Barry and Rachel Baggott Crieve Hall Church of Christ 4806 Trousdale Drive, Nashville, TN 37220 fwo.ceb@gmail.com (615) 781-2137 October 10, 2014 Bonjour! It has been too long since our last newsletter, and it seems like there are too many things I ought to include. Trip to Haiti From July 24 to 31 I made a mission trip to Haiti to work with a Haitian brother named Renaud Beauvais. While this was my fifth time to travel to Haiti, it was the first time I had been there since 2005. It has always seemed that my presence was more needed in other French- speaking areas where the Lord's church is not so well established or where the churches do not receive so many visits from American brethren as they do in Haiti. On the other hand, I remain in fairly regular contact with a good number of Haitian brethren and send lots of literature for the work there. When the 2010 earthquake hit Haiti, Renaud's mother- in- law's house in Port- au- Prince was largely destroyed. Rather than rebuild or just sell the property, she decided to donate the land to the Lord's church. The lot is on a major road in a populous neighborhood called Sans Fil. Renaud and his wife used their own money to have the lot cleared off and to have a church building constructed on the property. When Renaud asked me to make this trip, his idea was for me to help with a gospel meeting coinciding with the beginning of a new congregation, which would meet in the new building. The building is not actually completed, but work is far enough along that we were able to hold the gospel meeting there and initiate a weekly worship service. On the day of my arrival, Renaud and seven other Haitian preachers met with me to work on plans for the meeting and its follow- up. The new building made this a very unusual situation. I am used to new churches starting up and immediately having to figure out where they will meet; this was the first time I have been involved in a meeting place being made available and local brethren having to figure out how to get a One of the Colorful Vans Used for "Mass Transit" in Haiti congregation started that would meet there. The gospel meeting began the next night and went for three nights. I preached for an hour or an hour and a half each time, not counting the questions from the audience after the lessons. I preached in French, and though I insisted in each place I spoke that we would be glad to have someone interpret the lessons in Creole, the audiences always answered that they understood me with no problems. As you might expect, I spoke on basic subjects such as sin and the need for salvation in Christ and what man needs to do to obtain forgiveness. One of the visitors was a denominational preacher named Anténor
who sat on the front row every night and asked lots of questions, or in some cases tried to prove me wrong about what I had preached. Nevertheless, he was impressed with the teaching and the Bible answers. Before the series was over he asked me to come and speak to his church in the Santo area of Port- au- Prince, which we did before I left. On this trip I also spoke to a class of a dozen preaching students on the subject of evangelism and visited an orphanage, both in the town of Croix- des- Bouquets. On Sunday morning I preached for the Bon Repos congregation in Port- au- Prince. Two days later we made an overnight trip to Renaud's hometown of Bainet, on the southern coast, and encouraged some of the Christians there. I also got to visit with many preachers who all use the French gospel literature we send out from Crieve Hall. Everywhere we went, people thanked me for all the publications they have been receiving from us for so many years. One brother expressed his gratitude for the materials because they help keep the Haitian churches, which continue to multiply, on the right track doctrinally. Focus on Islam For a long time I have felt a need to do more to try to spread the gospel among Muslims, and in particular the many millions of them who speak French. In publishing our periodical, Chemin de Vérité, I have made a point of writing two or three issues specifically for Muslims or to help equip brethren to answer certain Muslim objections to the Gospel. I have also translated and published a couple of tracts for use in evangelizing Muslims and produced two series of radio broadcasts adapted to Muslim listeners. This has all been spread out over the past decade. In the past few months there has been a greater focus on Islam in my work for the Lord. On Wednesday nights since the beginning of August I have been teaching an adult Bible class at the Crieve Hall Church of Christ on "Sharing the Gospel with Muslims." A very significant Muslim population lives not far from our church building, and many of us have Muslim neighbors or co- workers, or we come in contact with them in other ways from day to day. While my experience with Muslims has been less than what I might like before undertaking to teach a class of this nature, I have spent some time in Muslim environments in half a dozen countries, I have studied the Bible with people of Muslim background who became Christians, and I have an interest in the subject. Between 30 and 50 people attend the class each week, and I think we are all, myself included, getting a much better grasp of the beliefs of Muslims and possible ways to evangelize them. I intend to use what I learn to more materials in French for our brethren to use in countries with large Muslim populations, as well as for use on a planned website geared toward reaching French- speaking Muslims. One way I have of field- testing materials I develop is through some of our radio broadcasts. One broadcast in Brother Logossina an area with a strong Islamic influence is on Radio Koun- Fao, in eastern Côte d'ivoire. The evangelist who lives in the listening area and tries to handle the follow- up is Logossina Ouattara, a former Muslim himself and a graduate of our school of preaching in Ivory Coast. He is partially supported by three congregations in Ivory Coast. Logossina recently wrote me regarding a series of lessons on Bible characters who also appear in the Qur'an that I had produced for the broadcast: "The series was very good. Some Muslim friends liked it, one of them even told me that he wanted to become a Christian, but after the death of his mother." Brother Nestor Tonguino, who is responsible for our broadcast in Conakry, Brother Nestor Guinea, wrote me that he was getting numerous phone calls from Muslims listeners after each broadcast, and that they were having polite and
