Pastor's Blog

Valerie Phillips Morgan, age 89, of Theodore, AL passed away on Thursday, February 3, 2022. Valerie was born August 30, 1932.

Valerie loved God and her churches as she attended in both Theodore and Aimwell. She loved her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a host of many other children through the years. Valerie taught school for many years starting her career at Nan Gray Davis where she became one of Pearl’s Girls and became part of a sisterhood of educators. She moved to private schools where she taught at Theodore Christian and Magnolia Springs Christian. After she retired from teaching, she became caretaker of several members of her family. She was an avid reader, loved to work puzzles, watch television, and in her younger years, loved to sew.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Luther Morgan; mother and father, Asa and Myrtle Phillips; mother-in-law and father-in-law, Zeb and Berta; and siblings, Jim, Ruth, John, and Jo.

Valerie is survived by her sons, Phillip Morgan (Edna), Mark Morgan (Jeanette), Stuart Morgan (Karen), and Nathan Morgan (Sheri); grandchildren, Cara, John, Lauren, Kaylee, Daniel, Bethany, Stephen, Brad, Emily, Lucy (Gray), and Clara; great-grandchildren, Morgan, JD, Luke, Noah, Britany, Chase-Alan, Genevieve, Giselle, and Pierceson; great-great-grandchildren, Lakin, Ansley, and Amanda; sister-in-law, Karen (Peggy); nieces, Erin (Shean), Angie (Christopher), Scharlean, and Teresa; nephews, Mike, Clint, and Butch; and a host of other relatives and friends.

A special thank you to Theresa, Michelle, Mercedes, and Tammy for the care they provided. Also, for Mrs. Essie and Mrs. June for loving her like a sister.

A visitation for Valerie will be held Thursday, February 10, 2022, from 3:00-5:00 PM at Serenity Funeral Home, 8691 Old Pascagoula Road, Theodore, Alabama 36582. A funeral service will occur Friday, February 11, 2022, at 12:00 PM at Aimwell Baptist Church, 2770 County Rd 17, Sweet Water, Alabama 36782. Valerie will be laid to rest in Aimwell Cemetery, 2770 County Rd 17, Sweet Water, AL 36782.

Today, February 9, 2022, marks the fiftieth anniversary of Edna Miller Holifield Glover serving as secretary for the Friendship family.  What a milestone.  I love and appreciate Miss Edna.  Congratulations, Miss Edna.

We will have a normal schedule on our campus today – morning and evening.

The visitation with the Morgan family takes place tomorrow afternoon, 2/10, from 3:00PM until 5:00PM at Serenity Funeral Home in Theodore.  The celebration of life service will take place Friday from Sweet Water, Alabama.  Pray for the Morgan family during this time of loss.

Bro. Abel tells me that our soccer number is now at two hundred and seven and that registration is closed.  He has all of the coaches and officials needed for the leagues.  Very nice. Pray for this ministry.

Pray for revival!  Our schedule this Sunday, 2/13, is as follows – Sunday School begins at 9:15AM, worship at 10:30AM and then worship at 5:00PM.  Please note that there will be NO early worship service (someone please tell Amy Switzer!) and no activities in the afternoon/evening outside of the 5:00PM worship service.  YAM!

Anyone interested in taking part in our June 16 – 23, 2022 GRACE Ministries mission trip must let me know via email no later than Sunday, 2/20.  This includes those who have already signed up!  The regulations have changed regarding the entering of Guatemala in regards to the vaccination which is having a negative impact on our participants.  Email me at pastor@friendshipfamily.net like yesterday if you plan on joining us.

Speaking of Guatemala, our team of six had a good day of ministry yesterday.  More dental, more building and house dedications all took place.  Our students sang for the team yesterday morning.  Our music teacher, Sabrina, did a great job of leading these students.

The team leaves this morning heading to the lake for a couple of days to just rest and relax.  I will head to the city in order to fly home tomorrow afternoon.  I have appreciated the ten folks who have ministered here these past two weeks.  Really great folks!

I also appreciate Bro. Jerry, Bro. Abel and our deacons for ministering in my absence during this time.  They have done great!

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

Happy ninth birthday to our granddaughter, Sydney!  She has been marking the days off on the calendar and is excited about today.  She wanted to stay home from school but educator mama said “no way!”  We love Sydney and hope she has a great day!

The visitation with the Valerie Morgan family takes place this Thursday, 2/10, from 5:00 – 7:00PM at Serenity Funeral Home.  The celebration of life service will take place this Friday, 2/11, in Sweet Water, Alabama.  Pray for Phil and the family.

Sheila Booker’s brother-in-law passed from this life.  The only detail I know is that Bro. Abel will be preaching that service.  Pray for the family.

Last count I heard for the soccer leagues is two hundred and one – wow!  Just think what it would be if soccer were a real sport!  Lots of ministry opportunities through this ministry.  Contact Bro. Abel for details.

