He Is Risen!
Happy Easter, friends! It was wonderful to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with His followers today. If you were part of the congregation today, I want to express my gratitude for to you for your fellowship in Christ. If you were elsewhere today, I still appreciate the bond we share in Jesus that transcends time and distance. As I thought about the family of God at Enon Chapel and the many friends I have known across the years, I realized that today I preached the message of the resurrected Christ for the 21st time from the Enon Chapel pulpit. It has been a privilege to serve as your pastor. I am grateful to God and to you for this great blessing in my life.
On another note, I received this message today by email from my friend Chaplain Bruce Crouterfield. He is currently in Iraq serving with our fine young marines and sailors. Even in that place of warfare and strife, the gospel is reaping a harvest of souls. Read Bruce's email and pray for our men and women deployed around the world.
Wow...what a week! We've been traveling the region and doing Easter Services with the Marines and Sailors. Those who were able came out and worshipped with us. We shared communion and focused on the significance of Easter...that Christ came to us, that He died for our sins, and that He rose from the dead. The gospel message was shared at each service.
I talked to young men from all over the country...from Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, Alabama, Virginia, and more.
At one service, a squad of Marines was preparing to go out on a foot-patrol and they were gathering together for their pre-patrol brief in the same place we were going to have the service. But the wind kicked up and started a sand-storm, so the patrol was postponed until the wind died down. The Marines took off their helmets, flack-jackets, and set down their weapons and gear. I wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but they all found a place to set down and worshipped with us. I told them that God must have wanted them to go to church today instead of on patrol.
RP2 Kunjufu and I returned here, our home-base, yesterday so we were here for Easter Sunday. We weren't sure when we left that we would be back in time to celebrate Easter here because of uncertain travel issues, so we didn't schedule a service for this morning. But when we woke up, we noticed people gathering at the chapel. There were people from several different faith groups and quite a few men from Uganda wondering if there was going to be an Easter Service. So RP2 K jumped up and set the communion table and I preached and shared the gospel. So we had Easter and then went to lunch.
I've attached a picture with four men setting at a table. The gentleman on the far left, with sunglasses is an Iraqi interpreter named Saif and he's a Muslim. We spent three days with Saif and he had a lot of questions about Christianity. One night, while enjoying the evening outside our command post, I had an opportunity to share the gospel with Saif. I don't know if he accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior, but he wanted a Bible and we found him one. We also gave him a copy of Dr. D. James Kennedy's book, "Why I Believe." I found Saif reading the book a number of times. Hopefully the Lord is drawing Saif to Him. I'm looking forward to seeing him again soon. Pray that God moves in his life and that he might become a light in a dark world.
We thank you for your prayers!
In His Service!
Chaplain Crouterfield