constructive conversations. He asked me for advice on how to answer these callers when they claimed that the "Comforter" whose coming was promised by Jesus was actually Muhammad. I did a good bit of research on the subject and sent him a lengthy study, which he used in discussion with these new Muslim friends. He wrote me that it went wonderfully, and some of them even asked him if he were a former Muslim. I have since taken that material and made it into a booklet, "Does the Bible Talk about Muhammad?", which we recently printed and began sending out to congregations in the Muslim world. With $100 a month from a sister in the Crieve Hall congregation, we have also opened a modest World English Institute office in Gouméré, Côte d'ivoire, the town where Logossina Ouattara lives. Students come to improve their English skills, and since the Bible is used for the readings that accompany each lesson, they learn the Gospel at the same time. This outreach is open to Muslims and non- Muslims alike, but one appeal for Muslims is that they can satisfy their curiosity about the Bible while simply telling their more closed- minded Muslim associates that they are learning English. One more item before leaving the subject of Islam - thanks to financial help from the White Rock Fund and other Christians, one of the directors of the school of preaching in Côte d'ivoire, made a trip to help the church in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. This is one of the most repressive regimes in the world when it comes to denying Christians the possibility of worshipping and evangelizing. Nevertheless, we have some courageous brethren who are doing their best to share the gospel there. The brother we sent spent a week teaching a group of eight Mauritanian Christians (including one who was baptized early in his visit), covering a wide variety of subjects in sessions that lasted nine hours each day. While they certainly learned a great deal, their teacher felt like he gained as much as he gave. He was deeply impressed by the courage and the thirst for knowledge that he saw in these men and women. Witnessing the baptism made a particular impact on him - it took place at the beach, which was full of people. It took both guts and some creativity to perform a baptism in such a place without it being so obvious that a baptism was being performed. The church has been raided in the past and members have been arrested more than once. Nevertheless the brethren persevere. Ebola - news from Guinea Most of you probably realize that one of the countries that has been hit most strongly by the Ebola epidemic is the French- speaking country of Guinea. I have traveled there numerous times over the years and remain in regular contact with the brethren. A little over a month ago I received a letter from the churches there explaining how the disease was affecting their lives. After discussing all the new "taboos" they are being told to follow, they wrote: All of these rules are contrary to African and Guinean lifestyles and are difficult for our populations to observe. This is creating a kind of distrust among us, suspicion, and sadness. How do we greet one another without shaking hands, when this is the ancestral custom in our communities? Socializing among ourselves is forbidden; gatherings are forbidden. The social fabric is being progressively torn apart in our society. What can we do? This remains our greatest question, since the world's scientists have no remedy for the disease. This aspect of the situation concerns us in a special way as disciples of Christ. Currently in our congregations, attendance is affected by the fear of coming together in groups and risking
contamination by greeting one another as the Bible recommends. Because of this, some members prefer to stay home and not run any risks. Also, the government has decreed that we avoid gatherings while the epidemic remains. There is even a nationwide curfew. So this pressure is producing a kind of psychosis on the population. Many lives have been lost, including relatives of members of the church, and even some members themselves. During this critical time in the history of our Soldiers Preventing People from Leaving an Ebola Affected Neighborhood country, we the Churches in Guinea have carried out and continue to carry out our duty as Christians. On the national level and within our congregations we have done the following: 1- Fasting and prayer throughout the country in all the churches of Christ to implore God's mercy in protecting the population in general and our brothers and sisters in particular. 2- Sermons and exhortations of consolation for the people and for mourning families, in order to encourage them to endure suffering and the loss of their loved ones, but also and especially to invite them to draw near to God and obey His word. 3- Radio broadcasts in a special way allow us to reach a great number of people at one time and to make them see that God's knowledge is infinitely beyond that of man and his science. What is impossible for man is possible for God, and He alone can truly put a stop to this epidemic. 