Encouragement from a Friend

The following is the contents of an email which I just recently received from a friend, Bro. Steve Maldoff. Most of you who will be reading this article will also, I'm sure, consider Bro. Maldoff to be a friend. He certainly is a friend to our entire ministry.

This email, which he sent me, was encouraging and I wanted to share it will all of you! (I've highlighted some of his email to help it stand out.)

Greetings from Cuba!  As I write to you, I am currently down in Cuba for a week long evangelistic outreach.  Our church in Chattanooga partners with a national missionary here on the island, and we are here visiting with him. Three times a year, he and other Cuban churches host a major evangelistic outreach.  There are probably 350 people involved in going out house-to-house.  And it is full-on presenting the Gospel, and not just inviting people to church.  I have brought a team of five folks from my church down here to assist.  It has been amazing to see Cuban people respond in faith to their need for the Saviour.  On the first day of outreach, I personally led two people to the LORD, and I was really making sure to be thorough and avoid any aspect of "pray this prayer" type of evangelism.  I would ask questions and they would respond back.  And then, when it came down to the key question - "What will you do with what Jesus has done for you?", they would answer that they wanted to trust Him as their Saviour.  At the conclusion of my conversation with them, I would ask, "If you had to give a reason to God as to why you are allowed to spend eternity with Him forever, what would you say?" and they would respond something along the lines of "because of what Jesus has done for me."  Let me admit that I was blown away!

With 350 people going out, after two days of evangelism, they report that there are 527 professions of faith!  

I hear these numbers and was always skeptical.  But seeing it unfold here on the ground and watching how it is happening, now I can see how it is happening.  Today (Friday), the group that I was in (comprised of Cuban Christians folks from my church) saw 8 people respond to the Gospel.

I am on a lunch break right now when I write this to you.  But before I started writing, I was thinking about the fact that I never saw anything like this in my time in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific (with the exception of Papua New Guinea).  To have people respond in such a major way to the message of Jesus Christ is almost unbelievable.  For twenty five years in missions, I have never experienced anything like this.

That is when I thought about your email back in July (!) and a statement that you wrote in there:  Honestly, I will have to say that I am sometimes "jealous" of some of your ministries. When I see your posts and pictures of recording breaking attendances, etc. I sometimes think to myself, "Lord, why are we struggling the way that we are?!?" But I am reminded of God's goodness and His faithfulness and am also reminded that He simply expects us to be faithful in serving Him.

To me, seeing this is exciting - absolutely - but that doesn't take away from the reality of the difficulties that it is to see fruit from the labour in other parts of the world.  USA, Australia, India, Thailand, etc.  People have laboured their whole lives and never see results like this.  I am not working any harder down here in Cuba than I am in Chattanooga or Australia.  I am not being a better witness here on the island than I am in India or Cambodia.  Some places are just different.  For whatever reason, there are hearts that are more open to the Gospel than in other places.  Makes  no sense.  Can't explain it.

But yet, the consistent thing is proclaiming, going forth, sharing to the best of our ability, and a dependence on God through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit.

My email may not be any encouragement to you, and I recognize that it is a fact that we are all familliar with - God honors obedience and faithfulness.   Sometimes, honestly, we want to see fruitfulness to go along with our faithfulness!  You are in a tough environment.  You are in a spiritually dark placed where hearts are focused on materalism, hedonism, secularism, and capitalism!  By and large, hearts are not soft to the Gospel.  Yet, you are being used of God and an act of mercy by Him to each person that you share and talk with, even if they respond negatlively.  You have communicated God's love to them, and how He showed that love to them, and how He cares enough for them to know what He has done.  How merciful is our God to them.  So even if you are not seeing "any results", you still are seeing results - the kindness of God for them to know before His future wrath to come if they never change course.  I really felt impressed to share this with you.  Maybe it will be of some help in some way.

Your email to the missionaries is something that I am sure that they appreciated.  I hope that you heard some feedback from folks to having received it.  It is a blessing - I always think - to have a church communicate with the missionary and share what is going on.  It shows forth more of a partnership rather than just a sending of funds.  And I know that your heart is to really develop that partnership.

The church seems like has a lot of sorrows, pains and challenges.  The health issues alone are incredible.  There are some major things going on.  May the church be the church in uplifting one another, supporting one another, and exhorting one another through these tough times.

How has the hunt for staff gone in regard to both the church and school?  You have been running at a pace that is hard to maintain because you can only do so much as one person (and couple with your wife).  Hopefully, the LORD has sent you an Aaron.  Someone that will come and alleviate some of the load and be a help to you.

As you are now into your 25th year at SCBC, may the LORD renew your passion, provide you the resources you need (man power, financial, emotional, spiritual), and give you a vision for 2025 and 2026.  May God give you the timely encouragement that you may need, when you need it.

I appreciate you so much.  I am thankful for you.  I love your family and your church.  Truly they are dear and special people to me.  I think often of SCBC and have reached out to check in on some of the families and how they are doing.  I did text with the Litchfields and heard recently how he is doing.  And I did communicate with the Rideouts about their mission trip.  You guys truly are loved, and I am thankful for any opportunity that I have to encourage and be a blessing and help.  - Steve Maldoff

And all of God's people said, "AMEN!"