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Warmest Christmas Greetings to you all,
What better way to bring on this season that to add a new baby brother to the family. Think of all the warmth, love, excitement he brings. Well, Ronnie Burt called me last Sunday morning as we were rehearsing for our choir number at church, (yes this ol’ dog tries to howler with my bass voice now and again) and informed me that on this morning, even though he was rushed and late, he headed out to the parking lot of the Petro 2 truck stop in Gadsden, AL to invite drivers into the service. One such driver, who would have just left on his trip, was invited by Ron to the service. He came instead and met Jesus, believed in Him who called him, and accepted His life changing Message of Salvation in the One who died on the cross, dead, buried and Risen again! Jacob now has the Eternal place written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life! Thus, he’s yours and my baby brother, given to us during this time of celebration of Jesus Birth. What a special time and celebration it is. Amen? Angels singing, “There’s a new Name written down in Glory”, Choirs rejoicing because another “Sinner has come home”, don’t forget the Hallelujah Chorus. I don’t need the snow, the mistletoe, the tree, the wreaths, the lights to tell me why we celebrate this Birthday of the King. No siree! Come into my house, (it’s Wednesday before the 25th) and there is no tree, no decorations. Bah, humbug you might want to say I’m like. Not so. I do have a sign on my front lawn. 4 foot x 4 foot yellow plastic with black letters, (thanks to Christian Gospel Work) that says The Gift God is Eternal Life thru Jesus Christ Our Lord) and I do have a green lit wreath with a red bow on it, not to signify the Christmas holiday, but to commemorate the death of the One who was sent to be born to die for me. The wreath is a sign of those who have departed, not coming! He came! However, He is coming again. That we can celebrate and look forward to for the New Year. He promised to come back in the clouds, and so as this year ends, and a new one is on the horizon, let’s be mindful of the work we still have to do to reach the Jacob’s, and David’s, and Sue’s, and Charlie’s, Debby’s and John’s of this USA. Yes, beyond our shores as well. Greetings to you all, we’ve still got needs to be busy about the Lord’s Work. There is no day of rest. May He come and find us all busy, doing what He called us to do, and He’ll bring His reward with Him when He comes again. So, look up, be ready in season and out, and I add our Blessings from the Cope and Desmond Families for a safe, prosperous and inspirational New Year.
Tuesday Nov. 22, 2011
Greetings to you All,
It has been awhile, hasn’t it? Suddenly I find the Holidays upon us. My years are blending faster than the days it seems. I am fortunate that some of you keep me posted on the Chapels attendance and fellowship by e-mails and phone calls. My wife and I enjoy a laugh about retirement when folks say they are bored and don’t know what to do with themselves. Since I was disabled in 2005 and forced into retirement, my days have filled up so much that I used to look forward to a nap time on Sunday afternoons before evening service. I haven’t done that in at least 4 months. As I said before concerning my disability, about not feeling sorry for me, because I asked the Lord for more time to do His work. Well, don’t feel sorry for my inability to get a nap. Praise God He has been able to use me in this capacity.
Our church is without a Pastor, he having left in Oct. this year. Thus some of the work falls on my Brother Elder Jesse and I, and a lot of people are filling into areas needed. We have great speakers lined up through the Holidays and our membership remains intact. This is indeed a blessing and we are thankful!
For those of you who didn’t get the newsletter last month, one of our Chaplains and his wife in OK are giving of themselves this Thanksgiving with all the trimmings. They’ve partnered with the TA where they minister and are supplying the Dinners with aid from their church, to all drivers who come on Thanksgiving Day. Thank You Chaplain Barry and Wife Barbara and may your wish of good fellowship with the drivers this year be granted as you minister there in OKC, OK. See our Blog at http://www.tccministries.org/ and top line BLOG for the info.
Another praise is that our Dear Sister Lorene Cope went to her Lord in Glory. This was a desire of hers for a long time and we’ll tarry a bit in joining her and keep up the work she did while here.
I wish I had started polling you all earlier for the blessings you’ve experienced this year. We’re certainly thankful for the start up of the ministry in Mineral Wells, WV thanks to Rich Poling who was persistent in bringing this to me and praying about it. We’re further thankful about the prospect of a church taking on the ministry in London, KY. They’re still praying and so are we. We’re thankful that the runaway truck in London, OH didn’t hurt anyone at the early hour of 4 AM damaging the chapel, but that’s being repaired. Thankful for the hands that help in all our chapels. We need you to keep these Chapels in good repair for the long run. We have only one more trailer to fix/place and currently it is in Santa Rosa. We’re thankful for the Churches that partner with our mission and make us one of their Missionaries to aid in our support and allowing us to place more chapels in locations throughout the USA. We’re ever mindful of that support and in acting as good stewards of the money you send us, to use it wisely for the furtherance of the Gospel by purchasing materials and setting up new locations. We’re thankful for the drivers God sends our way to hear and respond, to come and fellowship, to learn and take what they hear and share, to bring others along to show them where to get good messages and council. We’re especially thankful for your full time service to the Lord and may He Add His Blessings upon each of you. Please pray for TCCM in the days ahead that we will act on all the requests that come in for more locations that we may have the needed men and workers. Pray for Glenn Cope as he considers the time to have another shoulder operated on and prepare him with prayer for a quick recovery and strength. Pay for the days ahead for guidance and more churches who want to hear of the work of TCCM and support. Pray for Jerry Weaver’s Wife Barbara as she undergoes tests and that she’ll have the remedy from the Great Physician.
