Building Bridges for Jesus was the theme for the RTCA Conference that was just completed at the Embassy Suites in Grapevine just north of the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport.
For me it was a special and emotional time. It was to be my last conference as a staff member or board member with the RTCA, it was being held in my home state, in my home city and hosted by the council at Lone Star Park, where I started as a council member many years ago.
The "Bridge" to the conference connected us to RTCA chaplains, council members and RTCA family and friends from 18 states in the USA as well as from Canada, Argentina and Australia!
The "Bridge" also connected everyone to a great line-up of speakers, ministers and musicians who encouraged and lifted up and inspired everyone.
The "Bridge" connected us to a time of prayer, for the needs requested as a group and for each other individually.
The "Bridge" also connected us to fellowship with one another. I loved watching people greeting each other with hugs, playing card games, going out to dinner with each other, sitting around the lounge areas and talking to early hours of morning and taking time to pray and lift up each other.
The "Bridge" connected us to Christ through the gathering of the body of his followers, through the prayer and worship times that glorified God and through all the work of the committees that help move the ministry forward on earth.
I loved giving the "Harvest Report" where the bridge extended from heaven to earth through the ministry programs such as the White Horse Festivals and the daily work of the chaplains. Nearly 20,000 souls have been reached for Christ since 2005!
The Bridge to Eternity runs through a racetrack!
Blessings to all who attended!
Edward Smith
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Miracle in Mexico! God is so Awesome!
The RTCA has been a supporter of my mission work in Mexico for many years, and a great harvest is underway because of the help of planting seeds by ministries such as RTCA.
I arrived in my Mexico mission field over 9 years ago.
My arrival was supernatural and ordained by God and I will write about that in the near future. I was to partner with an incredible pastor and head of a church alliance of at that time some 40 churches. His name is Pastor Cheto. He is a dynamic, energetic pastor, evangelist and leader. He loves the Lord and that love radiates out to all who are around him.
He rarely slows down and moves from church to church encouraging the pastor and congregation to grown in the knowledge of God through bible studies, they break bread together and they take care of each others needs. I feel like I am in a living New Testament brotherhood when I am with them.
I remember the first visit I made down to the area when we went over high mountains and then plunged thousands of feet down to a river. We were led across the river by horsemen and the water came half way up the doors of our truck. On the other side we rode straight up steep trails on the back of horses to small mountain villages were the homes are made of stick, mud and leaves. Over the years of serving with Pastor Cheto I never saw the man tire and the ministry grew to over 60 churches with over 14,000 born again Christians in the mountains and valleys of central Mexico.
And then two years ago Pastor Cheto was struck with an aliment that took his energy away and began to make him depressed and tired all the time. I would drive 1,000 miles from my home in Texas to spend a few days with Pastor Cheto and his family. Praying for him, trying to encourage him, pushing him, trying to feed him and get him to move about. Now matter what we did he just seemed to to get worse. And a year ago he basically said he was preparing to go on to Heaven and be with the Lord.
I told him I did not feel it was time for him to go and that God had unfinished work for him to carry out with his people. We prayed and I embraced a person whose body felt so light in weight and so heavy in depression- he seemed like he was 100 years old.
And then a few months later I received a phone call from him and his voice sounded like the old and energetic Pastor Cheto that I knew. I drove down to Mexico to see him in person. And when I did I saw a man healed by the Lord!
He was again dynamic, energetic and was racing about doing the work of the Lord!
The RTCA is part of the work I do in Mexico with Pastor Cheto and with my missionary partner Rev. Barri Strait. The radio ministry is where I put the RTCA seed money and it is springing up a great harvest that is leading hundreds of people each year to seek the Lord and make professions of faith.
On the phone today he told me that two people were being baptized that night because of the radio program!
I thank the RTCA for the support and I praise the Lord for restoring my Brother in Christ- Pastor Cheto and for the Lord continuing to use Pastor Cheto to lead people to Christ. As Galatians 3:28 says "There is neither Greek nor Jew, Free nor Slave, Rich nor poor, male nor female- but that we are all one in Christ!"
Blessings-
Edward Smith
I arrived in my Mexico mission field over 9 years ago.
My arrival was supernatural and ordained by God and I will write about that in the near future. I was to partner with an incredible pastor and head of a church alliance of at that time some 40 churches. His name is Pastor Cheto. He is a dynamic, energetic pastor, evangelist and leader. He loves the Lord and that love radiates out to all who are around him.
He rarely slows down and moves from church to church encouraging the pastor and congregation to grown in the knowledge of God through bible studies, they break bread together and they take care of each others needs. I feel like I am in a living New Testament brotherhood when I am with them.
I remember the first visit I made down to the area when we went over high mountains and then plunged thousands of feet down to a river. We were led across the river by horsemen and the water came half way up the doors of our truck. On the other side we rode straight up steep trails on the back of horses to small mountain villages were the homes are made of stick, mud and leaves. Over the years of serving with Pastor Cheto I never saw the man tire and the ministry grew to over 60 churches with over 14,000 born again Christians in the mountains and valleys of central Mexico.
