TERRY, Miss. (BP) – A year before pastor Lee Faler’s firstborn son Rankin, 6, developed terminal brain cancer, First Baptist Church of Terry was focused on suffering and prayer.

Fay Fife, organist at First Baptist Church of Terry, is among volunteers ringing the bell to signal the church’s daily prayers for the Falers as their son Rankin dies of brain cancer.

Faler was in the middle of a sermon series on why God allows suffering, and members had begun ringing the church bell for a minute daily as a clarion call to prayer for healthcare workers in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Not only was God using those messages to encourage the church, but He was also using those messages to get us ready for suffering on a personal level,” Faler said.

Faler and his wife Jordan took Rankin home for hospice care Wednesday (July 7) as his body battles the final stages of inoperable glioblastoma multiforme, cancerous tumors that now comprise the left hemisphere of his brain. Rankin will spend time with his 4-year-old brother Patton and sister Katherine Rebecca (“Katibeck”), who turns 2 in October.

“Barring a miracle from God, we’re anticipating Rankin to pass away,” Faler said. “He has just been a trooper through everything. All in all, he’s remained in good spirits when he’s not in pain or when he’s not upset.”

Faler and Jordan have kept the church and their friends informed of their family’s journey through frequent Facebook posts, intent on glorifying God in their pain.

Sometimes the couple just cry.

“We started off really just wanting everyone to know, to hear it from us, what was going on,” Faler said. “But really, our heart in all of this was that … we wanted the Lord to be glorified, even on our worst of days. That’s kind of been our heart. We know that God’s called us to pastor and to love His people.

Lee and Jordan Faler with their three children — Rankin, Patton and Katibeck.

“On a personal level we definitely have our moments. And we have our times where all we want to do is just curl up in a ball and cry, and we’ve done plenty of that. But the peace that we have in the middle of all this can’t be explained apart from Christ. There’s no other way to explain it.”

Marlà Hughes – a cancer survivor, First Baptist Terry member and Faler family friend – revived the ringing of the church bell June 29 with the support of associate pastor Nick Chandler. Daily at 6 p.m., church volunteers ring the bell a full minute and pray for the Falers.

“In our church when you say ‘I’m a bell ringer,’ that means you’re praying,” Hughes said.

Herself a survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma since 2005, Hughes has suffered three relapses over the years. As she nears her 68th birthday on Sunday, she said she’s never experienced anything like Rankin’s journey.

“I hurt so bad for them,” she said. “But we see God through them talking the talk. What they’re going through, they could not possibly go through without faith in God. I have been told from those that’s been allowed to go in the (hospital) room, that once you’ve walked in the room you feel God’s presence.”

Rankin Faler, 6, has remained in good spirits while suffering from terminal brain cancer.

Rankin’s illness was diagnosed months after the entire family recovered from COVID-19 in December 2020. When Rankin began suffering complex migraines, nausea and weakness on the right side of his body two weeks before Easter, doctors first suspected lingering effects of COVID-19. But subsequent tests revealed an irregular mass on his brain unrelated to the virus.

Several specialists and tests later, doctors diagnosed Rankin with stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme.

“We’ll never know all that God is doing with this, but I think we find a lot of peace in some way with letting the church know that what we believe as Christians is true,” Faler said, “that Jesus is our peace, and that the Gospel does give us hope that sustains us even on our worst days.

“We find comfort in that, but we also know that God is using our faith at least in some small way to encourage the church and to inspire them to keep holding on to Jesus.”

First Baptist Terry, Faler’s previous pastorate Bethany Baptist Church of Prentiss, other churches and complete strangers have helped care for the Falers since Rankin was hospitalized in March. Church fundraisers that continue have raised tens of thousands of dollars. Churches, including Jordan’s hometown congregation of First Baptist Church of Mendenhall, have conducted love offerings and established bank accounts for contributions. Church members have kept the family’s home clean, the refrigerator stocked, clothes washed and meals prepared. Faler hasn’t missed a paycheck nor benefits, and complete strangers have contributed toward family expenses. Both his and Jordan’s parents live nearby and are ready babysitters.

“It’s shown us that the church doesn’t just need the pastor, the pastor needs the church, and the pastor’s family needs the church,” Faler said. “This has been a great reminder to me that I’m a person in need of grace and support and love.”

