At Large and In Charge

See You Later Oki-chan

On May 20th 2009, Regina and I said “see you later Oki-chan” for the last time this side of glory. He was our pug of almost 13 years! What a stoic, cobby, compact tank of a dog. At time you would swear that he was all head with big beautiful eyes. (By the way Oki only had eyes for his Mommy, Regina!!!) He had a fawn coat that shed like a dog ten times his size. He had a lazy uncurled tail, and he was in no way show quality. You have heard of a heat seeking missile, well he was a “comfort seeking” dog; always looking for a lap to get on or someone to nap with.
Oki-chan was a lot of dog in a small package. I never said we owned a pug, no one owned him as he was loyal to himself. He was originally from Okinawa, Japan. When he wanted, he was playful, mischievous (not hateful or mean), easy going, highly intelligent, and again, I must say stoic. We never had to punish him, but he was often distant or charming in a sneaky kind of way. His motto seemed to be “I am at large and in charge”! Children loved him, but he was aloof with them, unless they were eating, and then he wanted them to share with him.
We took a number of pictures of Oki, but my favorite was one of him wearing my old Green Beret from Vietnam (which I still have). He looked so cool! This is the last picture we took of him with Regina and me. The old guy was stoic as always.
I guess I said all this to answer the question I as a Pastor have been asked many times. My answer to it is always the same. “Do dogs go to heaven?” The Bible does not speak of dog or cats in heaven, but it does speak of horses and other animals. So I believe, yes our beloved pet will be with us in heaven. I also believe that there will be animals, fishes, and birds of all types. I believe our Creator God has a plan for all His creation and created beings. I pray that you will someday have the joy of being owned and loved by a pug. God’s Blessings Always, Pastor Butch
PS… Yes there are tears in my eyes and on my keyboard
The American Kennel Club: “The Pug is well described by the phrase "multum in parvo" which means "a lot of dog in a small space." They are recognized for their even-tempers, playful personalities, and their outgoing, loving dispositions. This square and cobby breed comes in fawn, silver fawn, apricot fawn or black, with a well-defined "mask" on his muzzle. A popular companion dog, the pug also excels in the show ring”.

Key Peninsula Baptist Church

Key Peninsula Baptist Church
By Pastor Butch Hall Sermon OL May 17, 2009

I AM UNASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL Romans 1:16-17 “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.”

The Apostle Paul took great pride in the Gospel of Christ:

· Because of the PERSON the Gospel of Christ ADVOCATES
Jesus Christ is God made visible, audible, and in a tangible form.
· Because of the POWER the Gospel of Christ REVEALS
It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.
· Because of the PURPOSE the Gospel of Christ PROVIDES
Salvation of all mankind is the Purpose, the Provision, and the Product of the Gospel.

The Apologetics Study Bible

The reason I enjoy studying The Apologetics Study Bible is basically; if ever there was ever a time in which we needed to study apologetics it is now. The facts are over whelming as see Christianity being under attack not only by the world, but also many denomination, and so called Christian churches.
There are far too many Christians who know little about fighting the good fight of the faith. To many Christians and churches had rather switch than fight! It is only through a sound study of apologetics that we will have rational, intelligent, and relevant explanations of their faith in Jesus Christ and have the ability to stand up to the critics of Christian and the prejudiced of nonbelievers. I hope you will join me in the study of God's word and use Ephesians 6:10-20 to see just how strong you are in your walk with the Lord. Love and Blessings Always, PB

Thank You Last Mission Report

Beloved Saints,

Awesome! Thank you all for your prayers and support. No mission out-reach is ever as good or as rewarding as the last one. Beloved, it is with awe and wonder that can I say: “It is finished! And now we start to work on next year’s trip to the Philippines!” I pray that you will consider joining us for the 2010 mission trip.

The 2009 mission was an enormous success and surpassed expectations in all areas as the tally shows. Lord willing and your prayers and support the 2010 mission will even be better.

