Hi all for the next few weeks this blog will be used to keep you all up to date with the goings on with my wife Vicky and I’s ministry trip to Utah, please drop in and as ever leave a comment if you want to.
After about 20 hours of travel and 3 flights we finally arrived in Salt Lake City airport at 7:20pm yesterday on the 9th of June, not much of an eventful day after that other than an essential walmart visit.
Today we spent some time with Russ East director of Utah partnerships for Christ, praying and discussing what we will be doing, after that we went to have a tour of the mountains given by UPFC interns Kelly Douglas and Colleen Zack.
Me and my Wife Vicky at the mountains near, Ogden.
So its been a cool day, ultimately we are here to reach out to Mormons and tell anyone who will listen about Christ and what He has done for the world, but it was a great day to see the place and get to know some of the people we will be working with, please watch this space for more updates on what we get up to, and please be praying for us while we are out here as its gonna be fun but no doubt challenging too.
Right above is the Ogden LDS temple, its sealed off at the moment for people to walk around the grounds as from what I hear it is being knocked down and replaced, if there is anyone reading that knows about this stuff I would be interested to know if this is true and why that is? Just out of curiosity.
Hi all this post is a prayer letter I have been sending to people to make them aware of what we are doing this summer, just keeping you all in the loop Some of the information on here is quite basic and I am not trying to start a debate or argument, just sharing our heart.
This post is to make you aware of Vicky and I’s mission trip to Utah this year, why we are going and what we will be doing, and to ask that you support us in any way that you can.
For many years now I have felt God’s call to communicate the biblical gospel to groups that claim to be the worlds true Christians and yet teach an entirely different gospel to what we see in the bible. Over the years Vicky has massively caught a heart for this and this is a ministry we both feel very called to together.
Mormonism is a religion that worldwide has around 14 million members and exists with the claim that it is the only true Christian Church on the earth. The Mormon Church places many restrictive rules and teachings on its members and places them back under the laws that we see in the Old Testament, as well as many others.
Its members do their best to live out these laws and regulations in the hope that they can be exalted after death to a position of godhood as they believe our heavenly Father did. They see the sacrifice of Jesus as one of the many factors necessary to get them to where they want to be, faith in Christ alone is by no means enough for them to be secure in their eternity.
Our desire is to see as many Mormons as possible won for Christ and to find freedom in Him, and no longer captive in the rules of a religious organisation. God has blessed this ministry greatly in
Middlesbrough (England) recently where we have seen Cheryl (pictured telling her story at our church with me and Vicky) a member of the Mormon church come to Christ, separating herself from the Mormon church, this has been amazing to see the change in her and to see God actively working in her life.
Utah is an American State with an estimated population of 2,737,000 out of this 1,884,377 are members of the Mormon church, this means 68% of the people in this state are Mormons or 1 in every 1.47 people. There are at the most around 5% Christians there, this is the most in need and relevant place in the world to do mission reaching out to Mormon people, there are parts of Utah with near 100% Mormons living in it with no Christians there.
We are going to Utah for 3 weeks in June and are starting to pray about whether God is calling us to go there for a year or longer, this is all a massive step of faith and we are trusting in God big time to provide for us financially. We are by no means doing this for the glamour of going to the US, this is purely about seeing people tied up in religion finding freedom in Christ.
So when we go in June we are going to be working with Russ East from Utah Partnerships for Christ. This ministry has teams of teenagers going there in the Summer, and it equips them in sharing the gospel through Street outreach, volunteer work and interaction with Mormons in various settings including their own church meetings. We will be helping to lead two of these mission weeks, we will equip these teenagers to go out and do outreach to Mormons as well as help prepare their food and do debriefings at the end of the days to see how its helping them grow. As well as this we will be visiting local Christian churches in Utah and asking them to support us in our plans to go back their for a longer period.
So guys please pray that:
Please pray for us and consider supporting us financially, going in June is a massive cost and going there for longer would only be possible if God provides for us.
Often today when we think about mission we think about poor countries and people with great physical needs, however Mormons are just as in need as any other lost person world-wide and are just as loved by God. Please support us, if you would like more information on how to go about this, or have any questions please email me on [email protected] or feel free to give via paypal to this email address, any amount would be greatly appreciated.
If everyone reading this gave £10 (or $10) this trip would be mostly or fully covered. Please don’t worry about large amounts (unless you really want to), but please support what God is doing through us in the Mormon people, our hope is to see many more people like Cheryl coming out of Mormonism to Christ.
This blog is by no means here to make me money however any support would be really appreciated.
If you are a church leader please consider having me do a seminar at your church equipping your church members on how to respond when they come into contact with Mormons. Or members of other groups like the Jehovah’s Witness’s who are equally as lost but are often avoided by Christians due to them not knowing how to share the gospel with them.
Also please keep an eye on this blog, this will have many updates when we are at Utah to keep you up to date with what we are doing.
Thanks for reading.