Solid Rock NewsLetter

Blackwells Newsletter

Anchor House Prayer Letter 

June 2016

Louk Newsletter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

Last month we wrote and asked you to pray that

God would be our strength, joy, the lifter of our

heads, and that we would rest in God’s sovereignty

and grow in Christ-likeness. June was a month filled

with challenges, both physical and spiritual. The

physical challenges ranged from the stomach flu to a

repeatedly flooded basement and reactions to the

consequential mold. The spiritual challenges included

the heartbreak of friends so close to the truth, and

yet so far away because they do not yet see themselves

as sinners in need of a savior. And most of the

challenges were a combination of the physical and

the spiritual. Our physical fatigue often led to what

seemed to be nothing less than a spiritual battle

fought to keep our eyes of faith fixed on Jesus and

our hearts remembering and claiming His truths.

And in the midst of all of this you prayed. And God

heard your prayers. If we had to pick the refrain of

our family this month it would be: Praise our Father.

He hears and answers prayer.

God truly proved himself as our strength, joy, and

the lifter of our heads. Over and over we saw clear

answers to prayer that only He could have done. At

home we have seen a softening of our oldest son’s

hard heart toward God. In the field, we have seen

both Shirley and Justin turn to and follow Jesus in

what seems to be genuine belief. Rejoice with us and

with the angels. In our own hearts we have experienced

dependence on God and a grateful abiding in

Christ that can only be expressed in metaphors He

chooses for Himself: the bread of life, our shepherd,

the living water, our father who nourishes and chastises,

the vine, the light, the word… Truly there is

none like God. He and he alone is worthy of praise.

As we look forward to July, there is currently a pool

of water in our basement, we are sleep deprived, and

we truly aren’t sure how to balance all that God has

entrusted to us. And yet we are filled with joy and

peace. This month as you pray through our prayer

calendar will you also pray specifically for:

• Pray we wisely prioritize all our responsibilities.

Pray our will would submit to His will (Matt.

6:10).

• Pray God will save the many unbelievers we love

and spend time with (Romans 10:1).

• Pray we would be bold in proclaiming the gospel

(Acts 4:29; Eph. 6:18-19).

• Pray God would open the eyes of American believers

to the white fields here and will send out

laborers into those fields (Matt. 9:38).

• Pray for biblical unity in the church to point unbelievers

to Christ. (John 17:20-21).

• Pray God would keep us from the evil one and

that we won’t fall into temptation (Matt 26:41;

Matt 6:13).

Above all, in all aspects of our life we want God to

not only have first priority in our thinking, but to be

the first and last and everything in between priority

as we strive to balance home-life, ministry-life, and

Joshua’s new missional opportunities at OSU

through the classes he is taking there this summer.

May God’s peace and joy rest on you,

the Louk family

missionary church planters

&

He Hears and Answers Prayer

2016, Third Quarter

Prayer Letter Joshua & Laurel Louk

Prayer Letter 

Dear Prayer Supporters,

I am writing to ask you to specifically pray for.

• God to be the lifter of Joshua's head (Psalm 3)
• For Joshua to find his strength for today in the joy of the Lord (Psalm 28)
• For Joshua to grow in Christ likeness through today (Rom. 8:27-29)
• For Joshua to rest in the sovereignty and goodness of God's perfect plans (Rom. 8:27-29)

Today is an ordinary day in our week. Joshua is currently meeting with Tian Hun as he does every Wednesday morning and early afternoon. Last Sunday Tian Hun gave a clear testimony of his new faith in Christ Jesus. We are rejoicing in his apparent new birth. (Please continue to pray for this new believer. He is a Communist Party member which will have repercussions for him when he returns to China.)

This evening Joshua will meet with Kevin and Julie, another Chinese couple who want to understand who Jesus is. Tomorrow morning Joshua will spend the morning mentoring James, a young man on pre-field ministry who is learning how to reach immigrants. Friday morning Joshua will meet with Peng, another Chinese who is interested in spiritual things. And then on Friday evening he will administer the Friday night study from about 5:30 PM until 10:00/11:00 PM. And in between the above and on Saturday Joshua and I need to prepare three different preps for three classes on Sunday.

