Thanksgiving Blessings & Christmas Excitement (Nov 30, 2009)
We here at Grace Baptist Church trust you had a wonderful Thanksgiving time with your friends and family. Karen, April, and I were able to travel to Pensacola to spend Thanksgiving with our middle daughter Amy who is a freshman at PCC. The Lord blessed with a great weekend. We traveled back to Columbus Saturday afternoon and began to prepare our hearts for a wonderful day in God's house. Though attendance was down yesterday, largely due to people being out of town for Thanksgiving, the Lord gave us some significant blessings that we would like to share with you.
Bus attendance was down (96 riders), but the Lord got ahold of one child's heart during bus church, and that child made a trip to the counseling center to receive Jesus Christ as personal Savior. Amen! Our chapel in Lumpkin was slightly up in attedance, as was our base ministry. Brother Ingram reports that nine soldiers stood to receive Christ as personal Savior this week. Praise the Lord! All totaled, we had 612 for Sunday School this week and 662 for the morning worship.
Several visitors were in attendance yesterday morning. Pray for us as we follow up with them. In addition, two people visited Grace for the first time last night. The sermon was on "Why Does Christ Like Blood So Much?" At the conclusion of the service, both visitors walked the aisle to receive Jesus Christ as personal Savior. Amen!
On school front, don't forget that our annual Christmas programs begin tomorrow night. The Upper Elementary and High School programs will be presented December 1 at 7:00 PM. The Lower Elementary program will take place a week later at 7:00 PM.
Christmas at Grace is right around the corner. Three big rallies are planned this year. The teen rally, featuring Evangelist Bryan Samms, will be December 11 at 10:00 PM. The children's rally, with Uncle Charlie, will be December 12 at 4:00 PM. And the adult rally with the Daybreak Quartet and a free Christmas dinner will take place December 13 at 10:30 AM. We are expecting to exceed 1500 people throughout the weekend and are trusting God for dozens of salvation decisions. I trust you will pray with us about this most important weekend.
This coming Sunday, I will begin my annual Christmas series. This year's sermon series is entitled "People Who Missed Christmas." I trust that you will be in attendance all four weeks of December. End the year right by being in the house of God!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support of this ministry. May God's richest blessings be upon you this week.
First Place Basketball Team & Baptisms (Nov 23, 2009)
In spite of the chilly, rain yesterday, the Lord blessed with a good number of decisions. We are thankful for the way God continues to use this ministry. Let me share a few of the highlights with you.
Let's begin with the buses. What a joy it is to see our faithful bus workers each week board these vehicles to bring children to Sunday School. The Lord rewarded their efforts yesterday with a slight peak in bus attendance. Six precious young people prayed to receive Christ in the counseling center of bus church. Amen!
On Fort Benning this week, we had to battle the annual School of Americas protest. Thousands of people come to Fort Benning each year to protest the former School of Americas, where Latin soldiers are trained in military expertise. The protest does not really affect what goes on inside Fort Benning. Since Bob Ingram was tied up helping police who monitor the protest, Pastor Liedtke performed the Bible studies. 216 soldiers attended this week with 40 of them standing to receive Christ as personal Savior. Praise the Lord!
We were privileged to witness three baptisms yesterday. The first was that of LeAnn O'Brien. LeAnn came to us several years ago through our program which put a packet of information about Grace on every door in Columbus. LeAnn put her daughter in our school because of that packet and started attending Grace Baptist Church. LeAnn had many adjustments to make in her thinking because she was coming from a liberal Methodist background. But God slowly made the changes, and yesterday LeAnn was immersed and welcomed into the membership of Grace Baptist Church. Amen!
We also baptized two young people yesterday. We praise the Lord for the baptisms of Sean Henry and Emily Hurst.
We had a good number of visitors yesterday, both at the main campus and at our Lumpkin sattelite. Pray for us as we follow up on these contacts.
Don't forget that our mid-week service will be moved to Tuesday night this week because of the Thanksgiving holidays. Be sure to join us for this special thanksgiving service.
Also, be in much prayer about our annual Christmas at Grace festivities, December 11-13. A special youth rally will take place at Hollywood Connection. Evangelist Bryan Samms will be our featured speaker. We are expecting hundreds of unevangelized teens to be in this service. On Saturday, Uncle Charlie from CBH Ministries will return to Grace to conduct our children's rally. And Sunday will feature the Daybreak Quartet, an evangelistic message, and a free ham dinner to all who attend. We are praying for 1500 this weekend with dozens of salvation decisions. I trust that you will pray with us.
On the school front, our boys basketball team returned from Milton, Florida on Saturday night with a hard-fought first place finish in the Conqueror Classic Basketball Tournament. Congratulations to coaches Joe and Joey Harmon and to all our players. When the team came home, they presented me with a warm-up jersey (not that there is any danger of me warming up any time soon). We play one of our toughest opponents, Mt. Area, tonight at home.
And in conclusion, just in case you didn't hear, Ohio State beat Michigan for the sixth year in a row. The Browns? Now that's a different story!
Trip to Ohio & Upcoming Christmas at Grace (Nov 17, 2009)
I flew into Atlanta yesterday after a fantastic weekend with Dr. Dale V. Adkins and the Mansfield Baptist Temple preaching for their 14th annual mens conference. Over 900 men from various states attended the conference, and many good decisions were made by the men who attended. Preaching along with me was Dr. Roy Thompson, founding pastor of the Cleveland Baptist Church, Dr. Neal Jackson, former pastor of the Campus Church in Pensacola, Florida, and Evangelist Mark Rogers. The Lord blessed in a tremendous way. During my Saturday morning session, a young man trusted Christ as his personal Savior, and at the conclusion of my last session, the altar was filled with men vowing to be better dads. It was a great time. As always, my friend Dale Adkins was a gracious host. If you have never attended the men's conference, try your hardest to attend next year's event when they will mark their fifteenth anniversary.
