How The Lord Used Us In November of 2016

Hello Partners in Ministry:

First let us wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for and at this time of year, it’s a great time to take stock of the countless blessings our God has showered upon us. We are a blessed people! Let’s remember to thank Him for all He has done and provided, and especially for the gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. Cathy and I are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with our son and his family. We haven’t seen them in 5 months so it will be a special time.

November typically closes out our year of trainings due to the onset of the holiday season. So things begin to slow down booking-wise. In November I was asked to preach at 2 Sunday services and we completed 2 MAD Live Events. Also, I was blessed to do a Facebook Live mini training on the topic of the fears that keep us from sharing our faith. I spoke for just over 16 minutes and it has been viewed by about 3,200 people so far! Praise God! Please pray that this exposure will open doors of ministry for us to fill our schedule in 2017. We also praise God for allowing us to be a part of leading 7 people to faith in Jesus Christ this month!

Here’s a MAD Grad testimony to encourage you and praise God for:

“God Bless you. I will continue to keep you in my prayers. I must tell you, since you came to Florida both Gary and I have been opening our mouth much more and almost everyone who comes through our dive shop gets one of the dive deeper books (signed by me). I cannot begin to tell you how much that rainy day meant to me.”

Here’s one of my Divine appointments from this month: “This morning I returned my rental car and was driven home by a nice young man named JP. I had some spiritual conversations with him before but this time we got down to the “guts” of the Gospel. In the course of conversation he told me that he had prayed a prayer twice, and thought he was a Christian, but he had never repented. He had some doubts about the Bible after watching some “documentaries” on cable stations. It didn’t help that he had a Muslim roommate who also beat up on the Bible. I shared with him how he could be confident that the Bible is the Word of God, a supernatural book, and explained the plan of salvation to him. I also asked if I could pray for him and he let me lay my hand on his shoulder and pray for his salvation. JP told me that he wanted to pick me up the next time I needed a ride so we could talk some more. That will be Thursday. I gave him 2 booklets to read and he indicated he wants to come to the Bible study that I plan on doing. Praise God! I have a little mission field with most of the Enterprise staff here!”

2017 ULTIMATE ADVENTURE TO UTAH

Why not take the trip of a lifetime with us to Utah in 2017? Individuals, couples, fathers/sons, mothers/daughters…whatever combination! We have 6 people confirmed thus far. We need another 6 to do the trip. Please contact me if you have interest. No experience is necessary!

DECEMBER – FEBRUARY SCHEDULE

• Dec 3 - Annual Don Sunshine Ministries Board Meeting, Williamsport, PA

• Jan 7 - MAD Live Event - Long Beach Church of the Nazarene, Long Beach, CA

• Jan 14 - MAD Live Event - Trinity of Fairview, Fletcher, NC - with 106.9 The Light

• Jan 21 - MAD Live Event - Calvary Chapel of Knoxville, Knoxville, TN - with 106.7 The Light

• Jan 22 - MAD Live Event - Trinity Baptist Church, Jonesborough, TN

• Jan 28 - MAD Live Event - Mountain Catawba Missionary Baptist Association, Sherrills Ford, NC

• Feb 2 - MAD Live Event for full time Pastors in the SBC Chilhowee Association - Alcoa, TN area

• Feb 2 - MAD Live Event for the part time Pastors in the SBC Chilhowee Association - Alcoa, TN area

• Feb 11 - Walk thru the Bible Old Testament seminar - Bethesda Full Gospel Tabernacle, Tonawanda, NY

• Feb 18 - MAD Live Event - Vonore Baptist Church, Vonore, TN

• Feb 19 - MAD Live Event - Christ Alive Church, Newton, NC

• Feb 25 - MAD Live Event - First United Methodist Church, Cherryville, NC

PRAYER REQUESTS

Thank you for your continued prayers regarding our schedule. As you can see, God is at work answering them! There are some incredible doors being opened. Please pray for the requests below:

• That God will use the thousands of views of the Pocket Testament League’s Facebook Live Event with me to open MANY doors of ministry for us in 2017 and beyond.

• For wisdom and guidance as we have our annual Board Meeting December 3rd.

• For continued healing of my left knee and in addition, my right leg. I have been having pain in the right leg, caused by limping and favoring the left leg for 6 months. The pain has been in the socket and down into the quadriceps muscle. I have a difficult time standing or walking for any period of time because of the pain.

• Cathy has been having pain in both feet. Please pray for healing for her as well.

• For God’s wisdom and guidance as we need to create some contracts for people who may be helping with the ministry. We want to protect the intellectual properties of the ministry and every person involved. See below:

o For the Lord’s Guidance as we have someone who wants to teach the MAD Live Event in Spanish speaking churches.

o For a great turn out for our first MAD event on the west coast. The MAD training we’re doing on January 7th is supposed to have representation from 65 Nazarene churches. Doors could be opening up for many MAD Live Events to be done in California.

o I will be doing the MAD Live Event for 79 SBC Pastors in TN on February 2nd. This could open the doors for us to teach in each of these churches.

• For our schedule. We continue to work to fill 2017!

