The Periodically

Please pray for Dougg and LeAnne Custer as they support missionaries who are in the Middle East. Here are some ways that you can pray for them: PRAISES: The talks and conversations with lots of individuals at the StuMo conference in Thailand in December went great. Many told us how helpful they were and that we hit the nail on the head. Praise God for answering yours and our prayers. What a great time of encouraging our workers and being encouraged at the "Together in Hope" conference over New Years. Andi and Jen did a great job based on the feedback from the parents and they are still in contact with many of the teens who attended. Again, thank God for making this a wonderful time for our Europe and MENA workers. You prayed for three couples who have been denied visas to Ireland. Just this past week two of them got word that their appeal had been approved!! Lots of rejoicing and praising God around here for answered prayer! Pray that the Morters also receive their v...

As a follow up to my recent blog post on encouraging those struggling with sadness and depression (you can read it here ), I found this podcast very helpful. Give it a listen! Pastor Ben

Pray for our incoming 1st-year students who begin their semester this week. We have a number of new students along with a group of returning 1st-year students who did not pass their first year and are repeating. Pray that God's grace will be abundant. Pray for wisdom for our leaders (and me) as we deal with the Lord working in many lives in our church. We have seen about a 30% increase in church attendance, and there are many people from diverse backgrounds who are now attending. Pray for our training institute in Malawi, (Central African Preaching Academy) who are working to achieve their national accreditation. They have many difficulties (Malawi is truly a 3rd world country) and are striving daily to train about 40 men for the ministry.

I often hear from friends who are professing believers that they are not 100% they are going to heaven. Here is how I reply: I am 100% sure I am going to heaven. Is that because I have confidence that I am good enough left to myself?—meaning I think that since I haven’t murdered anyone that I’ll get in? By no means! I am 100% sure because I have asked Christ to pay the penalty of sin I deserved to pay and only He is 100% able to pay the penalty for me. 1 John 5:13 says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” Charles Spurgeon said, “ If you believe in the Lord Jesus, if you have repented of sin, if you have been renewed in heart, if you are one of the Lord’s people, there’s a place reserved for you.” So what percentage are you?  Pastor Ben

As a parent it can be very difficult determining screen time, if/when to get your child a device, what is the right device, how to keep your child safe while on the device, and many other questions. Another issue beyond those is what apps are good for the kids to be using and how can they actually benefit the child. I recently got to be privy to a helpful answer to some of this from Martha Hangartner, our Children’s Ministry Sunday School Coordinator and with her permission thought it might be helpful for you as well. Here are a few app recommendations she made… New City Catechism App -More for high functioning older kids -Question and Answers (good sound theology) -Has scripture to songs -Great teaching tool -Adult interaction might be helpful too Bible App for Kids -For younger kids -Narrated bible stories -Kids can interact with pages by touching a character in a scene that responds by moving or making noise Look & Find Bible Stories ($2.99) -For around 4 yrs on up -Picture...

Imagine this: You are walking along the beach one morning searching for pearls.  It’s your great joy and passion.   Near the beach, you see some people who have set up some tables, selling a wide assortment of jewels and trinkets.  There is a table with pearls over by the side but none of them are impressive to you.   You ask the merchant, “Are these all the pearls you have?”   She smiles and says “No.”   Then she pulls out from under the table a massive case.  As she opens it, you see a pearl that takes your breath away.  It is about 9 ½ x 5 ½ inches and weighs 14 pounds.   “ How much does it cost?”  Three million dollars. Well, obviously, you can’t come up with that kind of money.  You begin to think – if you sold your boat, that would cover some of it.  You could sell your business and call in favors with people who owe you money.  You quickly figure out your retirement plan and it’s cash value… you sell you...

Here are some ways that you can be praying for Peoria Rescue Ministries: Godly wisdom Godly discernment Protection (spiritually & physically & mentally) Regular provisions Godly volunteers to help minister to our men

In order to implant the Scripture into our kids' hearts at BCC, we need to be consistently sharing with them the godly principles each time they disobey. This kind of repetition can help our kids hide His Word in their hearts. Have your kids or the kids your are ministering to memorize these 4 words and go over these passages (plus more!) to help them to see the sin cycle in which we all get stuck. It is good to keep in mind that kids respond differently--especially kids from hard situations and backgrounds. 1. Idol-James 4:1 Questions to ask: -Why did you do what you did? -What were you wanting? -Were you wanting attention, the toy, for your friend to play with you, etc? (give them multiple choice if they can't figure it out on their own) -Affirm that those desires are not necessarily bad, but they allowed them to be. -Teach that their desire became a demand. They wanted their desire more than to please God. They were worshipping an idol or something other than God...