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SEASON'S GREETINGS: With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas and the New Year just around the corner, there is no doubt that we are in the midst of the Holiday Season. How perfect that these three holidays fall so closely together, as their names sum up what we should celebrate 365 days a year! "THANKSGIVING": We live in constant THANKSGIVING because of what He has done for us. " CHRISTmas": CHRIST unselfishly came to this earth as a baby so that He could manifest his love for us and pay the price for our sins. " NEW Year": Jesus gives us NEW and fresh beginnings. He changes our hearts, gives us the joy of NEW life after baptism and the exciting promise of the NEW earth. This year, more than ever, let’s take advantage of the Holiday Season and give THANKS to the Lord for all He is doing in our lives, focus on the gift of Jesus CHRIST and share Him so that we may go home to the earth made NEW. LAY EVANGELISM FESTIVAL: Mark your calendars, get your passports ready and join us for our 4th Annual Lay Evangelism Festival. We will celebrate the privilege of sharing Jesus, be fed by inspirational speakers, attend valuable seminars and be blessed through powerful testimonies. WHEN: April 8-11, 2010 WHERE: Mountain View Conference Center on the grounds of Camp Hope, just outside of Hope, British Columbia. SPEAKERS: Dan Jackson, President of the Canadian Union, Gordon Retzer, President of the Southern Union and Max Torkelsen, President of the North Pacific Union. SEMINARS: There will be many seminars to choose from, including topics on creative ways to reach your community, initiating Bible studies, how to connect with a stranger, how to fully utilize your Outreach Leadership Team, ShareHim speaker training, a ShareHim Conference Organizer/Pastor track,...etc. FOOD AND LODGING: Meals and rooms will be available at the Mountainview Conference Center. Full-service camp sites are also available. Hotels and restaurants are located 6 miles away in the town of Hope, British Columbia. ShareHim will email detailed information to you about seminars, lodging costs, meal costs and how to register by January 15, 2009. In the mean time, if you have any questions, call: 1-844-742-7344. AN APPEAL:
We continue to count it a blessing to partner with you in spreading the Gospel around the world. Have you preached or been a support team member on an international campaign? Have you preached a homeland campaign or are you a member of an Outreach Leadership Team? Are you a financial supporter? Are you a ShareHim prayer warrior? Whatever the case, praise the Lord that we have the opportunity to be His instruments.
A direct correlation undoubtedly exists between the increasing financial challenges of our times and the growing sense of urgency we have to spread the Good News. Therefore, ShareHim wants to thank you all the more for your faithful support.
As we come to the end of the calendar year, please prayerfully consider making a donation to ShareHim. Any amount will count for eternity as we continue to train and mobilize laypeople for His service. The gift you share will be an investment that will not fail! Thank you, in advance, for your prayerful support of ShareHim, a ministry of the Carolina Conference of SDA.
To make an online donation, click here
Mail checks to: ShareHim
P.O. Box 43234
Charlotte, NC
28215
Or call: 1-844-742-7344
Sincerely,
Elder Robert Folkenberg Sr. and the ShareHim team |
THE TESTIMONY:
From Prison to Pulpit | Ever heard of "rock bottom?" By the age of 22, Bobby Carpenter had definitely hit it. He found himself on a hard bunk in the Broward County jail in Florida awaiting trial for second-degree murder. As he describes it, "The only thing in that room that wasn’t bolted down was a Bible." So, Bobby picked it up and began to read.
Bobby hadn’t been a bad kid. His father died of alcoholism when Bobby was 14 and his mother did the best she could to raise him, his older brother and sister. The family went to church on the occasional holiday, but for the most part he grew up believing there was nothing more to life than the "here and now”. And if that was true, why not live it to the fullest?
This philosophy took him on a wild ride through his teen years and into his twenties. A full-blown alcoholic himself by that time, a series of run-ins with the law sent Bobby looking for new surroundings. He hopped a motorcycle in October of 1992, and traveled from his boyhood home in New Jersey, down to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Here he settled in to a routine of work, going to bars and generally wasting time. Until one night…,
Bobby woke up to screams and the sounds of fighting. Bobby grabbed a borrowed gun and stumbled outside. His roommate was fighting desperately with a man who had repeatedly threatened to kill both of them. Bobby pulled the trigger.
And that’s how Bobby ended up in jail. Eventually convicted of manslaughter (having filed police reports about the death threats, they knew it was self-defense), he was sentenced to 10 years.
