In the coming weeks we'll be moving away from our familiar Homepage to something I believe will be much better and much easier to use. Don't worry, we'll keep our domain and all the tools that you are used to using, we'll just have a new platform that will better support our needs and make it easier to let the world know what we're up to here at Lakeview. To get a glimpse of the new site, check it out here .

Join us on Sunday July 3 for a time of fellowship and celebration.  See our flyer below for details.

Join us the Week of July 17 for Vacation Bible School!

The following report is from Martin Zacarias, who leads the work of HeartCry in Peru. In Latin America, HeartCry only works directly in Peru. However, in response to the many requests for help from different parts of Latin America, we have helped support Martin and some of the other men with whom we work in Peru in their trips to other countries in South America. In this report Martin gives an overview of what God has been doing in Peru and the countries that he has visited.

Looking Up,

Shannon Ayers
Donor Relations Coordinator


The Work in Latin America

But now God has decided to go far beyond our little faith. Many brothers in other countries in Latin America have called us asking for help. Many of them have heard the Gospel through the conferences that HeartCry had in Lima on the Gospel, and God has awakened them through the faithful preaching of the Gospel.

Thankfully we have been able to travel to several countries through the support of HeartCry, in order to respond to the invitations from Christ's people and His church. The Word of God has spread and God has been exalted in all of this. God continues raising up, in each country, faithful servants who love the Scriptures, are zealous for the Name of God, and who are given to faithfully preaching the Gospel.

Venezuela

This is the first country that we visited in response to an invitation from some brothers. When they heard the truth of the Gospel, they wanted to be confirmed and they wanted to see if the teachings that they had heard fit with the Scriptures. The time that we spent with them, confirming them in the Gospel, was wonderful.

The awakening produced by the Lord in that country continues to grow, even into parts of the country where the people had been captive to the practice of superficial evangelism for many years. Zeal for the Gospel and for the defense of the faith is what marks these brothers who are willing to give their lives for the Lord.

Church meeting in Venezuela
One can see in these brothers a desire to share all things in common, not pretending or in appearance only, but rather in truth. To be among them is like living in the book of Acts. God has exhorted us through their testimony of growing love. We have been blessed by their humility and fervor in preaching the Gospel. They continue reaching out to other Christians, persuading them, in light of Scripture, to abandon all decisionistic practices in evangelism and to rest only in the power of the Gospel.


Argentina
Thanks to God, in this country we have also been seeing an awakening among the different denominations. Many of these brothers have been expelled from their congregations, being despised by their friends and families. But the love of God which has been poured out in their hearts has led them to respond with gentleness and respect (something which is culturally rare among Argentines but common among the true people of God).

Alfonso street preaching in Argentina

The brothers in Argentina are pleading for pastors and churches which preach the truth. This country was the first to receive missionaries and then to send them to other parts of South America. However, by not being faithful to the biblical and historical preaching of the Gospel, the Gospel was slowly diluted until it came to rest upon man-made strategies and methods.

Two young brothers from Rosario (five hours north of Buenos Aires), whom we met at a conference on the Gospel in Buenos Aires, came in order to learn about the way of God more adequately. After this meeting they gave themselves to studying to see if these things were so. After becoming convinced of the truth they went to the leaders of their movements. These leaders, after seeing that they could not resist the wisdom with which these young men spoke, expelled the young men from their congregations and prohibited them from speaking to others about Christ. But, Glory to God, they have continued preaching and by the grace of God they have established a testimony in their city. On this visit we baptized several people who were convinced that they had been saved during the recent months.

Alfonso baptising a convert in Argentina
Please pray for these young men. Their names are Nicolás Serrano and Esteban Toloza. Nicolás is getting married in March and in April is coming to Lima where he will study at the Ministerial Academy that we will be beginning this year at the church. These young men are very devoted and valiant in the preaching of the Gospel and the discipleship of the saints.

Another place that we were able to visit in Argentina was Bahía Blanca (eight hours south of Buenos Aires). A group of brothers, that were kicked out of their Charismatic Baptist church, wrote to us to ask us if we would come and teach them the truth of the Gospel. When we arrived, they had set aside a great deal of time so that they could spend hours and hours learning of Christ. The brother who is leading this group is Victor Peralta.

