Pastor's Blog

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” I Peter 4:10

Today’s Bible reading – Joshua 22-24; Luke 3

I am beginning to type this as Lisa and I are flying from Atlanta to Gulfport on Saturday night.  We are on time which means we should be back in Grand Bay by 11:30PM.  Today has been a good day as we relaxed this morning and have been traveling all afternoon and evening.  Thank you to those who have prayed for us.

Regular schedule this morning and tonight.  Chapter five in tonight’s service.  Family night too as we are asking families to sit together in the service.

I would like to meet with the members of our Building & Grounds Committee to meet with me this afternoon at 5:00PM in the 20-29 Sunday School room.  I then need to meet with the members of our Missions Committee at 5:30PM in the same room.

SNBA tonight immediately following our evening service.  Simple concept – attend the service and then join us on the court.

Lisa and I are now at home safe and sound having arrived here around 11:15PM.  We are thankful to God for His protection.

Was glad to see Gonzaga and Oregon win last night’s games in the tourney.  KU seems to follow the same script every year.  I am good with that!

I hope to be joined by many members of the Friendship family along with guests in this morning’s services.  I am glad to get to go to church!  Are you?  Join me!

I pray that you will have a great Sunday with Jesus.  Go to church!

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” I Peter 4:10

Today’s Bible reading – Joshua 19-21; Luke 2:25-52

Greg Boutwell remains in the hospital.  Just keep praying for him.

Pastor Alvin Tucker passed from this life yesterday afternoon.  Of course, this is Bro. Johnny Tucker’s father.  It appears the service will take place next Friday but that is not definite at this time.  Pray for the family.

My mama has been discharged from the hospital and is doing well.

We are on a regular schedule tomorrow morning and evening.  My prayer is that the members of the Friendship family will be faithful in all areas.  Lord willing, I will be in the pulpit for all three services tomorrow.

Lisa and I spent the night in Guatemala City last night.  My Friday consisted two meetings – first one with Samuel Acan and then one  with Kirk Lightfield and Juan Manuel.   In between those meetings Lisa and I were joined by Lazaro & Glendy Suruy as we went to the My Special Treasure school.  Lisa and Glendy got there first and furnished lunch for the one hundred and fifty students/teachers there.  Then we were blessed to be able to present the Pastor enough funds to cover April’s & May’s rent.  It was one of those “you had to be there” moments to appreciate it.   God is faithful!

A driver brought us to the city where we just relaxed in the afternoon and then met AJ & Alaina Westendorp for supper in a local restaurant.  This young couple is on a two year ministry assignment in the city.  They are from Michigan.  It was a really good time of fellowship.

The television in our hotel room actually receives CBS in HD so I was able to watch some of the UNC win and then some of the UK win.  Could not receive TBS.  So, the SEC has three teams in the Elite Eight.  The ACC was touted as the strongest conference this season and UNC carries their banner alone.  Let me count how many B1G 10 teams remain – my bad as none remain!  Do not tell Rick Bradley but I am now pulling for South Carolina and Kentucky.  I picked UNC to win it all but will gladly take a SEC conference (for Rusty) win over them.  Kansas has looked extremely good thus far in the tourney.  I am not a Bill Self fan.

Ok, we are about to head to the airport.

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

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” I Peter 4:10

Today’s Bible reading – Joshua 16-18; Luke 2:1-24

Richard Glass remains in the hospital.

Greg Boutwell was admitted to the hospital yesterday afternoon.  He continues to have major problems with his lower legs.

Tena Hovel’s mother was admitted to the hospital yesterday but should be discharged today.

Pastor Terry Rainey had another surgery on his knee yesterday.  They removed a plate and put a larger plate in its’ place.  It is my understanding that the surgery was a success.

The doctors decided to keep my mama in the hospital another day.  I “think” she will be discharged today.

Learned yesterday that Pastor Alvin Tucker is not doing well.

This Sunday, 3/26, will be Pastor Abel Garcia’s last Sunday serving his church in the Gadsden, Alabama area.  Pray for Pastor Abel and his family as they move forward in their lives.

We are on a regular schedule this Sunday morning and evening.  It is my prayer that the members of the Friendship family will be faithful to attend the Bible studies and services.  We will look at another miracle of Jesus this Sunday morning and then will be in chapter five on Sunday evening which will be a family service.  Families are asked to sit together in that service.

From GRACE Mountain – Thursday was a full day for Lisa and me.  The day began with a meeting with Tico Vargas, Lazaro Suruy, John King, Kirk Lightfield and me.  That meeting lasted for a bit over three hours.  The five of us are trying to figure out the best way(s) to satisfy all of the requirements set forth by SAT.  We did not come to any definite conclusions but will continue to gather information in hopes of resolving this matter soon.  There have been so many changes that it no one really seems to know exactly what is correct.

