Month: May 2016

Trinity River Local Association Mission Rally

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It was a blessing being able to attend the mission rally in Cleveland, TX.  It was great hearing the message presented by brother Moyers this evening.   He preached from the book of Nehemiah beginning at chapter 2.  His message encouraged us to not get discouraged in the work of the Lord.  In chapter 6, he brought out the mischief that Sanballat and Geshem had in store for him.  Nehemiah responded correctly that, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.”
There would be many in this life that would dissuade use from doing the will of the father.  Some oppose out of envy, others out of fear and many from hatred of God and his people.  The scriptures comfort us that no matter what, God is still greater.  The enemies of Nehemiah were persistent.  They sent four times trying to  stop him or discourage him from the work.  Each time he responded the same way, “I cannot come down!”

What work would God have you busy at right now? 
What distractions are hindering you from serving the Lord?

In the book of Hebrews, it says, “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

Enrolling my son at TBI

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My son, Joshua and I went to Texas Baptist Institute and Seminary this morning to get him enrolled for the fall semester.  We sat in on some of the classes and he was able to already make some new friends.  We heard a great message that morning and he was able to get all of his paperwork and fees taken care of.  He is planning to move up to Henderson the first week of July.  Pray for him as he embarks on this great journey and adventure of preaching the word of God.

A woman after God’s own heart

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After going to the pre-association meeting in Texarkana, It was my great pleasure this week to sit down and discuss the Bible with my wife’s grandmother, Charlcye Taylor.  She has walked consistently with the Lord for many years.  One of the things that she has done over the years is to mark the sermon texts that had been preached over her lifetime.image

You can see from the margin of her Bible the small printed text that she had added with the name of who preached the message, the title and the date.  She is no longer able to read the small print that she wrote, however, As I mentioned a text, title, name and date, she could remember the entire event whether it was a revival message or a Sunday sermon.  I could see her face lighting up as we walked through the last 40 years of her memory. 

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We started from the back of her Bible in Revelation and slowly flipped back through the pages talking about the associated events.  We lost track of time and realized that by the time we had flipped backwards a page at a time into the Gospels, a couple of hours had past.  Those were a couple of hours that I would not have given anything for in exchange.  Since then I started doing the same thing, marking the name, date and text preached.  It is a great mnemonic device, bringing back the floodgates of memory with a couple of marks.

What do you do to remember your time spent in the Word of God?  I would love to hear your comments!
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Texas State Pre-association Meeting

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It was her riding up to the pre-association meeting with Glen Griffith, Shawn Findley and Travis Robinson.  We had a great time of fellowship en route to Texarkana.  When Jesus was on earth, his disciples spent a lot of time with him, going everywhere together.  That is a key ingredient that is many times left out of a modern discipleship program, quality time.

It was good to see several of the brethren again that I had not seen in a long time.  Before I got up to present the work, brother Griffith shared that when Nevill’s Chapel voted unanimously to be our sending church that 17 people joined their church that day.  God is great and still on the throne!

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Sunday, May 15th

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Today we had the pleasure of spending our whole day with our sending church, Nevill’s Chapel.  After a great worship service, I preached from 2 Peter 1:16-21.  We have great precious promises that we base our lives and decisions on that do not originate from man.  Our instructions do not expire and are not subject to private interpretation.

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In the afternoon it was great to be able to sit down with Brother Griffith over lunch and discuss mission work and future plans.
That evening we were able to partake of the Lord’s supper with our church.

Trinity River Local Association Eating Meeting

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If there is anything that Baptists enjoy, it is eating and fellowship.  For most just the mention of the word “fellowship” automatically includes eating. 

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We enjoyed being at the Trinity River Local Association monthly meeting.  They had a large turnout with over fifty present.  It is always a blessing in be with the Lord’s people.

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Later in the evening I enjoyed hearing brother Moyer’s story of his life of ministry.  I am definitely the better for having known him.  He is one of the ones who had been faithful in the small things as well as the bigger things.

Sunday, May 8th

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In the morning we presented the work at Twinlands MBC in Channelview, TX where brother Stephen Pace is the pastor. I have known brother Pace for several years and have had pleasure of going to church camp for several years in a row.  I not only count him as a great pastor, but also as a personal friend and encourager.  He is the one that I think of when I read about Jesus telling the disciples to let the little children to come unto him.

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I would have no hesitation at all in saying that any family within a hour or two of Channelview, would be blessed to come, join and work with this church.

It was great to see our friend of many years, Aurora Luna.  She was a blessing to our family when I was Missionary/Pastor in Kingsville, Texas.  I pray that the Lord would continue to bless her and her family as she continues as a shining light in this world of darkness.

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The beginning of the morning service was dedicated to honoring motherhood and was beautifully done.  Then, after the presenting of the work and preaching there was a wonderful dinner on the grounds and time of fellowship.

  Twinlands MBC is a tight knit group of believers that rejoices in the Lord and in His word.  May all of our churches be more like this one.  Each church that I have gone to during Deputation I have learned things that I want to add to my ministry in the future.

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In the evening, we went to Calvary MBC in Huffman, TX. where Joe Gallegos is the pastor.  A while back he had scheduled with my son Joshua to come and preach.  I will be coming back at the end of the month on the 29th to preach and present the work.

It great to our Lord’s churches extending opportunities for young men to Preach His word.  For my wife it was the best mother’s day gift ever, to hear her son proclaim God’s word.

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Sunday, May 1st

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In the morning we had the pleasure to go up to Mt. Sylvia Missionary Baptist Church in Mt. Pleasant Texas and present the work at their church.  Brother Michael Thompson is the pastor there and is doing a great job.  I enjoyed meeting the members of his church that he has been discipling throughout the years.  I have thoroughly been blessed to get to know the preachers and individual church members in our works.  Brother Thompson is not only a great pastor, but has great attention to specific details as you can see in his work with the History and Archives that he has worked on over the years.  It was a personal blessing to me to hear stories from his own work on the foreign mission field, when I was serving the Lord in Japan.  There are so many lessons that we could learn from those who are among us if we would only open our ears and hearts to receive the wisdom that they would freely tell us.

In the evening we went to Nevill’s Chapel in Mt. Pleasant to officially come and join.  It is such a blessing to have a caring and praying church like Nevill’s Chapel behind us as we prepare to go to Argentina.  I know that I not only have a pastor that is praying for me, but I have in him a great resource of experience and wisdom from his years of serving the Lord in pastoring and on the mission field.  I can state that they are a church that loves missionaries.  I thought it interesting that all of the churches that I have personally pastored, when a new person joined, it didn’t take long for everyone to shake their hand and welcome them into the church.  At Nevill’s Chapel, there are so many loving, welcoming people that it takes a few more verses for everyone to shake your hand and welcome you into their fellowship.  Jesus had said in John 13:35, “by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one to another.”