Ministry Journal

By Bob & Sylvia

May was really a blessing! We had several opportunities(20) to sing through the month, then on the 23^rd we sang at the beautiful Mora Valley Baptist church in New Mexico. That Sunday evening we went to Glorietta NM for Southern Gospel Springfest. This was a time of relaxation and listening to other people sing. We saw old friends and met many new ones. We had several that invited us to sing at their church whenever we can work out the dates.

 On May 7^th I had a stint put in my heart but I am doing great. Sylvia is getting injections in her knees to put off having them replaced. We are thankful for the Lord’s provisions in finance and health as we try to serve Him.

 Our prayer is simply to be used of God. Please pray that God will open the doors for us to share, give us the message to bring, and the energy to keep up with His schedule.

 Follow us on our web site (www.BobandSylvia.org), or be our friend on Facebook

Thank you Missouri for such a wonderful and spiritually refreshing time. We led the music for the revival at FBC Eldon with Jon Randles as evangelist. There were 4 that we know of that were saved and several other decisions. The pastor and his family are a great asset for the church. Brother David White is a loving pastor of a loving church that is going to do great things for the Lord. While we were truely blessed stayng with our host family Charles and Mary Kay. We fell in love with the town, church, and area and hope we get to go back there again. From there we went to Patterson Heights in Anderson MO. Located just south of Joplin it is nestled in the beautiful hills of southwest Missouri. We stayed with the pastor Bob Johnson and his wife. We had a good time of ministry and shareing music. We saw some old friends, Bob and Susie Pope, whom we had met at a cowboy church here in Amarillo. 

Wow what a revival we had at Tonopah! We saw one saved at the revival. The altar was flooded nearly every night. With the economy and other problems people are hurting and realize God is the only answer. We had the opportunity to minister to discouraged pastors and to encourage churches. Please pray for us as we travel to Eldon MO. Pray for us and the churches we will be ministering in. Our prayer is simply to be used of God. Please pray that God will open the doors for us to share, give us the message to bring, and the energy to keep up with His schedule.

In February we had 22 music venues and saw 3 people saved with 9 other decisions.  Please pray for us as we travel for the next two months. In March we will be in Arizona leading music at Tonopah then sing several concerts around the Phoenix area. In April we will be in revival in Eldon MO and then sing several concerts around the Branson area.

Please pray for us and the churches we will be ministering in. Our prayer is simply to be used of God. Please pray that God will open the doors for us to share, give us the message to bring, and the energy to keep up with His schedule.

Thanks Channing Texas for a great day of worship and fellowship. Thanks to the First Baptist Church and Saddle Mountain Cowboy Church. What a blessing to meet such nice people and work with two great pastors. See our Photo ambum for some pictures.

Wow, what a year 2009 was! We were so blessed getting to share the gospel through music at many different places. This year we traveled west to the Phoenix area, Oklahoma, south Texas, Biloxi Mississippi, Estero Florida, and several places in North Carolina. Our ministry traveled 12,835 miles, sang 285 times, and saw 38 people saved.

We had a great revival at Missionary Baptist Church in Borger. There were two saved. Carol Grigsby from Richwood TX was the evangelist. The worship services were Spirit filled and Brother Carol presented powerful messages of the gospel of salvation. Thanks to the church for the fellowship and food. If you are searching for a church in the Borger area we would highly recomend this church to you. Brother Bruce Riding is the pastor there and has a heart for the ministry and people.

This fall we are staying close to home. We have had some minor health issues to get taken care of. Sylvia has had some injections in her knees for worn cartilage and arthritis. I have tendonosis in an ankle, arthritis, sleep apnea, and a trigger finger. We have had new windows installed and siding put on the house. Even with all this we sang 24 times and saw 5 people accepting the Lord as Savior in October. God has been so good to us and we are thankful for His provisions and humbled that He is using us to reach people with the message of hope and salvation.

Thank you for your prayers. Please pray that God will open the doors for us to share, give us the message to bring, and the energy to keep up with God’s schedule.

A special thanks to our friends at Walnut Creek in Azel for the warm welcome. We had a blessed time singing at your Jubilee Celebration. Thanks for the great food and fellowship. Tell Mary and Dewey thanks for putting us up in their home and taking care of us. 

