Doc Martin's Blog

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December 31, 2019 - Home Sweet Home

What a wonderful Christmas season. Lynda and I were able to spend two weeks at home. We had some friends and family come by for a few days, but had a very quiet Christmas, with just the two of us. It was surely, "all is calm, all is quiet." The weather in Oklahoma was beautiful. There was no white Christmas, but I will take a warm one any day. It was practically perfect in every way.

We finished the year at our home church, Bethel Assembly of God. We had a great day and give thanks to Pastor Ron Meador for the open door and for treating us like part of the Bethel Church family.

We are so excited about 2020. This will be the greatest year yet!

December 10, 2019 - Pensacola

Lynda and I spent this weekend in Pensacola. It was great to be back in the emerald coast. I preached Sunday morning at First Assembly of God. Thanks to Pastor David Scruggs for the open door for ministry.

On Monday night we held our last missions dinner of the season. We had a great crowd, great food and a great offering. We are so thankful for everyone that made our dinners successful this year. The salvation of lost souls will be your reward.

Now, we are looking forward to a merry and peaceful Christmas with family and friends at home in Duncan.

December 6, 2019 - Dinner, Dinner and Dinner

We hosted three dinners this week. The first was in Houston at a very unusual restaurant, the Carriage House. The place is filled with antiques and serves some of Houston's best comfort foods. The dinner was to honor the memory of John Durham. John was a great supporter of our dinners. It was a joy to have his widow, his daughter and his son at the dinner. Lots of friends from Houston and Katy came and it was a pleasure to have Lynda's children and grandchildren.

The second dinner was in Bryan at Brazos Valley Family Worship Center. We honored the memory of Joel Withem. It is so hard to believe that these great friends are gone. Sister Withem and two of his daughters were with us for the dinner. The last dinner of the week was at the Senior Citizens Center in Lumberton, Texas. No, that does not mean we are getting old. Thanks to Pastor Chris Kirkendall and Faith Christian Center for renting the building for us.

If you have never been to one of our dinners, we do have fun. There is never any pressure to give. We just enjoy sharing our vision with our friends and we let God speak to people about what they can do to help us and we are so thankful for those who do.

December 3, 2019 - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Lynda and I were back with our friends at Brazos Valley Family Worship Center for Sunday. It is always good to be with these precious people.

November 27, 2019 - Close to Home

We were blessed to be close to home this weekend. We had our missions dinner in Duncan and what a great time we had. My oldest brother, Austin caught, cleaned and cooked fish with all the trimmings for the dinner. It was wonderful. Thanks to everyone who came and all those who helped.

On Sunday we were in Chickasha, Oklahoma at Newsong Church of God. The pastor, Chuck Davis, was a teenager at the church I pastored in Comanche a few decades back. It was great to be with Chuck and the great church.

November 18, 2019 - Mesquite, TX

Lynda and I drove to the Dallas Metroplex to preach at Trinity Life AG. Pastor Joe Chiles formerly served as an associate at our home church, Bethel AG in Duncan. The church is in a season of transition. They sold their old building and are anxious to build in a great new location. We had a wonderful time and two precious ladies received the Holy Spirit baptism.

November 11, 2019 - Happy Birthday, Lynda

Look who had a birthday on the way home from Brazil. We had to overnight in Recife and Mrs. Lynda got to celebrate a new year in a new country and even got a new Brazilian dress. It was very hot in some of the meetings and a precious Brazilian sister also gave Lynda her beautiful fan.

November 10, 2019 - Sao Luis Again

After the crusade ended, we stayed in Sao Luis once again and I was able to minister in another AG church. The local pastors want us to return for a conference in 2020. God's will be done.

November 9, 2019 - Harvest Revival Crusade Brazil

I have never experienced anything quite like our Harvest Revival Crusade in Brazil. What an honor it was to work with Brazilian Evangelist Rubens Cunha and his incredible team. Rubens made such an impact on me, both through the tremendous skill he has for campaign evangelism, but also by his quiet and humble spirit. These days it takes a lot to impress me, but Rubens made a deep and lasting impression on this evangelist.

We started the week with a three night seminar to train leaders for the crusade. The response was incredible. Rubens spoke, I spoke and one of our team members, John Sullivan spoke. On the last night I am sure that at least 100 received the Holy Spirit Baptism. It may have been twice that many.

This is our fantastic team. Of course, you know Lynda. The others are Scott and Carol Bass and John and Gina Sullivan from Katy, Texas. Every team member participated in some area of ministry. They were a pleasure to work with. The young lady is Tiffany Cannon, a missionary to Brazil from Michigan/Minnesota. Tiffany is battling some health issues but if a merry heart does her good like medicine, she is sure to be healed. Tiffany redefines "happy camper." If you happen to see her, ask her what she would do for a cookie.

