NEWSLETTER

 September & October 2007

 

In just over one month, Holy Ghost Ministries (HGM) will journey for the fifth time to Ghana West Africa under the call of God to evangelize the world.  We will not only be bringing the bread of life, but also bread, water and a home for orphan children that have suffered the loss of their parents and have no family able to care for them.  

James 1:27 (New International Version)

27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

 

Holy Ghost Ministries has come a long way since 2002, and I believe deep within my soul that God is enlarging the borders of this ministry in a way that is bigger than I ever imagined.  Just this week, we were informed from Rotary International that the final report I submitted on the Upper Town Kormantse Water Project has been accepted in its entirety and the Conway Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Achimota Accra are now free to pursue other Rotary International Matching Grants.  In fact, the organization even said they were looking forward to working with us on future projects.  This was great news to me and all of the Rotary partners.  I believe that this closure to three years of effort on our part gives us the confidence that we did a good thing and God is about to allow us to do even more.  I am ready to answer the call, and the team of 10 going with me to Ghana in November 2007 is ready as well.

 

GHANA MISSION 2007

 

There are several needs for our mission to Ghana that must be brought to your attention for prayer and for action if God speaks to your heart.  The mission team will be ministering in the vicinity of Accra during the first 2 days in Ghana.  With the guidance of Rev. Isaac DeGraft, the team will be visiting a village on the outskirts of Accra that is in need of better toilet facilities and other water related projects.  During our visit to that village, we are planning to do a village feeding for the people there and our goal is to offer 1,000 meals at that location alone.  After our humanitarian efforts have been finished there, we also plan to show The Jesus Film to the village and offer an invitation to accept Jesus as their savior.  The village feedings will run around $1,000 and the sanitation project should be able to be accomplished for about $5,000.  Please pray that funds to accomplish these projects will be received before November 1^st.

 

On the first Sunday in Accra, our team will be ministering in various local churches in the area.  Fortunately we are blessed to have preachers enough to preach in different locations.  This day of worship in Accra will be a wonderful day and we are in prayer that God will use us to win more souls for His kingdom there.  Accra is a sprawling capital city with an estimated 5 million people living there I am told.  Please be in prayer with us that those seeking a better life in that city will find Jesus to be the answer that their hearts yearn for.

 

Our team will be traveling to Kormantse and Salt Pond immediately thereafter to prepare for the 3^rd Annual Kormantse Interdenominational Crusade.  Our first event will be a meeting with the local pastoral delegation in the Kormantse area as we prepare for an awesome move of God.  We are planning to have a special service at the Southern Ghana Bible College and present the funding for the Holy Ghost Ministries Scholarship Fund which was established in 2006.  We are happy to report that some wonderful partners of Holy Ghost Ministries in Texas have already pledged $3,000 to fully fund our commitment there this year!  God is an awesome God.  The funds used to equip these pastors are so important.  Buy investing in the education of men and women for ministry, untold thousands will be touched.  It is a great thing to go to a foreign country and perform short term missions, but how awesome it is to know that you have helped train a preacher that will go to villages and small communities in West Africa that you will never probably ever set foot in.

 

The service there at SGBC will also serve as a Crusade Prayer Service.  Rev. Frederick Kyereko, my friend and Principal of the college, has been so kind to allow us this venue.  The local ministerial leaders in the Kormantse area will be invited to attend this service and come into unity as we prepare for the week of ministry ahead.  The HGM mission team will be introduced and the evening will focus upon prayer for the crusade itself.  The devil doesnt like what is happening in Kormantse, so your prayers to bind Satan and his demons from interfering with our efforts are greatly needed.  I have seen manifestations in Ghana that are not unlike those recorded in the Gospels and Book of Acts I have come to realize that the warfare between Good and Evil is very real and present in our world.  Just because my American friends have not seen much of this in their churches lately, be not deceived into thinking that demons are not to be reckoned with because they are. Mark 1:34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

 

