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Dear Friends,
We pray that 2017 has greeted you with good health and blessings upon your family.
We have some very important news to share with all our friends and ministry supporters. This is life changing news that we hope you will be interested in.
In Habakkuk, the Word of God says, "
Then the
Lord
answered me,
Write the vision. Make it clear on tablets so that anyone can read it quickly. The vision will still happen at the appointed time. It hurries toward its goal. It won't be a lie. If it's delayed, wait for it. It will certainly happen. It won't be late." -
Habakkuk 2:2-3 (GW).
In the next few lines, we will share our hearts with you on a very personal decision we have made that we want you to know about. We want to share with you the vision God has given to us and ask you to pray about partnering with us to fulfill that vision as God directs you.
Holy Ghost Ministries was originally founded in 2002. Through much prayer, reflection and wisdom from trusted advisers, we are expanding our ministry to impact the world through seven fundamental areas of ministry emphasis:
1. Spreading the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ through Evangelism.
2. Teaching & Ministry Training.
3. Missions & Humanitarian Relief.
4. Leadership Development & Training for Ministers and Government Leaders.
5. Honoring Israel.
6. Preaching the Gospel through radio, television, internet & print media.
7. Prayer Retreats & Spirit-filled Programs.
Many of you have prayed for us and stood by us over the past several years, and today we want to share our hearts with you as we embark on a new leg of the journey God has called our family to fulfill.
On January 1, 2002, I surrendered to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From that day forward I have done my best to fulfill my calling as an evangelist. I committed to God that if He would open the doors I would walk through them and would preach and teach the Word of God wherever He led me. I pledged to God that I would preach and I would depend on Him to reap the harvest of souls through the power of the Holy Spirit. Little did I know that God would open doors for me to preach in a prison, minister in jails, preach in churches all over America and personally spread the Gospel in Ghana West Africa, Uganda, Canada and Holland. We have seen thousands of people positively impacted, souls saved and lives transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit and we thank God every day that He chose ordinary people like us to accomplish great things for His Kingdom.
As anyone who is married will tell you, when any spouse makes a commitment, both spouses are committed as well. God has blessed Laurie and I with 26 years of marriage, two wonderful daughters and by God's grace we have served God with a passion to return honor to God once again in America and around the world. Laurie has a beautiful mother's heart, is gifted to teach and we are united together to fulfill the call of God on our lives.
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| Sen. Jason Rapert taking the oath of office in the Arkansas Senate. |
For the past 15 years since I surrendered to preach, we have raised our daughters, managed our own business, volunteered in our community, spread the Gospel through Holy Ghost Ministries and I have served in the Arkansas Senate as well. We truly believe that every follower of Christ is called of God to be salt and light in the world in which we live. God has been good to us as we have fulfilled our ministry bi-vocationally, but God is asking even more of us now.
God has placed a tremendous burden on us for the United States of America. For the past several decades our nation has continued to slide into immorality and our leaders seem resigned to godlessness as they have allowed the reverence of God and the honor of God to be displaced in our once great Republic. America is in need of spiritual revival or the nation will face further decline and may not survive for future generations.
We are committed to spreading the Gospel and working to rebuild the foundation of Judeo-Christian principles that our country was founded upon.
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| Jason Rapert, Rev. Franklin Graham, Laurie Rapert |
The increasing burden and call of God in our lives has required more from us than at any other time in our lives. In July of 2016, after much prayer, planning and counsel from trusted advisers, we sold our business and made a serious commitment to fulfill the call of God in our lives with all our talents, resources and energy. Many people in our nation are confused, worried and have forgotten God - only the power of the Gospel and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit are able to fill the void that troubles so many across our great land. We intend to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone that we know, through every means that we know and everywhere we go.
