Lytle, TX

Lytle is ideally located about 23 miles southwest of San

Lytle UMC

Antonio, so its residents can commute easily to their jobs and enjoy the small town atmosphere, as well as all the attractions of nearby San Antonio.

Lytle was founded in 1882 when a railroad station was established.  It remained a township until 1951 when it became an incorporated city.

Present day Lytle is being called the fastest growing city in Atascosa County.  The current population is estimated at 2,800, but city leaders feel it’s just a matter of time before Lytle’s population soars due to expected developments.  With these new ventures anticipated in the near future and the already added population due to the annexation of Lake Shore Estates, this thriving city typifies its motto, “Lytle – A City on the Grow”.

Lytle, TX is home of Lytle United Methodist Church, where I had the opportunity to speak and present our two hour Basic Evangelism Training Seminar. I outlined the Pray, Learn, Go method we use at Bezeugen and then gave a charge to Lytle to reach the community “As You Go”.
Please pray for our friends in Lytle as they share the Gospel with their community. If you’d be interested in having us speak at your church or do an Basic Evangelism Training Seminar at your church, then please contact me.
I shared a poem called the Letter From Hell which goes like:
One day a woman named Louise fell asleep in her bed and dreamed a very fitful dream. She dreamed that someone in Hell wrote a letter to her, and it was to be delivered to her by a messenger.
The messenger passed between the lakes of burning fire and brimstone that occupies Hell and found his way to the door that would lead him to the outside world.
Louise dreamed that the messenger walked to her house, came inside, and gently but firmly woke Louise. He gave her the message, saying only that a friend had written it to her from Hell.
Louise, in her dream with trembling hands, took the letter and read:
My Friend,
I stand in Judgment now,
And feel that you’re to blame somehow.
Never did you point the way.
You knew the Lord in truth and glory,
But never did you tell the story.
My knowledge then was very dim;
You could have led me safe to Him.
Though we lived together on the earth,
You never told me of the second birth,
And now I stand this day condemned,
Because you failed to mention Him.
You taught me many things, that’s true.
I called you “friend” and trusted you,
But I learn now that it’s too late,
You could have kept me from this fate.
We walked by day and talked by night,
And yet you showed me not the Light.
You let me live, and love, and die,
You knew I’d never live on high.
Yes, I called you “friend” in life,
And trusted you through joy and strife.
And yet on coming to the end,
I cannot, now, call you “My Friend.”
Marsha
After reading the letter, Louise awoke. The dream was still so real in her mind and sweat dropped from her body in pools. She swore she could still smell the acrid smell of brimstone and smoke from her room.
As she contemplated the meaning of her dream, she realized that as a Christian, she had failed in her duty to “go out to all the world and preach the gospel.” As she thought of that, she promised herself that the next day, she would call Marsha and invite her to church with her.
The next morning she called Marsha, and this was the conversation:
“Hello Bill, is Marsha there?”
“Louise, you don’t know?”
“No, Bill, know what?”
“Marsha WAS KILLED LAST NIGHT IN A CAR ACCIDENT. I thought you knew.”
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October Logistics

Here are the suggested verses for the Octonber First Thursday Prayer Meetings

Adoration: Ephesians 1:3

Confession: James 5:16

Thanksgiving: Psalm 75:1

Supplication: Luke 11:9-13

We have two meeting locations at noon on October 4, 2012. One in Carrollton, TX at City Hall and the other at HOBI International in Dallas, TX. If you are unable to make it to either location, then why not have your own prayer meeting at your city hall or place of work.

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September Logistics

Each month we have a First Thursday prayer meeting at Carrollton City Hall (NE corner of Josey and Jackson) and at HOBI International in Dallas. You are welcome to participate at either location or, start your own group in your city. If you’d like to attend the HOBI Texas meeting, then please contact Craig Boswel for security access to the building.

