MINISTRY UPDATE – Winter 2004

Greetings…precious saints of the most high God!  Whether you are a prayer warrior on behalf of this outreach, a financial supporter, a testifier, a prisoner, or a child of God who subscribes to receive our Weekly Ministry Encourager…we bring good tidings of peace and joy to you this Holiday Season!  We hope you have fought the good fight of faith in whatever trials and testings that came your way over the last 12 months, and that your resolve is strong and certain in your desire to be used of the Lord even more than ever before as we approach a new year. 

The Precious Testimonies ministry continues to be used of the Lord and we thank Him for the opportunity to be a part of it.  More importantly, we thank God for giving us you to help undergird us.  We can never express enough our appreciation to God and to you for playing the part you play in helping us reach souls for Jesus Christ.  Seeds of God’s truth are being planted and watered in the minds of the unsaved, and a number of people have given their lives to Christ this year because of words someone shared.  In addition to God directing our efforts in seeking the lost, a number of war-weary saints around the globe have contacted us though the website, and we keep them on our prayer list in helping them work through all the struggles they face in walking out their call.  It is always so good to hear from them from time to time, because though we may never get to meet them until we get to heaven…they are as special to us as they are to God, because they are members of His Body, in the Army of God.   

Kathleen and I ended our special time with the brothers in Ionia Deerfield Correctional Facility mid-summer, and do we ever miss them!  If it be God’s will, we sure would love to have an opportunity to go back in the future and be with the brothers there again.  There is a lot of excellent ministry going on there, so we are thankful that there are places for the brothers to be discipled and taught the Word of God and to be encouraged. 

God continues to use us in the Carson City Boyer Road Correctional Facility under the umbrella of Alpha Prison Ministries (616-538-4090) and a sizeable shakeup is taking place there at Carson right now.  Many of the brothers we had priceless bonding with over the last few years are being relocated throughout the state, and though that is difficult for many of the brothers to leave fellow brothers they’ve bonded with, they also realize God is re-positioning them in places they are needed to touch others.  New brothers will be coming into the ministry, so new friendships will be established.   Some of the most precious souls we’ve met in the Body of Christ come from driving three hours on Monday evenings to minister there, and be ministered to...by those brothers in Carson.  Thank you, guys, for making our visits there so rewarding as they have always been!

On Tuesday nights we are beyond blessed to be with the brothers in Muskegon at the Westshoreline Correctional Facility under the umbrella of Prison Fellowship International.  (www.prisonfellowship.com).  Talk about some mighty soldiers of the Lord!  There are guys in our group that could teach, preach, pray and praise most of us volunteers under the table!   Saints...you may not realize it, but as we go into minister encouragement to the brothers – it seems like the brothers end up encouraging us more than we sometimes encourage them!  True it is: “Give love and encouragement, and it will be given back to you.”   

That’s the way it goes for most of us volunteers who God calls to go into the prison setting.  We go to be used of the Lord to somehow encourage the brothers there, ONLY to find that we probably need encouragement often-times more than they…and God uses them to end up encouraging us the more so!  The Lord is so good, Amen? 

If any of you reading this are struggling with wanting to be used of the Lord and can’t seem to find a place to be used, we can’t encourage you enough to seek the Lord about being used in some capacity to minister to the men and women behind prisons walls (and of course their families).  We realize most won’t be called to actually go into the prisons like we are, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be used.  Crossroad Bible Institute headquartered in Grandville, Michigan has one of the most fruitful Bible discipleship ministries available to prisoners in the entire U.S. as well as around the world.  Crossroad is in constant need of Christians who will disciple prisoners through the mail on a one-to-one basis under a very strict set of guidelines to protect those volunteers.  If you’re at all curious, give them a call, or stop in at the headquarters.  They’ll gladly give you a tour.  Their number is:  616-530-1300.

Prison Fellowship is always in need of volunteers to not only go into prisons across the U.S. and around the world, but to help minister to the families of prisoners on the outside through Angel Tree and other ways.  Please call your nearest Prison Fellowship Office and inquire as to how you might be used.

In most localities across the country there are those who simply go into prisons by themselves to minister, or work with local churches in one capacity or another in reaching out to prisoners and families of prisoners.  If nothing like that is going on in your church, perhaps you might go to your overseers and seek their blessing as to how you might be used to pioneer an outreach from scratch.  I know in the local church Kathleen and I fellowship at (Grandville Christian Fellowship), Shilah Richards has pioneered a card ministry where she works diligently to get others in the church to help send cards to prisoners across the country who otherwise never get a card from anyone.  The letters of appreciation that come back from the prisoners from her simple act of caring thrills the soul.  For most of us outside of prison walls … we can’t fathom the level of isolation and rejection many prisoners feel, especially at this time of year.  A Christmas card from anyone is like getting a card directly from heaven with Jesus as the sender.  Jesus promised in a paraphrased manner that if we send a prisoner a cup of cold water in the name of the Lord, we are literally sending that cup of cold water to the Creator of the universe in heaven…and it shall not be forgotten about when we stand before God and are rewarded for the acts of kindness we did while down here on earth.  No act of kindness to those behind prison walls or their families will go unnoticed in heaven or will it get forgotten about in light of eternity.  Scripture promises us this.

