Please continue to pray. Here is a report with more detail about his surgery from his blog.
I went to the surgeon today and we have a plan. The surgery will be next Thursday at 7:30 am. They are going to go in through a 9 inch incision that will be made in my back between my ribs, separate to of my ribs and start to work on my right lung. They are going to need to surgically remove a section of my main bronchial tube and my middle lobe and possibly the lower lobe. The bronchial tube will be reatattched using a muscle that will be taken from my back to help it heal quickly. I am expecting to be in the hospital for 5 days. The surgeon classified this as a pretty major surgery so I would definitely appreciate your continued prayers especially on next Thursday. I haven’t been in the hospital for more than 10 years so this is all new to me. I am fully confident that my God knows where I am and will work all these things together for my good and His glory.
Again, so many people from all over the world have told me that they are praying for me. I would imagine that thousands of disciples of Christ know about this tumor and are praying. That is a huge source of strength for me. Pray for John Miller, the surgeon who will perform the surgery and for a quick recovery so we can return to North Africa. It looks like I will be able to be in North Africa for the last couple weeks that our summer interns will be there so I am excited about that. Keep praying!
Can I get you to pray for one more thing today! God has been so good to us and has done so much to get the gospel out to the world. It is His harvest and we know that. He is doing the work. I heard from Nathan Saunders in Montana this week and was impressed to hear how God is building His work.
I now want to ask you to be in very special prayer as I am for Wayne Cooke and his family. Tomorrow will be his first service in the brand new church. Hope Baptist Church will have a Bible study as they prepare to have a great Celebration service in the fall.
It is always a scary time as you start from scratch and that is exactly what Pastor Cooke is doing. Will you pray for him. I wish that I could be there with him to help him and encourage him but I have to be at my post.
I do thank God that Jeremy Hall is there with him. I can’t wait until tomorrow afternoon to hear all the great things that God does. Will you pray with us for Hope Baptist Church, Middletown, New York.
I just found out why Anne missed church on Thursday night! She has the Chicken Pox. She is an extremely faithful worker for the Lord and in our church. She and her husband David are in charge of our children’s ministry. Please be sure and pray for her that she will soon recover and be back in her place of service — where she wants to be.
Our missionary, Wayne Cooke, is having his first Bible study this coming Sunday! Do you remember how stressful it was as we got ready to start or even how much we pray and worry about every big Sunday we have?
We so desperately want God to send people and especially the very first service! Then could I ask you to be in prayer for the Cookes! They have a couple of people that have shown some interest in the services but nothing for sure!
Please pray for them and if you get a chance send an email to wayne@hope.fm and tell them that you are praying.
I appreciate your heart for missions and how you are giving! I thank you for getting in touch with people when I give you that idea. God bless each of you!
I know of no greater man anywhere than Tony Howeth! Today is his birthday and so since he is such a blessing to Vision Baptist Church and such a great friend I wanted to take this very public forum to say how much we love him and all of his family at Vision Baptist Church.
Thank you Brother Tony for all you do for missionaries and pastors everywhere! Thank you for all you do for Vision Baptist Church. I really wished that I had of had time to get this out earlier today because you are probably thinking that I forgot about your birthday but you can bet that I did not!
I count no man a better friend! I trust no one any more. I respect no preacher any more! I just wanted you to know today that you are super loved and respected! Happy Birthday from Vision Baptist Church and Austin and Betty Gardner.
For any pastor who reads this blog I want you to know that if you are looking for one of the best preachers I know then you need look no further than Tony Howeth. He would do a great job in your church in any capacity that you might like to use him–mission’s conference, revival, discipleship, training or whatever!
Tony Howeth–Happy Birthday! You are greatly loved and respected as are all the Howeth family!
Micah Smith is a member of Vision! He lives in Arequipa, Peru with his wife Katie that most of you have yet to meet. Lord willing, some day soon they will be back in town and you will get to know all of them.
We just got good news. Micah and Katie have been blessed with a new baby! The pictures will be up in just a few hours but here goes the details that I know so far. His name is Andrew Justin Smith who will go by Justin. He was born Feb. 27, 2008 about 10:30pm. He weighed in at 5lbs. 4oz.and is 18.5 inches long.
Please pray for Micah, Katie and Justin as they serve the Lord in Arequipa at the Faith Baptist Church.
Why don’t you send this link to your friends and invite them to Easter Sunday here at Vision Baptist! Celebration Sunday is also a good day to be inviting your friends to.
I am not allowed to say who but a family from the church here at Fairwinds Baptist Church just took me and two missionary families to the Mall to buy us a suit and tie. I really wish that I could say thank you more publicly but he insisted that I not do that.
I was so impressed with his love for Christ and for the servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray one of those unspoken prayer requests prayers for him and his wife.
God is so good to His servants. I love serving Him and thank Him for how He takes care of the smallest needs that we have.
Jeremy is in a hotel room, no doctors, etc trying to pass a large kidney stone because he does not have health insurance.
I just talked to him and he is feeling pretty good right now. He has still not passed the stone though so please pray for him. He will be trying to go and preach tonight at his meeting. I thank God for men that are willing to pay whatever price to get the gospel to the world.
Jeremy Hall is like a son to me. His love for God and desire to see God do something in his life is a beautiful thing and I thank God for him.
Right now he needs your prayers. He is in Ohio, where he went to preach in some mission’s conferences, and he has a large kidney stone. He is alone. He is in a hotel room because he does not have insurance. He is waiting to pass the stone. Would you please be praying for him. I am told that this is one of the most excruciating pains that a man can be in.
He will be flying back home, Lord willing, on Thursday. He is hurting and in need. Please be praying. I will keep you updated as I hear any news. I called several times yesterday and was only able to leave messages. Maybe today I will get new information.
