Pastor's Blog

Regular schedule on our campus tomorrow morning – 8:00AM; 9:15AM & 10:30AM.

IMPORTANT announcement regarding tomorrow morning’s services – because of the rapid spread of the current covid variant, I am asking our senior saints (you decide what determines senior) to not attend our morning services tomorrow but instead to watch the 8:00AM service online.  It will be live streamed on our website (friendshipfamily.net).  There will be no password required.  I am especially asking those folks above seventy years of age to stay home tomorrow morning.

IMPORTANT announcement regarding our evening service for tomorrow.  Again, because of the rapid spread of the current covid variant, we will NOT have any evening activities on our campus tomorrow.  Doing this out of an abundance of caution at this time.  I have researched, read, prayed and given great thought to this matter and am at peace with this decision.  I do not live in fear but I just trying to not spit in the wind.

Folks, I am taking this thing one day at a time.  Not following any other church’s lead or getting advice from other pastors.  Just trying to follow the Lord’s promptings in my heart and do what I feel is best for the Friendship family.

The Friendship family has been the best throughout this entire pandemic when it comes to allowing me to lead.  I am grateful for that spirit of cooperation.

I pray that you will have a great Saturday with Jesus.

Nanette Fontenot sent me an email yesterday to share that Scott’s last surviving maternal Aunt, Miss Bettie Anderson, passed from this life on Wednesday afternoon.  She would have been ninety-eight years old later this month.  She lived in Baton Rouge, LA.  A memorial service will be held at a later date.  Pray for the Anderson family.

Keep praying for Michael & Elizabeth Holt.

You would think that Cecil Guidry would get me an update on Ray Stringfellow but you know how she is!

Keep praying for Debbie Hyatt!

Someone asked if 5:00PM is going to be our new worship service time on Sunday nights?  Nope.  We will begin at 5:00PM this Sunday, 1/9, then revert back to our normal 6:00PM starting time on 1/16.

Joey & Amy Switzer came to our 8:00AM service this past Sunday, 1/2.  Wait, we did not have an 8:00AM service this past Sunday!  Hello!  (I expect moves like this from my blonde friend but not Joey & Amy!)

It is just after 12:30AM as I write this entry and the outside temperature is forty-three degrees.  They say we will get to thirty-seven degrees tonight.  If so, we had better hurry!  Yes, Lisa and I have the bedroom windows raised – heavenly sleep!

Basketball tomorrow beginning at 8:00AM.  Pray for this ministry.

Regular schedule on our campus this Sunday morning, 1/9.

Did you know that our bus ministry is fifty years old this year? How many other churches do you know that can say their bus ministry is fifty years old?  Personally, I know of no others.

If you have objections to the virus vaccine, I would love for you to send those to me via email within in the next day or two.  pastor@friendshipfamily.net   I am compiling some (all?) of these to send to the Guatemalan government.

I pray that you will have a great Friday with Jesus!

Well, yesterday was a “different” Wednesday for the Friendship family.  If my memory serves me correctly, we have never not had services on consecutive Wednesdays with the exception of when Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on a Wednesday.  If I had the call to make over again, I would make the same call.

Amy Huhn’s daddy, Mr. Bobby, has been discharged from the hospital.  Keep praying.

Debbie Hyatt continues to rehab at home.  Long road to complete recovery so keep praying.

Please pray for Michael & Elizabeth Holt.

Spoke to my Aunt Pam last night and she is feeling better as is Bro. Danny.  Praise the Lord!

Amy Huhn leads our ministry to McKemie Place.  Our new night of ministry there is now on Thursdays. Our first Thursday to minister in 2022 is February 10.  Amy invites any, and all, members of the Friendship family to join her in this ministry.  Contact Amy for more details.

Regular schedule this Sunday morning – 8:00AM; 9:15AM and 10:30AM.  Our evening service this Sunday, 1/9, will begin at 5:00PM.  Please note the earlier starting time.

Our basketball leagues will resume play this Saturday, 1/8, at 8:00AM.  Eddie Albritton is the point person for more details regarding this ministry.

I pray that you will have a great Thursday with Jesus.

Good morning from a toasty (forty-seven degrees) Grand Bay!  The colder temperatures just did not last long enough.

NO services on our campus this morning or evening.  No classes or other activities tonight!  Please pass the word!

