Past events, as well as future ones
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It’s been a bit since I have returned from my last trip. God has opened many wonderful opportunities for us to serve Him.
We continue leading a weekly Bible study every Sunday morning in King’s Beach CA. It’s a small home fellowship, but the group is so loving and desires to go deeper in the Word. It’s been such a blessing to meet with them. We recently finished teaching verse by verse through the Book of Acts and have started the Book of Romans. One of the great blessings to me has been when God has called me away, either to teach and share in other churches the ministry that the Lord has given us, reaching out to the unreached, Bryan, our son, has stepped in to lead the group. It’s such a blessing to be able to trust the Bible study to him, knowing that he cares for the people and is able to teach them the Word faithfully, without error. What a blessing!
To update you on the recent past, I have been invited to share at a number of different churches. A few months ago, Tina and I were in Columbia TN, sharing at Calvary Chapel Columbia. Last month, Tina and I were at the West Coast Pastors’ Conference in Diamond Bar CA. It was a great opportunity to meet with other pastors and give them a taste of what we and Saving Grace World Missions have been doing around the world. A few weeks ago, I was invited to teach at Calvary Chapel Reno Sparks. That church is pastored by a good friend of mine, pastor Phil McKay. It’s the largest Calvary Chapel in Northern Nevada. I was able to teach on the Great Commission given to the disciples and followers of Christ. I was invited to share the Word at Calvary Chapel June Lake in June Lake CA, June 23rd. It’s a small church full of dear saints who welcomed the teaching on the purpose of the church.
Immediately after Calvary Chapel June Lake, Tina and I will be flying to Knoxville TN, to meet and share with the pastor there, the ministry God has called us to and the open doors that are set before us in the 10/40 window. We’re really looking forward to meeting Pastor Mark Kirk, we’ve heard such good things about him and Calvary Chapel Knoxville.
A day or 2 after we return home, I’ll be headed off to Mexico to co-lead the Calvary School of Missions with my good friend pastor Tim Pappas. It’s a 6 week school put on by our sending church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda CA. The school is designed to help direct, inform and equip young men and women who are filling a call to full time missions. It’s taught by Calvary Chapel pastors and missionaries who are serving all over the word. The students are instructed in various topics concerning reaching the lost. Topics like cross cultural ministry, God’s heart for the nations, the current state of the unreached in the world, cultural immersion, evangelism and discipleship, church planting and much more. This will be the 6th year for the school, but the 1st year that I have been able to be part of it. The dates are July 6 through August 18. It’s something that I am really looking forward to it.
Shortly after the Calvary School of Missions wraps up, I will be headed out for Thailand to attend a conference there. We will be flying in our key leaders from the 10/40 window. It will be a great time of fellowship and encouragement for our leaders who a laboring tirelessly in the 10/40 window. After the conference, we’re planning on having our own little conference in order to reconnect with all our leaders in one place. It gives us the opportunity to pour into them, encourage, strengthen, support and hold their hands up. When the conference is finished, our team will be headed in different directions. One of the pastors I’m working with will lead a team to the Middle East. Another to Japan, and I will head back to the 10/40 window to continue to meet with our guys and disciple them. I will be in country for about 2 months before I return home in November.
I would ask you to please be praying.
- Please pray for the teaching opportunities that are ahead of me. That the Lord would be glorified and magnified in the hearts of those listening.
- Pray for the travels ahead of us. That there would be no delays and that we would experience the mercy and favor of God.
- Please pray for the school and the conference. That ears would be open to clearly hear God’s voice, and that hearts would be ready to receive, and that lives would be impacted for the glory of God.
- Please pray for our family while Tina and I are away, in Tennessee. Then, while I am away for an extended period, please pray for Tina and the boys. God has blessed us with a close family and it’s always difficult when any member of our family is gone for any length of time. It always creates a void.
- Pray for more opportunities to share in churches what God is doing among the unreached through Saving Grace World Missions.
- And please be praying for our little home fellowship in King’s Beach. That God would bless the teaching of HIs wWord and that He would reveal HIs heart for this little fellowship.
And most importantly, if there is a prayer request that is on your heart, would you please share it with us? We would count it a privilege to do battle in the spiritual realm on your behalf.
Thank you for all your prayers, love, friendship and support. It’s a tremendous privilege for us to partner with you in equipping the saints to take the Gospel where it has literally never gone before. Praise the Lord.
