As promised in the most recent issue of Hartland Ministry Report, we have posted this interview with Ray deCarlo, ’89. It has been edited for clarity and conciseness. Correction: The June-July 2009 issue ofHartland Ministry Report listed the deCarlo’s website as www.present-truth.org. It should have been printed as www.rjtruthministries.org.

Tell us, how did you come to Hartland?

Well, originally I had a friend of mine give me information about it. I had never heard of Hartland. In the beginning I was considering CUC or Hartland as the options, so I got information on both schools. But I was attracted by the statement of where the school [Hartland] stood in terms of standards and so forth, so that appealed to me. And then of course, obviously, we put it before the Lord, and like all things you need to know God’s will so you have to take a step of faith. My wife and I, we just said, “Look, these certain things have to happen.” As you well know, we had jobs, we had a living, and you know how you just can’t walk away, so we had to have certain things take place, and of course her background is business, and I thought it would be nice if she could come and work and be part of the team while I go to school so she could experience it too, you know, and just make it a family kind of a thing. So, we laid it all before the Lord. Sure enough, one thing led to the next and boom—next thing you know we’re at Hartland.

 

When did you graduate and what major were you?

I came in ’86, graduated in ’89, and I majored in pastoral evangelism. From ’89 to ’92, I taught Bible here, and then in ’92 until the present, I’ve been—Judy and I, we started a ministry called Present Truth Ministries. And the basic gist of the ministry is evangelism, soul-winning. That’s been the major thrust for the last 19 years for us, and, of course, we do revival meetings and camp meetings, and I help Hartland and other places when I can teach or whatever. There are places around the world, various little schools or places that would like to have a little help. So, we try to do as much as we can in that regard, you know, to help people in their areas. And of course we obviously distribute literature to different countries, and tapes and so forth.

I just came back from Cuba last year. We had an evangelistic crusade over there. That was an unbelievable experience. I just received a call from a friend of mine who is working in Cuba. He’s a major contact helping me out there. The Cuban government has shut down all religious visas and won’t allow any kind of meetings to be held, and so for these things they really crack down. That was right after I came, and they made this new law. So we thank God we at least got one campaign in there. Although, my friend just went back to Cuba, and he went on a tourist visa, ‘cause again they won’t let you go under a religious visa. So there’s still a way to do it, but it’s very difficult. But obviously, the evangelism program for us is to meet the people’s needs wherever they may be. So we’re very pleased. We actually had a great response in Cuba. We had I think 30-something people make a decision for baptism. So we were very, very happy.

 

You hinted at miracles that led up to your coming to Hartland and the doors opening. Could you elaborate?

Well, like any endeavor, there are always obstacles. Whether they are big or little, somehow, someway, at least in the individual’s mind, you’ve got to be able to know whether or not God’s calling you in a particular area. And these obstacles, as Sister White says, you know, look, you’ve got to step out in faith, you have to have an element of faith where you can’t necessarily see the end, but you have to do it anyway in order to see where God leads.

One of the big things [was] for [Judy] to get a job here. So that was an obstacle for us. Also, too, my grade point average in high school wasn’t very high, so I wasn’t sure whether they would even accept me or not. So you know, I mean, ‘cause I think in those days the average GPA was like 3.2 or 3.5, something like that. I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was in that range, which is relatively high. I mean, when you’ve got the average student body reaching that level, and I graduated with a 1.7. So you can imagine how far down the totem pole I am! So there were a lot of factors involved. And, of course, as I say, for us we’re married, so we couldn’t live on campus. We had to find housing. You can’t just come down and say, “Okay, now where are we going to live?” So there were a lot of things that came into play. But one by one it just came into line. And so we just said, “Okay. The Lord just worked it out.”

I remember [at first], they told me, “Look, we’re gonna put you on academic probation, which means you can’t get a full load. You take a part load and see if you can handle it. If you can handle that then [we] may increase your load.” So I said, “Yeah, whatever. I understand.”

And this was my first semester – I graduated in ’89, so this is ’86 – and I mean, it is just twisting my mind. There is so much reading, so much homework, etc., and I’d never really been a student. I didn’t care for reading or writing or any of that. You know, what did that mean to me? It’s unfortunate, but that’s how I grew up. So you can imagine; the pressure’s really on. And I was taking Anatomy & Physiology from Dr. Goley. And in those days the medical students would be in the same classes as the Bible students. In other words, the [class] was geared more towards the medical students, not the Bible students. So when you had Dr. Goley or Dr. Blum or maybe some of the nurses teaching the courses, all of these people had degrees, doctorates; they had their masters; you know, they were highly educated. And so they taught it on a level so high that when we Bible students got in there, we had to keep par with the course, or we sunk. And that’s the way it went. You didn’t have two different classes accommodated. It was one class, two groups, but it was geared towards the medical.