Many of you have asked; “Pastor Butch how can I help.” If you want to become a team member or you want to partner with me in prayer, provide financial support, or contribute to the needs of the medical and dental outreach, please contact me or Christians in Action Ministries International cinamissions@christiansinaction.org. My email is pastorbutch@gmail.com and my blog is http://pastorbutch.blogspot.com/. Again I truly thank each of you that partnered with me through your prayers and finances.

Team pictures: I have a disk containing all the team pictures, if you would like a copy please contact me by email and I will send you a disk.

The team saw signs, miracles, and wonders as we saw extremely high blood pressures dramatically drop after praying for many patients. The Lord worked His blessings as we were obedient to His task at hand.

The Filipino men, woman, boy, and girls found Joy, Peace, and the Love of the Lord, as the team reached out to them on behalf of Christ. The Christians in Action team and the many local volunteers worked extremely hard all for the glory of the Lord! Here the total numbers:

Total number of sites: 7 Total People registered: 4,449
Total medical patients: 3,423 Total dental patients: 1,097
Total decisions for Christ: 3,141

Site Seven - Barangay Villa Esperanza
We are reminded that the number seven represents completion in the bible. Our site is located by the sea. It is in a fishing villages on the Island Negros. The team is fired up and ready for the last site. After yesterday we know that the Lord is working and He is sharing His joy with us.
One thing we know is that we are in spiritual warfare. Our children's evangelism team after the second session all had headaches and no one could understand why. The enemy was at work and we found out why people were trickling in instead of have large numbers of people standing in line, one of the barangay officials did not announce there was a medical mission being held. Even when you are doing good there is always those who don’t want you to help the people who are in need.
But to God be the victory. We still saw over 600 people and we had over 70 percent who gave their lives to the Lord by excepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
The volunteers were hard working with us were such a blessing. What a great group of people giving of themselves. The students were on spring break and came to serve the Lord! One of the families that helped out were the Yandall family all 26 of them. The 24 children are like my grandchildren in my heart. The Children were some of our translators and assisted in every area of the outreached.
The team wants to be sure to thank all our local volunteers that helped make this such a great medical, dental, and Christian out-reach because without them the job would have been impossible. We also owe a big thanks to Belinda and the staff at Business Inn for our lodging and care.
THE RESULTS FOR THE ENTIRE OUTREACH FOR ALL SEVEN SITES.
4,449 Total people seen3,141 Accepted Christ

Site 6 - Barangay Mandalagan

Site 6 - Barangay Mandalagan
On this day we were pleased to have Gordon Donoho the President of Christians in Action Missions International come and joint our team. He was a very big hit with the team and this evangelism class.

It was a treat for me and the team to have Pastor Glenn Kennedy back with us. He missed last year due a knee repair job. He is back up and running at full speed. Praise The Lord!
The people in the picture with their hands raised were in one of our Evangelism class and they raised their hands because they had just accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. What a blessing.

Brother Arnel asked: “Have you ever felt stretched by God?” God has a way of stretching our faith, our commitment, and our endurance. As we see amazing, awesome, and awe-inspiring thing happening.
Today there was a man walked in the clinic who had a serious problem and only the hospital at this point could help him. He had low blood pressure that we could not even be read. Dr. Regina and the other doctors told him to rest and sit so that we could pray for him. He told the doctors that he was ready to die and truly some thought he would die before we could get him to the hospital... Our prayer team came into medical area just then. They prayed with him while the doctors were having him rest and wait for transportation. A few minutes later the man was sitting up, smiling, talking, and had a different attitude. It was as if the breathe of life entered his body and he started to walk around. He then said that he was strengthen and he wanted to go home. We offered to pay for his ride home, but he said: “No I am alive and I can walk home, Praise God!” I know that Jesus made the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walked, and the dead rise and that nothing is impossible with God. Jesus said over and over again; “your faith has made you healed!”
This site has stretched everyone because we saw more than 900 people. There were so many people and they came in waves. Each area worked non-stop. Sixty percent of the people seen gave their lives to the Lord.
We even had some of the Christian families that retired in that area provided soup with rice so that the people will not faint of hunger while waiting in line to be treated. We took turns going to lunch in order to get every person through the line.