Greetings in Jesus Name,                                                                                   1/19/08

      III John Vrs 2 "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."

      Judy and I want to give you the State of the Union so to speak here at Countryside Baptist Church.  We have been here over four years now trying to rebuild this church that lies in the Foothills of the Appalachian's. We have made great progress in many area's. We have claimed Psalms 118;23 "This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes."

      If I may brag on the Lord,  We have made many changes here. We changed the name of the church to a more suitable name for this area. We have reduced the cost of all  utilities. We refinanced all the property at 5% fixed , purchased a van that will be paid off in two months, new sound equipment, put a new roof on and sided  one of the buildings, cleaned all the property up to make it more desirable..

      We have seen God save numerous souls, and baptized many. We have been through a split here two years ago. God has brought us through this most tragic experience. My wife has led the ladies in many fellowships, ladies meetings that this church had never had before. Judy is a real help meet. She works tirelessly here at the church with programs for all the ladies as well as the teen girls .

      All this and much more accomplished because of  and for our Saviour Jesus Christ. The church cannot support a full time pastor. If I thought God wanted us to leave here we would go in a heart beat. But God has not led us away.  There is so much more work to do in building up the congregation both in number and spiritually. We feel God wants us to stay and continue our mission work here in these foot hills.

      We have continued to preach some meetings out as well as set up our Gospel Tent here  and in area's that have no church at all. We will continue this ministry as long as we can. I will be 63 March the eighth and Judy 58 on the same day. Our health is not the best but it has not kept us from ministering in any capacity.   

      We  need your prayers first  and your continued financial help.  Many of you  have given to us these past twenty years in this ministry of Helping Local Ind. Baptist Churches. We ask that you our partners,  please continue to support our work here as we labor on rebuilding this church. There is so much work to do and so little time in which to do it.  John 9:4 "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work."

God bless you our partners of this mission work,                       

Gary & Judy Edmunds   Phil 3:13  still "reaching forth"