Siloam Missionary Homes

Make A Difference – Start Where You Are

Yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. Prov. 2:3-5

This passage encouraged my heart today as we plan 2012. Sometimes it feels overwhelming to see what needs to be done and not knowing where to begin. I believe that Jesus, knowing his time was limited here on earth, felt that way at times when he talked to his disciples. “Look, the fields are white unto harvest” and again when he ascended to heaven, “Go into all the world.”

We have many opportunities here at Siloam – the list goes on and on. Every day we are blessed with people who want to get involved in missions and they help us. But, there are so many things we can all do. Some may think, “I am home bound and unable to do physical work. What can I do?” One of them is to pray. How can God use me? I can pray, send a note of encouragement, bake a pie or loaf of bread and share it with my neighbor. Or, something as simple as encouraging the cashier or the waitress who is serving me. Thank them, smile, and tip them. There are so many ways to share Jesus by letting them see Jesus in us.

Prayer is a vital part of my life and today, even though I have meetings and places to go, I have to take the time to pray. So today, my friend, maybe you, too, feel a little bit like me – “where do I begin and what can I do?” PRAY!

Please help me pray today for three national missionaries – Rashad, from Pakistan, Anthony from Czech Republic, and Jimmy Chilpan from Vietnam. They have such needs and their people are being persecuted for their faith.

I pray that you can share the love of God today and make a difference. “Some, having compassion, making a difference.” Help join hands with people at home and around the world. Saying something is one thing, doing something is another. Have a wonderful day and know that you can make a difference right where you are.

 

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MMR 1-28-12

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Men Reaching Men

As a man, have you ever felt the need to share the Gospel with a friend, but didn’t quite know how to? There is a wonderful opportunity coming up on February 4, 2012. A men’s day, entitled Super Saturday Supper.

We encourage you to bring your friends for an event geared toward men, supper, and a clear presentation of the Gospel.

Join us as we hear Ed Malone and Pastor Tad Trindstaff share about the importance of reaching people outside of the church with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

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Grieving the loss of friend and former Board Member, Tom Coble

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that day.” II Tim. 4:7-8

Saturday morning, I received the news that Tom Coble, my friend, had been killed in a plane crash. Tom was a man that was always on the move. He was a great encourager and continually challenged me to do more.

I met Tom many years ago after God called Joyce and me to start Siloam Missionary Homes.  At the time, Tom owned Coble Crane and rented earth moving equipment. I had two men fromMichiganwho had come to do some bulldozing for us, if I could rent the equipment. I heard that Tom rented dozers, so we set out to see him.

When I walked into his office, I saw a magazine that had his picture on the cover, so I knew who to look for. As I waited for Tom to get off the telephone, I looked over at the guys and say, “Pray! I don’t have any idea how much this will cost to rent or if he would consider renting to someone he doesn’t know.”  Tom invited us into his office and wanted to know our story and what we wanted. I asked a few questions and he told the guys to go out in the yard and see if there was anything there they could use.

With the guys out of the room, I asked him what it would cost for us to rent this for a week? He smiled and said, about $3,500. Then I asked him if I could pay this in installments. After a few minutes the guys came in and told him what they needed. He excused himself for a few minutes and left us alone. When he returned, he said, “I will have the equipment on your property in the morning.” He ended up letting us keep the equipment for 3 months at no charge!

From that day until the present, Tom and his wife, Debby, have taken an interest in Siloam Missionary Homes. Tom stretched me and encouraged me to do more for the Lord. “Every missionary needs a home,” he would say. “If they are willing to go, we need to do everything we can to help them.”

In 1999, Tom and Debby paid to build two missionary homes on our campus in honor of his parents, PJ and Donna Coble. They have helped sponsor our weekly radio program, A Place Missionaries Call Home, heard on 14 stations acrossAmerica. He also helped us launch “Mission Magazine Radio.” Tom has served on the Board of Directors of Siloam Missionary Homes and has been a continual advisor.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I saw Tom, Debby, Matt and Ryan at a restaurant and he encouraged me to take Siloam Missionary Homes across America, so that there would be a place for missionaries to stay within a day’s driving anywhere in the US.

Saturday, we met as a Board of Directors and prayed for Tom’s family. My heart aches. I will miss his encouragement. He and Debby were a team and every time something exciting would happen at Siloam, when I called him, he would say, “Wait a minute, I want Debby to hear this.” All Tom ever wanted in return was for me to pray for him and his family.

