Rangers at it again...
** "THE LAST BEST THING" DISTRIBUTED TO FIRE VICTIMS
After a forest fire wiped out more than 5,000 acres of land and
destroyed 30 building structures on an Indian reservation in
northeast Arizona, the White Mountain Apache Indian Tribe asked
Whiteriver Assembly of God to be the main distribution point for
emergency food and clothing. Thanks to Royal Rangers, the
Assemblies of God ministry to boys, every bag of supplies that
was handed out included "The Last Best Thing," a copy of the Book
of John.
This special edition of the Book of John includes preface pages
that discuss life issues and includes the plan of salvation.
"The Last Best Thing" was printed using funds raised by the Light
for the Lost Junior Councilmen program, a joint effort of the
national Light for the Lost and Royal Rangers departments.
More then 7,000 copies of the book were distributed through the
fire-relief ministry of Whiteriver Assembly of God. As a result,
at least eight people gave their hearts to the Lord, and new
families have been added to the church. In the midst of the
strife and tragedy, Pastor Robert Jimenez said the people also
learned to turn to God's Word for comfort and answers.
"One man in our church lost his home, and he said that if it
hadn't been for the Word, he would have never made it," Pastor
Jimenez said. "He lost everything. His whole life was gone.
Everything he had ever owned and everything he had ever
remembered were gone in a matter of 3 hours. If you could have
seen his house after the fire, all you would have seen is a pile
of ash and a basketball pole sticking out of the ground. He told
me that the only thing he had was the Word of God to replace
that emptiness."
The miraculous part of the story is that neither the church nor
Royal Rangers intended for the books to be used during the
fire-relief ministry. The initial plan was to provide Whiteriver
Assembly with 10,000 copies of the book for a Labor Day
evangelism outreach to the Indian reservation.
"But God's timing is always perfect," Jimenez said. "Within 48
hours of receiving the copies, we had an opportunity to
distribute the books and make a major impact on the reservation
since the people were hurting and their hearts were open. If it
weren't for Royal Rangers, we wouldn't have had copies of
the 'The Last Best Thing' to distribute to the hurting
Apache people."
Since the original plan was to distribute the books during an
evangelism outreach, the Royal Rangers provided Whiteriver with
more copies in addition to what was handed out during the
fire-relief ministry. About 30,000 people visit the Fort Apache
Indian Reservation on Labor Day. This year, about 10,000 of them
received a copy of "The Last Best Thing." Altogether, Whiteriver
Assembly distributed more than 15,000 copies of the book during
the summer.
Jimenez has heard nothing but good responses. "We still see
people sitting in their cars reading the book," he said. "I
believe this book has impacted thousands of people."
--Travis Spencer
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