Hill Mission Report: November 2010

Dear Brethren,

Linda and I began doing mission work in Ghana, West Africa in 1983 and we have been doing mission work ever since. Next year, in conjunction with our work, International Bible Teaching Ministries, we have the opportunity to preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Australia, New Zealand, and American Samoa. We lived and worked in the South Pacific between the years of 1986 and 1991 and are familiar with this kind of work.

During this mission effort in 2011, we will have the opportunity to speak at lectureships, hold Gospel meetings, and do one-on-one Bible studies. My wife will be teaching Ladies’ and Children’s classes. It will be a time of evangelism and edification with our brethren in the South Pacific.

The only part of doing mission work that I do not care for is fundraising. But, as we have found out over the past almost 30 years, it must be done. We are trying to raise $8,000 for airfare, food, and lodging for this effort. Brethren, will you help by giving toward this good work (Titus 1:3)? Any contribution will help. If you are willing to work together in this effort for our Lord, please send your contributions to our sponsoring congregation. The address is Hill Mission Fund, NEW HOPE ROAD CHURCH OF CHRIST, Post Office Box 1334, Dacula, Georgia 30019 and make out your checks to Hill Mission Fund. Of course, a full report will be sent to all who help support this work in our monthly Hill Mission Report.

“Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20). “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). Brethren, I know that God can help me, I am asking you to help me, and I pray that you will help me according to the power of Jehovah God in you and His grace. “Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account” (Philippians 4:17). This will be our work together for our Lord and Savior. Please, help me in this “good work” (Titus 3:1).

May our God bless you richly and grant you peace, success, and happiness in all your Gospel endeavors according to His good will.

In Christ Who Saves,
Jimmie B.Hill

Greetings from Georgia!

It has felt like 5 o’clock rush hour here ever since I scheduled my knee surgery for December. I have been volunteering my time since the summer to do some major projects for IBTM and have been making good progress. But now there’s a deadline so it’s panic time. It really is amazing how much is involved with new mission works. Some of it I had to create from scratch, and some of it I was scratching my head without a clue. I figured it out . . . but it’s probably a good thing my hair is already white!

One of the things I’m trying to do is pull together a record of what IBTM is accomplishing. Some of the statistics I have gotten from Ron Gilbert are already amazing for such a young mission work. In the 3 short years since Ron began brainstorming this work IBTM has:

Shipped Overseas               Provided for Students
20,100 Bibles                                 89 Bicycles
    9,800 Books                                  Clothing
    5,400 Hymnals                          Food & Expenses
304,200 Tracts

               Results Reported
                    195 Baptisms
                    682 Restorations
                        2 New Congregations

The work of ICOTB is also gaining momentum. This tuition-free college focuses on teaching faithful Christians so that they are better equipped to teach others the Gospel. Currently it has 112 students with 30 graduates.

Okay, now I’m officially impressed.

Jimmie’s mention of Ghana started a wave of nostalgia. Ghana in 1983 was a classic – if you are talking worst case scenarios. Famine. Water rationing. Open sewage. No gasoline for the cars. Attempted coup. Closed borders. Government curfews. Military checkpoints. Violence. No gas for stoves. Cholera. Dysentery. And more . . . It was a very stressful, scary 6 weeks and I still think of it as the Campaign to Gehenna!

Ghana 1983

Yet that was the campaign that hooked us on mission work. Why? Because the people of Ghana were starving for the Gospel. It was our first experience with people who were thrilled to get a Gospel tract and eager to study the Bible. We quickly realized that the joy of teaching far outweighed the hardships. Besides, Jimmie and I figured that if we could survive Ghana in 1983, we could survive anything. And we have, even the aftermath of the worst hurricane in Samoan history while we lived in the South Pacific.

The life of a missionary is rarely easy but never boring.