May 31, 2010 …dwelling in the secret place

This is not a very long update but it is most certainly long overdue. We’ve been home for about a month and it has been a great time of seeking the Lord. He has given me a new burden for lost souls and how critically important it is to get the Good News preached to all nations. It has also been a wonderful time to be with my family, preach in local churches, and have dear fellowship with local believers. We are all together again as a family and it is so sweet, but sorrow-full as well.  My dad is still very ill and is ailing from Alzheimers.  It is a very difficult time for us all and especially of course for my mother.  Please pray for my mom.  Pray for her to be a bold witness through all this.  Pray that the Lord gives her peace and that her eyes are set upon Christ Jesus.  She is an extremely strong believer and her trust is in Christ, praise the Lord Jesus!  At this rate though it looks as though she may not be able to join us for our daughter’s wedding, but we will just give it all to the Lord… Eliza is back from school which is really just the best blessing and with her getting married in July these surely are some of our last times together as just the four of us. Eliza is marrying a God fearing man. He has no King but Christ in his life and absolutely loves Eliza. Our morning devotions have been wonderful.  Lisa and I are celebrating our twenty second year of marriage at the end of this week.  The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful help meet.  I don’t take marriage for granted and I pray that I can exemplify Christ in our marriage as He commands me to do.

Our plans for NYC are different this summer. The last two summers we have spent much of our time in NYC preaching in the open air and witnessing to lost souls. This summer it looks like we will not be there as much.  Thankfully there will be men to pick up where the Lord had us.  I have been able to go to NYC twice since being home so that has been wonderful.  The most recent time was just a couple of days ago.  I lost my voice however, after only two days.  We preached practically non stop which included preaching on the subways, ferries, Battery Park, and of course my favorite, Union Square.  It does not appear as though we have sound permits for Union Square this year but it did not slow us down from sharing the gospel and the response was pretty much the same as usual… large crowds.

Prior to coming home a month or so ago, we were on the road for approximately eight months. Much of that time was spent pulling a travel trailer across the country. We preached in 25 states and traveled through many more, preached in five countries, drove 28,000 miles, preached in 12 churches, 2 abortion mills, 43 college campuses (many of them more than one day and several for a few days), traveled to the UK twice. We preached repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. We preached against cultural Christianity, and preached to professors, athletes, atheists, angry christians, and loving sinners, wealthy people and poor people, evolutionists, women that kill their babies, feminists, humanists, backsliders, Harley riders, old, fat, skinny, tall, short, proud, blasphemers, and back biters. We preached the joy of knowing Jesus and what it means to have counted the cost and being born again. We preached the law to the proud and the grace of God to the humble. We preached that the narrow way to God is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and that without repentance there will be no salvation.

So we press on and our days are surely resting in the Lord.  I pray that we are dwelling in that secret place…

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. Psalm 91

One of my strongest prayers and most fervent is that the Lord would save souls.  That Jesus Christ in these last days would be lifted up and show Himself strong. That mankind would humble themselves in His sight and be broken and contrite.  That true repentance and faith would dwell in the lives of men and that faith in Christ would be the only thing that men are trusting in.  I realize that in my own life that a cost has been asked of me.  I realize that the cost is my life.  I am commanded to surrender.  I heard one man say recently that this is a war that can only be won by giving up.  I pray that I will understand that coming after Christ means dying.  That I must deny what I want and give it all to Him.  That in following Him, He will give me the strength, and the words and the courage, and the means to carry on.  My prayer is that the Lord would allow my life to count for something glorifying to Him.  That I live above reproach, not lukewarm, not compromised.  Oh, Lord have mercy on me a sinner and give me utterance to speak your truth into the lives of so many lost souls.  Allow this feeble man to be an encouragement to the saints.  Lord, may you be blessed!  Amen.

This photo is of the abortion clinic in Orlando where Scott and Patte Smith have been going for years.  The man in the white t-shirt brought his girlfriend here to murder her baby.  Many of the conversations we have with people are actually quite cordial. And some turn away! But man I spoke to after I shared the gospel with him said he was a Christian but that he just didn’t want the baby.  He was going to have his girlfriend kill her baby… sad, that “christians” are killing babies.