Everything that we personally have in life is a blessing from God and we know that we will not take one material possession with us when we pass from this life into eternity. All we have is the Lord's and all we have is available to Him for the glory of the Lord and the building of His kingdom. As we embark on this new road in the journey God has planned for our family, we know that He is faithful to provide for us as we work to fulfill His calling. Today we come to humbly ask you to pray and consider helping us fulfill God's calling through Holy Ghost Ministries by partnering with us in prayer and financial support as God enables you.
God's Word says in Hebrews 13:21, (NLT) "May he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen."
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| Jason and Laurie Rapert claiming RiverStone for the Lord |
As some of you know, part of the vision God has placed within us is to create a place where God's presence is the central focus and people can come to deepen their walk with God and enjoy the location through bible studies, ministry training, leadership training, personal prayer, revival meetings, conferences and special events. We envision our ministry coming alongside churches, pastors, ministry leaders and God's people to reawaken the Body of Christ and reach the lost in our nation. Our ministry recently purchased land, a headquarters facility and events building which will be used for our discipleship programs, leadership retreats, bible studies and other ministry events to fulfill the unique ministry God has assigned us. The location is being used as our ministry headquarters and will also serve as an event venue for other churches, faith based organizations and special events. We are working very hard to have the location ready to host new events beginning this year and look forward to offering the venue as an option for church and faith-based events. With God opening many new opportunities for us to spread the Gospel, our ministry needs have of course grown along with the assignment God has given to us.
Our new ministry headquarters location is being called RiverStone and sits on a beautiful piece of riverfront property located just minutes from Interstate 40 on the Arkansas River directly across the river from the Conway, Arkansas Municipal Airport. The location is about a 15-minute drive from the Conway Airport and is about 5 miles by automobile from the Arkansas River Bridge on Highway 60. You feel like you are a hundred miles away from everything when at our property, but you are only 15 minutes from beautiful Conway, Arkansas.
Through partner support and our own personal pledge, the ministry purchased 40 acres of land and our new facility for $525,000 earlier this year. We are now finishing repairs, furnishing the ministry headquarters which houses our offices, preparing to remodel a multipurpose events center and preparing our master site plan. We hope to complete the first phase of our ministry campus in 2017 so we will be able to host guests for our ministry programs as well as other special events. Many people have commented that the location seems to have been built just for the ministry vision we have in mind - God certainly has a way of working things out to accomplish His will.
By faith we are moving forward quickly to put the property into its intended use. Our ministry offices are already up and running and we have furnished the main house for our future guests. The cost of improvements, the furnishings, accessories and related items thus far is approximately $24,500.
We know that you are going to be blessed when you visit RiverStone and will enjoy the beautiful pasture, the pond, future prayer trails and scenic river walk that will be developed on the property. The lives of modern families have all become so busy in our society so we wanted to provide a God-focused natural sanctuary for people to come and seek peace and allow God to touch them. When our full vision is realized, we know that RiverStone will become a place that people come to renew their minds, restore relationships, worship the Lord and deepen their walk with God.
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| Mission Team delivering Bibles to Girls School in Ghana West Africa |
In addition to our many programs at RiverStone, we will continue preaching and teaching the Gospel where God opens the doors through our ministry of evangelism.
We are also excited to share with you that we have developed a new initiative to help train leaders and educate believers about America's Judeo-Christian history and heritage. It is important to train leaders to become men and women of God who will not compromise Biblical principles. We have forged a joint effort to partner with one of America's most well respected religious liberty organizations to equip government leaders and future community leaders through the Liberty Center for Law & Policy affiliated Dr. Mat Staver and his team at Liberty Counsel. Liberty Counsel has offices in Washington, D.C., Florida and Virginia. This new program will be operating from our headquarters facility near Conway, Arkansas and is already garnering widespread support from across the nation.