So I’m studying for Anatomy and Physiology. I mean, there were words on the list that were so big I couldn’t pronounce them, let alone define them. So I went to him one day because we had a midterm. And it was like a week before or whatever, and I said, “I’m not ready. There’s no way.”

I remember what it was – it was on a Thursday, because it was the last day. You had the weekend off, and then, Monday, here comes the exam. So he says, “Look, I tell you what. Study this weekend. If you come back on Monday and you still feel you’re not ready, I’ll give you more time. I’ll help you out.”

I said, “Okay, that’s fine. That’s fair.” But in my mind, in the back of my mind, I’m thinking, Man, the guy could give me a year. I’m not passing this test! There’s no way I’m passing this test. It’s not going to happen.

So I stuck around. What I did is I planned. I remember what my brother told me years ago, my older brother. He said that when he went to college, he stuck around all the intelligent, brainy kids when it came to test times. So I thought; that’s what I’m going to do. So I found a couple of young kids who were fairly intelligent, a lot smarter than me [sic], that’s for sure. I went with them, and we quizzed each other. So we did it the whole weekend and came back on Monday. I remember cryin’ and thinking, Man, I’m just not ready. So I was determined when I came up Monday to go to Dr. Goley and say, “I can’t make it.” And so as I’m going into class, I’ll never forget, I thought to myself, Ray, what’s the difference? He could give me a month. Yeah, it’s not going to happen. So just take the test and get the pain over with. ‘Cause I would have had aggravation for a week or two, however long he gave me, right? Exactly. So, I took the test. Then I thought, Okay, that’s the end of it.

And then a week or two or however long it took to do the test, he came back, and I passed, passed with a B, 89% or something like that. But the Lord taught me a very important lesson. ‘Cause that was my first semester. I was supposed to be on academic probation, but they gave me a full load. They forgot to tell me. They forgot. It somehow slipped through the cracks. But I know in my heart, from that day forward things changed for me, because I saw the hand of God in this way. If you try your very best, if you really try your very best, no matter what your grade is, then you’ve done the very best that you can do by God’s grace. And from that point forward, my focal point was not grades anymore. My focal point was doing my best, no matter what my grades would be. And that doesn’t mean I’m going to be satisfied with a D. “Oh, well, I’m happy.” No, no, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m going to try. I’m going to really put forth an effort. And God can do miracles.

So from that it just went from one thing to another, from our getting jobs (Judy especially) and being accepted, and all these other things coming into line, it just led from one thing to the next to the next. That’s what I just kept seeing. As a matter of fact, in my second year here at Hartland, they asked me to be a Bible teacher for the academy. And so my second and third year, that’s what I was – an academy Bible teacher. And from that point, when I graduated, Hartland asked me to come and join the Hartland staff. I became the evangelist and revivalist for the school and the teachers. Immediately I was put on the circuit, traveled all over the world in evangelism, and on and on and on and on. It just, it’s a miracle when you look back in life, as I’m looking back now 22 years, and you can just see things taking place in your life, you know, stepping stones, as it were, that the hand of God is there. And I mean, as I said, when I left, and even now in our ministry, you can just see the stepping stones, how God has led along the way.

So one thing I enjoy personally, you know, in any setting, whether it be school, in this case Hartland as a school, you know, any kind of an association you have, it’s the people that really make it. Buildings are buildings, right? There are trees…What is that? Topography is nice, but it doesn’t necessarily make an experience, per se. People make the experience. And no matter where you go in life, there’s good and there’s bad. That’s just a fact of life. There’s no perfect church on this earth. You’re not going to find it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find someone there that’s doing God’s will. And so, it’s always important to try to stay focused, be determined to do God’s will, hang around and try to find those who are doing God’s will, and encourage those who are not. And I just found in my experience over the years that when God leads you to one phase, there’s another hill to climb. And you can look at it in one of two ways. You can look at it as an “Oh no, here we go again, woe is me” kind of a thing, or you can take it and say, “Well, I wonder what’s around the horizon. Something’s got to be there, something even better—if what is around the horizon is greater than what I’m experiencing now, man, let’s go.”

