Feb
1

Thank You

February 1, 2010 | By: Beau Hayden

Dear Pastor Pracht,
As one of the few Nebraskans with the IMB, I was on the internet looking
to see where are the Southern Baptist Churches in Kansas-Nebraska. It was a
pleasure to find your website, and see the good things God is doing at your
church. My parents moved from Lincoln to Wichita several years ago, and I’ve
enjoyed getting to know the city you call home. I appreciated what you put
on your website about the Gospel, that it is not a beginning, but a way of
living by Grace. I don’t find that too often on a church’s website!
My reason for writing is very simple…to thank you for helping me and
5,600 other missionaries serve our Lord overseas. I love to thank Southern
Baptists for all they have done for me in helping me to fulfill my ministry,
for putting clothes on our backs, food in our stomachs and a roof over our
heads. Thank you for helping my children with both their childhood and
college educations. And I love sharing with Southern Baptists the wonderful
things God has done because of their gifts through our ministries over these
past 15 years. Unfortunately, I cannot visit our churches as freely as I
would like. My family and I were robbed and beaten in our home in Brazil,
and right now I’m recovering from surgery. I have spoken at fewer churches
this stateside assignment than any other during my ministry with the IMB.
But I decided there was something I could do–I can write to the pastors of
our people, and say “thank you.” Thank you, Pastor, for all you do to help
us do what we can in places where the Gospel is known so poorly.
With a grateful heart,
Mark A. Ellis

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