Christian work, particularly missionary endeavors, is characterized by steadfast, regular, and ongoing effort rather than adventure or excitement. While there's a danger of such consistent work becoming rigid and lifeless, the early church in Acts demonstrated that daily service can be maintained with joy and devotion. The sermon highlights various ministries in the Dominican Republic, including the long-term work of Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Reed in Puerto Plata, the Carter Memorial School in Santiago, the print shop and literature distribution in Santo Domingo, and extensive medical missions and Bible correspondence courses, all carried out by dedicated individuals, both foreign and Dominican, who serve faithfully with joy.
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connected, but they do have one thing in common, which I would like to share with you this evening. If you would like to follow the verses, I'll mention them as I read them. The Acts of the Apostles chapter two and verse forty-two. The Acts of the Apostles chapter two and verse forty-two. And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Verse forty-six, And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and signalness of heart.
Then over in First Thessalonians chapter three, First Thessalonians chapter three and verse eight. Paul writes, And he says to the Thessalonians, For now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. Chapter five and verse seventeen, Pray without ceasing. And you may notice the previous verse, Rejoice evermore. And then First Timothy chapter four and verse sixteen, Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine, continue in them.
For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Chapter six of this same epistle in verse eleven. But thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. And verses thirteen and fourteen. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate, witnessed a good confession that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Now you probably have noticed in the verses we've read this evening what they have in common, some of them are just a statement, And what was happening at that particular time, others are exhortations that are just as important today as they were when they were written a long time ago. But each one of them speaks of something that is regular, continuing, steadfast, ongoing. And I would like to suggest to you tonight that missionary work overseas, and I'm sure this is true of Christian work in what we call North America today, but missionary work overseas is not an adventure, as we commonly understand the word today.
It's not exciting, as many times we think of excitement. It is usually related to that which is regular, ongoing, steadfast hard work day after day one of the problems with anything that is regular or steadfast or ongoing is the danger that it might become inflexible and formal and eventually dead this has happened so many times in the history of the Christian church may I speak with the utmost respect the Roman Catholic Church in recent years, very recent years, has undergone a complete change in connection with the mass.
For centuries before, it was almost identical in all parts of the world, the same language, Latin, the same form, until eventually the leaders of the church realized that it had become a dead instrument. And in just very recent years in North America, the mass is said in English, in the Dominican Republic, in Spanish, and around the world, in the languages of the world. Anything that becomes so formal, so regular, so inflexible, runs the danger of becoming something that is dead. The other extreme is to live constantly on novelties, something new today, something new tomorrow, undergoing always a subjective experience, something that we feel, something that excites us.
Now that is certainly a real danger in the world in which we live today. But between those two extremes is the possibility of serving God in a regular, systematic, faithful, steadfast way. And I think one of the verses, at least in Acts chapter two, verse forty-six, gives us a hint of how you can be regular and steadfast and continue day by day, and at the same time have a sense of spontaneity and of joy. For this verse, verse forty-six of Acts two reads, And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house.
That is, every day they met in the temple and every day they met in homes and they broke bread. This was a regular daily, steadfast experience. But how did they do it? The verse says they did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. There was real joy. and spontaneity in their regular service of God. And there was also a very deep devotion to the Lord Jesus with singleness of heart. So when I speak of something that is regular, systematic, ongoing, steadfast, I don't want you to think that it's monotonous.
But men and women around the world today are serving God in a regular, systematic way, and through His grace they are doing it with joy and with devotion to the Lord Jesus. Now I have only a few minutes tonight. I'd like to talk to you tonight about all the work of God in the Dominican Republic. When I use that phrase, I would like to be very honest. I have for many years been associated with fellowships known as Christian brethren. But in the Dominican Republic there are other groups of the Lord's people in a very dedicated service for God today. I don't know what your church affiliation might be.
