March - April Prayer letter

Dear Pastor and Praying friends,                                                                                                             April 18, 2012

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.  Ecclesiastes 3:11

We are so thankful that Spring has sprung.  It is such a joy to go outside and feel a cool breeze blowing, hear the birds chirping, see so many beautiful flowers in bloom and smell the fragrance of food cooking on the grill.  Our family sure did our part in contributing to that aroma on Ressurection Sunday.  What a blessed Sunday it was for us.  All of our members were in attendance and several children came as well.    I preached a message that was inspiring to me, if no one else, about the power of Christ and His resurrection.  After the service we had several activities for the children and their families including a scavenger hunt,  Peter and Paul relay race, and family photos. When that was finished we gave all who attended “Ressurection bags” filled with treats and trinkets. What a blessing to know we serve a risen Savior!

I am also happy to report that we have detected some spiritual growth amongst our members and to share the story about the salvation of a precious seventy-eight year old woman  by the name of Bobbie Jean.    As we began visitation we asked the Lord to send us to someone who was hungry for the Gospel.  My wife visited her home and she almost begged her to stay and talk for a while.  My wife asked her the question that we so often ask those we visit, “If you died today are you sure you would wake up in Heaven?”.   Her husband died just last October and Mrs. Bobbie began to cry and comment that she prayed everyday that God would show her how she could know that she would be in Heaven with her husband when she died.  By the answers she gave to our questions we detected a Church of Christ background.  Sure enough she said she had attended a Church of Christ just down the road before her husband died.  To make a long story short, she confessed that she was lost and on her way to Hell; but wanted to ask Jesus to save her soul and take her to Heaven.  She prayed to receive Christ and was saved that very night!  What a blessing!!!  I am not sure if her husband is in Heaven or not; but I am so glad that Mrs. Bobbie now knows that she will wake up in Heaven when that time comes.

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.  John 3:5-7

We truly have sensed the Lord’s presence with us this year and praise Him for His provision and blessings.  We hope you are having a blessed year as well and want to thank you for your prayers and financial support. 

In His service,

Pastor Raymond Beckles

One of our faithful ladies and her girls

Scavenger hunt items - none of the teams were able to find the donut!

Two of our teams of Peter/Mary - Martha/Johns waiting to be tagged to race to the grave.  P.S.  Peter and Mary won!

Scavenger hunt in the last ten seconds.

Some still searching during the scavenger hunt.  I think Aaliyah is just running for the fun of it.

Another one of our families

Nursing Home Ministries

One of the joys of our week is going to the Care homes in our community.  In Newport there are two.  One my wife goes to weekly to read scripture and sing to the residents.  On occasion I preach there also.  The other our whole family attends.  I preach, Tinyla plays and sings, and the girls provide entertainment and therapy for everyone.  Here are a few photos from one of the facilities.

This week the nurse asked Aaliyah to favor them with a special.  She sang "Jesus Loves Me."  I was surprised that she sang all of verse one and the Chorus.  I didn't know she knew it that well.  Children are truly a blessing from the Lord.

January-February Prayer letter

28 February 2012

Dear Pastor and Praying Friends,

“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord” Psalm 122:1           

We are excited to begin a new year in the ministry here in Newport, Arkansas.  Recently our church had its first ever conference entitled the “Faith, Love, and Family Conference”.  The purpose of this conference was to provide the people in our community and around us with sound biblical teaching about Faith in the Lord, Love for Christ and others, and proper relationships with those in our family.  Pastor Ted Patterson began the conference and Pastor Clenton Patterson closed it out.  Several local people visited as well as others from other Independent Baptist Churches in neighboring cities.  The preaching was great as well as the music and fellowship.  We consider our first meeting a success and look forward to next year’s Faith, Love and Family Conference.

The Saturday after the conference I was invited to preach at a youth rally in a neighboring town. I intended only to bring a few children with me; but ended up with a van FULL of children and even a couple of parents.  What a blessed time we had.