Places for Christian prisoners to readjust as they are released once again into society are needed so badly.   Prisoners face obstacles of all sorts in finding a safe environment to get established again, and finding a job.  Anything you can personally do to help – anything you can do to get your local Church to help in connecting with prisoners once they are released will not go unnoticed in heaven.  Handing a prisoner a cup of cold water the day he or she steps outside of prison walls might well be a lake of joy for you on the day God rewards His saints for their faithfulness of taking care of His fellow brothers and sisters in Christ on earth.

On a more personal note, I have battled lower back problems off and on for years from wear and tear on my back while employed at the phone company, and although I took early retirement from there a couple of years ago, this last year the pain has intensified greatly.  If I have gotten a quality night’s sleep the last several months it is like dying and going to heaven – almost.  As this is being written, I’m waiting for my doctor to get back to me with MRI results and see whether God would have me go under “the knife.”  I would rather God do a miracle healing, but the back surgeon may end up being God’s “miracle worker” I realize.  We appreciate your prayers greatly that God will lead us in what I’m to do about my back problem.

We have started helping distribute Words of Hope booklets in restaurants and stores in the Western Michigan area.  The Words of Hope publication is sent to prisoners free of charge, and because of their willingness to reach out to prisoners this way (which is a very costly endeavor, we might mention, for their ministry), we feel to help the publisher of Words of Hope every way we are able.  If you subscribe to Words of Hope, we hope you support them generously with your finances and prayers.  Their publication ministers to a lot of discouraged brothers and sisters behind prison walls, and often end up in the hands of the unsaved.   Once they are in prison, they are there to stay until the end of time.  Letters come into their ministry frequency from prisoners sharing how God has used their publication to bless them.  Likewise, it also touches numerous people who pick them up at a restaurant or a grocery store.

We’ll see how God leads in the future, but I would personally love to help place the Words of Hope publication in restaurants and stores in other parts of the U.S. where they aren’t available now.  I think it’s a great outreach resource, as are the Today and Our Daily Bread publications.        

For those of you who are signed up to receive our Weekly E-Mail Ministry Encourager  (we so wish we had the funds and laborers to send these weekly encouragers to prisoners as well, but we simply don’t have enough funds at this time, though we know certain ones of you print these words of encouragement off your computer and send them to prisoners yourselves…and we thank you so much for doing so!) …The Lord has us working on a special edition that will soon be going out on our E-Mail list.  A precious brother in the Lord, Cal Aldrink, who has been used in prison ministry outreach for years now around the globe…recently has gone through a very difficult trial of his own (now paralyzed from the upper chest down through a “freak accident,” with a broken neck, shoulder, sternum, all along with broken ribs).  I believe God has given me some valuable insights to tie into this tragic mishap and brother Cal’s suffering for the cause of Jesus Christ, so be looking forward to that in your email in the days ahead.  It seems like the trials are increasing in faithful brothers and sisters on the front line for Jesus, and we must never be unprepared should God allow a “Job encounter” to visit our own personal doorsteps like Cal and his wife, Diana, and their family are now faced to deal with.  The special upcoming Encourager addresses such a possibility.

We are pioneering something new to reach out beyond what the ministry PT website is currently doing in seeking out the lost.  Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation goes out to Service Screen Corporation of Jenison, Michigan and their PCFrog Internet Division (www.pcfrog.com)  for helping us launch a new website domain:  www.is-god-real.com.  If you have Internet capability, we encourage to you to click on it and pray about sending us a condensed version of a moment in time when God revealed Himself mightily to you.  We are believing that this will draw more seekers of God to our primary domain: www.precious-testimonies.com…yet we know your prayers and God’s blessing are much needed in pioneering additional ways like this to reach the lost.   The Internet can reach an ocean of people…but God has to bring the fish to the food we are offering. That takes great patience with enduring, steadfast faith, with the prayers and support of God’s people, with those with the technical Internet-know-how …working in cooperation with God and his holy angels as we battle together for lost souls down here. 

We also wish to give special thanks to Digistat Corporation: www.digistat.com -- for offering on-going critical technical support since the beginning of our Internet outreach -- in keeping our main PT website in operation.   We also wish to thank the Cable TV Public Access stations for playing our weekly video broadcasts.  Likewise, without the assistance of Standard Computer Systems (616-235-6860) headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Grandville Christian Fellowship Church (616-827-0449), this ministry would not be able to function as it currently does.

We also want to thank each of you who have taken the time to obtain a Meijer Community Rewards Card and sign Precious Testimonies as your ministry of choice.  We also truly appreciate any help you are able to give in asking family and friends to open up an account and make the PT ministry their charity of choice.   This can be a very generous source of funds for the ministry as God moves on the hearts of people to help us in this way, and best of all it is FREE.  Easy steps to sign up are on our website at http://www.precious-testimonies.com/Index/comsupport.htm.  We’ve made paper applications available at various restaurants around the Grand Rapids area as well, but sometimes they can be difficult to find, because of how things can constantly get moved around in places like that.  At any rate, application forms are available at any local Meijer store.  There are various Meijer locations in other states too, so if you have a Meijer store in your area, would you please consider supporting us in this way?  Thank you so much - we are trusting that God's will be done in this area for our ministry too.    

In closing, saints, let’s end this Update with this: 

He who hands or sends a cup of cold water to the thirsty in God anywhere on this planet may have to spend eternity trying to drink from their heavenly LAKE of joy. 

Have a happy and blessed holiday season and a happy new year too as well!  May the God of peace be with you as you continue to faithfully serve and live for Him

So blessed to be in His service,

Norm & Kathleen Rasmussen