We will be holding four full days and nights of ministry in the region of Kormantse and Salt Pond.  Each day around 10am, there will be leadership and development training for the local pastors and other ministry leaders.  It is our hope to be able to exhort them with sound teaching and spirit-led ideas.  In the afternoons, there will be visitations and distribution of gifts to area schools and villages.  HGM shares the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever we go.  These evangelistic visitations are important to our efforts to invite people to attend the crusade services that will be held each night.  After the visitations, there will be village feedings conducted in various locations.  We are planning to feed 1,000 meals every day for four days.  Last year the cost of a meal which included a piece of fish/chicken, fried rice, small drink, utensil, napkin all served in a Styrofoam pack was only $1.00 per meal.  We are in need of $4,000 to accomplish this task this year.  Our friends in Texas have also pledged funds to help with this effort, but more will be needed.  Including our feeding efforts in Accra, we will need a total of about $5,000 to handle all of our feeding efforts this year.

 

One of the most important aspects of our mission this year is the preparation for the construction of the Mike Pike Orphanage.  As we have shared with you many times before, my friend and Rotary partner Mike Pike died suddenly last November at the age of 43.  Mike was planning to adopt a Ghanaian orphan, but never got that chance.  He heart was captivated with the plight of the children in Ghana.  Because of the need for quality orphan care in Ghana, and the continuing AIDS epidemic in Africa that is leaving many orphans behind, HGM has been led of the Lord to build an orphanage in the Kormantse area in honor of Mike Pike he may never have gotten to adopt an orphan while he was alive, but he can have many, many Ghanaian children through the Mike Pike Orphanage built in his name.  I have spoken to Mikes mother and she is thrilled with the idea.  It is comforting to know that she consents to our project in the name of her son. 

 

The village elders have pledged to donate plots of land for the orphanage complex and we will be solidifying that while we are there.  We intend to build on the cottage orphanage concept in order to give children the feel of a real family as opposed to a barracks style arrangement that does not give one a true family environment.  This idea was given to me by Brother Wes Syverson of Tech Serve International, who has agreed to help us in our orphanage effort.  HGMs goal is to begin construction on a facility to house 12 to 15 children, and house parents, during 2008.  This facility would have bedrooms for the children to share, a kitchen, living area and parents quarters, all self- contained.  Partners, the funds needed for this project are greater than any other we have ever undertaken before.  The estimate to build the structure is around $37,000 to $50,000.  In addition to the site preparation and construction, we must hire trustworthy house parents and provide for the maintenance of the orphanage and supplies to run the orphanage.  We are believing God for $100,000 to get this project off of the ground next year.  Please pray that God will allow these funds to start coming in now and that we can finish this project in 2008.  After the orphanage is built, we will provide the annual funding necessary to keep it open and will also build new structures to help other children as the need and funding materializes.  Thank you so much for supporting this effort.  We greatly appreciate Pastor Glenn Chadwick and Freedom Church for giving $3,000 to HGM to be earmarked to the Mike Pike Orphanage.

 

Lastly, we have plans to help Kirt and Hilda Bromley with a water bore hole project to assist the village in which they have their Libraries for Africa project.  I met the Bromleys while journeying to Ghana a couple years ago and have maintained communication with them every few months since then.  They are doing a great work and have need for a water project that can serve the community at large where there ministry is headquartered.  In addition to their library project, Kirt is very active with pioneering an Alcoholics Anonymous work in Ghana which has problems with alcoholism just like we have in the United States.  You may read more about the Bromleys by visiting their website at:  http://www.forafricalibrary.org/index.html.  We need to raise funds to support a budget for as much as $10,000 for this particular project.

 

There are several others water projects that we have requests to do, but no firm estimates as of yet on the costs associated with those projects. If you wish to donate for these specific projects, please earmark your donations and we will keep your funds designated for that purpose.

 

Most importantly, please pray for the mission team members that will be traveling with us this year:  Pastor Glen Chadwick, Father James Byrum, Pastor Andy Lair, Chelsea Leach, Tracy Leach HGM Administrator, Cindy & Greg Gamso, Theresa Price, Pam Mathews, and Lauren Rapert.  These people have answered Gods call to go and we are excited to see the Lord use them for His glory in Africa!