4- We have had meetings to raise public awareness before and after services in our congregations to talk about washing hands, using chlorine and bleach, and respecting rules of hygiene in general. They went on to request not only prayers but also financial help to purchase disinfectants, to help families where members are sick or have died from the disease, and even to help get food to those who are having trouble because of travel restrictions. I was touched by the most recent messages from these brethren as they express their concern for us because they have heard that the disease has reached this country, as well, and they are praying that God will protect us! If you would like to send help for these good brethren, please let me know. Miscellaneous - After many years in "exile" in Yamoussoukro because of the civil war, the preaching school in Côte d'ivoire has left its rented facilities in Yamoussoukro and has returned to its own building in Bouaké, where it will soon receive the next group of men to be trained. Our thanks to the Crieve Hall church for providing the funds to renovate the building to get it ready to be used again as a school. - Since our last newsletter I have sent out another 220 recorded radio sermons for use in various parts of Africa and Haiti. - Last week I finished preparing a 50- page commentary on Joshua, Judges and Ruth. We have very few tools for Old Testament study available to French- speaking brethren, so this will hopefully be a welcome addition to the resources available to our schools of preaching, teachers and evangelists. Our thanks, as always, for your prayers, support and encouragement. In Him, Barry
Dear friends, Barry and I celebrated our 30 th wedding anniversary in September with a trip to the Hudson River Valley in New York, with some help from sky miles. We started out with a visit to Sleepy Hollow, the site of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. As we passed by the high school, their sign says, Home of the Horsemen, though it left out Headless. One stop on the trip was Huguenot Street in New Paltz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the U.S., established in 1678 by French Protestants fleeing religious persecution. It gives you pause to think about how some settlers came to the New World for religious freedom and about the possibility that some could leave it in the future for the same reason. During our trip we worshipped with the friendly congregation at Mid- Hudson Church of Christ in Poughkeepsie. I was interested in their stained glass windows. I asked Barry if the hill- surrounded river depicted in them was the Jordan or the Hudson, and we both voted for the Hudson. Long cords attached to upper panels in the stained glass so that the windows could be pulled open for ventilation. That combined with ceiling fans kept the auditorium temperature very pleasant. Back at home I continue studying the Bible with Linda, the Congolese lady who was baptized early this year. Gaudence continues to have serious back pain. Barry has gone with her to some of her medical appointments to provide interpretation. She is finally ready for me to come back and start studying the Bible with her again, which we have plans to do this week. We have some new Congolese immigrants attending our weekly French Bible study at Crieve Hall, and I help with transportation for some of them. Recently Betsy Palmer (wife of our co- worker Aaron) and I were hostesses at the fellowship meal we had for this group. Andrew and Matthew s Adventures at ages 24 and 21. Andrew continues his job as a hospital ER nurse in Memphis. One day he had a patient who suffers from seizures involving extreme paranoia who came in after he had been off his medication for several days. As soon as Andrew inserted his IV needle and taped it down, the man started a seizure and began chasing Andrew through the ER trying to kill him. Andrew was on the track team one year, and who says you never use what you learn in high school? Providentially, five security people were in the ER at that time and overpowered the man and got him back in the room and strapped down, at which time he came to himself and remembered nothing of the mad chase. A Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde moment. He did apologize to Andrew for trying to kill him. Matthew is back at Murray State in Kentucky pursuing his wildlife biology degree. For a while his life reminded me of that book series entitled A Series of Unfortunate Events. To name just three, he was held up at gunpoint in a Wal- Mart parking lot last summer, he had a car accident, and he fell off a (relatively) small cliff while doing a class project. For now things seem to be on a more even keel. He worked two weekends on a class project on the lower, wooded part of our lot. Among other things it involved putting a fan down there to blow mosquitoes into a net and hanging a bag of dirty socks under a mosquito zapping machine. (Mosquitoes are supposed to like dirty feet.) Last week he texted asking me to mail the dead mosquitoes to him at school. My first response was to text back, Seriously? Then I thought of a lady at church whose mini- vacation with her biologist husband involved driving to another state to bring back a cadaver in their vehicle. After that, mailing mosquitoes didn t seem so bad. Matthew is still dreaming of going to work in Papua New Guinea or West Papua. So if you know of a scientist needing a wildlife biology student to carry stuff up and down mountains in New Guinea In Him, Rachel