You may be a Baptist. Well, we have good Baptist groups serving God today in the Dominican Republic. You may have a free Methodist background. We have some very choice friends in the free Methodist fellowship in the Dominican Republic. You may be involved in child evangelism. I have met here in this chapel in years gone by. at least two ladies, if I remember rightly, that serve God in child evangelism. Well, in the Dominican Republic, there is a very beautiful child evangelism work today, not only reaching children, but preparing teachers who in turn can reach the children of our land.
And believe me, we have a great number of children. But I can't this evening speak of all those different friends and evangelical groups and ministries. Thinking of our own particular circle of friends and associates, I would like to mention some of them tonight. For this reason, some of you here have asked me about them already. If you were to come to the Dominican Republic on one of the many ships that leave the port of Miami or the port of Fort Everglades in southern Florida, and go down through the islands of the West Indies. Many of those tourist ships come into the city of Puerto Plata.
It's on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. That is the city where for almost sixty years, Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Reed have been in active service for God. Some of you were present Saturday night. Bear with me if I simply repeat what I mentioned then. Mr. Duncan Reed was recently on May the sixth, eighty-two years of age. He had been serving God for a long time in the Dominican Republic. If you think I'm an old man, he was there before I was born. And Mr. Reed and his wife, who is almost the same age, have been in very dedicated service for God for a long time.
I emphasize that because there has been regular continuing, steadfast, faithful service for God. It has been sometimes very difficult, very awkward, especially in the first years, and then down through the years, and this is true of any work of God, there have been serious problems, sometimes upheavals, but down through the years, they have served God in a faithful and dedicated way. On his eighty-second birthday, about forty friends, all of them except Grace and myself, were Dominicans. We all live in the capital city of Santo Domingo de Guzman, and at the initiative of our Dominican friends who are from Port-au-Plata, but live in the capital city, they phoned us, and they said to us, Jim, some of us are thinking of making the trip up to Port-au-Plata on May the sixth.
We're not going to tell mystery anything about it. We want to arrive there on the Sunday morning. go into the chapel and simply recognize his eighty-second birthday and also to tell him in a very simple way that we love him and respect. So we joined the group, and they were almost four. Now, if you come to Porta Plata on a Sunday, you won't have any difficulty finding the chapel. It's a large building right in the center of the little city. And Mr. Duncan Reed is almost always at the door. I guess he has been for almost fifty years. And that morning as he stood at the door, the different friends came in.
Of course, it belonged to that fellowship. It's a large congregation. But as they came in, Mr. Reed noticed friends arriving from the city of Santo Domingo. And he gave them a smile and a handshake. But when he'd welcome ten, fifteen, twenty visitors from the capital city told me afterwards he began to wonder what event had brought so many people back to their home city eventually there were about forty of us we had a very beautiful communion service and then in what is called the Bible hour one of the Dominicans from the capital city in harmony with the elders of that local church went up to the pulpit and took charge of the service it lasted about half an hour It wasn't formal, it wasn't long, it certainly was filled with joy, and there was a spontaneity that was beautiful to see as different people expressed in different ways just how much they loved him and his wife, Mrs.
Reed, and they also included Mrs. Marion Iverson, who has been a fellow laborer with the Reed's for many years in the city of Puerto Placid. They even did something else. Some of you may remember Miss Marjorie Bolton, who served God for long years in Puerto Planta and died approximately a year and a half ago in the city of Vancouver. And the chairman that morning said, I would like to ask now for one minute of quietness and prayer as we remember the faithful servant, a service of Miss Marjorie Bolton, just recently passed into the presence of the Lord.
It was a very moving service, a very beautiful thing. We who are foreigners had nothing to do with it. It was the recognition of Dominican friends, how much they respect Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Reed and their colleagues. Now, if you wonder what they've done over all these years, let me summarize. There's always a difficulty when you summarize. You oversimplify. But let me just briefly suggest to you what they have done over the years. I arrived in Porta Plata thirty-two years ago, almost. The first thing that impressed me when I arrived in Porta Plata as a young man was the systematic teaching of the Word of God.