Martin & Alfonso teaching in Argentina
It was wonderful to see the hunger that these brothers had. This is the same hunger that we had seen in Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, in the people of God all over the world. If there is anything that the Lord is using to enco
urage us to continue in thiswork, it is seeing the desire of the people of God to know more of Him. When we meet with these brothers, there are no set schedules, no set times to eat. Everything becomes relegated to a secondary level when we are studying the truth of who God is and the true Gospel.

Colombia
This country has not been excluded from the great move of God. We have visited this country twice and we continue seeing the desire of the people of God to know their Lord.

Many brothers here are learning about their roles as husbands and fathers. We are seeing that this area of life is also impacted by the true Gospel. The brothers in Colombia are realizing that we can not neglect these responsibilities in the family which God has given us.

The sisters who have come from these congregations had previously been given to the "Prosperity Gospel" and had un-biblical roles in their congregations. They have repented of this and have asked the Lord to conform them to His grace. This has been a battle for them in light of the roles that they previously fulfilled, but they are humbling themselves and learning what the Lord has truly called them to do.

Eder preaching in a plaza in Columbia
We give thanks to God for pastors like Andres Espinoza and for his wife. He ministers in a new congregation in Bogotá and his wife has a testimony of living in Biblical submission, something which is rarely seen among Colombian women. Another humble pastor who is fervently serving the Lord is Javier Gil (about 12 hours from Bogotá.) We were able to visit his church along with brother Junior Cuya and it was wonderful for the young people to be able to see that the Lord can raise up young people (Junior is rather young) for His glory and honor.
These brothers were very open to the Scriptures, receiving the Word with sincerity and they are praying for their country. In Latin America, Colombia is known for being a hot-bed for Charismatic churches. The G12 movement (a Latin American cult) was born in Colombia and the "Prosperity Gospel" is very strong among most of the pseudo-Evangelical churches.

Martin witnessing in Columbia

Please be praying for God to send workers to His harvest in this country, which is overrun with the drug trade, embroiled in constant violence, and given to a very libertine lifestyle. But the people of God living there are not overwhelmed by the filthy conduct of evildoers. May God continue to be glorified in this country.

Chile
Chile is the country with the most deceptive statistics regarding its level of evangelization. A few years ago they were calling Chile "the country of the harvest" because of the thousands of decisions that decisionistic preachers were obtaining. But now the Gospel of the grace of God is bringing to light the dark side of this practice, that it did not glorify and honor the Lord.

We thank God for Flavio Miranda, a young man whom we visited in Antofagasta (about twelve hours north of Santiago). Flavio had visited several congregations in his city, looking for one that conformed to the Gospel of God. He did not find any in his city and God led him to begin meeting with a small group of believers to praise God and to learn from the Scriptures.

Martin, Eder and Flavio with a fellowship in Chile
The wisdom that God has given to this brother is for His glory. Flavio is being greatly used for the building up of the people of God and he is growing in his fear and knowledge of God. Each day more and more brothers are being added who have the same desire and zeal for the glory of God. This young man will be getting married soon and, even though he has graduated from the university, he is serving God full time with the help of his father and some other brothers. It is a blessing to be able to count on brothers who love the Lord in this way. The true harvest in this country is happening. Praise the Lord!

Grace Bible Academy

Because of this awakening, God in his grace has led us to begin teaching, at our church, a basic eight month course called "Marrow of Theology." This course covers basic and necessary doctrines that every minister of the Word should know. The idea is to build up some brothers, especially those in Peru, who want to serve the Lord better. However, the Lord has led other brothers from other countries to come and study with us. Brothers will be coming from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and Panama. There will even be a Colombian brother who has been living in Canada. God has given us a great responsibility to help in the formation of these brothers. Pray for these brothers--this is a task that will require a great deal of effort. We hope that the fruit of this ministry will be the building up of the people of God.


Conclusion
It is wonderful to see what God has been doing among His people in the Spanish-speaking part of the world. The Lord has seen fit to give us a small part in this awakening and we rejoice in that. Our joy overflows even in the midst of attacks and afflictions. We are strong in our conviction and in the hope that God will continue doing His work. We will continue striving according to His grace.

