We praise the Lord for putting us in the ministry! God is so good to us! Back in January, Carson’s doctors recommended one year of ABA therapy for him, which is a 36 hour per week therapy! At the time we felt that if we never gave Carson this opportunity, we would always regret it. So we prayed for months about timing. Then God made it obvious when COVID-19 hit. In March, our meetings began canceling (It is hard to do ministry in public schools when schools are closed!). So we went to Florida for 3 weeks, and some great friends of ours and very gifted men helped convert our bus into a hauler for our fifth wheel! The F550 Shuttle Bus is ready to go, and we are very excited about that! In April, our pastor, Dr. Johnny Pope, graciously gave us a job as Youth Pastor here at Christchurch Baptist Fellowship in Houston, TX. So Carson could get his therapy done, and we could also have ministry as well! Only God could have worked this out for us so well! We drop Carson off at ABA therapy Mon-Fri from 9:00am-4:00pm. While in that building, they coordinate his Physical, Speech, and Occupational therapies multiple times a week too. God opened the door for us to rent a house (first time in our 9.5 years of marriage to live in a house) that is only 10 minutes from the church and 8 minutes from therapy. The family is really enjoying a backyard and room to play.
All of us have been limited in ministry opportunities, but God has still opened many doors. Two twins got saved and baptized this summer. We were able to take the teens to camp in Arkansas, and we had a couple saved there along with a great reviving work in our youth group! They got some things right with each other and then began getting burdened for souls. One teen girl was baptized shortly after camp. The teen testimony service after camp was so specific and God-honoring. The teens one by one kept saying, “The preacher preached on ___, and God spoke to me about ___.” Several adults said it was the best testimony service they had ever been to! A dad, mom, and teen girl showed up a week or 2 later on a Sunday night. He said, “We have been watching services online for 2 months, and after this morning’s message we had to come! Our daughter watched the teen testimony service and told us, ‘My friends don’t talk about God like that. Those girls walk with God.’ So she wants to be a part of the youth group!” They joined and have been very faithful since!
We held a VBS and teen rally in July, and God used the teens to bring 29 visitors! We had 79 attend the rally with 7 teens, 1 adult, and 13 kids saved! One of those teens, Nate, got baptized, and I do not think Nate has missed a service! He is growing in the Lord, takes notes every message, and is singing in the choir! His younger sister got saved on Saturday at our Fall Fest! Another teen girl that was saved has come to several services and activities since. One teen came to the rally that said they simply received a postcard on their door! His younger sister got saved on Thursday VBS. She got so burdened for her friend that they drove 1.5 hrs to bring her home so she could be at VBS the next morning. The mom was telling this to Joy, and Joy asked her if she wanted to get saved too. She said, “Yes,” and Joy led her to Christ Thursday night. That friend got saved Friday morning as well! That family has been attending on and off. We are still praying for the teen guy and dad to get saved. We have had several returning visitors for services.
We had to cancel in person services for about 3 weeks in August because we had a COVID-19 outbreak. I tested positive, and my wife and kids got it as well. We only had symptoms for about 5 days, and they were very mild. Thank the Lord! We all tested negative and have had no long-term effects since!
We have 3 families join in the last couple of months and another attending every service. We have had several baptized too! During September, we were really limited in our activities, so I spent the month planning for the Fall and also building an Escape Room. We had 72 teens go through it, and they brought 16 visitors that day. Four of them have expressed interest in getting saved, but we have not been able to follow up with them yet. The rest of our church is working on bringing visitors to the Escape Room as well, and our College and Career group is planning to go through on Saturday with their guests. The vast majority of people who have gone through it say it is better than the commercial ones they have done, even though it’s free; so if you are in town, you need to go through it!
On the first Sunday night in September, one of our teen girls brought a visiting teen girl, Bryn. It was a game night, and she jumped right into the games. The teens were so warm and friendly to her, and she had a wonderful time. She was excited to come back for Youth Group on Wednesday. I preached the gospel as part of my message and she responded and got saved! She has come to most services, takes notes, and is really growing in the Lord! She has brought her mom to a couple of services, and on the Sunday morning she got baptized she brought 9 guests!
On Saturday, our church held our annual Fall Fest. We had hundreds come through for the pumpkin decorating, face painting, trunk or treats, 500 hotdogs/chips, and the 5 massive inflatables! We ran out of food after 2 hours! Joy and I also held 3 illusion shows with the gospel. A few hundred of the guests attended those, and we had 9 saved! We are organizing follow-up for this Saturday morning. This Sunday-Wednesday our church is having revival meetings.
It took several weeks, but we are finally seeing some specific progress with Carson. He is standing much better now. They have made a Velcro board that has different pictures on it, like for his food dish, his music device, and his toys. He is getting better at touching one when we wants it. They have him touch the food dish before he takes he bite of food, and he is really understanding that one so much that he pulls that pic completely off the board! He has gotten into one of his upset moods the last week or so; so please pray that he will walk, that he understands how to communicate with his Velcro board, and that they find ways to help him when he gets really upset. Also please continue to pray for our youth group. We have some who are struggling with specific sin. We have some who need to be saved. We have some that need to get sold out. But we are so thrilled to be able to watch God work right before our eyes! We are so thankful for your prayers for us, for being able to serve God and get Carson help, and for the much fruit God is giving.
Preaching the Gospel,
Evangelist David and Joy Corn
II Cor. 12:9
(713) 857-7206 *
10310 Sablebrook Ln; Houston, TX 77095 *
corndm@yahoo.com *
Copyright 2012 David Corn