September 2018 Newsletter

This newsletter focuses on the upcoming 2018 Romania mission trip, church health in the area and news on the Baby Boomer Sunday School class. These are the current main areas of focus and need your attention and prayer as you partner with Mike Palmer Ministries.

Preparations for Romania Mission Trip

We have eight people headed to Romania in October. Coaches Leon Caldwell and Aaron Jones will be going with me on October 3rd. And the rest of the team led by Jason Huffman will be leaving on October 11th. We will ALL come back on Wednesday October 24th. I want to list a few actions we have already taken in preparations for this strategic trip.

We have secured a man to help us do digital and old-fashioned print media/marketing for our trip. He will be sharing some posts that I/we create to get the attention and share the gospel with young adults and high school students in Craiova, Romania.
We have rented a movie theatre right in the center of the city and we will show the movie: THE CASE FOR CHRIST on Friday evening October 19th. We already know that most of the young Christians in the city will attend; they will be strengthened in their witness by this movie. But it is our hope that a hundred or more unsaved young adults and high school students will attend. They will be challenged by the factuality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Lee Strobel’s journey will be enlightening to them. They have NEVER seen anything like this.
We have purchased 350 gospel-centered sports DVD’s (the same ones used by CRU-Campus Crusade for Christ over there).
We have purchased 500 gospel tracts like the Four Spiritual Laws in the Romanian language.
We were able to find 312 of those “Sports New Testaments” to use this year. I bought ALL that were left. We are going to have to find another resource for our next trip. This has been an excellent resource. They actually read this one!
We have also purchased 100 copies of the “More Than A Carpenter” books in their language.
We have secured the Catalin Ciuculescu band to play an area-wide concert on Saturday October 20th. We will be paying to rent that facility and giving an honorarium to the band. You can watch some of their music videos on U-Tube.
The ladies on our team – Jacqui Hood, Rebekah McGeorge, and Jerri Jackson – are preparing to invest in the many young ladies at Alpha and Omega Baptist Church and help them develop a strategy for outreach and ministry to the lost young adults in the city.
Leon Caldwell, Aaron Jones, Jason Huffman, and Peter Cardillo (and the ladies!) will be working with many schools during the week of intensive ministry (October 14 – 19). They will be doing basketball clinics (helping the sports professors in the schools); and of course, we will be networking with ALL the students for the gospel and doing our best to make more opportunities to share the gospel at other times during the week.
I (and the whole team) will be doing various things to strengthen Alpha and Omega Baptist Church. We will work with their Awana’s – specifically, the lost parents that attend. We will work with various sub-groups within the church. I will preach at least twice while there. And I am not sure right now, but I may go to a group of pastors and share with them as well.
We are going to advertise the movie at the University of Craiova since it is a demonstration of how someone does critical inquiry into history and asks how one can “know” the historical truth (in this case about the resurrection of Christ). But it is an excellent portrayal of that process no matter the subject matter. In that way it is a useful tool for the history department at the University of Craiova.
We plan to do another “Starbucks night” with students.
Scott and Danielle Bradford are helping me with media: videos, print, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. I sorely need this, as I know enough to get halfway there and then get stuck.

Everything we do will be done with a view to sharing the gospel. I hope to do some short videos before the trip to address the culture and some “wrong views” that they might have about the gospel and things associated with that. For example, the whole concept of “repentance” is a bad thing to them. But it is because of the negative peer pressure. I am going to discuss this and more with them. Much more than this will be happening but that is all I can cover for now. I will tell you that we ARE engaging more students and young adults than ever before.

The money for all of this comes from people like you. We could not do one thing were it not for you. I want to say a humble thanks and ask you to please continue to support this strategic ministry. No one, …no one is doing the stuff we are doing in that whole five county Oltenia region. It is wonderful. See the address in this newsletter for sending your checks. I will communicate again just after we get back. I am already “pumped” as you can tell. Just keep praying and ask the Lord to bring conviction to many students and young adults. We will be sharing the Cross of Christ, sin, wrath, judgement, the blood sacrifice of Jesus and the mercy available through Him. Trust me we won’t hold anything back. But we WILL share in brokenness and love through which the Lord will open doors. Hey, I have not told you all lately: I LOVE YOU ALL! Remember to give Jesus away to someone today.

"Everything we do will be done with a view to sharing the gospel."

Church Health and Revitalization in the area

I have been asked by Don Cockes of the SBCV to help in the process of a Church Health Consultation. It is a church that has been stuck in a particular mode for about fifteen years and they have systemic issues they must address. That process will be taking place from mid-September through Thanksgiving and probably into February of 2019.

I will also be helping with a cohort of six to eight churches in the Roanoke Valley in a church health process guided by the Malphurs Group. We will meet beginning in January of 2019 and this group will probably meet monthly for nearly the entire year. This is in my “wheelhouse” so to speak. I LOVE ENCOURAGING pastors and staff. This will keep me busy. Some of these pastors need personal help and specific strategic equipping. I pray that I can be a channel for God’s grace to them. It seems like I have been preparing for this all my life.

Mike Palmer Ministries gives books, materials, and other items to help churches and pastors that need revitalization. Most church members are NOT aware of the depth of the need in their church until it is almost too late. So please know that your gifts are helping pastors and churches here in our Valley. I am sure that as these churches move toward health and biblical practices that more people in our area will come to Christ and be discipled. This is not as glamorous as international missions, but it is a tremendous need nonetheless.

I preached at two churches in our area in August: New Life Baptist in Ferrum and Troutville Baptist where Kevin James was ordained to the gospel ministry. Troutville BC is now without a pastor so pray that I can be a source of strategic encouragement to them. I have been asked to preach at Riverdale Baptist on September 16.

So, you can see that these months are very busy for me. International Missions and Church Health & Revitalization are two different, but most important, ministries. And that is what we do at MPM!

Baby Boomers and Below Sunday School Class

I finished up as a transitional pastor at Riverdale Baptist Church the last Sunday of October 2017. Hazel and joined North Roanoke Baptist Church in late February of this year. Daniel asked me to take on a Sunday School class that needed revitalization. So, I said OK! We are made up of “baby boomers” (mostly younger than me) AND those just under the boomers. We are doing the Gospel Project material. And the Gospel Project is going to begin a brand new THREE-YEAR JOURNEY THROUGH THE WHOLE BIBLE. That began September 2nd. If you know of ANYONE who has not been in a church for a while and would be interested in learning the overarching story in God’s Word; well, please send them my way. Call me or send me a text or an email (798-9824; revmike1@cox.net). We meet on Sunday’s at about 9:35 for coffee and breakfast snacks and then start our group at 9:45 am. I would love to be an encouragement to someone who wants to start fresh.