Prayer Letter 1st Quarter 2024

There have been so many opportunities to minister in the last quarter that looking back it seems more like 6 months than 3. We started out the new year on January 1st finishing up with the last night of the New Year’s Revival at Calvary Baptist Church in Evening Shade, AR. This allowed us to spend a couple of days at home before heading out Thursday to Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Fairview, NC for a Friday night service. This was our first time being with Pastor Reeves and meeting the folks at Pleasant Grove. The Lord moved in the service in a refreshing way, and it was a great start to the new year. Brother Reeves and his dear wife were very kind to us, and we are very thankful for this new friendship. The Lord has given us several opportunities lately to be in churches and hold services on Fridays or Saturdays and it has been a great blessing to be able to minister in more churches since there are only 52 Sundays and Wednesdays in a year. The following Sunday – Wednesday we were with our family at Bethany Independent Baptist Church in Courtland, MS for their anniversary revival. It’s always a blessing when we get to be with them. There were a lot of illnesses going around this winter and that next week we spent back at home in Arkansas recovering. We then spent January 21-24 at the Blessed Hope Baptist Campmeeting in Alvarado, TX before making our way over to Tuscaloosa, AL to finish out the week with a Friday -Sunday meeting at Rice’s Valley Baptist Church. We had planned to also attend a campmeeting at Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Blountsville, AL, but because sickness hit us again we had to unexpectedly travel back home to spend the week recovering. Sunday February 4th we were privileged to be back with the folks at New Testament Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL. It was a blessing to preach in the morning service and listen as Benjamin preached the evening service. It was also good to see Pastor Roan, who has been recovering from complications caused by cancer, as he was able to attend the morning service. We got word later that he was able to preach the next Sunday for the first time in over 2 years. That Monday – Thursday we were in campmeeting at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lake City, FL. On Saturday we were honored to attend and
play music for the wedding of our friends Ralph and Lisa Easterling in Canton, OH. Sunday, February 11th, once again Benjamin and I both had opportunities to preach in the morning and evening services at Open Door Baptist Church in North Canton, OH. That Wednesday, February 14th, we had the opportunity to sing and preach in a Valentine’s banquet at Southwest Baptist Church in Brunswick, OH. The people went out of their way to be a blessing by putting us in a hotel for the days we had between meetings and even allowed us to use their bus shop and tools to change out the brakes on our van. From Ohio we went down to Mt Carmel Baptist Church in Flat Rock, NC to sing in the last night of their revival. It was good to see friends there and it was a blessing to hear Bro Bobby Barnes preach. That Sunday, February 18th, we started a week of revival at Ft. Dade Baptist Church in Dade City, FL. The meeting was scheduled to end on Thursday, but Pastor Oxendine felt led to extend the meeting one more night. That Saturday night and Sunday morning we sang and preached at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Intercession City, FL and Sunday night we sang, and Benjamin preached at Campbell City Baptist Church in Kissimmee, FL.