So now onto why Joshua needs some extra prayer. All of the above is exciting stuff, but maintaining it regularly takes preparation time. Usually, Monday and Tuesday are a little less busy with people service and are filled with behind the scenes work like putting our prayer calendar together, phone calls, budgeting, extra personal devotional times.

What wasn't ordinary was yesterday. Yesterday morning went as usual. We did some house and yard maintenance and then Joshua was planning on going to the church/library to put some concentrated time into preparation and office work. That didn't happen because Athan climbed a ladder with a saw in his hand, fell off and sliced his hand deeply. So Joshua rushed him to the ER for stitches. Meanwhile, I continued my day as normal and got Vivian and Gus ready to go and do our once a month grocery shopping trip. Vivian was loaded in the car. I turned around and Gus fell off our front steps and hit the back of his head -hard- on concrete. With a 15 month old we are used to lots of falls, but this time he was bleeding from his nose and acting really sedate so instead of going grocery shopping, the three of us went to the closest urgent care. They rushed us to the front of the line confirming my concerns and kept us there a while to observe him, but thankfully, he seems to be recovering fine from that tumble. After 2 hours in urgent care Gus and Vivian and I finally got to the grocery store. We shopped in record time. But then on the way to the car, while carrying Gus, I stepped in a recessed part of the parking lot, twisted my ankle and took a rather dramatic tumble myself. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to roll instead of dropping Gus. My ankle is quite swollen and obviously sprained, but he's fine. After bringing Athan, freshly bandaged from the ER (he didn't end up getting the stitches he needed because the wait was too long), to me at the grocery store Joshua hightailed it to a required elder's meeting which took the majority of the evening. Last night Gus decided a scary bump on the head wasn't enough and decided to have a tummy bug too, dramatically limiting sleep for his grownups.

The bottom line is, Joshua is dramatically behind on a lot of important stuff for this week, is sleep deprived, and isn't quite sure how he will accomplish it all. Adding to this pressure is the fact that next week, he will begin a few classes at OSU. He wanted/needed to be ahead not behind.

Please continue to pray for the many people needing Jesus with whom we interact with weekly,  but this week and today could you also please pray specifically for Joshua to be filled with God's peace, joy, strength, and wisdom. He's almost done with the calendar, but it may be a tad late. Thank you for your patience.

As you can tell these are exciting, but busy times. We love what we do and are so grateful and more dependent that we probably know for your prayer support.

Your Sister-in-Christ,
Laurel Marie

YFC

Great spiritual results in South Florida March Prison Tour with 167 conversions throughout the week.  Praise the Lord! Your prayers in action! Pastor Tony,     What a blessing it was for me to see The Solid Rock Ministries building the church behind bars! As the men returned for each session they were provided books and materials, ministered to and taught God's word. The first night I was able to pray with John, a very sad man who was having a hard time forgiving some people in his past. After I prayed and we talked I suggested that he needed to talk with God and get the issue settled. He did so that night and came to every session after that with a smile on his face. May the Lord continue to bless as lives are changed…     Larry Satmary Dear Sue,      After we finished the yard concert in South Florida Reception Center, a relatively tough-looking inmate came up to me and took my hand and said, "You have no idea how much it means to us for you guys to come here and go through all this trouble and do all this work to play for us. Nobody else does this. Other churches come here but they don't do this. That means a lot to us, thank you so much"! His eyes were moist.      My take away is that when they realize what we go through to bring our program to them with the quality that we bring and that we really do go the extra mile, we earn a place of respect in their minds and even their hearts which causes them to pay attention to the words we bring after the music is silent.      As we play and share you can see the  hard postures soften and the walls come down. Not always, but most days. God uses what we do to till the soil, peel back the scales and create fertile ground into to which the unfailing Word of God can be planted with high hopes of growing strong.   Eric Bright