Thank you for your prayers, many, many thanks. Thank you also for your financial support which has allowed us to respond to the need in these countries. We thank God that we are able to partner and work together in the advance of His Kingdom.

To Him alone be the glory!

Martin Zacarias

1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
3 The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
Psalm 126:1-3

We want to welcome everyone to our revival services beginning April 3rd through April 5th.  We are anxiously anticipating great blessings for God's people and the salvation of souls. 

Featuring:  

Sunday 11:00am and 6:00pm
Bro. Wayne Hayes ministering in word and song

Monday 7:00pm
Bro. Chris Gowen
Special music by Somerville Baptist Church Choir

Tuesday 7:00pm
Bro. Chris Gowen
Special music by Bro. Keith Davis and family

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

Here in Tokyo, our family, church and friends are safe. Just after we finished a Bible study, we felt the big earthquake. Some things fell down, but we just ended up dizzy from the movement. The coasts are the most affected areas.  Most probably you have watched on the news that they are estimating 20,000 dead people, and that there was some explosions in two nuclear plants in Fukushima. The reactors didn't explode with these explosions, but the government is trying to cool down the reactors to prevent this from happening. There was a release of vapor with high levels of radiation from one of the reactors. The country is in a state of emergency.  Some people were contaminated, but thousands are being evacuated 20 kms. away from the nuclear plants.

 

The world's perspective of what is happening is focused on the spectacular show of houses and cars floating, on the buildings on fire, or the power of the tsunami. The most terrible sound we Christians heard these days is not the terrible sound of the earthquake or the roaring of the tsunami, but we heard in our spirits the cry and screams of thousands of souls going to hell. We do not deserve to be alive, each person who is reading these lines or breathing today--it is just because of the mercy and grace of our God. It is hard to see so much pain and devastation, but we cannot blame God. We have to praise god for blessing us with another day to live.

 

God decided to take away the life of thousands of people, and He decided also to keep the lives of many. We are crying for the consequences of His purposes and sovereignty. God is allowing all this devastation, death and suffering in Japan for a purpose. We believe there is a specific precious message from Him to each one of us. So it is our first prayer that we will eagerly seek to listen to His voice behind this tragedy. To spend time entertaining our interest in the images and videos will make all these events worthless. All this will make sense only if we listen to the message of our Lord.

 

It is disgusting to see people who call themselves Christians united in prayers with buddhists and idol worshipers. Everybody is 'spiritual' now in Japan, but everybody is conveniently keeping silent about to whom they are really praying, and describing this time as an impersonal act of nature for the sake of the false atmosphere of world spiritual unity.  Jesus have mercy on us.

 

After this tsunami in Japan, it is very sad that Japanese people continue praying to the animals, to the toilets, to buddha, to mountains, to their worthless idols, to demons and much other garbage. But it is more sad that many Christians are afraid to tell that there is only One God and there is Only One NAME under heaven by which we can be heard, and His name is Jesus Christ. God have mercy.

 

Please help us by praying so God has more mercy and patience with this idolatrous country. Japan is the country that rejected the most-over hundreds of years-the Gospel and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray for more mercy for Japan.

 

Please pray for more missionaries who are ready to suffer for the faithful preaching of the true Gospel. We need more missionaries here because the missionaries who do come, most of them return after only a very short time here.

 

Please pray that all Japanese people will repent from their idolatry and will run to our Lord Jesus, that they may be reconciled through repentance and faith.

 

Please pray that in this time of unbearable pain, the Japanese people will find through our Lord Jesus reconciliation, and real hope, comfort, love, joy and peace.

 

Please pray so Christians in this country will be brave enough to share the name of Jesus and to attack the idolatry.

 

Please pray so many Christians will talk with Japanese people about repentance and faith in Jesus, and that Christians will not use  "Bible Promises for God's children" to counsel and encourage the God-rejecting people.

 

Please pray for God to break our pride and break the pride of this country.

 

Pray so Japan will understand that their idols and thousand of gods are dead, and that they will not enslave or kill Christians like they did in the past, but this time they will melt and surrender and live on their knees worshiping the Only True God.

