In October 2001, the Miller’s BIMI check was only $47. But God was showing Himself strong on their behalf as well.  They had to pray in their faith promise as well as $101 for license plates.   God provided abundantly and they even had some left over at the end of the month.   Also by October, we had received word from a church in Raleigh, NC that they wanted to bring close to 25 folks out to work on the building in July of 2002.  At that point it looked like they might paint the building and perhaps do some evangelistic work as we had no clue when or if money would come in to keep this large group busy.

On November 30, 2001, Candy Miller underwent emergency surgery and spent ten days in the hospital.  How we would ever pay that off?!   Only the Lord knew.  As it turned out, a grant from the hospital paid 80% of the bill.  God had brought in twice as much as we needed to pay off the balance and the anesthesiologist (which had to be paid separately).  We also paid off a small medical bill our youngest daughter Esther had and the expense of surgery on our dog (it was medical!!).  There was still quite a tidy sum left.  Through council, not wanting to profit from this, we determined to give the remainder back to the Lord.  The Lord had brought to our attention through another pastor, carpet to be purchased at an unbelievably low price:  460 square yards of carpet at $3.00 per yard for the Sanctuary and Foyer.  He also provided a missionary helps couple who would bring the carpet from Dalton, GA, and, “before they call I will answer”(Is.65:24). 

March 6 - 10, 2001 we had Dr. Clayton Schumpert speak at our annual missions conference.  He had come from Salt Lake City, UT, where another BIMI missionary had established  Heritage Baptist Church.  A man in that church had just surrendered  to use his carpet laying abilities for the Lord to help on BIMI’s C.L.A.I.M. teams (Christian Laymen Assisting International Missions) and Dr. Schumpert thought Dick should contact him to see if he would give his time to install the carpet.  Sure enough, James Williams was so excited at the idea that God could somehow use him.  He told Pastor to give him a week’s notice and he would come. So in April, we sent the  check out to pay for the carpet ($1476.60) and set into motion the delivery of the carpet by helps missionary Randy Spry.  On May 22, 2002, the Williams arrived along with their pastor (who had to return on Thursday).  We all toiled together over the next five days to see the work done.

Another happening in April 2002, we received a check for $1200 for the lighting in the new auditorium from a church back east.  No doubt God has used another mailing, but He did not always.  In one instance, Pastor had sent out nearly 900 letters with nary a response.  Often he would get at least an offer to pray and sometimes he got a letter of rebuke, but usually enough response to pay the postage, but not that time.  There was also the rare occasion when the pastor kept or found the letter long after they’d been mailed and respond.

God's Simple Plan of Salvation

This Was Your Life

Rodeo Cowboy's Prayer