Austin Gardner

Yesterday was Celebration Sunday as you know. I gave you some dreams that God has placed on my heart. I wanted to share them in print so you wouldn’t forget them nor will I. Though it was a rainy day yesterday God really blessed. Now I pass on to you what is on my heart for you to pray with me about. Feel free to question me about anything you see here.

I can only share with you the dreams that God has put in my heart

I am asking God for 100 families from Vision serving all over the world in the next 10 years!

I am asking God to allow us to send men and women through our church mission to the world from foreign countries to foreign countries!

I am asking God to give us enough strong, dedicated people in this church to raise up, train, and send out this vast army! (It will take a very strong local church with super dedicated people to do all that God has placed on my heart. Though you will not go you can help me help those that will go. We must pray for them, train them, and send them out to do God’s will)

I am asking God for a place to work and prepare people from in a good building and piece of property!

I am asking God to allow us to start 100 churches across the USA that will be like Vision with a heart to reach the world and their community!

I asking God to allow our church to go into downtown Atlanta and love the unloved and make a difference right here in our community!

I am asking God to allow Vision to have One Million dollars given through us to world evangelism per year!

I am asking God to allow Vision to prepare and send materials from here to the people who have the least materials in their hands! (I am asking God to give us men to do this right now and others who will prepare to go!)

I am asking God to allow us start TV and radio stations in countries that are not getting the gospel!

I am asking God to raise up men who will come and help us get the gospel to the world in our generation!

I am asking God to fill the Our Generation Training Center with students who will make an impact here and around the world!

I am asking God to let us impact our community with the word of God in such a way that His name will be glorified!

I am asking God to magnify His name in all the world through the ministry of Vision!

I am asking God to give His Word free course and let it run and be glorified all over the world!

I am asking God to let us show people how to live a victorious Christian life free from the bondage of legalism but in holiness and purity!

I would love to hear your comments.

Find exciting articles about world evangelism on bcwe.org

The following is a list of books that I would recommend for church planters to read, whether in the USA or overseas. These books have been a blessing to me. You will not agree with everything but you will be able to get some ideas. I am always happy if I get one good idea from a book. One idea makes the book worth reading for me.

The books are not in order especially but I am placing them in some what of an order. That means that they will end up more or less in how much they influenced me.

Lectures to My Students

On Being a Servant of God

Master Plan of Evangelism

Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer

Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours?

The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church: And the Causes That Hinder It

Indigenous Church

Indigenous Church Planting, a Practical Journey

Planting Churches Cross-Culturally: North America and Beyond

Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts

Starting a New Church: The Church Planter’s Guide to Success

Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch

This all I have time for right now. I will get more out later and try to get them in a better order.

Leaders are readers so I hope you are reading!

I got a note from Pastor Rick Groover asking us to pray for him and Celebration Baptist Church.

Rick Groover Brother Gardner, Please have your folks pray for us as we have the opportunity to get in our first real building. The bank has approved us but we have to raise the $90,000 down payment in the next two weeks. We’re trusting Him who owns it all to come through just like He always has. Thanks and God bless you and the work there.

Brother Groover is a wonderful man that really loves the Lord Jesus. He is very involved in world evangelism and God is greatly using him.

I want to ask all of you to be praying for him and this great need. You can learn more about them and the church by clicking on the link above or here.

The following is from his blog so you can know a little more about his heart!

What a God!
February 12, 2010

I’ve spent the last few days being amazed again by Jesus! Just when you think you’ve seen crazy things, Jesus will one-up Himself and do something even more crazy! Here’s just a little piece of how the Lord is working in us getting a new building for the ministry.

1. We Didn’t Start This Rodeo!

One of the amazing things to me about the ministry here is we didn’t decide to start it. It was and is a total “God thing.” Out of nowhere God invaded our lives and said two things – One – “I want you to start this ministry.” And two – “This is for My glory!” Since February 27th of 2005 God has been changing lives and building disciples. If you have any idea that miracles don’t happen any more then you need to come up for a visit. Somebody greater than us started this thing AND IT IS AWESOME!

2. We Don’t Know What We’re Doing!

When we first started I thought I had a little bit of an idea of what I was doing. (Yes, God had prepared us but as long as you think YOU CAN DO IT it’s not going anywhere!) Now, God has finally got us in the place where we seek Him on every decision and He is leading in different and amazing ways. As soon as we started doing it His way IT TOOK OFF! What are we gonna do next? I have no idea! But Jesus knows AND WE ARE FOLLOWING HIM!

3. We Don’t Have Any Way Of Financing What Is Happening! BUT HE DOES!

This makes me laugh more than anything else. We have nothing! Really! If you were to visit here you would take one look at our small rented building and what little we have and not think much about it UNTIL…UNTIL YOU SAW THE CHANGED LIVES EVERYWHERE. Here’s the deal though – most of our people are young, or ex-addicts, or ex-homeless, or just others struggling to get by. If you look at what we have there’s nothing to it! BUT – OUR GOD IS BIGGGGGG! AND HE IS ALL WE NEED!!!!! AND HE IS ROCKING OUR CITY!!!

Please pray for us as a building we didn’t ask for that we couldn’t have imagined that we don’t deserve and that we don’t have what it takes to get HAS DROPPED IN OUR LAPS AND JESUS IS MOVING!

If we can see the lives changed that we have while trying to work out of a hole in the wall IMAGINE WHAT GOD CAN DO IF WE ACTUALLY HAVE A DECENT PLACE TO MINISTER OUT OF.

