Dear Friends in Christ,
We pray God’s blessings on you in this New Year! And our prayer for your blessing is to Father God, in the precious name of our and your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. (Acts 4:12) What a wonderful encouragement you, our supporters, have been to us as you have helped us – and are helping us – with your prayers and your generous financial supply. We give praise and thanksgiving to our Master for your kindness and for His guidance as we continue to seek to give spiritual and practical aid to nursing home ministers and residents all over our great nation.
Jerry’s experience in nursing home ministry goes back to his adolescence (around 8 years old) when he participated with the youth group of his home church. The children were clueless to their impact on the residents as they sang and “testified” in what were called convalescent homes back then. In his early thirties, under his godly parents’ influence, Jerry began holding “church services” in local care facilities. In 1991, with much help from friends and fellow ministers, Jerry founded the missionary work of Christian Concourse. In 1997, Dar, by God’s grace, joined him in marriage and ministry. As the ministry matured we became, as we are today, fully focused on long-term care. All along the way, we have certainly learned a great number of lessons about our spiritual poverty and God’s bountiful supply through the Holy Ghost!
We know many of you who receive this newsletter are directly involved in nursing home ministry. And, all of you who pray for us (some of you have said you pray for us everyday!!) and all of you who donate to this ministry are also deeply involved in nursing home ministry. There are many mission fields of legitimate evangelical outreach and Christian ministry to the elderly and infirm is one of the vital components to the work of the Body of Christ. Nursing home ministers are an expression of the love of Father God to some of His most vulnerable, hurting, deprived sheep! (James 1:27)
Christian care facility service is sacrificial, but there are eternal rewards laid up in Heaven (Heb 6:10). And, there are blessings enjoyed in the here and now by those whom the Lord of the Harvest sends into this field. These blessings are real and they come in the joyful faces and the faith-strengthening and the heart-healing of the residents whom we serve for the cause of Christ. The needs are great and seemingly endless, but the One who commissions His missionaries is even greater and His Kingdom is without end and He has promised to be with His servants always!! (Matthew 28:20)
The struggles of the care facility population are real. To name a few, there is profound loneliness, physical pain, total material loss, deep emotional trauma and devastating mental deprivation. Hopelessness, doubt and fear constantly confront many long-term care residents, even the Christians. Consider this Scripture: “Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow.” (Psalm 6:2-3, 6-7 NIV)
What an honor in a care facility “church service” to watch faces lighten and lips begin to shape the words as the CD player invades the quiet and brightens the room with the eternal message:
“Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound!” “Love Lifted Me!”
“It Is Well With My Soul!” “My Jesus, I Love Thee!”
Pray for nursing home residents and nursing home ministers in your area. The Lord answers prayer!!!
With Love, Sincerely,
Jerry and Dar Johnson
NOTE! We are changing the source of our large-print materials which we send out by mail. It will be February or March ’26 before we are taking orders again. This move is to make availability of these resources sustainable. Thank you for your patience. WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO LOOK THOROUGHLY AT OUR DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES.