by Richard Ensley

MY wife and I arrived on the Prince of Wales Island in the great state of Alaska, in the summer of 1995. We brought our 1972, 18 ft. R.V. that we planned on staying in for a short time until we found housing. To our surprise housing was very difficult to find, so we had to stay 18 miles outside of town in a campground and had to travel a logging road to get there. We lived in our R.V. for 3 months. Finally we were able to find a small one-bedroom loft apartment in the village of Klawock. The rent was $650 a month, but at least we were in town!

We began to look for a place to have church services and eventually we were able to rent a small room in the public school in Klawock. We started inviting folks, passing out tracts, and visiting homes in the area, just trying to get the word out that we were starting a church. Then the opportunity arrived for me to start working at a local pizza place as their delivery driver. I got into more homes carrying pizza than my Bible, but I used the opportunity to tell the folks why I was really here. I became known as the pizza-packing preacher!

For nine months my wife and I had church every Sunday morning and evening and not one person came! This was a very trying time. If I had not known that the Lord had called us here, I would have thrown in the towel and returned to North Carolina. It was the call of God that kept and sustained us during this time!

We received a telephone call from a relative in Virginia during this time and they wanted to know if we were interested in adopting a baby due in the spring of 1996. We had been praying for 18 years for a child and now the Lord had seen fit to answer our prayer! We left P.O.W. (Prince of Wales Island) in March 1996 to await the birth of our son, who made his appearance on April 15, 1996. We were overjoyed with this blessing from the Lord! Forty-five days after Andrew’s birth we arrived back on P.O.W. and at least now our congregation had grown from two to three! Our first Sunday back we had 14 precious souls come to church!

Since that time the Lord has given us a building and an average church attendance of 40 to 50 people. To God be the glory great things He hath done! I am reminded of I Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

We do thank God for all He has done and is doing here on P.O.W. through His church. It has been by and through the prayers and support from the people of God who have made it possible for us to stay in this good fight of the faith. We do believe that it is God’s will that every town and city have a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church proclaiming the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through this local New Testament Baptist Church we have seen many come to know Christ as their Saviour, be baptized and serve in the church.

Many other ministries have now become a reality at New Hope Baptist Church. We are now in our ninth year of supporting missionaries through faith promise giving and we now support ten different works. Our goal is to not let the sun set on the ministry of New Hope Baptist. One of our families had a burden for over a year for a van ministry. In June 2006, the Lord gave the church a van, and in September 2006 we will begin running the van for church. Also, New Hope is the home of 88.1 FM Gospel Radio, the only gospel radio station on P.O.W. broadcasting the Gospel of Jesus Christ 24/7 in Craig and Klawock, Alaska. This past June we had the privilege of hosting the SMART Team from BIMI for our first Summer Bible Olympics. This was a tremendous success with an average of 60 children per day and a high of 87, with 11 making professions of faith in Christ.

We praise the Lord for all He has done and all that He is going to do! We want to continue doing exactly what the Lord wants us to do here in this small corner of the great state of Alaska. As the return of Christ approaches, we realize that what we do for Him is more urgent than ever before. It is our hope and prayer that when He comes, He will find us busy about His work. Please pray for the Ensleys as we live for and preach Christ as man’s only hope!