Three Fold Ministries

Ministry At the Prison (Rayburn Correctional Center)

2011-06-04T17:02:00.002-05:00

We have been blessed to minister at the prison in Angie, LA for 6 years. The Lord has allowed several of us to be involved in the Mentoring Program on Monday and Tuesday nights for the Faith Based Programs, working with about 15 inmates each night.

We have brought Motorcycles in twice a year, almost every year, for 6 years, served up to 1,000 hamburgers and had 700 to 800 inmates come to the worship services the last several years. Took motorcycles on the yards for the inmates to look at and give us an opportunity to invite them to the services and talk to them about Jesus.

We were able to have a 3 Day Discipleship Weekend, Friday night, Saturday 8AM to 8PM, and Sunday morning for about 3 years. We had between 75 and 110 men come and hear the word, discuss the Word, have the Lord's Supper, have foot washing and anoint and pray over every person, volunteers included. Had more food for them than they could eat. Each Sunday morning we would pick up hot donuts, cold milk, orange juice and fruit. Some of the men had not had hot donuts in 30 to 50 years!

We appear to be scheduled to have our last Saturday Worship Service June 11. And maybe still have the last 3 Day Weekend July 8,9,10.

We want to thank the Lord first and then the Warden, Chaplain, staff and all the people at Rayburn Correctional that have allowed us to minister in the facility for the past years!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

We all with Three Fold pray for God's blessings on each of you and your family, as we know this is a very trying time for each of you.

We want to thank all the inmate Chaplains that have worked hand in hand with us to accomplish God's purpose in RCC!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

We pray for God's blessings and favor all the Chaplains and all the inmates at Rayburn Correctional!

Ministering in Rajahmundry India w Pastors Abraham and Samuel

2011-05-30T21:36:00.006-05:00

The post is far behind schedule!

Steve flew into Rajahmundry India on April 24 and ministered with Pastor Abraham and Pastor Samuel until May 2. Sunday April 24 was Resurrection Sunday and I had the great privilege of preaching 3 times on the Celebration of Jesus Christ Resurrection from the grave!!! Praise the Lord!!

The Pastors and their families were very gracious hosts. They had a room and bathroom that was Westernized: air conditioning, shower, sink and a western toilet. Children running around that I was able to love and spoil. Wives that took care of me with wonderful food, cooked without as much curry as Indians eat.

The only problem about them cooking food that fit my pallet, is that I instead of losing weight, that I so needed to do, I gained weight. But it was fun gaining it!

We ministered with a Pastor's conference that was about 6 hours, conducted 2 Medical Camps that we offered free medical care to Hindus and Christians in several villages. The 2nd camp was held a little differently and I got to pray for almost everyone that got doctored on.

I was allowed to preach up to 6 times a day and for a man who is not a preach, I had a fantastic time. The scripture that Jesus told his disciples to trust in the Holy Spirit and he would give the messages, IS TRUE. The Lord gave me different messages for every service.

God is SO GOOD!

Looking forward to the next trip to minister with Pastor Abraham and Pastor Samuel!!!

Love you Pastors, wives, children and all those we ministered with and to!!

Thanks for your love, care and hospitality!!

We are praying for God to do great things there, many to be saved and all to be discipled.

Victor David and Blessing met us at the train station in Rajahmundry on Monday May 2 and rode the train with them to Anakapolli.

I have 2 CDs of pictures and video from Rajahmundry, but I can't seem to get them into my computer, so the only pictures I have to upload are the ones from Anakapolli.

Williams Ray Update

2011-05-18T22:06:00.007-05:00

This is probably the hardest post we have ever written.

My wife and I have ministered with Williams Ray 3 times from May 2009 until October 2010. We saw and still see tremendous needs in all of India. The Lord directed for Three Fold Ministries to build an orphanage, put in a bore well and septic system so the children in the orphanage would be safe and healthier. In addition to helping the children we met other needs in the villages as the Lord directed.

The Lord has shown us that the people of India need Jesus Christ as their Savior. They will always have the poor and needy, they need Jesus.

Over the last year we have had disagreements with Williams Ray in regard to accountability, because of this and other problems we have made the decision to not minister with Williams Ray.

Steve made another trip to India and ministered with other Pastors in April and May 2011. We still believe God has called us to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to encourage, equip and love, the people of India.