The team in Guatemala had a good Monday.  They began the day by cooking breakfast for the students of Colegio JET.  The dentist extracted like a million teeth.  The hygienist cleaned a million more.  Kurt & Kim stayed in the Colegio JET kitchen and cooked lunch for the students.  Two more houses were built and completed brining the total finished for this team to five with three more to go.  Ten dollar Gissal and Robin took their sponsored child and family to supper in the local mall.  Yes, it was a good day.

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

Happy sixth birthday to our grandson, Asher!  Asher is a great young boy and a delight in our lives.  I hope he has a great day celebrating his special day!  We love Asher!

Our good friend, Decker Terry, who lives in Montgomery will be having outpatient surgery today.  Pray that all goes well.  Decker is a tremendous supporter of GRACE Ministries and SLAM Ministries.  He is a prayer warrior and prays without ceasing for the work in Guatemala.  I am very grateful for Decker Terry!

The team in Guatemala had a good Sunday which included church and more ministry.

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

Regular schedule on our campus today – morning and evening.  I pray the Friendship family will be faithful to attend.

Live stream available for the 8:00AM service.  No password needed.

Yesterday was like the first official Saturday of sign ups for our Spring soccer season.  Bro. Abel sent me a couple of updates and it ended with him sharing that one hundred and ninety-five players have signed up!  Amazing!  He is only allowing a total of two hundred players.  If you have a child, grandchild, et cetera who wants to play then you need to contact Bro. Abel immediately.  I am most excited that a number of these families are looking for a church home.

Our basketball leagues awards ceremony takes place this Saturday, 2/12, beginning at 5:00PM in the CAB.  Going to be a great evening.  Contact Eddie Albritton for more details.

YAM! Revival services begin next Sunday, 2/13, with the times being 10:30AM and 5:00PM.  Pray for revival.  Pray for Evangelist Danny Long.

The team in Guatemala is doing well.  Thank you for praying for them.

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

Phil Morgan’s mother, Miss Valerie Morgan, passed from this life on Thursday, February 3.  There will be a visitation this Thursday, February 10 and a service on Friday, February 11.  I will post the specifics early next week.  Pray for Phil and his family during this time of mourning.

Regular schedule on our campus tomorrow morning and evening.  Study on the book of Romans begins at 4:45PM in the auditorium.  There were thirty-one folks present last Sunday night.

I did not realize how blessed I was by the first team until this second team showed up!  Oh my goodness!  Ten dollar Gissal is killing me!  Thank God for the folks from Arizona!

The Gissal’s and the Scholz’s conducted an examination of all of the student’s teeth.  They charted them and will begin the process of extracting teeth this afternoon.

Meanwhile, Soy & Johnathan took the Bowe’s to build one house and frame a second one.  It was a very good building day.

The evening saw a time of really sweet fellowship around the supper table.  Good stuff!

Our Spring soccer sign ups are taking place.  Here is an excerpt from a phone conversation Bro. Abel had this week with a mother calling for more information:  “If we play soccer, is it ok if we start coming to church at Friendship?  We have been looking for a church home and feel this is the Lord speaking to us.”

After doing some reading this week, perhaps some of you folks owe Coach Saban an apology – “I hear these crazy people on TV who say now you’re doing it above board,” Saban said. “We never did it. We never did it. We never cheated to get a player. We never paid players to come to our school. And now that’s actually happening. People are making deals with high school players to go to their school.”  Just saying!

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

Happy 30th birthday to our daughter, Henni.  Lisa and I are very proud of Henni and where she is with her life professionally.  We love her and hope that today will be a most special day for her!

Our team of four left yesterday morning and (I assume) arrived home safely late last night.  We had four other Yankees show up on GRACE Mountain yesterday afternoon safe and sound.  Our friends from Arizona arrived (I assume) on GRACE Mountain late last night.  So, we are all set for another great week of ministry.

Soy & Deidra hosted the entire Colegio JET family a celebration supper last night.  A good time was had by all!  What a really great group of folks!

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

Word came to me that we had fair attendance in our evening service last night in spite of constant rain.  Thank you to those who were faithful to attend.  (I do not know about our morning service attendance but those folks are pretty consistent)

The call came to Colegio JET fairly late on Tuesday afternoon.  It was a notice that a group of administrators from the State Department of Health, the State Department of Education and the local Education Department would be coming to Colegio JET on Wednesday morning.  This group included the superintendent for the State of Chimaltenango (Chimaltenango is a state and a city just like New York).

The purpose of the meeting was to inspect the campus for covid protocol, class size, et cetera.  If all went well then Colegio JET would be the first school in the entire state to be allowed to legally open and all other private schools would be told to do what is being done at Colegio JET.  This was a huge deal!

