MISSION

It is our desire to communicate the word of God which brings good tidings, publishes peace, brings words of encouragement and publishes the pathway of salvation in a clear, concise and practical manner. We believe the Holy Spirit will use the Scriptures to transform the lives of readers. Biblical truth invades all aspects of life and will guide and direct us in the fulfillment of God's will for our lives. It is further our purpose to give glory and honor to our Lord and Savior and let the world know that Jesus reigns both in heaven and earth. We sincerely hope that the reader will experience the same life changing transformation that the devotion writers have experiences in their lives.

Our purpose is to bring unity among diverse groups of people and church denominations in preparation for the return of our Lord. We want all people to know the will of God that they might live according to God's holy, godly, righteous and just standards. It is our goal that this organization might in some way assist the readers in being ready to live and serve in the kingdom of God.

BELIEFS

• Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins, was buried and arose from the dead on the third day as the Scriptures foretold.
• It is only in the name and through the powers and authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that you are healed and saved.
• All have sinned and fallen short of the honor and glory of God.
• God is righteous and He justifies and accepts as righteous them who have true faith in His Son.
• One must be born again, anew, from above of water and the spirit to know, experience and enter the kingdom of God.
• One must acknowledge and confess with their lips that Jesus is Lord and in their heart believe that God raised Him from the dead to be saved.
• We must love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and love our neighbor as ourself.
• We must strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue the consecration and holiness without which no one will ever see the Lord.
• Every scripture is God-breathed, given by His inspiration and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience.
• The word of God is to be used for teaching and training in righteousness, holy living and conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action.
• The word of God is alive and active through the power of the Holy Spirit to transform and renew the mind, body and spirit.
• The word of God communicated through individuals who have experienced that truth is the God ordained solution for confusion and hatred in the world.
• All people who know and love the Lord and obey His word will experience His benefits including forgiveness for sins, healing of diseases, redemption from corruption, supernatural strength and power to overcome evil and the influence of the devil, deliverance from various forms of addictions and oppression and complete, full and whole lives.
• In order to experience the peace, love and joy of and from God one must experience an ongoing continual personal relationship with Jesus Christ, God's Son.
• All believers in Jesus Christ must come together in unity to prepare for His return to earth.
• The Lord Jesus Christ will return to earth as unexpectedly and suddenly as a thief in the night and all people must be ready to receive Him when He returns.

BIOGRAPHYS

The Sonrise Mission is an interdenominational nonprofit organization that provides Bibles, small books, tracts and other Biblical information to individuals in need of spiritual guidance and direction. This has been used in an evangelistic mission. The goal is to reach more people with vital spiritual truth before the return of Christ. The Sonrise Mission is sponsoring the web site in order to accomplish that goal.

The individuals who have written devotions are born again believers in Jesus Christ. They are a diverse group of men and women who have practiced various professions and occupations as well as served the Lord using their spiritual gifts. Some are teachers, lawyers, business professionals, nurses, mediators and home makers. We are all united in our belief in the word of God and its' transforming power in humanity. Each author has provided their own individual biography - in their own words. Each devotion is the individual thoughts and words of the author expressed according to the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Dr. Whitmer is an ordained minister, author, public speaker, and practicing orthopaedic surgeon. He graduated in the top of his class from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.

In addition to his busy orthopaedic practice, Dr. Whitmer teaches seminary courses and adult Sunday-school classes. He has spoken publicly on a wide range of topics including medical issues, successful living, and Biblical understanding.

Dr. Whitmer lives in Rocky Mount, North Carolina with his wife Julie and their three sons Vince, Gates, and Van.

Anne Mulder grew up in North Dakota and, in 1989, graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Dakota with a B.S. degree in Business Education and a minor in Music. Anne was a high school teacher in North Carolina for two years prior to entering law school. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law in 1995. Anne worked as an attorney until her son was born in October of 2000. Since that time, she has been at home caring for her child on a full-time basis.

It is Anne's desire to know the Lord and learn to walk in daily victory - so that she, in turn, may help others to know Him and enable them to walk in total victory.