Where did the summer go? I have heard it said that the older you get the faster time flies by. August is gone, and September is half over. We have had some health issues lately that have kept us in town. Sylvia has been having trouble with her knees and feeling tired all the time. I have arthritus and tendonosis in my ankle and have been going to therapy. There are enough ministry needs right here in Amarillo to keep us busy. We are still serving through the North American Mission Board as music evangelists and still singing the gospel message of salvation through faith in Jesus. Serving Jesus is still a blessing. God is so good! In August we have seen 5 people come to know the Lord as Savior. That makes a total of 26 through the month of august.

Hello to our friends in the Oklahoma panhandle. Thanks for letting us come and minister at you senior adult rally. The food and fellowship were great! 

Special friends camp was such a blessing and inspiration. This camp is held each year at the Panfork Encampment near Wellington. This year we had 75 campers and about 50 councilors and staff. These special friends range in age from teenagers to people in their 70s. Each one has major physical, emtional, or mental challenges.  The camp is directed by Eddie and Joberta Helms from Calvary Baptist in Tulia. Eddie serves as the camp pastor they have a great love for the campers. The campers are teamed with a buddy which eats and sleeps in their cabins. They help them get ready and know where to be throughout the day. They are vital to the camp! Several told us that this was the hardest thing they had ever done. We also have a full time nurse tha spends full days making sure each camper gets their medications on time. The activities were crafts, paddleboats, fishing, zip line, and worship. Sylvia and I love to do worship there because they sing with all their hearts and love the Lord with all their abilities alow. 

On Sunday night the altar was filled with campers, staff, and councilors getting their heart right with God, some praying for friends and family. This year there were 5 saved. Each was counciled by Eddie to make sure they understood what they were doing. Each got to go outside and ring the victory bell. Each went back to a chalenging life but with Jesus in their hearts.

Last week we got back from our Florida/North Carolina tour. It was such a blessing. We were in Mansfield TX, Warren TX, Ocean Springs MS, Estero FL, Montezuma NC, and Newland NC. (We put 3,845 miles on the car for the month.) We loved the visit and met many new people and some old friends that we had not seen in years. One couple in NC we met about 15 years ago at a Mission Service Corps orientation. (MSC is a plan through the North American Mission Board to organize volunteer and self-funded missionaries.) Dennis and Maria were volunteers at a battered women’s shelter in Oklahoma. A few years after that, he was called to preach and went back home to NC. They have asked us to come to their area for years. This time we were able to include that area on our tour. What a beautiful country! They live in the beautiful blue ridge mountains of NC. It is some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen. It is matched only by the people. The only bad thing is that the roads wind, twist and turn with trees everywhere. You couldn’t see a sun rise or sunset. For flat-land people from Amarillo it was nearly too much. Sylvia said she had green overload. Anyway God used us to touch many people and let them know that God is still in control in spit of these hard economical times and He still loves His children.

Your prayers are appreciated. I turned 62 in April and we both are feeling the aches and pains of getting older. These trips were hard on us, physically.

Just a personal note of thanks to Turning Point Community Church in Lubbock and pastor Brent Hardegree for ministering to our family during the loss of my cousin.

Thanks FBC of Texhoma for such a warm welcome. What a blessing you are! 

I would like to tell you a little about Prairy View Baptist church. They invited us to sing at their 5th wednesday night special event. Their biggest attendance and outreach is their wednesday night kids night. They run busses and vans and pick up children and teens from all over that area and bring them to church and feed and teach them about God's love. I commend them for their love for these special kids and their love for the Lord. They will be baptising at least eight here in the next week, several others express a desire to talk to the pastor about salvation.

The revival in Frio Texas was a great sucess. I felt the spirit of the Lord in that small church. Frio is one of the most mission minded churches we have ever ministered in. God is really using you to reach the world.

Thanks to the churches in Noconna for letting us come and share the gospel through music. Thanks for the hospitality.

On our Arizona tour seemed like the message that God wanted us to bring is about the hope we have through Christ. These are tough financial times but God will go with us. Southern and bluegrass gospel is uplifting to the soul and puts a smile on your face. A special thanks for the warm reception we received in Arizona. We sang at Spur Cross Cowboy church in Phoenix, Black Mountain Baptist in Cave Creek, a Bible study class from North Phoenix Baptist, Baptist Retirement Village, Del Monte Missionary Baptist Church and Valley Baptist Church in Tonopah. (Be sure to look at our photo album.)

Our schedule is filling up for the Arizona tour. So far we are scheduled for six concerts and worship services.  Please pray for us as we travel, our Chrysler van has 165,000 miles on it and God has kept it going for several years now and I think it has a lot more miles left in it.  As you can see from the statistics table below we are still averaging singing about 21 times a month, about 5 times per week.

