I’m sorry friends.  Things got late last night and I time got away.  I know you are checking this thing for updates and I appreciate it so very much.  Sorry for not keeping you up on things.

Let’s see…yesterday the pastor took me fishing for redfish and speckled trout.  I’ve been with him before and we’ve caught a bunch of “specks” but I’ve not had any luck when it came to “reds”.  Well, yesterday early I hooked into a really nice red and managed to land him.  It was a lot of fun and a really good fight.  He’ll taste really good.

The service last night was great.  The sprit was really good and the responsiveness of the congregation during the worship time was special.  We didn’t have any outward response during the invitation but we pray for the “watering” of the spiritual seed planted. 

It was a good crowd with a number of sister churches joining in and a few students from Nichols Baptist Campus Ministry coming.  (remember that the director of the Nichols BCM is preaching)

Pray that people will move.  It just takes one many times.  Just one.  We’ll continue to press on, you pray.

Blessings,
John

It was a great day!  The Sunday morning crowd was down just a bit but the folks were responsive.  Unlike other revivals I’ve done here in the past, I am doing just the worship leading and the director of the Baptist Campus Ministry at Nichols University is speaking.  He joined us tonight being unable to preach this morning.  The host pastor preached this morning.  Following the service a lady who is active in the church and very faithful came to him saying she was pretty sure she wasn’t saved.

Making a long story short, there on the front steps of the church this 73 year old former Sunday School teacher, GA leader, etc., etc, prayed to receive Christ.  What an awesome start to revival services at Trinity Baptist Church, Mathews, LA.

Continue to pray others will come and be a part of this meeting.  Prayfully I’ll have more to share in the coming days.

Blessings
John

Whew!  Praise the Lord and thanks for the prayers.  We delayed our start time by about an hr. and God gave us a window almost the entire way.  We had a few downpours but nothing like what we expected.  Tonight there is a second round of storms coming through which is another reason for our “day early” travels.

Tomorrow we’ll move in equipment and ready ourselves for services beginning Sunday.  I’ll keep you posted.  Pray for revival.  Trinity Baptist Church and pastor, Rod King.

Blessings
John

Hi folks.  Wow, what rain and storms we are looking at as we prepare to pull out for south Louisiana.  I’ve been in contact with the pastor down there and although there is localized flooding, the roads look good for us.  We are waiting a little while longer to let as much of this weather pass as we can.  Pray also for the services that begin Sunday morning and run through Wednesday night.

Thank you for your prayers as we drive.

Blessings,
John

It was quite a day.  It began when the alarm went off at 6 a.m. for us to have time for “morning rituals” and breakfast before having a prayer time and sound check at 8 a.m. at the church.  I did kids Sunday School.  It was a lot of fun.  The kids were great and very responsive.  For the worship service I began things with a trumpet piece then right after the welcome I used one of my “friends”.  It was for a kids time but had a sneaky adult message meaning it sneaks up on the adults as they listen in amusement at the “kids” message.

We had a couple of hours back at the hotel this afternoon by the time we got through with lunch then headed back to the church for yet another sound check at 4:30 and all the prep work to get things in line for the concert.  The pastor was a little bit concerned being this Sunday was the close of spring break and the average age for this church is 35.  How bout that?  Lots of little ones and growing.  Anyway, there ended up being a great crowd and the evening was great.  Even had an altar full at the invitation.  A great night.

Tomorrow we’ll head out and looking forward to a nice week at home. Thank you for your prayer support.  It is much needed and greatly appreciated.

John

We are just about to leave for Meridian, MS, and another opportunity to minister to the family.  Tomorrow I’ll lead the kids during the Sunday School hour followed by the special music in the service.  Then tomorrow evening I will present a concert for the family.

We’ll talk soon,
John

It was a good day and a busy one.  I got to the church around 9:15 or so to find all our sound had been undone and things weren’t like they were when we left.  The Children’s Pastor was shocked but apparently there is a small congregation that uses their facilities and although all outside groups and committees were to suspend meeting during this conference, this little congregation decided to meet anyway and I guess my stuff was kinda in their way.  Oh well, glad I arrived when I did.  With the help of our sound guy things were straightened out by 10 or so.

After some opening games and music by the kid’s ministry worship leaders I did a “teaser” with one of my “friends”.  I kinda hung out with the kids following that time while they played games, had crafts, then lunch. 

At 3 p.m. there was more music by the team then I led in about 50 minutes of my “friends” as we talked about having a closer walk with the Lord and once that relationship was deeper, the relationship with parents and siblings would be stronger.

Tomorrow morning I will have 2 kids worship services.  The first with K-2 grade and the second with 3rd – 5th grade.  Following the second service I will load up and drive home.  The weather is pretty nasty and is supposed to be a lot of the same tomorrow so travel will be a little difficult.  I appreciate your prayers.

Blessings
John

I arrived around 3:30 p.m.  Thanks for the prayers for safe travel.  Driving through Atlanta has become more and more of a circus.  I just couldn’t deal with that day in and day out!  Nevertheless, it’s all good and I got set up for tomorrow. 

I will head to the church around 9:30 or so and everything kicks off about 10:30.  Thank you for your continued prayers.  I’ll give you an update on the day of ministry tomorrow evening.

Blessings
John

Ok, here we go again.  I’m headed out in the morning for Gainesville, GA, where I will be doing a family weekend at Blackshear Place Baptist Church.  On Saturday we’ll begin around 10:45 a.m. or so and I’ll have a couple of presentations with everything ending around 4 p.m.

On Sunday I’ll participate in Kid’s Worship twice.  They have two morning services with simultaneous kids worship and that’s where I come in.  It will be a blast.

Pray for safe travel.  The weather is not very good for the trip or the event.  Pray for attendance.  I’ll be in touch!

John

It was a really good night.  Thank you for your prayers.  I really didn’t know how things were going to go.  There was a tragic accident last Friday (Feb. 27) that costs the life of one of the men on the Upward board at the church.  He was a 37 year old father of 3 so the small community has been in shock.  They were to have a moment of silence for his family followed by my program.

Well, the kids were great.  They were enthusiastic and very excited.  They have not gone through all the decision cards but one was given to the pastor.  A 31 year old mother gave her heart to Christ tonight.  PTL!

Please remember us as we head home tomorrow.  It’s not a long drive, only about 360 miles or so but you know the road is full of “crazies”.  It’s been a long road trip but a good one.  We’ll be home a few days before heading out to Gainesville, GA. 

Looking forward to that time, for sure!
John