Ted Williams with Carol Bolden – Arkansas Valley, Colorado … Attendance at the Arkansas Valley church, like many other churches, was negatively affected by Covid, even after its wane. But despite the decline in attendance, the small group has a zeal to share the gospel. When the Arkansas Valley Chamber of Commerce held their Settler’s Day event, the group jumped at the opportunity to spread God’s love, sharing a booth with the First Christian Church.
As they rubbed shoulders with other Christians, they enjoyed talking and praying with many event-goers who sign were given the opportunity to win a set of the Conflict of the Ages book series and an Under the Influence of Jesus T-shirt. There were 27 individuals who signed up for the books, and 60 people, for the T-shirt.
With the list in hand, the church group gathered to pray over the names for several weeks. Everyone who signed up for the items won, meaning they needed 27 sets of books, but when they contacted the ABC to purchase them, they discovered that the Conflict series in that set was out of print, making even the sale on E. G. White books useless.
While paperback books were available, the group decided that using paperback instead of the hardback set displayed at the booth was not a good representation of God. It was important to them to find hardback sets to share.
They started calling around including the Georgia-Cumberland Conference. There, they found even fancier books than Pacific Press Publishing at $120/set. They were, however, meant for the Conference constituents, and anyone able to authorize the purchase by an out-of-conference entity was in Nepal sick with Covid. Ultimately, approval was given for 27 sets to be sold at $60 each.
Arkansas Valley church often worried about money even though their pastor, Ted Williams, continued to tell them that God didn’t need their money to get His work done. He promised that the money for the books would not come from the church budget and that God would provide.
While visiting in Denver, Williams met with a high school chum and shared the book saga, although never revealing anything about the costs involved. At the end of their second lunch, his friend followed him out to his car. “I want to bless you, Ted,” he said. He held out his hand holding a crumpled piece of paper. It was a check for the exact amount of money to pay for those books, right to the penny.
The same group of people who prayed for those who signed up for the book sets, gathered again in teams to deliver the books. It didn’t take long to get all sets delivered.
Meeting with contest “winners”, the delivery people thanked them for the privilege of meeting with them, asking if they could check in a few months to see if they had questions. They did the same with those who received T-shirts.
The deliveries were complete, Arkansas Valley members were prepared to visit again after several months—another step toward introducing them to Jesus and helping the church come alive again, more awake, interested, and involved.
–Ted Williams as told to Carol Bolden. Photo supplied.
