End of Year Report - Much to praise God for!

End of Year Report - December of 2016

Merry Christmas!

We thank God and praise Him for His blessings on our work for Christ this year. We completed a total of 39 M.A.D. Live Events, equipping about 2,100 people to begin sharing their faith in Christ every day as a lifestyle. At these events, we were also blessed to see 114 people indicate that they had surrendered their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in repentance and faith! At other speaking events, another 6 people gave their lives to Christ. All glory to God!!

We recruited approximately 600 people to join the Pocket Testament League, and just over 19,000 Gospels of John have been ordered this year by all of the 6900 members we have recruited thus far. Lord willing the sharing of these Gospels with people will lead many to salvation.

Here are some of the other ways the Lord used us this year:

Pulpit supply - 5 times

Christian School Chapel Speaker - 1 time

Walk thru the Bible Old Testament seminar - 1

Breakfast/retreat speaker - 4 times

Iron Sharpens Iron Men’s Conference Speaker - 2 times

SBC Association Annual Convention Speaker - 1 Time

Lehigh Valley Care Net 35th Annual Gala Fundraiser Keynote Speaker - 1 time

SOME EXCITING NEWS TO BE PRAYING ABOUT

Lord willing, sometime in early 2017, the MAD Live Event will be translated into Spanish and we have a brother in the Lord who’ll be teaching it in Spanish speaking churches! This is a new door of ministry the Lord is opening up so our Spanish speaking brothers and sisters can now be trained to share their faith in Christ every day. PRAISE GOD! Please be praying that all the pieces come together and this will happen!

FINANCES

Since we began doing this ministry full time in October of 2008, we have been blessed to have a financial supporter who has invested in our ministry faithfully every month. He is also our largest monthly supporter. Recently he advised us that he will no longer be able to support us beginning in January of 2017. His reason was the best reason of all - he is closing his business as God has called him to the mission field! How awesome is that? This very generous man was concerned about how this would impact our ministry for Christ. I assured him that God knew this was going to happen and He would provide. The loss of his monthly support (as large as it is) would be a “blip“ on the support radar. Would prayerfully consider 2 things?

1 - Would you consider a year-end financial gift to support our ongoing work?

2 - Would you consider financially supporting us on a monthly basis? Any regular amount would be a huge blessing to us. Than you for prayerfully considering this!

ULTIMATE ADVENTURE TRIP TO UTAH

We have 8 people confirmed for the 2017 trip and we need several more. If you are interested, please check out the video and flyer on our website and contact me ASAP! Thanks!

JANUARY – MARCH SCHEDULE

• 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

• Mar 11 - MAD Live Event - Living Stone Church, St. Augustine, FL

• Mar 11 - 18 – Daytona Bike Week

• Mar 12- MAD Live Event - Sr. Andrew’s Evangelical Church, Columbia, SC

• Mar 24-26 - Men’s Retreat, Shamong, NJ

• Mar 31 - MAD Live Event – Valley Forge Baptist Academy, Valley Forge, PA

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 for Cathy and me. It’s been 4 months since the surgery and I am still in pain.

• Our first MAD Live Event in CA will happen on January 7th. Please keep this event and travel in your prayers.

• 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

Divine Appointment

I arrived at our hotel before our Annual meeting tomorrow. After unloading the luggage cart I headed to the elevator. A lady got off the elevator just before I reached it and was walking sown the hallway in the same direction I was headed. She had a limp, was walking with a cane, was dragging a rolling suitcase and carrying another bag. I entered the elevator and returned the luggage cart to the lobby. As the elevator doors opened at my floor she was walking past the elevator going in the opposite direction. I commented that I had just seen her walking in the other direction. She then asked if room 327 was in the new direction she was walking and I said, “Yes”! I asked if I could help her carry her bags and she gratefully said, YES”!. I took the rolling suitcase and the bag she was carrying and we walked down the hall. S he said she had just arrived after a 10 hour drive from IL and I told here we had just arrived after a 9 hour drive from TN. We talked a little more and she unlocked the door to her room. I brought the luggage in and set it down. She thanked me again and I left. I had give out the one Gospel I had in my pocket earlier at dinner, but I had more literature in my room. So I retrieved a “One Second After You Die” booklet and returned to her room. I knocked at the door, she answered it and I asked if I could share something with her that had changed my life and eternity. She excitedly agreed and I explained what the booklet was about and asked if she would accept it and read it. She smiled and said, “Yes! This is probably exactly what I need to read after the trip from ‘H’ ‘E’ “Double hockey sticks’. We smiled and sai goodbye. It’s all about God’s timing. It was perfect!

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.