Harrison Olan’g: an international Church in Tanzania

2011-03-19T11:15:00.000-05:00

Harrison Olan’g: an international Church in Tanzania

Meeting Francis and Harrison Olan'g

2011-03-19T10:30:00.006-05:00

A chance meeting in a Best Buy store in New Orleans turned into a wonderful 2 days for Steve and I.
As those of you who know Steve know, he likes to talk! (slight under exaggeration lol)
He struck up a conversation with a young man in the store and through this gift of gab found out this man was from Tanzania and knows one of our friends who had been a missionary in Tanzania for many years.
We found out later that Francis' father, Harrison Olan'g, would be in the area ( flying in from Tanzania) soon so Steve asked if they would like to come up and stay with us, come to our Monday night Bible Study and then go see Roger Swann, their missionary friend. They agreed. What we didn't know at the time of the invitation, but God did, was that Roger would be recovering from unexpected bypass surgery.
When Steve took them to Rogers house he said it was so sweet to see the old friends reminisce. The "chance" meeting was for them, Harrison and Francis Olan'g and Roger Swann, we just got a blessing from it as well.
Monday night at Bible Study at Harvest, Harrison spoke on the Samaritan women. He told us that Jesus looked passed the fact that she was an adulteress and saw her heart, the heart of an evangelist. We need to look passed the outward appearance and see the potential that Christ see's. And we need to love others enough to tell them about Jesus.
Because of my husbands willingness to speak to EVERYONE ALL THE TIME we now have new friends. Pray for Harrison as he returns to Tanzania. He is a pastor and is president of the Seminary there. The seminary was Southern Baptist but just recently has become non-denominational. Pray for Francis and his family. He has finished his masters at New Orleans Baptist Seminary and is wanting to get a green card so that they can move to and stay in Texas. He works as a mental health counselor and wishes to be able to send help back to Tanzania and arrange mission trips to this same area.

The link above I hope will give you a little more information about the Olan'gs. It is a bit old but might be helpful. Go to NEWER POSTS to find the link

Its time for a new post!

2011-03-02T17:09:00.002-06:00

Do not forget that we still have the worship service the 2nd Saturday evening of each month in the prison in Angie.
They skipped us in Feb. but in March we will be back on schedule.
Also, as many of you know, we sent out letters asking for our volunteers to step up and help with the outreach in May. We are still in need of specific volunteers and help with the funds to pull it off. We are about half way there!
God is good !
Steve will be leaving April 22nd again for India. This time he will be traveling with a man from the Atlanta area, Chris Sanchez. Please keep them both in your prayers.
Over the past couple months we have been making plans and raising money for the people in India. We have now helped them build a chicken coop and purchase chicks to raise in order to have eggs to eat and eventually chickens to eat as well.
The ministry there seems to be growing.
Steve will stay with Williams for one week then will travel a short distance to visit with 2 other pastors.
Harvest ministries is also doing well! God has blessed us more than we could ask or think. We have a Bible study there in the cabin by the lake every Monday night at 6:30pm. We are currently discussing our way through the book of Genesis. We also teach a Bible Study on Sunday mornings at the Microtel Hotel in Columbia. We begin around 9am and end ...whenever :) If you need to leave for church you just get up and go. Some need to leave around 10:30 and others like to stay and continue the discussion of the scriptures until 11 or so.
Remember you can follow us on facebook and now also on twitter @harvestcamp @stevegray and @gigiathome
If you have never been to the prison with us and would like to go you need to fill out an application and then it will take 2 weeks to get your approval, so plan ahead.
We love you all

Cheryl Gray

Matt. 24:14

2010-11-15T14:18:00.000-06:00

November 14th 2010

2010-11-15T13:56:00.002-06:00

I think its time for an update,
what do you think?????
Most of you who read this blog keep up with us on at least a monthly basis so you already know about a lot of what will be in this blog post. Sorry
We had planned to go back to India in May, however, the lord closed that door and it turned out that the day we would have landed in Rajahmundry a cyclone hit the area, so the Lord knew best and protected us.
WE did go this past Sept/Oct for 10 days and had a wonderful time. ( This was Steves 3rd trip and my 2nd )
WE stay in a hotel in the city and travel back and forth via a rented car and driver.
That alone is an experience everyone should have at least once in their lives. (HA HA )
It was great to see Williams and his family again as well as the ministry team and other pastors.
WE spoke twice a day in a different church each time. We did 2 baptismal services with about 40 people being baptized and gave away over 100 Bibles. Many to the staff at the hotel who would come to our room one by one and confess quietly that they are a christian too.
It was a blessing to go and pray that the Lord will touch the hearts of others to come along side and help with this growing ministry.
The orphanage is finished except for the showers. When we began the building project there were 20 orphans . There are now 50. In addition to this Williams would like to begin a new Orphanage in another area where he over see's other pastors. They would also like to start a new church in the Orissa state if the Lord leads and provides. Williams ministry is a non denominational ministry. He is not associated with any church or other organization.
Steve is tentatively planning another trip back in October of next year so if you would like to go please contact us.
In addition to the India ministry Three Fold is still very active in the prison in Angie La. We just finished our big weekend out reach where we take motorcycles onto the yard and cook hamburgers for the inmates as well as have 2 worship services. This year we cooked 1000 burger and gave everyone of them away. We had over 750 men come to the services and took some burgers to the men in the infirmary and to others who were unable to come. We LOVE the prison band and choir! They are awesome!
Steve and I have just recently been asked to serve with Harvest Ministries, a christian retreat center in south Mississippi. Steve is now the director of ministries and I will be serving on the board. WE are so excited and blessed by what the Lord has done and is doing in our lives.
I just don't understand why He is so good to us, but I'm glad He is!

Worship Service Feb 20th

2010-02-26T11:05:00.002-06:00

Steve and I were unable to go to the worship service this past weekend at Rayburn correctional so I have ask Tabitha to write something about it for the blog:

We had a great worship service at Angie Correctional facility. We had 13 that went in with us this time and a lot of new faces. We were very proud to have them come and had some great fellowship and worship with them.

The choir sang and it was awesome! There was alot of singing and speaking from our new attendees; and even some old hands. It was a joyous time in the Lord, wish you could have been there to enjoy it with us.
Next time, be sure you come with us, we'd be glad to have ya!

