One of the worthy ministries your Missions giving allows us to support monthly is Emmanuel Baptist Rescue Mission in Los Angeles. Robert Cole, one of the men who came into the Mission twenty-five years ago as a broken man, is now the director of that ministry. There are a number of men, brought down by drugs and alcohol and formerly on the streets, now in the program serving and being discipled in the Bible Institute.
I’ve served on the board of directors there for many years, and I’m always blessed to visit with these men after we have our board meetings. Humbled when brought to the bottom by the ravages of Satan’s devices of sin, these men are much more aware of the mercy and grace of Christ in saving them than others may be.
Emmanuel Baptist Rescue Mission is at the epicenter of the LA homeless problem. As one looks down the streets in the area, there are seen dozens and dozens of tents side by side covering the sidewalks block after block. Though many remain in bondage to their immediate desires and are blinded to anything beyond the present moment, for those who really want it, there is help and deliverance.
EBRM is known on the streets of LA as the place you go if you are looking for more than just a meal and a bed for the night. One man there who I visited with Thursday had arrived to LA 6 months ago, out of money, and with no connections here. He had recently been saved out of a lifetime deeply involved in Hinduism. Seeking direction on his own, the Holy Spirit was impressing upon him to leave India and get to the U.S. Soon after leaving the airport he began asking people where he might find a place where the Bible was taught. Someone told him, “You need to get to Emmanuel Baptist Rescue Mission. Since then he has been there soaking up the discipleship and serving in the ministry.
If you are involved in our Missions giving, you are also a beneficiary of the blessings that come from such stories as this one. The work accomplished in Missions will abound to your account! Philippians 4:5, Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.