That following Friday – Sunday, we sang each night and had the opportunity to preach during one of the morning services at Bible Believers Baptist Church in Joplin, MO. That Sunday night we headed home so we could sing on Monday and Tuesday during a meeting at Heritage Baptist Church in Mountain View, AR. It was good to get to spend a few nights at home and a wonderful blessing to be at our home church, Arbanna Baptist Church, that Wednesday. Thursday, we drove down to Evans, LA and sang and had an opportunity to preach during their missions conference services that ran through the following Sunday. If your church is not actively involved in world missions, we’d love an opportunity to personally come or recommend someone else to come present faith promise mission giving and how it can grow the
faith of your people as well as equip you to fulfill your duty to the Great Commission. That Sunday, March 10th, the conference ended with the morning service, so that afternoon we dropped in on Fundamental Baptist Church in Livingston, LA. It was a pleasant surprise to see that we had many friends who were members there. We really enjoyed their choir singing and the message preached by a visiting missionary. Bro. Powell and Pastor Wampler were very gracious to us and had our family sing and even gave us a love offering! That night our friend, Evangelist Caleb Lindsey, and his family took us out for supper. What a blessing! After supper, we drove over to Picayune, MS, where Pastor Wilson allowed us to spend the night in one of Heritage Baptist Church’s mission apartments. God’s people are always so kind to us, and their help in the ministry is such an encouragement to keep going down the road in our efforts to serve the Lord. Monday morning, March 11th, we left Picayune, and drove over to Valley, AL for the Chattahoochee Valley Campmeeting at Emmanuel Baptist Church. We got there just in time for the evening service. We had opportunities to sing and preach during the meeting and it’s always a blessing to be with Pastor White, Bro. Trenton, and everyone at Emmanuel. The meeting ended on Thursday evening. Our motorhome had been parked at Emmanuel since we passed through back in February coming out of Florida, so Friday morning we packed it up and drove over to Bemiss Road Baptist Church in Valdosta, GA. We sang in the final service of their Jubilee meeting. On the way over we picked up a nail in one of our bus tires. By the time we arrived at the church it had lost quite a bit of air pressure. After the service we aired up the tire and headed over to a tire repair shop that was open 24 hours, because we had planned to drive through the night to reach our next appointment. At 3am that same tire blew out on I75 in Locust Grove, Georgia. We had to call roadside assistance and it turned out that the young man who came out to help us had been fasting and searching out how to know God. There was much difficulty in getting the spare out from under the front of the bus and then changing the blown-out tire, and because of this he and I talked for nearly two and a half hours on the side of the interstate about how he could know God. Please pray for Alex, and that God would continue to draw and convict him. After we got the spare on, we drove to the next exit and a few hours later we had someone come and replace the two tag-axle tires on our motorhome. When this was finished, we stopped at a Chic-fil-A and as we were walking in a local pastor and his wife pulled up to us in their vehicle and asked if we were the Ellis Family. He then explained that we had some mutual friends and paid for our lunch. You can’t make this stuff up! We then left Georgia and were able to make the 8-hour drive on-time to our next meeting in Brookhaven, MS. We enjoyed preaching and singing for the revival that week at Grace Baptist Church. Before we left, they gave us a special offering to help with the tires on our motorhome. When we purchased it, they all looked to be in good shape, but 6 of them were 9 years old, and this may have been a contributing factor to the blowout we had experienced on the way there. After we left Brookhaven, we drove up to Batesville, MS and purchased 4 more tires. The people at the tire shop were very kind to us and did not charge us any labor for installing them or for moving the other tires around to where they would be best suited on our bus. When I picked up the motorhome from the tire shop, I was reminded that I had mentioned to God not long ago that his tires on his motorhome needed replacing and I didn’t know how we could possibly afford it. If I could have paid for it sooner, we would most likely have not spent most of a night on the side of the Interstate, but we also would not have been able to witness to Alex. I wonder how many times we’ve jumped ahead of God and missed out on some opportunity he had planned for us. We then left Mississippi and headed over to Ringgold, GA for Bible Baptist Church’s Jubilee meeting. There were some great messages preached and a lot of good fellowship. That Friday, March 29th, we drove up to Rushville, IN and arrived just in time to change clothes and set up our sound for the service that night. We finished out the month of march there with them. On that Resurrection Sunday morning a young man, who had walked quite a distance to the church, came to the altar and trusted in Christ! It was a blessing to hear Bro. Chris Simpson preach that morning and Benjamin had the privilege of preaching in the local nursing home that afternoon.

We are currently in Indianapolis, Indiana and have had several good meetings that we will talk about in our 2nd quarter prayer letter. This month we have meetings scheduled in Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, and Alabama. We are also preparing for Brinly and Myca Kaiser’s wedding coming up in May. I’m verry thankful that we are all healthy now after fighting illnesses from Dec – Feb. Please continue to pray for our health and safety, and that we would make the most of every opportunity that God affords us. Also please pray with us about a minivan and tow dolly. Currently anytime we use the motorhome, one of the boys will follow us in our 15-passenger van. We have an older Honda Accord at home and tried having them follow in it to save fuel, but it was nearly impossible for us to cram into it to run errands when necessary. With the right minivan we will save much fuel and should be able to tow our enclosed trailer on trips where we do not need the motorhome. The LORD is good, and it is such a pleasure to get to be in his service. Thank you for your prayer and support.

Prayer requests –
Souls – We thank God for the souls we’ve seen saved in 2023,
help us pray for many more this year.
Health – many needs for existing conditions and that we would stay
healthy while coming into contact with so many people.
Wedding – Brinly Ellis and Myca Kaiser, May 2024
Travel Safety – we travel many thousands of miles per month.
Van – We are praying for a Honda Odyssey (with a towing hitch on the back) to
tow behind our motorhome. We will also need a tow dolly.
Monthly Support – We currently have three churches that support our ministry
efforts monthly. It is a great help to us.

Thank you for praying for us,

The Ellis Family
Jonathan, Misty, Brianna, Caleb, Benjamin, Brinly, and Joshua
Preaching & Singing for his Glory!
1 Chronicles 16:9
www.ellisfamilygospelministries.co