Tuesday, September 30, 2014

How the Lord used us in September of 2014

Greetings in the name of Christ!

The beautiful autumn season is upon us and it is a special time of year for those of us who love to see the hand of God in nature as the seasons change. The smell of fallen leaves and the crunch of them under your feet as you walk is special. The evenings and mornings have cooled down, which makes for some incredible sleeping weather. The stars are on full display on these cool mornings and the sighting of the constellation Orion, signals a nearing of the hunting season. I love this time of year!

For those who have been asking, “Buddy” is our newest family member. He was graciously given to us by a kennel in Sunbury, PA, thanks to a referral from a pastor friend named Doug. Cathy has been staying home with him completing his housebreaking. Isn’t he cute? He is an awesome little guy and a great addition to our family.

Through our church, I am finishing up a year of mentoring a fine young man named Nate. He and I have become great friends and I look forward to continuing the relationship when the “official” meetings are over. He has been a blessing to me and I trust the same is true on his end.

We had a great September of ministry, completing 5 MAD Live Events and hitting another milestone….our 400th MAD Live Event! We are excited to report that 19 more people came to faith in Christ at our events in September! How great is our God! Thanks to the generosity of Rick Dean and his daughter Kendall’s Cabinwood Productions, the 400th event was professionally recorded and streamed live over the Internet. Unfortunately, due to some last minute tech issues, the first 10-15 minutes of the streamed event did not happen. Sadly, we probably lost some viewers at that time. However, God is still sovereign and in control of all of life’s issues and we rest in that. Cabinwood will be providing us with a professionally edited DVD set of the training, which we’ll be able to use as we see fit. Also, we’ll have a website where church leaders of prospective churches can check out the entire training before making a commitment to have us come.

New opportunities to pray about - I had a meeting with the leadership of Word FM, a Christian radio network that has coverage from WV to Scranton, PA about partnering with them to do some MAD Live Events across their vast listening area. They have never done anything like this before, but what an opportunity to expand the impact of both of our ministries! I have also been in contact with the leadership of Kingdom Bound, a Christian music festival in Darien Lake, NY about doing something with them at their August festival. We’ll see what doors the Lord opens!

Here are some testimonies to encourage you:

“I gave these gospels of John to family members, friends and even people I don't know. I was at a restaurant with my wife and her aunt one morning, and we had the same waitress as the time before when we went. In between my two visits to this restaurant, I went to Mr. Sunshine's seminar. When i returned the second time, I had talked with her about my experience and what I had heard from him. Then as I finished my meal and was leaving a tip, I wrote in the front cover of the pocket gospel saying to keep her head held high and the Lord will take care of her. I watched through the window as she read the note, and a smile grew in her face. She came outside to thank me and i asked if I could pray with her. Cathy teared up as I finished the prayer and we gave each other a hug.”

“I never knew the Pocket Testament League existed until Don Sunshine came to my home church. His training at my church inspired me greatly to become a member of the Pocket Testament League in order to share our salvation with others using the Gospels of John. More pointedly, my fiancĂ© runs an imports page on Facebook where he sets up car meets for everyone to come out and hangout. Hundreds of cars come to these events and I think it is the perfect setting to share the love of Christ. I am in need of a sponsor because I am still currently in College. I graduated with my BS in May and I am currently working on my MA in Human Services Counseling. That along with not being able to find a job is becoming a financial strain on me and my family. I would be honored to receive sponsorship in order to share the love of Christ with others. Thank you for what you all are doing,”

Two testimonies from John, who attended one of the Live Events:

“Hi Don, this is John from Shamokin I took your class yesterday at Calvery Bible! The Lord just gave me my first connection a woman named Cheryl! She said she wanted a new life so I talked with her and gave her the gospel of John booklet! Praise God! I wanted you to know! Thank you brother!”

“It's John again, Our Lord just gave me another contact. Talk about being unprepared. I only took 1 booklet this morning. So I shared the gospel message using the story of George Wilson. The man’s name is Ed. I asked to pray with him but he said not now and that he would think about his pardon in Jesus Christ and let me know later so I went to my truck and prayed for him! Praise the Lord for his kindness using a sinner like me! Thanks again Don! I will be praying for you and your family!”

Have you noticed that the world is falling apart? Things are getting crazier every day. There is an increasing sense of urgency to bring others into the Kingdom because time is short! Our Lord’s return can happen any time. Our ministry of motivating and equipping the church to do what Christ left us here to do is more important than ever! Please help us get the word out. We are so blessed to do what we do, and to see how the Lord uses it for His purposes and the growth of His Kingdom. We wouldn’t be able to do this without your faithful prayer and financial support, so THANK YOU!