Mr. Reed is a Bible teacher and has for many years in Porta Plata systematically taught the Word of God. I was a young man and I sat under his ministry and I learned many things, but of all, I learned, and it has changed or affected all of my own life, I learned the importance of systematically teaching the Word of God. He would take a book like Romans and go right through Romans. Or he would take chapter eleven. That was the first series I ever heard in the book of Hebrews. And he went down through the great heroes of faith from the Old Testament, men and women.
But he set an example which, through the grace of God, some of us have tried to follow over the years and teach the Word of God systematically. Then about the time I went to the Dominican Republic, maybe just a year or two before, he took the initiative and went on the radio and began to hold a radio service every Sunday night. That is, the Sunday night service is broadcast over the radio. The first thing I ever did in the Dominican Republic, when you look back on maturity and think of the things you did when you were young, you're sometimes a little embarrassed.
But Mr. Reed was a very wise man. He used to have a large screen up on the pulpit, and they had slides with the hymns. I was only there two months. And he said, Jim, next Sunday night you're leading the singing. And so I stood up there, Spanish, once you get the basic sounds of the letters you can almost pronounce the words even though you might not know what they mean so I stood there and began to lead the singing that service has been going on now for over thirty years one month ago I think this coming weekend we were in Puerto Plata and we sat in that service and is still being broadcast over the radio that's a steadfast regular systematic ministry but it's still being done with joy and spontaneity.
We were there many years ago and substituted for the reeds. There was a choir, and there were people who sang. All that generation has grown up. They've moved away. We went there a month ago. I didn't recognize one person in the choir, a whole new group, new generation of young people. They had quartets, solos, and duets, And then poetry, something you don't do very much here in North America, but in Latin America, poetry is a great thing. And boys or young men and young women and older folks can stand up and recite long poems in such a way that you almost sit on the edge of your chair as you listen to the message communicated in a poem beautifully recited.
Thus they've had a regular ministry, but it is alive today, joyful and spontaneous in the service of God. Now one other thing that Mr. Reed has done, and with this I pass on to someone else. Some years ago they began a school. Mr. Reed is eighty-two years of age. He does not teach in the school. He's not the director of the school, but through his inspiration that school goes on today. and they have approximately eight to nine hundred young people in elementary and high school in the city of Porta Plata. It's a beautiful thing to see, but long before they had that type of schooling, they began in Porta Plata a Sunday school.
I think down through the years it has been one of the largest Sunday schools in the Dominican Republic. literally thousands and thousands and thousands of boys and girls have gone through that Sunday school. Not all of them have become Christians. But I went to a doctor's office in the city of Santo Domingo a few weeks ago when my wife was very young, and I took her into his office, and sitting in the office, I saw up in the corner where every patient could clearly see it. John I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
I happen to know that that doctor, as a little boy, went through the Sunday school in Port-au-Platte. To my knowledge, he's never made a public declaration of faith in the Lord Jesus, as we understand. But he respects the Word of God so much so that there's the message in his office that every patient sees it. One of the boys says, who went through that Sunday school, now a prominent medical doctor in the city of Santo Domingo. You could go on and talk for a long time about people who went through that Sunday school. You meet them all over our island, some of them today in high positions, in government, in private business, in the educational world, and when they were young people, they were exposed to the Word of God in the Sunday school in Port-au-Plan.
Now, if you move from Porta Plata across the mountains, you come down into the city of Santiago de los Trenta Caballeros, the second largest city in the Dominican Republic. In that city, many years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Carter arrived to preach the gospel. Ralph died some years ago in the city of Vancouver with a tumor on the brain. underwent surgery, never recovered, and passed into the presence of his Lord. The widow, Marion Carter, and I believe someone asked me about her recently, she returned to the Dominican Republic afterwards and built a school. It is called the Ralph J.
