Dan and Tricia Dubbe: June 2007
Dear Ones in Christ,
"And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." Acts 5:42
Open house: In May we had our "open house Sunday " and put out thousands of invitations in our area. It turned out great with more attending than could fit in the new building. Many of our folks were working in the kitchen or preparing for the refreshments outside and we still ran out of room. We presented a short history of the former train station with a video of old pictures, my son Tim presented the current ministry of the church and a German preacher friend described the purpose of an independent bible believing church. The town mayor spoke shortly and afterwards said he enjoyed this very "spiritual" time with us. It seemed that the reception was very good and we believe certainly helped to get us known here in our community. Nearly every Sunday since new visitors have come out to the services.
Baptism: The end of May three ladies were baptized in the local indoor swimming pool. The pool opens on Sunday morning at 9:30 and the church folks sang songs on poolside, prayed for the those to be baptized and afterwards came by and encouraged them to serve the Lord. The pool manager said to me that he had never seen a baptism like that but had to admit that is the way the Lord was baptized as well. Word spread quickly around the Bavarian Catholic town about what went on. The local Catholic priest was made aware of it and invited me over for coffee and cake. He asked me if our church would be involved in the ecumenical fellowship with the Lutherans and Catholics. I had an opportunity to explain to him how I got saved, what we preach about salvation and that our ministry is free of entanglements and responsible only to the head of the true church of Jesus Christ which of course is the Lord himself.
House meeting seminar: In July a guest speaker will be presenting ideas on conducting house meetings with evangelistic emphasis to reach neighbors and friends. The church would like to start three of these meetings in three towns where some of our members live. Please pray for this new outreach that souls would be saved and then brought into the fellowship and discipled to be useful for the Lord and for others!
Soulwinning: The last prayer letter mentioned a prayer request for Veronica Dressel, a wife of one our members, who was working through a Bible course for nonbelievers. This past Sunday afternoon after dinner at our home she stated that she has trusted Christ as her Savior and wants to continue with a discipleship course. Another man, Andreas, who comes regularly has just finished a similar course and will be coming to the camp meeting. We are praying that he would trust Christ during this time.
Spiritual gifts: Twenty four of the spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament are being covered in depth during the Wednesday evening Bible study. The goal is that each believer would realize the spiritual gift he or she received at salvation and then understand how God wants it invested in the assembly to the benefit of the believers. Surveys say 80% of the believers do not know what God has given them in order to serve effectively in the church and we would like to help correct that here and help in the equipping of the Saints for the work of the ministry.
Camp meeting time: The church is going to a nice retreat center for this year's annual camp meeting at the end of June with the theme "communication" being highlighted. The end of July is the combined youth camp with five other churches involved. This year I am sharing the organizational responsibility and am planning "Survival Camp" with appropriate spiritual applications for the young people. Please pray for these times and events that God would work in the lives of those present. Thank you for your concern for others around the world and especially here in Germany!
Yours for souls,
Dan & Tricia Dubbe with Family