And then two years ago Pastor Cheto was struck with an aliment that took his energy away and began to make him depressed and tired all the time. I would drive 1,000 miles from my home in Texas to spend a few days with Pastor Cheto and his family. Praying for him, trying to encourage him, pushing him, trying to feed him and get him to move about. Now matter what we did he just seemed to to get worse. And a year ago he basically said he was preparing to go on to Heaven and be with the Lord.
I told him I did not feel it was time for him to go and that God had unfinished work for him to carry out with his people. We prayed and I embraced a person whose body felt so light in weight and so heavy in depression- he seemed like he was 100 years old.
And then a few months later I received a phone call from him and his voice sounded like the old and energetic Pastor Cheto that I knew. I drove down to Mexico to see him in person. And when I did I saw a man healed by the Lord!
He was again dynamic, energetic and was racing about doing the work of the Lord!
The RTCA is part of the work I do in Mexico with Pastor Cheto and with my missionary partner Rev. Barri Strait. The radio ministry is where I put the RTCA seed money and it is springing up a great harvest that is leading hundreds of people each year to seek the Lord and make professions of faith.
On the phone today he told me that two people were being baptized that night because of the radio program!
I thank the RTCA for the support and I praise the Lord for restoring my Brother in Christ- Pastor Cheto and for the Lord continuing to use Pastor Cheto to lead people to Christ. As Galatians 3:28 says "There is neither Greek nor Jew, Free nor Slave, Rich nor poor, male nor female- but that we are all one in Christ!"
Blessings-
Edward Smith
“The RTCA Screwtape Letters” A Vision and Devotion for the RTCA -Edward Smith
(This devotion has been modified from the one I sent before a EC
meeting held back in 2008-but I think it is relevant for all to read in 2009)
Christian Author C.S. Lewis wrote the book “Screwtape Letters” that was a Christian satire to show that powers of the dark worked in an organized way to destroy people and prevent them from knowing Christ or discredit their life testimony if they accepted Christ. The chief demon “Screwtape” wrote 32 letters to his nephew the demon novice “Wormwood” on how to “handle” the person he was assigned to destroy.
As you know I have been on the road quite a bit along with Dr. Torres and President Waverly and we have been visiting with a lot of our chaplains, working with or on council issues, and seeing all the various places that our ministry is growing, flourishing or facing challenges, at home and abroad.
While traveling I bring books with me, many are about the history of the horse or horse racing. And in some of the books I read the history of many of our Race Tracks. And that history revealed to me why Satan truly believes the tracks are under his domain and a stronghold for his powers.
For example-Hawthorne Race Course in Illinois was founded by, “Big Ed Corrigan”. A rough and tumble guy he so infuriated Colonel Lewis Clark (the founder of Churchill Downs) that he threatened to shoot him, Big Ed tried to take over the Fairgrounds through violence before being driven up to Cicero, Illinois where he carved out the Hawthorne Race Course that became his very own House of Vice with rigged races, paid off police and had a private army of thugs that had shoot outs from rival race track gangs that wanted to take over his race track in the 1890’s!
So, then consider this. Thirty-seven years ago Salty stood against the dark forces that had come into his life on the racetracks. And at the end of his rope and in full addiction he cried out for Christ. And Christ transformed his life and Salty put the call out for others to join him in reaching out to the racing community. And respond they did and the RTCA was born.
And along the lines of the “Screwtape Letters” I began to think about this. That thirty-seven years ago a low level demon at Tampa Bay or Fairgrounds or Belmont began to report people “preaching about Jesus” on their racetracks, and their “demon boss” probably said “nothing is going to happen, it will blow over, just keep pushing drugs and alcohol and sex.”
And the years passed and the reports began to pick up from low-level demons that chaplains were now “living on the backstretches!” and more people were coming to Christ and many lives were being transformed. And the Demon bosses responded- “Make sure you keep the main stream churches away from the tracks, play the pious and self-righteous card, without resources this will go away, keep the workers from the word, push all the vice and loneliness you can on them, separate the herd.”
And finally it hit the fan! The evidence was in. This ministry that was going to go away had chaplains in over 118 racetracks. Just since 2004 over 16,000 of their “own people” in the “strongholds of Satan” had come to the Lord and thousands of people were being transformed and thousands were in bible studies and the RTCA was in partnerships not only with churches and denominations but the people of the horse racing community- Owners, Trainers, Jockeys, Management and workers- were contributing money to the “Cause of Christ”
Further- that the “little jockey” Pat Day (who had slipped away from them despite many programs targeting him) had the audacity to be a part of a RTCA White Horse Evangelism Team (so pray right now for Dr. Torres, Pat Day Kevin Thornton, those that will be joining the RTCA evangelism team and all those connected in serving on this team and all chaplains presenting the gospel on the tracks) and was bringing the word in outreaches right in the heart of the racetrack! How dare the RTCA, the chaplains and their families, the EC Board that was in full agreement with these outreaches, the home office that was dedicated to keeping the work going forward and the councils that were serving on the tracks- how dare they continue.
The reports had kicked all the way “downstairs” to the Chief Operating Officer of Hell himself. Demon heads had rolled, a terrible purge of the demons assigned to the racetracks had taken its bloody run and Big Red was going to handle this himself.
