News Letter

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Ministry Activities

In April, at Greenhurst Bible Church, Bruce & Sandi presented three sessions on How to Witness to Mormons. You can now view these sessions on www.icareministry.org.

In May, Bruce and Sandi attended the national conference of the Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals at Mt. Hermon, California. The theme was “defending the faith.” We were taught and challenged spiritually and met many fine Christian leaders from all over the country. You can see us in the audience in the opening scenes of the video clip on www.firefellowship.org. Afterwards, we drove to So. California to attend Grace Community Church, where we were able to meet Pastor John MacArthur and enjoy fellowship with other believers.

In June, the three youngest, Anna, Ben, and Rebecca participated in the Idaho Youth Games. Rebecca befriended and witnessed to a Mormon girl. Yes, even 8-year olds can learn to witness!

In July, Matthew, Jacob, and Isaac were counselors for junior boys at the Conservative Baptist Camp near Idaho’s beautiful Warm Lake (burrrrr…the lake is not named correctly!). Several boys expressed belief in Jesus for salvation, and all learned about the evidences for biblical, scientific creationism.

See ICARE’s website for an article on the “Doctrine of the Scriptures” - the first in a series on Christian doctrines.

You may recall from our previous newsletter that Irene and Sandy, two Jehovah’s Witnesses visited our home and promised to set up additional meetings. They stopped by a couple of times when Bruce was not home, but we have not seen them in several months. Pray they will stop by again, so we can present the gospel to them. The way we engaged these women was similar to how we engage Mormons - after all, their “salvation” system of self-perfectionism is similar to that of Mormonism. What ICARE teaches about evangelism is very adaptable! Invite us to your church or Bible study group.

Sandi continues to witness to two young people via “social’ networking” sites on the Internet. This can be an effective way to reach people in our modern world of electronics.

In August, Sandi began a Bible study for ladies on Thursday evenings, using the Stranger on the Road to Emmaus material. This material is ideal for non-Christians, new Christians, and any one who wants or needs an overview of the Bible from beginning to end. Sandi plans to hold an extended discipleship class using the Navigator 2:7 materials. Pray for Sandi. This is a big commitment, in terms of time and effort.

Our work continues with several folks who have been involved in what is known as “cult-like or abusive churches.” We discussed this topic some time ago in a newsletter. It is sad that this same problem Paul addressed in his letter to the Galatians continues to bother the Church almost 2000 years later.

In some ways, the effects of bondage to legalism, even though under the guise of “the church,” are similar to the legalistic bondage of Mormonism. Moreover, like leaving Mormonism or any other controlling group, leaving a controlling and performance-based/shame-based church can be a painful process. One may lose many friends, the sense of security where all of life’s questions were answered, one’s routine, family relations, and more. One must then deal with the fact of one’s own deception, reliance on rules, and learn to discern spiritual matters anew and find a new church and friends, etc. Pray for these folks as they go through this process of spiritual growth and resting in Jesus’ completed work. We are working toward having a packet of materials for people in this kind of situation.

In October, Bruce started a Sunday evening class, “Understanding Mormons and Reaching Them with the Gospel.” Six people have been meeting at our home at 6:00 p.m. If you live in the Boise area and are interested in joining up, let us know.

Teaching Corner

ICARE is a ministry of evangelism. The word “evangelism” derives from the root word “evangel,” which came from the French evangile. Latin and German is Evangelium. Our homegrown English word is “gospel,” and simply means “good news. So, to do evangelism is to tell others the good news of what Jesus has done for them.

However, often out of a desire to get to the good news of Jesus’ complete atonement, it is easy to skip over what it means that “Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” But, if one wishes to give the complete gospel message, one simply must adequately explain this to non-believers.

Some Christians are afraid of evangelism. Some have a bad taste in their mouth because of past experiences with “evangelism.” Others see evangelism only as a huge “crusade” where the evangelist shouts a scary message about hell and then invites the audience to come forward to “give your heart to Jesus” or “make Him your savior.” Or, perhaps, like one meeting we were in, the pastor had the entire audience repeat “the sinners’ prayer” and then pronounced that all were now saved.

Large “evangelistic organizations” have reported that after two years, only a tiny percentage of the people who “came forward” are involved in a church. Some do not even remember the “crusade!” There is no evidence of genuine salvation in almost all of those so-called “converts. On the other hand, because He is the all-powerful, sovereign God, when Jesus saves people, there is a genuine conversion that does produce fruit (Matt. 17:17-19; Phil. 1:6).

One of the reasons for such strange phenomena is the widespread fascination with and reliance on the methods of lawyer-turned-evangelist Charles Finney of the early 1800s. As the book, Ashamed of the Gospel points out, Finney invented his own “unique system of theology” that “applied nineteenth-century American legal standards to every biblical doctrine.” His ideas and methods were based on his overreaction to a misunderstanding of theology. Finney himself, and his co-workers, later wrote that those methods and “conversions” were failures.

In contrast, the New Testament tells us that “all” the Christians “went everywhere preaching the gospel” (Acts 8:1-4). Evangelism was a personal, one-on-one effort and it bore much fruit. Therefore, when ICARE teaches evangelism, we define “the gospel” from the Scriptures, show how Jesus and His Apostles told the gospel, and teach “everyday Christians” how to tell the good news in today’s world using the pattern that Jesus and the Apostles set before us.

Miscellaneous

Matthew, our oldest, is in Texas working on a hurricane relief team.

Jacob, our second, will be starting EMT training in October.

Isaac, our third, is working on his Eagle Scout.

Anna, Ben, Rebecca are busy with school.

Sandi continues to teach our children at home.

Bruce’s part time work contract did not renew, and since this was the majority of our family’s income, your prayers are needed.

Looking Ahead

We are available to your Church, Sunday School, Bible study group, youth group, etc. to teach about spiritual discernment and evangelism.

Prayer Requests – Pray for God’s Wil

ICARE Ministries is currently receiving only about one-fourth of its monthly financial support needs. Your financial help is needed and requested.

For salvation: the Mormon “Elders,” Shirley, Irene, Sandy, Jeremy, Sabrina, Zoey, Fred, Beth, Mary Jane, Dell, Walt, Cliff, Linda.

Sandi’s Thursday evening Bible study.

Employment for Bruce.

Matthew’s safety in Texas.

Jacob’s EMT classes.

School success for the children & Sandi.

Health for our financial supporters.

Health and energy for ministry efforts and plans.

ICARE Ministries’ mission is to help the Church meet Jesus’ mandate to “go ye therefore and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19, 20). We do this by teaching Christians a biblical perspective of false religions, worldviews, cults, etc. We teach Christians, and encourage them, to express the gospel in ways that are truthful, yet loving and comprehensible to the listeners. We also do personal evangelism and discipleship. Our primary group of interest is Mormons. ICARE is an IRS-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a Board of Directors made up mostly of pastors.

E-mail: icareministry@gmail.com