It all depends on your perspective of how you see the providence of God in your life— whether you see the positive or want to be a pessimist and look at the negative elements. And I’m not trying to say that you should be an ostrich, hide, and put your head in the sand. That’s not my point. I’m talking about your perspective of life in terms of a Christian. And hopefully, as a graduate or a student, or a staff at Hartland, or even a Christian in general, they should always have the confidence to know that God will always lead them to a better place, not to a worse place. Our God has a great concern for us. He wants only the best. ‘Cause you know, really, the reason we’re not as successful or as prosperous [as we should be], whether it be financially or morally or spiritually or intellectually, however you want to put it in whatever category, is because we have not allowed the Lord to bring us to that point where He wants us to be. God wants us to be the head, not the tail. So, I don’t know. For me, I really enjoyed my time and my experience.

 

What have been some of your most memorable experiences at Hartland?

Well, for me, I remember—a lot of [what] I remember is the students—a lot of the times with the students themselves that I have been friends with: Ron Patterson and Marc Coleman. These are good friends of mine that I used to hang around at Hartland, you know, students. I think they graduated the year before I did. They were just among the finest Christians you ever wanted to meet. And they really loved the Lord, loved to study, and that kind of naturally would rub off. So it’s a lot of associations. For me, at least, it was the associations of the students, and staff as well, but it was more of the students in regard to those things. I remember various things in terms of the experiences I had with them both. We’d go out and give Bible studies for outreach or whatever we were doing at the time. So I have to say, for me personally, my most memorable moments would be with the students and my experiences with them, both personally and spiritually.

There’s this picture we have in the archives of a student colporteuring group, and you’re in that. In fact, I think it was ’88? How was colporteuring?

Oh, colporteuring! I tell you, you know, I’ve gotten a lot of things in my experience that I’ve done. I’ve been involved in prison ministry, evangelism for 19 years, a teacher for 5 years, both academy and college, and I’ve done missionary work, and so forth and so on and so on. I’ve done a lot of things. But of all of the things I’ve ever done, the toughest in terms of actual ministry is colporteuring. Colporteuring really taught me a lot of valuable lessons, because you’ve got to persevere. I mean, if you don’t persevere in colporteuring, you’re done. And so, it teaches to not let go. Hold on. Maybe the next door. Keep going. Don’t give up. And so colporteuring was a challenge. It really was a challenge. I remember we were down in [the] Virginia Beach region, that area, and not once did I go to the beach, not once the whole summer long. I didn’t go. And it was a blistering summer, too. It was a hot one. And being that close to the beach, I’m amazed I did not go. I’m serious! Looking back at it, I’m AMAZED I didn’t go!

But just to tell you a story, you know, this is how, again, the Lord works. I had to do it, first, for two things. One, you’ve obviously heard of the course requirements for pastoral evangelism. And the other [one] is, of course, I needed money for the school bill. So it was important for me, very, very important, and I didn’t want to…. You know, some people don’t take things serious [sic]. They play around, or whatever. I just couldn’t get into that, because too much was at stake for me.

I was trained by a man by the name of Kent Millard. Yeah, very nice…oh, what a Christian man. Just a wonderful, wonderful man. Well, one time, I remember we were in a home. And I made the sale. And they say that once you make the sale, stop talking. Don’t keep selling, because you’ve already sold it. If you keep talking, you’ll sell yourself right out of it. So, I made the sale. And the gentleman said, “Yeah, I’ll buy it.” So I just kept going. And Kent was sitting on the side, looking at us…. Poor guy, he had to step in, you see. He had to cut it, or I would have lost that sale. So he really helped me out. I’ll never forget that. That was a good experience.

Well, I’ll also tell you what happened. I don’t know how much I sold—I don’t remember. And even at the time when I was selling it, all I was concerned about was getting the books and the literature out into the public so they could get the gospel. But when the summer was over, and all was done; praise God, I was the highest seller. So, I praise the Lord for that. And as I said, you know, I just never would have thought about that because it was so hard for me. It really was a challenge. It was a great blessing. It’s where your motive is, where your focus is. My focus in that regard wasn’t the money. Look, I’m not trying to… it’s not that you’re not concerned, but your focus and your burden is greater than your financial needs. And like I said, in the school, it’s not that you’re not concerned about grades. I mean, everybody—if you got any kind of concern for yourself—wants good grades! But for me it was more important after learning that lesson to do my best, do my very, very best, and God will take care of the rest. And once I did that, things fell into line. Things just fell into line. Not that there weren’t any challenges. Of course there were going to be challenges. But it just changed my whole perspective.

 

How has Hartland prepared you for your ministry after Hartland?