I’ll be careful to pray for you as I do each week, and ask take you do the same for us before each service. It probably wouldn’t hurt to ask each person on your Team to go back over the Training Guide of TCCM to see how they can put forth a best effort and join together to make the work light. Thank you also for the encouragement you send my way in reports. I do need more and I have to remember to send them onto Dick Brinnon for our church reports in OH. May God Supply all your needs in Christ Jesus this Thanksgiving and may He add His special Blessings to your tables and family times.
Date: Saturday, August 13, 2011, 8:37 AM A Testimony from Chaplain Ronnie Burt, Gadsden, AL
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Bro Rich
I am sorry it has taken so long to write this out. I hadn’t forgotten, just finding the time is the problem. On the 4th of July my wife, my daughter and I went to Lake Guntersville for the fireworks display. This is something we do each year, and we will take a blanket and sit on the river bank and wait for them to start. This year was different.
My wife had surgery on her foot and couldn’t walk well, so we got there early to find a good parking place so she could sit in our Tahoe. On each side of our cars are magnetic signs that say “JESUS CHRIST DIED TO SAVE SINNERS”. While we were waiting for the fireworks, a man who I did not know, came up to me as I was standing outside the car. He pointed at the signs and asked if I believed that. I told him I not only believe it, I know it to be true and I began to tell him about Jesus. This man had lived a hard life and had a lot of baggage, as we all did when we came to Jesus. I shared the Gospel with him and ask him if he would like to be saved. He said he was drinking so he didn’t want to now. This scared me to death as I think of Acts 24:25, (And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.). However, he wanted to talk to me later. He called his wife to come up there with us. When she got there, he told her to give me their phone number and I begin to ask her about her salvation. She was a angel, according to her. She never did anything wrong and I began to explain to her we all are born of sin and going to hell without Christ. We exchanged numbers and they went back to their blanket down in front of us. The entire time I’m crying inside because they were lost! What else could I have done? As the night went on, I remembered the tracts I keep over the sun visor. I gave them to his wife and asked them to read the tracts, and that they didn’t need me to be saved. The tracts told them how to be saved I begin praying for them to be saved. I called a few days later, talked for a few minutes and he said he had to go. He would call me back few days later. I called again and we talked a few, and again he had to go. He would call me back. He never did. I sat at home all evening waiting on his call one time and he never called. At this point I turned it over to the Lord. I had done all the Lord would have me to do. I kept praying for them.
Then one Wednesday night my phone rang. It is his wife and she is almost in tears and says he wants to meet with me. I’m on the road so I tell her I will come see them Saturday. That Saturday my wife and I went to Lifeway, a Christian Bookstore to buy 2 Bibles for this couple because they are going to get saved that day, and we give new converts Bibles as gifts to help them along. While we were in Lifeway, I forgot to lock the Tahoe. Someone got in there and took mine and my wife's cell phones. The first thing I thought was, “how will I call them, their number is in my phone”. I don’t know where they live. Then my wife told me I still had her number in my billfold, so I went back in used Lifeway’s phone to call and get directions where they were and tell them when we would be there. By the way, the person who took our phones in a Christian bookstore parking lot had to walk pass those same signs “JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR SINNERS”, reach past my Bible to get those phones. He or she has had to have seeds sown! I pray for their salvation also. Fortunately there was a Verizon Store across the street and we canceled the phones out, so whoever took them couldn’t use them and Verizon had the info in case someone tried to list them again.
We went to the couples house and talked with them again about Jesus. I explained about Jesus, how He loved them, how He didn’t care what they had or hadn’t done, that He loved them and wanted to save them. They begin to cry and I asked them if they wanted to be saved, and Glory to God they said “yes”. We prayed and they were saved!
All this is a result of God working though many people. The bible says we are all members of one body. There were many parts of the body involved in these folks salvation. Christian Gospel Work for making and providing the signs, TCCM for distributing the signs, Wes Kirchner in Laramie for speaking to me about preaching again, my church for supporting and praying for the ministry, my wife and daughter for their love in my work, (they give up a lot for the work of Christ) the surgery which made us available to his question, (God’s intervention) and most importantly the Head of the Body, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ all the while. The Bible tells us to be “instant in season and out”. We never know when God will open a door to share the Gospel. That 4th of July was a rare time for just my family and I, but Praise God I now have a new Brother and Sister. God bless, Ronald Burt (Gadsden, AL), Chaplain for TCCM
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