The next day,  Sunday,  was our church’s five year anniversary!  Although our family has only been here for just shy of two years; it is exciting to celebrate Lighthouse Baptist Church of Newport’s fifth year in existence.  I preach to our people all the time that every Sunday the doors are opened at this church it is a victory over the devil. Well, on our anniversary service we had over 70 people in attendance! (It’s more of a victory when people come, Amen!?!)  Our van was FULLY loaded with children who wanted to come and help us eat...(oops) I mean celebrate the church’s special day.  When you have services in which every seat is filled it gives you a glimpse of what the Lord desires and can do in this ministry.  Some day our “due season” will appear and the pews of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Newport will be full every Sunday; but until then we will continue to work and pray.  We don’t want to rush the Lord; but we are praying that day appears soon! Either way, we praise God for the opportunity to be involved in this ministry.

Prayer requests:

We want to thank the Lord for the vast improvement of the health of one of our charter members.  You may remember the young lady we have mentioned in letters past who suffered kidney failure.  She also has diabetes and lost most of her vision; but her vision seems to be improving all the time.  Please continue to pray for her and her family.  We are also asking the Lord for a house for our family to move into this year. Please pray with us for the Lord’s guidance and direction regarding a home.  One last thing we would ask you to join with us in prayer about is safety as we travel to various churches in an effort to raise more support for the ministry.  Thank the Lord for his safety and provision, thus far; but we ask that it would continue.  Thank you for your prayers and monthly financial support.  God Bless You. 

Until next time,

Pastor Raymond Beckles

October, November Prayer Letter

25 November 2011

Dear Pastor and Church Family,

            We hope you had a very happy and thankful Thanksgiving!  We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Lord for His goodness to us.  What a great God we serve!!!  These past two months seem to have been a season of blessing for us.  We have seen a number of prayers answered including an increase in our monthly support.  Another answer to prayer that I would especially like to share with you is our children returning to church in great numbers.  Last year when schools closed for Summer break, I think the children thought that the church closed as well.  No matter how much we visited them during the Summer, they just would not return.  Well, last month we planned a big event for them.  Praise the Lord we had a total of 19 people in church that Thursday evening!  They have since continued to come with enthusiasm and are excited about learning Bible verses. 

“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” - Isaiah 55:11

            More great news to share is that we continue to see visitors in church.  A husband visited with his wife and two young children, a single mom visited, and several children visited for the first time.  It’s always a blessing to see the faithful in the crowd; but it’s an added blessing to see others mixed in among them.

            We would also like to thank the Lord for what we believe to be new open doors of opportunity.  For some time now we have been ministering in one of the care home facilities in our area.  This has been a tremendous blessing to them and us.  We have been praying about getting into the other care home facility as well as the orphanage and the prisons.  We thank God that we were able to sing and preach at both care homes on Thanksgiving Day and they invited us to come back!  Now we will be able to minister in both facilities on a regular basis.  We were also able to speak to the owner of the orphanage and it seems that we may be able to minister there as well. Please pray with us about these opportunities.  We would also like to ask you to continue to pray for one of our charter members as her health still needs to improve.  This month alone she has been to the emergency room four times with low blood pressure and extreme nausea.  We have mentioned this family several times before, but we would like to ask you once again to please continue to pray for this young family.

            On a more personal note, for some time my wife was experiencing dizzy spells and mild nausea throughout the day.  We had no clue what was causing them.  We started praying about it and seeking some advice about what could be causing the dizzy spells.   Praise the Lord, we found out that it was fluid on her inner ear.   She took Gingko supplements and both symptoms were gone in a matter of three days.  Isn’t God Good!?!  To wrap things up...we want to thank you for your prayers and financial support that enables us to do all that we do here in Newport, Arkansas.  May the Lord richly bless you this holiday season!

                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                Pastor Raymond Beckles

Dear Pastor and church family,

So much has happened since our last letter that it is hard to know where to begin.  We will start with family news.  Praise the Lord my wife delivered the newest addition to our family on Friday, June 17^th!  We are truly thankful  that little Cassidy Moret Beckles was born safely and she is truly a delight.  The next day we celebrated  the second birthday of our firstborn – Aaliyah LaRae Beckles.  They grow up so fast!  We also celebrated our fifth year of marriage on July 28^th.   We are excited about what God has done in our family and are looking forward to many more years serving Him!