Well, I think for me, when I came to Hartland back in ’86, and looking back at it, I remember thinking at the time, When I just graduate…. You know, Hartland taught me more, at least in those days, because of my associations with the students that I had become acquainted with and staff at that time, which everyone has gone their separate ways for whatever reason, but I mean, it just, I learned more about character, about me. I learned more about me as a person than I did so much about theology. Not that they weren’t teaching theology. Of course they were. But you see, prior to me coming here, I had already studied a lot of these issues. I studied the nature of Christ, the nature of sin, justification, sanctification, 1888, you know, the whole gamut. For me, it just brought me to a level of maturity, because what really helped me was, as I said, my associations with students and staff. And also too, teaching. I had never taught in my life. I didn’t know how to teach. And so here I came to my second year–I’m just in my second year, and they said, “Look, we’d like you to teach academy.” I remember; it was Mrs. Warren Peters. She’s a lovely, lovely woman. Just a God-fearing woman…I’ll never forget her. She was so helpful. This is what I’m talking about. She took me under her wings, she showed me, she said, “Look, we’ll teach you, we’ll help you.” ‘Cause I told them, I said, “Well, look, I don’t know a thing about teaching!” I had no idea! And we sat down, and Mrs. Peters said, “Don’t worry. We’re gonna help you. We’ll help you through it.” And I said, “Okay, if that’s what you want, okay.”

And so, it’s those kinds of things, those little stepping stones, you know, when people come in your life, whether they are students or staff. That’s what helped me. I’m thankful, I’m really thankful for the people who came in my life, very much so. People like Joe Crews and Ron Spear, or Ralph Larson, or Russell Standish, or Doctor Standish, Marshall Grosball, other people. You know, these people came in at the right time for me. This kind of people just took me to another level—they helped me in my life, both spiritually and emotionally and the rest. I just really have profited in that way.

I think that, look, you know, it all depends in some…. Well, I mean, there’s a balance, I understand this. But in life, you get what you want out of it. If you want to make a living, then be determined to do the things that are necessary to make a living. If you want to be successful in life, whatever capacity, the secular world or the spiritual world, whatever, then there are certain things that are required of you. And it’s fundamental principles of life. And so, to me, it was those kinds of things. It was maturity on that level. Not that I didn’t learn my Bible. I learned my Bible, but you know, it’s funny, because I was going to…. My mindset before I came was, I’m gonna come study my Bible. And it’s not that I didn’t do that, but God knew and said, “Look, I’ve gotta teach you something greater right now. There’s some deficiency in your life that’s greater that this, at least at this stage, and you need to learn to develop your character. And it’s not that you don’t learn your Bible, but it’s just that you need to mature. You need to grow up in a different realm than where you are presently.” So that’s what happened. For me, at least. That’s my experience.

 

Can you tell our donors a little bit more about what you’re doing right now?

Well, right now as I said, we’ve been involved in our ministry for 19 years—we’re in our 19^th year. This coming June [2009] will be 20 years since I graduated from Hartland. And so for us, we’ve been doing evangelism for 19 years. That’s been our main focus. Soul-winning is the greatest experience. I’ve gone back and done many, many things. I used to own my own business, I’ve done ministry in various capacities, but nothing is more satisfying than leading someone to Jesus Christ. That is the greatest thrill I’ve ever had in my life. There’s something about…. You know, you can take somebody who’s a drunk or immoral, or whatever, and in a matter of weeks, I mean, it’s a change! And actually change takes place in their life, and you can see the change. And so, when I see that, that’s the most thrilling. So our main thrust has always been evangelism. We do reprint the pioneer Sabbath School quarterlies and make those available, and tapes and series of meetings, and, as I say, we’re concerned with doing the camp meetings and revival meetings [for] people who call us, because there’s such a great dearth among the people of God. And where I can in Hartland or in our other schools that call me: “Please come and help us,” you know, [I teach] a class and so forth. So that’s what we do. We’re very diversified in terms of what we do as a ministry, though very focused in the overall element: soul-winning. It’s all about soul-winning. In other words, everything has to be within that realm. If it’s not that, as far as I’m concerned, we’ve defeated our purpose. What’s the point to preach if you’re not leading people to Christ? So, we try our very best to stay in that realm, to be very focused in our soul-winning.