Our music is AMAZING! The messages and things our people do are OVER THE TOP, but even with all of that said – IT’S ALL GOD! Nobody ever leaves our services talking about the singers, musicians, or speakers. Everybody leaves every week saying, WHAT A GOD!

Thank You Lord for all YOU ARE DOING! MAY WE STAY OUT OF THE WAY OF YOUR GLORY!

THIS IS CRAZY! WOO HOO!!!!!

No religion – Just Jesus!

Rick

On November 4, 2007 Vision Baptist Church licensed these men to the ministry. This week the first will be ordained. He will leave for China this August. I am excited that God is working in their lives.

Not only that but David Velke will leave for Peru for 6 months. Scott Newton will be going to Spain on his survey trip. Robert Canfield has already done 6 months in Peru.

God is working in the lives of our young men!

Just a note to every missionary, pastor, and Christian worker. Breath mints are not expensive but can sure make a difference. No one ever knows how their breath smells but others do. Nothing can hinder what you are trying to do more than putting off people by the way your breath smells.

Do not hinder your sweet message of friendship and the good news of salvation with bad breath. People shouldn’t have to put up with your bad breath to hear your good message.

I suggest buying a box of mints that are small and not sticky. You can stick them in your pocket and then just pop them in your mouth when you get the chance. I try to always have them with me. I load my pockets every day and then proceed out to my work.

You say you do not think your breath stinks but you might not know. So take some precautions.

We finished the Summit in Tennessee on January 2, 2010. It was a great meeting.

We held our first meeting in our new location on January 3, 2010 and it was cold inside the building.

Zach and Whitney Elrod became our first new members of the year on January 3, 2010.

We held a blessing service for missionaries Travis and Teri Snode, members of our church, serving in Northern Ireland.

Stephen and Ashlee Underwood became new members on January 7, 2010.

Spanish Pastor Ronald Tubillas celebrated his birthday on January 8, 2010.

Our missionary Keith Shumaker celebrated his birthday in Burkina Faso on January 8, 2010.

Little Pamela Hallasi died on January 12, 2010. She was the daughter of Pastor Wilber Hallasi in Peru. We had prayed for her for months.

January 12, 2010 a horrible earthquake shook Haiti killing thousands. We began to take up offerings to help.

January 13, 2010 Ethan Howeth again went in for surgery to get his leg lengthened.

Pastor Trent Cornwell celebrated his birthday on January 15, 2010.

David Lundy and I made a trip to Burkina Faso to preach and visit with missionary Keith Shumaker from January 18-26, 2010. While in Burkina Faso we were able to help Vicente and Gabriela Garcia get cell phones and a motorcycle. We are working on getting them air conditioning.

Our young people participated in the Annual Consumed Teen Revival with Victory Baptist Church and Corinth Baptist Church both of Loganville, Georgia on January 27-29, 2010.

Jonathan and Heather Marks became new members on January 28, 2010.

Our missionary Mindy Bush celebrated her birthday on January 28, 2010 in La Plata, Argentina

Fellowship Baptist Church, Pastor Tom Hatley, in Maryville, Tennessee donated a 66 passenger bus to our church.

Wade and Kathy Williams along with Heather Trojhan became members on January 31, 2010.

Missionary Renzo on his way to North Africa celebrated his birthday on January 31, 2010.

So God gave us 9 new members in the month of January. Our attendance climbed to an average of over 125 in Sunday School and 140 in the AM service.

We are praying that God will let us see more people saved. We are asking God to allow us to pay off our credit card debt in the next couple of months which will leave Vision completely debt free. I am asking God to increase our faith promise mission’s offering. I am asking God to help us get some construction done in the new building.

Thank you for all you do. I thought you might like a summary of all that God has done. The days go by so quickly and you lose count of all that He is doing.

Commercial for Vision Baptist Church from Andrew Pearson on Vimeo.

Tonight we said a special thank you to several people in our church. People that do a lot of good, hard work. The following is picture of most of the people that do the cleaning ever week. Many have been doing this for several years now. The thanks comes to late and is not enough.

This are some of the people that closed up the last building, opened the new building, moved us in, did the construction, painting, and did so much to get us to where we are today in our new building.

Micah Rastelli has done heroic duty. He has worked many hours into the hundreds.

We prayed for each team and asked God to specially bless them. God did such a good work through each of them,

I, personally, want to thank each of you. You are the greatest. I love you and thank God for everyone of you!

There were 96 people in attendance tonight and I believe that over half were involved heavily in some part of the work.

This man is a deacon and member of Whitfield Baptist Church where Wayne Cofield is pastor. I know and love this man!

In article I read today the Muslims say

“We’re not going to stop because the government bans an organization,” he told CNN by phone. “If that means setting up another platform under another label, then so be it.”

A ban “will just make the use of those names … illegal. But Muslims everywhere are obliged to work collectively to establish the Islamic state and sharia law in the UK or wherever they are — those things can’t change,” he added.

This man says that Muslims everywhere are obliged to work to establish sharia law.

What is sharia law? Sharia law is Islamic law based on the Koran.

I find it interesting that Muslims are so adamant about spreading their faith and practice and yet many Christians so relaxed about sharing what God’s Word says. If you really believe the Bible, if you really believe in Heaven and Hell, isn’t it time to get involved in world evangelism?

Shouldn’t we become concerned about getting the truth about eternal salvation out to the entire world. We are not involved in political movements but we are concerned about sharing our faith.

Muslims say that they will not be stopped. I believe that the church of Jesus Christ should rise up and say that we will not be stopped. We will take the gospel to the entire world.