Conifer, Colorado Support Report for July 2011

Dear Broken Arrow Brethren,

Even though we had numerous members gone because of summer activities, we had pretty good averages this month: Sunday A.M. Class – 28; Sunday Worship – 35; Wednesday Evening Bible Class – 23; Contribution $1,070.13. Of course, a big help in those numbers is the fact that we had a wonderful group of 22 people from the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma congregation who were with us from Saturday evening until Thursday morning (July 9-14).

Conifer’s first VBS was a great success in many ways. We didn’t have a large number of children by most congregations’ standards, but for a congregation that struggles to have any children, we were very pleased. F.R.O.G (Fully Relying On God) was our theme and the adults and young people from Broken Arrow did a fantastic job. Paul and Deana Myers did a great job handling all the details in getting ready for our visiting workers. Our members rallied to house and feed all the visitors. God blessed our VBS with good weather which we needed since we had it in a park. The mornings were beautiful with powerful rain storms every afternoon.

Although we have not had any visible results from the VBS we’re still hopeful. At least the seed was sown in the hearts of several children. The VBS ended Wednesday and on Friday and Saturday, Weezie and I went to see each of the families of the children who attended. A couple of them look like possible good contacts. We’ll continue follow up on them.

The third Sunday night of each month, as many from Conifer as can, go to visit a congregation in the area. Several of our regulars were sick or out of town so that only six of us visited the Dahlia St. congregation in Denver. Even though it was a small group, we enjoyed being together and the Dahlia Street congregation appreciated our attendance.

At the last men’s business meeting it was decided to put forth a serious effort in finding two or three acres (or more) land on which we could construct a building. The congregation put a great deal of effort toward that project when the congregation first began. But, because of the high cost of the land and a limited number of possibilities, the congregation became a little discouraged after a while and that project was put on “hold.” We have now decided, we must once again put forth serious effort at finding land on which to build. We had an architect meet with us to present a preliminary drawing for a building so that we would know the minimum size land that we would have to have in order to build a building in phases. Even though we have a nice facility in which to meet, we need our own building. Each service we have to arrange chairs, put up displays and then take it all down. Also, we don’t have a place to leave a permanent sign with our name and times of services. These may seem like little matters or matters that most churches take for granted, but they are very important.

Thank you so much for the support that you give to make this work possible. Without you it would be impossible but with you we are “laborers together with God.” I Corinthians 6:9 (KJV).

Sincerely,

 

Wayne Burger

Conifer, Colorado Support Report for April/May 2011

Dear Broken Arrow brethren,

There were a variety of events in which we were involved during April and May. First, I taught two classes at the Bear Valley Bible Institute (Hermeneutics and Denominational Doctrine). That quarter came to an end when we had 22 who graduated May 22. Students will tell you, and I agree, that the two years students are in school fly by. We are pleased that your support enables me to help train men and women for the ministry. The Lord willing, the next school year will begin the first part of August. We are looking forward to another eager group of students who are looking forward to studying God’s word daily for two years.

The middle of April I conducted a “Gospel Meeting” for the church in Parker because the man they had scheduled discovered he had cancer and was unable to come for that meeting. It was a good meeting in many ways.

April was also filled with a mission trip to Italy – I know that doesn’t sound like a mission field, but really, Europe is a difficult mission field. Actually, I was asked to speak at the 11th Annual Western Europe Lectureship which is a lectureship produced by and conducted for Christians from Ghana who live in Europe. The Ghanaian brethren are unique in that when they leave their country, they do not leave their religion. There are thousands of Ghanaian Christians meeting in “European” churches. Many of these congregations are like many in Italy where the Ghanaian Christians outnumber the European Christians. This lectureship was from Friday, April 22 through Sunday, April 24. I spoke Friday morning on “Silence of Scripture verses the Commands of God” and then again on Sunday morning on “Pursuing New Testament Worship.” There were over 600 present Sunday morning. The next Saturday I spoke at a Ghanaian congregation twice and answered questions for an hour. This was an evangelistic effort by the local church in Verona and it seemed to have been very successful in that they said there were several in attendance who were not members of the Lord’s church. My final time of speaking was to the church in Padova where the Brauer and Korodaj families work as missionaries. I spoke twice and again, it is a congregation where the Ghanaians outnumber the Italians. It really was great to get to visit with brethren from all over the world who had come to this lectureship and to visit with brethren in the local congregations. The greatest blessing in traveling the world is getting acquainted with brethren. It is a taste of what heaven will be like.