There are two elements in a ministry such as ours. You preach to the church, and you preach to the world. We understand that. But both of them are soul-winning. Whether it’s giving the straight testimony or whether it’s giving the Three Angels’ Messages to the world, both of them have the element of soul-winning. The Elijah Message is to call people to repentance within the church, leading them to back to the paths of righteousness. The Three Angels’ Messages are to lead the fallen churches back to the path of righteousness in keeping the Sabbath, and so forth and so on. Both of them have the same results. Different messages, but the same results. It’s not a matter of us pontificating and thinking with our…. This is nonsense! It’s a terrible thing that some people do it that way, but I think it’s inappropriate. I don’t believe it’s the right way to go about it. We have a message to give. Let’s stay focused on that message.

It’s the one thing that I feel, too, in our ministry, we’re not gonna get caught up with all these fanciful, sensational things that are being taught out there today. I refuse to do it. I will not allow myself to be caught up in such nonsense. It’s not our message. You know, Sister White says we should stay away from sensationalism and fanaticism and things of this nature. But you look at the work and what do you see? So much of it going on. She says also, we should be very careful that we don’t denounce the government, that we shouldn’t have an anti-government mindset. This doesn’t mean you don’t reveal things about religious liberty and civil liberty. But sometimes you get this mindset that goes on. And we refuse to be involved in that. We will warn the people. We will share with them. We will challenge them. We will appeal to them. But we’re not going to allow ourselves to be instrumental in getting their focus off issues that are essential for salvation. And I tell you this, and I’ve said it so many times in the past years, the main focus is character development. That’s what we should be challenging the people on. Our ministry is determined to challenge the people to get ready for Christ’s coming. And that, there’s only one way to do it – it’s your character. It’s not how much you know. You can know all the little secrets you want about the federal government – it’s not going to help. In and of itself, that doesn’t constitute that you’re a righteous man or a righteous person. It means the fact that–look, I’m not saying we shouldn’t know certain things, but probably some people they’ll want to know every little detail of every little thing that goes on or all the little secrets. Look, this is dangerous! Or this, “the church is Babylon,” or the keeping of the feast days, or whatever they’re teaching. All of this is nothing more than side issues to distract us from the central issue: Am I right with God and my fellow man? Is my life in harmony with God’s will? So we’re determined in our ministry, and we have been, to preach the good old Seventh-day Adventist message.

A number of years ago I was sitting in the office with Dr. Standish. We had issues coming up with self-supporting work—various ministries involved. And issues arose. I won’t have time now to get involved with them, but nonetheless issues arose. And I went to Dr. Standish and said, “It is imperative that”—and I was still working there at Hartland—“It is imperative that we maintain a steady course, that we do not diverge from where we are. We must stay focused and preach the Three Angels’ Messages, and let all these other guys go off on tangents if that’s what they want to do. But Hartland must never do that.” ‘Cause this is what’s going to happen: Years will go by, and when you go through this emotional experience, most people go with the emotional message, the sensational message. But what happens is, years later, people will fall off by the wayside, because you cannot sustain – that’s right – you cannot hold them in their experience. Some will be rescued—not many. Others who were sitting in the valley of decision will come to their senses. And those who were just observing to see what’s going on will finally realize what’s happening. As we say, when the dust settles, then you know. And so you have to wait till the dust settles.

And sure enough, when the dust settles, people will look back over the certain years and say, “You know what, those guys named Dr. Standish, Ray, and whoever else was involved, those fellows may not be the most fanciful preachers, they may not have the fanciest ministries, but I tell you what, they’re preaching the same good old message they’ve always been preaching.” It shows consistency. It shows the fact that we’re not fanatical, that we don’t go into extremism, that we don’t get these latest issues. We’re not into that. I refuse to do that. I just believe that we must stay focused on the mission that God has given us, and that is the preaching of the Elijah Message to the church and the Three Angels’ Messages to the world. That’s our message. Both of them, as I said to you before, both of them basically can be summed up this way: “Prepare to meet thy God.” That’s the essence. As I say, they both have their different twists and turns of content, we know that. I mean, there are similarities, we understand, it’s a crossover, but one is the straight testimony to the church and one is to the world. And so, that’s where I am determined, I will not, by God’s grace, give that up.

Am I the biggest ministry? No. Do I take in the most money? No. Do I have the largest following? I doubt it. But I know this: I’m doing what God is calling me to do. So I don’t need to be the most popular. I don’t need to be the fanciest. I don’t need to have the biggest payroll or whatever the case may be. I know this: if I do God’s will and I do what He has called me to do, God will take care of the rest. Each of us has a part to play. Peter could not do Paul’s job, Barnabas couldn’t do Peter’s job, and John couldn’t do Barnabas’ job. Each of them, even though they’re different, they’re all godly, God-fearing men. No one would dispute the godliness of the men I just listed. Yet each of them had a role to play. Each of them has a piece of the puzzle. We have to find out what piece we are and where we fit in the will of God in regard to the great maze of His will. And when you find that, stay with it unless God directs you in another direction. But at this stage of the game, God has called me here. This is where I’m at, and this is what we’re determined to do.