Click here to read more: April 2016 Prayer/Newsletter Ministry Schedule     Apr  6, Wed., 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit       West Palm Beach, FL     Apr 13, Wednesday, 6-8PM    Atlantic Comm Work Release Woman’s Unit     West Palm Beach, FL     Apr 13, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit        West Palm Beach, FL     Apr 20, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit      West Palm Beach, FL         Apr 27, Wednesday, 6-8PM    Atlantic Comm Work Release Woman’s Unit             West Palm Beach, FL         Apr 27, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit         West Palm Beach, FL     May  4, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit         West Palm Beach, FL     May 11, Wednesday, 6-8PM    Atlantic Comm Work Release Woman’s Unit             West Palm Beach, FL     May 11, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit         West Palm Beach, FL     May 18, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit         West Palm Beach, FL     May 22-29th MISSION TRIP    Cuba Mission Trip To Strengthen Persecuted Church         Habana, CUBA     May 25, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit         West Palm Beach, FL     May 25, Wednesday, 6-8PM    Atlantic Comm Work Release Woman’s Unit            West Palm Beach, FL     Jun     8, Wednesday, 6-8PM    Atlantic Comm Work Release Woman’s Unit             West Palm Beach, FL     Jun     1, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit         West Palm Beach, FL     Jun     8, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit         West Palm Beach, FL     Jun   15, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit         West Palm Beach, FL     Jun   22, Wednesday, 6-8PM    Atlantic Comm Work Release Woman’s Unit             West Palm Beach, FL     Jun   22, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit         West Palm Beach, FL     Jun   29, Wednesday, 7-8:30PM    West Palm Beach Comm Work Release -Men’s Unit         West Palm Beach, FL     Financial help is needed to keep us in the prisons sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.       HELP IS NEEDED - To Become an Impact Partner go to this link:        http://www.thesolidrock.org/Solid_Rock_Ministry/Impact_Partners.html

Copyright © 2016 Solid Rock Ministry, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: P. O. Box 212938, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33421 Our website is: www.thesolidrock.org

Thank you for praying this month. Prayer Calendar Thank you for praying for my time in Missouri, Kansas, and Tennessee last month. God gave sweet times with our partner churches there. It was especially exciting to talk with people in Kansas and Tennessee who were seeking guidance on how to start a similar ministry in their own area. Click Here to open the prayer calendar. Or pray with us through the month using the list view below. May 2016 Our students have been asking excellent questions about God. Pray biblical answers reveal truth that brings life. Pray God gives us wisdom in balancing the multiplication of ministry to internationals here in Columbus. Pray God opens the opportunity for Boone’s Creek Church to minister to internationals in their area of Tennessee. Tianhan has said that he wants to follow Christ but is hesitant because as a Communist party member it’s illegal. Pray more American churches see the opportunity for the gospel among internationals right here in America. The Friday night Bible study is taking a week off tonight. Pray we don’t lose momentum from the week off. As we look forward to the coming school year, pray Christians will be willing to exercise hospitality & host internationals. Today’s lesson is about Daniel who followed God in a hostile culture. Pray our students are willing to do the same. Pray God continues to provide our every need. We lost a supporting church and an individual supporter last month. Horia is in Algeria right now. Pray for meetings with her husband Hadi during his free time in her absence. (Muslims) Pray Joshua’s weekly meeting with Peng (China) will progress from seeking interest to repentance and faith. Pray Christians around the world reach refugees fleeing war tore regions with the hope of eternal life in the eternal city. There are several Chinese ladies in the mom’s group who seem close to faith. Pray God saves Dan, Shirley, & Julie. Pray God gives us wisdom as we seek to help James and Bethany grow in their ministry preparations to work with Muslims. Pray God equips the other volunteers on Sunday morning to effectively communicate the gospel cross culturally. Pray for the growing number of our international friends who’ve returned home.  Pray they read the Bible & are saved. Some names: Lin, Eric, Prince, Handsom, George, Rulin, Caesar, and Chunhua Repeat yesterday's request. Pray Julie & Kevin & daughter Chris see a clear demonstrations of the gospel through our lives and words. (China) Pray for Veronica’s (Venezuala) salvation. She continues to study the book of Luke with Laurel and the Mom’s group. We are approaching the cross in the Friday night study. Pray the internationals see the love of God and turn to him in faith. Pray those we’ve already trained continue to effectively minister to internationals here in Columbus. We have come to the cross in study of Mark. Pray as he is lifted up that Jesus draws people to himself. Pray God works in our children's (Athan, Vivian, Gus) hearts and lives, bringing them to faith through his grace. Pray our partnering churches and individuals will remain strong and continue to support the work we are engaged in. Shirley (China) seems very close to believing. Pray she understands the gospel and trusts Christ. Today is our 10th Anniversary! We praise God for His kindness in our lives. Pray our lives together bring Him glory. The mom’s group takes a break in the summer. Pray redemptive relationships continue during the next two months. Pray Wei Peng effectively shares truth with unbelievers. She is a Chinese Christian who has been a great help to us. Our Sunday morning class has grown. Pray God gives us wisdom on whether or not to divide into two separate groups. Pray those we’ve already trained continue to grow in their ability to minister to internationals. See May 31 for names. Some laboring faithfully beside us include, Heather, Walter, James, Sharon, Dale, Jessica, Patsy, Shirley, & Kyrk Thank you so much for praying for us. We count on your prayers.

