June - August Prayer Letter

Dear Pastor and Praying Friends,

Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.   Acts 2:47

I have much to share with you as it has been a while since our last letter.  I want to begin by thanking all of you who support us faithfully with your prayers, as well as financially! We  always ask for your prayers regarding our church's spiritual and numerical growth. We are happy to report that we are seeing both happen. 

In the middle of July,  our family went on vacation to California to visit family.  I never realize how much I need a vacation until I am leaving for vacation! We had a wonderful time of rest, relaxation, and renewal.  It was the first time for some of our family to meet our little Rayanna.  You can believe that the grandparents and grandkids thoroughly enjoyed one another; but their parents enjoyed having time alone together even more!

Once we returned home to Newport, we were greatly encouraged by how things went in the church while we were away.  Our people handled every aspect of the services themselves.  We even received reports from people in town who visited  that the service was a blessing to them.  We continue to see the hand of God in our services in a unique way since our return.  The first Thursday evening service we held in August we had about 15 visitors!  Most of whom have since returned.  Several of them have made professions of faith after our Sunday morning services.  We are scheduled to have a baptismal service next Sunday. What a blessing! PLEASE, keep these new believers lifted up in prayer! We can really see a hunger and thirst for righteousness in some of them.

Family news

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

                                                  Psalm 127:3

We have had an exciting year; but these past few months have been packed with events -  vacation, three birthdays, our wedding anniversary, stomach viruses, and  the news that we are to expect baby #5 sometime around March 24th!  God truly has been good to us.

Prayer requests:

1.  Our church to continue to experience spiritual and numerical growth.

2.  Favor in our community.

3.  Wisdom and finances to pay off the churches Mortgage supernaturally.

4.  Continued health and safety for our family.

Thanks again for your faithful prayers and support!

In His Service,

Pastor Raymond Beckles

Lighthouse Baptist church

Newport, Arkansas

March-April Prayer Letter

Dear Pastor and Praying Friends,

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.            -Romans 1:17

We are thankful for the change in seasons once again, but we have reason to be more thankful this season especially.  Recently, severe storms ( complete with tornados, hail, flooding, and winds blowing up to 60 mph) have swept through our area.  Several buildings were damaged.  A few had their roofs blown off their apartments.  Telephone poles were snapped in two along our street.  Several neighborhoods were without power for up to five days. One gentleman just down the road from our church and home experienced a huge tree branch...and I do mean HUGE, fall onto and completely total his truck.  We praise the Lord that other than a few panels of siding being blown off, three days without power, and the loss of our church sign; we suffered minimal damage.

Our Church Family

Some of our members have been going through storms of their own.  Please join me in praying that these storms will be a source of growth for them.  One of our members, in particular, recently took in his aging mother.  She lived with him for about two months or so and came to church with him regularly.  She passed away in her bed on a Thursday morning. He thoroughly enjoyed caring for her and we enjoyed her presence in the services. She will be sorely missed.

One highlight I want to share with you is the success of our Ressurection service.  Several new families and many children were present.  Two visitors in particular met me at Wal-mart during the week and told me they were coming to my church for Easter.  Well, I've heard that before, and we live in a small town with many large churches where people usually attend where their families attend.  I was tremendously blessed when they both showed up with their relatives in tow!  Every Easter we do a pinata instead of an egg hunt to conclude our services.  Everybody loves it! We have my nieces and nephew here with us and we could tell they had hit a few pinatas during their short lifetimes; but my oldest girl, Aaliyah, had the pleasure of bursting one open this year. She was SO excited! I have decided that next year we will have three pinatas instead of two.  One for the little ones, one for the older kids, and one for the adults!  I heard some faint murmuring from the "grown kids" about not having an opportunity to try and burst a pinata.

I trust that you had a wonderful Ressurection Sunday as well. Praise the Lord that we serve a risen Savior!!!

And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 1 Corinthians 15:17

In His service,

Pastor Raymond Beckles

Lighthouse Baptist church

Newport, Arkansas