Dear RTCA family this is what my vision has shown me. That the devil in all his evil glory is sitting in his war room right now with his top demonic chiefs. There is a large map of our racetracks and RTCA logo up on the screens and on his video table. He has pictures of our racetrack chaplains and our evangelical programs; he has your pictures and those of our families.
He is calling for unrestricted warfare on the RTCA. His strategy is simple- stop, disorganize or destroy the RTCA by any and all means necessary. His tactics include- to come as a wolf hidden in sheep’s clothing (or horse in this case) and sow seeds of discord and disunity among the RTCA body. To bring physical harm and illness to any and all connected to the RTCA. To attack marriages of the chaplains or create family problems as well as cause financial hardships and other distractions. He works on many levels and at all hours of the day or night. He is bringing denominational distrust or disunity into our ranks, theological issues to divide, and he will attempt to split us apart through culture, language and gender. He is coming with powerful tools and weapons to stop thirty-seven years of ministry progression because he wants his stronghold back for himself.
But, we know he can be defeated. The call for prayer cannot be over emphasized enough- because the war being waged against the RTCA is in the spiritual realms. We must turn this war over to God and be diligent to respond to His action plan.
So, as you read this and reflect upon its words, consider the “satire of the RTCA Screwtape letters” and say, is this just something to think about or is this something that the devil is indeed doing.
It is important to have your mind, body and soul in order for the meeting. You must imagine that the devil sits in on the RTCA board meetings and council meetings just as the Holy Spirit does. The issues on hand that you will deal with are essential to the future course of the RTCA. Let nothing hinder your prayers to the Lord.
God Bless all of you for the work you do in serving the RTCA and thereby those who serve the horse we serve. As you serve in whatever capacity for the RTCA stay in anticipation of opposition or challenges to your work and know that the Lord will untie any knots, overcome all obstacles and show the clear path to His will and purpose for the RTCA.
I will keep you in my prayers and thoughts constantly as I now go to serve at Victim Relief Ministries! Thank you for letting me share this devotional thought with you.
meeting held back in 2008-but I think it is relevant for all to read in 2009)
Christian Author C.S. Lewis wrote the book “Screwtape Letters” that was a Christian satire to show that powers of the dark worked in an organized way to destroy people and prevent them from knowing Christ or discredit their life testimony if they accepted Christ. The chief demon “Screwtape” wrote 32 letters to his nephew the demon novice “Wormwood” on how to “handle” the person he was assigned to destroy.
As you know I have been on the road quite a bit along with Dr. Torres and President Waverly and we have been visiting with a lot of our chaplains, working with or on council issues, and seeing all the various places that our ministry is growing, flourishing or facing challenges, at home and abroad.
While traveling I bring books with me, many are about the history of the horse or horse racing. And in some of the books I read the history of many of our Race Tracks. And that history revealed to me why Satan truly believes the tracks are under his domain and a stronghold for his powers.
For example-Hawthorne Race Course in Illinois was founded by, “Big Ed Corrigan”. A rough and tumble guy he so infuriated Colonel Lewis Clark (the founder of Churchill Downs) that he threatened to shoot him, Big Ed tried to take over the Fairgrounds through violence before being driven up to Cicero, Illinois where he carved out the Hawthorne Race Course that became his very own House of Vice with rigged races, paid off police and had a private army of thugs that had shoot outs from rival race track gangs that wanted to take over his race track in the 1890’s!
So, then consider this. Thirty-seven years ago Salty stood against the dark forces that had come into his life on the racetracks. And at the end of his rope and in full addiction he cried out for Christ. And Christ transformed his life and Salty put the call out for others to join him in reaching out to the racing community. And respond they did and the RTCA was born.
And along the lines of the “Screwtape Letters” I began to think about this. That thirty-seven years ago a low level demon at Tampa Bay or Fairgrounds or Belmont began to report people “preaching about Jesus” on their racetracks, and their “demon boss” probably said “nothing is going to happen, it will blow over, just keep pushing drugs and alcohol and sex.”
And the years passed and the reports began to pick up from low-level demons that chaplains were now “living on the backstretches!” and more people were coming to Christ and many lives were being transformed. And the Demon bosses responded- “Make sure you keep the main stream churches away from the tracks, play the pious and self-righteous card, without resources this will go away, keep the workers from the word, push all the vice and loneliness you can on them, separate the herd.”
And finally it hit the fan! The evidence was in. This ministry that was going to go away had chaplains in over 118 racetracks. Just since 2004 over 16,000 of their “own people” in the “strongholds of Satan” had come to the Lord and thousands of people were being transformed and thousands were in bible studies and the RTCA was in partnerships not only with churches and denominations but the people of the horse racing community- Owners, Trainers, Jockeys, Management and workers- were contributing money to the “Cause of Christ”
Further- that the “little jockey” Pat Day (who had slipped away from them despite many programs targeting him) had the audacity to be a part of a RTCA White Horse Evangelism Team (so pray right now for Dr. Torres, Pat Day Kevin Thornton, those that will be joining the RTCA evangelism team and all those connected in serving on this team and all chaplains presenting the gospel on the tracks) and was bringing the word in outreaches right in the heart of the racetrack! How dare the RTCA, the chaplains and their families, the EC Board that was in full agreement with these outreaches, the home office that was dedicated to keeping the work going forward and the councils that were serving on the tracks- how dare they continue.