Carter Memorial School. And also right beside it is the large chapel where the assembly meets in the city of Santiago. Round about Santiago, there are many rural or smaller assemblies. We saw Marion just a month ago, and she is well an act. Now, the people I've mentioned so far tonight are way beyond what you consider retirement age. I don't know how many of you here this evening are eighty-two, but I know some of you are, or some of you are moving that way. Mr. Reed is eighty-two, and he's in active service for God. I'm not going to tell the ages of the ladies in the Dominican Republic, but Marion Carter, Mrs.
Reed, and Miss Marion Iverson are way beyond anything that we recognize as retirement age, and they are very active in the service of God. Marion has the administration of that school right now today. In the Dominican Republic, she is involved in the city of Santiago with the summer program of daily vacation Bible schools. When we saw her, the elementary school and high school was coming to an end. She said to me, Jim, I've got a break of a week or two, and then we go into the summer program of daily vacation Bible schools for boys and girls in the city of Santo Domingo.
Her fellow colleagues there are called David and Connie Redicott. New workers just recently arrived from Vancouver about two years ago approximately, and Dave works primarily with the smaller assemblies around about the city of Santiago. Then you move right down to the capital city of Santo Domingo. Let me tell you in Pasip. I went into all of this last year, so I omitted tonight. It's the oldest city in the Western Hemisphere. and dominicans are very proud that we have the remains of the oldest hospital built in the western hemisphere our roman catholic cathedral is the oldest cathedral in the western hemisphere you look across the river osama and there is the oldest christian chapel not a brethren chapel a roman catholic chapel built right in the days when christopher columbus sailed into that river in fourteen ninety two We have the oldest university in the Western Hemisphere.
We are an old city, and the city is proud of its heritage. In recent times, the government has restored the inner part of the colonial city. It's one of the tourist gems in the West Indies. And you walk the streets where the early Spanish Spaniards walk. You go through the homes where they lived. and it's a very beautiful part of our city. Now in the city of Santo Domingo, Mr. Ian Raffey lives. His wife went to be with the Lord about three or four years ago after a long illness, and Mr. Raffey goes on in his service for God in that city.
A great deal of his time goes into Bible Press, a print shop where they publish three magazines, one for Christians, One is a gospel paper and one is a paper for boys and girls. They also publish Sunday school material and gospel tracks. That ministry has been going on for over thirty years, steadfast, regular, but it is a very joyful and active ministry today. Working in the print shop is Miss Edith House. And also Miss Genevieve White lives in the capital city. Edith works in the press most of the time, edits the paper for boys and girls.
And Genevieve White organizes Sunday school materials for Sunday schools all over the city. She has a teacher's training program, and both those ladies are also active in work amongst women in the city of Santo Domingue. Later this month we will meet the Kent family in Fort Lauderdale. They are returning from Vancouver, Canada to Santo Domingo. They'll get back before we arrive. Bill is a close colleague of mine in the daily ministry of which I would like to speak a little, just a little later on. Bill and Joanna have been in the Dominican Republic now for many years.
They represent a younger generation of missionaries. Joanna has been on television regularly with a program for boys and girls. Bill is very active in the Christian film ministry in the Dominican Republic. We have missed them very much. This year they've been home, and they are due back later this month, and we look forward to continuing our service together in God's work in Santo Domingo. John and Sheila Shannon. Any of you who are familiar with the Christian Medical Society and especially with medical group missions, that's one of the beautiful things happening in the Dominican Republic today.
Briefly, doctors come from your country and from Canada, nurses, also dentists, medical personnel, young people who are going into those sciences, and they come down to our country on medical projects. Sometimes they number eighty or ninety people in a project. They move into the poor rural areas of our country. We have surgical projects, eye projects, we have general medicine projects, dental projects, and baby care projects. Many of us who are not medical personnel are involved as translators.
and Grace this past February was up in the mountains at a place called Harabacoa, translating for a surgical team. And I was with her a couple of days on that project. It would take a whole night even to begin to tell you about it. But I'd like you to remember the ministry of the medical group missions within the Christian Medical Society. under the leadership of Mr. John Shannon and his wife Sheila. We meet regularly men and women in North America who go to see their optometrist or their eye doctor, and they have to change their glasses, and they send their old glasses to the Christian Medical Society.
