ABOUT SPIRITUAL GROWTH MINISTRIES Our History -- Our Purpose  Thanks for caring enough to visit this web site. We want you to know something of the history and purpose of this ministry. We are not seeking any glory for ourselves, nor are we trying to compete with any other apostolic web sites. It is our desire to serve the Church of Jesus Christ in any way that we can. Spiritual Growth Ministries was founded long before we ever owned a computer. On several of our web sites, I mention an experience that took place in my life while pastoring the UPC fellowship in Stuttgart, Germany. I had experienced little or no spiritual growth for many years. In fact, in some ways I had gone backwards. It wasn't that I didn't pray and fast -- because I have always tried to do these things. When God gave me the Holy Ghost, He blessed me with an intense spiritual thirst, and other people among us, such as Cleveland Becton, J. T. Pugh, Billy Cole, Vesta Mangun, James Kilgore, and many others, have been used of God to help build upon this spiritual foundation. My major problem was that I had been raised in an environment in which I did not receive the love that I needed--and because of this I did not love myself. (Many of you will see yourself in this testimony.) Because I did not love myself, I did not believe God was going to speak to me personally, and reveal the deep things of His Word to me. The book The Power of Love (formerly entitled Pretty Bird) tells of the beautiful experience I received in Germany which not only changed my life, but the lives of many, many people. Out of a church of approximately 200, thirty-two men are preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ today. That's sixteen percent of our congregation, and includes most of our present-day leaders in Malaysia! Let me assure you that if you are all bottled up on the inside, Jesus wants to help you. And that is one of the primary goals of Spiritual Growth Ministries. In 1981, we became missionaries to Singapore, founding the work that is now pastored by Missionary Steve Willoughby (although they changed the structure and name of the Church). (Let me hasten to add that the Willoughbys have done a fantastic work, since taking over the church in 1991.) In 1983, I wrote the book Pretty Bird, which is an account of the "happenings" in Germany. There was a deep desire for us to distribute this book more widely--and other material that the Lord was constantly giving me. (When He finally got me out of the spiritual rut I was in, it has been "the school of learning" ever since!) In 1984, I formed "Spiritual Growth Ministries" as a means of distributing Pretty Bird, and sharing other beautiful things that God was teaching us. At that time I began publishing a little magazine that we called, The Disciple. This was distributed only to a limited number of Americans. The chief reason for the magazine was to help our converts in Singapore, and Malaysia (where we also helped to found the work) experience spiritual maturity. A few years later, I wrote Love Lessons, a book that God has used greatly, as well as Pretty Bird. Also, during the first few years of our ministry in Singapore we developed a Bible Course, which we called "Living Logos International Bible Course." This course has been translated into several languages, and used in several countries of the world today. A few years ago, I was getting ready to return to the United States with a "ministry-ending" case of cancer. However, God told me to go to East Malaysia first, and seek His face. During the two months I was in Sabah, on the island of Borneo, the Lord gave me the material for my book "Turn Up The Heat." I have sold over 10,000 copies of this book, which is a good number, considering it is only being distributed and advertised among our own church members. You can read my testimony of healing by clicking on the link "Healed of Cancer" on my home page. We are celebrating at this time of the year three years of being cancer free, and since that time we have written seven other books! God is good!! At the end of last year, I commissioned one of the men in our church here in Alexandria to build a web site for me. The major purpose was to sell books. We had just resigned from twenty-one years as missionaries, and had returned to America to preach Prayer Revivals. After only two or three months, God led me to take over the web pages myself, and change it more into a ministry. (Also, I was not able to pay the monthly fee and the cost of having someone else building my web pages.) I had to purchase software and equipment -- and learn the HTML languages at the "young" age of 63 years old. A burden for souls in East Malaysia had helped me to learn the Malay language after I was already past fifty years old. So the same kind of burden is helping me to reach out to others through the means of the internet! We have now been on the internet for 18 months. At the present we are already one of the largest apostolic websites, to which we give glory to God. We arfe averaging more than 100 "hits" a day, for which we are thankful. (You home mission pastors can identify with preparing spiritual food, and only a few show up!) a. To strengthen the body of Christ by providing: spiritual growth lessons, leadership lessons, children's stories, prayer lessons, and much more. b. To provide a place for the enjoyment of good Christian music (Music Room, SGM Internet "Radio,") and videos (Apostolic Audio & Video). c. To provide prayer opportunities for people to get involved in united prayer for given needs (Prayer Room.) d. To provide free study resources (Study Room), so that every Christian, whether he is a leader or not, can become more acquainted with the Word of God. e. To provide resources (Audio Bible, Daily Devotionals), so that families can have a daily time of prayer and devotion together. (The family that PRAYS together, STAYS together.) f. To help put so much "good stuff" on the internet that our families (adults and children) will not be hunting for trash! Our latest addition is "Living Logos" Apostolic Online Bible School. Click here for more information. This is just a partial list of the things we are trying to do by God's help. We are not trying to compete with any church or apostolic organization. We are just trying to minister to the body of Christ in the best way we know how.
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