Love in Christ,

Cathy and Don

Last MAD Live Event of 2016

Today was my last MAD Event of 2016. I was blessed to be doing it right in my hometown of Jonesborough. We had 63 people attend and 2 people gave their lives to Christ! Praise the Lord!

Misplaced calf leads to sharing Christ

Today I dropped a bunch of flattened boxes off at the local dump. I took the backroads from there to Best Buy to pick up Cathy's desktop computer. On the way I saw a young black angus calf on the shoulder of the road next to a barbed wire fenced in area. I was concerned the little guy would wonder into the road and get filet'd. So I turned the car around and went back. He didn't care for my presence and he was wondering around the fenced in area trying to find a way back inside. I stopped at the house above the cattle and no one answered the door. The driveway to the house was shared by a home way up the hill. So I drove up there and knocked at the door. A lady named Debbie came to the door and I asked if she had anything to do with the cattle at the bottom of her driveway. She said, "Yes!" I told her what I had seen and she got in her car and hurried down the hill. Her Mom pulled into the driveway as she got out of the car and started walking towards the cattle. They quickly moved away from her and the little guys somehow got under the single strand of electrified barbed wire and went back inside the fence in area. Debbie and her Mom thanked me over and over for taking the time to stop and let them know what was happening with the calf. I asked if I could share something with them and they agreed. I gave each of them a Gospel of John with the plan of salvation in the front, shared Christ with them and the agreed to read it.

Ministry in our backyard

I was honored to bring the message last night at the Lighthouse Missionary Baptist Church in Jonesborough. I met a number of loving, wonderful brothers and sisters in the Lord there. I will be there next Sunday doing the final MAD Live Event of 2016. I am looking forward to sharing what God has taught me over th years.

Ministry in Columbia, SC this weekend

I had a wonderful time doing the MAD Live Event for the folks at The Harvest in Columbia, SC on Saturday. 50 people attended. Pastor Aaron and the congregation were so loving, supportive, and responsive. They were a huge blessing to me. We praise the Lord for 5 new followers of Jesus Christ! I was also blessed to preach on Sunday morning.

2 Divine Appointments Today

This morning I returned my rental car and was driven home by a nice young man named JP. I had some spiritual conversations with him before but this time we got down to the “guts” of the Gospel. In the course of conversation he told me that he had prayed a prayer twice, and thought he was a Christian, but he had never repented. He had some doubts about the Bible after watching some “documentaries” on cable stations. It didn’t help that he had a Muslim roommate who also beat up on the Bible. I shared with him how he could be confident that the Bible is the Word of God, a supernatural book, and explained the plan of salvation to him. I also asked if I could pray for him and he let me lay my hand on his shoulder and pray for his salvation. JP told me that he wanted to pick me up the next time I needed a ride so we could talk some more. That will be Thursday. I gave him 2 booklets to read and he indicated he wants to come to the Bible study that I plan on doing. Praise God! I have a little mission field with most of the Enterprise staff here!

This evening I went to Buffalo Wild Wings in Johnson City to pick up some dinner to go. Tuesday is half price day on wings. About 7 young ladies were standing around the register. They were all waitresses. One of them engaged me in a conversation and asked how my Halloween was and I replied, “Not great”. She asked, “Why?” I told her that I was returning from a long trip to Rochester and Buffalo, NY. Her name was Erica and she asked what I was doing up there. I told her that I spoke at a men’s conference on Saturday and taught in a church in Lockport on Sunday. Erica asked me what I taught and I told her, “Lifestyle Evangelism”. She said, “I’m from upstate NY!” I asked, “Where?” She said, “Alfred”. I told her that I knew exactly where that was because I lived in the Finger Lakes and worked for Family Life. She got all excited and told me that she had listened to the station from time to time. I asked where she went to church. She told me that she went to Alfred Almond Bible Church because Pastor Prince’s daughter and her shared the same birthday and were best friends. I told her that I had taught my evangelism training in Pastor Prince's church 9 years ago. I asked how she got to TN. She told me her Dad moved here 3 years ago for work and she is now a freshman at ETSU. I asked where she goes to church now and she told me she doesn’t go at all. I asked her why and she said she heard a guest speaker at Alfred Almond Bible Church who said something that she didn’t like. Basically he just said that anyone who didn’t “believe like he believed” was wrong. I told her that I was confident he was preaching from the Bible and what he was saying was absolute truth. I asked if she was born again and she said, “no”. I asked her why not and she didn’t know why. I asked if I could share something with her and she excitedly said, “Sure!” I pulled a Gospel of John out of my pocket and shared Christ with her. I asked her to read it and she said she would. I gave her my card and emphatically told her that iof she had any questions, she should call me. She agreed. I guess I’ll be going back to Buffalo Wild Wings again soon to follow up.

October Ministry Report

How The Lord Used Us In October of 2016

Hello Partners in Ministry:

Thank you for your prayers and financial support that allows us the privilege of serving Christ full time. Our God is at work and our prayers have been answered as we had an incredible month of ministry. Here’s what our Lord allowed us to do:

• Completed 7 MAD Live Events

• Preached 5 times this month

• Spoke to 168 men at 1 Iron Sharpens Iron Conference in Rochester, NY

• Spoke at the SBC Chilhowee Association’s Annual Convention in Maryville, TN

The Holy Spirit worked in people’s hearts and we were blessed to see 18 people come to faith in Christ in October!

