On Jan. 24-26, I preached 3 sessions from the message series “Influences” at a youth event for four area churches to more than 100 teens.

When the people of God in the time of Isaiah were “filled with the influences from the east,” God’s word to them through the prophet was this: “Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed” (Isaiah 2:22).

This is God's message to us today as well - stop being filled up with the influences of this world; stop regarding man!

There were 2 students that trusted in Christ as Savior and Lord and more than 20 that responded during the altar call to make a decision of repentance and renewal.

I preached the 3-message series “Resisting Temptation” at two Christian schools: Damascus Christian on Jan. 17th for a half-day chapel and at Open Door Christian Academy Chapels on Fridays in February.

Students learned that God does not tempt. The devil is the tempter and liar, but people are enticed and carried away by their own lustful desires. Therefore, we must learn to do what Jesus told us: PRAY and WALK according to the Spirit.

Isaiah’s description (Isa. 11:2) of the fullness of the Spirit that is upon Jesus describes what we should pray for to walk well: wisdom and understand, counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

On Jan. 12, Mar. 2, and Apr. 27, I had the opportunity to preach at Go Church, the church my family and I helped plant.

The first message, “God’s Provision for Life”, examined the story of Nicodemus and what it means to be born again (drawing from Num. 21:4-9).

The second message, "The Divine Vision" examined Ps. 78 and God’s vision for making disciples. This message lays the foundation for the Men of Simplicity Discipleship journey. We currently have about 24 men from Go Church in MOS.

The third message, "Persecutor to Preacher", was focused on the conversion of Saul. During the invitation, 2 young adults -with whom many from the church have prayed and shared the Gospel- responded in faith to trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord.

[These messages are on our website under MEDIA.]

On Saturday, April 26, I preached the opening morning message to the volunteers of the Northwest Baptist Convention Disaster Relief.

This event is an annual time of training volunteers for deployment to conduct large group feeding, forklift operation, first aid, CPR and personal property recovery to name a few.

I led a breakout class that provided 3 ½ hours of evangelism training. There were 12-15 people trained for evangelism during crisis and disaster.

Saturday, May 17th, I spoke at the FBC Gresham, OR men’s breakfast. There were 35 men in attendance. I spoke to them regarding godly decision making and implementation from Isaiah 11:1-4.

God has led me to share this passage to different audiences with a particular focus of application over the past few months. In the text, Isaiah prophesies regarding the sevenfold aspect of the Holy Spirit that is upon Jesus to judge with righteousness and fairness during His earthly rule and reign.

These same aspects of the Lord’s Spirit (wisdom, understand, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord) are available to all who believe in Jesus and are sealed with the Holy Spirit.

The men were challenged to pray for these characteristics that they may make decisions and lead with righteousness and fairness in their homes, at work, and with the body of Christ.

Jan-Jun, 2025, there were a total of 7 groups with an average attendance of 70 men at MOS. 21 of these men are leading accountability groups and/or discussion groups and are actively involved in the disciple making process. 36 of the 70 are in our local group that meets at First Baptist Gresham, OR while the rest connect via Zoom. This year’s teaching focused on Simple Evangelism and apologetics.

God is moving and working in these men. We are seeing men take steps to develop daily time in God’s Word and prayer, to lead at home and in their local churches, and to share Jesus with those who are lost. It is such a joy to disciple and lead these men!!