The reports had kicked all the way “downstairs” to the Chief Operating Officer of Hell himself. Demon heads had rolled, a terrible purge of the demons assigned to the racetracks had taken its bloody run and Big Red was going to handle this himself.
Dear RTCA family this is what my vision has shown me. That the devil in all his evil glory is sitting in his war room right now with his top demonic chiefs. There is a large map of our racetracks and RTCA logo up on the screens and on his video table. He has pictures of our racetrack chaplains and our evangelical programs; he has your pictures and those of our families.
He is calling for unrestricted warfare on the RTCA. His strategy is simple- stop, disorganize or destroy the RTCA by any and all means necessary. His tactics include- to come as a wolf hidden in sheep’s clothing (or horse in this case) and sow seeds of discord and disunity among the RTCA body. To bring physical harm and illness to any and all connected to the RTCA. To attack marriages of the chaplains or create family problems as well as cause financial hardships and other distractions. He works on many levels and at all hours of the day or night. He is bringing denominational distrust or disunity into our ranks, theological issues to divide, and he will attempt to split us apart through culture, language and gender. He is coming with powerful tools and weapons to stop thirty-seven years of ministry progression because he wants his stronghold back for himself.
But, we know he can be defeated. The call for prayer cannot be over emphasized enough- because the war being waged against the RTCA is in the spiritual realms. We must turn this war over to God and be diligent to respond to His action plan.
So, as you read this and reflect upon its words, consider the “satire of the RTCA Screwtape letters” and say, is this just something to think about or is this something that the devil is indeed doing.
It is important to have your mind, body and soul in order for the meeting. You must imagine that the devil sits in on the RTCA board meetings and council meetings just as the Holy Spirit does. The issues on hand that you will deal with are essential to the future course of the RTCA. Let nothing hinder your prayers to the Lord.
God Bless all of you for the work you do in serving the RTCA and thereby those who serve the horse we serve. As you serve in whatever capacity for the RTCA stay in anticipation of opposition or challenges to your work and know that the Lord will untie any knots, overcome all obstacles and show the clear path to His will and purpose for the RTCA.
I will keep you in my prayers and thoughts constantly as I now go to serve at Victim Relief Ministries! Thank you for letting me share this devotional thought with you.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
How Christians Helped Change The World!
Greetings-
I preach and teach and talk at churches, chapels, conferences and functions all over the USA and the world. Those that have heard me speak know that I use the Parable teaching style that Christ used and that I enjoy telling true stories of the horse and of historical facts on how Christians changed the world. Many tell me that they wish they could here more facts about our history.
So I want to share some of the ways that Christians helped change the world in ways that you may or may not realize.
When you go to the local YMCA is was set up for the sole purpose by George Williams in the 1840's to win young men to Christ" and today it serves 20,000,000 members and still features Christian values.
The Salvation Army was born in England in the 1800's in the Industrial Revolution to minister specifically to the poorest of the poor and help provide food, shelter, and support along with the salvation message.
Christian mission organizations like the London Missionary Society helped overcome and abolish world slavery, fought for equality, established Child Labor Laws, built hospitals to mend the poor and established schools to overcome illiteracy. Christians dating back in the Roman Empire were already creating homes for orphans, the abandoned and the elderly.
Christian relief organizations such as World Vision, Samaritans Purse, Victims Relief, Convoy of Hope, Texas Baptist Men, Food for the Hungry, Victim Relief Ministries and Medical Teams International work hand in hand with thousands of churches to provide relief and care to those in crisis.
What would compel young people to study medicine and then spend their lives in remote places, for little or nothing, to minister to those that have little or no access to medicine or doctors.
The answer would be the one who truly changed the world over 2,000 years ago. Jesus Christ who overcame the world and commanded his disciples to go out and proclaim the Good News and to be Good Samaritans in action!
The RTCA through its chaplains and its national evangelism programs is helping to change the world in the Global Horse Racing Village. And we thank all who support this and make this happen!
Jesus said- "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me...whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25: 35-36, 40
I preach and teach and talk at churches, chapels, conferences and functions all over the USA and the world. Those that have heard me speak know that I use the Parable teaching style that Christ used and that I enjoy telling true stories of the horse and of historical facts on how Christians changed the world. Many tell me that they wish they could here more facts about our history.
So I want to share some of the ways that Christians helped change the world in ways that you may or may not realize.
When you go to the local YMCA is was set up for the sole purpose by George Williams in the 1840's to win young men to Christ" and today it serves 20,000,000 members and still features Christian values.
The Salvation Army was born in England in the 1800's in the Industrial Revolution to minister specifically to the poorest of the poor and help provide food, shelter, and support along with the salvation message.
Christian mission organizations like the London Missionary Society helped overcome and abolish world slavery, fought for equality, established Child Labor Laws, built hospitals to mend the poor and established schools to overcome illiteracy. Christians dating back in the Roman Empire were already creating homes for orphans, the abandoned and the elderly.
Christian relief organizations such as World Vision, Samaritans Purse, Victims Relief, Convoy of Hope, Texas Baptist Men, Food for the Hungry, Victim Relief Ministries and Medical Teams International work hand in hand with thousands of churches to provide relief and care to those in crisis.