Lakeview youth have taken on two special projects to assist our community.  The youth will be cleaning up the yards of those who need the help and planting the God's Storehouse garden which provides fresh vegetables to those in need of food throughout the year.  Anyone who would like to donate food items of vegetables from their own garden can do so by contacting Bro. Jerry Clayton at 931-852-4919.

Greetings HeartCry Family,

The grace of the Lord continues to be evident in His help that we are seeing all around the world. Please read the reports below, and pray for those who are mentioned. The Lord moves in response to His people's prayers. Thank you, and may the Lord bless and prosper you.

Asia Update from Matt Glass

Over the last couple of months, the Lord has been good and continues to bless the work of His servants in Asia. In North India, Raj has seen some open doors to share the Gospel, both in the Jaunsari hill region and in some villages near his home. In both places, doors were opened as a result of his love for the people and his service to them in helping meet some of their physical needs. In Japan, Luis is continuing the faithful, steady pastoral work that is a vital part of his growing fellowship in Tachikawa. He has also been studying the Japanese language for more than six months and is making good progress. God has been using him to minister to his own kinsmen- the Peruvians- but Luis also has a great desire to reach the ethnic Japanese people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray for him as he continues to study the language.

At the beginning of September, Paul Washer, Matt Glass, and Matt's family returned to the USA from visiting Asia. Paul flew to Indonesia in August where he was able to meet with Asih Pamitran, a church planting team with whom HeartCry partners. He visited several outposts where the team is seeking to plant churches, along with some already established fellowships. Paul and Matt then flew to India where HeartCry sponsored a conference with missionaries in South Asia. Men traveled from all over the region to spend time with one another and hear from God's Word. It was a blessed time of fellowship and teaching.

Prayer Requests:

1. Pak A. - he is a part of Asih Pamitran. Recently, his two-year old daughter passed away due to health complications that had plagued her since birth. Pray that the comfort of the Holy Spirit would be with him and his wife during this difficult time.

2. Nicanor and Rocio - members of Luis' church in Japan. In August, Rocio had a baby prematurely. Pray that God would continue to help him grow and that his breathing would normalize.

3. Lakhan Ghorai's family - he was a member of Sib and Krishna's church in West Bengal, India, but passed away in July. He battled death for many months before it finally took him. Please ask that God would use his death for truth to be heard and believed by those in his family. Many do not know Jesus Christ.

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Africa Report from Sean Reece

The following is a recent report from Sean and Shannon Reece in their work with the Lozi tribe in Zambia.  While Sean and Shannon currently reside in Livingstone, Zambia, they are in the process of relocating their families out to the bush to live and minister among the Lozi.  They are facing a number of obstacles in obtaining permission from the Lozi ruling council (the Kuta) to make this transition.  They are in great need of prayer for the Lord's intervention on their behalf. -----

Our precious prayer warriors, I write this email with a certain degree of sadness.  I was so confident this morning that I would be writing tonight to tell you how our God triumphed mightily over the enemy's resistance.  I will still write that email someday, but not today.  We have been deeply touched by the outpouring of emails reassuring us of your prayers, and the encouraging news that our needs have been posted on websites, prayer chains, and even daily devotionals (thanks Brother Mack!).  Shannon had a fitting description of the battle this morning: we may be the Marines actually assaulting the beach, but we won't go far without artillery and air support.  As we drove to Mwandi this morning, we truly felt that we were not riding into battle alone.  Thank you!

I'll get the unpleasant news out of the way...The enemy switched tactics again.  No open attacks through our chief or the Kuta, just simple old delay tactics.  We must be in Lusaka tomorrow to pick up the Glass brothers from HeartCry.  Therefore, we could not come to the Kuta from the bush camp and transport our chief and headman ourselves.  We had to come from Livingstone and meet the village leaders in Mwandi.  Our dear friend Gavin Johnson offered his vehicle and driver to transport them.  However, the driver was confused, missed picking up one of them, and had to backtrack.  Thus they were two hours late to the Kuta, and arrived at 11 a.m., one hour before their two hour lunch break. The next hour was wasted trying to find our missing documents (again), because everyone on the Kuta thought that someone else had them.  Our documents were finally located just as the lunch bell sounded.  Two hours later, we returned to a very casual session with the Kuta.  At last, a messenger was sent into the "royal palace" to see if we could meet the "king" (the final step in approving our land).  It was merely a formal gesture.  Everyone knows that the "king" doesn't see people in the afternoon - it's too hot and he's too tired (from doing what?).  Our 4th trip back in January was slowly replayed - "No, the "king" can't see you.  Can you come back tomorrow?" (How many times have we heard that?)  "No, we must be in Lusaka tomorrow."  "Oh, sorry."  We may have another shot on Monday, but if not, the whole process stops until November, after the visit from HeartCry and our trip to South Africa.I am disappointed, and battle-weary, but at peace.  We did see proof today that God is fighting on our behalf, and I feel that the battle has turned.  I think that soon you will hear the victory shout in this particular battle. 