Thank you Tabitha.
Remember if you are not already on the approval list to go in you have to fill out an application and then it takes 2 weeks to be approved, so plan ahead if you think you would like to come.

Feb 2010

2010-02-19T11:29:00.003-06:00

WOW its been a long time since we posted anything!!!!! Im not even going to begin to tell you all that has happened since last summer. Well, except....Steve went back to India in November and we have done a number of worship services at the prison in Angie and even a big one with hamburgers etc........
Steve and Mike still go every Monday and Tuesday to RCC for mentoring classes
and the womens Bible Study just finished " A Womens Heart " by Beth Moore and will be taking a break until next fall so that I can prepare for the womens conference in India. ( Im not like Steve. I cant just stand up and start preaching)

I do need some pictures of the prison outreach if anyone has any.

WE go back to India in June and would love some of you to go with us.

Keep Shane and Tabitha in your prayers this summer as well as they go to africa with members of their church.

Tomorrow is a worship service at RCC and those going need to meet at 4:00 at Ol Hickory in Angie.
Remember you have to be on the approved list to go in and it takes about 2 weeks after you have filled out an application to be approved.

Thanks to all of you who so faithfully come along side us and serve Jesus through Three Fold Ministries...God is Good!

cheryl

Feb 2010

2010-02-19T11:29:00.000-06:00

Video India June 1 to June 10,2009

2009-06-28T20:59:00.001-05:00

Rajahmundry, India

2009-06-26T18:44:00.001-05:00

Home from India

2009-06-21T22:34:00.005-05:00

We arrived back in the Fantastic USA late Thursday night, June 11. It has taken a week to get back to normal, depending on what normal is! We have looked back at the precious time we had in the villages around Rajahmundry, India and still cannot believe that God chose us to go and minister with and to the people there.

We learned after we had been there about 5 days that Daniel, the father to Williams and Paul, and the Pastor of the church in the village where the orphanage is, had been praying for 25 years for God to send somebody from the United States to minister with him and the other Pastors in the 50 villages. BOY does this make the parable of the persistent widow come to life.

After having a group of Mississippi rednecks for 10 days preach, led a Pastor's conference and hold a 3 day revival with up to 5,000 in attendance, he may be more specific in his prayers!!!! But all joking aside, our personalities fit perfect with the people there. They loved us and we loved them back. When we left from the airport, 15 men and 2 women went with us and we all cried like babies. They cried, I hope, because they had been praying for so long and now we had come and were leaving. AND they did not know if they would ever see us again, BUT we know that we will be back.

This has been an unbelievable trip and we are planning another for after Christmas but before Tax Season. Please be in prayer about getting out of your comfort zone and go!

We love all of you, thank you for your support and prayers.

Steve and Cheryl

update

2009-06-05T22:07:00.002-05:00

The gospel meeting went very well. Steve did his "Peter" drama thing again but from acts this tis time. They had a youth choir from some of the villages sing for us and the little girls danced and sang. alyssa was not feeling well but we hope she is better today. So pray for her.
Today Steve is going to preach at a church in another village while the rest of us do a little shopping for family at home. Tonight we have a church meeting. Church meetings are not the same as a gospel meeting. The gospel meetings were many villages coming together ...the church meetings are thier regular church services in individual villages. They meet almost every night. The pastors of these small churches as so sweet and love the Lord. Its great!

2009-06-05T09:19:00.000-05:00

INDIA UPDATE FRIDAY JUNE 5

2009-06-05T09:01:00.006-05:00

PICTURES FROM TODAY 'S SERVICE.

CLOTHES THAT WILLIAMS RAY'S FAMILY PURCHASED FOR US! IMAGINE THE SACRIFICE OF MONTH'S OF INCOME TO BUY FOR US!!!!

TWO BEAUTIFUL WOMEN! AND PRAISE GOD I AM MARRIED TO ONE OF THEM!!!

OUR NEW EXPANDED FAMILY!!!

2009-06-03T22:54:00.002-05:00

MORE INDIA PICTURES

2009-06-03T22:42:00.006-05:00

INDIA UPDATE THURSDAY 8AM

2009-06-03T21:51:00.011-05:00

We are having the most wonderful time. We did not know God could use to minister as he has. Talk about getting out of our comfort zone.

Tuesday we preached in 2 churches, one a small thatched roof building with approximately 75 or more people crammed in. After every service the people just crowd to the front of the churches for us to lay our hand on their head and say a short prayer for them. The little churches desire is to build an actual building to keep the flood waters out!!!!

Wednesday was an unbelievable day for us! The Pastors Conference had 120 male Pastors and 13 female Pastors/Evangelists. Bo and I encouraged them in the Lord, the meeting was only 3 hours long and we could have been there 4 or 5 hours. After I was graciously allowed to speak, we washed the feet of all the Pastors and annointed them with oil and prayed for each one. The Pastors were in total shock that we would wash there feet. It was a most humbling experience for us, but blessed us more than it did them. GOD IS SO GOOD!!! ALL THE TIME!!

Wednesday night we had the first of the "Great Gospel Meetings". Williams Ray decided that I would preach Wednesday and Friday and Bo would preach on Thursday. The service had approximately 2,500 people attending from many villages. Williams Ray was very disappointed that we did not have more. But the Pastors conference got started later than expected which made many Pastors getting back to their villages too late to come back for the Meeting. We were just excited that so many came.