What would compel young people to study medicine and then spend their lives in remote places, for little or nothing, to minister to those that have little or no access to medicine or doctors.
The answer would be the one who truly changed the world over 2,000 years ago. Jesus Christ who overcame the world and commanded his disciples to go out and proclaim the Good News and to be Good Samaritans in action!
The RTCA through its chaplains and its national evangelism programs is helping to change the world in the Global Horse Racing Village. And we thank all who support this and make this happen!
Jesus said- "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me...whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25: 35-36, 40
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
God, Galveston and the Hurricanes of Life
Hurricane IKE was a huge storm. At one time it stretched in an arch from the tip of Louisiana to the south west tip of Texas, an expanse that covered nearly 1,000 miles. Its impact was felt in Mississippi, Alabama and the panhandle 0f Florida.
It came ashore near Galveston covering the entire island in water, smashed downtown Houston and flooded East Texas and Southwest Louisiana in a gully of furious rainwater. It knocked out power in Hot Springs, Arkansas and then re-formed as a mini-hurricane in the Ohio River Valley and knocked trees down and power out in large parts of Louisville and Cincinatti before finally calming down and exiting back out into the north Atlantic Ocean.
IKE left behind devastation and destruction in the billions of dollars as well as some loss of life. Its effects will be felt for quite a long time in the sea coast villages that were turned into splinters and for Galveston Island in particular that sits with no basic infrastructure up in running that will greet 50,000 people returning on Wednesday.
Almost all of them will find homes and apartments that were flooded and rotting with the seawater that is now turning into mold, or the smell of spoiled meat in unopened refrigerators, furniture that is now useless, computers unworkable and family photos that are curled up or with images washed away.
As I served with the VRM command post at 47th and Broadway I watched the faces of those on-island survivors that looked tired and haggard, their bodies dehydrating and searching for food and water and for answers.
Why they stayed behind or the circumstances of life that left them where they are is unimportant at those moments. Times of tragedy are sometimes the only time that people are reminded of the "Whys of God". Why Me? Why Now? Why my spouse, child or neighbor? and of course the big one- "Why did God allow this to happen?"
I've learned to not have all the answers and to speak truthfully to what answers I know. I've learned to basically keep my mouth closed and my ears open and more importantly my heart open to them and to what God is saying to me.
I've learned not to be judgemental or stick that finger of righteouness at any one. I've learned to just come in the spirit of loving my neighbor, to hand out a bottle of cold water, to be able to let them know that someone cares about them and is there for them.
Prayer can be something asked for over someone and you can be a answered prayer in action just by your very presence- the ministry of presence as we call it.
I've just left the island of Galveston and I am taking "off" my VRM cap and putting on my RTCA cap to resume my focus of Evangelism and Missions at the RTCA. It is harder to that than most people will ever realize. But I take comfort in the Lord that I know we as Christians made an impact and a difference in those people's lives, one by one, sent into our path by God.
I will close with this example. I pulled into a gas station north of Houston to make sure I had enough gas to get into Galveston to begin serving with VRM.
I had on my VRM bright yellow Chaplains shirt with all my credentials hanging down around my neck and began to pump gas. I woman approached me. She was very stressed out and her eyes revealed she was hurting. She touched my arm where I have my RTCA White Horse patch and she said- "Are you a real chaplain, because I need one."
She said her name was Mary and that she had left Galveston to live at her sister's house and she was tired and broke and she just wanted to go home and was glad to know I would be serving on Galveston. She wanted me to pray for her and for the hurricane victims and for those wanting to go home to begin to rebuild their lives and homes.
I prayed for her right there at the pump and she shook as I prayed deeply for her and for the God of peace to comfort her life and those affected by IKE. When I finished she hugged me with tears running down her face and I looked up and people were all over the pump listening with their heads bowed as I prayed. Many people talked to me afterwards and thanked me for helping in the disaster response.
We do not know the impact we make on people in a crisis, we don't know all the why's and how's of things good or bad. God does! We just need to answer His call when He tells us to love our neighbors and be there to offer hope when the hurricanes of life are storming into their lives!
Blessings to all-
Edward
It came ashore near Galveston covering the entire island in water, smashed downtown Houston and flooded East Texas and Southwest Louisiana in a gully of furious rainwater. It knocked out power in Hot Springs, Arkansas and then re-formed as a mini-hurricane in the Ohio River Valley and knocked trees down and power out in large parts of Louisville and Cincinatti before finally calming down and exiting back out into the north Atlantic Ocean.
IKE left behind devastation and destruction in the billions of dollars as well as some loss of life. Its effects will be felt for quite a long time in the sea coast villages that were turned into splinters and for Galveston Island in particular that sits with no basic infrastructure up in running that will greet 50,000 people returning on Wednesday.
Almost all of them will find homes and apartments that were flooded and rotting with the seawater that is now turning into mold, or the smell of spoiled meat in unopened refrigerators, furniture that is now useless, computers unworkable and family photos that are curled up or with images washed away.
As I served with the VRM command post at 47th and Broadway I watched the faces of those on-island survivors that looked tired and haggard, their bodies dehydrating and searching for food and water and for answers.