When we were doing the seminars in the evening, we spent the days ministering in local schools. It is almost unbelievable how open the schools were. We could preach the gospel without compromise. We were in twelve different schools and must have ministered to 2,000 students. I don't think I would be exaggerating at all if I said 95 percent of the students prayed the sinners prayer with us. Many came forward for prayer for healing and deliverance.They were hurting so badly and just wanted someone to hug them and love them. The local churches are doing follow up in the schools. May the seed sown produce a harvest.

After one of our school assemblies, a student gave Rubens razor blades that she was using to cut herself. We gave the book My New Life in Christ, by Rubens, to the students. What a great trade, blades for new life. Suicide, cutting and self mutilation is pandemic among the Brazilian youth. Pray for them.

On Friday morning, we visited a very poor neighborhood and gave away food. As we prayed with people, several received the Lord as their Savior. I prayed with this man on the horse cart to be saved. We had a bus in the neighborhood to take people to the nightly crusade meetings.

On Saturday morning, we help a seminar for pastors and church leaders. We had a wonderful time of prayer and ministry. Jimmy Swaggart Ministries gave every pastor and church leader present a copy of the Portuguese language Expositors Study Bible. This was an amazing act of generosity. Our thanks to Brother Swaggart and his team.

At the same time we were holding the pastors meeting, other team members were hosting a Kids Krusade for hundreds of children. Many heard the gospel for the very first time. I am still amazed at how Rubens' team is organized to touch every aspect of a community with the gospel campaign.

Last but certainly not least is the Harvest Revival Crusade. For three nights, the presence of God came down on that field and changed lives. There were powerful healings, outstanding deliverances and even more importantly 3,400 people received Christ for the first time. The local churches are trained to do follow-up on every one of those people within 24 hours of their conversion. Heaven has a full record of the results of this season of harvest.

On the second night, it came a downpour just thirty minutes before the crusade was to begin. This is very, very unusual for that area. Rubens cautioned us that the people were afraid of rain and would not come. He compared it to when Texas gets ice or snow. We immediately began to pray, rebuking the storm. I begged the team to pray fervently. While praying, I felt God wanted us to praise Him. We had covered the crusade in prayer from the first day we began planning. God is in control of the weather and only He can change it. Daniel, my translator, confirmed what I had felt and said God told him that as Paul and Silas praised God in the jail, we should praise Him. I began to sing songs of worship. I told God that no matter what happened I was going to praise Him in the storm. I felt a strange peace. Did it quit raining immediately? No, the downpour continued but when we got the field, there were people everywhere. Some were seeking shelter in the few places available. Some were in the field in the rain. When the rain stopped, thousands came to the field. If you are going through a storm today, just praise God in the middle of it. If He doesn't calm the storm, He will calm you.

Here is just one of many healing testimonies from the crusade. This man was a professional soccer player in his youth. He had an illness that prevented him from playing the sport. God healed him in the crusade and he was happy to get his kick back.

On the last night of the crusade, we did my illustrated sermon on the rich man and Lazarus. It is quite a production, with props and the works. We are the only evangelists that carry hell in our suitcase. This is the team of youth that helped Lynda with the message. We were so blessed to meet so many wonderful people in Santa Ines. They will always be in our hearts.

November 3, 2019 - Sao Luis

To get to the crusade in Brazil, we flew from Houston to Orlando, to Belem, Brazil and then to Sao Luis. From Sao Luis we drove to the crusade city of San Ines. While in Sao Luis we visited a few of the sites in this beautiful port city on the Atlantic Ocean. I was also blessed to preach at one of the many Assemblies of God Churches in the city. What a great altar call we had! Daniel Lima was my translator for the entire trip. He is a remarkable and talented young man.

October 28, 2019 - Chickasha, OK

It's just a short drive up the road to Chickasha, Oklahoma. We were blessed to preach at Grand Assembly. I held a great revival in this church nearly 10 years ago but also held revivals in the old building more than 45 years ago. We had two great services. After Chickasha we drove to Houston to get ready for our trip to Brazil. Your generous giving made this second Harvest Revival Crusade possible. Thank you.

October 24, 2019 - Revival

When I started preaching as an evangelist, it was very unusual to be invited to speak on a Sunday. Almost every invitation was for 6 nights or more. That has totally flipped today. We seldom preach revivals and most invitations are for Sunday only. Elgin, Oklahoma was the exception. It was good to be in the same church every night for four nights. Even better, we drove back and forth and slept in our on bed every night. Special thanks to Pastor Larry Thoma and his congregation.

