Feb 2013 Newsletter

EVERYHOME Taking the Gospel to Every Home

25,000 come to Christ in Egyptian desert!

February 2013 Igor Rogozhnikov

25,000 come to Christ in Egyptian desert!

"There is a lot of bad news with riots and trouble in Egypt but there is good news too with an estimated 25,000 people coming to Christ in the Egyptian desert.

• 6,000 - people attended another similar gathering from different churches in Assiut, a city located six hours south of Cairo

Jesus Christ is still known throughout Egypt. A Christian leader blogs: "Great harvest! The sight of thousands of people proclaiming In early October, 10,000 young people their desire to accept Jesus as Lord and gathered in the desert north of Cairo to Saviour is hard to describe in words. Most sing, pray and worship the Lord. The youth of the attendees were from the Coptic gathering was followed later in the month Orthodox Church, and one of the nights with an even larger event called "Count a Coptic Orthodox priest was the main it Right", a Christian rally which drew 45,000 people. Hundreds of buses brought speaker for the meeting. Have I seen an Orthodox priest preaching from an in people of all ages to the conference evangelical pulpit to such a big crowd of grounds, which also hosted artistic and people before? Never. Attendees were sports activities. But the focus of the event challenged to put their material things like was to present the message of salvation and call people to give their lives to Jesus at cigarettes, drugs, magic charms etc into large baskets that were passed around a time in Egypt when Christians are being throughout the entire stadium. They were persecuted. also urged to write down any sins they Included in the numbers reported by a wished to repent of and also put those in Christian leader are: the bins.

• 45,000 - the number of attendees "On the first night alone, 12 large wicker • 25,000 - estimated number of people baskets were filled with these items. I think who gave their lives to Jesus.

Jesus was present in a similar multitude • 8,000 - cards filled out by people who scene before. This was a powerful symbol requested follow-up visits by churches of a sincere decision they have all made to • 2.3 million - estimated number of people follow Christ." The Christian leader explains: who followed the television on two "We do not have an accurate count or Christian satellite channels for six and a a clear indication of how many people half hours of airing time broadcasted live accepted Christ. Most of the days, more each day to North America, Australia and than half of the people in the stadium stood the Middle East up to pray and repent in response to the • 1,000 - children participating in a special altar call. It was impossible for the ushers program prepared for them and evangelism team to pray with all the people and fill out cards with each one.

• 5,000 - people attended a one-day With this in mind, the estimated number parallel festival in the Coptic Orthodox was 25,000 people who prayed to receive Cave Church, located in Cairo's garbage Christ during the festival. dump

A Christian blogger added "The Holy Spirit is the only One Who has the exact count, though. We are grateful to Him for His great work among us. We are so thankful to God for His protection over this large event and the large number of people who attended.

Grateful for the smooth administration of so many logistics and for the spirit and attitude between all the believers who worked together to make it possible. We are overwhelmed by His goodness and His heart of mercy towards Egypt, and are

expecting more and more signs of revival in the coming days."

Jose Seisdedos the Every Home for Christ Middle East Regional Director visited Egypt from the 14th -17th January to talk with the Christian leadership about visiting every home in Egypt with a gospel message.

Please pray for Egypt and for the right government to be in power and that every home in Egypt should have a gospel message.

Isaiah 19:23-25 "The Egyptians and Assyrians (Northern Iraq) will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third... a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."

Comment: The Egyptians, the Assyrians and the Israelites will worship together. The Bible prophesies that the Gentiles and the Jews would be joined together in one faith, and would be one fold under Christ their shepherd.

Pray that Jesus the shepherd will come soon!

THE FATE OF THE WORLD!

A Tribute to a Nameless Saint

By DICK EASTMAN

Earlier this year, a long-time friend of my wife Dee and me and former Every Home for Christ Board member, Julie LauerLeonardi, went to be with Jesus at the age of 99. Julie was one of the most remarkable and generous EHC partners we have ever had. I was amazed and troubled, however, that Julie’s obituary in the local newspaper contained less than 25 words. It read simply, “Julie Leonardi, 99, died Friday, June 1, 2012, at Valley Manor Care Center. Arrangements are under the direction of Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors.”

went into advancing Christ’s kingdom.

In addition to serving on EHC’s Board of Directors for well over a decade, Julie invested significant financial gifts in EHC’s ministry of taking the Gospel home to home throughout the world.

