Encouragement to Press Forward In The Lord’s Work

By Rich Carmicheal

   At the time of this writing, four of us from the Herald office have just returned from visiting with Brother Adefris Habte who serves as the Herald’s representative in Ethiopia and as the editor of the Amharic version of Herald of His Coming. Adefris is in the U.S. for the Gideons’ International Convention in Louisville, Kentucky and we were blessed to drive there to visit with him for a few hours. We found out while there that his stay in the U.S. is extended for three weeks following the convention and he plans to spend part of that time visiting the Herald staff in Indiana and doing some volunteer work in the Herald office.

    While we were visiting with Adefris, he introduced us to a brother from Eritrea. This brother had been a good friend to Adefris while living in Ethiopia years ago, but had been deported to Eritrea during the fighting between the two countries. After nine years of separation, these two brothers were surprised and blessed to meet one another at the Gideons’ convention, neither knowing the other would be there!

    We showed a copy of Herald of His Coming to this brother from Eritrea and asked if he was acquainted with the paper. He gladly informed us that he was a Herald reader and he shared how he had recently been blessed by the message "Return To Him" (referring to Sammy Tippit’s message "Return To Me" in the July issue). Of course, we could not help but praise the Lord as we heard this testimony of how the Herald is ministering to this brother in Eritrea.

    Adefris shared how he also had been blessed by Brother Tippit’s message and expressed his desire to translate it for the next Amharic Herald. He is eager to work on the translation even during his stay in the U.S. He is also eager to come to the Herald office and help us mail the current Amharic Herald. Although he prepares each new issue in Ethiopia, it is more economical for the copies to be printed in the Herald office and mailed from here rather than from Ethiopia. Therefore, as he completes and sends a new issue to us, we make copies of the 8-page paper, then we mail them to over 3,000 readers (mostly in Ethiopia) through a special mailing service. It just so happens that we are ready to mail a new Amharic edition now and he is looking forward to participating in this part of the process.

    Adefris shared with us how much the believers in Ethiopia need the Herald message (in English and Amharic) and how much they are blessed by it. We are very thankful to the Lord for using the Herald ministry to help strengthen and encourage brothers and sisters in Ethiopia as well as many other Christians worldwide through the various Herald editions!

    All of this serves to remind us of how good it is that we can work together with Herald friends to share revival literature with others. For example, what a great blessing it is to be able to publish and distribute this particular issue of the Herald which focuses on the family. The messages in this issue have the potential to help many readers in their relationships at home as well as with their church families. We are especially glad to include Brother Oliver Price’s message on "Keys To Spiritual Revival In Our Home and Churches" from the Heart-Cry For Revival Conference. This message is hard-hitting and very much needed in many homes and churches. Would you please join us in praying that the Lord will use this message, as well as this entire issue, to bring repentance, restoration and revival into many homes and churches?

The Importance of Your Ministry

    The outreach of the Herald ministry is, of course, very dependent on the prayers of friends such as you as well as on your encouragement and financial gifts. We thank all of you who are already providing support to Herald of His Coming and we invite others to join with us in this ministry’s outreach.

    In a recent thank-you letter to Herald donors, I shared some comments from Richard Owen Roberts that I would now like to pass on to all Herald readers. These comments further illustrate how important your efforts are in ministering to others. Brother Roberts, who has passionately sought the Lord for revival for many years, writes:

    "...We were all sobered with the events of 9/11 and some of us had strong hopes that it might lead our nation to its knees—seeking the face of God. Clearly that has not happened! Indeed, I fear that we have turned even farther away from Him. It appears to me that the slight yearning for God’s coming in revival that was visible prior to the terrorists’ attack is even less visible today. Oh, how I hope I am wrong in this! But that is how it appears to me. This means that those of us who do care must care all the more, and those of us who pray must pray even more fervently...."

    Friends, this is such an important time for the Lord’s people to care and to pray all the more. As evil presses in on every side, the Church needs to press forward with the gospel message! This is not a time to shrink back but a time to be "...stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:58). We commend you for any ministry you are doing on the Lord’s behalf at this critical time including any help you are giving to Herald of His Coming and other ministries.