RHMA Conference

In just a few hours, my husband and I will be on our way to the RHMA Small Town Pastor's Conference in Morton, IL. Tax Season is history...Life resumes!
And blogging ceases...at least for a few days.
Tony Sisk did a partial blog fast a couple of weeks ago, and now I'll see if I can take it cold turkey.
I'll report on the conference when I get back.

Wisconsin Farm Technology Days Harvest

Those sticks are still walking! The final day of Wisconsin Farm Technology Days was hot and sunny—perfect weather to make hay. And did we ever have the harvest! While the field demonstrations showed how hay is processed, we were seeing lives processed at the Fellowship of Christian Farmers tent. God was bringing in His harvest of souls, old and young, from all walks of life.
Over the 3-day period, 10 storytellers from Living Hope Bible Church and 2 volunteers from other parts of Wisconsin had the privilege of being God’s ambassadors to the Wisconsin farm community and others who came to sample farm life.
What a thrill to tell the greatest news in all the world and to see God take that and change lives. And it was exciting to see new believers going out to re-tell the good news to their friends and family. Some people came back to get replacement sticks because they had told the story and had given theirs away. In all, we gave out about a thousand walking sticks and owner’s manuals...a thousand re-tellings of the “story”. God is still building His church, and it’s fun to be just His hammers and nails as He does it. Thank you, Lord!

Extreme Makeover

We woke up today to damp and fog, but that soon burned off, and the sun shone for the rest of the day at Wisconsin Farm Technology Days. Muddy streets were a challenge at first, but it wasn’t long before they were packed down and people were on the move. We saw God direct a pretty steady stream of visitors to the multi-colored Fellowship of Christian Farmers tent as they came looking for walking sticks. What a privilege and what fun to be able to give, not only a free walking stick, but the news of something really free—salvation in Jesus Christ alone. Heaven reached out and grabbed hearts, and we had the privilege of seeing people walk into the tent as lost sinners and back out as born-again children of God. Wow! God sure is good.

Taking Jesus to the Farm

After months of preparation and prayer, the Gospel Walking Sticks began to walk! Today was day one of the Wisconsin Farm Technology Days near Gibbsville—the day we’ve been waiting for. The tent was in place, chairs were set up, sticks put out. There we were, placed between the grain dryers and the farm equipment, just where God put us, just the kind of place where Jesus would have gone to meet people. He went where the people went, and today we were privileged to go there, too, and to take Him with us.

Volunteers and staff from the Fellowship of Christian Farmers met for prayer and final instructions, and we were ready for whoever the Lord brought our way. Although the morning began a bit slowly as people began to enter Tent City, traffic picked up by about mid-morning, and the chairs began to fill up.
Soon people were asking, “Where are the walking sticks?” Clusters of adults and children of all ages had an opportunity to hear the story of the beads...the story of God’s love for them and His desire for them to know Him. What a powerful message told through five simple colors—easy enough for a child to comprehend. Many people took sticks with them and a number of people chose to trust Christ for the most important transaction of their lives. Jesus went to the cross to pay for our salvation and to make heaven available for those who simply believed in Him. What an unequal trade—our sin for His righteousness!

I Peter 1:18a Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God.”

Taking Jesus to the Park

As part of the annual Independence Day celebration, the Village of Oostburg and local businesses sponsor a festival of food, games and family-oriented programming at the village park on the 4th of July. For the last four years, Living Hope Bible Church has worked with two other Oostburg churches, the First Reformed Church and the Christian Reformed Church, to provide a family fun tent that day to reach out to local children and their families. We offer free balloons, games, crafts, and face painting as we tell the story of real independence through God’s marvelous free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. This year, children were able to make beaded Gospel bracelets and patriotic necklaces, and we used the colors and story of the Wordless Book as we painted faces and polished fingernails. As we talked with children and parents, we also gave away free copies of the Bible, coloring books, pencils, “Jesus” videos, and other literature. What a privilege to live in a free country and be free from the bondage of political tyranny...What a greater privilege to trust Christ and to be free from the bondage and curse of sin.
Come with us next week as we "Take Jesus to the Farm". Visit us at Wisconsin Farm Technology Days in Gibbsville, July 11-13, as we work with the Fellowship of Christian Farmers, and ask for your free Gospel Walking Stick.

