The last few months have been quite a whirlwind of travel and evangelism and preaching and family and fun. The Lord continues to help us as we attempt great things for our great God and His great name. About a year and a half ago we committed to help with a church planting effort in Watsonville California. At that time we already had a very full calendar of ministry events that stretched two years ahead of us but we really wanted to be involved in establishing new assemblies in North America and the door was wide open in California so we decided to try to fit this ministry into our already busy itinerant schedule…. Well, its been pretty crazy…. exciting but exhausting… For every open spot in our calendar we try to get back to Watsonville to be with the team and to do as much evangelism and discipleship as we can but we've been spread pretty thin and it has been difficult. When in California we live in our travel trailer in the local KOA campground and its a pretty tight space for the five of us :)
Yes, there are only five of us traveling together now…. Amy and I and the three youngest kids, Josiah (18) Mya (15) and Ellia (8). Bria started Emmaus back in August, while Javen and Cullen have already graduated and are beginning to pursue Masters degrees in Psychology and Communications...... Our kids are really growing up fast... Its kind of shocking! In fact, Javen and his fiance, Autumn, are getting married on January 2nd! We look forward to adding Autumn to our family! It's crazy to see our kids growing up, becoming independent and (in Javens case) starting their own families. Most of all we thank the Lord that all of our kids really love the Lord and are walking faithfully with Him!
God has blessed the preaching of His word and it seems that He has used us as we have traveled from place to place in His service. In August I preached 21 times as we went from Eagle Fern Camp near Portland Oregon to Koinania Camp near Santa Cruz California then to Dubuque Iowa where we got Bria set up at Emmaus. Then in September the travels continued as I was preaching in Minneapolis, Jefferson City, Las Vegas and again back in Dubuque. In October we went from Chicago Illinois to Portland Maine to Greenfield Iowa to Shannon Hills North Carolina to Seattle Washington and then back to Dubuque for our annual mass tract distribution on Halloween night. After preaching a few times in various places in Iowa at the beginning of November we made the 30 hour drive back to California, got set up at our camp site and now we've spent most of this month trying to help with the house church here as much as we can.
We have a fantastic team in California and the Lord is really blessing the small assembly that has begun there. As our schedule clears up we hope to be more and more present and more involved with the work in Watsonville. We do have a little bit more craziness planned for the first part of 2023 before we can really focus on California though. Next up on the calendar is Portland Oregon, then Lubbock Texas, then Dubuque Iowa, then Appling Georgia and then Tarapoto Peru. By the month of May we hope to find a house to rent in Watsonville so we can really put all of our focus and energy there. Living and working out of a campground is fun for about two weeks and then you realize that a house would really be a lot better :) Please pray that we might find something suitable for our family and ministry!
MEMORABLE EVANGELISTIC ENCOUNTER #1
Halloween is the best tract distribution day of the year! In the space of about two hours, the Lord brought more than 1500 people right to our door step….. all of them were asking for a treat so we gave them the best treat the world has ever known! Ghosts and demons and even the devil himself came right to us and practically begged us for a gift. Ellia gave them a treat for their tummy and I gave them a treat for their soul.
Going door to door to do tract distribution is generally hard work but every year on October 31st the world actually comes to our door! I hate how Halloween celebrates death and glorifies demons… but I love the opportunity it provides for Christians to get the gospel into the hands of hundreds of people in a very short amount of time!
The day after Halloween Amy and I went to the dentist. While the hygienist was working in my teeth she said: “I took my kids trick or treating last night and I think we went by your place on Grandview where all the crowds of people go from house to house….” I said: “Oh, You did?”
She said: ”Yes, I think you were the one giving out candy with a little Jesus pamphlet.” I said: “Ha! Yep that was me.”
She said: “With all the ghosts and zombies and tombstones, my kids kept asking about what happens after death…. And then we went to your house and you gave them that Jesus thing and ever since they’ve been asking me about God, and heaven and hell.…”
I said: “That’s great! the state of your soul and your eternal destination is pretty much the most important topic there is. I’m glad they’re talking about it.”
