our primary goals for returning to the States on furlough this year was
to find a new home/sending church. We were prepared to be on the road a lot
searching for a like-minded assembly of believers with which we could associate
ourselves. However, even before arriving in the States, we had some old friends
and supporters invite us to visit them and their new church located in our
hometown, Midland, Texas.
To our happy surprise, we discovered that these believers had been led by the
Lord in the same way as we had concerning the New Testament pattern the Lord's
Church should follow. This is a new church plant (started three years ago). They
focus on the true function of the church, which is to be a local body of the
Lord made up of only true believers, with Christ as the center of their worship
& everything they do, with the goal of building up the saints for the work of
the ministry.
We are very thankful for the Lord leading us to this like-minded group of
believers. In fact, many of them are long-time friends and supporters of our
family over the 16 years we have been involved in mission work.
THE LORD'S FAITHFULNESS
As we have said many times before in correspondence with you, the Lord is SO
good!
Two cars have been given to us. Once again, the Lord knew what we needed even
before we asked Him. With two cars, plus Cameron's pickup, we have enough
vehicles for everybody to get to work or around town, even when I am out of town
on business.
Since we have been here, the Lord has graciously provided me with two different
jobs. The first was doing general maintenance work for 4 shopping centers. Then,
a friend at church introduced me to a man who was looking for someone to train
in order to help him with his work load. He is a Petroleum Landman & I have been
working with him for about four months now.
This current job is flexible enough to allow us to go and speak at churches when
the opportunity presents itself. In addition to being invited to speak at a
church here in Midland, we have been able to travel to San Antonio, Texas to
meet a pastor we have never met who began supporting us while we were in
Paraguay.
This pastor & his entire family have truly sacrificed to support us while we
were on the field. Much of the time since they began supporting our family, this
dear brother has been away from his family and church serving in our military in
Iraq. It was an immense pleasure to finally get to meet them while he was home
on leave. They are truly dedicated to the Lord & His work. It is an honor to
count this family & church as part of our mission team through their faithful
prayer & financial partnership.
In fact, we are thankful for all of you who stand with us through your prayers
and finances. May our Lord richly bless you as you continue to faithfully serve
Him in the coming new year.
Yours in Christ,
The Pryor Family
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