Here are some of the miracles we saw today in answer to your prayers:

1.  Transport for our chief and headman.  Gavin (and his vehicle) were supposed to be gone.  At the last minute his plans changed and he was able to offer his vehicle.

2.  Our regional chief was totally different from Friday.  He was cheerful, friendly, and helpful.  At one point today, he was given the perfect opportunity to criticize us to the Kuta.  Instead, he said we were good and honest men.

3.  The Kuta was also totally different from last visit.  No hostility, only clarifying questions.

4.  The cruel judge who sat in the chief judge's seat last visit was not in charge today.  Another elderly judge, who treated us favorably back in January, was back in the chief judge's seat.

5.  Usually there is a crowd waiting to see the Kuta.  No one else was there today.  We had the Kuta all to ouselves for the whole day, so at least they couldn't ignore us or rush to push us aside for another case.

6.  They actually found our papers this time.We know that Jesus rules over all earthly and spiritual powers for the good of His church, but He has ordained prayer as the channel for His power. Please do not grow weary in praying.

With heartfelt thanks,

Sean

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Eastern Europe Report from Sorin Prodan

God's grace is continuing to amaze us with every new step that we take in our ministry and marriage. We are constantly reminded of the words of the apostle Paul, who wrote to the Corinthians, "My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9). Every year, month, week, and day we have the proof of God's infinite love and mercy for us.

I began the month of September with some study and writing. By God's grace I continued to write on the commentary on Ephesians. It is exciting to me to think of the day this commentary with be published and made accessible to the Romanian churches. We have two commentaries on Ephesians (one that is good but has some theological problems, and another one written by John Stott, which is very good). But, it is my conviction that a commentary is more relevant when it is written for a people from a certain culture, by a person from that particular culture.

There are some ways of expressing Biblical truths that make more sense when you belong to that specific culture in which you explain the things of God. I am about to finish chapter one, but there is still much more ahead. Please pray that the Lord will increase my desire to continue to dig deeper and deeper in the Word and have wisdom to put it into words that are relevant to the people of God.

Another part of the work I did at the beginning of September was some paper work for the legalization of HeartCry in Romania. With this crisis that we are passing through it's becoming more and more difficult to work without having a "legal" structure. Not that we worked illegally in Romania, but I tried to avoid having to maintain an office, accountant, lawyer, and other additional staff people to run the ministry. It's becoming obvious that we need to create this structure so that we can develop our ministry without any problems with the state. I had to meet a lawyer, write the by-laws, and think of all kind of aspects that are to be considered in this process of legalization. We have started and now we're getting the approval for the association, which will be called "The Christian Association HeartCry Europe". The Tomeci family (John, Ani, Flavius and Rebecca) has moved to Brasov at the beginning of the month. We were involved in helping them to move things into their apartment in Brasov. It is a great joy to have them with us in this new ministry of planting a new church in the city of Brasov.

We had a conference during September 9-11. Harvest Bible Church of Houston is involved in the mission ministry in Romania, helping at the moment the missions from Pucioasa and Fieni. They are also willing to extend their interest and help to other missions from Romania. We organized this conference for the areas of ministry they are involved in. We had two good teachers and other brothers that were on the team. Lance led us through the book of 1 Peter, and Roy taught about the transmission of the Biblical text (canon, infallibility, language, etc). It was a very fruitful time with our brothers who brought good and sound teaching. The next major event of September was the outreach in the county of Buzau. I went to join the HeartCry teams that came together to do a massive outreach in Pitulicea, Glodeanu-Sarat, Amaru, Florica, and other villages around this area. It was amazing to see how much we were able to do in two days. We covered five villages, going from door to door and talking with people in their homes or on the streets. We had opposition in some places, but we were generally well received.