The group of administrators actually arrived over an hour early!  Folks, in Guatemala that is nothing short of a miracle!  When all was said and done they gave Colegio JET an “excellent” grade only asking for a couple of minor things to be done.  All I can say is “to God be the glory!”  Thank you to those who prayed!

The team had a good final day of ministry.  They leave GRACE Mountain at 6:45AM today and are schedule to arrive in Grand Rapids just before midnight.  Dr. John, his boys and grandma have been awesome!

Meanwhile, four folks from Michigan have already boarded their respective planes and are heading South.  Two others from Arizona will do the same later today.  Pray for traveling mercies.

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

Regular schedule on our campus today – morning and evening.

No news = good news!  Very grateful!

Let me share a prayer need from Guatemala.  The call came around 5:00PM yesterday that three of our students (brother and twin sisters) house was destroyed by fire around 3:30PM.  No one was at home but this family of eight literally lost everything they owned materially minus the clothes they were wearing.  Deidra and three of the Colegio JET teachers immediately mobilized and began collecting things – clothes, food, personal toiletries, a king size bed, et cetera.  Today will be a day of trying to determine what is next for this family and how to best help them.  Pray for them, please.

Let me share a praise from Guatemala.  A young man (20 years old?) has been working on GRACE Mountain.  Last Thursday I noticed that he was missing his four front teeth.  I asked Deidra about it and she said it was the result of a work related accident last Summer.  The company assumed no liability.  So, he was super sensitive about this matter.  Once again, our staff at GRACE Ministries sprang into action only this time it involved Gene Davis because of his dentist friend, Dr. Ruth Hernandez.  Soy took the young man to visit Dr. Ruth for a consultation.  Yesterday, he had two other teeth extracted and will eventually have permanent implants.  He is a sore but very happy camper today!  I think the entire process will be a little over two weeks.  Pray that all goes well.

Let me share a major prayer request from Guatemala.  The state Education Department and the state Health Department will visit the campus of Colegio JET today.  Folks, I cannot stress enough just how important this visit is regarding the 2022 school year.  Please, please pray fervently!  Important!

The Tuesday in Guatemala was blessed.  Three more houses were built and the first six were dedicated.  Dr. John, Sam, & Jacob along with grandma took some families to purchase food and other things.

This team of four is definitely proving that “little is much when God is in it!”  To God be the glory!

Edgar Chajon, Sr. is now the maintenance supervisor for GRACE Ministries.  Matthew Cain has done a nice job being our first maintenance man and now Edgar will pick up the torch.

Grandma came out of her room yesterday dressed to kill – dress, high heels, make up, the whole deal.  I said, “grandma, why are you so dressed up?”  Her reply, “going to church” to which I replied, “what?”  She said, “you told us that we were doing a dedication today and I always dress up for our baby dedications whenever I am at home!”  She then capped it off by saying, “I even put my Sunday dentures in!”  Oh my!  Then she was literally chasing a man around the mission house last night following supper.  Are you serious?  Yep!

A member of the Friendship family received a huge blessing yesterday.  An answer to prayer!  God can!

I have never watched The View.  However, I would be fine if they fired her!  My only question would be, “what took you so long?”

As I figured, Auburn spanked Alabama in basketball last night.  Even broke a dollar!  Auburn has the great possibility of winning the national championship this season.  Good use of the brooms last night.

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

The celebration of life for Pastor Roy Crouch’s paternal grandfather will take place this afternoon beginning at 2:00PM.  Pray for Pastor Roy and two of his first cousins who are also pastors as they will preach the service.

“No news is good news” continues to be my belief regarding things on the home front.  Thank the Lord.

Revival services the dates of February 13 – 16!  Pray for revival!  Pray for Evangelist Danny Long.

The team in Guatemala had a good day yesterday.  The doctors saw over one hundred folks as they completed the data base for the Colegio JET students and then saw adults who had made appointments.  The building team built two more houses and poured concrete in all six of the houses in Itzapa which means those six houses are completely finished.  Good day of ministry.

The biggest news from GRACE Mountain yesterday involved an exciting announcement from Matthew & Bonnie Cain.  They and their four children moved here in January 2021 with Matthew serving as the maintenance supervisor on GRACE Mountain.  Their ministry is “Hands and Feet Ministry” and they have been seeking the Lord’s leadership as to how that ministry should look/proceed.  They have begun to minister to widows and now feel God is leading their family to devote their full time focus on this aspect of ministry.  So, they will move down into Chimaltenango this weekend to follow God’s leading for their lives.  I am excited for them.  GRACE Ministries has provided them the opportunity to settle in to Guatemala while seeking God’s will.  I told Matthew yesterday that I felt they would either be in Guatemala very short term or God would speak to their hearts about where they should serve in this beautiful country.  I am thankful God has allowed GRACE Ministries to play a small role in this ministry He has given to the Cain family.  Pray for Matthew, Bonnie and their children.

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