October 19, 2019 - The grass is not always greener

When we got home from Illinois, we had had the first frost in Oklahoma. After the frost our lawn ended up in this weird pattern. Never seen anything like it.

October 15, 2019 - Heavener, Oklahoma

Our second dinner of the season was with our good friends in Heavener, Oklahoma. We love these people. While we were in Heavener I took Lynda to see the Rhunestone and fed her some pie at the Southern Belle. The Rhunestone is a large rock carved by the Vikings centuries before Columbus came to America and he Southern Belle is a converted World War I train coach owned by one of our missions supporters, Debbie Crabtree.

October 14, 2019 - Missouri

I have always said of all the places I have ever lived, I liked Joplin, Missouri the best. I have to confess that Duncan has knocked Joplin off that throne, but it was still great to be back in the four state region. We had our first dinner of the season in Joplin. We forgot to snap any photos, but we really enjoyed the friends that came.

On Sunday we preached in Webb City, Missouri just out of Joplin. The pastor is Chad Degonia. We knew Chad when we lived in Joplin and it was really good to be in service with him in a church he has planted.

I also so made a special effort to visit Paul and Marjorie Dilts, retired missionaries and pastors. The Dilts have had some health issues but still have the victory. In the 1990s I had two revivals for Brother and Sister Dilts. One lasted eight weeks and the other twelve. It was a season I will never forget. I love you Brother and Sister Dilts.

October 12, 2019 - The Boyz.

On the way from Casey to our next appointment we stopped in Cape Girardeau to see my two Matthews. We had a nice visit, a good dinner and got to meet Lil Matt's girlfriend Hannah. I wish I could see them more often.

October 11, 2019 - The small town with big things.

It is always good to be back in Casey, Illinois with Pastors Ken and April Wade. Ken was one of my students and we have been coming to Casey for years. The little town is famous for all of the Guiness Book of Record breakers they have. Here are a couple of the latest. The only issue I see is I should be the one caught in the mousetrap.

One of the biggest things in Casey is Pastor Wade's son, KJ. Every year we make a trek to the Moonshine store and eat a moonburger, KJ's burger might be another record breaker.

September 30, 2019 -Victorville

When we returned from Turkey, we drove out to Victorville, California for two great services at Turning Point Church. Thanks to Pastor Ron Folkner for hosting us! For everyone who grew up in my generation, Victorville was the home of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

September 28, 2019 -Mission to Turkey

Lynda and I were excited ever since we were invited to go to Turkey. The country is rich in Christian history, but starving for the gospel. We arrived in Istanbul and visited Hagia Sophia, built in 360 AD, it is one of the oldest Christian church buildings in the world. We also visited the bazaar, the largest in the world. What a wild and crazy experience.

Our purpose in Turkey was to meet with the Association of Campaign Evangelist. I was blessed to speak to this great group of men and women from around the world. Lynda and I have never met a more dedicated and unselfish group of people whose only goal seems to be to reach unreached people for the Kingdom of God. Our host for the meeting was Karl Hargestam. Karl is the father of the organization we work with in Ethiopia, the Joshua Campaign. We loved these folks.

We had the privilege to visit some great places in Turkey, including the sites of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation. There is so much in each place, it is impossible to show everything we were blessed to see. I will post a few photos and notes on each of the ancient cities we visited. The first was Ephesus, such an important city to the early church, but a church that lost its first love. I was privileged to speak in Ephesus at the church which hosted one of the first councils of the early Christian church.

Laodecea was the lukewarm church in the Bible. Nobody wants to copy this church that was neither cold nor hot. The Turkish government is working to restore the large theater in Laodecea.

We spent the night near Laodecea in the modern city of Pamukkale and awoke to see beautiful hot air balloons filling the sky. The area is a tourist attraction because of the thermal springs and the beautiful terraces formed by calcium deposits.

Literally just up the hill is the ancient Roman city of Hierapolis. Although not mentioned in the Bible, it is significant because it is reported to be the site of the martrydom of the Apostle Phillip. This place has absolutely the most beautiful Roman theater I have seen anywhere in the world.

In the Revelation, Philadelphia is the church of brotherly love. Today there is little love or anything else in the site. There are ruins from an early church and just a few stones from the Roman period. We did enjoy a great meal with Karl and Jennifer Hargestam and their Mission One Eleven team that made the journey with us.