 

Twenty years after your graduation, you’re teaching two classes this quarter, Pauline and Evangelism. Do you have any comments about that?

Oh, well, I tell you, the teaching’s all…. Well, in terms of… we talked about what’s more exciting – soul winning is the greatest experience, no doubt about it. But right behind that is teaching. There’s just something about it, the interaction with the students, it’s just a wonderful experience. Because, for me personally, as a teacher, it draws me back into the subjects, even though I’ve studied them before. It’s not like I’m ignorant of them. But it just draws me back into it again and takes me deeper to another level of experience spiritually and emotionally with the course. So I’ve enjoyed it. So far I’ve had a great time. I always do. Pauline was a good, good experience.

Actually, I’ll tell you something right now. Every year, God gives me a message, a specific message that will be the theme for the year. I know this sounds kind of maybe a strange thing, but it really does happen. I travel all over this world, but the last several years it seems, particularly in these last couple of years – 4 or 5 years, maybe 6—I would be studying something, not that I’m really looking for something, but I’ll be studying something, and something will click. One time I [was] reading Patriarchs and Prophets about Jeremiah. And I [was] just coming along and I [was] reading through the chapter – and I’ve read it before – but I’m rereading it for my devotions, and something clicks—Jeremiah 30, 31, 32. And so I go back in my Bible and say, “You know; I want to read these chapters.” So I go through it carefully, read it through. Instantly, I’m working up a series of messages. Right off the bat, I’m thinking, There’s a sermon. So that took me through a whole year! It was a theme, a concept, an idea. And it just thrust. It was like the spearhead.

And one year, one time I was sitting in my study. I came across a statement on Isaiah 58 from the servant of the Lord. Wow! That’s a pretty strong statement. So I punch up the computer. I do a lookup on the Spirit of Prophecy, all the statements on Isaiah 58. So I compile them, organize them, put them in order, read them. I think, This is strong stuff! So I go back and read Isaiah 58. So I’m reading through Isaiah 58, and I think, This is a message! So, BOOM! There’s a whole message…a thrust of a series of messages, preaching through that. And on and on and on, it’s like that.

So this year because of Pauline, I’m going…. Of course, I was assigned Romans and Galatians to teach. This class has been divided into three sections: Thessalonians, ‘course I’ve got Galatians and Romans, and Brother Baker got Corinthians. And so I’ve got Romans and Galatians, I’ve preached on that before. It’s not like I haven’t done it before. But going back over it inspired me so much so I thought, This is just where I need to be personally and ministerially. Go back and read Romans and Galatians in a series and that will be my theme for this year – the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So see what happened? I wasn’t looking for it. And it’s very interesting. For the last—I don’t know. It’s been a good number of years. But every year God—I’m not looking for it. —it just comes in my studies or something. It’s as if the Lord’s saying, “OK. That’s what you’re going to tell the people. This is where your focal point’s gonna be. OK, Lord. And so I work up a whole series. So this year that’s where I’m going. I’ve already started. As a matter of fact, I was invited to preach in Charles Town, West Virginia. I’ll preach Galatians. I told them. I said, “Well, I just came back teaching from Romans and Galatians.” I said, “So brace yourself because this is where we’re going.” So it has been a great joy, a great joy.

 

Do you have any words of encouragement for our donors?

Well, I would just say that the number one concern I always tell my donors; I always say, “The one thing you have to do is in your own life, follow the Lord. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Never let go of the dreams and aspirations that God inspires you with. No matter how long or hard it may appear to be to reach those goals, if you stay focused and do God’s will, then you will succeed.” My main encouragement would be to do the Lord’s will. Be focused in those areas, and the Lord will direct you. Always remember this—that God has a work for them to do. Each of us is called for our own responsibility. Not everybody is called to the ministry. We know that. Some are called to do business. In other words, they make money. They know how to make money, and they’re good at that. It’s a talent. And therefore God expects them to be responsible with those means, obviously. We have a work to do. We can all do it by God’s grace and through the gracious means with which they contribute to help us with. I would just say, “Pray and let the Lord lead you,” and He will prosper you spiritually and otherwise.