The hygienist said: “We’ll, we’re not religious people but your tract got us thinking…. Thanks for giving those things out. We’re going to read through the whole thing tonight as a family.”
MEMORABLE EVANGELISTIC ENCOUNTER #2
Several weeks ago I flew into Las Vegas to spend a few days with eleven brothers in prayer and evangelism. When I arrived the guys that picked me up took me to Dunkin Donuts for a coffee. After coming out of the coffee shop I immediately felt like I should go over and speak with a man that was looking at his phone while sitting on the sidewalk.
I walked up to him and said “Hello, I know that this is kinda weird but I’m a preacher and I just arrived in Las Vegas and I’m trying to get to know the place…… I’m wondering what you’d say is the greatest need in this city?”
He was stunned and said: “I know nothing about God but I think He’s trying to get through to me…. Right now I’m watching a rapper battle on YouTube and I just happened to pick one where this Crip gangster guy is battle-rapping a Christian dood who keeps on countering with Jesus raps…. I never listen to Christian rap but I just randomly clicked on this one and the Jesus freak keeps on responding to the gangster with these God messages….. He’s actually really good and its convicting me….. I was just now thinking that this city needs Jesus….. and then you walked up and asked what I think this city needs most!”
I laughed and said “Yeah, God seems to set up these divine appointments for me all of the time :)” ...... We went on to have a great conversation about Jesus.
MEMORABLE EVANGELISTIC ENCOUNTER #3
While here in Watsonville, we had the opportunity to go to the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was amazing! There was an unbelievable display of marine life….. and it all seemed to scream: “Glory to God!”
There were many marine biologists on hand working to answer questions and give explanations at each display, so I began to talk with them one by one. After thanking them for the great work that they were doing and then commenting on the delicate balance of life in the sea and the amazing complexities of the obvious design all around us I asked them what their thoughts were on evolution vrs creation….. it resulted in several great gospel conversations.
I had one particularly good dialogue was with a young man in his twenties.
I asked him: “As you observe and study all of this fascinating marine life, what’s your conclusion…… Did it all come about through creation or evolution?”
He answered: “Well, I believe in science and science shows us that it all came about by evolution.”
Then I said: “Okay, let me kind of ask the same question from a different angle….. As you look around at this amazing facility where thousands of people come to see these things, what’s your conclusion….. Did this building come together by a builder or did it take millions of years to slowly establish itself here?”
He smiled and answered: “Well, a builder of course…. Okay, you’ve got a good point… I guess it would make sense that there’s a Creator who created everything we see.”
Then I said: “So, my next question is: Do you think there’s an afterlife or do we just cease to exist when we die?”
He said: “Well, if there’s a God who created everything then I guess there’s probably an afterlife.”
I said: “Last question….. if there’s an afterlife then where do you think you’ll spend it? In heaven or in hell?”
He said: “honestly I would probably go to hell if it exists…. I’m sleeping with my girlfriend and getting drunk from time to time and I’m doing a lot of stuff that isn’t right.”
I replied: “Does that concern you?”
He said: “Yes, I want to be right with God if He’s really out there… I’ve started to think about these things lately and…… it’s like God sent you to give me a wake up call.”
I said: “What’s your name?”
He said: “Jonah”
I exclaimed: “What!? ….. That’s a Bible name….. and it’s the minor prophet that comes right before my Bible name…. My name is Micah!”
Jonah said: “Yeah, I grew up in a Christian home and my parents took me to church three times a week… it was never real for me but ever since I moved out I’ve totally abandoned the faith.”
I replied: “You seem to be acting a lot like the Jonah of the Bible…. You’ve been running from Gods will to do your own.”
Jonah answered: “Wow! I guess that’s a good way to put it…… Man, I don’t think it’s by random chance that I met you and that we’re having this conversation….. Did God tell you to come talk to me or something like that?”
We continued with a long and fascinating conversation and it was quite clear that the Lord was working on the heart and conscience of Jonah.
Missions quote for the day by Nina Gunter: "If you take missions out of the Bible, you won't have anything left but the two covers"
Micah for the Tuttle's