Our next stop was Sardis. In Revelation this was the church of the living dead. Sardis has the ruins of a Roman era gymnasium that is simply stunning. One can only imagine the beauty of the structure in the ancient period. Next door is a very large Jewish synagogue. No doubt early Christians took the opportunity to preach the gospel on these very mosaic tiles.

Just across the way from the gymnasium are the ruins of the Temple of Artemis. What a grand structure it must have been. I have included some photos so you can see the size and intricacies of the columns.

There is not a lot to see in Thyatira. The ancient ruins are mostly buried under the city. There are plans in the future to raze several blocks of buildings and uncover the treasures that lay beneath. As you can guess that is not so popular with the residents and shop owners who occupy the land. A few Roman ruins and a Byzantine church are viewable. It is interesting how the archaeologists doing the restoration take the ancient and blend it with modern pieces to remake a site.

The next city on our itinerary was Pergamos. Most of the ancient ruins are on a high hill and the best way to access them is by cable car. Those who know me know that heights are not my favorite things and cable cars . . . well, you know. Anyway, we rode to the top of Pergamos and so glad we did. The view was beautiful.

The ruins of Pergamos are quite spectacular. The city has the steepest theater I have ever seen--by far. I think the ancients who visited the theater were at least part goat.

We stopped by a Turkish carpet factory. Despite popular opinion, no one flew on a carpet. They were beautiful though. Every carpet is hand spun from the silk cocoon or from wool. The dyes are all natural, including the same purple that Lydia used in New Testament times. Every thread is hand tied. Some of these rugs take on craftsman years to make and can cost more than $100,000. Lynda tried her hand at the craft. We were even able to purchase a small wool rug for our entryway. We will always remember our wonderful time in Turkey.

The last of the seven church was Smyrna. The ruins are located in the modern city of Ismir. It is a shame that so many of the ruins have been pillaged, stolen, destroyed and even recycled over the centuries. Still, it is great to visit the places where the apostles shared the good news of Jesus Christ. We pray that Turkey will once again experience a move of God's Holy Spirit. We finished our journey where we started, in Istanbul. Lynda and I snuck away from the group and enjoyed dinner at Burger King. Yes, we had it our way. Then we found a little pastry shop and had an absolutely delicious desert with ice cream. Wish you could have been there.

September 16, 2019 -Bloomington, CA

Unlike the Beverly Hillbillies, we loaded up a plane and our truck and headed for Turkey, via California. Our first services was a week-end revival in Bloomington at the Pentecostal Church of God. Pastor John Deatheridge was such a good host. The services were great and a number received the Holy Spirit baptism

September 10, 2019 - Done!

The longest move in history is finished. I unloaded the van for the last time. We have no stuff in Houston and no stuff in Pensacola. All of our stuff is in Duncan, Oklahoma. Whew! What a relieve it is!

September 9, 2019 - Foley, AL

While we were in the area, we preached at Family Revival Center in Foley. This church faithfully supports our missions projects. It was good to be back with Pastor Tommy Howard and the good folk in Foley. While we attended the conference we stayed in Foley with our ministry partners, Ezra and Beryl Bunch. Thanks to everyone for your kindness and hospitality.

September 8, 2019 - Light the Fire Again

Lynda and I attended a BRSM reunion and the Light the Fire Again Conference in Pensacola. One of my former students, Daniel Kolenda, hosted the great conference. It was so good to see so many friends and enjoy the presence of the Lord!

August 26 , 2019 - Back and Forth

The first Sunday in August we were at Family Life Assembly of God in Katy, TX. Pastor Albert Cortez was at General Council in Orlando and we were honored that he trusted us to fill in for a day. It is always great to preach at FLAG and they blessed us with a great offering for our Harvest Revival Crusades.

Lynda closed on her house in Houston, so we made two trips back to Houston. While there I made two trips down to the valley to see my dentist. I am still having problems with the infection in my jaw bone. For my 67th birthday I got another oral surgery and bone graft. Please pray for me for all of this mess to heal.

We also spent a Sunday with our friends at Brazos Valley Family Worship Center in Bryan, Texas.

July 25, 2019 - Oklahoma

After the PCG convention we made a quick trip to Houston to get another load of stuff and to put Lynda's house on the market. Please pray for a quick sale. I think one more trip to Houston and we will have all of our stuff in Oklahoma. Hallelujah! While in Houston we celebrated our third anniversary. Time goes by so quickly. I am so thankful that God sent this wonderful woman into my life. She is such a blessing to me and this ministry. Since it was our anniversary the restaurant gave us a complimentary slice of Texas Pecan Pie with ice cream. Blessed and highly FLAVORED.