Roger & Laura's March News Letter

March was a very busy and hectic month Glory to God. As always I must start out this report with Gratitude and Thanks. Your prayers and support helped make the month of March a victorious battle for the Lord. We have had salvation's, baptism, and people being united in Marriage in the sight of God. And of course the Chaplain getting shot a few times by some saved and unsaved Yankees, but Thank God for Resurrection. As the enemy tried to attack us on the west coast of Florida and this Chaplain and his wife were called over to Crystal River to minister to the good people. The weather was perfect and we had our ministry camp set up by Friday early afternoon. Saturday afternoon the enemy attacked and it was a hard fight. But some of the best ministering is done on the battle field, reading Scripture and praying for the soldiers. Many are hearing Scripture verses for the first time in their lives. Think about that. Many of these people never step in a Church. Many have never read any of the Bible, Here in America! We as Christians take it for granted when we read Scripture. But, there are many I read to, who have Never Ever read Isaiah, Psalms, or James. They couldn't even tell you that those books are in the Bible. An then....They hear it for the very first time in their lives, some being in their fifties. And they lay there, and hear God's Word. And He moves, I can see it in some of their faces because they are listening. And then it's off to the next person and the next. God is Amazing at where and how He works.



Saturday evening, I was blessed to perform a wedding service in camp under the large oaks for William and Donna Cobb. There were just great and we had fun and so did Jesus. I pray that they will be blessed together. They both know the Lord and both go to the same church that Laura and I attend. At least when I get to go to Church.



Sunday morning was beautiful and we had a great time for worship and church under those same large oaks because they are everywhere. We had 85 come to services and my message was "When God Departs". Can He? He has before, will He? Again, He has before in peoples lives. Deny Him long enough, deny He exists long enough. Keep kicking Him out of our schools and court houses long enough. Keep living your lives as if He doesn't exist long enough. And then have the nerve to say where was God when something goes wrong. One person gave their heart to the Lord that morning and one more re-dedicated their life to Him. Thank you God!



The following weekend it was off to Ft. Clinch in Fernandina Beach Florida. Saturday I wa there with Bud Bonifay letting the men know that we were there and had the chance to minister some, then it was back to Bud & Sue's home in Jacksonville for the night and then up early Sunday morning to head back to the fort. We figured that we would have about 15 in attendance but instead we had 48. It was so neat because we had more civilians than soldiers. They thought I guess, for some fire and brimstone acting preacher, SURPRISE....They got Jesus and no one complained. I preached the same message as the week before since it was a new group of people. We had no salvation's, but an invitation was given. I will always do that. But the harvest is not mine to take. I'm just a planter and sower of a living, breathing Seed. What a great time it was to be in the company of hungry Americans.



This past weekend it was off to the Battle of Narcoossee Mills. We got there about 1:00 Friday afternoon and got set up around 3:00. From then on our tent fly never seemed to be empty. I did get off by myself with Petra for 2 hours in the woods. Just me, my God, my Bible and my dog. And I didn't want to come out of the woods. I don't get to spend much time like that with God. I did my Bible reading out loud to my dog and she listened of course and my praying was to God and He listened of course. I was honored to perform a wedding for Steve & Debra Simkins on Saturday evening. Earlier that day was a hard battle with the Yankees and the whooped us pretty bad, in fact they shot me to pieces, but not until the end, so no one missed any Scriptures. I always make sure of that. I ain't dying until I'm done reading.


