Pastor's Blog

One of my many mistakes yesterday was failing to include the birth of William & Amber Sessions’ daughter.  I do not know the details but William & Amber welcomed a daughter into this world this past Saturday afternoon.  So, congratulations to them.  I will get the details and post them later.  Sorry for the omission!

Nadine Holifield’s mother, Mrs. Jones, will be having gall bladder surgery today.  Pray for her.

Tony Barnes did well through his surgery.  Yesterday was his 70th birthday – what a gift!  He is now the only person I know who got a new knee for his birthday!  He should be discharged from the hospital on Thursday if all goes well.

Another of my mistakes yesterday was getting the dates for our revival meeting wrong in my post.  They are Sunday, 12/5, through Wednesday, 12/8.  Friendship family members – please keep these dates clear on your calendars!  Pastor Michael Mason will be with us on those days.  Pray & participate!

I appreciate those who have given to sponsor the pastors for next week’s conference.  A scholarship is $60 and you can still give.  Simply mark the amount being given and “pastors’ conference” on the designated side of an offering envelope.  Pray for the conference.

Our third “Potluck with the Pastor” takes place tomorrow following our morning service.  Lisa and I got the fish yesterday – catfish from Scooba, MS.  Phil will fry the fish & hush puppies.  We will provide the drinks.  Those attending are asked to bring potato salad, baked beans, cole slaw, and desserts.  Invite someone to join you for this time of Bible study and fellowship.  It is going to be great!

Chris Howell tells me the upstairs area of the CAB should be completely carpeted by the end of today.  Really?  That is what he said and I believe him.  Chris has done a great job with the carpet and I appreciate his willingness to help.  It has been a big job.  Tony & Les will get the base down, Bernard will caulk & paint, and we will be “finished” with the upstairs.  Hallelujah!

Pastor Rainey says the roosters are still crowing in SC!  The Braves are done and Bobby Cox is now retired.  Was he a great manager because of the many division titles or simply a good manager because of only one WS trophy?  Lori Bailey – Favre is toast and needs to retire immediately if not sooner!

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

I am posting this at 4:30AM and will be leaving very soon to go pray with Tony Barnes before his knee replacement surgery.  Pray for him and that all will go well.

I spoke to Liz Whalen briefly at church yesterday morning and she said her mother, Miss Joyce Bosarge, is not having the sickness but still having a great deal of pain.  Keep praying for Miss Joyce and the others who are battling cancer.

Keep praying for Imelda, Matt, Mark, Anna Carol, Brenda and the rest of the James Davis family.  Thank you to those who helped with the meal this past Saturday following the funeral service – you did great!

Tom Compagner’s dad, Mr. Milford Compagner, has stage three cancer and they are weighing the options regarding treatment.

Pastor Travis Northcutt is preaching a revival meeting this week in KY and they had four folks saved yesterday.  Pray for Pastor Travis and those services that will go through Wednesday night.

What a joy to baptize Courtney Poiroux as a part of our evening service last night.  She was eager to follow the Lord in believer’s baptism.

Friendship family, please mark these dates on your calendar, Sunday, December 5, through Wednesday, December, 8, 2010.  Pastor Michael Mason will be with us during those days preaching a series of revival services for us.  I am asking you to keep those dates clear, to pray for revival, and to be present for each of the services.

Two questions were asked of me several times over the weekend.  Did you catch any fish?  We did!  Nice ones too!  Second question – what did you think about the Bama game?  I think they got beat!   Before the season, I thought Arkansas would get Bama as I did not think Garcia could get the job done.  I was wrong!  Congratulations to Auburn and LSU on their respective victories this past Saturday night.  The West is going to be wild!  By the way, congratulations to MSU on their victory too.

T. Garrett, I had asked you to make sure Bama did not play at 8:00PM this Saturday and they are!  What’s up with that?

“Potluck with the Pastor” this Wednesday.  It is going to be awesome!  Be there!

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

P.S. – “How ’bout them Cowboys?”

The James Davis family will receive friends from 10:00AM until noon tomorrow (10/9) in the church auditorium.  The funeral service will begin at noon with the burial taking place in the Grand Bay Cemetery.