Since I spoke on the two weekends, this left us free to sightsee during the week. We spent a couple of days in Rome and saw some great historical sights. We also toured the second oldest University in the world – the University of Padova which has been in existence since 1222.

The Conifer Work

Although I have been involved in mission trips for many years, I’m torn between making them and being away from the Conifer work. But, the brethren at Conifer knew that I was heavily involved in mission trips when they asked me to work with them. In the future (after a mission trip to Malawi, May 26-June 21), I will begin to cut back on mission trips so that I can concentrate on the work at home. The Conifer church is blessed in that Paul and Deanna Myers work with us also. Paul is an excellent preacher and teacher and capably carries on the work when I’m out of town.

Attendance for the worship services was down in April-May with an average of 30. We have had a lot of sickness in the congregation and unfortunately, we have lost a couple of families. One, sad to say, is because the wife became upset with some things and she has influenced her husband to also leave the congregation. The other family is moving out of State due to job changes. We especially miss them because they had two young children. We need young families with children. When two families leave a congregation the size of Conifer, it really affects the attendance numbers.

New Converts

As you know, three have been converted since we began work with the church. Two of those are still faithful, but they do struggle with health issues and therefore miss some. Unfortunately, one of the three converts was a young single lady and right after her conversion, she met a man who has persuaded her to attend a Christian Church where his father is the preacher. We didn’t have time to ground her because her work schedule kept us from studying with her right after her baptism. Satan has a way of influencing young Christians. We are still hopeful that sometime in the future we’ll have the opportunity to win her back.

Hopeful Visitors

We are hopeful in that we had a young Christian couple with three children visit a Sunday morning service who seemed to be very interested in becoming part of the Conifer congregation. That visit was recent so we’ll see what the future holds with that family.

“Training for Service” Classes

One Sunday evening in April and one in May we had a special class called “Training for Service” in which we meet for two hours to learn how to study the Bible. The plan is to meet the first two Sunday nights of the month for this class. We had to cancel the first meeting because it was snowed out. Attendance has been good and I believe a good solid foundation is being laid for members to have the ability to study the Bible properly and learn to effectively present lessons. Interestingly, we are meeting at a local café that is normally open only from 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. We could have met in the building where we have our other services, but they wanted to charge us an extra $100.00 an evening. The lady who lets us meet in the café isn’t charging us anything. We do pay for a meal that she prepares or desserts and drinks when we don’t eat a full meal. It seems to be working well. Because of our busy schedule, this class is not going to meet again until August. But, then we hope to meet twice each month.

Thank you so much for the support that you give me and the Conifer church which enables us to work for the Lord. Without your support we could not accomplish what we do for the Lord. We trust that God will bless the work in Conifer, especially when I fulfill my commitments for the mission trips and can concentrate on sowing the seed of the kingdom in the Conifer area.

Sincerely,

 

Wayne Burger

 

Conifer, Colorado Support Report for March 2011

Dear Brethren:

March was filled with all kinds of activities with the Conifer church and with me individually.  The Conifer brethren worked hard along with a group of Bear Valley students who conducted a campaign here, March 12-16, as they invited people to attend our “Friends and Family Day, March 27th.  The hard work they did showed in that we had 85 present for the worship service March 27th.   Granted, many of those who attended were the Bear Valley students and families, but we did have several who were not members of the church, one particular family from the Conifer area.  They also returned the next Sunday and I’m continuing conducting one-on-one studies with them.  Because we had great numbers for a couple of Sundays, our averages for March are higher than normal, but we do believe that our averages in all categories are increasing.  We did have another person baptized during the month.

