Rejoicing in the Lord's Blessings (Aug 23, 2010)
The Lord blessed with a good day yesterday after a fulfilling time at Cleveland Baptist Church and Heritage Christian School. I flew to Cleveland on Thursday morning and was able to spend an enjoyable lunch with Dr. Folger and his staff before delivering my first lecture on Getting the Devil out of the Student. Later that night, I preached at the mid-week service. Over 650 were in attendance, and the Lord blessed with good decisions at the altar. On Friday morning, I taught on Six Causes of Depression before being picked up my father. Dad and I traveled down to Mansfield, and it was great to spend time with my parents before flying back to Atlanta on Saturday afternoon. Karen and all three girls met me at the airport, and we were off to the Cheesecake Factory for a great stint of family time.
You could tell that the people of Grace were ready for church on Sunday morning. Walk-in attendance was up by nearly 50, and the Lord blessed with some good decisions at the altar. Let me highlight a few significant items.
Hanah Ellis, a relative of Jamie and Terri Snider, prayed to receive Christ this week. Jamie and Terri had her in church yesterday, and Hanah made her new faith public through the ordinance of baptism. Praise the Lord! It was our privilege to welcome her as the newest member of Grace Baptist Church. We are excited to see our own missionaries leading souls to Christ when they are "off the clock." Jamie, home this weekend from his Rock of Ages ministry, went to our county jail and was able to lead 12 inmates to Christ. Amen!
Pastor Liedtke also reports that there were six professions of faith in our Spanish department. We praise the Lord for these new Hispanic converts.
The military ministry also saw fruit for the labor this week. Bob and Becky Ingram report that 107 soldiers attended this week's Bible studies. 12 soldiers stood to receive Christ as personal Savior. Amen!
Our satellite churches in Opelika and Lumpkin experienced good numbers this weekend. We are also happy to announce that a dozen or so people from Grace traveled down to Fort Mitchell this weekend to assist Pastor Chamberlin in canvassing the town for contacts to begin our newest branch chapel. We are excited about the prospects for this ministry in a rapidly growing area near Fort Benning.
Last evening we were privileged to have Jason and Mary Ritchie, missionaries to Mongolia with BIMI, present their work. The Ritchies, now at 87% of their needed support, did a great job, and we were excited to add them to the missionary budget. We also voted to add the general fund of World Wide New Testament Baptist Missions to the budget increasing our total number of missionaries to 178. Praise the Lord!
We also experienced a wonderful Sunday morning with our annual promotion ceremonies. Many mothers have posted pictures of their children receiving certificates on Facebook. What a privilege to witness all these kids being raised in Sunday School!
Don't forget that our beloved former youth pastor, Chris Hanks, will be speaking Wednesday night in church. I am sure that you won't want to miss that.
Our Sunday School campaign which begins on September 19 is just a few weeks away. Let's be praying that God will use it to help us increase enrollment.
Thank you for your continued interest in this ministry. Your prayers and support mean much to us.