I was very blessed and portrayed the Apostle Peter and told of his walk with Jesus Christ and different miracles that Jesus performed and then the Crucifixtion and Resurrection. The people were very respectful and listened intently.

The children are so loving!!!! They all want to touch our hands and hug and kiss us!! It is wonderful.

We have been eating their food and God has blessed and kept us healthy and strong. The heat amazingly has not been stifling. The rains have stopped for our visit. BUT our driver is a mad man. People drive all over the road in 3 wheel cars, motorcyles, buses and large work trucks. If we honked our horns and passed people, missing them by inches, ROAD RAGE would end in mass kaos at home. Pray for our safety as we have the fastest car on the road.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!

GOD BLESSING EVERYONE!!!

Steve, Cheryl, Bo, Alyssa and Kennis

MINISTRY IN INDIA

2009-06-02T06:56:00.009-05:00

We have arrived in Rajahmundry, India on Sunday and it is Tuesday afternoon. We have preached in three services already, have another worship service tonight. Bo Baker and I are preaching in each service and Cheryl, Alyssa and Kennis are giving short words and testimonies.

We may have two women evangelists before we get home!

Tomorrow we will have a Pastors Conference with approximately 120 Pastors coming from the
area. God is blessing and we are blessed beyond measure that HE is allowing us to be apart of HIS Ministries in India.

The mother and grandmother wanted me to bring this precious baby back to the USA. The baby preceded to relive himself on me after I had prayed for he and his family. I am now ready for anything!

As you can see from the pictures, the Lord is using all 5 of us to minister to the people. We have shown any of the pictures of the children. But they and the adults are so loving and caring.

They even love an old grumpy fat man like me. We would love to bring some children back, any takers?

The Gospel meetings start tomorrow night and Williams says we will have about 5,000 people each night coming from different regions. If we had some real preachers preaching, there is no telling what God could do! But it appears he will have to settle on Bo and I!

Please keep praying for us and also pray about coming with us next trip.

We thank you all for your love and support.

We are now able to check email and update the blog as you can tell.

We are limited in the number of pictures we can upload at one time.

God Bless and we love you

Steve, Chery, Bo, Alyssa and Kennis

Updates for May and June 2009

2009-05-11T21:38:00.002-05:00

The Outreach at Fayette Prison has been moved to Saturday, June 13. We will be through by 3PM, just in time to make it back for the Worship Service at Rayburn Correctional at 6PM.

This has been moved because Steve and others will be in India on a mission trip. And Mike Monroe has had a detached retinue and will be unable to work as he has for the next couple of weeks. Please be in prayer for Mike and for the Mission Trip.

Please be in prayer for us as we travel to India, this is an area that is very poor and appears to not have anyone from the USA working with them. Pastor Ray has great plans for a 3 day Gospel Meetings, with possible 10,000 people in attendance. We will have a Pastor's Conference for a day. Also working with the orphanage. We will be trying to visit as many of the 50 villages in the area as possible.

If you have a Sunday available, Mike Monroe and John Bonnabell are going to Red Bluff most pretty Sundays and setting up a tent and giving away water, tracts and sharing the Gospel will all that will listen. If you have never done this kind of ministry, it is a blast!

Saturday May 2nd

2009-05-11T17:06:00.007-05:00

Things don't always turn out the way we plan, but thankfully we have a father in heaven who causes all things to work out for His good for those who love Him.

OUR plan was to go to the prison in Angie La. for the big worship service and cookout, however the Louisiana prisons were shut down that Friday because of the swine flu scare. We already had purchased 1000 hamburgers and all the "fixins" so we were left wondering what we should do. It didn't take long to decide we would go to the streets of Columbia Ms. and with the Lords blessings (I'm sure He had this planned all along) we went to the public housing in south Columbia off hwy 13. I'm so sorry I cannot remember the name of the community and Steve is not here right now to ask.

We set up our tables, tents and sound equipment on a corner right in the middle of the community. In no time at all people started coming. We cooked hamburgers, sang, had a bubble machine and face painting for the kids and had a great time!

After we ate we had a few people get up and say a word then opened it up to testimonies from the people in the neighborhood. They seemed to love it! Everything went better then expected for us "flying by the seat of our pants" as Steve likes to say.

I had to leave a little early to go check on Hunter who had just had his wisdom teeth out. As I drove out of the community I noticed that those who didn't come over to our corner were sitting out on their porches listening to the music and testimonies. Almost every porch had someone out there listening. God is good !! Hopefully He will allow us another time to go back.

We went to the Dan Stepney Housing complex. Steve just got home.

THE POST BELOW IS FOR PASTOR WILLIAMS

2009-03-14T16:59:00.006-05:00

The blogspot allows us to type English and it is automatically translated into Telugu. The letter is an encouragement for the people Williams and his ministry team reach out.

The scripture from Acts 2:42 to 47 was typed

"They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. AND THE LORD ADDED TO THEIR NUMBER DAILY THOSE WHO WERE BEING SAVED!"

Why are we not seeing people saved everyday? Because we are not doing the things that the early church did, devoting our selves to the word, fellowshiping with other believers, to prayer, acting selfishly instead of giving to others that are in need. Our commitment has gotten to be to US, not to God.

Let us search our selves and find out that the only path we need to be on is Jesus Christ!

As Robert Rimmer says "God Loves you, I love you and there is nothing you can do about it!"

