Western Tour 2009

Upon our arrival back from Hawaii in September, we had some very good meetings in Colorado and Wyoming. At Fort Collins, Colorado, we were with Pastor Jeff Redlin and the people of Front Range Baptist Church. Bro. Jeff was youth pastor at the Campus Church when we were at PCC. It was neat to work together as friends and co-laborers.

In Wyoming, we were in two first-time churches for our team: Calvary Baptist in Casper and Wapiti Valley near Cody. We really enjoyed ministering in this beautiful state to some very dear people.

While in Wyoming, our two families took a side trip to Yellowstone National Park. What a wonderful place to visit! We did some camping in tents, witnessed bull elk bugling for their cows, saw lots of bison roaming the range, and took some short hikes to geysers and thermal pools. It was great.

We spent about two months in California preaching in six different churches and speaking once at West Coast Baptist College for a chapel. A highlight of that stretch of ministry came during our eight-day meeting at Calvary Baptist in Oroville, California. Pastor Doug Taylor has faithfully served this church body for over thirty years. We’ve been with him every other year since 1994 and this was our best meeting yet. There were sixteen people (children, teens, and adults) who called on Christ as Savior! (See The Tozour Times article for details).

While in California, Mom Tozour came to visit us. My mother hadn’t been out to California since 1976. We had a wonderful time taking her to Yosemite National Park and to the sights in San Francisco.

We took a long trip to preach at Galilee Baptist in Kent, Washington. Along the thousand-mile journey, we took U.S. Hwy 101 up the Oregon Coast. What a gorgeous stretch of road! The scenery is spectacular.

In September Rich took a weekend flight to Chicago to preach at FARMTASTIC, a teen rally hosted by First Baptist of Rochelle, Illinois. There were about 600 in attendance from dozens of churches in the Midwest. Many good decisions were made including a number of teens trusting Christ as Savior. Praise the Lord for the hard work that Pastor Doug Cowan and his people put into this annual outreach.

We had a brief meeting on the Navajo reservation at Bible Baptist Shepherd Church (Standing Rock, NM), November 8-10. It was our thirteenth visit in sixteen years with our dear friends, the Foersters, and their flock of faithful members. We then drove back to our home church, and Briana and I (Rich) flew up to Alaska on November 14 for a meeting at Bible Baptist in Chugiak (near Anchorage). Talk about a great dad-and- daughter outing! Briana got to visit her 50 th state by age thirteen. I took her on a day-trip to Seward, on a sledding outing down a mile-long trail, and on her first-ever ski trip! We even saw a moose a half hour after we arrived in Anchorage! Briana also played here first solo piano offertory and accompanied us on her ukulele when we sang a duet in church one night. Pastor Tim Page was very pleased with the meeting. We thank the Lord for His powerful working and for the privilege to serve Him.

We were able to be home in Kansas City for two-and-a-half weeks and won’t be home again until June. It was our joy to spend time with friends and have the opportunity to minister in our church while there. They certainly embrace us as family even though we’re in and out rather quickly whenever we’re home.

We’re off to Maryland for our last week of meetings this year. We’ll be in Mooresville, North Carolina, for Christmas with my mom and sisters.

Our prayer is that you will all have a wonderful Christmas as you rejoice in the fact that “God…sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:10). If you don’t know the Lord Jesus as your own Savior, if you’re not absolutely certain that you will go to Heaven someday and that you presently have a right relationship with God, our prayer is for your greatest need. What is any human’s greatest need? To know that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners (Luke 19:10), to save each of us. If you never have done this, won’t you call upon our dear Lord to save you. Romans 10:9 declares “that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Verse 13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23), will make this the BEST CHRISTMAS ever!