If you are coming to General Council ...

... be sure to stop by the TPE booth. Our booth is open August 8, 9, and 10. We will be having free book signings as usual. I always enjoy meeting folks from our AG churches. Be sure to say hi. We will also be snapping pictures to post on the blog. When you come by, just mention the blog, and, voila, your picture will be taken for later posting here. Here is our Weds. schedule. Click on the image for a bigger version.

We received 77 salvation letters last week!

Statistics don't generally mean much to me, but there is one statistic I share wherever I speak that is extremely important. For the past ten years we have received an average of seven salvation responses PER WORKDAY! These are people who return TPE's salvation coupon telling us that they have committed their lives to Christ and would like helps for their new Christian walk. We follow through by sending them materials and trying to connect them with a local church.

Every Monday morning our staff gathers to touch base on the upcoming week and to pray. Two things we always pray for are the week's upcoming issue (more about that in another post) and for all the new Christians who wrote in the previous week. This year we are receiving more of these contacts than ever. Monday we prayed for the 77 people who wrote us last week that they had given their lives to Christ. It just doesn't get any better than seeing people come into God's Kingdom. This is the most important part of what we do at TPE! Please pray that God will direct us and anoint each magazine so that more and more souls will be reached.

Pastor Dennis and Sharon Huenefeld

The Huenefelds pastor the AG in North Pole, Alaska, where I had the privilege of speaking a couple of weeks ago. When the small plane that was to fly me to Fort Yukon was grounded due to inclement weather, I had the opportunity to be with them and hear Pastor Dennis speak in the evening service. Pastor Huenefeld is the presbyter of the largest section in the AG! He and his wife were gracious hosts. Dennis joined us later in this trip on the Yukon River. That story is yet to be written but you'll see it in TPE. And look here for a lot more on the Alaska trip, including more on Pastor Huenefeld and Master's Commission North Pole that is a part of his church.

Today's AGUSM Issue, July 29, 2007 TPE

Today our issue is one of our special, four-times-a-year Assemblies of God US Missions issues. Check it out on our main site. Also check out AGUSM's Web site.

Win a book!

Our main Web site holds a weekly drawing for great books. Enter the
contest here. Here are the books you can currently enter to win. These are from our line of PE Books.

TPExtra - Audio

Gary Denbow, president of Central Bible College, was one of three great interviews we recorded today for our TPExtra podcast. Look for our audio content along with Gary's article "Clean Speech" on our Web site, tpe.ag.org, for our September 16, 2007 issue.

Bear Attacks

I recently traveled to Alaska for a story that will appear in an upcoming AGUSM edition. A bear entered the camp of the Master's Commission North Pole students near the beginning of the Yukon River trip and ripped open a brand new Cabela's tent. When the bear became aggressive and refused to be run off, Ron Pratt, director of MCNP, fearing for the students, had to shoot him. Later, we ate black bear backstrap and ribs. Ron gave most of the bear meat to a native village, for which they were very grateful.

At an Athabaskan fish camp we stopped at, there was a "bear dog," a dog kept just to keep bears from stealing the fish.

Later, in a store in Anchorage, I saw a bear spray, along with this (redundant) promo: "Stops harmful attacks." Are there any bear attacks that are NOT harmful?

Daily Devotionals

Need a good daily devotional? Check out TPE's Daily Boost! You'll enjoy it.

Look who came by: Earl and Janet Creps

Dr. Earl and Janet Creps are the first entries in our "Look who came by" feature. Earl and Janet are close friends, and were even my pastors for a while. Earl has written for TPE and Jan is a writer as well. They came by after being approved as national AGUSM missionaries. They are planting a church in the university city Berkeley, CA. Look for my interview with Earl in our Sept. 16 TPE. There will also be an audio interview on our Web site for that issue, tpe.ag.org.

Herschend Family Entertainment

I had the privilege of writing the cover story for this issue. Check it out here.











Below are a few photos for the lead story of this issue that didn't get into the magazine.
1. Jack and Peter Herschend with their lovely wives, Sherry and JoDee (left to right).
2. Jack and Peter by a genuine ancient fire engine.
3. Ken with the Herschends.