Pastor's Blog

As I mentioned yesterday, Estuardo Morales did well through his surgery yesterday but will remain hospitalized for about seven days.  Pray for him. 

I don’t have an update on Mr. Wilkinson but have plans to see him this morning. 

Stephen Harper has apparently retained his position as the Prime Minister of Canada.  Mark Mast sends a word of thanks to all who prayed yesterday. 

Today will be a regular Wednesday with the 10:00AM service and all of the evening activities.  My day will end around 9:30 – 10:00PM with the college/young professionals Bible study. 

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

The funeral service for Billy Sellers will take place tomorrow, 10/15, at 3:00PM from the chapel at Serenity Funeral Home.  A time of visitation will precede the service.

Estuardo Morales came through his surgery very well and will now be hospitalized for about seven days.  Keep praying! 

Vote today!  Wait, we can’t vote as it is election day in Canada but we can pray.  Missionary Mark Mast has asked that we pray Stephen Harper of the Progressive Conservative Party will be reelected.  I know nothing about Canadian politics but I do respect Mark’s request! 

The first night of Upward evaluations seemed to be busy as I passed through the CAB on my way to FAITH.  Thanks to all who helped Bro. Benny.  The remaining schedule is tonight and Thursday from 6:00 – 8:00PM and Saturday morning.  Questions?  Call Bro. Benny! 

I received a call yesterday afternoon from Louise Mason in Guatemala informing me that Estuardo Morales is to have surgery this morning.  This has to do with an infection.  Pray for him. 

Curtis Wilkinson remains hospitalized but Melinda Eckert did come home Sunday afternoon.  Billy Sellers passed away yesterday morning.  The arrangements are incomplete at this time. 

Members of a first grade class in San Francisco, CA were taken on a field trip last Friday.  Okay, you say.  The problem is they were taken to see their lesbian teacher’s wedding ceremony!  Wow! 

A young (19 years old) girl in NC has legally changed her name from Jennifer to Cutoutdissection.com.  Obviously, she is opposed to the dissecting of animals!  Different! 

Did your high school team have a tough game this past Friday?  Check out these two scores:  Naples High 91 to Estero High 0 (Florida); Beechcroft High 96 to Centennial High 0 (Ohio).   Oh my!

Rex Looney, thanks for the update!  Bret Hart, you mad or what? 

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

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  (You are already thinking that I have lost my mind!)  As Lee Corso would say, “not so fast my friend!”  Today, 10/13, is Thanksgiving Day in Canada and I promised my missionary friend, Mark Mast, that I would mention it on this blog as he is a regular reader.  Their Thanksgiving Day is always the second Monday in October so it is really a two day celebration as they begin on Sunday. 

We had a really good Sunday as we gathered to study the Word and worship the Lord!  What a joy to welcome James & Mary Cook and Dawn Autin into the Friendship family by transfer of letter.  Also, it was a tremendous blessing to me as the Friendship family voted last night to host the second annual pastors’ conference in Guatemala next October 13 – 15.  They also graciously voted to allow me to accept the invitation to preach at the GBS graduation ceremony October 10, 2009.  Thank you!  We will begin asking for scholarship money for the pastors’ conference after the first of the year. 

Curtis Wilkinson remains hospitalized but is going through therapy and making improvement.  Melinda Eckert remains hospitalized too.  Bro. Kerry was in the services yesterday morning but had to miss last night.  Carla Felps Kyser, Joyce Bosarge, & Phyllis Bush all continue to battle their respective cancer.  Billy Smith will have knee replacement surgery next Monday.  Miss Carmen Reyer will also be having knee replacement surgery in a few weeks.  Miss Vivian Ladnier had eye surgery recently but was back in church yesterday morning and last night.  Pray for these various situations!

Estuardo Morales in Guatemala has an infection and was hospitalized Thursday night but I don’t know his present status.  We left Louise Mason sick but hopefully she is better.  Miss Vivian Smith is a retired missionary in Canada and is a very, very dear friend of Mark & Tina Mast.  She was very low physically last week but has now rallied.  She is 88 years of age.  Please pray for Estuardo, Louise, and Miss Vivian. 

Pastor Terry & Miss Cookie Rainey’s daughter, Shannon, has a mass in her left arm.  It needs to be removed but she has to get approval from her cardiologist in order to have surgery.  She meets with him today so please pray for Shannon!

My pastor friend, Jack Bailey, and his minister of music, Doug Seaver, are in Romania this week on a mission trip.  I don’t know if I should ask you to pray for Bro. Jack or for Romania! 

Bro. Benny begins the Upward evaluations tonight from 6:00 until 8:00PM.  The same schedule will be followed tomorrow night and Thursday night.  You may bring your child to any of these evaluation times.  Also, folks are needed to help with this process so just come join Bro. Benny if you can help!

Bama didn’t get beat this past Saturday while TN & ND did which is always a good thing!  The Dodgers finally won one against the Phillies to at least make the series interesting. 

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

The funeral service for Renee’ Baggett, daughter of Maxine Ervin Dupont, will take place today at 2:00PM from the chapel of Serenity Funeral Home.  The service will be preceded by two hours of visitation.  Pray for Miss Maxine, Doug, the children and their families.

A bridal shower for Madison Bosarge, bride-elect of Andrew Rutherford, will take place from 2:00 until 4:00PM today in the fellowship hall. 

Bro. Chris will take our students bowling tonight following the evening service.  Attendance in the evening service is required and the cost is $6 per person. 

God is good!  All of the speakers for our first GRACE Ministries conference for pastors arrived back to the States safe and sound.  Mark Mast will drive from Minneapolis to his home in Canada today but the rest of the team arrived home last night – I suppose! 

Word came to me last night that Melinda Eckert is in a local hospital.  Raymond’s dad, Curtis Wilkinson, remains hospitalized.  I am not certain if Bro. Kerry is still in the hospital. 

Word also came to me that the women’s conference was a success as God used Tammy Bryant in a special way to minister through song and the spoken Word. 

I need to “hit the ground running” so I hope you will have a great Saturday and will be in church tomorrow!

I received extremely sad news yesterday morning as I learned that Renee Baggett, daughter of Maxine Ervin Dupont, passed away very, very unexpectedly.  Renee was 49 years old.  Please pray for this family as they walk through this dark valley. 

I also learned that Bro. Kerry Kelley was admitted to the hospital yesterday afternoon.  I don’t have all of those details but do ask that you pray for him.  Curtis Wilkinson’s situation is basically the same from what I hear. 

Pray for the women’s conference that will take place at Friendship tonight.  Pray for those who are doing all the things it takes to get ready for this conference. 

Praise the Lord!  He blessed and we had a great first Pastors’ Conference.  Pastor Abel Garcia, Pastor Travis Northcutt, and Pastor Terry Rainey all did excellent jobs of preaching the Gospel yesterday.  The pastors and others attending the conference seemed genuinely excited about all God did in their lives these past three days.  It was an awesome time.  I plan to give a final update either on Monday or Tuesday once I have gotten all of the information. 

Tico Vargas took us out to eat yesterday afternoon in Tecpan.  Actually, I wasn’t in the “us” part as someone allowed the van to run out of diesel and ended up standing on the side of the road for about an hour and a half.  I told Pastor Terry we needed more diesel but he is so stubborn!  A huge thanks to Kirk Lightfield for staying with me and to Clyde from the seminary for coming to our rescue with a container of diesel!  Rex Looney & Michael Mason totally threw me under the bus by leaving me stranded on the side of the road – great friends! 

Pray for us as we travel home today.  I am concerned about Pastor Terry & Pastor Eddie as they are in a deep depression since Clemson lost again last night! 

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

Our Wednesday at the Pastors’ Conference was a blessed day.  Pastor Eddie Burdette and Evangelist Johnny Tucker did a great job of preaching in the joint sessions while Rex Looney continues to do a great job with the music.  I listened to some of the break out sessions and those are proving to be very, very successful!  The guys from the States are doing a superb job in teaching these men and women (we do have a few pastors who brought their wives along). 

We had a scheduled break from 10:00AM until 11:30AM because the communications department of the seminary was making a presentation to the pastors.  So, we drove to Pastores and had a time of prayer with Estuardo Morales who is the son-in-law of Pastor Max Lara.  I appreciate the guys taking the time to do that and I know it meant a lot to Estuardo and his family. 

Paul & Cristy Leytham prepared supper for us late yesterday afternoon and it was awesome!  They have been so kind to provide this service.  Louise Mason is very quietly staying behind the scenes keeping the place clean.  John & Laurie King have been “johnny on the spot” too!  GRACE Ministries is blessed! 