They send them to the Dominican Republic. They now have thousands and thousands, over fifty thousand pairs of glasses. They put them into a computer. It reads out the prescription. They are cleaned and put into a plastic case. The prescription is placed against it, and they are filed away. When they have an eye project, it takes a truck to take the equipment and the glass. We have often been present, and sometimes up to a thousand people in one day, go through the eye project. It's greatly organized. and it's one of the projects where you have the joy of witnessing people come out with a big smile on their face not with a package of medicine hoping that in three weeks they'll feel better but they come out with glasses on and they see for the first time perhaps in a few months the way they used to see years ago and you share with them in your joy one other illustration i was present in a medical search a medical team on one occasion I don't think by choice I would have been a medical doctor.
Sometimes Grace and I find ourselves in the operating room, and I have decided that that is not my particular profession. But this case was a man born. I think you call it a hairless. His face was very disfigured. He went and they took him in and did a beautiful operation. And when it was over, of course the bandages were on, I've forgotten of it, it was a day or two, and the moment came they took the bandages off, and the doctor held up the mirror and let the man see himself. Now, adult men do not usually cry in public, but we were there, and the tears streamed down that man's face.
I don't think he ever thought in his life he would ever have a normal-looking face. Now, that wasn't a question of health. but it was something very meaningful in his life. Others undergo other types of major surgery, and many of these people have experienced in their lives a touch of the love of God through dedicated Christian doctors, dentists, and nurses who go down not on a holiday, They go down paying their own way, their own expenses, many times taking their own medicine and equipment, and they serve the underprivileged people in our country and in some other countries of Latin America.
Dr. Mary Gordon, I'm going to mention her in a minute, also lives in the city of Santo Domingo. I quickly conclude now with two others. A young man by the name of Arthur Raditz, any of you from Toronto, Canada may know of Arthur, a young man, a man who's had Bible training and has been in Latin America in different parts for many years, now lives in the Dominican Republic, and he's serving the Lord on the northern coast in an area called Nagwa. Pray for him, you young people, at the back. He has a motorbike. He has had three accidents in the last six months. Each one worse than the one before.
And the last one, he was taken to the hospital unconscious and was in pretty bad shape. We have worked with Arthur, encouraging to think of some other means of transportation, but he goes off with his motorcycle, up and down the hills and the mountains and the little highways in that part of the country. In a general missionary work, Arthur Raditz is his name. Ruth Watkins. from your country, Grand Rapids area, is a nurse with also studies towards medicine, and right now is in one of our universities in Santo Domingo completing her medical studies.
She has been inspired to do this, for she went to the Dominican Republic to work with a Christian Dominican doctor. His name was Elias Santana, lived up in the mountains in a rural area, and a man who truly spent his strength in the service of God. So much so that, is it three months ago now, four months ago now, he died suddenly, unexpectedly, and probably he died as a result of overwork. I remember the wise man who wrote many long years ago, God does not want us to burn out like a motor that's overworked. And he doesn't want us to rust out like a motor that doesn't work at all.
He wants us to last out with a balance of work and rest. Elitus, I think, burnt himself out, and a young man, he died suddenly and is now with the Lord. Ruth, I'm sure, in her heart and mind, having worked with him, has the dream of finishing her studies within a couple of years and going up and standing in his place as a Christian medical doctor and serving God, in that area of the Dominican Republic. Now I wrote down tonight on a piece of paper the things I wanted to say. I think I should have decided to have three nights instead of one. Let me tell you very simply now as we close something about our own ministry.