Lisa and I then hurriedly made our way to Antigua for a meeting and time of fellowship with Philippe & Claudia Rambert.  These folks are great friends of GRACE Ministries and of ours personally.   Of course, we “had” to do some shopping while we were in Antigua!  (That lasted about ten minutes as I was complaining like crazy!)

We came back to GRACE Mountain and spent a little time visiting with Paul Leytham.  That is always a blessed time.  I sure do miss Cristy but it is always good to spend time with Paul.  He is doing well.

We then went down the mountain and met John & Laurie King, Lazaro & Glendy Suruy and Pastor Max and family for supper at Pizza Hut.  What a sweet time of fellowship!

I came back to the apartment and packed as Lisa and I will be leaving GRACE Mountain today at noon to begin our journey toward home.  Lisa will be involved in one ministry opportunity this morning while I have at least two meetings.  We then have a meeting in Guatemala City tonight.  Lord willing, we will fly home tomorrow afternoon arriving home late tomorrow night.

I tried to tell David French that Michigan would not make the Final Four.  He just does not know how to pick ’em!  (I would say just look at who he picked for a wife as my proof but I am not going that route!).  I saw the Xavier win over Arizona coming.  I am a SEC conference (that was for Rusty) homer so I will be pulling for Florida, South Carolina and Kentucky to win today.  It would be sweet to see the SEC with three teams in the Elite Eight.  No other conference even has that possibility at this point! SEC, SEC, SEC!

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

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” I Peter 4:10

Today’s Bible reading – Joshua 13-15; Luke 1:57-80

Bro. Jerry said that Richard Glass was doing better yesterday.  Has had a stent placed and they are now doing some other things also relating to his heart.

Did not get any update on the services/classes from yesterday/last night.  I am going to go with the “no news is good news” philosophy.

Learned yesterday morning from my brother, Eddie, who is in Mexico that our mama was admitted to the hospital around 3:00AM Wednesday.  Suspected heart problems.  So far they have discovered fairly high blood pressure and pneumonia in one lung.  They kept her and I am not sure when she will be discharged.

I have an amazing wife!  Yesterday she made me proud (again)!  She got up and cooked breakfast tortillas for one hundred and fifty students/teachers at the My Special Treasure school.   Ingrid Aju came and helped her put them together.  Kirk & Michelle also came and helped finish up the process.  The five of us then headed down into Chimaltenango and took the tortillas, breakfast bars, cookies and juice to the school.  Our February GRACE team will remember the school well.  It was a really good morning.

We then headed to the Tecpan area where we met Sulmi and her parents for lunch.  We were also joined by Pastor Ben Labriel, his wife Ligia, and their four children.  Really neat time of fellowship.  It was really good to see Sulmi.  She is in the seventh grade and is doing good.

After lunch, we headed to Santa Apolonia to visit with Edwin Tepaz and his family.  Edwin attended our Spanish services for many years before moving back home.  Really good visit with a very nice family.

We visited a language school in Chimaltenango in hopes of possibly enrolling Ingrid Aju there soon.  She has dreams of being a dentist one day and being bi-lingual like Bernard Suthoff would be a huge plus.

Stopped by the bank to sign that “one” document!  Only took about thirty minutes or so to sign about ten more documents.  Kirk left Lisa and me there and we walked down to the barber shop so I could get my regular hair cut.  We then called a tuc tuc driver who brought us up to GRACE Mountain where we called it a day.  Good day of ministry and connecting with some really special people in our lives.

Here is a neat story to end this entry – one of our team members from the February GRACE trip was impressed by the My Special Treasure school as it is a “by faith” ministry.  Their rent is around twelve hundred American dollars monthly.  This team member had given me one month’s rent for this ministry.  Yesterday morning I told the director about this gift and that I would be brining the money to him on Friday.  You may say “big deal?”

Well, here is the rest of the story – at lunch yesterday Pastor Ben shared how the director’s sister, who is the administrator, had called him earlier this week asking him join them in praying as they did not have April’s rent and had no idea from where it would come.  They were blessed to learn that God had provided April’s rent back in February and it was delivered in March!  By faith!

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

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” I Peter 4:10

Today’s Bible reading –  Joshua 10-12; Luke 1:39-56

Good morning from GRACE Mountain.  I trust that you are doing well today.  If so, that means there are fifteen folks (thirteen readers plus Lisa and me) doing well!  Guatemala update in a moment.

Bro. Jerry went to the hospital to visit Richard Glass but he was sleeping.  Just keep praying for Richard.

Tim Knighten’s doctor says he is better but still has a ways to go to get rid of the soreness in his throat.  Keep praying for Tim.