పస్తోర్ రేయ్, ఓర్ఫన్స్, విదోవ్స్ అండ్ అల్ బెలిఎవెర్స్ ఇన్ జీసస్ క్రైస్ట్

2009-03-14T16:47:00.002-05:00

ఐ ప్రి థిస్ ఇస్ సయింగ్ వాట్ ఐ వాంట్ తో సి, విచ్ ఇస్, తాత వే లవ్ ఏఅచ్ అఫ్ యు వేరి దీప్ల్య్ అండ్ ప్రి ది నెక్స్ట్ కోప్లె అఫ్ మొంథ్స్ ఫ్ల్య్ బి, సో వే కాన్ కం తో విసిత్ యు.

విలియమ్స్, వే వే కం వే వాంట్ తో హెల్ప్ యు మినిస్టర్ తో ది కాంవేర్త్స్ అండ్ రీచ్ ఔట్ తో ది లాస్ట్. తో హెల్ప్ యు షేర్ ది గోస్పెల్. వే విల్ షిప్ మోర్ బిబ్లేస్ ఫర్ అస్ తో గివె తో ఒథెర్స్.

ఈఫ్ వే కాన్, ఐ వౌల్ద్ లికె తో సి అస్ హవె అ కోప్లె అఫ్ కుక్ ఔత్స్ ఫర్ ది కాంవేర్త్స్ అండ్ అస్ అం ఔత్రేఅచ్ తో ది లాస్ట్!
గివె ఎవెర్య్ ఒనె అ హాగ్ అండ్ కిస్ ఫర్ అస్.
"థెయ్ దెవొతెద్ తేమ్సేల్వేస్ తో ది అపోస్ట్లేస్' తెఅచింగ్ అండ్ తో ది ఫెల్లోవ్శిప్, తో ది బ్రేకింగ్ అఫ్ బ్రెడ్ అండ్ తో ప్రయెర్. ఎవేర్యోనే వ్యాస్ ఫిల్లెద్ విత్ అవే, అండ్ మెనీ వన్దేర్స్ అండ్ మిరసులౌస్ సిగ్న్స్ వేరే దోనే బి ది అపోస్ట్లేస్. అల్ ది బెలిఎవెర్స్ వేరే తోగేతేర్ అండ్ హద్ ఎవెర్య్థింగ్ ఇన్ కామన్. సెల్లింగ్ తేఇర్ పోస్సేస్సిఒంస్ అండ్ గూడ్స్, థెయ్ గావే తో అన్యోనే అస్ హి హద్ నీద్. ఎవెర్య్ డే థెయ్ కాంటింయూద్ తో మీట్ తోగేతేర్ ఇన్ ది టెంపుల్ కోర్ట్స్. థెయ్ బ్రోకే బ్రెడ్ ఇన్ తేఇర్ హోం అండ్ అటే తోగేతేర్ విత్ గ్లాడ్ అండ్ సిన్సురే హార్ట్స్, ప్రైసింగ్ గాడ్ అండ్ ఎంజొయింగ్ ది ఫవొర్ అఫ్ అల్ ది పీపుల్. అండ్ ది లార్డ్ అద్దెద్ తో తేఇర్ నెంబర్ డైలీ తోసే వ్హో వేరే బింగ్ సవెద్." అచ్త్స్ ౨:౪౨-౪౭
ప్రైస్ గాడ్
స్టీవ్

Update From Our New Ministry Venture With Pastor Williams Ray in India

2009-03-11T21:37:00.010-05:00

The Bibles were delivered to Pastor Ray, 60 complete Bibles and 80 New Testaments. Several of the pictures are shown. The Bibles were all given away within a week. They need more!

The Jesus Video has been shown to some of the church members and prayerfully will now be used to evangelize the villages. We helped Pastor Ray to purchase a DVD player and also sent enough money for the orphanage to have a banquet (see pictures).

Pastor Ray has bought cots for all the orphans, they were sleeping on the ground. They also have enouth food for at least the next 45 days.

The ministry team has churches in 29 villages that have approximately 1,000 to 3,000 people in each village. Each church has a minimum of 20 converts. Seems as though the fields are white unto harvest.

Cheryl and I are trying to plan a trip for June to visit the orphanage and several of the villages and the churches to see how we can minister with Pastor Williams and the other ministers. Looking at the precious children, we are ready to love all of them. If you are interested in going, please contact us.

These seems to be a tremendous opportunity for us to expand our field of ministering from the prisons, street ministy and Bible studies, etc to foreign missions!

Enjoy the pictures and pray for the Lord's Guidance for you and for Three Fold Ministries!

Retreat Weekend at Rayburn Correctional March 6 to 8, 2009

2009-03-11T21:10:00.002-05:00

If you missed last weekend, you missed a BLESSING! We thought we were going to minister to 75 inmates at RCC, BUT we were ministered to as much as they were. The weekend was hardly believable!

Friday night Dr Russell Bush at 89 years young preached, with praise and worship, testimonies and ended the night with the Lord's Supper. His message was perfect for the weekend! Jesus Christ and a personal relationship with him that is life changing.

Saturday we had praise and worship, and sessions on Relationships with wives or finances, Relationships with children and Relationships with others. There were 11 tables with one or more facilitators at each table. During the afternoon we did foot washing and every man in the room had his feet washed at least once. There were many relationships healed among the inmates.