Grace, who is with me tonight, is a true companion and colleague in the service of God. Please do not minimize the wives of missionaries overseas. And any work that I do for God is enriched and many times multiplying by the contribution that grace makes. We are both involved in two things, the daily ministry and in a Bible teaching ministry. Daily, first of all, daily stands for a long Spanish name. It has to do with an institution brought into existence about fifteen years ago.
In this institution, a number of Canadian workers and a number of Dominican nationals, we work together in the area of literature, television, radio, Christian films. Let me begin with the Emmaus Bible School correspondence courses. We are part of that family and very thankful for the opportunity we have of distributing EMAIS courses in the Dominican Republic. We have in the Spanish language about twenty-five courses now. We have distributed approximately sixty thousand EMAIS courses all over the Dominican Republic, the majority through the mail system of our country.
People do these courses by mail. They return them to us to be correct in Many of them send in a question. Now I mentioned Dr. Mary Gordon. Dr. Mary Gordon works with the medical personnel with John Shannon and the Christian Medical Society, but she also works in daily. And all of the questions that come in, Mary Gordon answers them. She now has a pile of questions that I would not be able to put on this Pope. These are large leaf loose leaf books a whole series of them with questions that run right from Genesis to Revelation and on many other related subjects including sex marriage and so on now she does not have to sit down today and answer personally every question in most cases she draws from the files because you'd be surprised how often the same question is sent in over and over again Now and then she must write an original answer to an original question.
Sometimes she asks for help from some of us. But that is a very important ministry of the Emmaus Bible School Correspondence Course System. And we thank God for Mary's ministry. One thing about correspondence courses can be very discouraging. You have literally hundreds of names come in every month. They're all filed. They each have a number. You begin the record. Very few of them do you ever meet personally because they live far away, small towns, rural areas. But about three or four months ago, a man came into the office very smartly dressed.
You could tell that he was from outside the country, although he was a Dominican. And he came in and he said, to the office manager. His name is Ismael Tavera. A very good, godly young man. He said to him, Sir, I made a purpose of coming to this office today. He said, I used to live in this country. I'm a Dominican. I now live overseas in New York. But while I was here in the Dominican Republic, I saw an advertisement about Emmaus' courses. And I began to study the Bible through these courses in my own home. and he said it changed the direction of my life and then the opportunity came to go to New York I've lived there for many years this is my first trip back and I wanted on this trip to find this office and tell you just how much I appreciate the ministry of the Emmaus courses I never met that man I wasn't in the office that day but they shared this story with me of a man who came to know the Lord Jesus And through that conversion, his life was changed.
He's gone on in Christian fellowship ever since, and he points back to the Emmaus courses as the instrument God used to bring him to the Lord Jesus and to a new life. Also in the daily ministry, we have a telephone answering device. This is rather new. You probably are familiar with these. machines here in North America, but this is something new in our country. Every morning a devotion is recorded. You can phone in and you hear a two-minute devotional from the Bible at the end. There is usual invitation to do an Emmaus Bible school correspondence course.
The machine has a little light on it when you know it's in operation. very seldom am i ever in the office that the light is not on that is the machine is used over and over continuously we had a daily meeting one night that went on to ten or ten thirty at night and towards the end of the meeting one of the committee members said to us it said what about this telephone device do you think it's worthwhile is it really fulfilling a ministry so i told him what was happening in the daytime Well, I said, let's go and see tonight. So we opened the inner office and we went in. There was the light on. And as we stood and talked for about twenty minutes around the machine, every time it went on, it came right back on again, which was the indication that people were phoning in and listening to the devotional.
There are days when between fifteen and twenty people phoned into the office and asked for an Emmaus course, having heard the announcement over the devotional taught given on the telephone. It also meets personal needs, and this is a rather dramatic story, but I share it with you tonight. I was in my own study in my own home just recently when the phone rang, and the office manager phoned to tell me, he said, sir, we just had a call from a man who said that if he doesn't have help today, he's going to commit suicide tonight. Well, we chatted about it for a moment on the phone.
