Leviticus 22:32-33 Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you, That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD. He brought them out of Egypt to be their God. He rescued, […]
Archives for August 2010
Pictures on the wall
On the wall in the back of Vision Baptist church, eight pictures are hanging. Each of those pictures is a missionary family sent out of Vision. By the end of this week, there will be three more hanging. All eight of those families are currently on the field. Mark Tolson is in China. Chris and […]
We love you, James Maguna
Anyone who has ever broken a toe can tell you, when one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts. It is amazing how a little toe can cause such great pain to the rest of your normal life. So when James Maguna is hurting, and in a rough time, he, being a part […]
Vision Commissions Two Missionary Families
What an honor to be part of commissioning two more missionary families to the work. Philip and Lori Bassham are leaving to raise support to go to Thailand. Scott and Melissa Newton are also leaving and will be raising support to go to Barcelona, Spain. I want to ask you to pray for them just […]
God’s amazing Word
Leviticus 15:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean. Long before science was explaining things God’s people were obeying Him and doing the right thing. The Jews were taught to cleanse themselves and to […]
Welcome our newest members, the Murillo family
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, […]
Before the days of modern science
Leviticus 11:33 And every earthen vessel, whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it. Many people get lost reading all the Old Testament laws. They wonder why God was so strict and ridiculous. I, however, am always shocked at the wonderful things He was teaching His […]
The Big Three Prayer Requests this week
Even sinning in ignorance has its consequences
Leviticus 4:27-28 And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty; Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a […]
Spirit filled to do manual labor
Exodus 35:31 And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; I doubt most of us think about the truths taught in this passage. We think of being Spirit filled to preach, to teach, to witness but not to do manual […]
Update #3 on Jason and Lori’s Ministry in Chile
Below is a picture of Omega Baptist Church (Igelsia Bautista Omega) and Nicolas Mazella, one of Jason’s leadership team heading up this new church plant in the Maipu area of Santiago Chile. Services are currently being held in this community building at a small rental price per month. The community building will not be available […]
Update #2 on Jason and Lori’s Ministry in Chile
The (Seminario Chileno Bautista) Chilean Baptist College in Santiago Chile was formed for the training of men for the gospel ministry in Santiago and around the world. There are five men studying at present in the seminary under the direction and teaching of missionary Jason Holt. Jason is the founder and director of the college […]
What a God we serve!
Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, What a good God we serve! Here in the Old Covenant where everyone thinks of Him as being so hard He tells Moses about His character. He is merciful […]
He dwells among His people
Exodus 29:45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. God promises Moses and the people of Israel that He will dwell among them. They build a tabernacle. God longs to be with His people. He is their God. Today, He loves us. He dwells not only with us […]
Update # 1 of Jason and Lori’s Ministry in Chile
Jason and Lori Holt and their family are missionaries serving in Santiago Chile. They have three children, Katie (7), Josh (5) and Andrew (3). They are members of Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta GA. Jason and Lori trained in Peru in language and cultural adaptation before coming to Chile. Their first church in Santiago is […]
How to treat foreigners
Exodus 23:9 Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. God told Israel that they were to never take advantage of foreigners because they had been foreigners in the land of Egypt. Treat people like you want to be […]
“Our heart, our desire” the Gardner version.
In honor of Pastor Appreciation Day, a video to the song “Our heart, our desire” with a Gardner theme to it. Enjoy!
We love you, Pastor Gardner & Mrs. Betty
Vision Baptist Church is a relatively young church, less than five years old. But in that short time, God has greatly used the church to spread His gospel across the world, and in no small part is that due to Pastor Austin Gardner. Under his experienced leadership, Vision has gone from meeting in a basement, […]
Testing them
Exodus 16: Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. They were given angel’s food to eat every day. They were […]
The Calendar started when the Lamb died
Exodus 12:2 This month[ shall be] unto you the beginning of months: it[ shall be] the first month of the year to you. The children of Israel are about to go free. The Lamb is about to die. Do you notice what is happening to their calendar? This will be their first month. Everything is […]
The Big Three this week
This week’s announcements
Reasonable doubt
Exodus 6:12 And Moses spake before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? I know Moses is supposed to be more spiritual than he is but I understand him. His own people had not believed him or listened […]
Joseph’s sadness
Genesis 50:17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him Joseph’s brothers come […]
Remembering the dreams
Genesis 42:9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. It is as though he had forgotten his dreams. It has been over 20 years since he dreamed them. He has been blessed by God. He […]
Making the best of a bad situation
Genesis 39:23 The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper. Joseph has been a slave and he is now a prisoner. Both times he has taken responsibility and instead of showing […]
Killing the flock
Genesis 33:13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. Jacob is traveling with his children and his herds. He makes a profound statement that we should […]
Tyler and Gretchen Masters’ prayer letter
The Masters have arrived in North Africa August/September 2010 The past few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. Praise the Lord for graciously providing everything that we needed during this transition. All of our paperwork moved along a lot faster than we originally anticipated. We were even able to find a home within two weeks […]
Using God as an excuse
Genesis 27:20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me. It is nothing new to use God as an excuse. As a pastor I have heard it all! It is always God’s fault. […]
Join me in welcome our newest members
Tonight the Mize family joined Vision. So welcome our newest members, Jeff and DeAnna; along with their children Ben, Nethanel, Titus, Justus, Charity, and Gracie. With the baptism of Patty Tello and Shurama Tubillas that gives us 10 new members today. This is a tremendous family and we are blessed to have them as part […]
Two baptized today
Pastor Ronald Tubillas baptized Patty Tello seen above this morning. We welcome her as a new member of Vision Baptist Church He also baptized his daughter, Shurama Tubillas. It is good to have these two sweet ladies follow the Lord in baptism and join Vision.
