March Prayer Letter

March 2024 

Dear Praying Friends,

 

He was a volunteer. While many (including myself) waited uneasily for the call, he followed Isaiah’s example and simply said, “Here am I, Lord, send me.” My father-in-law, Dean McClure, spent the past 60 years serving God; first in the US and then for the last 58 years as a missionary to Brazil.

 

Dean learned the Portuguese language fluently and spoke like a Brazilian. He immersed himself in the history, culture, sports, food, music and mindset of the Brazilians. As a result, he was very effective in his ministry to that nation. The McClures established 20 Baptist churches which are all under national leadership and financing and still faithfully preaching the gospel. They established a Bible Institute where many pastors, preachers, Christian workers and their wives have been trained. They won thousands to Christ and what is absolute proof of the value of their ministry, while the first generation they won and trained are passing off the scene, the children and grandchildren of those pastors and their wives are now leading those churches and establishing more!

 

God called Dean McClure home to be with Him April 4, 2024. We are sad for us but rejoice for him! He was faithful to Christ all the way to the end. In the hospital, he witnessed to doctors and nurses, at home from his wheelchair, he made sure that the pastors and their churches had thousands of tracts for evangelization. His burden for the Brazilian people and his love for the Lord Jesus Christ were clearly evident in his life. Our world is still in great need but the laborers are few. What about you? Would you be a volunteer? Would you trust the Lord and say, “Here am I Lord, send me.”?

 

Thankful for the volunteer,

 

Mark Hale

Dean and Deloris McClure in 1966, just before leaving for Brazil

The McClures in 1982

Dean McClure preaching in 2001

Deloris and Dean in May 2023

February 2024

February Prayer Letter

 February 2024

 

Dear Praying Friends,

 

He was scheduled for a procedure that Friday, so asked for us to come over to see him. We had a good conversation and since he was a bit nervous about the upcoming hospital visit, we had a time of prayer at the end. He gripped my hand and said, “I am looking forward to Sunday!” Why is that? I asked not sure what he was referring to. “My procedure is on Friday but on Sunday, I get to go home!” he answered with a smile.

 

His procedure went well and all seemed fine; he was stable and scheduled to go home on Sunday. But on Saturday night, he closed his eyes in the hospital room and opened them to his new eternal home in heaven! That Sunday, he was able to worship the Lord in person!

 

None of us know when the date of our departure will be. If we knew that our departure was this Saturday night, how would that affect our choices for the rest of this week? What would we value differently? How would we talk and what would we do knowing that our departure was this Saturday night? David said it best in 1 Samuel 20:3 “...there is but a step between me and death.”

 

May each of us value the things that are of heaven and not the things that are of earth. May we all honestly say, “I am looking forward to Sunday!”

 

Life is but a vapor,

 

Mark Hale

January Prayer Letter

 January 2024

 

Dear Praying Friends,

 

Years ago, I knew a pastor who had spent 13 years in the gulags of Russia for the testimony of Christ. He said, “When they arrested me, the first thing they did was take away my Bible. It wasn’t long before I realized how little of God’s word I had because I had not memorized much of the Scriptures. I vowed to the Lord that if He ever allowed me to be freed, I would memorize as much of the Bible as I could so that the next time I am imprisoned, I will have more of God’s Word with me!”

 

His testimony convicted me; how much of God’s Word had I memorized? How much of the Holy Scriptures would I have if they confiscated my Bible? I determined to strive even more to memorize God’s Word while I had the opportunity. I recently read that the only Bible North Korean Christians have is what they have memorized and passed on to other believers. In the Communist translation of the “Bible”, the names of their dictators replace

God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit!

 

As we begin this new year, may we each value God’s Word as the eternal treasure that it is! May we strive to read and obey the Bible daily and memorize more and more of it so that we can share the good news of Jesus Christ with our dark and hopeless world!

 

So thankful for God’s Word!!

 

Mark Hale