A special thanks to Calvary Baptist Church Tulia. What a friendly church! You were a blessing to us. 

February was a time to celebrate the love of the Lord as we celebrated valentine's  celebrations with Pleasent Valley Baptist and Bolton Street Baptist.

If  January is any indication of this next year, it is going to be an exciting year. This January we have seen 9 people saved and numerous other decisions. We have recorded, produced, and paid royalties and licensing fees for our new CD “Jesus, He’s my Savior.”  We are scheduling an Arizona and a Florida tour and have plans for two camps. And on top of this in May I will start collecting Social Security. 

A special thanks to our friends at Oak Dale Grace Fellowship it was truly a blessing to lead in a time of worship this last Sunday. Thanks also to brother and sister Garrison for asking us to come. They have become very special to us. Your church is one of the friendliest and most Spirit lead churches we have sang at.

This has been a great year for us and our ministry. God has richly blessed us with opportunities for service. As we look back over the year of 2008 we are reminded of God’s provisions and blessings. This year we have sang at the Evangelism Rally in Friona, Missionary Baptist church revival in Borger, Ladies Night Banquet in Dimmit, Frio Revival, Cousins Reunion, Special friends camp at Panfork, ABA Fish Fry at campgrounds, Barrow family reunion at HPBCC, Girls camp, Boys camp, FBC Clarendon at the bar H ranch, FBC Allison, FBC Texhoma,  Montague Sesquicentennial Fair, Saint Jo revival, Tri-state fair in Amarillo, Calvary Friona Revival , Banquet for the International Commission, Easter Star Thanksgiving Masonic Lodge , High plains Encampment Appreciation Banquet, Faith City Mission, Randall county jail, and several cowboy churches, funerals, retirement homes, nursing homes, and churches.

 This year the Lord has provided a new sound system, travel expenses, and resources for our CDs.

 The most important blessing this last year is that our ministry saw 31 people saved and many other decisions made for the Lord.

2008

This December we have sang for 12 Christmas celebrations. The schedule for January looks a little lighter, maybe we can get back to recording a new album. Any suggestions for songs would be appreciated.

Thanks for your prayers for Sylvia's headaches. After many tests and doctor visits it was determined that her eyes had gotten worse and her contacts were no longer helping. She has gone to glasses and the headaches have gone away. 

This is a busy season for Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. It is our purpose not to be just entertainers but share the good news of God’s love through music. While people are thinking turkey, Santa, and parties this is the perfect time of year to tell them about God’s love and redemptive plan for mankind. During the month  of November  we saw  nine people come to know the Lord  as savior.  

This year we have averaged singing about 4 times a week. Most of the time, we set up our sound system.  The Fender sound system we have used for about 5 years now is getting older and heavier each year. This month our ministry bought a new Bose L1 system II. This unit sounds better and is lighter and easier to hook up and use.  

Thankful!
I am so very thankful to the Lord for so many things: family, friends, and not only the basic necessities but the abundance. I am so blessed having Sylvia as my soul mate, my wife, and my best friend. I am also thankful for the ministry that God has called us to. We are called to go and present the “gospel through music.”  We have felt God’s leadership in opening doors and then helping us walk through those doors. This month we were honored to sing at 6 Thanksgiving celebrations. It is our prayer that our music was a reflection of our thankfulness to our blessed Redeemer.

Howdy, to all our friends at Canadian Rivers Cowboy Church in Geary OK and Golden spread Cowboy Church of Amarillo. We appreciate the opportunity to share the gospel with you.  If you have not been to a cowboy church you don’t know what you are missing. The fellowship and non-traditional  service brings a fresh breath to worship. Cowboy churches reach people that do not attend our traditional churches. They are seeking God and the truth and are anxious seekers.

Thanks to all the folks in the Llanos Altos Baptist Association. We enjoyed leading music at the  Evangelism Rally in Friona. We thank you for the fellowship and food. Please invite us back again.

---------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for your prayers. The most important need for our ministry is your prayers. We have several prayer warriors and many churches that pray for us. Here are some needs:

1) God will open the doors where He wants us to be.

2) Pray that He goes before us to prepare our hearts to see the needs and the hearts of those we minister to.  Many seeds are planted, pray for others to come along and water and pull a few weeds.

3) Pray for strength to keep up with God's schedule for us.

4) Pray that the Holy Spirit would guide us to know what message in song to bring and what message in testimony to say.