Sunday morning it was raining pretty hard for Church, so we had to have it under a pavilion, but still 106 came in the rain to hear the Word. The message was "Peters Threes", we had a young lady who is not even a re-enactor give her heart to Jesus that great wet morning. It is kind of funny but lately spectators are giving their hearts to the Lord also. They come to see what is going on and walk out saved. God is so Awesome. But these are Americans too and ready or not here He comes. Then after church, I was honored to renew the wedding vows of 20 years for Bob & Carolyn Giese. They became the ministers, because they showed the people that marriage can work. They know that it is not 50/50 but both give 100%. And then we walked directly into the lake, Jesus, Bob, Carolyn & I and I baptized them in that cold water. But that cold water jut couldn't out do the blessing that we all received that wet morning. And now I am going to close but not before I say thank you again for making this all possible. You have been an obvious blessing to many people and I love you for it, and one day many people are going to be thanking you. Laura & I pray you will be super blessed for caring so much about what God is doing on the outside of the church walls and for covering us on the Battle Line. We love you, We pray for you and We Thank You!



I remain in His Service,

Chaplain Roger

Below is the first part of the enews from Christian Holyland Foundation. If you would like to get the full report to your inbox monthly, you can sign up at the link below. John Samples wrote the note below and will be speaking this Sunday, April 26th at Cornerstone.



http://www.chlf.org/CHLF%20Mailing%20List%20Sign-Up.htm



It is one of my privileges and challenges to edit these reports to you each month. On one hand I feel like I have a front row seat for some of the most interesting and exciting stories coming out of Israel, and on the other hand I need to protect the privacy of young Believers in the Holy Land that are in danger of persecution for their Kingdom work and their relationship with the Christ (while also trying to keep these reports short enough that people will actually read them;-).


Since the last eReport, it was also my privilege to be with the Team in Galilee, and to share the ministry and some of the historical sites of Israel with a couple from Indianapolis. I will be back in May and June to meet with supporters and pilgrims from Phoenix, AZ and Northampton, VA. I try to avoid being a tour guide (just because there are so many other things I need to be doing) but I must admit that I get a great deal of pleasure from introducing people to the work and the country. I think it is probably good for me as well to continue to see the ministry through the fresh eyes of companions who are seeing it all up close for the first time.


We had the honor of delivering a few special gifts on this trip: · Stadia generously donated two video projectors that are being used in the churches to help teach and disciple. · New Life Christian Church in northern Virginia provided several boxes of clothes for the Team and their children, and probably enough to also be used in mercy ministries. · Fort Des Moines Church of Christ in Iowa gave a special gift of more than $2,000 to help the Team with their significant fuel bills (if you think prices are high where you live, they are way less than half the price of petro in Israel). In the photo [right] Saleem shows he knows what to do with a $100 bill. · And the couple who made a significant gift to help cover the expenses of the Mother's Day event also played a big role in the little ripples that are changing lives in Israel. All of these generosities are greatly appreciated!


And in case anyone is looking for a project... we're still hoping to be blessed with a translation system that would help with training and worship. Prices for a mid-grade system have recently fallen to about $3,000.


I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about finances because I know a lot of other ministries are also struggling right now, but neither do I want to give the impression that money is not a need for the Christian HolyLand Foundation. God continues to provide for the work, and the gap between our spending committments and our income from donations continues to shrink, but we are still in the red and need your help to meet our goal of balancing the budget by the end of this year when we expect our start-up funds to be exhausted.


The book of James suggests that we do not have, because we do not ask, or because we ask with wrong motives. I am completely clear of conscience in my motives for asking for your financial support, because the work in Israel that your dollars make possible needs to be done for so many reasons, the greatest of which is that these people need the Gospel of the Christ.

So I am asking for your support, financially and prayerfully. And if you can help us spread the word by forwarding this eReport to others you think might be interested in the work, or by helping arrange an opportunity for us to present the ministry to your church, that would be very helpful.


Please take a few minutes and read the stories below from your Team in Israel. And thank you for your continuing support of CHLF, and for allowing me to be your linkage to this amazing ministry.


In Him, for Them,

John W Samples

American Team Leader

Central Florida Pregnancy -- 689 Deltona Boulevard, Deltona, FL

After a long and frustrating wait, the Center's door reopened in March to serve women and teens in our four towns community. During January and February the Center conducted two intensive volunteer training programs (equipping 14 ladies to be ambassadors for life), filed their tax exempt paperwork, and emptied office space so it could be remodeled to building code specifications. During this time they counseled women over the phone and referred them to the Ultrasound Van that comes to their parking lot each week.



