Walking Like Who We Are

Dear member and friend of Vision,

I am very grateful to God for all that He is doing in our church. It is exciting to see Him slowly building the attendance of our church, saving souls, adding to our membership and allowing us to participate more and more in His work around the world.

In the months of July, August, and September God allowed us to:

• Have a special Commissioning Service for the Basshams and Newtons as we sent them off as members of our church to carry the gospel around the world.
• Send Mark and Natasha Tolson (VBM) to the field of China to begin their ministry there.
• Send Tyler and Gretchen Masters (MWBM) to the field of North Africa to begin their ministry there.
• Send Scott and Melissa Newton on deputation as missionaries to Spain.
• Send Philip and Lori Bassham on deputation as missionaries to Thailand.
• Have a great mission’s conference with a Faith Promise of $118,005 for this coming year.
• See three more students graduate from the Our Generation Training Center.
• See seven baptized and become a members of Vision.
• Added the Miguel Murillo family as members of our church and missionaries sent out from our church through Vision Baptist Missions.
• Added 11 members by letter.
• Saw our church family add several new babies!
• Saw Mariangela Simeon return from her 6 month service in Peru.
• Took on several new missionaries at $700 a month or $8,400 a year.

God has blessed and He has used you. You gave, prayed, served and God added to His church. It has done great and wonderful things.

All of this would not be possible if it were not for your generous giving. I do not see your giving record. As you look it over thank God for what He has done through you. Look above and review the fruit of your sacrifice.

I hope you will be excited and pray that God will allow us to give all we promised in our Faith Promise. In the coming months we have much more exciting things and God is already at work. In March we will be a five year old church! God has greatly blessed and continues to do so. I hope you are thankful you get to be part of what He is doing here at Vision.

Gratefully His and yours,

Austin

We are officially on full-time deputation! We are so excited that God wants to use us to plant churches and train Christian leaders in Spain.

We have been preparing for this for 7 years, from Bible college, to working on the field, to training at Vision Baptist Church. When I look back at these years of preparation, I see a great deal of mistakes (my part), and a great deal more grace (God’s part).

It is such an amazing thing to be used by God, so many times we feel like our path is a choice, that we must find the best way to lay out our life plans by ourselves, when it is really His plan and His purpose, and He is the One who brings it to pass!

Here are some updates from the past couple weeks:

VISION: The 29th of August was my last day as the teacher of the International Bible Fellowship, which I have taught for nearly 2 years. What a tremendous opportunity this was, to be able to reach out to our community and teach the Word of God. We have seen God work through us in this class, and we have seen Him work IN us, and leaving is not easy.

Scott and Melissa Newton

Welcome Miguel and Liz Murillo and their daughter, Liz Andrea as our newest members. They serve as church planting missionaries in Arequipa, Peru through Vision Baptist Missions. Miguel also serves at the Peru Bible College.

Betty and I have known Miguel since his teenage years. We were privileged to see God save both of them, train them, call them to the ministry and then serve faithfully for all these years.

It is a real privilege to have them serving with us!

Join me in welcoming our newest member to Vision Baptist Church. Wil Lanum joined today. In all the rush today we did not get a picture but this is his facebook picture. I believe that God is going to use Wil greatly to help reach the world with the gospel message.

This is straight from their blog. I just copied and pasted but it will bring you up to date.

05.27.10 Update on Baby Tolson 5-27-10

Baby Tolson

Today, May 27th, 2010 at 6:35 A.M., our little baby boy was still born.

He weighed 3 lbs and 2 oz. and was 11 inches long.

His name is Wesley Allen Wei Tolson.

The diagnosis of the baby was correct and there was not anything the doctor’s could do.

Natasha

We could not have asked for a better delivery, Natasha is healthy.

She was in the hospital less than 48 hours when she gave birth.

The baby was born head first, with everything intact, and very quickly (with no trauma to Natasha).

She is recovering now and we plan on going home tomorrow morning.

Funeral

We are having a private graveside service Saturday morning at 10:00 A.M.

Fo those who would like to send flowers, you can send them to:

Ingram Funeral Home
210 Ingram Avenue
Cumming, GA 30040-2418

Thank You

Thank you for your continued prayers and support, we have been encouraged with love and support from all of you.

Thank you to our Lord! May He continue to receive the maximum glory.

