Timothy Ministry 2006/2007

Dear friends,

As many of you know, I will be leaving Fredericton this fall to join Open Air Outreach as we travel the colleges and universities of America preaching the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, publicly declaring that men and women should repent from their sins and trust in the saving grace of our God. The journey will be long and difficult, being on the road for the entire eight months of the school year, with one break during Christmas (which marks the middle of the trip), and confronting everything the modern, liberal, new age and western universities have to offer. I will be travelling and ministering with two other brothers from the United States, Miles Lewis and Evan Schaible, living out of a modified 15 passenger van, preaching daily, praying mainly, and trusting the Lord for all my logistical needs. Needless to say, the Lord has fulfilled the desire of my heart (Psalm 37:4).

How this came about was as follows:

Nov. 4, 2005, the eve of my 20th birthday, I was in seeking the Lord in prayer for His will concerning my coming new year when I felt Him say, "Your 21st year will be unlike all your previous years so far." By faith I believed God that this would be true, though I didn't know how it would be. After Christmas the second semester of school began at UNB and I returned to my studies, but not long into the first month I felt the Lord saying, "Leave school. I have something else for you", though He did not say anything more. It was difficult to simply drop school blindly without knowing what to do next, but I believed God and by faith cancelled my courses immediately. Having now a lot of free time on my hands, and the Lord being silent, I occupied myself with open air preaching in the Fredericton downtown area.

During the summer, a brother from Africa came to Fredericton and preached at a local Baptist Church, and my family and I went to go hear him that Sunday. It was after the service that I heard the Lord speak to me once again just as clear as He had the first two times; I heard unmistakably, "When the summer is over, leave home; preach the gospel." Of course, nothing more was said. But I believed God by faith. I went to my parents that afternoon and announced that regardless of whether I had a place to live or a purpose to go, I was leaving home in September because the Lord my God had told me so, and He is faithful and true. I am blessed to have two godly parents who love Jesus and His will more than their own. It was agreed upon.

Not two weeks later, brother Jesse Morrell (who leads Open Air Outreach) and I began contacting each other, and they (OAO) were in need of preachers for the coming year of campus ministry. Because God had worked it out that I was totally free for the fall and was already planning to leave Fredericton, I offered to join the team, and this was confirmed by Jesse who had previously felt to have me come aboard. Link this with my Lord Jesus' command to go and preach the gospel, and you have now before you my adventure for 2006/2007.

Open Air Outreach is a new up-and-coming ministry, offshooting from the recognized evangelistic ministry, the Great News Network, and focuses primarily on campus preaching and open air meetings. This year, OAO will be sending out two mission teams to reach as many university students as possible, an critically strategic field of people to reach in our 21st century. Quoting Jesse:

- 80-90% of Christian youths leave the faith shortly after entering College.

- College students are our future Lawyers, Doctors, Congressman, Senators, Presidents, etc.

- Students come from all over the world to study in America. College campus preaching reaches into foreign countries by reaching the foreign students.

- The college years are the years that many are re-thinking as well as discovering their own beliefs and worldviews.

- In the free speech areas of major campuses we are able to get listening crowds of 100-500+ students for hours upon hours every day!

- After a good open-air session in the free speech area, the entire campus is talking about the gospel!

- Above all, we are losing an entire generation to the devil, and without Christ they will go to hell forever.

The universities and colleges of America are places of paramount importance where the truth of Christ much triumph! "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5)

What follows is the itinerary for our team from September to Christmas:


Open Air Outreach: Team 2 Itinerary

September 2006

9/5,6,7 SUNY Oswego Oswego, NY
9/11, 12 George Mason University Fairfax, VA
9/13,14 University of Virginia Petersburg, VA OR
Longwood University Farmville, VA
9/15-19 North Carolina State/University
of North Carolina @ Chapel Hill Raleigh Durham/Chapel Hill
9/20-24 SOAPA conference Marietta, GA
9/25-28 College of Charleston Charleston, SC
9/29,30 University of Tennessee/
Johnson Bible College Knoxville, TN

October 2006

10/1-4 University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN
10/5,6 Middle Tennessee State
University Murfreesboro, TN
10/7-11 University of Arkansas @
Little Rock/University of
Central Arkansas Little Rock, AR/Conway, AR
10/16,17 Dallas/Ft. Worth Dallas, TX
Abilene
10/18-20 Texas Tech Lubbock, TX
10/23 Eastern New Mexico University Portales, NM
10/24,25 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM
10/26,27 New Mexico State University Las Cruces, NM
10/30, 31 University of Texas El Paso El Paso, TX

November 2006

11/1 University of Texas El Paso El Paso, TX
11/2, 3 University of Arizona Tucson, AZ
11/6 Arizona State University Mesa, AZ
11/7-9 Mesa Community College Mesa, AZ
11/10-14 Arizona State University Tempe Tempe, AZ
11/15 Arizona State University West
Campus Glendale, AZ
11/16, 17 Glendale Community College Glendale, AZ
11/20-22 Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ
11/27-29 University of Nevada Las Vegas, NV
11/30 University of California Los
Angeles Los Angeles, CA

December 2006

12/1-8 San Bernardino
Cal State University Long Beach Long Beach, CA
Cal State University Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA


As you can see, we will arrive and remain on each campus for generally 3-4 days and will be covering a lot of ground throughout the country, starting in New York State and ending up in California by December. After the Christmas break, the team will continue where it left off and a second itinerary will be made for the remaining year. This is not a one week mission tour to Antigonish! Please pray for me as I step out in faith into this enormous undertaking of gospel labour. Your prayers and support are so highly appreciated. Pray for:

-power: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

-boldness: "And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel." (Ephesians 6:19)

-souls: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." (Psalm 2:8)

-provision: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19)

-glory: "Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." (John 12:28)


Finally, if you would like to follow us along the way, you can go to www.timothyministry.com and read the many updates I will be posting as we go. Lord willing these will include pictures, audio/video, articles, etc. as well as pray requests, campus summaries and a map of where we are. Please frequent it often and write me a note! I would absolutely love to hear from you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and so encourage my heart in the Lord. As your brother in Christ I am truly blessed for all the wonderful relationships that I have here at home and abroad, and I pray to the Lord that He would bless you all abundantly with all blessings in spiritual places, that He would strengthen your hearts together with Him as one, and that His perfect and acceptable will would be made known to each and every one, that we might know how exceedingly excellent is God's love toward us. Bless the Lord forever!

Sincerely and with much love,
Yours brother in Christ Jesus,
-Eli


"Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." (John 4:34-36)