Some things are more important than food
Genesis 25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright. Esau sells his birthright in this passage because he is hungry. He may even think that it is not for real. Maybe he thinks Jacob nor […]
The Big Three
Each week our church prays for what we call the Big Three. They are the missionary (staff missionary) that is a member of our church and sent out by us, a country of the week, and a missionary (strategic partner) that our church supports. Please be in prayer for each of these three throughout the […]
William Carey Sunday
William Carey was born on August 17, 1761. At Vision I like to remember these great men of God that paved the way for much of what we do today. I call the Sunday closest to William Carey’s birth, William Carey Sunday! That will be tomorrow. I challenge you to consider some of Carey’s famous […]
Losing the respect of your children
Genesis 19:14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. Lot had lived like he didn’t believe God for so […]
Selfish spouses
Genesis 12:13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. Sad that so many husbands can be like ole Abraham. He wanted to have things go well with him no matter what happened to his wife. She […]
All flesh corrupted his way
Genesis 6:12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. By Genesis 6 we see the condition of man. He chose to disobey God in the garden of Eden. Maybe you could think that he woke up and saw the error of his […]
Fellowhelpers
3John 1:8 We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth. The word is a great one! I want to help others who are getting the truth to the world. How can I get more involved in helping. In this passage all I needed to do was receive them. That […]
Holt family prayer letter
Chileans reaching Chileans One of our fundamental beliefs, as church planting missionaries, is that the Chileans must reach their own people. Our goal is to plant local churches with trained national leadership that will continue for decades to reach and train their own people. During the past few months we have seen this plan in […]
Changing the outward doesn’t affect the inward
2Peter 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. It is easy to get caught up in getting people to act and look like Christians. We get so interested in […]
David and Katie Gardner’s prayer letter
Dear Pastors and Praying Friends, This month has definitely been an extremely busy one. We have had many events and groups. We have also had a huge change in our life. It has been good to see how God has provided in all of the spiritual and physical needs during this month. It is truly […]
Ronald Tubillas prayer letter
Dear Pastor and Church family, August 2010 We are very excited to be able to share with you the blessings that God poured out on our lives and ministry. Thank you so much for your prayers and faithfulness. VISION BAPTIST CHURCH Time has past so quickly the years have seemed like days, this month we […]
Feel what they are feeling
Hebrews 13:3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Notice the words as bound with them. We are to be so involved with our brothers in Christ that when they are bound or in prison we feel like we are […]
A good report even though they didn’t receive the promise
Hebrews 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: You can obtain a good report and never get what you believe God is giving you. He may have promised it to you but the getting isn’s as important as you trusting Him. These believers got a good report […]
The Big Three This week
Obtaining the promise
Hebrews 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. An amazing truth is taught here that we all need to learn. God made a promise to Abraham but things didn’t come quickly or easily. Abraham thought that they should have come much quicker than they did. There were times that Abraham […]
Not a fighter
2Timothy 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, The Bible is talking about the pastor, preacher, spiritual leader here and it says that he is not to strive or fight. Preachers are not fighters. They are to be gentle with all men. […]
Scott and Melissa Newton prayer letter
Dear praying friends, Well, we are 26 days away from full-time deputation! God has been so good to us this month, it’s definitely been a busy one. Here are some of the things we are thanking Him for: Meetings: Even though we are only part-time until September, we have been in 5 meetings since our […]
Keith Shumaker family
This is a most wonderful family. They will be with us in our mission’s conference. I hope you have it on your schedule, September 16-19th. They are veteran missionaries in Burkina Faso. They are home on furlough!
I was ordained to preach this
1Timothy 2:3-7 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, […]