Michael & Elizabeth Holt need a miracle.  I will not go into the details here but do ask that you pray fervently for them during this time.

Amy Huhn’s daddy has been in the hospital with a fluid build up around his lungs and heart.  Pray for Mr. Bobby!

Debbie Hyatt continues to recover from her injuries/surgery at home.  Keep praying.

I have not heard from Ray Stringfellow’s test but do ask you to keep praying for Ray & Nina.

I heard from my Aunt Pam last night.  She is still battling fatigue issues and Bro. Danny has been running a low grade fever.  Pray for them.

We are on a regular schedule this Sunday, 1/9/22, with worship services at 8:00AM, 10:30AM and 6:00PM.  Sunday School at 9:15AM.

I pray that you will have a great Wednesday with Jesus.

No revival service on our campus tonight!  No services (morning or evening), classes or activities on our campus tomorrow, 1/5/22.  Please pass the word!

Bro. Danny & Pam arrived home safely yesterday afternoon.  Pam was still dealing with some of the effects of the virus.  Pray for a healing for Pam and for protection for Bro. Danny.

I had the privilege of sharing at a memorial service yesterday morning for Richard Glass.  It was a private service which is why I did not mention it Sunday or in yesterday’s blog.  Sweet service.  Pray for Richard’s family.

This morning, I have the privilege of sharing at a celebration of life service for John Williams’ father, Mr. Carl Williams.  There will be a visitation with the family from 9:00AM until the 10:00AM service time.  Everything takes place at Mobile Memorial Gardens Funeral Home.  Pray for the Williams family.

No updates on those for whom we have been praying.  Just keep praying.

A team from Michigan will travel to GRACE Mountain this Thursday, 1/6.  This will be our first team of the year and, most likely, the largest numerically as the entry requirements into Guatemala change on Monday, 1/10/22.  The new stipulations will require a full vaccination plus a negative covid test to enter.  A good number of folks have not been vaccinated and do not plan on getting vaccinated.  My hope is for a quick reversal of this policy.

It is presently thirty degrees in Grand Bay and the frost makes it look like a young snow.  Hallelujah!  The projected low for tonight is forty-three degrees – bah humbug!

I pray that you will have a great Tuesday with Jesus.

I made some tough decisions yesterday regarding our services this week.  My Aunt Pam tested positive for the virus yesterday morning.  Therefore, after prayer and thought, I decided to cancel the services set for tonight, tomorrow night and Wednesday night.  Please note there will be no services, classes or activities on our campus this Wednesday, 1/5.  Our next service is scheduled for this Sunday, 1/9, beginning at 8:00AM.  Please help pass the word about these cancellations!

While my Aunt Pam was not able to attend our services, her husband, Evangelist Danny Long, was in good health and preached two excellent messages yesterday morning and evening.  God used Bro. Danny to speak to us.  Our morning attendance was strong and our evening attendance was pretty good.

The Friendship family blessed Bro. Danny and Miss Pam with a great love offering.  I mean great!  Thank you for giving to the Lord!  The Friendship family has always given well and I am very, very grateful!

Debbie Hyatt is home (actually at a son’s house).  Pray for her during this time of recovery.

Debbie’s mother, Martez Richerson, took a fall yesterday and was taken to the hospital.  Pray for Miss Martez.

Nina Stringfellow requested that we pray for her husband, Ray, as he has been diagnosed with a malignancy and has two tests scheduled for today.

I pray that you will have a great Monday with Jesus.

Happy New Year!

Debbie Hyatt has been discharged from the hospital.  Keep praying for her recovery.

Here is the schedule on our campus for tomorrow, 1/2/22:

Sunday School begins at 9:15AM

Worship begins at 10:30AM

Worship begins at 5:00PM

Evangelist Danny Long will be preaching tomorrow morning through Wednesday night.  His wife, Pam, will be singing the special in each service.  Pray, attend and bring others with you.

Jonny Gaston sent me the following:

A New Year’s Resolution (By Matthew Henry: 1662-1714)

“My times are in Your hand!”
(Psalm 31:15)

“Firmly believing that my times are in God’s hand, I here submit myself and all my affairs for the ensuing year, to the wise and gracious disposal of God’s divine providence.
Whether God appoints for me . . . .
health or sickness,
peace or trouble,
comforts or crosses,
life or death–
may His holy will be done!

