Pastor's Blog

Carla Kyser goes to the doctor today to receive another chemo treatment and to get results from her latest scan.  Marisa e-mailed with an update yesterday and asked us to pray specifically for Carla today. 

Dee Dee Douglas asked that we pray for her father, George, as he will be seeing the doctor this week regarding his cancer too.  Miss Vinnie Brewer asked us to remember Rayford Dunham as he is scheduled to be back at M.D. Anderson this week. 

Lisa & I visited Miss Kathleen Henderson yesterday.  Her problem is related to her lungs again as this is the third time this year she has been in the hospital for this problem.  Pray for all of these folks. 

James Merritt’s funeral service will take place on Friday at 10:00AM from our church auditorium.  It will be preceded by a visitation with the family from 5:00 – 8:00PM on Thursday.  Pray for all of these needs.

I have got to spend some time with Samuel Acan today.  He spent yesterday in Auburn and he is messed up – big time!  He has a non-resident salt water fishing license and he is going, for the first time, out into the Gulf today.  Thanks to Tony & Dawn Hacker for making this possible.  It should be fun! 

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

The visitation for the James Merritt family will take place this Thursday night, 8/6, from 5:00 – 8:00PM with the funeral service taking place on Friday morning, 8/7, at 10:00AM.  The visitation and service will be held from the auditorium of our church.  Burial will take place in the Oddfellows Cemetery.

Wow, what a weekend!  God is good!  Bro. Jerry tells me that  36 of our Sunday School workers  attended the training on Saturday.  Thank you to Bro. Jerry for coordinating that event and to each person who participated.  My prayer is that our Sunday School will be strengthened. 

The fiesta for our Hispanic friends was attended by about 12 folks.  Not a lot but a start and I am very grateful to each person who helped in any way.  The Sunday afternoon service is a good news/bad news scenario.  The bad news is that we had no one attend but the good news is that we cannot go backwards!  I could go into some of the “reasons” but suffice it to say that I am not discouraged and think this thing is of God so we press on.  Again, thanks to those who came to help on Sunday afternoon.

What a joy to see Lindsey Vice come forward to follow the Lord in believer’s baptism during our 8:00AM service.  We will be observing the ordinance of baptism either this Sunday evening, 8/9, or the following Sunday evening, 8/16. 

“An Evening of GRACE” was a blessing too.  I realize the services were longer than “normal” but it was a blessing to hear April & Jaclyn sing and the messages delivered by Pastor Mel Hacker & Pastor Bob Harvey.  I had a number of folks share positive comments and ask if we could have the girls back at a later date and give them more time to share.  So, we’ll prayerfully consider having another service in the future. 

Sonny Bates is now serving at the chairman of our deacons, Raymond Wilkinson as the vice-chairman, and Carl Ray Moulds as the secretary.  Pray for the eight men who serve as our deacons. 

The funeral arrangements for James Merritt are still pending.  Kathleen Henderson, Joey Switzer’s grandmother, is in a local hospital. 

Samuel Acan is taking it all in.  He was amazed at the “busyness” of our Sunday.  He went to Auburn with Pastor Bob & Renee last night.  It has been fun hosting him. 

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

I have awaken early to ask you to join me in praying for the SS teacher training taking place today and for the fiesta for our Spanish speaking friends tonight at 6:00PM. 

I am praying that a good number (all?) of our SS workers will attend the two hours or so set aside for their department.  We need to do a better job within our SS and the beginning of a new church is a great time to start!  I appreciate Bro. Jerry putting all of this together and I pray that it will be a success. 

Folks have asked how many people do we expect at the fiesta tonight.  Who knows?  I am just praying that those who attend will be loved by us and will come back tomorrow for our first service.  God knows and we trust Him while doing our part in praying & inviting. 

It is my prayer that each of us will be in our rightful place tomorrow as we begin a new church year.  Lord willing, I will.  How about you?