The ordeal has further unified the church that Faler said has welcomed his family from the beginning of their ministry there in 2019.

Jordan, a longtime school teacher who describes herself as a “control freak,” sees God’s hand from the beginning of the family ordeal and has found a peace she hasn’t been able to explain.

Even when doctors at the University of Mississippi Medical Center performed an MRI of Rankin’s spine, a group of tumor specialists were meeting at the hospital, a teaching facility.

“I had to see God’s hand in it at the very beginning,” she said, “and that is when I knew that God had this all under control, and I did not have to really worry about anything. I had a complete peace that is unexplainable to anyone, that came from Jesus right then.

“It was kind of like God just came over me when all this came into place and just said that, ‘I’ve got y’all. Don’t worry about it.’”

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. (BP) – For the last 17 years or so, The Church at Agape Outpost has held every summer Sunday service outside. It’s easy to see why, as its outdoor amphitheater on the bank of the Blue River joins views of Swan Mountain to the crisp Colorado morning air. The Creator’s work becomes just as apparent as the Gospel preached by Pastor Mike Atkinson.

Normally those services would have begun last weekend, as they customarily do near the Fourth of July. A decision was made this year, however, to move that point to Memorial Day weekend and end as usual at Labor Day. Atkinson said the reason was a sense that people wanted to be together more after a year where COVID largely prevented gatherings as usual.

Pastor Mike Atkinson of The Church at Agape Outpost conducts a baptism in the Blue River on May 30. Photo by Jeannie Brewer

In the spring of 2020, the church met indoors, albeit with social distancing in place. When services moved outdoors that Fourth of July, people were more comfortable. But then in-person attendance struggled with the move back to indoors. Church leaders took note and decided to go outside five weeks earlier in 2021.

Still, the 9,400-foot elevation of Agape Outpost doesn’t make for a typical outdoor June morning.

“We knew they were tired of not being together in person, so this year we told people to wear a coat,” Atkinson said. “When our worship team sets up at 7:30 we’re wearing jackets. Some days it was still in the 40s, but temperatures are typically in the 60s or 70s by then.”

In Atkinson’s 34 years as pastor most of the summer weather has been perfect for the outdoor services, and they’ve had to move inside only twice because of rain. However, he also has witnessed “a handful of times” when Fourth of July activities were cancelled because of snow.

The son of a career Navy man, Atkinson was born in Morocco and ended up moving around the southeastern United States growing up. He would go on to graduate from the University of Central Florida before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. During his last semester he was introduced to The Church at Agape Outpost and its founding pastor, Dwane Jackson, who was preparing for another path in ministry. Jackson and the church’s elders eventually came to see Atkinson as the next pastor. 

Atkinson credits Jackson with establishing the church’s focus for reaching those in a resort ministry setting. He’s working to expand that through plans to build housing on the church’s property that will host interns and others for training in resort ministry.

Worship at Agape Outpost typically draws around 200 attendees, with many of them seasonal guests and visitors to the resort town of Breckenridge. Photo by Jeannie Brewer

“You have people who live here and those who come in for seasonal work as well as guests here for a week or so,” he said on the various lengths at which people are in the area. “You also have people with second homes who stay a little longer.”

The cost of living is another hurdle, as Atkinson pointed out how prices are 25-30 percent higher in Breckenridge than 70 miles away in the Front Range cities of Golden and Boulder. When Atkinson and his wife Carolyn moved there in 1988 the lot “for a decent home would cost $20,000. Fifteen years later we bought one for $120,000. A few months ago the lot beside ours, which is a little smaller, sold for $450,000.

“Seasonality also wears people out,” he said, referring to the months of October, November and May when the area practically shuts down.

“There’s no one here. It’s like a ghost town and you have to get used to that.”

That makes it difficult to maintain leadership, he added. The challenge is to acknowledge those factors and build something around it.

One factor is that around 30 percent of the population can’t go to a regular morning worship service because of work. So Agape started a Wednesday night gathering that began with a fellowship meal and was designed to replicate the Sunday service. Atkinson’s message those nights is more discussion-based and related to the previous Sunday’s sermon.

