So Much to Praise God For! (Jul 20, 2010)
The Lord blessed in a tremendous way this week. We have certain weeks when we can hardly wait to update you on the good things that God is doing at this ministry. Let me highlight a few of the significant milestones that occurred in recent days.
Let's begin with our military ministry. Brother Ingram arranged for Ken Chupp to come in for a special weekend. Keith is invovled in NASCAR and brings a racecar to various locations and is able to give motivational talks along with a strong Gospel witness. Brother Chupp is associate pastor of the Philadelphia Baptist Church in Rutledge, Georgia where Steve Love is the pastor. We were able to have multiple services on post through this innovative witnessing tool. In all, 2551 soldiers attended these special services with 77 praying to receive Christ as personal Savior. Amen!
Brother Chupp was also able to make special presentations to our bus kids on Sunday night and to the neighborhood kids at the Boys Club on Friday. 259 children attended these rallies. Amen again!
Our new chapel in Opelika is doing great under the leadership of Pastor Allison, and Pastor Moye reports that numbers increased yesterday at our Lumpkin chapel as well. In all, 30 people attended Sunday School, and the numbers grew to 48 for the morning worship service. Praise the Lord! We are getting close to launching our third chapel in Fort Mitchell, Alabama. I meet today with a potential pastor for this new sattelite ministry. Pray for the leading of God's Holy Spirit.
On visitation this week, Bill Lockerman and Gabe Wilkinson were able to lead a man to Christ. I also had the privilege of leading a woman to Christ this week. Pray for the baptism and discipleship of these precious souls.
Last night, we were privileged to have Sean Quinlan, missionary appointee with Worldwide New Testament Baptist Mission to the island of Guam, being sent by Emanuel Baptist Church in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Brother Sean did a marvelous job presenting his work and preaching. You can listen to his sermon again by logging on to our website. Our church overwhelmingly voted to add the Quinlans to our missionary budget, increasing our total number of missionaries to 176. We now have 100 more missionaries than when I first came to Grace.
Also, last night the teens who went with us to Mexico gave testimonies about the trip. The testimonies were heartfelt and were a good indicator of how God worked in their hearts during this very special week. Nathaniel Morrison put together a professional video presentation of the week. Jim Miller, the missionary who we visited, did a marvelous job of hosting us, in spite of the fact that this was the first missions team to visit his work. Several of our team (at least 3) are considering full-time vocational missionary service. Praise the Lord!
Finally, we were privileged to welcome Eric and Amanda Chamberlin into our membership this week. Eric is a graduate of Faith Baptist Seminary in Iowa and is pursuing a military chaplaincy. We are excited to have this stellar family in our congregation.
Be in much prayer as our new youth pastor, Bert Arrowood, moves to Columbus this weekend. Also, one of our new faculty members, Hope Anderson, will be arriving in Columbus in a few days. Pray for her adjustment to life in the river city.
Also, don't forget that the National Sword of the Lord Conference takes place next week in Walkertown, North Carolina. Karen will be speaking Thursday afternoon at the Ladies' Seminar, and I will be preaching Thursday night as the set up man for Dr. Norris Belcher. If you can make it, we would love to see you there.
Teen Camp is also next week. Pray for our kids as they go to the Wilds.
Don't forget that the Academy of Arts will be with us on June 28. Their presentation this year is on Joseph of Arimathea. You won't want to miss it.