We’ve calculated that through Julie’s giving, over 14.5 million homes were visited with the Gospel and as many as one million people responded to the Gospel as a result.

What an incredible return on her generous investments! The stories of the lives changed and communities transformed by Julie’s Reading that all-too-brief life summary investing simply cannot be conveyed in a 23reminded me that what really counts in word obituary. She is, indeed, a nameless saint the life of the believer is not how the world whose life altered the fate of multitudes. views our earthly accomplishments, but In this issue of EveryHome, we want to share how God views them. In earthly terms, with you some of the highlights of EHC’s Julie wasn’t famous. Some might view her ministry. as a “nameless saint.” In heaven’s economy, however, Julie was what I would call a We are able to accomplish these victories “soul millionaire.” In the final chapter of because of faithful partners like Julie who my book, Look What God Is Doing!, I quoted realize that investing in eternity is the most Paul Billheimer who wrote, “The fate of the significant investment they can make. world is in the hands of nameless saints.”

Julie’s life reminds me of a similar story I told in How powerfully true this was of Julie Lauermy book Look What God Is Doing! It concerned Leonardi. an elderly bachelor named F. C. Case who Missing from Julie’s 23-word obituary is the lived in the hills of North Carolina. Frank Case fact that God used her to reach hundreds of was not a man of great means, and these days thousands of souls with the Gospel through would most certainly be classified as living her financial giving. (In fact, the ultimate below the poverty line. But that didn’t stop total was probably in the millions!)Julie’s him from being a generous giver. Frank began husband had been a successful financial giving to missions just after joining his church investor who made generous provisions for at the age of 16. Living through the Great the rest of Julie’s life when he passed away Depression, Frank continued giving faithfully some four decades ago. Julie continued the even when he earned as little as 50 cents work of investing, but those investments a day. By the end of the Depression, he was

giving ten dollars a month to missions—the equivalent of the price of two months of his food budget. In the 1950s, Frank heard EHC’s founder, Jack McAlister, speaking on a radio program about how Every Home for Christ used gospel literature to reach millions of homes annually, and so Frank sent his initial gift of two dollars to EHC. Over the coming years, Frank’s gifts grew remarkably. It often seemed like he was giving everything he had except a few dollars for food. And by the time Frank died, he had reached eight million people with the Gospel through his giving to EHC. F. C. Case was another nameless saint, hidden away in the hills of Carolina, yet was one whose resources were reaching millions with the Good News of Jesus throughout the earth.

what kind of harvest we will take to heaven when it’s our time to have our obituary written. Imagine the joy of Julie LauerLeonardi and F. C. Case as they rejoice in the presence of God seeing multitudes who are with them in heaven because of their faithful giving. As you read through the stories of salvation in the following pages, remember that these are made possible by the nameless saints who are simply being faithful in their sacrificial giving year after year. As I look back on all that God has done through EHC in 2012, with more than 80 million homes reached with the Gospel and more than 12 million responses, I am delightfully grateful for each of our partners—saints like you who make regular sacrifices to help make all this possible—and I eagerly anticipate that with As we come to the end of another year and your continuing partnership even greater look forward to 2013, it’s a time to reflect on things lie ahead for us in the coming year!

India - Rajasthan In Rajasthan 70% of the people are Muslims with the Christian population only 0.3%The practices of child marriages and men marrying many women still exist here.

I have been in Tonk district for more than 15 years and preach the Good News to many villagers.

Everyday I have to travel 40 kms on rough uneven roads to give the Gospel to them. God has enabled us to form 13 Christ Groups (house churches) through our ministry here. About 210 and worship the Lord. Each Sunday we get 43¢ to members worship in these Christ Groups.

86¢ as offering. How can we expect an offering in It is very hard to work among Bakri people. Their this place when there are no Christians? But God professions are selling dolls and doing household has enabled us to pay rent every month. work.They are illiterate but are experts in robbing.

At present our important need is a small They wear different kinds of clothing. They dwell church. By God's grace,if a church is constructed in hill caves and under trees. Since they do not here, it will be the first church in the district. know how to read, giving tracts to them would We need about Rs. 10 Lakhs ($17,248) to buy not be useful so we teach them songs, show land and build a church. My humble prayer is pictures and tell the Good News. that God would give a burden to somebody There is no church in the Tonk District where I am to come forward individually or collectively to doing ministry. I am conducting a small church in build the church. Please pray for this need and my house . Every Sunday 60 people gather here also pray for the ministry.