Today, I am greatly challenged by a man who in his short life touched hundred of people with the Gospel. Because of his and his family’s generosity, many missionaries have been able to reach the world with the Good News, and have had a place to call home at Siloam Missionary Homes.  

I pray today that this will encourage each of you to push harder, so that you can say with the Apostle Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

God bless each of you. I ask that you would pray for this dear family in their time of loss.

Larry George

 

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MMR 1-21-12

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Carrying the Gospel to those who had killed her husband

Missionary widow, Elizabeth Elliot did not leave the mission field, even after her husband, Jim, was killed by the Waodani people. Raising her infant daughter, Valerie,  God had a plan for Elizabeth’s  life and she was willing to follow Him.

Join Valerie as she shares stories about her mother in the jungles of Ecuador, bringing the Gospel to the very men who had speared her husband to death.

To contact Valerie for speaking opportunities, e-mail her at shepmama@gmail.com

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Being Doers Of The Word

James 1:22 says “But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” If you are reading this, then certainly you are familiar with Siloam and know that we depend on you guys to accomplish what our Lord and Savior has laid out before us. This past Saturday (Jan.14th 2012) we were blessed to have Pine Ridge Church (Haw River, NC) and Crosslink Church (Mebane, NC) helping us to take down, organize, and put away Christmas decorations, clean out an old barn (future exercise room), remove and stack metal from barn at Camp Glory, hang drywall in the new house (Rice House). When I think of that, I praise the Lord because there is no way that just the staff here could ever get all of this  done alone. Thank you all for being “Doers,” being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and sacrificially giving of your Saturday. For others that are not sure about how, when, or where that you might be able to help, please call, there are ways that you can be involved.

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MMR 1-14-12

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Martyred at age 28. Was it worth it?

Missionary Jim Elliot believed so strongly that the Waodani (Auca) people of Ecuador needed to hear the Gospel, that he was willing to go. He and four other missionary men attempted to make contact with this tribe, known to be violent and dangerous to outsiders.

The five missionary men were killed on Sunday, January 8, 1956, leaving their wives and children without husband and father.  Valerie Shephard, daughter of Jim Elliot, shares the story of how this happened and how God has been glorified in spite of this tragedy.

If you would like to contact Valerie for speaking engagements, you can reach her at shepmama@gmail.com

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Write on the Pages of Your Book in 2012

This week on “A Place Missionaries Call Home” Joyce and I have the awesome privilege to interview Valerie Elliot Shephard. Her dad was missionary Jim Elliot, martyred by the Auca Indians in Ecuador over 50 years ago. She was only 9 months old when her dad was killed. Her mother, Elizabeth, felt it was God’s will for them to go to these people and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Valerie shared with us how she lived and played among the Indian children. Through God using her mother and others with God’s grace and peace, the Indians came to faith in Jesus Christ. (You can access this radio program by clicking on “Listen to Radio Shows” on right of page. This show will be available to listen to beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 14, 2012.)

 I was thinking about our interview with Valerie as I had my quiet time with the Lord this morning. The God of peace uses us to do His will. Phil. 2:13 says “For it is God who works in you.” Isn’t it wonderful to know that it is God?  The loving God of this universe loves us so much that He wants to use us; He wants us to share in His glory, but He doesn’t force us. I have been greatly challenged by Valerie and her family. I can’t imagine going to the very people that killed my earthly father. But they were led through God’s peace.

 Writer and radio host, Karen Mulder, talked in her weekly radio program recently “Wisdom of the Wounded” about new beginnings for a New Year – starting the New Year fresh, like a new book with no print. Karen’s program was so encouraging to me that I wanted to share part of it with you. I e-mailed her and asked her for permission to share this. I was inspired by her program entitled “Your New Book; Opportunity 2012” where she said, “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” Edith Lovejoy Pierce

 ”Resolve to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment.” — Sydney Smith

“It Depends on Us… Another year lies before us like an unwritten page, an unspent coin, an unwalked road. The pages will read, ‘What treasures will be gained in exchange for time, or what we find along the way, will largely depend on us.’”– Esther Baldwin York

 I pray this year God will use all of us to touch someone around us for Him. I pray that each day God will be able to use me to write a new chapter of my life to be used by Him. Please continue to pray for the missionary families that live here at Siloam Missionary Homes. Many have arrived here tired and need physical and spiritual rest. 

 May God bless each of you as we serve the Lord together – beginning with today.

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Speed Bumps

Weekly updates from the President