We use the ACTS model for prayer. This months suggested verses are:

  • Adoration: Matthew 6:9
  • Confession: Matthew 6:12
  • Thanksgiving: Matthew 11:25-30
  • Supplication: Matthew 6:10

Thanks for praying for our nation, leaders and revival!

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Dallas Cowboys pre-season outreach

On Saturday night I had the privilege of going out to an outreach at the Dallas Cowboys pre-season game with a group of about30 students of the School of Discipleship and some staff from Gospel of Asia. We parked east of the stadium and walked to the game. The Texas Rangers game was ending as we walked down to the Cowboys stadium. Therefore we were able to hand out tracts to the people leaving the Rangers game as well.

I don’t think that I have ever been to an outreach where I felt like I was in danger of running out of tracts, before the outreach ever began. But honestly that was the feeling while we were standing at the Rangers stadium handing out the tracts. In fact one of the five of our groups never made it to the Cowboys stadium because of handing out all of their tracts at the baseball game.

Our group made it down to the Cowboys stadium and handed out tracts there. We had a couple of one on one conversations with people.

There were at least three people in the School of Discipleship group that had “never done anything like this before”. All three were encouraged and said it was less scary than they thought it would be.

We ended the evening with some great fellowship at Whataburger!

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Door to Door in Carrollton

We have resumed our door to door ministry in Carrollton, TX. We had an organizational meeting last month to discuss the options for reaching the city for Christ. This morning we got back together to discuss some ideas and then we spent about an hour and a half going door to door sharing the Gospel.

We knocked on 23 doors. Only 2 people answered. Those that answered the door got to hear the Gospel! All the doors that did not answer got a door hanger, except for one. Why didn’t that one get a door hanger? Well, there was nothing to hang it from. I’ve never seen a front door like this. Two dead bolts and know door knob! So we left a Gospel tract in the door jam for this owner!

We are now praying about having an Evangelistic Weekend to reach the city for Christ. What we are thinking is to have a Basic Evangelism Training Seminar on a Friday night, go door to door on Saturday morning and then have a park outreach on Saturday afternoon. Please pray with us as we consider the next steps in planning this event.

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Bible Memory App

Got an iPhone?

Want to memorize scripture?

If you answered “yes” to both questions, then check out my friends Bible Memory App, Well Verses Bible Memory Assistant. It has a number of features now and more are in development.

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Trip to Missouri and Illinois

In July, we had the opportunity to travel to Missouri and Illinois for the purpose of doing ministry. I was able to schedule two Basic Evangelism Training Seminars and also was invited to speak at Calvary Community Church in Poplar Bluff, MO.

The trip was originally scheduled because following the death of Brad Aldrich, his widow donated all of his evangelism materials to our ministry. Not being in a position to drop everything and drive to St Louis to pick up the materials, I was able to have Pastor Larry from Litchfield, MO pick up the materials and hold on to them for me. So picking up the materials was purpose number one.

Secondly, following Brad’s death, Pastor Larry asked me if I could come and work with him and his church to equip them for reaching the lost. So we discussed that I could come to pick up the materials and also do some training while I was there.

The week after Christmas, I also received a letter in the mail from

Pastor Shelvie, Carl and Joey (Poplar Bluff, MO)

Pastor Shelvie Stevens at Calvary Community Church in Poplar Bluff, MO. In the letter he indicated that he had members of his church that wanted to join our tract club, but did not have access to the internet. I mailed about 500 tracts up to the church and Pastor gave them out to the members encouraging them to hand them out.  He also put a sign up sheet out for people to join the tract club. I believe at this point, half of the members of this church are now members of the tract club.

I spoke at Calvary Community Church in Poplar Bluff, on Sunday, July 1st. You can listen to the message that I preached online. In this message, I lay out a vision to reach the city of Poplar Bluff with the Gospel. Please have a listen. The message is universal and applies to your town. Just replace “Poplar Bluff” with the name of your city!