They had talked with him. They'd got his telephone number, and they phoned me and asked if I would phone him. So I picked up the phone and tried, but the number was busy. I tried five, six, or more times, and it was busy. I phoned back to the office and asked him to keep calling, and it was busy, long, late into the night. We came to the conclusion he had purposely left The receiver off and we were unable to contact it. But the first thing the following morning, the staff phoned him again. And as they talked to him, they shared with him some of the things from the scriptures. They found him to be somewhat confused.
They wondered if perhaps he'd been under the influence of drugs. And they asked if they could visit him. But he was not open to a visit and he finally hung up. Now that's a dramatic case. How much influenced the conversation with him the previous day prevented any disaster none of us are able to determine. But we thank God that the line is open and people can phone and they phone about different problems and we are able to, when I say we, the daily staff is able to help them in their problems. The film ministry, Bill Kent heads up the film ministry in daily. We have a large library of films, worldwide films, Ken Anderson film, Moody Science films, films of this nature which are shown regularly all over the Dominican Republic.
I think of that ministry as a ministry that makes people gospel conscious. But there are occasions when people see a film and commit their lives to the Lord Jesus. I was with The office manager a few days ago who looks after most of the evening projections when Bill is away, and he said to me, he said, last night there were four people that made a commitment to the Lord Jesus without an invitation at the end of the service in which the film had been shown. The most popular film in the Dominican Republic for years now This is rather strange, for we are technically, nominally a Roman Catholic country, is the Martin Luther film, the story of the Reformation.
And it's always an overwhelming experience to stand there in an audience, and there are large audiences. And to see that story developed in film, and when that man comes in the film and writes on the edge of his Bible that salvation is by faith alone in Christ, You can literally hear the comments in the audience. There are other things that don't always bring joy to our hearts. And again, I speak very kindly tonight. Any Roman Catholic friend with me, please bear with me in this comment. There is a part in the film where one of the groups and their enthusiasm, perhaps without truth and understanding, go into some of the churches and they knock over all of the images in the church.
And I've been present sometimes, and it's an embarrassing thing when you find the whole audience cheering them on as they do this work in the film. We are a Roman Catholic country, but the story of Martin Luther and the emphasis placed on the word of God and salvation by faith is still the most popular film that we have, so much so that we've worn out two films, and as soon as we have funds, we intend to purchase a third copy of that film. We have a fund towards a vehicle and hope as soon as Bill gets back, if we can enlarge those funds to purchase a vehicle exclusively for film ministry throughout the Dominican Republic.
I saw in a Letters of Interest magazine around the park here reference made to Luis Palau. Luis Palau was in the Dominican Republic not long ago with a crusade. We have Luis Palau films for television, Billy Graham films for television, and periodically we have them on the major television stations in the Dominican Republic. Even though I'm a foreigner, and as I mentioned Saturday night, speak Spanish with a healthy Canadian accent. I was on television for two and a half years, in recent years, with a simple Bible teaching ministry. We thank God for these opportunities. How long they will last, I'm not sure, but the door is still wide open for television activities in our country.