Ephesians 2:20-21 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

The church has also experienced many things.  Our numbers were steadily on the rise and we saw many visitors come; but then we experienced what we believe to be a Satanic attack.  (The Devil doesn’t like it when you are making a difference for Christ.)  Several people in our number experienced life threatening illnesses over the past two months.  Over a span of two weeks one gentleman had a heart attack which led to heart surgery, another gentleman’s right lung collapsed, one lady was hospitalized with pneumonia, another with gall bladder issues which led to it being removed,  and one of our charter members has been in and out of the hospital continually struggling for her life.  We mentioned her family in a previous letter asking for prayer.  We would like to ask you to please continue your prayers.   She is currently out of the hospital; but is continuing dialysis.

     Still, we Praise God for His goodness and that people are continuing to visit the church.  Most recently one gentleman visited our Thursday evening service.  He took great pride in announcing the fact that he possessed nine gifts of the Spirit (to include speaking in tongues and prophecy) and claimed he was a pastor; but he had no church.  After the service I spoke with him and he confided in me that he was shocked to find that many churches in this area believe that once you are saved you are always saved (which is not true, to my knowledge we are one of very few churches  in Newport that believes in the eternal security of the believer).  I replied, “Really, so do we!” .  He looked shocked; but promptly changed the subject.    He spoke of many things; but did not include any scripture to backup any of his beliefs.  This gentleman’s mentality is an example of one of the problems we face with the souls here in Newport. 

     Many of people here know just enough scripture to get themselves thoroughly confused.   They talk in circles and when you ask them if they are saved they say yes; but when you ask them how they KNOW they are saved they have many different responses.  When you show them the Bible way they say… “That’s what I meant.”  Sound familiar? A common trick of the Devil is to keep you confused about the basics, so that you will never grow in the Lord.   We are grateful for the privilege and opportunity to take the Word of God to these dear souls and we are thankful for your part as co-laborer with us through your prayer and support. 

Wishing you God’s best,

Pastor Raymond Beckles

Romans 10:13-14   For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written,”

Special Delivery!

Our Little Bundle of joy has finally arrived!  We are proud to announce the birth of Cassidy M. Beckles.  Born Friday, June 17 at 11:51a.m.  Everyone is doing well.  Thank you for your prayers. 

March - April Prayer letter

Dear Pastor and church family,

These past few months have truly been an adventure for us.  We praise the Lord that we have survived the big storms that came through this area recently.  We experienced severe thunder storms, hail and rain; but no tornados touched down in our immediate area.  There was a family not too far from us who lost their mother and seven year old son. 

            The people in our church have experienced many challenges as well as answers to prayer.  The young family that we mentioned in our last prayer letter have a three year old son who was seriously ill for several weeks.  He had to be medi-flighted to Children’s hospital in Little Rock with double pneumonia and a very low white blood cell count.  He underwent many tests, including a test for leukemia; but we praise the Lord that he made it though and is now back to his old self, with no leukemia! Also,  a young lady in our church recently passed out after visiting her child at school.  It was discovered that she has severely damaged kidneys and the doctors say she will have to be on dialysis for the rest of her life.  This is a faithful family in our church and they-

she, her husband, and two teenage children -  will need a lot of prayer as they face this storm. 

            We praise the Lord that the van has been running for a whole month with no problems!  We would like to ask you to continue to pray that our van runs well as it is a tremendous tool for us to reach our community.   Just last week two young people were saved.  One of whom has been coming for about three weeks.  We went by his home this past Saturday to find that he and his family are moving.  We also recently found that one of our members was seriously considering a big move; but changed her mind at the last minute.   These situations helped us to realize that we may only have a short  time to minister to those who attend our church.  May the Lord help us to make the most of each service.

            Recently we had two pastors come and visit and preach for us.  One of them commented several times about how well behaved the children were and how well they sang.  This was a tremendous blessing to us as well, as they do not always display such good behavior!

            Family News: Our family is doing rather well.  Soon our daughter will be two years old, which is very hard to believe; and my wife is due to deliver our second child on or around June 8^th.  Please pray with us for a safe delivery and a healthy baby.  Thank you for your faithful prayers and support! 

                                                                                    Until next time,

                                                                                    Pastor Raymond Beckles