Why they stayed behind or the circumstances of life that left them where they are is unimportant at those moments. Times of tragedy are sometimes the only time that people are reminded of the "Whys of God". Why Me? Why Now? Why my spouse, child or neighbor? and of course the big one- "Why did God allow this to happen?"
I've learned to not have all the answers and to speak truthfully to what answers I know. I've learned to basically keep my mouth closed and my ears open and more importantly my heart open to them and to what God is saying to me.
I've learned not to be judgemental or stick that finger of righteouness at any one. I've learned to just come in the spirit of loving my neighbor, to hand out a bottle of cold water, to be able to let them know that someone cares about them and is there for them.
Prayer can be something asked for over someone and you can be a answered prayer in action just by your very presence- the ministry of presence as we call it.
I've just left the island of Galveston and I am taking "off" my VRM cap and putting on my RTCA cap to resume my focus of Evangelism and Missions at the RTCA. It is harder to that than most people will ever realize. But I take comfort in the Lord that I know we as Christians made an impact and a difference in those people's lives, one by one, sent into our path by God.
I will close with this example. I pulled into a gas station north of Houston to make sure I had enough gas to get into Galveston to begin serving with VRM.
I had on my VRM bright yellow Chaplains shirt with all my credentials hanging down around my neck and began to pump gas. I woman approached me. She was very stressed out and her eyes revealed she was hurting. She touched my arm where I have my RTCA White Horse patch and she said- "Are you a real chaplain, because I need one."
She said her name was Mary and that she had left Galveston to live at her sister's house and she was tired and broke and she just wanted to go home and was glad to know I would be serving on Galveston. She wanted me to pray for her and for the hurricane victims and for those wanting to go home to begin to rebuild their lives and homes.
I prayed for her right there at the pump and she shook as I prayed deeply for her and for the God of peace to comfort her life and those affected by IKE. When I finished she hugged me with tears running down her face and I looked up and people were all over the pump listening with their heads bowed as I prayed. Many people talked to me afterwards and thanked me for helping in the disaster response.
We do not know the impact we make on people in a crisis, we don't know all the why's and how's of things good or bad. God does! We just need to answer His call when He tells us to love our neighbors and be there to offer hope when the hurricanes of life are storming into their lives!
Blessings to all-
Edward
Thursday, August 28, 2008
White Horse Impact in 2008 and Beyond!
The ultimate race of life continues everyday on tracks, training centers and horse farms all around the world and especially in the USA with the work of our chaplains and the RTCA National Home Office.
A year ago the RTCA launched a national evangelism and discipleship program with the initial grant from the Foursquare Foundation and with matching funds from various ministries and contributors.
The Evangelism outreach were called the "White Horse Family Festivals" that were large scale all-day events that included family activities like bounce houses, pony rides and clowns, raffle prizes, welcome gifts, buffet "Carne Asada" meals, foot races, large scale stage settings and live bands along with Kevin Thornton and Pat Day. They hit the large racetracks such as Fairgrounds, Churchill, Belmont and Arlington Park. Smaller Festivals called "White Horse Super-ALPHA" covered smaller tracks such as Evangeline Downs, Delta Downs and Los Alamitos with a smaller evening venue but still offering welcome gifts, prizes, dinner, a musical concert by Kevin Thornton and the message brought by Pat Day.
All the tracks offered the discipleship class that was centered around the "ALPHA" program and over 15 of these events were held from coast to coast, from the midwest to the southeast and at the end over 5,200 hundred people attended with just over 1,000 accepting the Lord as their personal savior and hundreds completed the discipleship course.
One year has just passed and we just concluded the 2nd annual White Horse outreach at Del Mar with 40 coming to the Lord and we will be offering ALPHA follow ups at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita!
The White Horse Festivals are again being targeted for outreaches in 2009 that will take the team to tracks in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey and many other places.
We need your prayers. We have applied for a new grant from Foursquare Foundation to launch these festivals and ALPHA programs and it has passed phase one! We will need to pray that matching funds will be raised as well.
An international grant has been applied for as well. It looks to launch the first White Horse Festivals in the world with outreaches planned for Peru, Chile and Argentina in 2009! We need your prayers for the international contributors to finance the ministries in South America and around the global horse villages.
But the Festivals, outreaches and discipleship programs are more than reported numbers. They are about the transformation of lives. At graduation after graduation I have watched and listened as racetrack workers get up and share their testimonies of deliverance from addictions or immoral life styles and they call upon their peers to come to the Lord.
At each graduation I "charge" the new believers to take the word to their peers as Salty Roberts and other RTCA founders did for them over 35 years ago. I charge them to be the salt and light to the backstretches and farms in their workplace.
There is excitement and joy in watching the passion they exhibit in the graduation classes!
And the White Horse Riders is serving an ever increasing role of relevancy as we respond to disasters such as barn fires, floods, tornadoes and hurricanes- with more and more appearing on the near horizon.
You are going to hear more as we seek to secure equipment and materials for deployment and for more training and to increase the number of people who can respond with us.
The RTCA in partnership with our chaplains and councils is making a difference in helping transform people through God by presenting the gospel or handing out a bottle of water to the horse racing community.
