Meeting the Needs of Those Who Are Hurting
“Go into all the world, and preach the good news to all creation.”
Mark 16:15
Many years ago after I answered the call to preach, God moved upon my heart and I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, ‘Here am I, Send me’ .” (Isaiah 6:8 NKJV). At that time my wife, Belinda, and I were members of New Town Baptist Church. In 1984 Brother Jack Bell and I started a jail ministry. In 1986 Belinda and I started working with the nursing home ministry. God blessed in those ministries greatly and is still doing so today.
God has a plan for each and every one of our lives. It is up to us to follow His plan. I know it is not always easy to know or to follow but He has a plan. One afternoon, after I answered the call to preach, I was pondering the lost time and opportunities I had missed as a youth. Satan was telling me because I didn't pay attention in church, because I had been an alcoholic and a drug addict that I could not and would not be used of God. I had been listening to Satan, the father of lies, instead of listening to God. As I was praying and pouring my heart out to God, He began giving me His Word— “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. ” Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) God's word is true and it means what it says.
God gave me a vision that night. There were several hundred faces in this picture. I had no idea what it meant, but I did have a great desire in my heart to work with the poor. I thought that there were some of those faces in the jail and nursing ministries but still those were not the same faces that were revealed to me in my vision. In 1992 God moved Belinda and me to Meadowdale Baptist Church. “The safest place to be is always in God’s will.” The pastor, Dr. Steven Pearson, ask me if I would be interested in going on an international mission trip. I answered “Yes” and as I answered God took me back to the night I quoted Isaiah 6:8. I knew that God wanted me on that mission trip. I did not know the impact that it was going to have on my life.
God led us to Tanzania, Africa. After four days of hard traveling we came to Busakala, Tanzania. This is where God has blessed us to work. Dr. Pearson was training me in all the aspects of third world evangelism. On the third day we traveled to a secondary school to share God's Word with the students and teachers. Before Steven began the message he asked me to take a picture of the group to share at the slide presentation when we returned to the states. As I moved behind him and raised the camera, I looked through the lens and saw to my amazement the same picture that God had given me ten years earlier. I was excited to say the least and all I could do was praise God!
I know that God had called me to do international ministry. God moved me out of the jail and nursing home ministries in 1994 and turned me toward third world countries to minister to the poor and to those who have never heard the lovely name of Jesus. He has given me the responsibility of telling those people that He can save them from their sins.
Since 1993 we have worked in India, South America, Mexico, Africa, and the Philippines. We are looking forward to the great things that Jesus is going to do through Isaiah's Ministry. A good friend of mine told me that I have two things to do in life. One is to know the will of God and the other is to do the will of God. This is the goal for my life and to do it to the best of my ability.
There is a tremendous opportunity to share the Gospel of Christ, but it will take much prayer, preparation, and financial aid to accomplish this task. Isaiah's Answer, Inc. is a non-profit corporation created solely for the purpose of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Our goals are as follows:
Conduct international crusades.
Involve Christians in the United States in aiding the needs of Christians in third world countries.
Provide Bibles and religious materials for Christians internationally.
Provide clothing, medicine, and other needs to Christians in third world countries.
Please pray about becoming partners with Isaiah's Answer in winning our world to Christ.
In His Service,
Dr. Garry Tate
of Isaiah's Answer, Inc.
P.S.
Dr. Tate is also available for speaking engagements for mission organizations, Mission Sunday, revivals, and evangelistic crusades.