OCTOBER SCHEDULE

• Oct 4 - MAD Live Event - Garrett Miller Center, Millerton, PA

• Oct 5 - MAD Live Event - Morgantown Community Church, Elverson, PA

• Oct 12 - MAD Live Event - Flat Mountain Baptist Church, Dunlap, TN

• Oct 19 - MAD Live Event - Living Faith Lutheran Church, Boyertown, PA

• Oct 25 - Speak and display at the Buffalo area Iron Sharpens Iron Men’s Conference

PRAYER REQUESTS

• As usual, continued prayers are requested for our schedule in 2015. It is still very light and the task of filling the schedule literally gets harder each month. I know you’re probably tired of hearing that, but it is true. In addition to praying, please speak with any pastors and church leadership you know and ask them to check us out.

• The national motorcycle ministry that I mentioned last month has added an agenda item to discuss the possibility of doing “something” with us to equip their people. We’d love to see this happen. Their board meeting is sometime in October.

• For Word FM to partner with us on a MAD Live Event to see the impact of it

• For Kingdom Bound to allow us to do some kind of a MAD Live Event, whether the full 4 hours or an abbreviated version of it at next year’s Kingdom Bound.

Love in Christ,

Cathy and Don

Sunday, September 28, 2014

MAD Live Event in Allentown today

I had a great time with the folks at Grace Community Church in Allentown today. 41 more people were trained and 2 gave their lives to Christ. PTL!!!

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Our 400th MAD Live Event is in the books

Thank you to everyone who prayed for our 400th event today. We had about 70 people show up plus a number viewed it online. We had a glitch at the start of the streaming video. The "dark side" (Microsoft...sorry...I am an Apple guy) forced 28 upgrades onto the computer which was to stream the event right before we started. This caused the computer to revert to some previous settings which blew up the Live Stream. It took 15 minutes for Rick to figure out what happened. So I apologize for those who struggled to watch and gave up. We will have a link sometime soon so it can be viewed online in the future. Let me know if you're interested.

Thanks to Calvary Chapel of the Oley Valley for hosting the event at New Life BFC. And thanks to New Life for partnering to make it happen. CC also surprised us with a nice cake celebrating the 400th MAD Live Event. 3 people came to faith in Christ at the event so we praise God for that. Tomorrow I'll be presenting in Allentown, PA

Sunday, September 14, 2014

MAD in Easton, PA

I had a wonderful time presenting to the folks in Easton today. Lots of great feedback and appreciation for what we are doing for the Kingdom. And, PTL several people gave their lives to Christ today!

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Prayer request for Monday

Prayers would be appreciated for a meeting I am having Monday morning with a Christian radio network. I am hoping they will agree to host one or more MAD Live Events in their listening areas.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Testimony from Saturday's training

I was just blessed by a lady named Barbara from Charlotte, NC. She called and shared with me how she shared the love of Christ with a homeless man by buying him a meal and sharing a Gospel of John with him. She also said that at Sunday night's service there were quite a few testimonies from people in the church who had attended the MAD Live Event on Saturday and put it into practice. That's what it's all about! Praise God! I encouraged her and thanked her for calling.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Great day at The Harvest in Lexington, SC!

I had a great day at the Harvest today in Lexington, SC. Spoke at both AM services and did a MAD Live Event this afternoon. About 107 people attended and 7 of these people gave their lives to Christ today! Still praising God! Also, made som new contacts that could really help open some new doors of ministry. I was blessed before leaving the church to have a group of people surround me to lay hands on me to pray for us and our ministry for Christ. What a day....

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Divine appointments with servers today

I've had a couple of great days of Divine appointments. On Friday night I was blessed to share Christ with our waitress Christina. This morning I offered to pray for my server Chuck, at Cracker Barrel. He instantly welled up with tears and said I could pray for him as his Dad had passed away this week. I prayed for him and his family. After breakfast he came over and grabbed my hand and thanked me profusely for paring for him. Tonight I stopped at a restaurant that Pastor James had recommended and I got a waitress named Tatiana. I ended up praying for her and she came back to talk further. It is a LONG story, but we spent about 10 minutes in a detailed Gospel discussion. I ave her a Gospel of John and a One Second After you die booklet for her to read. She said she would contact me if she had any questions. It was awesome. Wish I could detail all of the cool stuff that happened.

MAD Live Event in Kannapolis, NC

I finished a MAD Live Event today at this church in Kannapolis, NC. We had 57 people attend and 1 teen gave his life to Christ today! Praise God! Then I drove back down to Lexington, SC....I was here two weeks ago. Tomorrow I will be doing another MAD Live Event at the Harvest Church.