Bro. Chris - Saved, Called & Burdened

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=90 BGCOLOR="#0066FF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I><B>Missionary Chris Raguth & Family   </B></I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>   </B></FONT></div> <div> <I>Missionaries to the Natives and all Peoples of Northern </I><I>Ontario, </I><I>Canada</I></div> <div> <B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Missionary Chris Raguth Family "><U><B>home</B></U></A><B> </B><B> |     </B><B>Bro. Chris - Saved, Called & Burdened</B>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sherri Couldnt God call you someplace w"><U>Sherri - "Couldn't God call you someplace warm?"</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Bro. Chris - Saved, Called & Burdened</B><B>                                                                                                                                  </B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#003399" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Meet the Missionaries"><U>(back to Meet the Missionaries)</U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0cb75910.jpg" border=0 width="117" height="145" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0">I was born September 5, 1957 in Toronto, Canada and raised there until age 11, then moved to Sarasota, FL USA. I lived with my parents and two brothers. In our house no religion was practiced. When I was 33 years old my wife and I became parents. I wondered, with the lifestyle we were leading at that time, what kind of an example would I be to our son? Our neighbor’s wife was a Christian and she would occasionally invite us to church. One day she said that her music minister was in need of a guitar player for the church orchestra. I played the guitar and sang in a local, family member country-blues band for 14 years, and it was plain to see that we weren't going big time. Plus - I now had a family, so I started thinking about accepting her invitation. I finally went to orchestra rehearsal, and the people I met were friendly. They prayed openly and they thanked God for me coming that night. I was impressed by that. </div> <bR> <div> My wife and I started to attend services and the preaching of God’s Word convicted me. I went forward at the invitation for salvation and my wife went for assurance(she was saved at an early age but backslidden). We were baptized and immediately began serving in the church. One of the first things I did to serve the Lord was to become faithful to going soul winning. <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What We Believe"><U><B>As we became more and more committed to the Lord, the Holy Spirit changed our hearts about our music and our whole lifestyle. </B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> Then, my father died unexpectedly in 1993. He was a hard man yet fiercely loyal and protective of family. I’m certain he had never accepted Jesus as his Savior. I tried to share the Gospel many times, to get him to understand but he wouldn’t listen. He was almost violently opposed to hearing anything about God. This had grieved me continuously. When the time came to make funeral arrangements, I was surprised that his obituary listed him as a Christian Science and that my mother intended to have that type of service for him. My mother and brothers wanted me to speak about my dad, the Holy Spirit convicted me that I should present the gospel at his service. So – after much prayer and study I prepared my dad’s service. Several people raised their hands when I asked if there were any who wanted to know for sure that they were going to heaven. That’s the first time I felt called to preach. To tell others about Christ was and is a constant need. It is of the utmost importance to me to help people understand there is so much more after this life in the body; I am compelled to share the Word of God so one more person will understand.</div> <bR> <div> Ministry and Service experience: played guitar in the orchestra, headed a volunteer lawn crew for 2 years, performed maintenance and miscellaneous odd jobs when needed, took the soul-winning course and became faithful to visitation and joined the band that ministered to the youth group. During this time I also served almost a year as the interim music director for a small church in Englewood. </div> <bR> <div> God led us to our sending church where at a revival service I surrendered to full time Christian service. Then in 1997 the Lord called me to the field of Canadian Native Peoples during our Missions Conference.<B> </B><A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Points North Baptist Mission"><U><B>Missionary Gary Forney</B></U></A><B> </B>was preaching, he showed his ministry slides and told us about the people of Arctic Canada. From that time on, my heart was burdened for the lost people of the far north. I found it was always on my mind. At first, I thought..."What's going on?" It kept occurring to me that I had always been fascinated by the Arctic region. I talked to my wife about it. It was something that gnawed on my mind, and it wouldn't go away. (My wife will tell you I was miserable from then on because I felt called and was doing nothing about it.) </div> <bR> <div> Even though I was unhappy(and didn't know why), I continued to serve the Lord in the following ministries: soul winning & visitation; attended certification training to become a soul winner trainer ; choir, soloist, grade 3-4-5 Sunday School teacher for two years; Middle School Sunday School teacher for two years; Missions Trips – New Mexico to the Navajo Indians and Bahamas to the Bahamians; Bus Ministry; Teens Leader to Wilds Summer Camp three years; Vacation Bible School; miscellaneous maintenance as needed; performing in – designing and building sets for the Christmas and Easter Pageants.</div> <bR> <div> In December 2000, our Pastor asked me if my wife would be interested in interviewing for the church secretary opening. He also talked to me about a possible job for me at the church. She did interview but after much prayer, felt God was not moving her into that ministry. During the course of their conversations, Sherri expressed to Pastor my burden for Arctic Canada. Finally, I talked with Pastor about it. He said, "You may be called to be a missionary." As I prayed, God showed me clearly that I should go to the Arctic to know for sure. My wife and I made the trip to <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mission Where God is Sending Us"><U><B>Inuvik</B></U></A> in March 2002, thanks to our sending church family. God has given us total peace and confirmed in our hearts that Northern Canada is where He'd have us in ministry for Him.</div> <bR> <div> The idea of me becoming a missionary seemed like an impossibility. Impossible because of my age, because of my lack of formal education, because I had a family to provide for, because I take care of my mother who is a widow and a lot of other reasons. But Pastor said – "you CAN get an education" and gave me the opportunity to attain a Bible Degree by attending Liberty School of the Bible. Because the Lord enabled me; I received my Bible degree and successfully completed my ordination council in August 2002. It has been proven in my case that God equips the available - God is good. I know for certain the Lord has called me to preach the Good News, bring encouragement to the lost and revive the saints.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="0780e640.jpg" border=0 width="270" height="100" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>     </B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#003399" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Meet the Missionaries"><U>(back to Meet the Missionaries)</U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>