Missionary Rakesh Bhagora, Rajasthan

Argentina Prison Ministry!

Can there really be lasting fruit through so simple a strategy as taking a printed gospel message systematically home to home (or even prison cell to cell) to present the claims of Christ to those who have never heard? This story begins in 1983 in a prison in La Plata, Argentina. It continues today in a most remarkable way.

Marcos, an inmate at Penitentiary Unit No. 9, existed with little more than his shadow in a lonely, confined Argentine prison cell. The cell was not the home Marcos had dreamed about as a youth. In that tiny cement cage, hunger, fear and guilt taunted him every night, reminding Marcos, moment by moment, of the events that had brought him to this dreadful place. Little could this young prisoner realise that one day he would be a fiery evangelist winning many souls to Jesus—a person he had never heard of at this time.

in the meeting in Ward Four that afternoon.

So Marcos decided to attend.

Several hours later Marcos nervously walked along a prison corridor toward the meeting room. Suddenly, he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder and turned abruptly to defend himself from some unknown attacker. Such encounters were not unusual here. But immediately Marcos recognized the face of the stranger who had invited him. Now, this “brother” was opening his arms to give Marcos a welcome embrace.

“You came!” said the stranger. Marcos just nodded.

“What’s your name?” asked the inmate. He told him.

“Marcos! What a great joy it is to have you here!”

Marcos tried to utter a few words when the stranger interrupted him:“Hey, guys! Come, come and greet our new friend. All of you come!”

Suddenly even more “brothers” came up, surrounding and greeting Marcos. They invited him to sit down and share in what they called a special “service.” Marcos never attended church, and wondered what a “service” consisted of. He was told this was a special meeting where a “preacher” from outside was to visit. Marcos could only nod and wait to see what was about to transpire.

The life of an inmate in Argentina is gruelling. The routine is always the same and the goal is but one: survival. But on that summer day 28 years ago something out of the ordinary took place that altered the course of Marcos’ life. A stranger was standing outside his cell. The visitor’s words caught Marcos’ attention: “God bless you After a few minutes the speaker was brother!” He then handed Marcos an Every introduced. He was EHC National Director Home for Christ gospel booklet through the for Argentina, Rino Bello, who spoke about cell bars. sin, forgiveness, repentance, grace and a Marcos thought, What? How can he be my man named Jesus who raised the curiosity brother? We don’t have brothers here! At of Marcos and touched his heart. It was the least I don’t. The stranger—another inmate first time he heard someone talk about a Marcos had never met—started to walk way he could be saved and about someone away, but turned to say: “Oh, by the way, this who loved him, who was willing to forgive afternoon we have a meeting in Ward Four. his faults and make him “born again.” When See you there!” the preacher asked if anyone wanted to follow Jesus, Marcos did not hesitate for a Marcos was confused. He wondered who moment. He knew this was what he needed. this man was. He then realized he had questions for which he had no answers. He Marcos received Christ as his Saviour in a decided that maybe the answers would be matter of moments.

When the meeting was over, Rino approached Marcos and gave him a Bible.

Marcos didn’t understand the reason for the gift. He didn’t tell the preacher that he couldn’t read or write, but he was very grateful. They immediately engaged in a conversation. Pastor Rino asked him if he had understood the message. Timidly, Marcos answered that it was the first time he had ever heard someone talk about God and His Son Jesus and there was much he didn’t understand.

“You will never forget the words I spoke today. God will keep them in your heart.

What you do not understand now you will understand later. This Bible is the Word of God,” explained the preacher. Marcos wondered how he would ever understand the Bible if he could not read, when the preacher added, “One day rivers of living waters will rain upon you, and in that day you will remember all the words spoken today.” Marcos was intrigued by the authority with which the preacher spoke, and wondered how all this could be.

From that day, Marcos began his personal search to find God. A year passed and Marcos was released from prison. Inwardly he knew God had His hand on his life but as time passed he forgot who the preacher was who had visited the prison. Then, late one night, in a surprise encounter, Marcos received a revelation from the Lord, who whispered in his ear: I am Jesus and I died for you on the cross of Calvary. Today, with my blood I will cleanse all your sins.