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| Jason Rapert and Dr. Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel |
The only way that America will once again honor God as intended, and our people will enjoy a godly nation, is for the American people to elect godly men and women to leadership positions. As a state senator myself, I now know the issues, difficulties and opportunities Christian legislators around our nation must deal with on a daily basis. God has led me into this arena and I am now prepared to reach all 7,383 state legislators in our nation through our legislative leaders institute providing teaching that will encourage them and allow them important personal connections to transformational leaders. We are dedicated to helping train leaders to become men and women of God who cannot be destroyed.
The Book of Nehemiah reveals that when Israel stayed true to God's Word and will, the nation prospered and was blessed. When people disobeyed God and strayed they faced stiff consequences. If America does not return godly leaders to power in our nation, we are going to suffer the consequences. We believe just as Nehemiah was called to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, we have been called to rebuild the foundation that America was built upon and we hope you will support us in this important and timely effort.
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| The national flag of Israel atop Masada, May 2013 |
I was moved to file a legislative resolution to honor the nation of Israel in 2012. I firmly believe the scripture in Genesis 12:1-3 when Abraham was given a promise in reference to Israel - "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
It is critical that the United States continue to bless the nation of Israel and stand united with the Jewish people as God commanded us. We are personally committed to standing with the nation of Israel and so is our ministry.
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| The historic Jewish & Christian holy site - The Western Wall in Jerusalem |
I received a call in early 2013 from one of the most influential America-Israel advocacy groups in the world. They called me as a result of the resolution I had sponsored and in May of 2013 and I was blessed through them to visit Israel personally and tour the Holy Land meeting with leaders throughout the nation of Israel. I remember my first night in Jerusalem as I got on my knees and thanked God for the opportunity to visit the Holy City and see firsthand where Jesus walked, where Jesus preached and where Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice for all of humanity by dying on the cross for our sins so that we might all be saved.
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| Jason in prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, May 2013 |
My appreciation and love for Israel only increased as I toured the sacred sites including the the Sea of Galillee, the Mt. Of Beatitudes, the Garden Tomb where Jesus rose from the dead, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Masada and many other wonderful locations.
One of my favorite memories is buying a violin in old Jerusalem and later playing it publicly for the first time at a baptism our group had in the Sea of Galilee. God spoke to my heart while I was in Israel and gave me a vision to give people the same opportunity to visit the Holy Land through Holy Ghost Ministries. We look forward to offering you, your family and your church the opportunity to enjoy the same experience as we begin hosting educational tours to Israel in partnership with likeminded ministries and organizations.
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| Holy Ghost Ministries installed water well in Bugri, northern Ghana |
One of the first ministry efforts we undertook after I began to travel as an evangelist was foreign missions. Over the course of six years I led eight teams into Ghana West Africa to preach the gospel and provide humanitarian relief through water well projects, malaria net distributions, medical clinics, clothing distributions, feeding programs, school programs, building church tabernacles, funding scholarships at Southern Ghana Bible College for men and women entering the ministry and preaching in evangelistic meetings. I also made one trip to Uganda for ministry work and for several years now Ferrel and Janis Minick have led our efforts to support a church and ministry work in the The Philippines that they have supported personally for decades. We intend to continue doing all we can to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and share the love of God to anyone will listen.
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| Jason praying for community peace with Muslim Imam and Christian Pastor in the far northern village of Pusiga, Ghana West Africa |
Last, over the past six years, I have been involved in major national debates regarding the sanctity of Life and the protection of unborn children, defending the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman as ordained by God in scripture and religious liberty issues that are now front and center in the United States.
I have been interviewed numerous times by national television networks, national newspapers and radio broadcast media organizations around the country. God has opened doors for me to speak to larger audiences through the media than I could ever hope to visit personally. During the most recent presidential election one of my live social media broadcasts reached over 7,000,000 people and had 2,400,000 live viewers. Holy Ghost Ministries intends to continue utilizing the media to spread the message of the Gospel and influence our nation to honor God through Biblical values. We are called to be salt and light in the world (Matthew 5:13-14) so we are excited to incorporate radio, television, Internet and print media to accomplish the vision God has given to us.