Most years Agape Outpost would host a concert with free food or enter a float with a Gospel theme in the Fourth of July parade. With the holiday falling on a Sunday this year, the church opted to forgo those and instead celebrate with a baptism in the Blue River behind the amphitheater stage.

The term “tourist” is frowned upon regarding those who are in Breckenridge for the world-class skiing or cool mountain air in the summer months and attend services like those at Agape Outpost.

“It’s really not just a matter of semantics but having an attitude of inclusion and value,” said Steve Hoekstra, a longtime friend of Atkinson’s and director of the Western Office for Colorado Baptists and statewide Resort and Leisure Ministries director. “We have guests and visitors in Colorado. The outdoor services at Agape Outpost are a recognition of the lifestyle in the mountains and not an attraction to any one particular audience.”

Atkinson estimates the church sees more than a thousand visitors and guests over a typical summer.

“We’re aware that a lot of people are only going to be there one time,” he said. “So, we keep that in mind when we preach and worship. The Gospel is presented clearly and when they go back home, we encourage them to join and serve in a local church.”

(IMB Photo)

In a small town near Madrid, Spain, a missionary couple, Walker and Becca Welch, walked around a university hoping to meet Chinese students and share the gospel. Usually, the town’s university hosts more than 300 Chinese exchange students every year. Unfortunately, due to COVID 19, the Welches have had few opportunities so far this year to get to know them.

While the couple walked, however, they noticed a small hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant. Menu photos were taped to the windows, displaying their specialties, and a sign with the words “Momma’s Kitchen” hung on the outside — a fitting name for a Chinese food place trying to attract homesick exchange students.

Hoping to find out if students gathered there, the Welches stepped inside and were met by two restaurant owners, a man and a woman. The man excitedly showed the couple a menu, eager for them to order more than they intended. The woman — Ms. Zhao* — however, sat at a table near the entrance, staring at her phone and scarcely acknowledging the new customers.

After the man left to prepare the food, Becca looked around the small facility.

Chinese-themed decorations covered the walls, giving the dining area an authentic feel. Traditional sauces and chopsticks lay on the tables, paired with salt and pepper shakers to complete the typical restaurant set-up. An L-shaped bar stood near the front along with the kitchen, where the man was cooking their food. Numerous tables and chairs extended from the entrance all the way to the back, but the Welches didn’t spot any other customers. This didn’t perplex them, though, as Spaniards usually ate lunch much later in the day.

After preparing their order, the cheerful waiter returned with steaming Chinese food in to-go boxes and began to engage in friendly conversation.

When Walker and Becca asked how business was with no Chinese students around, he explained that though it had only been running for less than a year, Momma’s Kitchen planned to close the following Sunday due to a lack of their primary customers. In fact, the Welches were the only customers that week — and it was already Tuesday.

Recognizing an opportunity to share their faith, the missionaries pulled out their last Chinese Bible and Walker offered it to their waiter. On seeing the book, Ms. Zhao’s attitude entirely changed. She stood up and asked with glowing excitement, “Can I go to church with you?”

Her sudden enthusiasm took the couple by surprise. They had never seen such a positive response to the gospel like that in Spain before.

“Of course!” they answered her. As the four began to talk, Walker and Becca started asking questions and sharing the gospel in more detail, enthralled by Ms. Zhao’s incredible change of face. Miraculously, the waitress’s demeanor continued to brighten throughout the conversation.

As they continued to visit with Ms. Zhao and her colleague, they learned that Jehovah’s Witnesses and other similar groups had visited her previously and shared their version of the gospel with her. She wasn’t persuaded by them.

When she finally understood the true gospel, however, she wanted to dedicate her life to Christ. Becca joyfully led her in a prayer of faith.

After parting with their new sister in Christ, the Welches visited Momma’s Kitchen that following Friday, before the restaurant closed, and brought another Chinese Bible for Ms. Zhao. Since then, Becca has continued to be in contact with Ms. Zhao, hoping to keep up with this new believer.

Please pray that her new faith in Jesus will take root in Ms. Zhao’s heart and that she will find a Chinese church to join and grow in. Ask that she be protected from false teaching. Please also lift up Ms. Zhao’s business partner and pray that the Lord will lead him to accept Christ as well.

*Name changed for security

Jasmine Greenbay* serves as a communications intern in East Asia.

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