Several of the facilitators testified later "I'm not taking my shoes off and have my feet washed!" BUT as the feet were being washed and the tears started flowing and hearts started being mended, THE SHOES of the facilitators came off!!! Ain't God Good!

Many of the inmates said Sunday morning that they were up most of the night praying and repenting and reflecting on what God was doing in their lives.

They came Sunday morning to the smell of "Hot, Fresh Donuts". The donut place nearly stroked out when I ordered 30 dozen donuts at 6:24 AM to be picked up in 45 minutes. BUT Praise the Lord, they had them ready when I got there. Many were crying because they had not had a donut in many years.

After the Donuts, we had a session on our Relationship with God and the facilitators started annointing and praying over each inmate at his table. And then the inmates prayed over the facilitators. Then people were praying for each other all over the room.

The morning ended with me having the privilege of Baptizing 3 inmates. Praise God!!

We have already schedule another weekend for the second weekend in December. PLEASE mark your calenders and don't let anything stop you from coming!

God Bless everybody that came and ALWAYS remember it is not about us, but about Jesus Christ and him Crucified and Risen from the Grave!

Steve

Pray For Robert Rimmer and Family

2009-02-14T15:13:00.002-06:00

Robert Rimmer's son was killed in a car wreck on Wednesday, February 11,2009. The Funeral will be in Marrero at Rock of Ages Church Friday, February 20, 2009 at 10AM.

Several of us are going. If you are interested, call myself 601-731-2546 or Mike Monroe 601-736-8562.

Please be in prayer for Robert and family.

Pastor Williams Ray in India

2009-02-14T14:35:00.006-06:00

I have been emailing Pastor Ray in East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh in Southeastern India for about 6 weeks. It is amazing the ministry that the Lord has he and about 50 on his ministry team doing. They have 29 small churches with about 20 people in each church meeting in thatched roof buildings. They also have an orphanage with 21 children.

We have mailed to them the Jesus Video in their language, Telugu, and also shipped 60 Bibles and and 80 New Testaments. He will receive these in about 2 weeks. We are wiring them enough money to purchase a DVD Player.

Pastor Ray has requested that we pray for 2 of his flock that are having health problems. Remember PODUGU RATNAM and MORATH VINITH in your prayers.

If everything keeps working in the direction it is, a trip over will be planned for sometime this summer or fall. Interested let me know.

One Day With God at Rayburn Correctional 1-24-09

2009-01-30T12:44:00.003-06:00

Cheryl and I got to minister with Forgiven Ministries out of North Carolina on January 24. We picked up Eddie Bishop's two children and their mother in McComb, Ms about 7AM and got them home about 7Pm that night.

To see the Dads and Granddads with their children brought all of us to tears. The love and healing in the gym was unbelievable. There were probably 100 kids and 40 dads or granddads.

Cheryl has a great update on the day on her blogspot, cheryl-acceptancewithjoy.blogspot.com. Please go see her perspective of prison ministry.

Please be in prayer for Forgiven Ministries, they do the "One Day with God" at least a couple of weekends a month, if not more. Scottie also wants to use our tract "Have I gone to far for God to love me as I am" in her ministry. Ain't God good.

There are so many opportunities to minister, JUST get involved somewhere!

New Years

2009-01-07T11:43:00.002-06:00

The 2nd group...Shane and Tabitha

Jay and Cynthia

Robert and Mike being, well,... Robert and Mike

Happy New Year from Steve and Cheryl

This was the 1st group, Robert , Mike, Brian, Jamie, Jay and Cynthia

New years Eve at the Grays

2009-01-07T11:26:00.004-06:00

My sweetie in his harley santa shirt
Roberts wife, Cynthia
Hot Stuff
Brian after the food
well, a pictures worth a thousand words

12-13-2008 WORSHIP SERVICE AT THE PRISON IN FAYETTE, MS

2008-12-20T00:34:00.003-06:00

We had our first service at the prison in Fayette, Ms Saturday night December 13. The devil has been fighting to keep us out. I was approached 6 months ago about going in, but the door kept getting slammed. Ten days before the thirteenth, Chaplain Wiggleworth made it all happen in about 5 minutes, I had turned it over to the Lord the week before and thru up my hands.

Thank you Chaplain Wigglesworth, Warden Caho, Chaplain Turner and the staff at Fayette.

We had 8 people to go in that night, we first ate at Mr. Arthur Davis's restaurant in Lorman, The Country Store, best fried chicken in the South. If you don't believe me either ask him or try it yourself.

The service started at 6:10 and last for 3 hours, Amazing. We had 6 people had to cancel at the last minute, we went in with no singers, but the Lord provided a singing group and a young man that sang and played the guitar from within the facility. We even had Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, show up and tell about his engagement,the birth of Jesus and his marriage to Mary.

Arthur Davis and Richard Cruel are planning on going in on a regular basis and we plan on going once every other month to have a worship service with them.

The Lord now has us working in the prisons in Fayette, McComb, Columbia, Hattiesburg and Angie, La. Thank you Lord for using a poor old rag tag group like us to carry your gospel to our Jerusalem!

11-8-08 OUTREACH AT RAYBURN CORRECTIONAL CENTER

2008-12-20T00:12:00.020-06:00

Everytime we do a Saturday Outreach at a prison, it seems to get better and better.

