Gil and Denise Thomas
September 2023
Thank you for praying for us over the past month. God blessed (as He does so faithfully!) and we’re excited to share with you some of what has happened and what we are anticipating in the near future. We’ll also share some opportunities regarding new resources and ministries we are seeking to fund. August 7-9 We had a fantastic Good Soil Evangelism & Discipleship Leadership Planning Retreat with David and Glorianne Levy and Randy and Sarah Southwell. God blessed and gave good direction for the future. Some of those plans and ideas will be developed in letters to come. August 11-12 We had four Good Soil trainers in Alabama teaching Good Soil in English and Spanish in separate rooms. This was hosted by the Elmore Baptist Association. The pastors and leaders excitedly participated and seemed eager to apply what they learned in their areas of ministry. August 24 Gil started teaching the class Theology and Practice of Evangelism at BJU Seminary. The students are doing their assignments faithfully and learning as I teach them Good Soil principles in the seminary classroom. Each of the students are praying and looking for someone with whom they can share the gospel through The Story of Hope and other Good Soil resources. It’s exciting to realize that the sessions are spread out over the semester to allow for two things: 1. Learned principles and practices sinking into their hearts and minds over time and 2. Time/Opportunity to spend with unbelievers to share the gospel with them. We have some students in the room and some students online taking the class synchronously (at the same time/live). The Seminary has state of the art equipment. Above is a snapshot of a moment when the online students would have seen me (top right corner) teaching with the Power Point on their computers. That same state of the art equipment may help me continue teaching the seminarians even while traveling. 💡The printing of the Arabic version of The Message of Hope — $3,000 This tool can help to reach millions of Arabic-speaking people around the world. The difficult translation work is done and the document is being proofed. Then we would be ready to print it—our 42nd language. 💡The printing of a new “icon version” of The Story of Hope — $3,000 Many have expressed the need for this kind of tool to which Gen Xers and younger people could relate. We have designers working on this right now. We’re eager to see what it will look like! 💡The Good Soil Summit in Asia — $10,000 Our last International Summit was held in Budapest in 2019 in which 31 Good Soil users from 19 countries participated. What a blessing it was! We’re excited to host our second Summit, this time in the Philippines for our Asian Partners. Funds donated will enable internationals and missionaries to attend and provide their housing for the event.
September 10 Gil began teaching Moving Beyond Lecture at Calvary Baptist Church, Simpsonville, which will continue for the next 14 weeks. Pray that God will use the time, principles shared, and experiences to help both new and experienced teachers of the Bible to be more effective. September 15-16 Gil and Denise will be participating in the annual BJU Seminary Retreat. It was this time last year that Gil shared Good Soil ideas with professors and students alike. This can be an important time in the life of seminarians to set the tone for the year to come and even for future ministry. Pray that Gil and Denise will be able to interact well with students. October 16-20 Good Soil Seminars in Harrisburg, PA October 29 Faith Baptist Church, Winter Haven, FL Nov 2-10 Good Soil Asia Summit, Manila Philippines