First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
P.O. Box 170, Eagle Butte, SD 57625
November 2, 2016
Dear Friends,
It has been too long since last I updated you on the many
various goings-on here in South Dakota.
Summer ended with its usual fanfare, complete with a rodeo, a carnival,
and of course the breathtaking Eagle Butte Pow-wow! Sunflower fields as vast as oceans covered
the landscape, and the fireworks on the Fourth of July flowed so freely that
they lit up the whole sky!
But far more interesting than these things were the great works
that the Lord did in our midst in these past few months. I was kept busy every minute during this
summer, and for much of the Fall, but it has been worth it. I only relish the opportunity to share this
good news with you, my friends.
New Friends Lend a Helping Hand
In early June, we received a visit
from some new friends: Crossroads Baptist Church of Virginia. Coordinating their efforts with our own, they
put on a Vacation Bible School here in Eagle Butte. All week long, children learned about Jesus
and had a really good time. But that was
not the end of Crossroads’ creative efforts.
One of their group, a police
Captain named Becky Meeks. She taught a
seminar for us, on the subject of suicide prevention and recognizing the signs
of sexual abuse. This is valuable
information that will come in handy for our use in years to come!
Vacation Bible School Across the Rez!
As
has been our annual tradition for ten years, we played host to the good people
of Sevier Heights Baptist Church of Tennessee.
It is their usual practice to use Eagle Butte as a base where they eat
their meals and take their rest, then spend their days bringing Vacation Bible
School to the various outlying settlements across the reservation. Many of these settlements have no churches
with regular services, and the children who live there have little exposure to
the Gospel.
This
year, Sevier Heights took on a very ambitious number of settlements-four! Half of them traveled to the east, where they
brought VBS to the settlements of Swiftbird and White Horse. The other half traveled west, and did the
same thing for the people of Red Scaffold and Thunder Butte. We rejoice in our friendship with Sevier
Heights, and in the ways God is using our partnership to reach the reservation
with the Gospel.
Old
Friends, Helping in the Same Great Work
Our friends from Hamilton Baptist
Church of Virginia arrived this summer, and assisted us in making something
wonderful happen. Over the course of
five days, we held a Vacation Bible School that included over 100 children from
Eagle Butte!
The festivities began on Sunday
afternoon, with a block party that featured bouncy houses, snow cone machines,
popcorn and face painting. Then, on
Monday through Friday, vans were sent throughout the community to bring
children back to the church, where the VBS was being held. The VBS theme was “Journey Off the Map”, a
jungle-exploration style of Vacation Bible School. It included puppet shows, skits, games,
crafts, and of course a daily Bible lesson!
On Wednesday, I went to each of the classes and presented the
Gospel. Two children prayed to receive
Christ!
But that wasn’t all that happened
that week! Working in cooperation with
Hamilton, Jonathan Toombs came back to Eagle Butte. Jonathan is a former professional basketball
player, and he uses his talents to serve the Lord by operating two basketball
camps: One in Eagle Butte, and the other in Cherry Creek. The boys and young men of both communities
enjoyed playing and learning with him.
But they were also interested when, at the end of their time together,
he shared his testimony with them and showed what Christ had done in his life.
Every year, when this group of our
friends arrives, God works his miracles, and this year was no exception. Praise God who brings together people
separated by hundreds of miles and uses them as one instrument to bring about
His will!
Allies
from Kansas
The Church of the Open Door, from
Leavenworth, Kansas, arrived in August and immediately set to work on missions
projects throughout the reservation.
They did Vacation Bible Schools in the communities of Iron Lightning and
Bear Creek. They took down graffiti
around the city of Eagle Butte. They
cleaned up piles and piles of excess brush from all over our church
property. And they did many, many other
tasks, too numerous to count.
The ultimate result of their work
was that the community was in better shape, both physically and
spiritually. May God be praised for
letting our two churches join together for this great work!
Gone
Fishin’
When Grace Bible Fellowship of
Nebraska came up earlier this year and put on a basketball camp in the nearby
community of Cherry Creek, I was thankful.
But I thought I would not see them again for another year. I was wrong.
Out of a desire to form long-term relationships with the children of
Cherry Creek, the men of Grace Bible Fellowship returned in September and took
them on a fishing trip. They gave them
gifts of rods, fishing line, and other supplies. Then they all hiked down to the river and
fished together. The children had a
blast, and I think that the men had just as much fun! We look forward to a long and happy
friendship with the good people of Grace Bible Fellowship.
Here’s to
the Men Who Make Things Happen!
When I was a young man, I was a
member of Burkemont Baptist Church in Morganton, North Carolina. The people of that church have always held a
special place in my heart, and even now that I have moved across the country,
we still remain friends. This Autumn,
several men from Burkemont made the trip to Eagle Butte, offering their
help. These men were skilled
professionals in everything from plumbing to electrical to carpentry. They brought all of these skills to bear in
transforming our church, so it was in the best physical shape it ha ever been
in. They fixed the pipes under our
sink. They built shelves in our supply
closet. They completely finished the
work started by Grace Bible Fellowship and finished our kitchen. They crawled into the ceiling and improved
our church’s insulation.
But most impressive of all: They built a whole new room onto the church! This mud room, as it is called, will serve
two important purposes: First, it will
give everyone a good place to wipe their feet before entering the church. And second, it will insulate the church from
the extreme low temperatures and high winds of South Dakota’s winter. In the future, we can expect lower heating
bills, thanks to the efforts of these men.
And I know it’s kind of a side note, but I think it’s really amazing
that they did all of these projects in only…wait for it…three days! That is truly impressive! Thank you, my friends! Thank you so much!
So perhaps you are wondering how you can become a partner with
us in our ministry here in Eagle Butte? If so, then we are happy to tell
you, since we welcome assistance from the body of Christ. Here is what we need
the most:
Prayer. It may be true that our church is getting along very well at the
moment, and that God is doing great things here. But it is precisely when
a church is being used by God that Satan does all in his power to destroy
it. So please pray, my brothers and sisters. Pray that our
leadership will keep their hearts pure and humble, and that we will live at
peace with each other. Pray that we will be protected from the power of
the enemy, and that God’s Holy Spirit will shine through in our lives.
Pray that the Lakotas in the community will come to know the Lord, and that the
commitment they make will not be a superficial group of words, but a real
change in their Spirits that will alter the course of their lives for eternity.
Pray, also, for our volunteers, that their strength will be
renewed, and that the they will not be overwhelmed by the many tasks that are
involved in ministry.
E-mail addresses. For those of you who have e-mail addresses, please send
them to me. That way, these monthly newsletters can be forwarded to
everyone in your church who wants one! Just send your name and e-mail
address to me at benfarrar777@hotmail.com, and I’ll make sure you receive this
newsletter as often as it comes out.
Financial Assistance. Our church is fortunate to have members who are generous
in their giving. But some of our most generous members are, nevertheless, very
poor. We have long been blessed with assistance from outside churches and
individuals, and we try to use those gifts wisely and well.
If any one of you wishes to bless the church with a financial
gift, you may send it to:
First Baptist Church of
Eagle Butte
P.O. Box 170
Eagle Butte, SD 57625
May God bless you all, and draw you closer to Himself each and
every day.
Yours in Christ,
Ben Farrar
Pastor
First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