Marcos’ eyes were suddenly opened to who Jesus truly was—and is. He still had the Bible the preacher had given him and he searched for it and soon found it. He opened the Bible at random, wishing he had learned to read when he was younger.

And, then, something amazing happened.

The strange words of the Spanish language, all those letters and symbols, suddenly came alive. Marcos could read and

understand each word and sentence clearly, even though he had never had any earthly teacher who taught him to read.

It was somewhat like Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came upon those in the Upper Room and they began speaking in languages they didn’t know. Amazingly, people from surrounding regions understood those worshipers’ words of praise in their unique languages. Only a miracle could have caused that to happen, and only a miracle could cause an illiterate former prisoner to suddenly have the gift of reading as he looked at the pages of the Bible.

Today, Marcos is married to a wonderful wife named Gladys and they have six beautiful children. Marcos actively preaches God’s Word, visiting prisons and churches of his area. The former prisoner-turned-evangelist now clearly understands what it meant when that preacher visited his prison years earlier and prophetically told him:“Rivers of living waters will rain upon you.”

Twenty-eight years later Marcos knew he had to seek out that preacher who had prophesied over him while he was in prison and thank him.

So it was that recently Rino Bello (who has served the EHC vision for 35 years) received a special visitor at the EHC Argentina office in Buenos Aires. It was Marcos, weeping with deep emotion. He shared his full testimony with Rino, including his many years of service for the Lord, and especially his work in prisons.

As Rino later wrote in a report describing Marcos’ testimony, “The Word of God planted 28 years ago has truly produced amazing fruit and is seen beautifully today in this transformed life.” Rino thanked God for bringing this miracle of “fruit that remains” to his attention after 28 long years.

Praise God for those who come to know Jesus and become evangelists for Him!

Solomon Islands

Pray the people will find the truth in the Pacific

The Solomon Islands (pop. 600,000), located southeast of Papua New Guinea, consists of several large volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean. This is a slowly emerging nation whose economic development has been seriously hampered by civil unrest and ethnic tensions between the people of Guadalcanal and Malaita.

Civil war has left the country almost bankrupt. According to the World Bank, it is one of the Pacific region’s poorest countries, having been affected by successive food, fuel and financial crises. It is also one of the most expensive nations on earth in which to live.

After years of inactivity, Every Home for Christ relaunched the work in the Solomon Islands in July 2012. This is a challenging time as ministries like EHC are often perceived with suspicion by existing churches because there are “churches” almost everywhere.

According to EHC’s new National Director Venson Joshua, Operation World lists the Solomon Islands as being 95 percent Christian. However, Joshua maintains that this statistic has proven to be misleading. “There is a huge harvest field here compared with the past ministry coverage,” he says, “and we are discovering that many people we come across do not attend any kind of church at all.” Ancestor worship, witchcraft, sorcery and pagan practices make up at least some of this so-called “Christian” majority.

The plan to reach the Solomon Islands for Christ is a five-year endeavour for Every Home for Christ. When conducting a home-to-home outreach here, workers must consider the remoteness of the 1,000 mountainous and coral atolls that make up the geography of the nation. For example, the distance between the westernmost and easternmost islands is 930 miles.

The goal is to reach approximately 3,000 homes per month with the Gospel, with numbers to increase as more awareness and mobilisation is established.

A prelaunch dinner was attended by 40 pastors and church leaders at which EHC’s Regional Director for Asia-Pacific, Manasa Kolivuso, announced EHC’s return to the islands to an enthusiastic crowd.

Please pray for the work in the Solomon Islands. Kolivuso expects that since most of the early pioneers of the EHC work there are now established pastors, there will be great support among local churches for the efforts to reach every home. Praise God for the eight trained workers already on the ground, who are knocking on doors even to this day presenting the Gospel to those who have not heard.

Every Home for Christ / Every Home Global Concern Australia: PO Box 168 Penshurst NSW 2222 Telephone: (02) 9570 8211 Facsimile: (02) 9570 4738 New Zealand: PO Box 31-260 Milford North Shore City 0741 Telephone: Free call 0800 900 200 Facsimile: 0061 2 9570 4738 www.everyhome.org.au ehc@everyhome.org.au