Robbie Edwards grew up in Nash County, North Carolina and graduated cum laude, in 1975, from Atlantic Christian College with a B.S. in Nursing. She was a nurse for three years prior to completing, in 1978, an M.S.N. in nursing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She taught nursing at East Carolina University for eleven years. In 1985, she graduated from North Carolina Central University School of Law. Robbie has worked as an attorney for 17 years.

During that time, she has completed the RHEMA Bible School correspondence course and one year of correspondence study at the Colorado Bible College. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Divinity degree at Luther Rice Seminary. Robbie loves the Lord with all of her heart, might, mind, and soul; and she attempts to integrate spiritual biblical truths into the practice of law where she assists the injured and disabled with their legal needs.

Kenneth R. Massey grew up in Wake County, North Carolina and graduated summa cum laude, in 1991, from Campbell University with a B.B.A. degree, majoring in Trust Management and minoring in Financial Planning. In 1994, Kenneth graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law. In addition to the private practice of law, he has formerly worked at Campbell University in the capacity of Acting General Counsel and Director of Estate Planning.

Kenneth integrates his personal faith in Jesus Christ to meet all aspects of client needs and considers his representation of clients as a ministry. Representing and pursuing justice for the injured is vitally important to him. He has received training in Biblical Reconciliation through Peacemakers Ministries, and he is currently applying at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to pursue a Masters of Divinity degree.

Sonja Adcox was born, grew up, and still lives in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. She and her husband Carthoris "Pete" have two sons, one daughter, and four grandchildren. Sonja grew up in North Rocky Mount Baptist Church where, at age 21, she accepted Jesus as her Savior and Lord. She and Pete are active members of Englewood Baptist Church in Rocky Mount.

Despite chronic rheumatoid arthritis, Sonja considers herself truly blessed because of her love for our Lord Jesus Christ and the support and love of her family and friends. Sonja's testimony is, "I love sharing the Gospel with others through my writing."

Linda Allen was born and reared in Raleigh, North Carolina. She now lives with her husband, Joseph Allen, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. They have two daughters, two sons, and three beautiful granddaughters, Alexia, Asya, and Alissia. She began her writing career by sporadically writing short praise songs. Then she daily began to write down mini words of encouragement that came to her. Linda's daughter would forward to her friends, via e-mail, copies of these devotional thoughts. These young friends began writing to Linda to say how much their lives were being changed because of these devotions. Out of this beginning, God birthed Linda's first manuscript. Just recently, God opened a door so that some of her poetry has been published. Linda says, "I am thankful that I discovered my destiny before it was too late. Now, I am enjoying myself while I am fulfilling it. All praise to Him!"

Bernetta LaChelle Ghist was born and grew up in Nashville, North Carolina. She received her B.S. degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Certification for Effective Teacher Training from Nash Community College, Certification as a Paralegal with a specialization in Corporate Law from the National Center for Paralegal Training in Atlanta, and her Masters in Business Administration from Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. In addition, she recently completed her Triple C Certification from the Sprint University of Excellence in Kansas City.

She currently works as a Regional Systems Administrator for Sprint LTD where her role includes acting as a National Project Manager and a Curriculum Developer and Trainer for engineers nationwide. She has co-authored six training manuals.

Bernetta's Christian service began at the age of eight when she joined Galatia AME Church in Nashville, North Carolina. Her role models were her Christian parents. They guided her in her Christian growth to know the importance of dedication and commitment to the church. God is her first love and the church is her second. In her 30 years of Christian Service, she has served in over 55 different positions and has been a delegate or alternate to various conferences and conventions. She has conducted more than 60 workshops in the past 10 years. She believes that her most valuable service is in the field of sharing her knowledge to educate other Christians. Her personal motto is "Christian laymen doing what they can, when they can, in service to Christ."

Hazel Matthews Smith was born in Castalia Township, Nash County, North Carolina. After high school, she moved to Baltimore, Maryland to attend business college. After college graduation, she was employed by American Oil Company where she met her husband-to-be, Frank Barrington Smith. Upon the birth of their only child, she retired from the business world for sixteen years. When she returned to work outside the home, she was employed as a church secretary. A year later, her husband died; and she remained in the church position for twenty years. Upon retirement, she and her then-grown son moved to Rocky Mount, North Carolina where Hazel continues to be active in church life. She writes short-stories and poetry for children, composes songs (both the lyrics and the music), and sometimes entertains at various churches' functions by singing her compositions and accompanying herself on the guitar. She is also the published author of A Book of Prayers for Children.