Pray for Mark Mast!  As the only Yankee on this trip, there is a language barrier for him and these bubbas are being pretty harsh.  He has been “stoked” pretty good and it has affected his hearing!  (I have not been a part of this as Mark Mast is one of the nicest guys I have ever known – but it has been funny and Mark is a great, great sport!)

I received an e-mail from Carla Felps Kyser yesterday and they have decided to continue to the course regarding her treatments.  I simply ask that you keep praying! 

Otherwise, I think everything is fairly quiet on the home front.  I know our folks are getting ready for the women’s conference tomorrow night.  Pray for that conference and pray for Tammy Bryant as she ministers during that time. 

Today is going to be a busy day as we will come back to the mission house for lunch and then will not be back until 9:00PM or so.  Pastor Rainey & Pastor Burdette are about to “bust” as Clemson plays on television tonight.  I am not sure which high school they are playing but I do hope they win so these two guys will be in a good mood! 

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

We are still here!  I appreciate those who have contacted me via e-mail asking about the lack of entries for the past two days!  I could go into some reasons (excuses?) but suffice it to say that I will catch you up and all will be well. 

The Lord blessed Monday as we all arrived in Guatemala even though the 10 of us on Delta were a little behind schedule.  Pastor Abel Garcia came in on Continental which was on time so he had to wait an hour or so in the Guatemala City airport.  Our staff here had everything ready i.e. luggage truck, rental van, fruit at the mission house, et cetera. 

We spent Monday evening in Antigua at the Las Antorches restaurant enjoying good fellowship and excellent food.  Philippe Rambert, the owner, is a good friend and treats us well. 

Yesterday, we met at 6:15AM for prayer and left at 6:45AM to have breakfast at Pollo Campero.  We arrived at the seminary around 7:45AM and began the conference at 8:00AM.  We had three joint sessions which featured the preaching/teaching of Jerry Whitmore, Mark Mast, and Michael Mason.  We also had three break out sessions but I am not sure which guys led those.  Michael Mason preached at Palabra Viva Church in the afternoon.  Rex Looney is leading the music in all joint sessions and also went with Michael for the afternoon service at Paul & Cristy’s church.  It was a long day as we got back to the mission house around 9:00PM. 

We were treated to a wonderful supper in the home of Pancho & Rita Arriola.  It was a typical Guatemalan meal and it was great! 

We are about to meet for a time of prayer before repeating yesterday’s schedule.  These guys have been awesome in their attitudes.  Pray for us as we minister today!

One of the unexpected highlights for me on this trip has been having my older brother, Eddie, join us for these first two days.  He leaves this morning so his time here has been short but it has been great for him to see some of the workings of GRACE Ministries and to meet the folks here.  I think he will be back in the coming years!  Pray for him as he travels home today! 

Bro. Jerry Hovel is keeping me updated with news from home and all seems to be well.  Joey Saylor’s father passed away and will be buried in Iowa this Friday so pray for that family.  Curtis Wilkinson remains hospitalized.  Carla Felps Kyser met with the doctors yesterday but I don’t have an update on her situation yet. 

Bro. Jerry will be preaching in my absence this morning and tonight.  Ralph Rimmer will be teaching our 8:00PM Bible study.  I hope the members of the Friendship family will attend the services/Bible studies. 

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

The funeral service for Miss Irene Sessions will take place this morning at 10:00AM from First Baptist Church.  Please pray for her family and those who will take part in that service.

Miss Joyce Bosarge was discharged from the hospital yesterday but is still very much in need of our prayers.  Mr. Wilkinson is making improvement one small step at a time.  Carla Kyser goes for another scan today.  Phyllis Bush remains at home.  Miss Carmen Reyer is confined to the house as she waits for knee replacement surgery. 

As you know by now, the Senate passed the bail out plan last night.  Alabama & Mississippi’s senators voted against the plan which I think reflects the will of the people they represent.  Now we will see if the House follows suit tomorrow or rejects this plan too as they did the other one this past Monday.  I am encouraging folks to go to www.daveramsey.com and read his plan and consider taking the action he suggests. 

Much to my surprise, the Dodgers rallied and beat the Cubs last night.  A win tonight would be so sweet but that is a tall order!  I was also surprised that the Red Sox beat the Angels last night but that is why they don’t play the games on paper! 

Wow, I walked outside a little before 6:00AM this morning and it felt so good as the temps were in the 50’s.  I love the cooler temperatures and look forward to the six days of cold weather we have each year! 

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