God always provides for His children. Sometimes, He does so by mundane means, but sometimes He works in ways that can only be described as spectacular. What follows is a testimony taken from the Forums. We are posting it here as a public praise to our Lord, and to share the joy of our dear brother Steve Volante. --- doulos
Steve's First Letter - February 2007We have been praying for over two years now that God would give us the strength to build a building in Techiman to seat 1,000 people. Our church in Techiman has given sacrificially to missions knowing that we could not afford to build our own building so we might as well give all we have to push the mission works and trust God for a miracle -- and that He has!
During the conference in Mexico, a dear friend of MABMI and our ministry in Africa shook my hand and told me that God had laid it on his heart to give the first $50 towards the building in Techiman. Knowing this man and God's hand on his life, I was just a little disappointed; and it showed in my eyes. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Steve, what's the problem? You don't look too happy with the $50 gift!" I responded, "Well brother, it is going to take a lot of $50 bills to get the building built." He laughed a bit and asked me, "Steve, would it matter to you if the $50 I have promised to give was a gold coin?" In ignorance I replied, "Well, Brother Phil; gold, silver, copper, or paper -- 50 bucks is 50 bucks." His smile was now from ear to ear, and I was getting very interested in what he was about to say. Anyone this happy has got to have good news. "You don't know much about gold coins, do you Steve?" "No," I replied without hesitation and with great humility wanting him to hurry up and tell me the value of the coin he had just promised to give.
After a five minute class on "coins for dummies" (which seemed like forever as I waited to hear the value of the coin), I learned that the coin was minted in the late 1800's back before the United States government could keep up with minting enough coins for circulation. So the gold miners would mint some of their own. So this was Territorial gold from California. Still in the dark, I was thinking this coin has got to be worth 2-3 thousand dollars, so I was beginning to get a little more excited about the $50 gold coin. But when Phil shared with me that he had bought the coin for $80,000 dollars a few years back, and he hoped that it had increased in value over the years, so it could be worth $100,000. Hearing this, I suddenly become disoriented, and I put my hand in my pocket and pinched myself secretly to see if I was dreaming. When I felt the sting of the pain, I was for sure it was not a dream. I then fell into Phil's arms speechless! For those of you who really know me, that doesn't happen too often!!
What I heard next was priceless. "Steve, I love you. Thanks for your message last night, it touched my heart." Why is this statement so important to me? I know what I preached that night, and why I preached it. The message wasn't about giving to missions, but it was about trusting God even when it looks like He has failed you because He can't fail! You see, in my own heart, I had started to give up on ever being able to build a building in Techiman to seat 1,000 people; so I was preaching to encourage myself and every missionary and pastor who had come to the conference with a "Bloody Coat" of false evidence against God's ability to fulfill His promises to us. (See Genesis 37:31-36)
If you are having a tough week, remember, He can't fail!
Please rejoice with me and our entire church over a coin found in the hand of a man who renders to God the things that are God's.
May God increase his tribe.
Rejoicing!
Steve
Steve's Followup - April 2007I am back from Africa with wonderful news!
Easter Eve as I was preparing my heart for a great day of worship in Techiman, I received a loving phone call from Dr. Mike Patterson assuring me of His prayers for the coming day. He also alerted me that I needed to call a dear friend who undoubtedly had good news to share. As soon as I hung up with Brother Mike, I dialed Phil, "the coin man" to see what God had done with our gold coin. After warm greetings and questions about our loved ones, Phil asked me why I was calling. I told him that a bird had whispered in my ear that God had blessed and the coin had sold, but I didn't know the details ($$). So over the next few minutes, Phil told me the whole story, (like Paul Harvey would), how God had answered our prayers and the coin never went to an auction. I was pressing the phone so hard against my ear to hear every word; by the time I got off the phone my ear was burning. If I heard Phil right, and I hope I did, he told me the coin sold for $150,000. Pastor Jim Peterson was by my side listening to every word of the call. We fell to our knees and offered up sacrifices of praise to our wonderful God. Cement in Ghana has gone from just over $6 per bag to about $11 per bag. We knew the $100,000 would not be able to finish the building, but so did God! Please praise the Lord with me.
I am so glad that I was able to travel to Ghana for Easter. This year marked the 10-year anniversary of Laurie's death, and my heart was aching as the day approached. I begged God to sooth the pain in my heart by allowing me to see the fruit of this extravagant sacrifice, and that He did! On Easter I was able to look to the heavens and cry -- "Death is dead! And life Lives on!" Aren't you glad you know Jesus?
Here is what God did on Easter in just our Techiman church:
Calvary Baptist Church, Techiman (proper) - 1,240 people came / 87 people received Christ as Savior.
Calvary Baptist Church, Ahansua - 334 people came / 24 people received Christ as Savior.
Calvary Baptist Church, Toubodom - 1,000 people came / 30 people received Christ as Savior.
Calvary Baptist Church, Krobo - 275 people came / 5 people received Christ as Savior.
Calvary Baptist Church, Bonkwai - 550 people came / 14 people received Christ as Savior.
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Total - 3,400 people came / 160 people received Christ as Savior.
God is truly awesome in every sense!Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
