Gil & Denise Thomas
Good Soil Evangelism
Association of Baptists for World Evangelism
August 2024
Thank you so much for praying! We had great trips to Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio. We visited and reported in 4 churches—two in PA and two in MI. What a blessing it was to see faithful supporters and be energized by their faithfulness!
We were also able to spend some time with Denise’s family. We were enjoying the opportunity to see many family members and were encouraged to see God’s work in their lives. Our foray into Ohio was for a Good Soil Leadership Strategic Planning Meeting. We had 13 adults in attendance helping us plan for the future of Good Soil. We were able to pray together and think strategically about new resources and reaching new areas with Good Soil training. We thank God for the lovely and comfortable accommodations we were able to enjoy. Gil led the teaching team and taught The Roots of Faith NT and Essential Mission Components, church planting course, at ABWE headquarters in PA. We were encouraged to see new ABWE missionaries, missionaries from other missions, pastors, and laypeople learning and applying God’s Word with a desire to be effective in ministry all around the world. Just before The Roots of Faith classes started, a young Frenchman (an unbeliever) who was visiting relatives toured the ABWE headquarters. When he saw the training room, he said, “What goes on in here?” They told him about the training events and that we would be teaching through the whole Bible—Old Testament and New Testament—starting next week. He replied, “Wow, is that something I could attend?” He ended up attending both weeks and thoroughly enjoyed it. He heard the gospel throughout the training and then one of our colleagues got to spend some significant time with him afterwards. When challenged to trust Christ, he considered and said, “I would like to wait and do this back in France.” Pray for Clement to truly place his trust in Jesus as Savior.
Then . . . another highlight: Sarah, Seth, Audrey, Caleb, and Marian came and spent five days with us. We enjoyed having them with us so much! We swam, slid down rocks in a river, hiked, swam. visited the zoo, swam (are you seeing a pattern?) 😊, visited the Children’s Museum, swam . . . This past weekend we enjoyed another highlight of the summer: we taught a Good Soil seminar at our new church in Simpsonville, SC. Thirty-three people worked hard at learning new principles to apply in their making disciples and practiced with some new tools. During and after the seminar, many of them excitedly shared how they will use their training and tools starting as early as this weekend. The training event we just did at the church starts a busy time for us. Tomorrow, Gil will head to Arkansas to teach Good Soil and Moving Beyond Lecture to leaders of Baptist Missionary Association of America and pastors of that area. Please pray that these folks will grasp the concepts and be encouraged to teach others. When I get back from Arkansas, the school year starts and I’ll be teaching STh777 Theology and Practice of Evangelism again at BJU Seminary. Please pray that these students will also learn much and take what they learn with them to pastorates around the world and train others. We’ll be making a trip to Thailand (to preach in a large camp event where 400 to 500 participants are anticipated and to encourage ABWE Good Soil missionaries Danil & Alla Tereshchenkov. Then, we’ll head to Cambodia (to encourage ABWE Good Soil missionaries Trevor and Hayley Amack and see their thriving ministry). We’ll finish the trip by participating in a launch of Good Soil in Italy with Good Soil Overseas Director, Randy Southwell and missionaries Brad and Beth Howe. We will leave October 14th and return November 4th. Please pray with for us for abundant fruit from these ministries coming up.
