Wisconsin District News

Click on image above to view issue

A new format… we are moving from a black and white printed newsletter to a full-color e-zine (electronic magazine). The current plan is to update the website/blog as new information comes in and a digital version of the WDN newsletter will be published every other month (on-line only).

A  new face… I am Craig Lundt, a graphic designer by trade and now your WDN editor. My wife, three children and I live in rural Northeast Wisconsin and attend church at Gateway Apostolic in Waupaca. As newly appointed editor of the WDN, I plan to do all I can to produce a quality newsletter every other month.

A new direction… We will hear from Bro. Putnam each issue, and I hope to include upcoming activities, reports of past activities, spotlights on musicians, authors and pastors, and generally I hope to brag on what God is doing in our wonderful state of Wisconsin.

Submission can be sent to: editor@wisconsindistrictnews.org or contact your sectional representative:

Loretta Lundt – section1@wisconsindistrictnews.org
Carole Keller – section2@wisconsindistrictnews.org
(Rep needed for section 3)
Frank Ritchie – section4@wisconsindistrictnews.org
Kathy Fry – section5@wisconsindistrictnews.org

Final print edition

Click on image of cover to download PDF.

The March issue of the Wisconsin District News is away to the printers for publishing and mailing.

Click on image of cover to download PDF.

I can’t remember the last time that I wrote an editorial for this newsletter. Shortly after taking the helm of the newsletter, I decided that news of the goodness and activity of God would always take precedence over my own mere scribbles. As God seems perpetually busy doing marvelous things in the state of Wisconsin, you haven’t seen anything from me in years.

For editors, plenty of material is always a good problem to have and I’m sure many of them pray for this exact situation. So you might be forgiven for wondering why you find yourself reading an editorial at this time. Naturally there is a good reason.

I need to announce some changes in the schedule of the Wisconsin District News. We have switched to quarterly publishing and will be increasing the emphasis on the newsletter website.

For those of you watching carefully, the front cover of the last couple of issues has included a website URL for the newsletter.

Going forward, the website will be the first place that all stories submitted to the newsletter will be published. The hope is that those of us in the news department will be able to bring you the news from the kingdom faster than before.

The website is organized in the form a of blog, where the newest material is at the top of the page, with older material as you scroll down.

The print edition of the newsletter is not going away, but the material in it will now be a selection from everything submitted over the quarter. So, to track all the good things happening in the district be sure to check the website as well.

Pastor Simon Chappell
WDN Editor

Dear Saints of God,

Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

As we see in Jeremiah God knew him before he was ever born. He even knows how many hairs we have. We have just finished Thanksgiving and I began to think about some of the people who have made me what I am today.

Why there is a Church in Antigua?

If I forget to mention your name please forgive me. I want to share this with you, so you can see that God has a plan for all of our lives. He uses many people along the way to shape us into something useful.

1. I am thankful for a Mother & Father who were Faithful to each other. To a Dad that taught me how to Pray, and even at 7 had me to work all day out in the field. He taught me to work hard and when you give someone your word you keep it, no matter what.
2. I am thankful to Bro. & Sis. Bob Meyer for all the hours of Bible study. They put up with one who could not read and would sit at their table and chew tobacco.
3. I am thankful for Pastor Richard Kielley who Baptized me and Prayed me through to the Holy Ghost.
4. I am thankful for Bro. & Sis. Keith Manley who came to Watertown to start a Church. Pastor Manley taught me that to be a true man of God it takes more then just preaching God’s Word. He showed me that whatever your hand findeth to do, do it with all your might. He would come out and help castrate pigs, pick rocks all day long. That is why my dad came into the church. To see a man of God doing things that where not so nice and just working very hard.
5. I am thankful for Bro. & Sis Gregory Caldwell who came to replace the Manleys. Pastor Caldwell was my best friend, he was like the big brother I never had. We worked, played, and prayed together. He taught me that when a mouse gets in the cookie jar, he does not become a cookie.
6. I am thankful for having the opportunity to have sat under the teaching of Pastor John W. Grant. He has been like a father to me and has helped us get through many things. It was Pastor Grant that suggested that we should consider the Caribbean. In 1997 & 1998 we went to Curacao.
7. I am thankful for Bro. & Sis. Cole Price who were over us when we came to the Caribbean. Bro. Price asked us to start a work in Antigua. So with much prayer, believing God had called us there, the work began in 1999. Bro. Price found us a place to live, and stay with us that first week. He preached our first service, and ended with if you win one soul it would be worth it all. As Bro. & Sis. Price left that day Kathy and I said if we can only win one soul we did not hear God right and need to go home.

Antigua is home to us. We sold our home & business back in 2002 to give ourselves to this work. I am thankful to all our friends and family. Not having a home to come back to; we have never been without a place to lay our head or food to eat.  There are too many names to mention but I want you all to know how very GREATFUL we are.  The work here in Antigua would not be what it is today if it was not for all our REPLACEMENTS. All of them have added so much to the work here, giving of their time and money to be here. In 2004 we were able to buy a piece of land that was covered with much rocks and trees. Our people gave themselves to help clean this land by hand. When we started building they once again gave of their money and labor so we could start to build. Then there were about 50 people in all that came in 2006 to help with the building. We got from the ground to the roof that year, because of all the money that was given and the hard work that was done by all those who came. You see for this church to be here it has taken many, many people Praying, Giving, and Helping to bring all that has been done to pass.

Romans 14:7-8
For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

So let me tell you what has gone on in 2008. We finished the south side of the church, it is plastered and painted. All 13 windows have been put in. It was a real blessing not to have any more bats, rats, lizards, spiders, cockroaches, and wind and rain coming in. We got our second van for picking up our people. The two Sunday school rooms are almost finished. The Lord blessed us with some real good used carpet. For $400 U.S. we have carpeted almost the whole sanctuary. Now we have ladies running around and praying in their bare feet. God is so good. We also finished the ceiling in the living quarters.

We have been busy teaching Bible studies, and have some really neat stories to share with you when we see you again. So far this year 12 have been Baptized and 15 have received the Holy Ghost. Just to let you all know how great God is. We have had in all 118 Baptized and 146 filled with the Holy Ghost since July of 1999. We are starting a new Bible study at the church on Tuesday nights, trying to reach more people. I have been talking with a Pastor down here, Pastor Gordon about Baptism, he already has the Holy Ghost. I believe soon he will bear that Name which is above every Name. We are so thankful to be here working in this field that God has put us in. One day soon we will see all things as He does. We will all understand that everything we have gone through will be worth it all. We will see all those who have been changed by our lives.

So to God be the Glory for all who have had a part in this Great Work. We of Antigua are so very THANKFUL for all you have done, even when times are hard. You continue to Pray, Give, and Help us here in Antigua.

God Bless You All,
Bro. & Sis. Smith, Benjamin, and the Saints of Antigua

[Bro. Smith also included some pictures of the church and I am including them below. - Ed]

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