Coach Mark Hubbard sent me a message last night sharing the latest clinical trial that Courtney has been on did not work.  They meet with a doctor this Friday to explore the next step.  Options are now very limited.  Pray for Courtney, Mark and their children.

I will not go into the details but our soccer leagues had a huge answer to prayer yesterday.  Let me simply say glory to God and thank you to the three folks whom God used to help make it happen.  A special “thank you” to the two who actually made it happen.  God is good and our soccer leagues begin play on Saturday, April 1.

Regular schedule at Friendship this morning and evening.  Bro. Jerry will be teaching in the auditorium at 10:00AM & 6:30PM.  Pizza will be the fare for the 7:30PM Bible study at the house.  Nobody out pizzas the hut!

If you have ever heard me preach then you are aware of my disdain for waiting.  How many of you know God has a sense of humor?  Well, I left the mission house at 8:30AM yesterday morning with Kirk Lightfield dropping me off at the square in Chimaltenango in order for me to meet Tico.  Mission accomplished as I was there at 8:45AM.  Problem was that Tico & I did not connect until a little after 9:00AM as he was on one side of the square and I was on the other side.  However, he had gone into the SAT office (which I did not even know was there) and gotten us a number at 9:00AM.  So, we were number G014.  Not bad!  Not so fast my friend!  So, G014 as called at 1:13PM!  (Not that I was watching the clock) Do the math – over four hours in line!  Are you serious!  I think God was so laughing at me!

The meeting with the SAT representative started off a little bad but then went very well.  I got fined a very small fine (Q225 or $31.25) for not filing a form on time.  Hello, I live in Alabama and cannot just drop by the SAT office.  No big deal as Larry Whitehurst has promised to pay any and all fines for me!  Our meeting with the SAT representative ended at 1:48PM but who was keeping track of time!  I had seen a lady come in during our wait and she seemed to be in charge.  As soon as we headed to the door, she stopped us and said she needed to talk to us.  I am thinking “why?”  She simply wanted to know how long we had waited and told us they were working to improve the process.  (I told her to contact Kim Hastie!).

We then headed to the bank to open the accounts SAT has recommended.  I promise you that I probably signed my name over one hundred times.  Tico left me there alone at periods of time and I signed stuff that I do not even know what they said.  I “think” I signed my wife and children away if anything goes wrong with those accounts.  I have “never” seen such stacks of papers.  John King, Kirk Lightfield, Lisa Vargas & Lazaro Suruy eventually showed up to sign some papers too.

It is now 4:30PM and Tico and I head to the lawyer’s office.  We had to wait on him to finish a document that needed our signatures. That took almost an hour.

We then headed to the second bank where I had to sign my name about ten more times.  Much less complicated process.  Why?  I have no idea.  I do know Vanessa who was the one working there but that had nothing to do with it.  It is now almost 5:30PM and Lisa picked me up and we quickly grabbed some Pollo Campero as I had to meet with our architect, Oscar Espana, at 6:00PM.  That meeting was productive.  I finally walked back into the apartment at 7:30PM.  My brain was fried!

Ok, this entry is way too long.  Lisa is leading a ministry project this morning.  I will share that story tomorrow, Lord willing.

I do have to stop by the first bank from yesterday and guess what – sign another document!

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

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” I Peter 4:10

Today’s Bible reading – Joshua 7-9; Luke 1:21-38

Betty McMann’s surgery went well.  The doctor says he is almost certain there is no cause for worry.  That is good news.

Richard Glass remains in the hospital.  He will have a heart cath at some point today.

Miss Kittie has a friend in California who has received a less than desirable report from the doctors regarding her health.  Pray for her and her family.

Keep praying for all of those battling cancer.

Lisa and I arrived safely on GRACE Mountain around 2:30PM yesterday afternoon.  Our flights were perfect and we actually arrived in Guatemala City twenty five minutes early.  A driver met us at the airport, we stopped by Walmart and then came to the apartment.

Our evening was spent doing some shopping for a ministry opportunity and then meeting with Tico and Ingrid Aju.  Good day.

Kirk Lightfield will take me into Chimaltenango this morning to meet Tico and then we get in line waiting to meet with the SAT officials.  Fun stuff!  Tico is then in hopes that we can meet with officials from three other places before the day ends.  Will that happen?  Maybe.  I am supposed to meet with an architect at 6:00PM to discuss the proposed medical clinic.  So, it should be a long day.  I am praying for a productive day.  I am praying to stay out of jail too!  I do not want to be a part of Jeff Holifield’s ministry! Just saying!

