Dear Friends in Christ,
For over 40 years Mrs. Joyce Yancey has worked for the Wales Goebel Ministry in teaching women’s Bible studies and counseling. Through her Bible studies an evangelistic outreach called Celebration was born and from that a men’s luncheon. These two events are always held as a Christmas outreach, where people bring non-Christian friends or relatives to hear the gospel. Mrs. Yancey, or “Nana” as she has affectionately been called since becoming a grandmother several years ago, has also been used in ministering to many of us on the staff of WGM. Mrs. Yancey experienced some physical problems before Christmas and is convalescing at home. Please pray for this dear saint and her family.
Octavio Samper and I leave February 1st for ten days in Bogota Colombia. We return to the Logos Bible Institute for another module in the program of training men for preaching and church planting. The theme of this module is “Preaching and Spiritual Leadership.” We have three DVDs of Dr. Stephen Olford’s messages on this teaching, which Octavio will translate into Spanish for the hearers. During the other sessions (ten in all) I will be sharing messages, with Octavio translating, dealing with this vital subject. We anticipate that we will have thirty-five men registered for this course. Along with the teaching, there will be opportunities for preaching at Renacer Baptist Church which was planted by Horacio Osorio, one of our staff. This will also include meetings with the leadership of Renacer. Please pray for us in this opportunity for multiplication and training others who will reach many.
God has already answered prayer for the New Year. One of my burdens for 2012 included wanting to see people trained in counseling. Thus far this year we have one committed to the program as part of his seminary requirements and another person prayerfully considering the training. The man who will receive this training also wants to volunteer at the ministry in the area of counseling. This also is an answer to prayer for the future counseling ministry of WGM. Thank you for joining with us in praying about this need. Please continue to pray that God will raise up others for this training.
It has been a blessing to teach a Bible study each Friday at a business in downtown Birmingham. There are seven to eight regulars who attend each week. We eat lunch together and then study the Scripture. Presently we are looking at the life of Abraham from Genesis. Please pray that God will continue to use His word in the lives of each of these men.
Without your prayers and gifts none of the ministries of WGM would continue into the future. Thank you for your help. We say with Paul in Philippians 4:17, “Not that I (we) seek the gift itself, but I (we) seek for the profit which increases to your account.”
In Christ Our Life,
Dr. Jay Jackson