05.26.10 Update on Baby Tolson 5-26-10

We checked into the hospital yesterday morning.

We had a good day of preparation yesterday.

Natasha will have three doses of medicine today (started at 4 AM this morning and will receive the other doses at 8 and 12.)

We should be having a baby today (most likely this afternoon.)

Both of our parents traveled in safely yesterday.

We have had many visitors from our church family.

Natasha is in good spirits and about to have breakfast. She is in a little pain from the IV.

God has been faithful and good to us, just like He always is.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Check out bcwe.org

I love Resurrection Sunday or what is commonly called Easter Sunday. It is a time when everyone still stops to remember that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. That is the gospel in outline form. Man sinned and deserved eternal punishment. God came and took on human flesh. Jesus the God man lived among us as a man and never sinned. Then He was accused of and crucified for crimes that He had never done. Many religious leaders have died but only one has literally died, literally been buried and literally raised from the dead, but Jesus did. He is alive.

We do not serve a dead or weak Jesus. He is the risen Savior, the King of glory. We actually celebrate His resurrection every Sunday. That is why we meet on Sunday. Jesus arose and His disciples celebrated His resurrection by worshipping Him on the first day of the week.

I am excited today that you get to meet Evangelist Ed Dunlop. He is a real man of God. You are going to throughly enjoy getting to hear him. Be sure and invite your friends and bring everyone you can to services all week long.

Thank you for all you do to glorify and honor the name of Jesus Christ in your life and family. I am blessed to be able to worship God with you today.

Austin

I am very excited about what God is doing at Vision, in and through all of us. Now let me remind you that Easter is coming. It is the day that more unchurched and lost people will attend church in the entire year. I want to ask you to be praying very seriously that God will bring in lost people and that He will use me to preach His Word with power.

Be sure and pick up some of the invitations and give them to your friends and neighbors. Pray that God will allow you to influence someone for Him and for Heaven.

Ed Dunlop will be with us also. He is a great preacher and family evangelist. You will enjoy his messages and so will your family members and friends. The kids and adults will be glued to their seats and giving full attention to the preaching of God’s Word. So use this as an opportunity to invite someone. You come with them and sit with them in the service. God just may use you to see them saved this week.

Thanks to all of you for all that you have done to help Pastor Ronald get the funds to go back to Peru and visit his family. Thanks your giving and helping Allison in all this endeavor.

I thank God for each of you and just praise the Lord for the great opportunity He has given me to serve Him as pastor of Vision. Thanks again,

God bless you

Austin

No need in waiting for your pastor to die. There are places you can serve now! That was meant in jest but how many are really doing that.

Also there are many other opportunities that abound all over the world.

Right now at Vision we are looking for someone to work from the states in Africa. The details will be on www.austingardner.net in the next few hours.

There is much to do be done around the world. What are you waiting on?

Personal Assistant Opportunity

As our ministry expands here in Northern Ireland, it has become necessary for us to hire a personal assistant to help me with the administrative part of the ministry. Below are the details about the opportunity. If you or someone you know are interested in applying for this opportunity, please contact me at the following numbers 028 7122 6164 (UK) or 330-437-1527 (USA). You can also contact me by commenting on this blog with a phone number or email address, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Job Description Summary

The personal assistant is an assistant to the pastor. He will not necessarily be in charge of any particular ministry, though much opportunity will be given as he proves himself. He will, however, assist the pastor in all of the that he does. He should be highly motivated and deeply committed to the Lord Jesus, to the Word of God, and to the work of the ministry. He will answer directly to the pastor, who has the sole authority to hire/fire.

Ministry Requirements

Must be a single young man under 25 years of age.
Commit to a minimum term of at least one year of ministry.
Live up to qualifications for a pastor from 1 Timothy 3 and Titus.
Be an example of the believer (1 Timothy 4:12).
Fill out weekly activity report.
Commit to a mentor/apprentice relationship with the pastor.
Use Covenant Eyes Internet accountability software on all computers.
Ministry Responsibilities

Assist the pastor with all of his responsibilities.
Work at least 50 hours per week (20 of those will be studying, if not a Bible college graduate)
Regular Church Ministry (not counted as 50 hours of work)
Monthly Living Provisions £500 ($800) – includes lodging, utilities, food, and incidentals.

Find out about more opportunities at bcwe.org.