We want to thank the Warden, Chaplain and all the staff at Rayburn for the wonderful treatment we get from you. We were allowed to work all the lock down units on Friday night. We had 8 men go in and were joined by John and Walter, Inmate Chaplains. We talked and prayed with every one in the lock down that would allow us. AND most of them allowed us.

IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE!

We had breakfast at Mike Monroe's house at 6 AM. Thank you Mike, Betty, Uncle Johnny and Aunt Jeannie. We arrived at the prison about 7:30 and took in about 25 volunteers from Mississippi and Louisiana, even our daughter Jacquelyn came with us. She got to ride on my bike since Cheryl was unable to go. Her first trip in the prison and I hit mud in the first yard we rode in and dumped my bike. The only thing hurt was my ego and the windshield.

We took the bikes on all the yards but Sun Unit. But we sent a team of Circuit Riders to have a worship service with singing, testimonies and preaching.

There were 2 worship services in the gym and had about 700 inmates come worship. The attendance gets better everytime. The inmates know us, love us and accept us, because a group goes in on a weekly basis and they know that we come for them and not for ourselves.

Everyone that wanted to sing or speak had the opportunity and we had the prison church choir sing and several of the inmates. There is a freedom that the Lord has given us that will raise the hair on your neck.

Thank you Lord for all the blessing you have given us at Rayburn Correctional. We do not keep records of people prayed with, talked with, or those that make decisions. The Lord keeps count and we are not there for numbers, we plant seeds, water, cultivate and participate in the harvest. But the Lord does the convicting and saving, we are the messengers.

We also served 1,000 hamburgers and chips, etc. to the inmates, infirmary and to the staff. Thank you to the mentoring group that helped cook and assemble the food and distribute it.

If you have not gone to a Saturday Outreach, you are missing a blessing. We also do the Saturday night worship service each month.

12-19-08 DEVOTION BY ARTHUR RHODES, INMATE CHAPLAIN AT RAYBURN CORRECTIONAL

2008-12-19T23:23:00.004-06:00

WHO MAKES YOUR CHOICES

Joshua 24:15 "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourself today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living: but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord."

There is not a day that goes by that we, human beings, do not make hundreds, and sometimes, thousands of choices. We make these choices either consciously or unconsciously, either willing or unwillingly. That is what is means to be human.

Genesis 2:15-17 "Then the Lord took the Man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God then commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.

There is no doubt God could have created mankind without a choice; he could have made us like the birds of the air or the fish of the sea, or the beast of the field. Had He done so, we would instinctively praise and worship and serve God, but we would not do it by choice, but by force.

One of the most amazing insight we can have of God is that it is His plan and purpose to bring about an Eternal Kingdom in which the people will praise and worship and serve Him because they chose to, not because they are forced to.

Acts 17:29-31 "Being then children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone or an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because he has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."

We have all heard the saying, "Time waits for no one." That is certainly a true statement, but, it has no significance unless you are in a hurry.

Here is a statement that, if you seriously think about it, will have meaning to you, no matter who you are--- "Tomorrow is not promised."

That's what Joshua was telling his people so long ago when he said, "CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE."

Joshua had made his choice, he said, "AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD."

Of all the hundreds or thousands of choices you've made today, this ONE is the most important --- CHOOSE TODAY TO SERVE THE LORD!

Thursday Oct. 2nd

2008-10-02T11:11:00.005-05:00

I have some pictures here of the outreach this past Tuesday at William Carey Univ.

If you missed it , you missed a great time!

The weather was perfect! Blue skies and cool temps made it so comfortable and enjoyable to be outside.

We want to thank Tommy King, Brian Cleveland, FCA and the BSU for inviting us.

We cooked about 200 hamburgers and hot dogs, which I have to say, our burgers are pretty darn good!

Celia Broom came and sang a couple songs for us on very short notice. ( Thank you Celia )

If you have never heard her she has a awesome voice!

Thanks to all of you who came and volunteered to help.

Tommy King told us yesterday how much the students appriciated our coming to serve them.

It is our hope now that the school and local churches can reach out, not just to the student but also to their neighbors and Three Fold will help any way we can.

By the way, William Carey won 3 to 2 in the last few minutes of the game! Congrats to the WC womens soccer team!

Dont forget the worship service this Saturday in Angie and the cookout at the prison in McComb on the 11th.

There are some changes to the outreach on the 25th but I will let Steve explain that, just keep that date open. We have something fun planned for our volunteers you dont want to miss!

2008-09-17T09:51:00.007-05:00

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

We had a tremendous worship service at Rayburn Correctional Saturday night. We had Tabitha White and Celia Broom singing, Apostles Paul and Philip showed up and told about their experiences with the Ethiopian Eunich and Paul's salvation, along with a dramatization by Eddie Bishop and another inmate and brother Dale Broom brought the message. The Church choir led by Cory sang several songs and are wonderful. Every service we have ever had at the prison has been fantastic. If you've not experienced the spirit, the love and the wonderful music, testimony, dramas and preaching, you are missing a blessing. COME JOIN US!!

COMING UP!!! We have been asked by William Carey University to come back on Tuesday, September 30 and have another outreach to the soccer teams, fans and staff. We will cook hamburgers, hotdogs and trimmings. We will have some kind of music, singing or CDs and have a lot of one on one time with the people. We are showing that Christians can love other Christians without expecting something in return, BUT we are also planting seeds to reach out to the community around William Carey with the students and staff involved with us.