Looking for comfort in the Bible, he began with the Book of Psalms and soon made his way to the prophecies in Daniel and Revelation. Fascinated, he asked everyone around him if they knew their meaning. No one did. Then, one day a fellow inmate came by Bobby’s bunk and said, "Heard you wanted some information about this," and tossed him an Amazing Facts book on prophecy. The man was a Seventh-day Adventist. By the next morning, so was Bobby.
Excited about this new truth, he spent the next five and a half years sharing what he had learned. By the time he left prison in 2000, Bobby had shared his new found truths with numerous inmates, guards and officials. Several baptisms resulted. He now knew what life was really about, and was truly living it to the fullest.
Bobby moved up to North Carolina to live and work with his brother, and a few months later I met Bobby at my church in Monroe, NC. One Sabbath morning at church, I was praying to the Lord for guidance in my future, including finding for me a good husband. I finished my prayer, looked up and saw Bobby for the first time. Wow! God really does know what we need before we even ask. We started dating in 2001, got married in 2002, and just gave birth to our daughter this past August, 2009.
I am forever grateful to the Lord for rescuing Bobby from the path he was traveling. And thanks to Carolina Breakthrough, Bobby preached his first evangelism series in March through ShareHim. What a journey! From prison to the pulpit!
Becky Carpenter
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THE TEAM:
Meeting the Needs in Their Community
| After attending a ShareHim boot camp in the fall of 2008, Bradley and Sylvia Hyde, from Portland, Maine, got excited about sharing their faith. They looked into the agricultural model for “evangeliving” promoted by ShareHim and began praying about a sowing event that would meet the needs of those in their community. After reviewing the material in ShareHim’s Sowing Resource Catalogue and other resources on the website, www.sharehim.org , the Hydes decided that the Depression Recovery Seminar would be an ideal ministry to offer their community.
A team was formed and in January of ’09 a Depression Recovery Program was launched. The Lord brought some 30 individuals to the program, many of whom were not members of the Seventh-day Adventist church. The ShareHim team developed strong bonds with those in attendance and deep spiritual sharing took place in small groups.
Although the Hydes and their team felt richly rewarded, when the program concluded, they made a special request of the Lord. They prayed that some of their new friends would attend evangelistic meetings to be held by Conference Evangelist, Rick Kuntz, which were scheduled to begin just one week after their sowing event.
When over 50 visitors came through the doors of the small Topsham church, the team rejoiced! Ten of the visitors were individuals or family and friends of individuals that had attended the Depression Recovery Program or were friends and family members of those who had come.
The ShareHim team saw the power that comes when lay people reach out to their community. They also saw how God can use lay people to directly partner with those in full-time ministry in order to experience the joy of following His command to reach out to our communities and share the truths of our end-time message.
David DeRose
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THE YOUTH:
Classmates Present an Entire Series | The Rutland Seventh-day Adventist Church, located in Vermont, hosted their second ShareHim series. It started May 15 and ended May 30. My classmates and I, in the 8th and 9th grades at Green Mountain Christian School, presented the entire series. Our four presenters were Aaron Lewis, 15 (9th grade); Ryan LaFave, 15 (8th grade); Samantha Yendell, 14 (8th grade); and me, Sydney Yendell, 14 (8th grade).
It was a very interesting, fun, and rewarding experience. In my personal experience, I found it rewarding when I saw loved ones and strangers raise their hands for a call and watched them grow in and enjoy Christ because of what they had seen and heard.
My twin sister, Samantha, told me that the most rewarding part for her was setting people’s minds to seriously thinking about the Good News that they had heard. My friend, Ryan, said that the most rewarding part for him was when he saw non-Adventists come to the meetings.
It was really a fun experience to watch people come and give their lives to Jesus. Being a part of it yourself, you feel great knowing that you have helped lead a life to Christ. I encourage all young people, no matter their age, to do something to lead someone to Christ. They will thoroughly enjoy the experience and it will help them grow their own Christian walk.
Sydney Yendell
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| ANNOUNCEMENT: ShareHim is compiling stories of lay women and men in action for God. These stories may have taken place at home or abroad. If you have a story to tell about your international campaign and have another story to tell about how God used you here at home, we want both of those stories. Of course, pictures make stories come alive so please send your stories and pictures (unedited, high resolution) to: Don't hesitate to contact us with any comments or suggestions. We welcome your testimonies and any ideas for witnessing that are working for you and your Outreach Leadership Team. Sincerely, The ShareHim Team ShareHim | P.O. Box 43234 | Charlotte | NC | 28215 | USA |
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| | | The Challenge | GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL..."
MARK 16:15 |
 | | Quiet Hour Ministries | | Partners in Evangelism |
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