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Arkansas
Ten Commandments Monument
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As you can see, God has given us a large vision that only He can accomplish. M
atthew 19:26 reads, "Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." We believe that with all of our heart and have faith that you do too. All the areas of emphasis that He has shown to us would not be possible if it were up to us individually to accomplish these goals. But with God all things are possible and He will get the glory because only through Him will we be successful in fulfilling the vision set before Holy Ghost Ministries. We wanted to share our hearts with you today so that you will know what God is doing through Holy Ghost Ministries and to ask you to prayerfully consider becoming a partner with our ministry.
As you have seen, we have already taken significant steps of faith by securing the property and location where we believe God wants us to accomplish the many discipleship programs, leadership events, prayer events, evangelistic ministries of Holy Ghost Ministries, developing RiverStone, hosting the Liberty Legislative Leaders Institute and building bridges with the nation of Israel by hosting spirit-filled educational trips for Christians. Yes, the vision is truly great. Without God's help and the people He moves to partner with us to accomplish this vision, we could never hope to see all these things come to fruition. We believe that we serve a God who is faithful to accomplish His Word.
I Thessalonians 5:24, "The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it."
From the bottom of our hearts, we know that God is going to supply the resources needed to accomplish the vision He has given to us. Above all else we appreciate your prayers and support.
We know that God has given us a vision much bigger than ourselves and this is why we know it is definitely a "God thing". If you are able, we would truly enjoy you becoming a part of this vision in some way. We believe that God has shown us four important ways that you can partner with us now at Holy Ghost Ministries if you believe God has prompted your heart today:
1. You can join our intercessory prayer team as a Prayer Partner to pray daily for our ministry. Prayer is the foundation of our ministry and we appreciate any of you who will commit to covering our ministry, our staff and our family with your prayers.
4. You can become a Kingdom Ambassador by sowing at least $500 monthly to help us accomplish all seven areas of ministry emphasis that God has assigned to Holy Ghost Ministries. We are believing God for 500 Kingdom Ambassador Partners by December 31, 2018. By committing to sow $16.44 per day into Holy Ghost Ministries you will be helping us spread the Gospel, touch the world and honor Israel. We would love to have you be one of our first 500 for $500!
I trust and believe that you have been touched by the vision God has given us to fulfill. We believe in accountability and are grateful for the wisdom, counsel and support that our ministry board gives to us. In addition to Laurie and I, we have five other board members that serve our ministry and provide accountability. We want to take this time to publicly introduce them to you and thank our current HGM Board of Directors for serving our ministry with their time, wisdom and trusted counsel:
1. Dr. Sam Kaunley, Pastor of The Sanctuary of Hope in Branson, Missouri.
2. Dr. Mike Brown, Evangelist, Author and Founder of Strength & Wisdom Ministries, Branson, Missouri.
3. Dr. Johnny Minick, Pastor of River of Life, Founder of Johnny Minick Ministries, gospel recording artist, Smyrna, Tennessee.
4. Pastor Happy Caldwell, Founder & President of the Victory Television Network and Founder & former Pastor of Agape Church, Little Rock, Arkansas.
5. Bret Carroll, Chief Financial Officer, Conway Corporation, Deacon of Second Baptist Church, Conway, Arkansas.
6. Mary Rapert, Financial Advisor, Pocahontas, Arkansas.
We appreciate you for taking the time the to read about the vision we have been given, your prayerful consideration about partnering with us and we pray that God will bless you and your family.
Please contact us at [email protected] with your feedback, your ideas, your prayer requests or your questions. You can also write to us at:
Holy Ghost Ministries
P.O. Box 10388
Conway, AR 72034
"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."
Proverbs 16:3.
We have committed all we have to the Lord, listened for His direction and written out the vision clearly for all to see - now it is in God's hands. We look forward to the future and we look forward to hearing from you!
In His Service,
Jason & Laurie Rapert
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