Wisconsin—On September 10, the first of fifty-eight scheduled public evangelistic series began in Wisconsin. Hope for Our Day is the broad umbrella under which the church initiated harvest time throughout the Lake Union.

There were many notable happenings in Hope for Our Day:

• Fred and Sandy Miller collaborated with a variety of presenters giving health lectures for meetings in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

• Jonathan Larssen, Madison East associate pastor, conducted his first public evangelistic meeting.

• Ardis Burke in Milwaukee and Lisa Isensee in Monroe were the first women in the Wisconsin Conference (in recent memory) to conduct their own public evangelistic series.

Pastors and lay evangelists reported fair to excellent attendance at their opening program. People responded well to the advertising. As always, some areas had better turnouts than others.

Ric Swaningson, Wisconsin Conference evangelist, held meetings in Green Bay where 17 people took their stand with Jesus in baptism. When we give ourselves to the work of evangelism, the gift of serving others is often returned. Nora Clark thrilled with the Bible truth she was learning as she studied with Ric. He learned that she was the corporate pilot for a number of businesses in Green Bay and expressed how he had always wanted to fly. As Nora prepared for baptism, Ric prepared for flight school.

By God’s grace, Nora followed Jesus in baptism on October 16, 2004, and Ric flew his first "solo" flight on November 22, 2004. As to which was the greater thrill to participate in, Nora's baptism or a solo flight, it wasn’t even close for Ric. "Flying is a skill and it’s great, but baptism is a miracle of new life from God. Baptism is the greater thrill, but flying is still good," he emphasized.

James Fox, Wisconsin Conference ministerial director and evangelism coordinator