Speaking of fifteen-year anniversaries, I stayed over Sunday and preached for Pastor Bill Fennell in Mount Vernon, Ohio to help them celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the Mount Vernon Baptist Temple. A lady who came to witness her daughter's baptism was saved after the morning worship service in the counseling center, and several good decisions were made among Christians. Pastor Fennell has been in Mount Vernon for eight of the church's fifteen years, and he is doing a marvelous job. The church has recently purchased 20 acres of land, and it is a church on the move. It was a great privilege to be with them.
While in Ohio, Dr. Shelton Smith from the Sword of the Lord called and asked me to do a systematic column for the Sword addressing social issues and the Bible's answer for them. This new feature begins in January. Pray that the Lord will use it to be a help to those who read it.
In my absence, Pastor Powell preached the morning worship at Grace. James Taylor walked the aisle and received Christ as his personal Savior. Amen!
Pastor Chambers reported good numbers on the buses, and six precious children prayed to receive Christ in the counseling center of bus church. Amen again!
The Lord blessed again with good numbers in our military ministry. Brother Ingram reported 147 soldiers in this week's outreach with 20 of them standing to receive the Lord as personal Savior. Praise God that He is using His Word to bring about such fruit.
We were able to record 590 in attendance for Sunday School and 616 for the morning worship. We are on target to have our highest year ever. Pray that the Lord will help this ministry end this year on a high note.
Christmas at Grace is right around the corner. The dates are December 11-13. Evangelist Bryan Samms, Uncle Charlie, and the Daybreak Quartet will be with us for the weekend. You won't want to miss it.
On a personal note, it was a great privilege to stay with my godly parents during my recent trip to Ohio. Do pray for my mother who is scheduled for major back surgery on December 9. Mom has been battling severe back pain for several years, and the doctors are promising her 80% relief with this surgery. Let us pray to that end!
And as God lays this ministry upon your heart, continue to pray for us. Your prayers mean much!
GCS Alumni Weekend Events (Nov 09, 2009)
This weekend Grace Christian School celebrated its annual homecoming festivities. Alumni from around the region returned to the campus of Grace Baptist Church and Christian School for a wonderful time of fellowship and friendship renewal.
The activities began on Friday evening when the Varsity Crusaders opened the defense of their state championship with a scrimmage against Fayette Christian School. The crusaders won very handily, and we were honored to crown this year's homecoming queen during an impressive half-time ceremony. This year's winner was Brittany Atkinson. We thank the Lord for the marvelous testimony of this godly Christian girl.
The Varsity Crusaders returned to the floor on Saturday morning, along with the Lady Crusaders, to play the alumni who had come home for the weekend. The Lady Crusaders were defeated by the alumni girls, but the Varsity Crusaders took care of the alumni men. During the half time festivities, all the alumni who had returned to Columbus for the occasion were honored at center court. In addition, we were proud to present the "Alumnus of the Year" award to Pastor Thomas Pope, from the class of 91. Thomas pastors the Central Baptist Church here in Columbus and is a great preacher of the Word of God. We were honored to add him as the newest member to the Mama Jo Bowers Crusader Hall of Fame.
On Sunday morning, during the morning worship service, Gayle Edmondson was honored for her thirty years of teaching service at Grace Christian School. Mrs. Edmondson, "the consummate educator," was honored with a clock, a cash gift, and flowers. We were also privileged to name our education building in her honor. The Gayle Edmondson Education Center was officially dedicated yesterday with a magnificent portrait of Mrs. Edmondson being unveiled which will hang in the main lobby. The portrait was done by our artist in residence, Pastor Mark Liedtke. We thank the Lord for Mrs. Edmondson, who will be the longest tenured employee in the history of our ministry before the conclusion of this school year.
During the morning worship service, several good decisions were made as four new converts walked the aisle to follow the Lord in believer's baptism. We thank the Lord for these new believers. Following the Lord in this special ordinance were Bryan Cooke (manager of our local Penney's store) and his son Tyler, Eric Henry (saved during our recent Ron Comfort revival), and DeWitt Williams. In addition to these we were privileged to welcome into membership Sonja Byrd and Dyamond Thornton.
During the evening service, our alumnus of the year, Thomas Pope, delivered the message. It was a great sermon on the grace of God. Several decisions were made at the altar, and Thomas was able to baptize his niece at the conclusion of the service. We thank the Lord that Thomas was able to do this for Brianna, who attends our church. Also during the evening service, Annette Byrd made her profession of faith after being led to the Lord by her daugther last week. And Phil and Katie Shuler dedicated their new son Thaddeus to the Lord. It was a great day!
We thank the Lord that he is continuing to use this ministry to see people saved on a weekly basis. Another five bus kids prayed to receive Christ yesterday in the counseling center of bus church, and another twenty-one soldiers stood to receive Christ yesterday at Fort Benning. Amen!
Don't forget that Christmas at Grace will take place in just a couple of weeks. Uncle Charlie, Evangelist Bryan Samms, and the Daybreak Quartet will be with us for a wonderful weekend. Plan to be attendance!
Right now we are on schedule to conclude the year with our highest Sunday School average ever. We have broken attendance records the last two years, and it appears as if we are on target to do it for a third consecutive year. Let's be sure to end the year on a high note to make this possible.
Your continued prayers and support of this ministry mean much to us.
