Praises from the Bus Ministry, Sending Out Missionary Seth Acree (Jun 29, 2009)
Our teen bus workers were able to take a group of our bus teens to Six Flags in Atlanta this Friday. Nearly thirty kids were in attendance, and they had a wonderful time. During the devotion segment of the trip, three kids bowed their heads and prayed to receive Christ as Savior. Amen! Many of these children had never been on an outing like this before. It created a great memory for them. We appreciate our bus workers and the diligent work that they put into the ministry.
Bus attendance figures yesterday were very respectable for the middle of summer. Seven kids prayed to receive Christ in the counseling center of bus church. Two more bus kids that had been saved earlier were baptized yesterday. We praise the Lord for Quantavius Carter and Shannon Bonaparte making their new faith public. Quantavius had his mother in attendance yesterday to watch his baptism. Mrs. Carter was recently led to the Lord by our bus workers in her home. She promised me yesterday that she was going to stay with her new faith and that she would be faithful to church. Amen!
Every year we honor a student who came to us through the bus ministry with the Lloyd and Anita Berrey Scholarship. This gives a promising bus kid a tuition-free scholarship to Grace Christian School. We were privileged to present this award yesterday to Devin Mason. Devin is now coming to church every time the doors are open, and his zeal is uncommon. We are excited about his enrollment in our school.
On post this week, 129 soldiers attended four Bible studies. Brother Ingram reports that 23 of these stood to receive Jesus Christ as personal Savior. This week Brother Ingram begins discussion with the powers that be to get us back into the reception station at Fort Benning. If this becomes a reality, we will have a significant Saturday evening Bible study that should result in numerous salvation decisions among those who are new recruits into the Army. Also, this week we are giving out Bibles and watermelons to the soldiers to celebrate the Fourth of July. Pray that God will use this to help us lead some of them to Christ.
We have moved our RU meetings to Thursday night, and attendance has been greatly benefited. Our numbers jumped by 13 this week. Praise the Lord!
Last night at church, Seth Acree, missionary appointee with BIMI, presented the field of Ghana, West Africa. Seth was raised at Grace Baptist Church and called to preach here. It was our privilege, not only to take the Acrees on for support, but also to assume responsibilities as their sending church. Seth did a marvelous job preaching from Isaiah 6, and there were a good number of decisions at the altar. Seth and Melissa Acree are now the 150th missionary supported by Grace, and this ties the highest number of missionaries we have ever had. This coming week as we vote to support Jason Christenson to Egypt, we will reach our highest level ever. Amen!
Don't forget that our annual missions bump-up Sunday is July 26. Pat Creed will be with us again, and we are excited about watching our missions budget grow yet another step as people "bump-up" their faith promise commitments. Pray what God would have you do.
This coming Saturday, we will have our annual God and Country picnic at the North 40. The picnic will get started at 10:00 AM, and we will start serving lunch around 11:30 AM. Everything should be done by 2:00. On Sunday, the choir has a special patriotic package planned. The color guard of GBC will "present the colors," and I will begin a new three-part sermon series entitled "Sweet Land of Liberty." I hope you will be a part of this very special weekend.
We appreciate the prayers that many of you have offered for our daughter Ashley. The doctors discovered that she had a hernia in her stomach. We are trying now to eradicate the high levels of acid in her stomach so this hernia can heal. We will discover tomorrow the results of the study that were done on her gall bladder. Please continue to pray. Your prayers are still coveted for the unspoken personal matter that remains unresolved.
Thank you for your continued interest in this ministry. Pray for us as we follow-up with the visitors who graced our halls this week.
Added 2 Missionaries, Souls Saved, and Kids Baptized (Jun 22, 2009)
What a wonderful day we had yesterday around the Word of God. I trust that you had an enjoyable Father's Day. What a privilege it is to be a father, to have been raised in the home of an excellent father, and to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. Yesterday, I delivered the fifth sermon in a six-part series on fatherhood. This past week was on finances. You can listen to the sermon again by logging on to our website.
We witnessed good evangelistic results yesterday. Our buses brought in good, respectable numbers, and ten kids prayed to receive the Lord in the counseling center of bus church. We praise the Lord for our bus workers and the wonderful folk who work our counseling center each week.
Base numbers also returned to respectability this past week. Another nine soldiers stood to receive Christ as personal Savior at Fort Benning. We thank the Lord for these.
Two precious young people who were saved this past year followed the Lord in believer's baptism yesterday. Sophia Powell, daughter of Pastor and Mrs. Powell, made her faith public yesterday. It was her dad's privilege to plunge her beneath baptismal waters. In the evening service, Jane Shuler, daughter of Phil and Katie Shuler, followed the Lord in baptism. What a privilege it is to see these children embrace the faith of their parents publicly.