Murder Mill in Orlando Florida

Jesse Boyd and his family have a ministry called Full Proof Gospel Ministries.  We got to visit Jesse and his family along with his parents and his brother and their church while we were in North Carolina.  We really had a great time worshipping together and going out intot he streets to share the Good News. Jesse is currently in Canada traveling with his six year old daughter and Bishnu from Nepal.  His wife and other children will be joining them soon. Jesse and Bishnu translate the Bible into Nepalese.  You can learn more about FPGM by going to this site. click HERE.

The Boyd Family from Full Proof Gospel Ministries

Kris Estep is a man that I have met on a couple of occasions.  He is a young pastor that loves to share the Gospel with people. He drove to meet me at Appalacian State University along with Jesse Boyd and another brother.  We had a smaller crowd but many great questions.  So many of the students are smoking pot, getting drunk, sleeping around… and they for the most part reject Christ because they would rather sin than serve Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.  Many are even calling themselves christians.

Evangelist Kris Estep

Shawn Holes preaching at Appalachian State

Brad Grant and family live in Wisconsin and Brad is a bold brother that wants to serve Jesus Christ with all his heart.  He has run into some persecution for wanting to tell people about the only way to heaven.  We had wonderful fellowship with he and his family.  After meals he would open his Bible and give a lesson to the children.  It was so encouraging to see them all sit quietly and behave while they were being taught. We then would sing hymns!  Oh how beautiful.

Grant Family in Wisconsin

This is a photo of my family minus our daughter, my brother’s wife and their daughter.  But we had a great time. I was allowed to share a resurrection Sunday message at my Mom and Dad’s home to my family, praise the Lord.  My dad is not in good health so it would have been VERY difficult to get him all ready and out the door and off to church.  So we worshipped at home.

Holes Family minus a couple people that couldn't be there

Eliza and friends at bible college (they all wore yellow for the photo!)

Lisa and Will at the local restaurant here in Saranac Lake NY

The Buffalo Valley Church comes to NYC to do outreach and were kind enough to ask me to join them. We had a great day in Washington Square Park singing, witnessing, and preaching.  The young people from this church all sing and from my perspective I believe they have great voices.  It is a real witness to have Christians coming into this big city and sharing their faith so willingly.  As I have said before, NYC is untapped for evangelism.  We need more laborers to go into this great harvest field.

Washington Square Park

This is a photo of Caleb Green sharing the gospel to a group of people in Washington Square Park.  There were many questions and we have the answers through God’s Word!

Caleb in Washington Sq Park

I was asked to preach in a home church that Dale Demary has started.  It was great because these people are hungry for the Word of God and allowed me to preach.  Following my message we had a brief intermission and then Bishnu and Jesse Boyd, who were traveling through the area, shared about their ministries.

Bishnu in home church

Dale Demary

Jesse and Bishnu

Here are a few photos from the most recent trip I just took to NYC… This first photo is of me preaching for approximately an hour, and then the crowd gathered which is the second photo of course.  Many people will ask me how do you get crowds.  Well, my answer to that is to keep preaching!  Keep preaching, keep preaching, keep preaching.

"before" in Union Square, NYC

"After" in Union Square, NYC

Jeff from Ohio preaching on the ferry for his very first time. He came to the city with a small group of believers to go out with Tom Kiser. Tom was kind enough to allow me to tag along.

Saints from Ohio, my son Will, Tom Kiser hitting the streets of NYC

Captain Hook ended up giving his life to the Lord! This man really only has one arm.

Tom Kiser from Go Forth Alliance preaching in the open air in Battery Park NY

Well, may the Lord bless you.  Please contact us for prayer or if you feel lead please leave your comments on the comments section of these updates.  Thank you for your financial support.  You know we press on with your help.  Without it we stand still.  So thank you so very much.

Blessings,

Shawn and family