Radio, on transworld radio every week, we have a fifteen-minute program heard deep down into South America. many stories could be told about that ministry but just one a man wrote about two years ago from deep down in the jungle of brazil and the place where brazil i think it's bolivia and peru there's a point where these three nations all joined and deep in that jungle he lived in a small town and he wrote a letter to tell us there was no christian witness in the town there was an old roman catholic church now in ruins sometimes not more than once a year a roman catholic priest would pass by that way this man had been listening to the gospel it was a beautiful letter to read he wrote us two or three times he was converted why he wrote to us i'm not exactly sure he did refer to our program but i'm sure he listened to all the other programs that go over transworld radio he was converted then his family was converted then two other families were converted and at that point he wrote us and the question
in his letter was how do you go about organizing a church and we sent him bill mcdonald's book on the church and a book that we translated into spanish called the church a symposium of principles and practices edited by J.B. Watson many years ago. We sent him a number of books and so on. Afterwards we heard he was Manti and though we had had no contact in recent times with him, have every reason to believe that through the radio ministry he was one for the Lord Jesus, he and his family and friends in the church was established in that area. Literature now in closing, in connection with the literature, we have the opportunity of distributing in the Dominican Republic the scripture union notes the last thing I did before I left was to organize the sale of the scripture union notes for June for the readings beginning July the first people now all over the Dominican Republic the way many of you do have systematic readings day by day in this case I refer specifically to the scripture union notes which are now in Spanish They
are not translations. They are original writings from Latin Americans in Latin America. And that ministry runs throughout Latin America. We distribute the Decision Magazine choice titles. There's a good friend here tonight who had a lot to do with Palabras Thieles for many years. And Palabras Thieles is a little paper that comes out once a year. It is widely distributed in the Dominican Republic. and we thank God for it. I have not mentioned this evening the Christian Training Course. I mentioned it last year. I only add that this year that has gone by, that ministry has increased from three groups to ten groups throughout the Dominican Republic.
This year there were two hundred and fifty people registered in the Christian Training Course. We brought them again through five different studies including one on marriage and the home, Grace teaching the ladies and I the men. It was a great experience. The last weekend we were in the Dominican Republic before coming up here to Florida. We had the last closing sessions, and men and women, young and old, and in between, had finished their studies. and received their diplomas or their certificates from the Emmaus Bible School and went back home for their holiday, as we call it, for in the will of God we begin again in September with a fourth year of the Christian training course.
These ten centers are located along the northern coast, the southern coast around the capital city, and in the interior of the Dominican Republic. The course on marriage was the highlight this year. And when it came to an end, Grace and I received two invitations to two weddings. The two couples had gone through the studies on marriage in the Christian home. I officiated at one of the weddings. The other one was held just after we left. But we thank God that they took out time to study something about marriage in the home before they got married. For in our country today, we have as many problems as you have or perhaps even more and we are encouraging young people to take out time to find out what marriage really means in the Bible for Christian marriage very soon if not already will be something quite unpopular in the world that we live in today we thank God for young people who are learning what marriage is are being joined together in marriage and will go on in God's grace to serve him in the Dominican Republic.
The time is gone. I'm ten minutes over. If you'd like to come down and see the Dominican Republic, we'd be delighted to see you. Come on a cruise ship. Come on an airplane. We're not that far away. Two hours from Miami. And I was telling some friends last night, the Chamber of Commerce in the Dominican Republic has a theme now that is being widely promoted. And it is this. We are the best kept secret in the West Indies. So don't miss the Dominican Republic. Delighted to see you. In the meantime, please pray for us and for our colleagues. And please remember that in all the activities I've mentioned tonight, I use names that you might know because they're missionaries from North America.
But in every one of those activities, whether it's the school in Porta Plata or Mr. Reed is, whether it's the Prince shop in Santo Domingo or Ian Raffaeus, or whether it's the daily ministry in which I am involved with Grace and others. In all of these ministries, there are dedicated Christians who are Dominicans, who are serving God. You don't know them. not much point in telling you their names but someday you're going to meet them for today they carry on their shoulders the burden of the work of God in the Dominican Republic our father we thank you tonight for those who are dedicated and faithful in your service those who go on year after year and they love the Lord Jesus and they are faithful and steadfast and they continue daily in the service of God.
We rejoice as we think that this service is not inflexible, it is not dead, it is not formal, it is spent fast and faithful, but at the same time there is an element of joy and spontaneity as they serve the Lord Jesus. We pray tonight the blessing of God on the Dominican Republic and on God's people there. We commend ourselves into your care and keeping in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Thank you.