For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. – Isaiah 9:6-7
In Scripture, it is wonderful to see how the Lord’s plan to redeem His people has been revealed. His plan to redeem a people for His name sake was in His heart before the foundation of the world; before there was time. The specifics of this plan were slowly delivered to mankind over the centuries. In the case of the passage above, God shared with men characteristics of the Messiah’s nature and kingdom long before His birth! I love how His plan is accomplished…”The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” Praise the Lord! His zeal has accomplished these things. Now, through the fulfillment of this prophecy, we know Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and we call Him our Lord and Savior! This Christmas season we praise Jesus, for He has brought salvation to men. As Avis (a dear servant of the Lord at LeTCC for nearly 60 years) often says, “We serve a Great God, don’t we?!” Don’t we?!
Our Lord has come and I am happy to say, LeTourneau has played a part in making Him known for more than 81 years. In 2015, the Lord poured out His blessings on this ministry in so many ways. Personally, since my family and I arrived in February of this year, we have seen the Lord’s provision in dramatic fashion. In six short months, the Lord provided the remaining $140,000 to complete the first phase of the Lighting Our Future campaign, which saw the deed return and a new chapter in ministry begun. This year, we saw literally dozens of volunteers pour onto campus to serve in a variety of ways, from housekeeping, to event coordinating, to roofing, to painting, to washing dishes, to sending mailers, and the list goes on and on. We are so grateful for these wonderful volunteers who gave of their time to bless this ministry. Our summer staff served so well this past summer and into the fall as well. They were full of enthusiasm for the Lord and a fun, unified bunch of teens and young adults. Six of these teens and young adults actually volunteered their summers and asked for no pay in return. What a blessing all of these young people were. The staff and I are so grateful to all of our volunteers and summer staff. The staff serve as unto the Lord with great joy. The support we receive from these volunteers and summer staff help to encourage us and increase the ministry of LeTourneau.
It is a wonderful ministry we all at LeTourneau have been called to. We have the joy of serving and impacting more than 5,000 lives a year and over a hundred churches and Christian organizations. We see dozens saved and dozens more baptized every year. We see hundreds more have their lives changed for the Lord. What an amazing ministry the Lord has formed and the potential for even more ministry is right before us. That is why, in 2016 we hope to begin a new branch of LeTourneau ministry, which will focus on a variety of outreaches that will be designed to reach the lost and help disciple believers in this region. We hope some of these ministries will include, Day Camps, Youth Camps, Winter Youth and Young Adult Retreats, Marriage Conferences, Pastor and Laymen Conferences, Christian Evangelistic Concerts, and more. We are asking the Lord to provide the leadership, volunteers, supporters, financing, and participants to accomplish this exciting new work for His glory. The provision and outcome will be from the Lord. And we pray for His “zeal” to make these plans a reality. As He provides, these ministry opportunities will come alive and we will make them available to churches from all over. We would ask you to pray for this exciting new branch of ministry and to consider being a part of supporting these efforts. We want to max out our Kingdom potential. As the poem by C.T. Stud says,
“Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
It is our greatest hope and sincerest intention to bring God much glory in 2016 by striving to share the love of Christ and the joy of salvation with as many as the Lord will draw to this ministry. We would be greatly encouraged by your willingness to pray for this ministry and to consider walking with us as the Lord would lead.
Blessings in the Savior this Christmas Season and into the New Year.
Jamie Fischer
LeTCC Director
www.letcc.org