Greetings, brethren! I hope this month’s newsletter finds you all well and full of God’s grace! The past few weeks have been quite busy around here. In mid-April, the congregation here at Bear Valley had to find other places to assemble for worship, with the beginning of a major project of replacing carpet that was a few decades old. Ordinarily, this would not have been such a big deal, but with the discovery of asbestos tile underneath the old carpet, the project became even more complicated. I’m happy to say that all seems to be on schedule and we will hopefully be “home,” back in our building, before too much longer.
So far this month, I was very blessed to be able to speak at the 15th Annual Hugo Lectures in Hugo, OK on Saturday, May 10. The event was well-attended and it was so good to see many old and dear friends. On Sunday, May 11, I began a Gospel Meeting in Redland, OK which concluded on Wednesday, May 14. The next morning I began the long return trip home to Denver so as to be here in time for the activities of graduation weekend. There was the Graduation Banquet on Friday evening, the President’s Reception on Saturday evening, and then the Graduation Ceremony itself on Sunday morning. Due to our inability to use our own building, the graduation was held in the auditorium of John F. Kennedy High School, where our Sunday morning worship assemblies are currently taking place. Seventeen graduated this year, six of whom will return for two more quarters before finishing in December.
The summer is quickly filling up with activities, also. I will soon be scheduling reports at some of our supporting congregations toward the end of June. The week of June 8-15 I will be teaching Homiletics in our congregation’s annual FPTC (Future Preacher Training Camp). I was honored to be asked to teach this year and will have the 13-15-year-olds. I also will be traveling to Port au Prince, Haiti in August to be present at the Grand Opening of our newest extension school and will teach the first course. The dates for that trip are August 6-16. We are very excited about this new school!
Specific Needs
While our monthly support has remained the same, I am very happy to say that we have been the recipients of some very timely, and unexpected, gifts that have allowed, and will allow, us to take care of some needed issues. We continue to covet your prayers about this, even as we remain confident that our God continues to provide. We thank Him, and those who have been so generous! And we thank all of you for your continued interest and support of this great work.
God bless!
Donnie Bates