Pastor Commentary

The Evangelical Free Church in New England is made up of 53 congregations

with 8000+ attendees. Up till now there has not been a Free Church in Rhode

Island. But now, thanks be to our Heavenly Father, we are on the verge of

incorporating in Rhode Island. We are finishing up the paperwork necessary

for that to happen. This is an historical moment in the life of the Free Church

and we are privileged to be a part of it. Rhode Island was specifically founded

by Roger Williams, a Baptist, by the way, to allow freedom of religious conscience.

We trust God to awaken the hearts of Rhode Islanders, to bring many to faith in

His Son, Jesus Christ. Might we be on the cusp of a wonderful work of God in

this area?

Not only are we working on the official paperwork for incorporation, but we

are also trying to finish up our Ministry Model in which we describe the types of

ministries in which we will engage to most strategically fulfill our Vision. We

will pass that along to you when it is completed so you can know how best to

pray for this work and these people.

We wish to be an E4 church.(Ephesians 4- humble, gentle, patient, unified,

equipped, mature, built up, renewed in the spirit of our minds, kind, tender-

hearted, forgiving.)

Down to specifics: Prayers answered wonderfully in ways displaying God's

gentle caring- Carol's brother came through his chemo therapy with "flying

colors," also being a great testimony to our God among doctors and staff.

Our daughter, Becki, whose biopsy of lesians on her back was seen to be

malignant is NOT cancer, but Grover's Disease, a life-long, but not life-

threatening disease.

Sarah & Chris' home in MI SOLD!!! A giant PRAISE. They are presently with us in

Westerly awaiting the birth of their fourth in just a few days.(Go run around the

house again, Sarah.) They also experienced the grace of our Lord when their

vehicle broke down majorly on their way from Tennessee to RI after having had

some major work done on it prior to leaving. It was a very frustrating situation.

As a body we set aside all business and prayed extensively for them and others

on our list. God provided a man of grace who delivered the grace of God to the

situation and they saw the car repaired with very little expense to them.

We saw the Lord provide a sympathetic judge at the arraignment of one of our

young men who is dealing with the consequences of foolish actions taken prior

to his recent coming to Christ. The felony of which he had originally been accused

was reduced to a misdemeanor. The other charges remained as misdemeanors.

The court assigned him a private lawyer in this action because one of the other

defendants already had the public defender's office on her case. Right now there is

a two week continuance until this lawyer can come up to speed on the case.

We pray for the Banta family, the White family, Jonathon Smith as they travel this

week and weekend.

We pray for both Carla's dad and Chris' dad that they might repent and believe the

Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We continue to pray for two young couples whose marriages are on the verge of

collapse that there may be repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.

We continue to pray for the protection of our own marriages as the wicked one

would like nothing better than to cause damage in that realm at this crucial time.

If you have read all this you must reward yourself. Go ahead. Give yourselves an

"atta boy" "atta girl." Have a cookie. Strengthen yourselves. Gird up yourselves for

prayer, please.

Thank you for continuing faithfully to represent us at the Throne of Grace.

Love, Russ and Carol

Yours, "Making Jesus Famous in R.I."