The Visionary is the internet publication for First Vision Baptist Church. It seeks to inform of the ongoing work of First Vision a mission work sponsored by Santa Fe Baptist Church in Santa Fe, Texas. Larry Jones is our pastor.

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"I Am A Soldier"

I am a soldier in the army of my God.
The Lord Jesus Christ is my Commanding Officer.
The Holy Bible is my code of conduct.
Faith, prayer and the Word are my weapons of warfare.
I have been taught by the Holy Spirit, trained by experience, tried by adversity and tested by fire.

I am a volunteer in this army and I have enlisted for eternity.
I will either retire from this army at the rapture or die in this army; but I will not get out, sell out, be talked out or pushed out.
I am faithful, reliable and dependable.

I am a soldier.
I do not need to be pampered, petted, primed up, pumped up, picked up or pepped up.

I am a Soldier.
No one has to call me, remind me, write me,visit me, entice me or lure me.
No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, candy or give me handouts.
I do not need to be cuddled, cradled,cared for or catered to.
I am a Soldier, and I am committed.

I cannot have my feelings hurt badly enough to turn me around.
I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside.
I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit.

Devils cannot defeat me.
People cannot disillusion me. Weather cannot weary me. Sickness cannot stop me.
Battles cannot beat me.
Money cannot buy me.
Governments cannot silence me and Hell cannot handle me.
I am a soldier.
Even death cannot destroy me.

When my commander calls me from this battlefield He will promote me and then bring me back to rule this world with Him.
I am a soldier and I am marching, claiming victory.
I will not give up. I will not turn around.
I am a Soldier marching Heavenbound.

I am a Soldier. Will You stand with me?

Arrival in Flagstaff, Az

The Lord blessed the journey and I arrived in Flagstaff. LeeOra stayed in Texas to help with our grandson Calvin's operation. She will stay with our daughter Susan and son-in-law Jason until Susan is finished her teaching for the year. If all goes well we will back together in June. As you can imagine this has been the most difficult part of our missionary experience so far. Thank the Lord for cellphones, texting and Skype.

April Snowstorm

Big Rig and Lil' Rig

I have been busy trying to find a place for us to live and jobs to meet whatever expenses our current support will not. Flagstaff is a tourist and university driven economy and as such prices for rental homes is at about 20% higher than in the surrounding towns. A three bedroom home rents for around $1500 depending on location and age. Even a mobile home rents for $800 or more. I've been looking outside of town but the price of fuel is keeping me from trying to commute any distance. Diesel is now $4.20 at most of the stations in town. Thankfully, the RV park I'm in is close to the store and I'm getting in my exercise by riding my bike for groceries usually 3 times a week. My kids bought me saddle bags for the bike and so I'm not just exercising and saving fuel, I'm also styling.

Flagstaff Churches

I have attended three Baptist churches while in this initial stage of setting up home. The first was an independent fellowship church, the second said Baptist on their website but turned out to be Baptistic having dropped the name from their sign and heritage. The last church I visited was a Missionary Baptist Church of which I was the only white person in attendance. I have to say of all the churches I visited this was the one I felt most at home in. The music was heartfelt and warm, the people were friendly, the Bible was KJV and their traditions were a joy. The singing made my eyes fill and then spill the tears. When they sang “I'll Fly Away” I did! As of yet I have not found a true unaffiliated independent Baptist Church anywhere in the area and only three small fellowship Baptist works. Pray for us as we work through these founding steps and plant a real independent Baptist church in Flagstaff, for the Glory of our Lord and Savior.

In His Service, Kris and LeeOra Minefee

Finally remember the statistics of our Post-Christian nation and pray for more Church planters to look to the fields of America.

• Today there are over 195 million non-churched people in America, making America one of the top five largest “unchurched” nations in the world and the largest in the western hemisphere.

• In 49 of 50 states the population is growing faster than church attendance. In spite of the rise of mega-churches, no county in America has a greater church population than it did ten years ago.

• During the last ten years, combined membership of all Protestant denominations declined by 9.5 percent, while the national population increased by 11.4 percent. Only about 15% of the population actually attends church in the USA on any given Sunday.

• Each year 3,500 to 4,000 churches close their doors forever; yet only as many as 1,500 new churches are started. In other words for every church that starts four have closed. To keep pace with population Christians must start 2900 churches each year.

• There are now nearly 60% fewer churches per 10,000 persons than in 1920. Four out of five American churches are plateaued or declining.”

• BJU has identified almost 1200 communities without a fundamental Bible preaching church; most of these are in the western states.

10 Reasons Atheist Make Me Laugh

1. Atheists are fighting against something they don't believe exists. It's like writing blogs against Caspar the Friendly Ghost or Bilbo Baggins. Why would you bother?

2. Atheists spend more time writing on Christian blogs than they do on their own. Why fuel a nonexistent fire?

3. Atheists love to act intellectual until you catch them doing something illogically and then they scream profanities cause that's really intellectual.

4. Atheists have the word theist in their name. Every time they say who they are they call attention to God.

5. Atheist condemn all that's wrong with Christianity and yet can not produce one work of art, literature or sacrificially deed done in the name of atheism. Even they realize it's not worth dying for.

6. Atheists only believe in what their senses tell them unless its Darwin telling them things that happened billions of years ago, then they have more faith than a Catholic at First Communion.

7. Atheists believe in science unless the scientists believe in God, then they denounce the scientist and call him a moron.

8. Atheists believe in their fellow man, unless their fellow man believes in God then they denounce their fellow man and call him a moron.

9. Atheists believe in the great free-thinkers of the past like Andrew Flew unless they change their mind and become theists then they denounce them and call them morons.

10. Atheists don't believe in morons unless they are atheists and then they embrace them and call them intellectuals.

Amazing Things About Penguins

Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica - where do they go?

Wonder no more. It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life.

The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintaining a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.

If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into and buried.


The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing:

"Freeze a jolly good fellow. Freeze a jolly good fellow.” Then they kick him in the ice hole.

Missing Wives

Two old guys are pushing their carts around Walmart when they collide.

The first old guy says to the second guy, 'Sorry about that. I'm looking for my wife, and I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going.

The second old guy says, 'That's OK, it's a coincidence, I'm looking for my wife, too..'
I can't find her and I'm getting a little desperate'

The first old guy says, 'Well, maybe I can help you find her. What does she look like?'

The second old guy says, 'Well, she is 27 yrs old, tall,with red hair, blue eyes, long legs, and is wearing jogging shorts cause we just finished our run. What does your wife look like?"

To which the first old guy says, 'Who cares, let's look for yours.'

Five Surgeons

Five surgeons from big cities are discussing who the best patients to operate on are.

The first surgeon, from New York says, I like to see accountants on my operating table, because when you open then up, everything inside is numbered.

The second, from Chicago , responds, Yeah, but you should try electricians! Everything inside them is color coded.

The third surgeon, from Dallas , says, No I really, think librarians are the best, everything inside them is in alphabetical order.

The fourth surgeon, from Los Angeles chimes in: You know I like construction workers, those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over.

But the fifth surgeon, from Washington , DC shut them all up when he observed: You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There's no guts, no heart, no brains and no spine, and the head and the rearend are interchangeable.