Beyond Borders

The Temple in Salt Lake City

On the weekend of April 8 – 11, I was in Salt Lake City (Draper to be exact) for a missions conference at Hidden Valley Presbyterian Church. When I arrived pastor Lee Mashburn picked me up along with Paul and Sandy Kooistra (Paul is MTW’s president). It was snowy and cold, but we had a little time so went to Temple Square and walked around for a bit. Then we went in their huge conference center that holds 21,000 people. I was struck by the wealth of the Mormon church, and the tremendous oppression they hold over their people. SLC has the highest use of anti-depressants in the nation. They also have the highest suicide rate. Mormonism is a very legalistic religion. While people are smiling on the outside they are under tremendous pressure to live up to the demands of Mormonism.

Dr. Paul Kooistra speaking at Hidden Valley PC

While Salt Lake City is a beautiful city, it is an oppressive city. Hidden Valley Presbyterian Church is made up of warm and loving people that God is using to be salt and light in SLC. They are a city set on a hill to the community. With this backdrop we entered into the mission conference. Paul Kooistra did a great job Friday night sharing about the gains the church is making around the world in missions. It is encouraging to realize that there are many more Christians per capita today than we’ve had in past ages.

On Saturday I had two opportunities to share with two groups about what God is calling us to, and I was able to challenge these new friends to get involved through prayer, and supporting us financially. Many of them signed up to pray for us, and some have already given. Thank you Jesus!

Dave speaking at Hidden Valley PC

Sunday Paul preached from Matthew 9:35-38. Jesus proclaiming the good news of the gospel and healing people in need. He had compassion on the people as He saw them like sheep without a shepherd. Then He gave a charge to the disciples to pray for laborers, for the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Dr. Kooistra explained that it’s not just that there is a harvest, but that there is an urgency to harvest it. We need laborers! It made me think, even in our situation it is urgent for us to reach our financial goals in order that we can get to the field, and get to work. We are still praying that we will have all our funds by June 30th. We are a little behind on some of the targets that we had hoped to reach, but it doesn’t mean that it’s unattainable. Pray with us that it will happen. Pray for the Lord’s bountiful provision. Pray for more laborers. It is still true today that there is a need for more workers to work on harvesting the fields that the Lord has prepared for us.

In His Grip, Dave

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