By the way, that power supply cord for my computer that Lisa forgot to pack?  No worries as she found  one to purchase in the Atlanta airport.  She made the purchase and all is well!  What a woman!  (You do not even want to know what it cost!).

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

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” I Peter 4:10

Today’s Bible reading – Joshua 4-6; Luke 1:1-20

Tuesday, March 21 – Joshua 7-9; Luke 1:21-38
Wednesday, March 22 – Joshua 10-12; Luke 1:39-56
Thursday, March 23 – Joshua 13-15; Luke 1:57-80
Friday, March 24 – Joshua 16-18; Luke 2:1-24
Saturday, March 25 – Joshua 19-21; Luke 2:25-52
Sunday, March 26 – Joshua 22-24; Luke 3

We were blessed with a really good Sunday in our services.  What a joy to see two men come forward during the 10:30AM service to accept Jesus as their personal Savior.  We give God the glory!

Our evening service was once again well attended.  Chapter four was the toughest one for me to preach but I think God honored it.  Thank you for the prayers.

Betty McMann is scheduled to have surgery this afternoon.  Pray that all goes well.

Richard Glass is in the hospital with a heart condition.  Lisa told me that he is in CCU.  Not sure of all that is going on but do ask you to pray for Richard.

Lisa and I are sitting in the Gulfport, MS airport waiting to catch a flight to Guatemala via Atlanta.  I have been summons by the “IRS” equivalent in Guatemala to come down to take care of some legal matters i.e. sign papers.  Tico Vargas has been a huge help in these matters.  Our plans are to work in some ministry opportunities as well we are on GRACE Mountain.

The good news is that I have my laptop.  The not so good news is that somebody forgot to bring the charger.  Folks, you cannot fix stupid!  So, I will blog each day until my laptop dies.  Sorry about that!

If you heard a scream late last night that was me celebrating Duke’s loss in the tourney (sorry Zach).  Just not a Duke fan.  Why not?  Did not really know.  Joe David Bailey had told me that MTSU could take Butler down.  Last time I am listening to him for picking advice!

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

Just came from the auditorium (5:30AM) and there is not water in that building.  So, unless there is something I do not know or Larry has a trick up his sleeve we will be without restroom facilities in that building only today.  Again, there is water to every other building on our campus.  

Please note – there is NO water in the auditorium.  Pass the word!

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” I Peter 4:10

Today’s Bible reading – Joshua 1-3; Mark 16

“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.”  (Psalm 122:1).  The Psalmist David expressed what I pray that each member of the Friendship family feels this morning and tonight!  I am glad to be able to go to church today – morning and evening!  Are you?  Will you join me and my family in Bible study and worship today?

I personally did not check the water supply in the auditorium yesterday but I did see where Larry Crawley and crew had implemented “Plan B” so I am assuming all is well.  I really appreciate the many hours Larry has given to correcting this problem this past week.  If you see him in the services today, why not express a word of thanks to him?

The Lord blessed me with a good Saturday.  Lisa and I met Rusty & Anna for breakfast (they asked what time and I said early and they set the time for 9:00AM – this younger generation!).  I was then able to make a couple of visits and then did something that I really like to do – rode a weed eater and a mower from early afternoon until almost dark thirty.  What a beautiful day weather wise we had yesterday.  God is good!

Soy is doing a very nice job of adding two hundred and forty square feet to my chicken coop.  He is “slow as Christmas” but mama always told me that “beggars cannot be choosy!”  (That will be in today’s morning message).  Once the addition is complete then I will be adding more birds to the flock.

Did catch some of the tourney yesterday/last night.  The Purdue/Iowa State game was a good one.  I think I had picked Wisconsin over Villanova – let me check on that!  I as sticking with UNC to win it all with Gonzaga being my second choice.

I pray that you will have a great Sunday with Jesus.  Go to church!

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” I Peter 4:10

Today’s Bible reading – Deuteronomy 32-34; Mark 15:26-47

Praise the Lord the Friendship family is presently  “hospital free” as far as I know.  It can come in waves but this is the first time in a few weeks that we have been without anyone in the hospital.

We are on a regular schedule tomorrow morning and evening.  We will be in chapter four during our evening service.  Looking at another miracle in our two morning services.  My prayer is that we will have a really strong attendance in each of our services.

Larry Crawley left me a message yesterday morning saying they were moving to “Plan B” on getting water to the auditorium.  I did not go by there last night to see if it worked.  However, I have full confidence in Larry “McGyver” Crawley to get it done!

We are on for SNBA tomorrow night immediately following the evening service.  Obviously, church attendance is a must.  Johnny Five and Bradley Phillips have been scared away because they have not been getting on my team.  Even deacon TJ got scared away last Sunday night.

It looks like today is going to be a beautiful day.  Enjoy it.

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