On May 2nd there is a Walk for Life. You may pick up a sponsor pledge form in the church hallway.

Latest news letter from Marsha Relyea-Miles

Travelin’ Miles: Don’t Stop Praying!



Dear Friends and family, Thank you VERY much for your prayers this last month. Please DON’T STOP PRAYING!



Our new International Service Center in Dallas is now officially under construction. At our GROUNDBREAKING on March 7 we celebrated with many friends and with tears of joy as we turned over the first soil to begin building the first real home of Pioneer Bible Translators – our launching pad from which we will send forth many missionaries with the passionate vision of seeing lives transformed through God’s Word in every language on the planet!



As part of the GROUNDBREAKING celebration we passed out stakes and sharpies to everyone, and asked them to write a special blessing or a prayer or a favorite verse on the stake, and to hammer it in the ground around the roped-off perimeter of our future building, as a way of articulating a collective prayer as we build and work. We are saving those stakes, varnishing them, and using them in different meaningful ways around the landscaping on the property.



After the ceremony my son Bobby came up to me and gave me a meaning-laced hug and then he showed me his stake which he was going to hammer into the ground. It said, “Don’t stop praying” -- which brought tears to my eyes! Those of you who have walked with our family through the last few years will know that those words were the last words John Relyea said before he died four years ago. They have been our battle cry, motivating us and inspiring us in so many ways. Bobby’s thought of writing THAT reminder on his stake meant so much to me. I “lost it” right there under the cedar trees.



We are SO grateful for your constant prayers for our Bible translation ministry. This last month we’ve been “travelin’ miles” – MANY of them! I have spoken at 5 of the 12 Perspectives classes at which I am scheduled to share about world missions – the task remaining, and how to build bridges of love to unreached peoples. Please don’t stop praying; I have 7 more classes to speak at in different places in the next few weeks. Pray that God will link me up with future GOERS and SENDERS and INTERCESSORS.



Thank you for your prayers for Nathan. He has truly been in the “uttermost part of the earth.” (Read his harrowing account of part of his travels below.) He reports that the software that he went to test in a cluster project in the jungles of PNG is working. There were some complicated bugs that surfaced while he was there. With only one more day left in the village, he sent a radio message asking me to pray that he could solve these. I emailed several people to pray for this. He told me after he arrived back in the U.S. that the very next morning he woke up and was lying there under his mosquito net – and realized that he JUST KNEW the answer to the problem. An epiphany sort of thing. God DOES answer our prayers. Don’t stop praying!



The United Bible Societies’ software development team which Nathan heads up is on home stretch in developing and testing a new release of their big software package for Bible translators called Paratext. Please pray with us that the team will be able to identify and solve ALL MAJOR ISSUES in the next 4 weeks. Paratext 7.0 is scheduled to be released in June at a Bible Societies meeting in Thailand, and then made available to Bible translators around the world.



Don’t stop praying!

Marsha(for Nathan and our whole clan)

Great speakers coming to CCCC!

In addition to Marsha Relyea's (See blog from yesterday for Marsha's info) presentation to us this coming Wednesday, April 22nd, we are also excited to announce we will have two speakers from Christian HolyLand Foundation during our Sunday services on April 26th. We will hear both from John, who is the director of Christian HolyLand, as well as Saleem. Saleem lives in Nazareth and serves full-time with Christian Holyland. Below is the contents of email that Saleem sent to Nancy Capps who serves with the Mission Committee by supporting in prayer Saleem and his family:

Greetings from Nazareth Israel ,

It is very encouraging to hear and to know that there is someone praying for us and uplifting us and the Lord’s work in this country before the throne of God. You know, as Arabs we are the minority in this country; as Christians we are even a greater minority, and then as evangelical Arab Christians, we a third time minority … and to have brothers and sisters from the other side of the world knowing about us, and praying for us is a powerful encouragement..