We were in teams of two, taking a village and visiting each street. The five teams approached hundreds of people to whom they explained the Gospel. I was particularly impressed with how the Lord turned the heart of some people that seemed very reluctant at the beginning. They listened with much interest and even said they would try to attend the church where missionary Marian J. serves. We saw people that were touched in their hearts, having tears in their eyes. Was that conversion? God knows. But if it was, we will see it later, when all these people that seemed touched emotionally, come to testify of Christ by taking up the cross and following Him.

On September 19, I preached the Word of God in a celebration of a church in the city of Tirgoviste that was started one year ago. There was a large participation in the meetings. I was particularly happy to see unbelievers that attended the service. God poured his grace upon the meeting and the Word was preached with power.

The last week of September, I was invited by the Romanian church in Barcelona, which is ministered by a former colleague from University. Many Romanians immigrated to the Western Europe and today we have some large Romanian communities in Spain, Italy, Frace, England, etc. Praise God that the Christians that left for work started churches in all these countries. Today, just a few years from the founding of this church, the Romanian church in Barcelona numbers over 100 believers. They are a dynamic group of believers with a great desire of spreading the Gospel. They have been helping one of the HeartCry missions from Romania (Ramnicu-Sarat), send out teams to do outreach and help this ministry with specific needs. I had meeting with this church, lead a Bible study, meet with the youth, and some families,and preached God's Word to the congregation.

During September we had the first meetings with our team in Brasov. We planned what we will do over the next months till Christmas. It is a joy to have this perspective of developing a new church in Romania. Pray that God will be the One who will work and use us for accomplishing this task.

We are thankful for your love and support. God is using you to spread the Gospel of salvation to the nations. We always pray to the Lord for you, and thank Him for having brothers and sisters behind us to help so we can take the Gospel to the lost. The Spirit of God is moving!

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Peru Update from Brad White

I want to again share with you about some of the things that the Lord has been doing in Peru among the missionaries with whom we are working. Martin Z. recently returned from a teaching trip to Venezuela and is preparing for a trip to Colombia in October. On these trips Martin usually helps churches become more grounded in sound theology. Click here to read Martin's report about his trip to Venezuela.

Angel C., who has been greatly used of the Lord for over 50 years now, has struggled with some health issues related to his diabetes. Please pray for him and for his family.

In my previous report I shared with you about Alfonso N.'s upcoming debate with the leader of the Peruvian Atheist Association. Here is Alfonso's report where he shares an update about the debate.

Please be in prayer for those lost students who heard Alfonso share the gospel during the debate. Pray also for the Lord to restore Angel C.'s health in order that he might be able to carry on with the many ministries in which he is involved. Please also pray for the Lord to use Martin for the building up of His church in Colombia. I would ask you to continue to be in prayer for our upcoming conference in Peru at the beginning of November.

I want to share with you some exciting reports that we have received from the missionaries that with whom we work. The first one is from Juan O. who pastors a church in the Lima area. In this report, Juan shares about having had the opportunity to share the Gospel at a funeral.

The next report is from Carlos G. In the report Carlos shares about the divergent paths that he has seen some young people (with whom he has been associated since their childhood) have taken. Those that have heeded the call of the Gospel have turned into godly young men. Those that did not heed the call of the gospel have ended up as gang members.

The final report is from Wehrner P. In the report, Wehrner shares about a teenage girl who was enslaved to fear and who may also have been subject to some kind of demonic oppression. Wehrner had the chance to share the Gospel with her and, although she has yet to make a clear profession of faith, she does appear to have been freed from some of the fear that was enslaving her.

Ron Stokes will be visiting on June 13th to share the mininstries of AMG International with the teen class at 10:00am.  He will also address the church at 11:00am.  

A fundraiser benefit will be held for the Wilbanks family on Friday, April 30, 2010, to help raise money to cover Bro. Randy's medical and funeral expenses.