Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Happy Birthday Jesus !

  25 of our camp members attended the Birthday for Jesus tri-camp celebration in Daleville last evening.  It was truly an inspirational event.  The fellowship with our Brothers and Sisters was both heart-warming and spiritually uplifting. The evening  was truly special. All of the wonderful aspects of it made it so. The catered food included a traditional turkey and ham dinner with all the trimmings (including cranberry sauce . . . yum,) the spectacular music was provided by Dr. Jacobs (which resulted in all of us singing along to some "down-home" Christmas carols,) and a special presentation was given by Ronnie Sheldon about a recent scripture distribution and Gideon camp formation trip to the Congo.  During the report on the Congo trip, I was struck by the commitment of that outreach.  The country is about the size of Montana and has about four million inhabitants living mostly in two large cities. The Congo has an average per capita income of just $4,500, and suffers from high cost of living and low wages. However over 1.6 million scriptures have been distributed in that country by the hands of just a few workers.  This is one of those countries that can't afford to purchase their own scriptures and depends almost entirely on Gideons and Auxiliary in more affluent countries to provide scriptures to them.  It reminded me in the strongest manner possible, that we as Gideons and Auxiliary play a varied and important role in the witness mission given to us by our Lord and Savior to spread His word to the ends of the world.  Those Gideons and Auxiliary in the Congo, and the many other countries around the world like the Congo, step up and form camps, distribute Bibles and Scriptures, and witness to the lost even though they will never have the financial base for that mission.  Their work is the extension of the determined efforts of Gideons and Auxiliary world-wide to bring Jesus to a lost world.  It reminded me just how important keeping our dues current is to someone crying out for a copy of God's Word.  What each of us does makes a difference.  Souls are saved to Christ every second because someone prayed, someone gave, someone went, and someone placed a copy of God's word exactly where God wanted it.  Our Camp had a Faith Fund goal of $2500.00 last evening; we exceeded that goal.  If you were unable to attend and contribute last evening, I pray that this letter will once again remind you of how important you are and the eternal difference you make as a Gideon/Auxiliary.  You can always contribute to the Faith Fund mission and outreach by making your contributions directly to our camp treasurer at P. O. Box 291 Ozark AL 36361.  Remember the 100 day countdown to the convention on March 8, started on 28 November.  God bless the work of this ministry, and God bless each of you.  Gene

Thursday, December 5, 2013

December President's letter

Merry Christmas from the Dale County Gideon Camp. For December's message from the President CLICK HERE