In the event you missed last night’s entry, James Davis passed away late yesterday afternoon.  The family will go to the funeral home this morning to make the arrangements.  It is highly possible that everything will take place tomorrow (Saturday) but that depends on what the funeral home has available.  I do know that everything will take place from the church and James will be buried in the Grand Bay Cemetery.  We will post the arrangements this afternoon.

I spoke to Larry Whitehurst last night and he thinks he did well through his stress test.  They said it would be two working days before they knew the results.

Wow, it appears the MLB playoffs are not much to watch at this point.  Lincecum obviously pitched a gem last night as I read where he fanned 14 batters to put the Braves in a 1 – 0 hole.  It seems the two AL series are over already!

Anyway, who needs baseball when there is college football on the scene?  Bama has another tough game tomorrow afternoon and Auburn will run roughshod over UK tomorrow night.  I will be watching the UM vs MSU game too.

Tony Hacker and I are headed about 45 – 50 miles out today to catch some world record fish.  The latest report is calling for 1 foot seas – awesome!

I hope to see many members of the Friendship family in church this Sunday.  We will observe the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper during our 6:00PM service.

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

James E. Davis passed away late this afternoon in a local hospital.  The family will go to the funeral home tomorrow morning to make arrangements.  We will post those arrangements here once they have been finalized.  Please pray for Imelda, Matt, Mark, Anna Carol, Brenda and their families.

Good Wednesday.  Good group yesterday morning, good group at 7:00PM, and a very good group at 8:00PM.  God is good!  We give Him the praise!

Tena Hovel’s sister had surgery yesterday and did well.  She should go home today.  James Davis remains in a local hospital and is not doing so well.  Lois Kirschenman goes back to the doctor today.  Larry Whitehurst is having a nuclear stress test this afternoon.  Tony Barnes his having knee replacement on Monday and Sonny Bates will have the same on 10/25.  Louise Morris’ son, Phil, will be having surgery soon too.  Miss Joyce Bosarge is not as sick and Carla Kyser got a better report from the doctor yesterday.  Mr. Compagner remains hospitalized.  It was good to see Lewis Jackson in the service last night.  He looked better than he did this past Sunday.

Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the 1956 World Series which was before my time.  Yesterday, Roy Halladay, pitched a no hitter in the first game of the playoffs to join Larsen as the only two MLB pitchers to accomplish such a feat.  Wow!  I did not watch it but it will probably never happen again in my lifetime.  The Braves take the field today.

I missed seeing another record last night too.  Bro. Chris, Rusty, Stephanie D., and Dunnam played the card game, hearts, after the late Bible study.  Low score wins and high score loses.  The absolute highest score one can have is 125.  Lance Nicholson is the only person I know to have reached that milestone – until last night.  Bro. Chris sent me a picture of the score sheet and Dunnam is now in that exclusive 125 club thanks to a “run” by Bro. Chris on the last hand!  Stephanie D was playing for the first time and she beat Dunnam!

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

James Davis is back in the hospital.  He had gone back to a convalescent facility but was not there a full twenty-four hours before being taken back to the hospital.  Pray for James and his family.

Tom Compagner’s dad remains hospitalized too.  Tom says his dad is very weak as he recovers from his surgery of last Wednesday.

I am asking the members of the Friendship family as well as our long distance friends to prayerfully consider this next request.  GRACE Ministries, along with the Guatemala Bible Seminary, will host the third annual Pastors’ Conference in Chimaltenango Tuesday, October 19, through Thursday, October 21.  President Tico Vargas and the administrative committee at the seminary believe that we will have 500 participants.  Regardless of the number, many of those participants will not have the necessary funds to attend this conference.  So, we are asking folks to provide “scholarships” for these men/women.  A scholarship is $60 and that covers some travel for the participants, lodging for up to four nights, three meals a day/snacks for three days, and the conference materials.  All of the scholarship money goes directly to help these folks attend the conference.  Neither GRACE Ministries or the folks going from the USA receive one cent from these scholarships.  Checks can be made payable to GRACE Ministries or Friendship Baptist Church and mailed to my attention at P.O. Box 756 Grand Bay, Alabama 36541.  Thank you in advance for prayerfully considering this request.

