Dear Brethren,

It is a great blessing to know that the Lord is still “giving some” of His children so that others can be taught the Truth of God’s Word and by that, become “equipped for the work of [His] service.”  The Work of His service is the work of the Harvest.  According to Jesus own words, “the harvest is ripe but the laborers are few” (Matt 9:37), a true statement then, and very much so today.  It is important that we as believers keep in mind that the only prayer request Jesus made in the Gospels was that we, His disciples, the Church, would “ask the Lord of the Harvest” to raise up workers so that the Harvest, the reaping of souls for His Kingdom would come in (Matt 9:38).

For three weeks over the months of July and August, the Lord “gave” Mignon and me to the Body of Christ in Honduras.  The Holy Spirit was able to use the two of us, along with the excellent translation skills of Dan and Mary Lu Coventon, to encourage the first six students attending the Farthest Horizons School of Missions.  As we have mentioned in prayer requests in newsletters past, this school has been established by the Church in Central America to train men and women from Latin America in cross cultural Missions.  Of the students in this first class, three are returning to China, two will be church planters and medical missionaries in Peru, and one will serve the Lord in Thailand.  It was exciting to be with these believers who had a call on their lives and are willing to leave their homes, families and culture, to obey the command of Jesus Christ and “GO into all the world” (Matt 28:19) so that through them, Jesus “might save some” (1 Cor 9:22) from their bondage of sin (Rom 7:14).  

The first weekend we were in Honduras we attended the National Congress of the Amor Viviente churches to celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of their founding.  It was thirty-five years ago that a missionary came to Honduras from Peoria, Illinois, with the vision of reaching Hondurans and helping to establish a church that would follow his example and that of the early church, to obey the command of Jesus and take the Word “into all the world” (Mark 16:15).  It was overwhelming to see the fruit of the labor of one missionary.  Today, there are thirty-three congregations in Honduras, with several more beginning church plants.  Also in attendance were representatives of the churches that have been planted in North America, Spain, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

The last night of the Congress, there was a special emphasis on Missions to the world.  Our long time missionary friend Dan Coventon, was introduced as the Director of the Farthest Horizons School of Missions.  Dan then introduced each of the six students in the first class to those present and challenged them to make a commitment to pray for and support financially those who were being sent out so that Christ’s Great Commission would continue.  After that, Dan introduced Mignon and me.  Dan explained that the Lord had sent us from America to encourage these students and the Church to keep their eyes fixed on the Harvest and work while there was still time.  When I was asked to share a few words to the Congress, the Holy Spirit said this, “Thirty-five years ago Ed King, a missionary, came from Peoria, Illinois, with a burden to reach Hondurans with the Gospel.  Take a look around – YOU are the FRUIT of his faithfulness to Jesus Christ and his willingness to follow Christ into The Harvest (Mark 4:20).  Now look at these students.  They are the fruit of your faithfulness to evangelism and stand here as your love offering to the world so that the Gospel can be preached and the Harvest can continue to come in.”  It was a word of encouragement and a challenge for all in attendance to “go and do likewise” (Luke 3:10-11).

The course I taught for two weeks at Farthest Horizons covered Missions in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  Five days a week, four hours a day, Dan Coventon translated as I presented God the Father’s burden for sinners.  God commanded Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28) because God the Father wanted to have a house filled with His children.  That was the beginning of Missions and from that beginning we can trace throughout the Bible God’s desire for souls to be saved so that they can be restored to fellowship with Him, through the blood of Jesus Christ, then sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day they are taken home to dwell with God in heaven forever and ever.  

On two of the weekends we were in country I was able to preach in the local church on the topic of “The Great Commission” in the Old and New Testaments.  The first weekend I began with God “commissioning” Adam & Eve in Genesis 1:28 to “fill the earth” with offspring who would worship and serve God Almighty.  After the fall, God called and commissioned Noah (Gen 6), Abraham (Gen 12), Moses (Ex 3), the prophets: Samuel (1 Sam 3); Isaiah (Ch 6); Jeremiah (Jer 1); Amos (Amos 7:14-15).  Each in turn was to take the Truth of the Word to lost souls, not just in Israel, but as His witnesses to the nations and peoples of the world.  The second weekend I began with the “great commission” delivered to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, concerning his son who would be born (Luke 1:8-23).  The message of Missions continued from John, to the disciples (Matt 12), then all the way through the New Testament to Revelation 14:6.  That is when God gives His final commission to the angel flying over the earth proclaiming “the Gospel” to “every nation, tribe, language and people.”  

From the beginning of Creation, God’s desire has been for men, women and children to be in fellowship with Him. That was the case then…it is the case today.  As believers, as born again sons and daughters of the “Most High God”, we have a duty to work the Harvest and serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ while there is still time.  Jesus said, “We must work the works of Him who sent me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” (Luke 9:4-5)  We are running out of time.