All my time, strength, and service, I devote to the honor of the Lord Jesus–and even my common actions.

It is my earnest expectation, hope, and desire, my constant aim and endeavor–that Jesus Christ may be magnified in me.

In everything I have to do–my entire dependence is upon Jesus Christ for strength. And whatever I do in word or deed, I desire to do all in His name, to make Him my Alpha and Omega.

I have all from Him–and I would use all for Him. If this should prove a year of affliction, a sorrowful year to me–I will fetch all my supports and comforts from the Lord Jesus and stay myself upon Him, His everlasting consolations, and the good hope I have in Him through grace.

And if it should be my dying year–then my times are in the hand of the Lord Jesus.
And with a humble reliance upon His mediation, I would venture into the eternal world looking for the blessed hope. Dying as well as living–Jesus Christ will, I trust, be gain and advantage to me.

Oh, that the grace of God may be sufficient for me, to keep me always a humble sense of my own unworthiness, weakness, folly, and infirmity–together with a humble dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ for both righteousness and strength.”

~ Matthew Henry 1662-1714

There will be no services, classes or activities on our church campus this morning or evening.

The church office will be open today.  It is possible that it could close early and will definitely be closed tomorrow and Friday.

Debbie Hyatt has broken the tibia and fibula bones in her right (I think) leg.  Surgery is scheduled for this morning.  Pray for all to go well.

Marie Brooks will have surgery this morning.  It will take place in Fairhope.  Pray for this surgery to go well also.

Laura Trout Williams contacted me to let me know that John’s father passed from this life on Christmas Day.  Mr & Mrs Williams live in the Huntsville area but the service and burial will take place in Mobile.  There will be a visitation with the family on Tuesday, 1/4, from 9:00AM until the 10:00AM service.  Everything will take place at the Mobile Memorial Gardens Funeral Home.  Pray for John’s mother and the family.  (Laura, if the info in this “blob” is incorrect, let me know)

Revival services at Friendship the dates of Sunday, January 2, through Wednesday, January 5.  Pray, attend, bring others.

Well, never depend on me for reliable information when it comes to picking the college football winners!  The SEC conference is killing me in the bowl games.  I think they are now zero for four – are you serious!

I do want to give a shout out to my friends who are Auburn fans.  Most of these folks are a part of the Friendship family and they are just really good people and great AU fans.  They are not obnoxious.  Now, they do not pull for Bama but they conduct themselves in a classy manner.  I appreciate this!  (Ok, now that I have given a shout out to those two folks, let’s move on!  LOL!)

The weather forecasters are now calling for a low of twenty-nine degrees on Sunday night, 1/2, and a low of thirty-three degrees on Monday night, 1/3, in Grand Bay!  Hallelujah!

I pray that you will have a great Wednesday with Jesus.

As I write this entry, Debbie Hyatt is being transported by ambulance to a local hospital.  She fell off her back porch and broke her lower leg.  Not sure if they will do surgery tonight or later.  Pray for Debbie.

Marie Brooks will have surgery in the morning.  She is a bit anxious.  Pray that all will go well.

Please spread the word to others so they can join us in praying for these two ladies.

This entry is late.  My apologies.  No excuses.

The church office is open regular hours today and tomorrow.  Closed on Thursday and Friday.

Really, there is nothing new to report on those for whom we have been praying.  Just keep praying.

No services, classes, activities on our campus tomorrow – morning or evening.

Our Sunday, 1/2, schedule will be Sunday School beginning at 9:15AM; morning worship beginning at 10:30AM and our evening worship beginning at 5:00PM.

Evangelist Danny Long will be God’s messenger for us this Sunday morning, 1/2, through Wednesday, 1/5.  Our services will begin at 6:30PM Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

End of the year financial gifts to the Lord through the church can be brought by the church office today or tomorrow, dropped by Lisa’s office today through Thursday, or mailed no later than Friday, 12/31.

Because of the virus, transfer portal, players opting for the draft, et cetera it is much harder to pick winners of the college bowl games.  However, I think Auburn will win against Houston today.  I am a fan of the SEC and always the conference teams to win.

I pray that you will have a great Tuesday with Jesus.