Clarion Call: August 2025
Steve Paysen Ministries Newsletter
We serve a Big God! I have a story that must be told, it happened last month at Riverbend Christian Retreat Center in Glen Rose, Texas during Youth Week where I was the camp Pastor/Evangelist for the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention. Among the 700-800 folks attending there was a young lady who had come to camp identifying as a young man. This young lady came to camp with a Church that I have had previous ministry opportunities with as well as a tenured friendship with the Student Pastor and his wife. On the night of the first service as I gave the invitation for repentance towards and faith in our Lord Jesus, this young lady comes forward to publicly profess her repentance and faith; all this occurring prior to my knowledge of what The Lord was doing. Afterwards I learn of the situation from the wife of the youth pastor and meet the young lady, she was shy in a way, but you could see that she was overwhelmed with emotion. I spoke with her, reaffirmed in synopsis what the Gospel is and what it means to the repentant believer. I could see the joy trying to push through the confusion and I’m sure the guilt and shame, but this was just the beginning of the story.
Throughout the week, we were kept in the loop of the ongoing battle for this you lady’s soul, thinking in terms of Luke 8:4-13 The Parable of the Four Soils. The young lady was raised in a unbelieving home, yet her parents had called a Catholic Priest to come to their home to perform an exorcism on the young lady when she was 9 because she was displaying self-control issues. So, there wasn’t much encouragement coming from home in response to her decision to follow Jesus, as a matter of fact it was quite the opposite, they had already began allowing her to take gender transitioning medication and were concerned that we (the Christians) were confusing her! The young lady struggled from session to session, in her youth ministry gathering times even though her peers were so encouraging and accepting of her according to the Youth Pastor and his wife, the young lady was in a battle. Fast forward to the last session before the students would be loading up and heading home, I challenged all the students to “come out” and go public with their faith in their most precious platform.... their social media platform! Most of the students at the camp had limited access to their phones and internet during camp so I knew that would be one of the first things they would go to as soon as they had the chance. My challenge was simple, “go to your platforms and declare that Jesus has changed my life this week, ask me how!” I do this often and have heard some great feedback in the past of how that challenge caused the students who had accepted it to step up and deepen their relationship with Jesus because of the response they had to their post. As Julie and I drove east across Texas on our way home we received a text from the Youth Pastor’s wife celebrating that the young lady had taken the bold step and made her post on social media to all of her friends, all of her family and to the world; and her phone was blowing up! To God be the glory, we have kept in contact with the Youth Pastor and his wife and they have shared of the young lady struggling but still pursuing her relationship with Jesus. Pray for her and all who are involved in feeding her faith!
Mission Projects…
Bibles to the Border: This year we have already sent 4000 Spanish Bibles to Matamoros, Juarez and Ensenada, our partner Churches and ministries are distributing these Bibles to families on both sides of the border. We are planning on sending 4,000 more Spanish Bibles as well as1000 Prison Bibles for the prisons and jails that I preach in, this will cost us $20,000.00
Church Plant Support: We most recently fed the Stephens County Football team pregame meal, I was allowed to share the Gospel, and 3 players gave their life to Christ. We are partnering with Celebration Community Church in Pineville, Kentucky to help them make connection with the community by providing pre-game meals to their local football team of 30 players. I will present the Gospel to that team several times as well. This will cost us $2500.00
Continued Partnerships: We are also in continued partnership with New Heights Church in Middlesboro, KY, as well as Ecclesia Church in Brownsville, Texas.
2025 Ministry Results So Far…
This year has been very fruitful, I have had the privilege to preach to over 4000 people and there have been more that 400 public responses to the Gospel and repentance towards God. All of that was accomplished by our Lord dealing with the hearts of people whom He died for and was resurrected on the 3rd day!
I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and financial support! The Lord has been so good to this ministry, faithfully sending me out and bringing in harvest after harvests of souls that are no longer bound and condemned by sin, but free and filled with the Holy Spirit. If you have not already joined the team, please prayerfully consider joining us as we go wherever He calls and preach the Gospel to the world!
Steve & Julie Paysen