“Bless the Lord O My Soul” (Psalm 103:1)

Bless the Lord, O My Soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name!”  So begins the 103rd Psalm.  It goes on to remind us to remember all the benefits He has given us; salvation, health, redemption, loving kindness, compassion and much more!  In the New Testament, God speaking through the apostle Paul, exhorts us to give thanks “in” everything (1 Thessalonians 5:18) and “for” everything (Ephesians 5:20).  In other words, to live our lives with an attitude of gratitude.  How sad, when we as Christ-followers, complain and murmur.  What lack of trust in our Savior!  Will you join me in giving our Lord Jesus praise in the easy and difficult times?  As the Psalmist says, “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Ps. 34:1) Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

October happenings: October began with a call from the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team asking me to travel to the Decker Fire and work with media.  Thus, began one of the most amazing and fruitful assignments I’ve had on a fire.  

I received permission to hold a chapel Sunday evening and it was amazing!  Over 30 attended.  The Holy Spirit moved in a life-changing way!  I gave away 40 firefighter New Testaments and devotionals.  Throughout the week firefighters stopped to tell me how much the Lord had used the service.  As I was leaving the fire, one man pulled me aside and shared, “I’m not going to be a secret Christian anymore.”  Your prayers were definitely felt!  Thank you for praying for our safety as well.  

I did have one problem.  A fictitious “Hurt Feelings” report was filed against me by one of my co-workers.  I had suggested he go out and conduct an interview with the “honey wagon” crew.  Hey, I thought everyone knew that a “honey wagon” was an outhouse pumper.  City kids😊!  Returning home, I led our Saturday night worship service and conducted a funeral for a local rancher’s wife.  The funeral opened the door to share Jesus with 200 members of the ranching community.

Upcoming:  November 3-6 we hold services at Central Baptist Church outside of Crescent, OK.  Please call us (970) 209-8006 for directions and times.  December 1st, we share at First Baptist Church in Josephine TX, east of Dallas.  Our Kansas ministry trip has been postponed till spring.

Family: Steve, Annie and Samuel (2) in LA welcomed a baby girl this week, Abigail (“The Father’s joy”) Brielle (“God is my strength”) Barton!  Mom and baby are doing fine.  Tim, Sarah and Elizabeth (13 months) in LA are going strong.  Nick, Rebekah and Kai Lani (8 months) returned from an out-of-country trip and all three are recovering from hand, foot and mouth disease.   They would appreciate your prayers.  Stephen, Joy, Hannah (10) and Bethan (9) are enjoying ministry and living in Scotland.  

Firefighter and Police New Testaments and Devotionals:  As we mentioned last month, we’ve been blessed to give away over 29,000 fire and police New Testaments and devotionals around the world in the past 4 years.  This month we received a request from OK for a case of each to give to first responders.  

Finances: “For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.” (2 Corinthians 8:12). Years ago, I read that Billy Graham turned down a millionaire’s offer to fully fund his ministry, so Billy wouldn’t have to depend on monthly supporters.  Billy politely refused because he hoped that every donor, large or small, prayed for him when they sent their gifts.  He didn’t want to cut off that chain of prayer supporters.  Neither do we!  We depend on your prayers.   We are sooo grateful for each of you!

Prayer requests: (1) Please pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit as we share locally and around the country.  (2) Please pray for our family’s health and that we all keep Jesus the center of our homes.  (3) Please continue to pray for God to heal Rick Schneider, Campus Minister at Yale University.  (4) Please pray that the Lord will use each New Testament we hand out to bring souls to Jesus as well as encourage believers.  (5) Please continue to pray for the Lord to raise up an assistant for Rick.

With much Thanksgiving to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to you,

Rick and Melva Barton

Conducting a Funeral

Steve and Abigail

A Fellow Firefighter

Firefighter Briefing