Wisconsin Farm Technology Days--Here We Come!

God uses people of all ages and abilities in His work. Tonight's work project for Wisconsin Farm Technology Days saw children as young as 4 and 5 years old working alongside their parents and grandparents as we completed another 600 walking sticks. Nearly 1300 gospel walking sticks have been drilled, sanded and tagged with plastic beads representing God's wonderful plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. Just as God offers His salvation as a free gift, the walking sticks will be given--free--to those attending the farm show July 11-13 at Quonset Farms near Gibbsville. Ya'll come and see us there at the Fellowship of Christian Farmers tent. We'd love to explain how you can receive the greatest gift in the world.

Living Hope Family "Assembles"

The ladies enjoy Living Hope's version of the old-fashioned quilting bee....with slivers!

Sunday, May 7, saw the Living Hope family congregating at the Wynveen Farm to begin assembling the walking sticks. There were still sticks to be sanded and more beads to lace, but the time had come to "build" the sticks.

While several of the men continued sanding sticks, others worked the transport route, carrying sanded and unsanded sticks to work stations.

From counting and stringing beads to drilling holes, sanding, assembling the finished walking sticks, this has truly been a project for the whole family.

We have one more work night for Sunday, May 21 scheduled to try to finish up the remaining sticks. If you would like to be involved in this cooperative outreach with the Fellowship of Christian Farmers, or would like more information about the walking stick ministry, you can find it at our church website at http://www.livinghopebiblechurch.org/index.htm

Labor for the Lord

We arranged to have a local sawmill, Ongna Wood Products of rural Sheboygan Falls, cut 1400 walking sticks for us...but there was still plenty of work to be done....
Each stick needed to have a hole drilled 1" down from the top end to accept the beaded lace. Then the tops had to be sanded down to prevent "sliver damage" to the recipients. Young and old both learned how to safely use power tools in the work of the Lord.

From Soup to Sawdust

The ongoing saga of the Gospel Walking Sticks....
Friends from other churches, including Calvary of Sheboygan, joined the Living Hope family on Sunday, March 26, for an old-fashioned soup supper before we again tackled beads and leather.
Again, we were able to complete about 700 beaded laces toward our goal of 1400 completed walking sticks.
God is so good!!

Gospel Walking Sticks

Living Hope Bible Church members and friends will be working in conjunction with the Fellowship of Christian Farmers to share the Good News of Jesus Christ at the 2006 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days event to be held July 11-13 near Gibbsville, WI. They will distribute free walking sticks to event attendees and will present God's plan of salvation with each stick.

On January 29, church members met for a "Famine Feast" of bread and water before they began work on producing the Gospel Walking Sticks. Family members of all ages worked together to string colored beads on leather laces to be assembled later into the finished sticks. Each of the colored beads represent components of the gospel presentation. About 700 laces were completed during that first work session.

WHERE WE LIVE

Our Mission...
Living Hope Bible Church is an Independent Bible Church. Our goal is to preach the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, both in our local Oostburg, Wisconsin, area and throughout the world. To that end, Living Hope Bible Church offers weekly Sunday worship, Sunday School, mid-week Bible study, fellowship activities, and community outreach. We support missionary outreach through prayer, through financial support, and by sending out missionaries from our own fellowship.

Our Location...

Living Hope Bible Church meets 2 1/2 miles directly north of Oostburg, Wisconsin, at N3595 E County Road A (Former St. George School at 6 Corners, intersection of Hwys V, A, OO and Van Treeck Trail). We are 3 1/2 miles south of Deer Trace Kohler, and about 2 miles west of I-43, just off Hwy V. Living Hope Bible Church is conveniently located for visitors from Kohler Andrae State Park, as well as those from the surrounding communities.

Our Blog...

You can get to know us and see what God is doing through Living Hope Bible Church. It is our hope that you will be challenged and blessed by the fact that God uses insignificant people in out-of-the-way places to accomplish His work. If you'd like more information about us, our church website can be found at http://www.livinghopebiblechurch.org/index.htm