On a personal note, I was released from Physical Therapy on October 18th. I still need to do therapy as the knee is still not 100%, but I won’t have to do it at the therapist’s facility at a cost of $308/week. I can do the exercises on my own. Please continue to pray for healing. Details are listed below in the prayer requests section of our report.

A couple of MAD Grad testimonies to encourage you and praise God for:

“Today, I was able to share my first Pocket New Testament tract. I have a very good Christian friend who is the primary artist for one of DC Comics main comic books. Because he’s my friend, I try to buy all his stuff…support your friends! Anyway, I’ve been visiting a comic book shop in Elmira, NY for well over a year now. Over the time, I’ve become casual friends with the shop owner. Today was one of the rare times when no one else was in the store and I was able to talk to him about what he believes. He immediately started to cry and talked about his upbringing in a Wesleyan church but he confessed he knows he is away from the Lord. We talked for 15-20 minutes and then some folks started entering the store (it’s a busy place). I explained the gospel to him, which he was at least familiar with, and asked him if I could pray with him. He was glad to and wanted to walk out to my car outside. We went outside, I prayed with him, and gave him one of the Pocket New Testaments…one with a cover about “where is my life going?” which is something he’s struggling with right now. He hugged me…twice!...and expressed his thanks. I’m not sure what God is doing in this man’s life, but I know that God is working in this man’s life. I am incredibly thankful for this opportunity today, for this resource, and for your training a couple of weekends ago. Thank you, Don. This is lifestyle evangelism and I want to live the rest of my life like this. Praise the Lord!”

“Hi Don, hope you are well. Sure hope to see you again soon, so much to praise the Lord over. Don, I cant thank you enough for your ministry. It has helped me soooo much to share the Gospel with confidence along with the tracts. I am using them in the prison now and God continues to open more doors for us to witness to. Lets plan an evangelizing ride soon! :)”

NOVEMBER – JANUARY SCHEDULE

• Nov 5 - MAD Live Event - The Harvest, Columbia, SC

• Nov 6 - Preach at both AM Worship Services - The Harvest, Columbia, SC

• Nov 13 - Preach at evening service - Lighthouse Missionary Baptist Church, Jonesborough, TN

• Nov 20 - MAD Live Event - Lighthouse Missionary Baptist Church, Jonesborough, TN

•

• Dec 3 - Annual Don Sunshine Ministries Board Meeting (tentative)

•

• Jan 7 - MAD Live Event - Long Beach Church of the Nazarene, Long Beach, CA

• Jan 14 - MAD Live Event - Trinity of Fairview, Fletcher, NC - with 106.9 The Light

• Jan 15 - Preach at both morning worship services - Calvary Chapel of Knoxville, Knoxville, TN

• Jan 21 - MAD Live Event - Calvary Chapel of Knoxville, Knoxville, TN - with 106.7 The Light

• Jan 22 - MAD Live Event - Trinity Baptist Church, Jonesborough, TN

• Jan 28 - MAD Live Event - Mountain Catawba Missionary Baptist Association, Sherrills Ford, NC

PRAYER REQUESTS

Thank you for your continued prayers regarding our schedule. As you can see, God is at work answering them! There are some incredible doors being opened. Please pray for the requests below:

• For continued healing of my left knee and in addition, my right leg. I have been having pain from the hip socket down to the knee in the right leg, caused by limping and favoring the left leg for 6 months. The pain has been in the socket and down into the quadriceps muscle. I cannot stand for even two worship songs because of the pain. I have been using a stool to teach and I get up and down as necessary.

• Cathy has been having pain in both feet. Please pray for healing for her as well.

• For God’s wisdom and guidance as we need to create some contracts for people who may be helping with the ministry. We want to protect the intellectual properties of the ministry and every person involved. See below:

o For the Lord’s Guidance as we have someone who wants to teach the MAD Live Event in Spanish speaking churches.

o For a great turn out for our first MAD event on the west coast. The MAD training we’re doing on January 7th is supposed to have representation from 65 Nazarene churches. Doors could be opening up for many MAD Live Events to be done in California.

o I will be doing the MAD Live Event for 79 SBC Pastors in TN on February 2nd. This could open the doors for us to teach in each of these churches.

• Pray for our schedule. We continue to work to fill 2017!

Love in Christ,

Cathy and Don

Ministry to end an amazing month

I was in Rochester, NY to display and speak at the Iron Sharpens Iron Conference for men. 168 men chose to attend my session. Many men were touched by what I shared and Lord willing, new doors of ministry will open for us. God gave me 3 Divine appointments on the way up to Rochester and I was able to share the Gospel.

On Sunday I returned to Community Bible Church in Lockport, NY to do another MAD Live Event. 67 people stayed for the entire event and we praise God for one person who gave their life to Jesus Christ!