God bless,
Gary and Tina
Posted in Uncategorized by Gary Barrow with comments disabled.
Momentary Light Afflictions
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My recent trip to the 10/40 window was met with the loss of hearing in my left ear, which continued for 3 weeks. Then, upon its resolution, I promptly broke a tooth. The trip was topped off with a 22 hour delay of my final flight on my way home. It made for a return trip that consisted of 25 hours of flight time and a total 34 hours of layovers. But it was all worth it!
There were a number of administrative things that needed to be accomplished on this trip, which God took care of for me, and then the joy began.
I started my trip in the southern portion of the country where we have our newest school. Prior to leaving the states, I had been teaching through the Book of Acts with these students via Zoom. It was such a blessing to interact with these students face to face. I can honestly say, this group of students has been the best class I’ve taught in the 8 years I’ve been involved in teaching in the different schools there.
Then I was able to travel to a state that none of us at SGWM has been able to visit before. I went there to scout out the possibility of beginning a new school in that area. There are so many hungry youths there that want to learn the Word of God and to be equipped to take the Gospel to their countrymen who haven’t yet heard of Jesus.
After spending a month in the south, I flew to our school in the central portion of the country. When planning the trip, I had asked the director of that school what he’d like me to teach while I was there. He said, “Ezekiel.” My response was, “You want me to teach the ENTIRE Book of Ezekiel?” He simply said, “Yes, that’s right.”
So I taught the entire Book of Ezekiel in 5 days. And God really blessed. We were able to go into surprising depth and detail. I couldn’t have imagined how blessed that time of teaching would be, explaining the Book to a group of 13-15 hungry students. And that’s not to mention the fellowship time we enjoyed, where we just spoke about the Bible, had Q & A sessions, and just getting to know the students. Just a wonderful time!
After leaving there, I traveled to another region where I was the first foreigner to set foot in. I was able to share Christ in villages that literally are the most radical and hostile to the Gospel in the entire country. Much of our time there was “cloak and dagger” in nature, due to the persecution directed towards Christians. I’m never concerned about my safety on these trips, I trust that God’s got me in His hands, but I’m always concerned for the safety of those I’m with and the safety of the work. My presence can actually put them in danger
One of the ladies that I met, who traveled with us and introduced us to many of the villagers, had her house destroyed in the village. And the meeting place she built, to serve as a church, had been torn down twice. She had been attacked and threatened with physical harm, yet none of those things moved her to even consider stopping to sharing the Gospel with others in the area who don’t know Jesus as their Savior.
During the week that I was in this area, I had the chance to teach more that 40 times. It was such a blessing to be with people who want to drink in every word and promise of the Bible. I also was able to pray with, literally, 100’s of people, and to encourage them to believe that the God who asks us to pray, is the God who hears and answers prayers.
I left this area and traveled north. I ultimately found myself within 40 miles of the boarder of China, in the foothills of the Himalayas. We went there in order to met and encourage one widow women.
Seven years ago, when her husband was on his death bed, he told her to continue to follow Christ, not to forsake Him. She heeded his advice and has been a witness in an area where there are no other Christians. She’s the only one. Her witness for Christ has caused every one in the area to shun her. No one will speak to her, no one will help her in her need, and no one speaks a kind word about her. But she is staying true to the Lord.
We drove a day and a half on rough mountain roads just to get to her village. While I was there, I was overwhelmed by her story, not to mention that she worked all day in her fields and then came to serve us. The whole time I was there, I prayed, “Lord, what would You have me share with this woman in order to encourage her?” And He placed on my heart Matthew 5:10-12, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
These verses were so heavy on my heart, I knew this was the Word of the Lord to this saint. I can’t tell you what a privilege it was just to meet her. Thank you Jesus.
There were so many highlights from my trip, I couldn’t begin to share them all. God had divine appointments for me. I met many pastors who wanted to be instructed in basic doctrines of the Bible, they wanted to learn more about verse by verse teaching through the Bible, and even asked if I would teach them via zoom 1-2 times a month.
In total, I was away for 2 months. Time just seemed to just fly by. The fruit from this trip was so great, God showed Himself so strong on my behalf. I had never experienced anything like it on any of my many mission trips in the past.
Lord willing, I will be returning in the October/November time frame. Please begin to pray for my time in country.