Thank you, and please convey our thanks to our brothers and sisters in your church, who support us and pray for us. We would love to have you come and visit us and worship the Lord with us, so please accept our invitation and let us know when you come to Israel . May God bless you and fill you with His love and peace.

Wishing you a merry Christmas from the holy land and specifically from Nazareth , the hometown of Jesus.

Christian HolyLand Foundation

Arm-in-Arm with Believers in Israel and throughout the Holy Land since 1984

“...You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth." Acts 1:8

These words of Christ, spoken to his apostles just before He ascended to be with his Father in Heaven, have been true through generations of Missions that have taken the Gospel to–quite literally–the uttermost parts of the earth. In the next passage of Acts, two men suddenly stood alongside these witnesses and asked, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky?” Jesus’ earthly ministry was done. Now it was time for the people he brought to Himself to get about the task of taking the Good News to Israel and beyond. In the nearly 2,000 years since that moment, the land to which Christ first brought his message of peace and salvation has not received the Gospel in proportion to the rest of the world.

Today, the number of believing Christians (as opposed to political Christians) in Israel is probably the least it has been since the first century; estimates suggest only about 10,000 would claim to know Jesus as their personal savior.

In 2005, the Christian HolyLand Foundation (CHLF) came alongside a group of twelve modern-day Galileeans who had begun asking questions about their Christian faith. They sought to return to the New Testament model of the early church, and to teach the Gospel in churches and homes along the very paths and in the same communities where Jesus first taught.

CHLF has been active in Israel since the 1980s. Our mission is now focused on this group in Galilee, where they are reaching the lost, teaching believers, training leaders, forming home churches and working toward new church plants. The Israeli Team members are all Israeli by nationality, Arab by heritage, and Christians by the grace of God. They reach out to all peoples in their communities, and respond with the Love of Christ to all that God places before them.

Each family receives a full-time salary from CHLF so that they can give their full attention to the work God has prepared for them. The investment of time and resources in this work is significant as the cost of living in Israel is comparable to much of the United States. This is a challenging work, and enormously rewarding. On behalf of Bishara and Randa, Saleem and Andera, Hanna and Lina, Hani and Shifa, Elias and Rose, Ibrahim and Ekhlass, and all their children that will be the next generation of preachers and teachers, thank you for your prayers and financial support.

For more information about the work of the Christian HolyLand Foundation, Inc., visit the website at:

Marsha Relyea coming to Cornerstone!

Cornerstone is privileged to have Marsha Relyea coming on Wednesday, April 22nd at 7pm. Marsha is a powerful speaker has has spoke at Cornerstone in the past. Below is her professional bio:

Marsha (Relyea) Miles is a missionary with Pioneer Bible Translators. Together with her late husband John Relyea, she has served as a Bible translator for the Aruamu people group in Papua New Guinea for 23 years. The Relyeas lived in an Aruamu village, analyzed and created an alphabet for this previously unwritten language, and worked together with local leaders to develop an extensive literacy and scripture-use program, and completed the translation of the New Testament into the Aruamu language.

Marsha served as President of the 2007 National Missionary Convention. She currently serves as Director of Church Mobilization and Development with PBT and is based in Dallas, TX. Marsha is married to Nathan Miles of the United Bible Societies. She holds a Bachelor of Theology from Ozark Christian College and an MA in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Arlington. She is still involved with the Aruamu Old Testament project, exegetically checking the translation.

God has given Marsha a passionate heart for world missions, and a very compelling story to tell, drawn from front-line mission experience, sitting in the dirt in steamy jungles sharing with people about the Lord and translating the scriptures for them. Her inspiring challenge to mission involvement comes through with bold eloquence.