Hazel knows that all of her creative-writing and musical abilities are gifts from God, and it is her desire that He receive all of the glory for anything that she accomplishes.

Julie Fulmer came to know Christ one evening in 1990 when she prayed a simple prayer during a telephone conversation with her sister Jamie. Her sister had explained to Julie why there was a vacuum in Julie's heart; although she had a well-paying job, a boyfriend, other friends, and many material possessions. Her sister told her that the vacuum was there, because Jesus was missing from her heart. She explained that there was nothing else that would fill this vacuum. A short time after praying the prayer to ask Jesus to come into her heart, Julie packed her worldly belongings into her compact car and moved from Indiana to North Carolina to be near her sisters Jamie and Jennifer. She wanted to find for her own life that peace in Christ of which Jamie spoke. Since that move, Christ has changed her life dramatically. The vacuum that was in her heart has been filled to overflowing!

Since deciding to read through the Bible from front to back while stopping to meditate on passages of great interest to her, she has deepened her relationship with Christ. She feels that this reading and studying of God's Word has taught her more than she has learned from a multitude of Bible studies that she has attended or from any of the other books that she has read. She strongly urges all Christians to daily read the Bible and to memorize Scriptures for when they will be needed.

Julie believes that nothing compares to Jesus Christ. She aspires, one day, to have Jesus Himself call her a faithful servant. Julie graduated with a BS in Corporate Communications from Butler University in Indiana. She now works as an independent contractor from her home, in Raleigh, North Carolina, while raising her two young children. She is on the church vestry at Grace Point Church and hosts a home Bible Study.

Maude Frank Stradford grew up in Richmond, Virginia. She currently lives in Columbus, Georgia with her husband Charles. They moved there when he retired from the DC Police Department, and she retired from Bell Atlantic Telephone Company. For a while, they operated a small business in Columbus, but they had to close it. Now both are working on their third careers with Maude working in a local hospital and Charles working at Fort Benning. Their second career, as small business owners, drew them much closer to the Lord Jesus; and their faith in Him grew stronger when their business "took a dive." Through that storm in their lives, the Lord Jesus was faithful to them as He continued to direct their paths when they surrendered everything to Him! Maude expresses that through her stormy growth she has learned to have more compassion, mercy, and grace toward others. She believes that there are three stages to a storm; the going into, being in the midst of, and the coming out of the storm. When people have storms in their lives, they can learn the lessons that God is trying to teach them. Everyone must depend on God to get them through these storms. Maude has learned to praise the LORD in every stage of the storm. Under God's divine restoration, she and her husband are looking forward to the future with a song in their hearts!

Thomas A. Bindrim, II was born in Landstuhl, Germany during the Vietnam War. His dad was in the Air Force and was stationed in Germany. The family moved stateside when Tommy was one year old. He grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina where he was saved at age thirteen. Like most other youth he had his share of "ups and downs" that are attendant with growing up. He went to Western Carolina University. Upon graduation, he married his college sweetheart; and they moved to eastern North Carolina (Rocky Mount) where they still live. After three years of marriage, Tommy returned to school to become a nurse. He wanted to be able to support his family on his salary alone and becoming a nurse was his way of doing that - before the children came. Tommy sees himself as a growing Christian, a devoted husband, and a loving father of three.

Fay Barlow was born and grew up in Louisiana. She is married to John Barlow, and they have three sons. They live in Rocky Mount, North Carolina where they are active members of Englewood Baptist Church. She is a Sunday School teacher in the youth department and a discipleship teacher. Fay is a stay-at-home mom who has a two-fold ministry. She ministers first to her family and second to the teaching of women of all ages their value in Christ. She loves acting, singing, and writing; and she uses all of these gifts to the glory of God. Fay says that she has seven names with a story behind each of them.

Thank you for the opportunity of sharing the word of God with you. We realize your time is valuable and we deeply appreciate your time and attention.

***Disclaimer: Please note that the devotions contained in this website have been written by a variety of authors and do not necessarily reflect, in their entirety, the beliefs of the Sonrise Mission.***

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