- Pray for even greater fruit
- Divine appointments
- For my time spent discipling our leaders and students there
- And pray for more opportunities to preach Christ in remote villages where the Gospel hasn’t yet gone
I also invite you to pray that God would provide the funds for the trip. It’s just a something we can’t get away from, missions cost money.
If you’re feeling led to contribute to the work and partner with us in the ministry, you can do so by going to https://sgwm.com/barrow/give/ or by clicking the “Become a Financial Partner” button below.
If you’d like to send me your prayer requests and updates to us, we always enjoy hearing from you.
God bless,
Gary and Tina
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1 Year anniversary and a New Start
It has been just over a year now since we left Southern California and have moved to Verdi NV. We moved into our rental 4/13/20.
I officially took over the leadership responsibilities of Calvary Chapel Truckee on 4/1/20. God has done so much and has shown Himself strong every step of the way.
Taking over the church during the pandemic was something new. Not being able to meet people in the church for the first 4-5 months was a challenge. We were forced to record and post all our teachings because we were unable to meet.
The Lord, however, opened a door for us to start meeting in the park. It was wonderful. Tina and I were able to start meeting and fellowshipping, with some social distancing, people in the church. We quickly fell in love with the body. Calvary Chapel Truckee had been through some hard times prior to us coming up and the splitting up of the body due to the pandemic wasn’t helping. Meeting in the park was a breath of fresh air and the church began to grow.
In October, because the wether begins getting cold, the park closed their facilities and we made the decision to start meeting indoors. We met in person, not in protest of the government not allowing churches to meet, not as a political statement, but we met out of obedience and the need to provide church for people. God brought people to fellowship with us who were longing to gather corporately and worship our Savior. Soon our little space was filled.
We have been able to have a variety of missionaries come and share. We’ve had a Christmas tea for the ladies and a Valentine’s dinner for couples. We have a weekly prayer meetings and 4-5 Bible studies during the week. It’s been a great season of encouragement and growth.
Our church has been meeting upstairs at the Rock, in Truckee. Then we found out that meeting upstairs was a code violation, so we started to look for another place to meet. Truckee is a very expensive town to live in. Because of the pandemic, many people in the San Fransisco area who were working from home began to flee the city and move to Truckee. If you’re working from home, why not live in a much less congested area and an area that is much more beautiful? As a result, there has been a real estate boom. Space is at a premium.
Our hopes were that we would be able to find another meeting space before our landlord gave us notice to vacate. Well, on March 1st, I received an email with a 30 day notice. At the time we had not been able to locate another location to meet. They were either too expensive or didn’t have enough parking or large enough restroom facilities for us to meet as a church. What are we going to do? We are going to pray and trust the Lord.
Long story short, the Lord arranged a “chance meeting,” AKA a divine appointment, with one of the largest commercial property owners in Truckee. In casual conversation, we told him we were looking for a place to meet and he said he had a space for us. He showed us a larger space than the space we had at the Rock, for just a little bit more a month. We signed a lease and will take procession of the space May 15th. There is some construction that still needs to be done before we can occupy the space, but it looks like May 15 we can start moving in.
In the meantime, we’re back meeting in the park. Please pray for good weather and God’s continued blessing.
I am happy to report that our work in the 10/40 window has continued. We were able to continue teaching at one of our colleges through much of the lockdown. We just started another semester at that college and are working to get the others going soon, Lord willing.
I was thinking this morning how the enemy is using this pandemic to halt the spread of evangelism. Praise the Lord that our God is greater than any pandemic or schemes of the enemy.
I was invited to go to Bahrain and see the work the Lord is doing there. I’ve also been invited to go to Cambodia. My heart is burning to be part of works abroad while being a base at home. My prayer is that Calvary Chapel Truckee would be stirred for missions in an even greater way and that the Lord would allow me to take people and pastors abroad and give them a vision for world missions.
On a personal note, Tina and I were able to go to Washington in March for Noah’s 3rd birthday. Our family, Tina and I, Ashley, Elijah, Noah and Flo, along with Bryan and Austin and healthy. The Lord has been so very good to us. Noah and Flo are growing like weeds and they are such a source of joy in our hearts. We thank the Lord daily for our family.
That’s it for now, we thank you for your continued prayers and would love to have you visit if you’re in the area.
God bless,
Gary and Tina
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