Grace Baptist Church also had the privilege of adding two new missionaries yesterday. Michael Geurink who works with the remote tribes in the Western Amazon region of Brazil was added to our missionary family. Michael and his dear family actually live in a boat on the Amazon. They are pioneering new territory in an area of the world where people have never been exposed to the Gospel. What a joy to be part of this work that is not building on another man's foundation.
In addition to the Geurinks, we were privileged to add Brenson Jennings to our missionary family. Brenson and his wife Joanna are going to Niger, West Africa where they will be working with Islamic Tuaregs from the beach head of Agadez. Niger in the middle of the Sahara desert can have temperatures as high as 145 degrees Fahrenheit. This country of 13.2 million is over 90 percent Muslim. We are excited about our first missionaries in the country of Niger.
Our teens returned from camp this week, with three of them called to full-time Christian service. They will be presenting their testimonies in our mid-week service Wednesday night.
On a personal note, many of you have sent encouraging emails and calls concerning our personal matter. Please continue to pray. Also, our daughter Ashley who has been experiencing significant digestive trouble is scheduled for yet another doctor's visit today. We are hoping that this visit to the intestinal doctor will be the beginning of her restored health. Please pray for her that she will be completely healed before going back to college this fall.
Your prayers and concern for this ministry mean much to us. Thank you for your support.
Many VBS Salvation Decisions (Jun 15, 2009)
Grace Baptist Church has just concluded its annual Bible School with numbers taking a significant jump. It has been four or five years since we have had numbers of this magnitude, and we praise the Lord for it. The auditorium was busting with children. Buses were filled to their capacity. And most importantly, 78 children prayed to receive Christ as personal Savior in the counseling center. Let me share three significant stories with you.
Let's begin with Sophia Powell, the five-year-old daughter of our associate pastor. Sophia and her mother invited a neighborhood boy to VBS. Sophia took it upon herself to pray that the boy would respond favorably to the invitation. While she was in the very act of praying, the doorbell rang. It was the little boy saying that he would come. Early in the week, this boy came down to the counseling center but did not fully understand. On Thursday, however, the light broke through, and this boy prayed to receive Christ. Amen! It all happened because God answered the prayer of a little girl. I don't know about you, but I want to be on Sophia's prayer list.
The second story is about Aaron Lumpkin. Aaron is the middle son of Travis and Tina Lumpkin, two great members of our church. On Thursday night, Aaron fell under conviction and came to the counseling center for salvation. He was led to the Lord, and Travis had the privilege of doing the follow up work. It was obvious to all that Aaron meant business, and it was my privilege to plunge him beneath baptismal waters yesterday and welcome him into the membership of Grace Baptist Church. What a privilege to see our church kids embrace the faith of their parents! VBS is not just for bus kids!
And then finally, let me tell you the story of Jabari Drain. Jabari has been riding our bus for several years now. He has been a handful to say the least. But during VBS, he trusted Christ as Savior, and you could tell the difference in him yesterday at church. It was like he was a new kid. It was my privilege to baptize him yesterday. Thank God for the difference He can make in the life of a kid!
On Thursday afternoon, Karen and I traveled to Lake Oconee where we were privileged to conduct the annual couples retreat for Pastor Nolan Jackson and the Belmont Baptist Church. The Lord blessed and the sessions were well received. It was my privilege to experience very warm hospitality and establish new friendships.
In the next couple of weeks we will be having several missionaries present themselves for support at Grace Baptist Church. Branson Jennings going to Niger, Seth Acree going to Ghana, and Jason Christiansen going to Egypt will be here. We have never had missionaries in any of these countries, and we are excited about the prospects of expanding our missionary outreach. We are especially excited about Seth and Melissa Acree, because we will be their sending church.
Please pray for our teenagers as they leave later this morning for Venture of Faith Camp in Valdosta. Pray that God will use His Word to make life-changing decisions in their hearts.
Don't forget that our annual God and Country Picnic at the North Forty will take place on Saturday, July 4 at 10:00 AM and will last until 2:00 PM. A Mission of Men prayer breakfast will take place at Shoney's this Saturday to discuss the preparations necessary for this event.
I have received numerous emails this week in response to my prayer request in the last Grace Update. Thank you for your prayers. We are trusting that this issue will be resolved in the next week or two. Don't stop praying for me!