Louk April Prayer Letter

Prayer Calendar Thank you for praying for my time in Florida last month. God gave sweet times with our partner churches there. It’s a privilege to share how God is glorifying His name among the nations. It is a joy to know and serve Him, telling others of his glory. April 2016 Laurel is teaching the international mom’s group today. Pray for gospel clarity and Spirit conviction. Pray for Joshua as he meets with James to mentor him in reaching Muslims here in Columbus. We are going to review the story of the crucifixion and resurrection this week. Pray the gospel is clearly understood. Pray for Peng. He continues to be soaking up all he can about the Bible and God. Pray for new life for him. Pray for safety for Joshua as he travels to Kansas to update two supporting churches. Pray for strength for Laurel. Pray God uses the meeting tonight at Maranatha to increase their passion for prayer & for reaching the nations. Pray God keeps Laurel and our kids healthy and rested and safe during Joshua’s time in Kansas and Missouri. Pray as we work through the life and teaching of Jesus during the Friday studies that people believe in Him. Pray for wisdom for Walter as he prepares to lead the Sunday Bible studies in Joshua’s stead. Pray God uses the meeting at Newton Church to increase their passion for prayer & for reaching the nations here. Pray for a safe return trip back to Ohio for Joshua today. He’s looking forward to being with his family again. Pray for Flora, a Chinese young believer in the Moms’ group. She is convicted of the need to share her faith. Pray for Chris & her parents. Chris is a  Chinese 5 yr old who is Vivian’s friend. Vivian prays daily for her salvation. Pray for Vera (Venezuela). We aren’t sure, if she is a Christian. Pray for a growing relationship. She is reading Luke. Pray for Tianhan’s salvation. He is carefully reading the Bible and seems so close to choosing Christ. Pray for God to open the door to meet again regularly  with Hadi and Horia Muslims from Algeria. Pray for Wei. He is interested in the Bible. Joshua would like to meet with him individually. Pray for an open door. Pray for Julie’s and Keith’s (Chris’s parents) salvation. They  are new to our Sun. & Fri. classes & will be here for a year.  Pray for Oksana, a Russian believer studying Luke with the Mom’s group. She wants to share her faith. Pray for our children’s salvation and wisdom for us as we strive to spiritually shepherd them. Ru Ling returns to China this month. Pray God brings believers into her life & that He grows & harvests seeds planted. heart. Pray for Kyrk, our faithful 12 year old volunteer. Pray God increases his ability to share biblical truth lovingly with others. Pray tonight’s banquet for people interested in international student ministry encourages Great Commission ministry. Pray God uses the meeting at Boones Creek Church to increase their passion for prayer & for reaching the nations here. Pray for a safe return trip back to Ohio for Joshua today. He’s looking forward to being with his family again. Pray for Shirley (China) to turn to God. She is understanding that she must repent and believe, but hasn’t yet. Pray for Shirley’s husband. He has no spiritual interest, but has begun reading the Jesus Story Book Bible to his child. Pray the Lord of the Harvest sends more labors into the harvest here. The fields are white.  The laborers few. Pray for Heather’s, Kate’s, & Jess’s effectiveness as they share God’s love with the children during our Mom’s study. Pray for belief for Shuhe (China). She is a new member of our Sunday study who has been bringing others.   Thank you so much for praying for us. We count on your prayers.

Nicole Liles March 2016 Newsletter

Louk Prayer Calendar

Marc and Nancy Blackwell newsletter April 2016