Keep lifting up the RTCA in prayer and that God will give us the resources and the wisdom and discernment to do what is right for the people and to glorify His name!
All of the
A year ago the RTCA launched a national evangelism and discipleship program with the initial grant from the Foursquare Foundation and with matching funds from various ministries and contributors.
The Evangelism outreach were called the "White Horse Family Festivals" that were large scale all-day events that included family activities like bounce houses, pony rides and clowns, raffle prizes, welcome gifts, buffet "Carne Asada" meals, foot races, large scale stage settings and live bands along with Kevin Thornton and Pat Day. They hit the large racetracks such as Fairgrounds, Churchill, Belmont and Arlington Park. Smaller Festivals called "White Horse Super-ALPHA" covered smaller tracks such as Evangeline Downs, Delta Downs and Los Alamitos with a smaller evening venue but still offering welcome gifts, prizes, dinner, a musical concert by Kevin Thornton and the message brought by Pat Day.
All the tracks offered the discipleship class that was centered around the "ALPHA" program and over 15 of these events were held from coast to coast, from the midwest to the southeast and at the end over 5,200 hundred people attended with just over 1,000 accepting the Lord as their personal savior and hundreds completed the discipleship course.
One year has just passed and we just concluded the 2nd annual White Horse outreach at Del Mar with 40 coming to the Lord and we will be offering ALPHA follow ups at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita!
The White Horse Festivals are again being targeted for outreaches in 2009 that will take the team to tracks in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey and many other places.
We need your prayers. We have applied for a new grant from Foursquare Foundation to launch these festivals and ALPHA programs and it has passed phase one! We will need to pray that matching funds will be raised as well.
An international grant has been applied for as well. It looks to launch the first White Horse Festivals in the world with outreaches planned for Peru, Chile and Argentina in 2009! We need your prayers for the international contributors to finance the ministries in South America and around the global horse villages.
But the Festivals, outreaches and discipleship programs are more than reported numbers. They are about the transformation of lives. At graduation after graduation I have watched and listened as racetrack workers get up and share their testimonies of deliverance from addictions or immoral life styles and they call upon their peers to come to the Lord.
At each graduation I "charge" the new believers to take the word to their peers as Salty Roberts and other RTCA founders did for them over 35 years ago. I charge them to be the salt and light to the backstretches and farms in their workplace.
There is excitement and joy in watching the passion they exhibit in the graduation classes!
And the White Horse Riders is serving an ever increasing role of relevancy as we respond to disasters such as barn fires, floods, tornadoes and hurricanes- with more and more appearing on the near horizon.
You are going to hear more as we seek to secure equipment and materials for deployment and for more training and to increase the number of people who can respond with us.
The RTCA in partnership with our chaplains and councils is making a difference in helping transform people through God by presenting the gospel or handing out a bottle of water to the horse racing community.
Keep lifting up the RTCA in prayer and that God will give us the resources and the wisdom and discernment to do what is right for the people and to glorify His name!
All of the
Monday, June 9, 2008
Arlington Park and the Old Time Tent Revival!
On Sunday morning the rain was pouring down all over Chicago and it seemed as if it was focused on Arlington Park. The tent and area we were going to hold the event on that afternoon looked like the Louisiana swamp lands- in fact we thought we saw a gator hanging out in the back of the tent. We did the secular responsibility thing and made plans B and then plan C as a backup to that. And then we did the spiritually sensible thing and all gathered for prayer with Chaplain Ernesto Reyes in the Chaplains trailer with council members and some volunteers and took it to the God of the Heavens, the creator of the universe and the one who controls, sends or resends the rain.
We prayed with believing hearts and asked God to send the SUN and then went about our business of preparing for the work of the Harvest. God answered that prayer, for within hours God pulled the rain back, the heavens began to open, the light began to shine and the SON showed up in all His glory!
What an awesome sight to hear, witness and participate in. A army of dedicated volunteers arrived and joined in with council members including Brother Charlie Matuzas and his wife who drove up from Indiana to film the event. The Harvest Church brought an incredible feast that would feed over 800 adults and children, while the registration table was manned by 10 volunteers who handed out welcome kits and gave Jesus Loves You bracelets to the kids who also enjoyed carnival games and were entertained by a clown that created balloon shapes of everything you could imagine.
A choir of 80 young people on tour of churches and prisons from South Carolina (they were sent over to us by Harvest Church) had a cancellation and dropped in on us to give a 35 minute concert. The front of the tent was rocking and clapping to the Christian music of a local Mexican Christian group- and the skies continued to clear as hundreds and hundreds of backstretch workers enjoyed the White Horse Festival that had come to honor them and bring the word of God along with some rather tasty food!
400 chairs were filled inside the tent and hundreds spilled outside and stood alongside the side less tent and leaned in to listen.
Chaplain Ernesto and I greeted the people and MC'd the event as we helped lead an old fashioned, gospel singing, gospel preaching, tent revival in the heart of the backstretch village at Arlington Park!
As the sun began to set Kevin Thornton brought his inspirational message and testimony in English and Spanish songs and in sharing from his heart how God had filled the void in life, even while at the top of the musical charts, and had all the world had to offer as success. He helped set the stage as we had people slow down and begin to focus on what God had laid on the heart of Pat Day to come and tell them.