After church, there was a nice lunch served. Then after lunch I presented the Basic Evangelism Training Seminar. It was a true blessing to meet so many members of the tract club and to have fellowship there in Poplar Bluff.

Prior to coming to Poplar Bluff, the church had set a goal to hand out 500 Gospel tracts at the Fourth of July parade that was coming up that week. I received a call from the pastor on the evening of the 4th with a report that they had handed out 2,000 tracts! Praise the Lord!

Following the seminar in Poplar Bluff, we drove to Litchfield, MO. On

Carl with Pastor Larry

Monday morning we sorted out the items that were donated to the ministry. In the afternoon, Pastor Larry and I went door to door throughout the neighborhood across the street from the church. With the temperature reaching over 105 that afternoon, we made it to about 20 houses before seeking shelter from the heat. The interesting thing was that the conversation here in this small town were similar to those that we hear in Dallas. We talked to several catholics, a mormon, a twenty something year old with a relativistic belief system and even a lesbian. Between the door to door and going downtown we were able to share the Gospel with about 20 people.

That night I presented the Basic Evangelism Training Seminar there in Litchfield, IL at Faith Lutheran Church. At the seminar someone asked how many people we find to be saved. I told them that in my years of sharing the Gospel with people that I’ve found it to be about 1 in 10 people. Then I recollected the number of people we had talked to just that day. Of the 20, two had professed to be saved based on repentance and faith in Jesus. So it worked out to 1 in 10.

We are open to scheduling more trips to share the Basic Evangelism Training Seminar in other churches around the country and work with other churches on reaching the lost. If you are interested in discussing the possibilities, please contact me.

 

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Logistics for August 2012

Thursday, August 2nd, is the First Thursday of the month and we will be hosting our First Thursday prayer. Join us at one of our locations. Or start your own group at your City Hall or your place of business. We use the ACTS model of prayer. This months suggested verses are:

  • Adoration: Psalm 9:1-2
  • Confession: Daniel 9:4-15
  • Thanksgiving: 2nd Corinthians 2:14-17
  • Supplication: Daniel 9:16-19
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CPmin Gospel Tracts training

Recently, we made a trip to Litchfield, IL to pick up materials from Cross Pollination Ministries that were donated to Bezeugen Ministries. I am still in the process of sorting through all the materials that were received. There will be more BLOG posts in the coming weeks to discuss the rest of the trip and the things that we received by donation.

Among the materials we received were hundreds of CD’s of training that Brad Aldrich had put together. The first of those CD’s is called Gospel Tracts and provides some great insight into ways to use Gospel tracts.  I encourage you to take the time to listen to this training.

As I listened to this training again the other night, I was literally blown away by references to myself on this CD. There are at least three references to me on there.

The first reference is where Brad is talking about “three of us” handing out tracts at the Fort Worth Art Festival. We handed out 3,000 tracts that day. That was actually the first “outreach” that I had ever done. I remember that day well. I remember leaving home with about 100 Gospel tracts thinking that it would be great to hand them all out. After leaving home, I talked to Brad on the phone and he said he was bringing thousands of tracts. I realized then it was a whole other ballgame.

The second reference to me is when Brad is talking about witnessing in a mall.

It was the third reference, however, that truly blew me away. There was a night back around 2005 or 2006 when my wife and I had gone to a minor league baseball game in Frisco. When we came back to the car there was a “Are You a Good Person” Gospel tract on the drivers side window of my car. I looked at it and then saw the web site at the bottom. I thought to myself and mentioned to my wife “I think this must be Brad’s ministry.” I took the tract home, looked up the web site online and sure enough it was Brad’s ministry. I emailed him and got in touch. I think you need to hear the rest in Brad’s own words. So please listen to the Gospel tracts message. Specifically, you will need to listen to tract 8.

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National Day of Prayer photos

Here are some photos from the National Day of Prayer event in Carrollton, TX.

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