The dirt has been in place for several weeks now but this week has seen the actual “start” of the construction on the house the Lord is allowing Lisa, the girls, and me to have built.  Ditto for Brad & Daphne and Soy & Deidra.  (Just what I have always wanted – build my first house and be flanked by Soy on one side and Brad on the other!)  Folks, this has been a long time coming but we are confident it is in the will of God for us.

The MLB playoffs begin today.  Honestly, I could care less.  The NBA has already begun playing preseason games – yawn!  I will catch them about next July 4 as The Finals are winding down.  The NFL is apparently expanding their regular season.  All of these leagues play seasons/play offs that are entirely too long – IMO.

T. Garrett, please contact the University and threaten legal action regarding all of these night games!  The homecoming game could begin at 8:00PM!

Regular Wednesday around here today.  Lisa & Deidra are preparing a nice meal for the 8:00PM Bible study folks.  We will have our “Potluck with the Pastor” next Wednesday, 10/13.  Phil Sims will be our chief fish fryer.

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

As you may have read in yesterday afternoon’s post, Jay & Robin Black now have a daughter as Leyton was born yesterday.  She joins big brothers, Jackson & Aiden, as the children God has given to Jay & Robin.  We thank God for a safe delivery.

I ask that you continue to pray for John & Arlene Meredith’s friend, Sheila Taylor, as she battles cancer.  Arlene is spending time with her this week in order to help the family.

Carla Kyser & Miss Joyce Bosarge also continue their respective battles against cancer.  They are both taking treatments.  Liz told me Sunday that her mother is doing some better.

James Davis also continues to need our prayer support as he battles with his sickness.

Tena Hovel’s sister, Melissa, broke her arm near the elbow and will have surgery tomorrow.  This will require a one night stay in the hospital.  Melissa’s daughter is having a wedding ceremony this Saturday so this obviously comes at a “bad” time.  Pray for her.

Larry Blackwell repaired the broken sink in the ladies restroom in the foyer of the auditorium.  It became a big job and I appreciate Larry’s expertise and help.

It was good to see my brother, Eddie, and to meet his friend, Hugo.  We had a good time yesterday although it was a very brief time.

I want to remind our deacons of their meeting with me tomorrow night at 6:00PM.

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

Jay & Robin Black welcomed their first daughter (third child) into this world today as Leyton Williams Black was born around 2:30PM.  She checked in at 4 pounds 14 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long with a head full of black hair.  Mother & daughter are doing fine.

Blessed day!  That would describe the services at Friendship yesterday.  Pastor Terry Rainey & Chris Hood were greatly used of the Lord bring us a Word from Him.  I appreciate all those who prayed, attended, responded to the invitation call, and gave to the offering.

The women’s conference was a success too – glory to God.  I really appreciate the men who cooked, served and cleaned up afterwards.

I have heard that the Vision Outdoor event on Saturday morning was good too.  I do not know a lot of the details but I think it was a good “first event” for this ministry.

Millie Spiller is having a surgical procedure done today.  Karla Cooper’s aunt, Florence Harbison, passed away last week and they had her service this past Saturday.  My mistake on not getting that one posted but I thought they were waiting on a grandson to get home from active military duty.

The number one question that I was asked over the weekend was, “did you catch any fish Friday?”  Yes!  However, Friday morning was a very “rough” day.  Folks, when it is opening day of snapper season and you are in the Gulf it is probably not a good sign when you only see one other boat.  We picked up Ross Genzink in the early afternoon and the conditions got right for a couple of hours.  Good day!

Ross & Kathy Genzink were with us over the weekend as we attended the UF vs Bama game.  Good game!  Who needs Rick Bradley?  Congratulations to the Auburn team too.  It will be MSU vs UM this Saturday.  I cannot show favoritism there as I have many friends i.e. supporters of GRACE Ministries on both sides of that rivalry.

My brother, Eddie, and a friend, Hugo, from China arrived in Grand Bay last night.  This is Hugo’s first trip to the States.  I will be using a vacation day to spend some time with them as they will leave tonight headed back to Danville, AL.  We will meet Pastor Terry and crew for breakfast this morning.

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