To wild applause Pat Day and our old RTCA brother in Christ and former Chaplains Rep Luis stepped up on stage and for the next 25 minutes they brought the word together as one team!
And then the moment of truth beneath the tent. After delivering his message, Pat had them pray to receive Christ and then to come forward to the altar and make a public declaration. At first no one moved. And then a woman holding a small child boldly came forward and walked to the altar area and then turned and looked at the crowd. And then another woman came forward and then two women, no four and on and on they came. And then men began to come forward to the applause of believers and soon the altar area was full.
Kevin sang Amazing Grace as Chaplain Ernesto and I led tens of people outside the tent and to an area where we could talk to them and explain about the ALPHA program and how Chaplain Ernesto would help lead them in their growth and that the RTCA would be here to walk with them. Pat joined us as we made a circle of unity and welcomed our new brothers and sisters in Christ into the family of God united in the citizenship of heaven.
Fifty people signed the commitment cards stating their acceptance of God as their savior and Lord! Many more will be coming forward publicly soon.
The God who stopped the rain brought the waters of eternal life to over 50 people that night, beneath a tent that shook like the old time revivals!
Thank you Lord for Chaplain Ernesto and his council and his volunteers and his wife who supports his ministry! Thank you Chaplain Luis for stepping in and helping translate and for helping build the relationship with Harvest Church and for all that the church did for feeding so many people! Thank you for Kevin and Pat who are not ashamed or afraid of sharing the gospel of Christ! Thank you chaplains for continuing to run the race to bring thousands to Christ on your tracks and farms and training centers! And thank you RTCA and RTCA supporters who keep this ministry goal of helping people win the ultimate race of life through Jesus Christ the White Horse Rider!
We prayed with believing hearts and asked God to send the SUN and then went about our business of preparing for the work of the Harvest. God answered that prayer, for within hours God pulled the rain back, the heavens began to open, the light began to shine and the SON showed up in all His glory!
What an awesome sight to hear, witness and participate in. A army of dedicated volunteers arrived and joined in with council members including Brother Charlie Matuzas and his wife who drove up from Indiana to film the event. The Harvest Church brought an incredible feast that would feed over 800 adults and children, while the registration table was manned by 10 volunteers who handed out welcome kits and gave Jesus Loves You bracelets to the kids who also enjoyed carnival games and were entertained by a clown that created balloon shapes of everything you could imagine.
A choir of 80 young people on tour of churches and prisons from South Carolina (they were sent over to us by Harvest Church) had a cancellation and dropped in on us to give a 35 minute concert. The front of the tent was rocking and clapping to the Christian music of a local Mexican Christian group- and the skies continued to clear as hundreds and hundreds of backstretch workers enjoyed the White Horse Festival that had come to honor them and bring the word of God along with some rather tasty food!
400 chairs were filled inside the tent and hundreds spilled outside and stood alongside the side less tent and leaned in to listen.
Chaplain Ernesto and I greeted the people and MC'd the event as we helped lead an old fashioned, gospel singing, gospel preaching, tent revival in the heart of the backstretch village at Arlington Park!
As the sun began to set Kevin Thornton brought his inspirational message and testimony in English and Spanish songs and in sharing from his heart how God had filled the void in life, even while at the top of the musical charts, and had all the world had to offer as success. He helped set the stage as we had people slow down and begin to focus on what God had laid on the heart of Pat Day to come and tell them.
To wild applause Pat Day and our old RTCA brother in Christ and former Chaplains Rep Luis stepped up on stage and for the next 25 minutes they brought the word together as one team!
And then the moment of truth beneath the tent. After delivering his message, Pat had them pray to receive Christ and then to come forward to the altar and make a public declaration. At first no one moved. And then a woman holding a small child boldly came forward and walked to the altar area and then turned and looked at the crowd. And then another woman came forward and then two women, no four and on and on they came. And then men began to come forward to the applause of believers and soon the altar area was full.
Kevin sang Amazing Grace as Chaplain Ernesto and I led tens of people outside the tent and to an area where we could talk to them and explain about the ALPHA program and how Chaplain Ernesto would help lead them in their growth and that the RTCA would be here to walk with them. Pat joined us as we made a circle of unity and welcomed our new brothers and sisters in Christ into the family of God united in the citizenship of heaven.
Fifty people signed the commitment cards stating their acceptance of God as their savior and Lord! Many more will be coming forward publicly soon.
The God who stopped the rain brought the waters of eternal life to over 50 people that night, beneath a tent that shook like the old time revivals!
Thank you Lord for Chaplain Ernesto and his council and his volunteers and his wife who supports his ministry! Thank you Chaplain Luis for stepping in and helping translate and for helping build the relationship with Harvest Church and for all that the church did for feeding so many people! Thank you for Kevin and Pat who are not ashamed or afraid of sharing the gospel of Christ! Thank you chaplains for continuing to run the race to bring thousands to Christ on your tracks and farms and training centers! And thank you RTCA and RTCA supporters who keep this ministry goal of helping people win the ultimate race of life through Jesus Christ the White Horse Rider!
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