One thing leads to another...

The following is a prayer letter from our friend and fellow laborer, Rick Horne. Rick leads The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI), Chester.

“Prayerless work will never bring in the Kingdom….We seldom enter the closet and shut the door for a season of prayer. Kingdom interests are pressing on us thick and fast and we must pray. Prayerless giving will never evangelize the world.” A. J. Gordon, cited by E. M. Bounds.

Greetings fellow-laborers in God’s mission,

Do you have any idea how many people are being trained by TUMI because of the gifts and time for prayer that you give? Neither do I.  Let me explain by sharing a ministry report from one of the prison TUMI students I’ve had for about five or six courses. His comments follow the course “The Equipping Ministry,” in which both teaching and preaching are addressed. This included attention to the message content, manner of communication, and the character and call of the messenger.

I did my Ministry Project on my block with a group of eight guys over a period of eight weeks. At first the sessions were not so profitable because of certain combative and dissentious attitudes… So I took extra time to address these issues before I could even move forward with my own TUMI Bible studies...but I had to learn how to do it out of love; so as to bring them all together and not cause even more dissention myself.

What is crazy is that all of these passages I was able to adequately teach to my guys, were all past Exegetical Projects that we have studied in the TUMI program. The most amazing thing is that they all became relevant in this particular project, and in this course called “The Equipping Ministry.” All of my past studies have given me the tools to get this group back on track. Then we were all able to move forward with the TUMI curriculum and finish the workbook.

I think that out of all the people in the classes…I am actually the one to learn the most. …I thought about quitting because of this unruly group, and then I realized that I will probably run into the same thing out there on the streets…When I pushed on anyhow, God brought the increase.As a result of this class, now my guys are stepping up and beginning to lead Bible studies in the correct fashion, and attempting to correctly handle the Word of Truth.

Thank you very much for this incredible opportunity.

Did you catch the note that the guys in this brother’s class are now beginning to lead their own studies with these truths in mind? I heard the same testimony this past Tuesday night when members of the city TUMI class were sharing their Ministry Projects. One pastor in the class indicated that he got calls from some of his people after he taught some TUMI content. They had questions from their Bible study groups about the passages he had taught that week. Could he help them?   

Only the Lord knows the hearts into which the seeds of his Word will find lodging and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, eighty or one hundred- fold.  But you, by your giving and praying are helping to plant them. 

Thank you very much for your partnership in this work.

Enjoy Him,

Rick Horne