 

Evangelism

 

 

I do not think that it will surprise you that evangelism of the world is a primary goal of mine.  Holy Ghost Ministries is completely committed to giving God the glory in all things and sharing the message of Jesus Christ to everyone in the world.  I find it distressing that though Jesus Christ gave us the great commission in Matthew 28, very few churches are making time to actually act on that commission through personal evangelism or mass evangelism.  In fact, it is well documented that very few Christians witness to others one-on-one as often as they should. 

 

There have been great champions of evangelism throughout history from Jesus, Peter, Paul, John Wesley, Smith Wigglesworth, Billy Graham and others too numerous to mention of course.  But where are those champions of evangelism today?  I recently read an article by J. Lee Grady that echoes the sentiment I personally have on this subject and I would like to share it with you as follows:

 

 

 

Living Grace Bluegrass Gospel

 

Over the past month, our affiliate ministry Living Grace Bluegrass Gospel has endured some hardships that needs your prayers.  In a tragic series of events, Ronnie and Sandra Taylor lost their beloved 25 year old son to a motorcycle accident, Keith Gresham was seriously ill, and Tim & Jetta McCool lost Tims grandmother after a long battle with cancer.  Too much loss within one group of people at one time by any account.

 

By Gods grace, the group is continuing to minister in song and is scheduled to be at the Randolph Music Theater in Pocahontas, Arkansas on Friday, September 28^th and Saturday, September 29^th.  Please be in prayer that God will comfort them all and give them courage to continue to bless people with their music.

 

The group is beginning to make plans for their second music cd.  Run The Streets of Gold, their first cd, has had over 1,000 copies distributed and the requests continue to come.  A friend of the group, Evangelist Sam Austin, has sent in multiple orders, stating your cd is my best seller on the road right now.  He said people all over the country have been purchasing the cd from his merchandise table at revivals and he has had several great comments about the music.  If you would like a copy of the cd, we would be glad to send a copy to you if requested with your donation to Holy Ghost Ministries.  You may send your donation and request a copy of the cd by e-mailing us at jasonrapert@holyghostministries.org. 

Ministry News

 

 

I would like to share with all of you some important information that may be of interest to you.  I have recently accepted the offer to serve in the office of Evangelist for Jesus 4 U Ministries which is a movement that exemplifies the passion God has put within my heart for unity within the body of Christ.  This movement is not a denomination or fellowship, but rather a movement that we believe God is using to reinvigorate His church.  If you would like more information about Jesus 4 U Ministries, please write to me at Holy Ghost Ministries, Inc., P.O. Box 10388, Conway, AR  72034.  I would be glad to introduce you to Rev. Don Campbell who is the founder.  You will not find the trappings of religious organization present in this movement, but rather a focus upon training followers of Christ to exercise the gifts of the Spirit that were given to the body of Christ for its proper exhortation and functioning.  God has given me great peace in my heart to accept this position of servant leadership to help others fulfill their call to be an evangelist according the five fold ministry outlined in scripture.  God is calling us out of our church walls to seek Him and not programs, spreading he gospel to whomever will listen.

 

THANK YOU ALL

 

Partners, thank you for standing by us.  I appreciate your prayers for our upcoming services, your notes of encouragement, your participation and your financial contributions which allow us to do ministry and humanitarian projects in the United States and Africa.  This is not my ministry, it is Gods ministry.  I am merely a steward and I want to continue to see the Holy Spirit working mightily as I have over the past few years.  As always, please pray for my family as we strive to do what God has called us to do in His Kingdom.

 

If you have a special prayer request, or would like to contact us for any reason, please do so by writing to Holy Ghost Ministries, P. O. Box 10388, Conway, AR  72034, or contacting us at jasonrapert@holyghostministries.org.

 

God bless you and may the Lord move mightily in your life today!

 

Always ready to do His will,

 

Evangelist Jason Rapert

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