Sword of Lord Conference (Mar 30, 2009)

Dear Friend of Grace,

The Lord opened our annual Sword of the Lord conference with a tremendous bang yesterday. Dr. John Hamblin, despite arriving at the motel at 2:00 AM Sunday morning, was at his "A" game. Visitors from Ohio, Tennessee, Colorado, South Carolina, as well as locally, were in the church house. Sunday School attendance was 576, and morning worship was 647. It was a great day!

Now to the particulars, our Master Club kids boarded the vans early Saturday morning to depart to Pensacola for regional competition. The kids and workers all did a great job. Many ribbons were brought home. Of particular note, Tyler Wood preached his first sermon and came in second in the competition. Amen! What a thrill to see a new crop of preacher boys stepping up at Grace Baptist Church.

Our Master Club workers have been presenting the Gospel to Kateland Hickman. Over the last several weeks, the conviction had been growing. Mrs. Amsbaugh, who runs the Wednesday night bus route, was able to lead Kateland to the Lord on the way home from Master Clubs. Amen! Yesterday it was my privilege to plunge Kateland beneath baptismal waters as a testimony of her faith. Her mother came to watch. Pray as we follow up with that family.

You may recall that Patsy Durham, a long-time member of Grace, recently went home to be with the Lord. It was our privilege Tuesday to lead the twin brother of Patsy's husband to the Lord. Amen! Pray for us as we seek to disciple Harold Durham.

Travis Lumpkin, an executive at a local manufacturing plant and member of the Grace Baptist Church Soul Winner's Club, was able to lead a co-worker who had been involved in a serious accident to the Lord this week. Amen! Travis was able to testify about this remarkable soul-winning encounter last night in church and receive his soul winner's club pin. Praise the Lord!

We were also thankful for the new members that God sent our way yesterday. Tommy and Michelle Baker returned to the Columbus area from Orlando. Tommy grew up at Grace and is a graduate of GCS. Michelle grew up in Bethel Baptist in Schaumburg, Illinois. She is a great pianist. Needless to say, it was a thrill to welcome them into membership.

Also joining yesterday was Mark Jones. Mark recently moved to Columbus from Bowden, Georgia in order to have knee implant surgery. Mark has a remarkable testimony of deliverance which he would like to use in our RU ministry. We are excited that God led him to join with us.

On the base front this week, we ministered to 136 soldiers. 31 of these stood to receive Christ as personal Savior. We continue to thank the Lord for the doors of opportunity he is opening for us on post. On April 15, the Lord has granted me an opportunity to preach at a military prayer breakfast on family issues. Pray that the Lord will use me to powerfully present the Gospel.

Solid numbers were reported on our bus routes and chapel ministry yesterday. Pastor Chambers reports that one child prayed to receive Christ in the counseling center of bus church. Amen!

Please continue to pray for our Sword Conference. Dr. Smith will be joining Dr. Hamblin tonight at 7:00 PM. A special pastors fellowship is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM, and the conference will conclude Tuesday night at 7:00.

Thank you for your continued prayers and gifts to this ministry. We continue to be amazed by the hand of God who is helping us stay afloat during turbulent economic times. Your prayers and support help make this possible. Thank you!

Two Memorial Services (Mar 23, 2009)

Dear Friend of Grace,

This past week the Lord gave me the privilege of preaching two memorial services. The first was for Auria Dominguez who came to the United States for a simple knee surgery. Shortly before the surgery, our Spanish pastor, Mark Liedtke, and I were able to lead Auria to the Lord, largely thanks to the prayers of her two sisters, Hilda and Maria. Auria developed some complications and went to meet her Savior. We are thankful that God gave us her soul in the nick of time.

The other funeral was for Patsy Durham, long-time member of Grace Baptist Church. Patsy had served as teacher of our Mary-Martha Sunday School class for over 16 years. She also served as our church secretary for many years. She lived a radiant Christian life, which made her eulogy relatively easy to do. At her memorial service, five hands were raised to accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior. Pray for us as we attempt to follow up with others who were noticeably under conviction. Patsy's son, Rodney, was in church yesterday at Grace. It was a great delight to see him sitting in his mother's pew.

The Lord blessed with several in-town visitors this week. Pray for us as we follow up with them.

One of the visitors from last night service was Farid Fahim visiting from Belgium. He and his wife came with their sister-in-law Wilma, who is a member of our church. They came to hear our missionary to France, John Gribbin. Brother Gribbin preached a powerful message on the love of Christ, which can be heard by logging on to our website. Please pray that this message will bear fruit in the lives of the Fahims and that they will soon trust Christ as personal Savior.

We received another missionary report this week on Wednesday from Don Winan. He and his wife Lola have been serving in Australia for a good number of years. They are dear friends. We are excited about our own Sam Liedtke who will be traveling to Australia this summer as part of a Go Forth missions team. Pray that God will confirm His call in Sam's life.

Yesterday morning, we had a touring group from Ambassador Baptist College. Incoming President, Alton Beal, preached a powerful message during our Sunday School hour, and there was good fruit from the message. The ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Don Scovill, did a great job in the Sunday School and morning worship hours. This week I will traveling along with my wife Karen to ABC to participate in their annual board meeting. Thank you for your prayers in travel.

Yesterday morning, I finished my sermon series on the Sword of the Lord. This week we talked about The Sharp Sword from Hebrews 4:12. A teenage girl raised her hand for salvation but did not the pull the trigger. One of our bus workers, Ben Shuler, noticed her hand and followed up with her after church. He was able to lead her to Christ. Amen!

Chris Clark, a member of our Soul Winner's Club, also was able to give testimony last night that God used her to bring a soul to Christ this week. Amen again!

One child was saved in the counseling center of bus church this week. We praise the Lord for this fruit among the 130 riders who boarded our buses this week.

On the base front, we ministered to 39 soldiers this week with four of them standing to receive Christ as personal Savior. Praise the Lord!

Our satellite church in Lumpkin had 17 people in attendance this week. Five of these were first time visitors. The efforts of Pastor and Mrs. Allison are showing results. Amen! We are also happy to announce that the doctors have declared Mrs. Allison cancer free!

Daniel Henderson was able to lead his son Chase to the Lord this week. It was my privilege to baptize Chase last night and to welcome him as the newest member of Grace Baptist Church. What a great thrill to see the third generation of Hendersons coming into the faith!

Don't forget that our annual Sword of the Lord conference begins next week. Dr. John Hamblin will begin our conference on Sunday morning, March 29. Dr. Shelton Smith will be joining him on Monday and Tuesday. A special pastors' fellowship will take place Tuesday, March 31 at 10:00 AM.

During the economic meltdown, God is raising the budget at Grace Baptist Church. Giving is at an all-time high. We praise the Lord for the sacrifice of His people that is allowing us to do more than ever to reach the world with the Gospel.

Last week our new broadcast equipment was installed to launch our new half-hour weekly radio program, A Touch of Grace. Pray that God will open markets for this broadcast to be heard. In addition, we are in the process of uploading pages to our new website. Within a couple of months, you should see a greatly improved site.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support of this ministry. We could not do what we do without your support.

Under the Grip of Grace,