Jay Sanguinetti will be leaving the Shell Station at Hwy 11 and Hwy 59 Intersection at 5:30PM for William Carey, bring your motorcycle. I will be arriving at William Carey around 4:30 to set up the grills, tents, sound equipment, etc, if you can, come and help set up.

October 4th at Rayburn Correctional, we will be conducting the Worship Service. We will meet at Old Hickory Restaurant in Angie between 4 to 4:30PM, eating supper and going into the prison about 5:30 and be leaving around 8:30. IF you are not on the approved lists, email or call for an application. It takes about 10 days to get approved.

October 11th at Pike County Work Center in McComb Ms, we will be having a Saturday Outreach, where we will cook, have worship, preaching, testimonies, dramas, etc. we will leave Columbia around 7:30 AM and be back around 3:30PM.

We have other events on the callender for the rest of the year and will tell about them later.

God Bless,

Steve & Cheryl

Waiting on Gustav

2008-09-04T14:40:00.004-05:00

I thought you guys would like to see this...Robert and Steve waiting out Gustav together on the couch! And yes!!!!!!!!! Robert really does have a wife, and I have proof! Here she is at our house helping out during the storm.

Cynthia and Robert were able to go home yesterday but Im not sure they have power. The last time Steve spoke to them they were hooking up a generator.

There are more pictures and a longer update on my blog, acceptance with joy.

P.S. Mike is now in Diamondhead cooking for the Ms. Baptist relief Organization, so keep he and Betty in your prayers.

I would love to hear your comments.. just click below this post where it says "comments" and follow the directions. If you have any problems just email us and we will walk you through it.

Poem By Inmate at Rayburn Correctional

2008-08-28T10:21:00.007-05:00

Three Fold Ministries has been ministering at Rayburn Correctional for 4 years. Several of us go in each week and are involved in the Faith Based Programs as mentors. We conduct a Saturday night worship service once a month and also do a Saturday Outreach twice a year. At the Saturday Outreach we take motorcycles on the yards, have 2 worship services and feed the staff and all the inmates that come to worship, hamburgers and the trimmings. At the last Outreach there were about 700 inmates that came to the worship services. Praise God! AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO RIDE A MOTORCYCLE TO PARTICIPATE AND WOMEN CAN GO!!

The prison publishes a newspaper called the Chainlink Chronicle, that is fantastic. It is 25 to 30 pages and written primarily by the inmates. In the July edtion, an inmate Barry McGarry wrote a poem about the outreach and we have permission to print it.

GOD' GLOW

I felt a spiritual feeling away deep inside

my heart very soon became content,

I wished to see myself in time

just like those biker messengers God had sent.

I was raised as a Christian from my childhood

I learned Gods' love as I worked on my pride,

but those bikers of God really made me see the light

that just yesterday I might have denied.

It came to me as no surprise

that Jesus was written all over each face;

it had seemed as if they glowed or sparkled

and even chose a prison to shed God's grace.

They sang sweet songs within their hearts

as they told testimonies of their lives,

then I noticed some of the strongest here

shed tears and started to wipe their eyes.

I truly and desperately wanted them to know

how good they made our broken hearts feel,

but you could have asked anyone there

how they took satan down on their battlefield.

Jesus was that day found

for some who really didn't know,

all glory to the King

and those bikers who saw God's Glow.

by Barry McGarry

This inmate and others have expressed how much they have been blessed by our ministering to them, BUT, if you talk to any of the volunteers who have gone into the prison, WE ARE THE ONES WHO GET BLESSED.

Ladies Bible Study Begins soon

2008-08-26T09:27:00.003-05:00

The Ladies Lunch Time Bible Study will be starting up again soon. I cant believe August is almost gone! It flew by so fast.

We will be doing Pricilla Shirer's He Speaks to Me. Work books are available at Lifeway Book Stores.

We meet every other Tuesday at noon at 518 High School ave. in Columbia and we start Sept. the 9th. Feel free to bring your lunch.

If there are any of you ladies who would like to be in a Bible study but cant come at lunch, let me know . I have Tuesday evenings free this fall and would be happy to meet with you if we could get a group together.

The picture above is of some of the ladies from our first bible Study when we did The Patriarchs.

cheryl

Outreach At William Carey University

2008-08-21T20:28:00.002-05:00

We had a great time Tuesday night at William Carey! The Lord blessed by sending the rain in a different direction. We had about 15 volunteers who cooked, served, visited, played music and sang. We fed the soccer teams, the Carey staff that attended, all of the parents and students, and other spectators.

Pray for this ministry to grow into an outreach with William Carey to the neighborhood!

We want to thank Dr Tommy King and the staff for inviting and allowing us to be a part of the ministry team at William Carey. We pray there will be many more opportunities to work together.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all the precious volunteers.

Steve and Cheryl Gray

Our First Blog

2008-08-21T08:40:00.000-05:00

Here It is !!! We Now have our own blog spot! On this you can catch up with what we are doing at Three fold, comment, share thoughts and ideas and see pictures of some of our outreach's.

Never blogged before? Its so easy even we can do it. At the end of this blog there will be a place that says comments.....click there....then follow the simple directions to get started blogging.

This blog will probably begin to take the place of a newsletter. We can now update you on a more regular basis this way.

So comment and have fun!