                                                              March                   Year 
                                                            Averages               Averages

          Sunday Bible Classes                        43                      31
          Sunday Worship                              51                     38
          Contribution                            $1,452.22            $1,154.15
         Wednesday Classes                           24                     22

As a Bear Valley campaign was being conducted in Conifer, so I led a group of Bear Valley students in a campaign in Craig, Colorado.  I conducted a gospel meeting for the church in Craig.  It also was a good campaign with two adults being baptized.  One interesting event during the campaign is that on Sunday night we had 30+ teens from the Catholic Church visit our service as the local Catholic Priest, youth minister brought them.  They heard a sermon on “Who Is a New Testament Christian?”  Interestingly, many of them brought their Bibles and turned with me as I announced passages.

Weezie and I had two Conifer families in our home during the month and we conducted five one-on-one Bible studies or counseling sessions.  We completed our “Introduction of the Conifer Church” brochures and the campaigners and members began delivering them to citizens throughout the Conifer area.  This will be an on-going project as we strive to introduce the church to the communities around us.  Plans were also made to begin a series of lessons on two Sunday nights a month entitled “Equipping for Service” in which we’ll teach people how to study the Bible.  It looks like an exciting class.  More information about that will be given in next month’s report.

Twelve members from the Conifer congregation visited the Miller St. congregation in Wheatridge (Denver) on the third Sunday night in March.  We began the practice of visiting an area congregation in January and is proving to be very good for us and the congregations we visit.  Also, the fourth Sunday night in the month, I spoke at the Bear Valley congregation as the 13th speaker in a series of lessons presented by the Bear Valley faculty on “Identifying the New Testament Church.”

The last week in March I began teaching “Hermeneutics” and “Denominational Doctrines” as the fourth and final quarter of the year at the Bear Valley Bible Institute at Denver began.  Thank you for your support that makes all these good works possible.

In Christian Love,

Wayne Burger

 

CONIFER, COLORADO SUPPORT REPORT FOR JANUARY 2011

Dear Brethren,

The church in Conifer, Colorado had its first baptism in her history, January 17, when Glenda Hamer, a lady about 60 years of age confessed Christ and was immersed for the forgiveness of her sins.  It was a joyous occasion for the church.  Several members gathered at the Bear Valley church building to witness the birth of this new child of God.

 The New Year has gotten started off on a good note despite having snow that hampered attendance one Sunday. We had 40 in attendance the last Sunday of the month. For the month the averages are:  
        
                                                                     January           2010
                                                                    Averages        Averages
                                     A.M. Bible Class               28               23
                                     A.M. Worship                  35               30
                                    Contribution               $1,043.20        $964.43
                                    Wednesday Class              21               14

Because the building is unavailable for Sunday evening services, we have not conducted those.  One Sunday evening 22 of us attended the evening service of the Northwest church in Denver.  It was a great evening of fellowship as we worshiped together and then most of us went out to eat together.

Personally, I had a busy month.  First, I was trying to get acquainted with the equipment and how the congregation operates.  Weezie and I have tried to spend a great deal of time getting acquainted with members and prospects.  We’ve done a pretty good job in spite of illness, bad weather, and conflict of schedules.  We have either gone into the homes of some members or in other situation have had long visits with eight families.  We had one family into our home for a meal.  Also, our work has involved conducting ten one-on-one studies.  One of those resulted in a baptism.  We’re confident that the other two prospects with whom we are studying will obey as they learn what God expects of them.

Part of the month was also spent designing a new church directory and a brochure that we will use to introduce prospects to the church.  It has taken a while to get both of these as we want them, but the Lord willing, they will both be printed in the next few days.  Also, time was spent working out details for a trip to visit with the Broken Arrow congregation.  That trip is scheduled for the middle of February.

It has been good that I’m not teaching at Bear Valley this quarter.  This enables me to put my full attention toward the work in Conifer.  The only school related activity has been working out some details for several campaigns in which our students will work the middle of March.  If your congregation would be interested in having some Bear Valley students come to work with you in a campaign, please give me a call (Cell – 303-619-8802).

Thank you so much for the support that you give to me personally or to the Conifer congregation.  Without your help I would not be able to spend full time working for the Lord and the church in Conifer could not work in these mountain communities.  If you have any questions about my work or the work of the Conifer church, please feel free to contact me through my cell phone (303-619-8802).

In Christian Love,

Wayne Burger