Vacation Bible School Tonight (Jun 08, 2009)
Tonight starts our annual Vacation Bible School. We are excited as hundreds of kids will fill our auditorium. We are praying that dozens of them will receive Jesus Christ as personal Savior. A week ago Sunday we heard a stirring testimony from one of our members, Karen Welles, who related how she was saved through a Vacation Bible School. We are trusting that many new Karens will be saved through this week of evangelism.
The indicators for a good week are high. Our bus routes jumped by 40 riders yesterday. Doughnuts and water guns (not to mention faithful bus workers) helped with that. Two precious kids prayed to receive Christ in the counseling center of bus church. Amen!
Our series on fatherhood is pressing on. Yesterday we talked about the importance of dad being a good teacher. Last night we continued our series through the book of Hebrews with the three evidences of a changed life: moral purity, family campatibility, and doctrinal integrity. There were a good number of decisions at the altar. You can listen to these sermons by logging on to our "new and improved" website.
Continue to pray as our new radio broadcast "A Touch of Grace" is marketed to various networks and independent stations around the nation.
Our monthly service at the Valley Rescue Mission takes place this evening. Pray that God will give us souls.
Also continue to pray for our youth group as they continue to raise money for their missions trip to Boston. If you can help support a teen for this endeavor or would like to be a sponsor for one of our kids to go to camp, please be sure to let Pastor Chambers know.
At the end of this week, Karen and I will be taking a short trip to Lake Oconee to do a Couples Retreat for Nolan Jackson and the Belmont Baptist Church of Conyers, Georgia. Pray that God will help us to be a blessing to the couples there.
As we press forward, there are many decisions that have to be made concerning wetlands invasion at our North Property. We will be continuing discussions with a soil engineer this week. Pray that God will give us wisdom.
There are also several key personal decisions that I have to make this week, for which I covet your prayers. My good friend, Pastor Stephen Henderson, sent me a text message Saturday morning saying that he had spent some time praying for me in the wee hours of the morning. What an encouragement that text message was! It is good to know that you have friends who are holding you up before God's throne. If the Lord leads you to pray for me and this ministry this week, please do.
Honoring James Lyons (Jun 01, 2009)
Yesterday, we were able to celebrate the calling of James Lyons to be the senior pastor of Camp Creek Baptist Church in Cornelia, Georgia. Brother Lyons has been at Grace for 25 years and over that period of time has served as a Christian school teacher, Master club director, discipleship director, training union teacher, comptroller, and deacon. The Lyons' departure will leave a great hole in our ministry and they will be severely missed, but we are thankful for this wonderful door of opportunity the Lord has opened for them.
Our Christian school was able to present the Lyons with a gift so that they could take some time away. The church presented Pastor Lyons with a sizeable gift to begin his pastoral library, and a grand reception was held after church last night to bid them God's best. Pray for the Lyons as they finish packing this week and look for housing in Northeast Georgia.
We are thankful for the new people that God has sent to replace the responsibilities held by Brother Lyons. Sara Hasty will serve as our new comptroller. You can read her bio on our church web page. Her husband Dennis, who is an assistant warden in Lumpkin, will take over the responsibilities of our discipleship director. Mike Ratliff will become our new Master Club director, and John Rogers was voted in as the corporate secretary of our deacon board. We praise the Lord for the willingness of these people to serve.
What a privilege it is to see people want to serve God. Today, I travel to BIMI for the screening committee meeting for Seth and Melissa Acree. Seth, who was raised at Grace Baptist Church and graduated from Ambassador Baptist College, is headed for the field of Ghana. Pray for him and his sweet wife as they meet before the board of BIMI. Grace Baptist Church will serve as their sending church.
We are also prepared to assume responsibility to be the sending church of Mark and Brenda Liedtke, who are headed to Belize. They also were scheduled to have their screening committee meeting today with BIMI. Last week, however, Pastor Mark broke his foot and is unable to travel. Lord willing, the Liedtkes will be approved by BIMI in January.
We had a good week on base with our Fort Benning Bible studies. We once again ministered to over a hundred soldiers will several standing to receive Christ as personal Savior. Amen!
The buses were also over a hundred this week. One of our bus riders prayed to receive Christ in the counseling center. Praise the Lord!
During the worship service, one lady came forward to receive Christ as Savior. She did not completely understand. Pray for us as we follow up with her this week.
Don't forget that Vacation Bible School starts one week from tonight. Be sure to pray that God will give us many souls as our auditorium is filled with hundreds of kids.
This Wednesday night, we are privileged to have a touring group from Pensacola Christian College. Pray that God will give the team safety in travel and that we will be able to be a blessing to them.
Your prayers mean much to us. Please continue to keep them up.
