Dear Friends of In Pursuit Ministries of CA,
1 Thessalonians 5:24 we read, "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." Over the years, this verse has meant so much to us. I know that in our ministry, God continues to work in our lives and I think you are going to see in the newsletter how true this is. May God get the glory.
On Sunday, the 27th of September I preached at the Calvary Baptist Church in Rio Linda and the Faith Baptist Church in North Highland. Both of these churches are in the Sacramento area. Calvary Baptist is one of our supporting churches and it was good to give them a report of our activities. Faith Baptist where I have preached several times in the past is praying about supporting us in the future. This is a tremendous blessing. Over the years, we have lost support from 5 different churches. If you would like to begin helping us, please click on this link http://inpursuitca.com/support/.
September 28th while we were in Sacramento we stopped by the Memorial for Fallen Officers there at the Capital Building to give honor to our fallen Officer, Shaun Diamond who died in the line of duty on October 29, 2014. This is a sad time for all of us at the Pomona Police Department when this happened.
In August, we had the opportunity to give an update of our ministry at the Bible Baptist Church in National City. This church has been supporting us for over 10 years. We had written in our summer newsletter the need for tires for our VW Jetta. A member of that church gave us $400.00 for new tires. What a blessing!
In July, we attended a training seminar on PTSI/PTSD at the San Rafael Police Department north of San Francisco. The training was excellent. We think that only those in the military suffer from this injury, but there are police officers and other first responders who also suffer. This training was about how to recognize those who may be suffering from this injury and how we can help.
Activities with the Pomona Police Department
We continue to ride along with our officers and minister to them. We help with DUI Checkpoints twice a month and patrol the streets of Pomona in a special vehicle provided by the Pomona PD. Last month while out patrolling, we were dispatched to a scene where a 46-year-old man died of a heroin overdose. We were able to provide emotional first aid to the family members and share the gospel. In the past few months, we have been dispatched on the average of twice a month where people have died. Recently we just started providing our services as chaplains at the Pomona Valley Hospital. We were dispatched there to provide our services for a family whose daughter died at a rock concert from taking the drug "Molly". Also, in August one of our jailers died suddenly at home, he was just 44. We were dispatched there to provide services and to help with the funeral. Pomona PD only requires we invest a minimum of 20 hours a month at the Department. Just to give you an idea of the time we invest there is anywhere from 50 to 70 hours a month. Back in June, we celebrated 12 years with the Department. We love what we do!
Back in September, I did my first ride along with the Cal Poly Police Department. This small department does not have a chaplaincy program. We are praying that we will be able to start the program once the new chief is sworn in. The officer I rode contacted us through our website at www.inpursuitca.com and needed some encouragement and is interested in becoming a chaplain himself. I will be meeting with him again soon.
In October, I gave the invocation at the Southern California Association of Fingerprint Officers. Fingerprint specialists from all over Southern California.
On October 29, 2015, a Prayer Vigil was held at Shaun Diamond Square named in his memory since his tragic death. The public was invited to attend. The Vigil began at 6:30 pm. I was able to speak during the meeting. There were over 200 people in attendance. Also, we learned that they are renaming the I-10 freeway that runs through Pomona from I-57 to Towne Ave., the Officer Shaun Diamond Memorial Hwy. What a great honor. We will never forget him.
In November, we conducted an Area D meeting, which was sponsored by the Pomona Police Department. Our speaker was Andrew Chapman who spoke on issues officers have with Post Traumatic Stress Injury. We think that only those in the military suffer from that injury. We learned that Law Enforcement also suffers from this. This could be the reason that every 22 hours an officer in the US takes his/her life because he/she does not get help.
Special prayer requests!
Recently one of our officers asks if we could visit one of his family members who has cancer. When we went to make that visit we gave he gospel. We ask that you pray for her.
As many of you know, we are a faith-based ministry and sometimes things come up that throw you a curve ball. The other day, we discovered that our water heater is leaking. We called the insurance company who sent out a repairman in to look at it. We were pretty confident that our insurance would cover the cost of replacement. Interesting enough, the repairman verified that the water heater needed to be replaced but with a price tag of $530.00. He said if we did not have insurance it would have cost $1200.00. This was an item we thought we had our bases covered, What a surprise!! Would you pray and possibly give towards this need by clicking on this link? http://inpursuitca.com/support/ Thank you!
Update concerning the water heater. We want to praise the Lord, for He has supplied the need.
Without prayer and your financial support, we could not do what we do. For those who love what we do, would you consider joining our ministry by becoming a member. Just 5, 10 or 20 dollars a month could be a significant help to us. Please click on this link at http://inpursuitca.com/support/ and consider supporting us. Thank you!
Our existing website is about 8 years old and needed an update. Our oldest son Timothy is building the new site. It is up and running but he is still working on it. We will keep you informed through Facebook of his progress.
Pomona PD called us out a few weeks ago to offer emotional first aid to a family whose mother passed away that morning. We have gone on many of these over the years and they never get easier. This one was special because the mother knew the Lord Jesus Christ as herd Savior and we could give the family the full assurance that she is heaven. We shared the gospel with the whole family, it was tremendous! Pray for this family as they cope with their loss.
This last Thursday Pomona Police Department invited us to the Volunteer Luncheon to express their appreciation for our service. We were awarded a beautiful plague as seen below. Our Deputy Chief, our two Captains and the mayor of Pomona also was there to honor us.
Thank you for reading this letter and God bless you all!
Sincerely in Christ,
Bob and Jane
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8UrNhhZlaPgN21KbUFJaVQzR2M/view?usp=sharing