Going On Lately

Battle Creek, Michigan is Cereal City - both Kellogg and Post are located there. Jeff and Charissa Isaacs are also there - starting a church. Sandy and I visited with them last week. The chuch building looks great. It was a church years ago and then a funeral home. After a lot of renovation work, it is a church again.
Here is Jeff getting ready for Wednesday night Bible study.




Sandy and Charissa talking after church.




Here's the whole crew. Jeff and Charissa have 2 children: Clay and Sarah.
There is a good work going there (about 50 in attendance now) and we are looking for a good future.




Greg Floars and the church near Marquette, Michigan had a float in a couple of Independence Day parades. The theme for their float was Fallen Heroes. All told, they will appear in 4 parades in the upper peninsula. I like it!

Barry Long had a weekday camp in Aurora, Colorado (suburb of Denver). A youth group came out to run the camp at a local school. 49 kids attended! They also had a cookout for the neighborhood on July 4 with 66 people!

Here is a picture of Larry and Wanda Powell in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. They recently visited there and Brother Larry preached in the FWB church. The Powells went to the Virgin Islands in 1967 to start that church. The church and school are both going strong.

Good things are happening all over. Don't be discouraged by all the stories of gloom and doom.

God is working!

CELEBRATING A NEW BUILDING AND GETTING READY TO BUILD

Paul Collins and the folks at Harrisonburg Free Will Baptist Church in Virginia just celebrated the Dedication of their new building.


But it took a long time to get to that point.


Here is Paul and me on the property when the new building was just a dream.





It took a lot of time, work, money, and prayer to get the nice building they have now.




Here is Paul Collins and FWB Pastor Billy King at the Ribbon cutting ceremony.





Very nice looking auditorium!




163 people came to church that morning!
Congratulations to Paul and all the folks in Harrisonburg!




Now the flip side:
Last Sunday, Sandy and I visited with Clayton and Tammy Hampton in Clarksville, Tennessee.
The Two Rivers FWB Church meets in a rented building.
Here are some of the people talking before service.





Clayton at the pulpit.

Here is Clayton and Tammy with their 3 children, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law, and 2 grandchildren. Nice looking family.

Here is the location for the new church building. They should start digging and construction within a few weeks.

It will take a lot of time, work, money, and prayer.

But it will be worth it!

OXFORD, ALABAMA

A new church was started in Oxford, Alabama this past weekend. Len Blanchard and his wife, Linda, have moved there to start the church. On Saturday, 56 people showed up to help Len get the word out about the new church. It was hot! Here is a picture of some of the youth group from Piney Grove Church in Guin. They are a great bunch of young people and were a big help!

Len is working up a sweat and we haven't even got started.

Here is Sandy and me and our team. They were hustlers - even running to many doors. And they weren't afraid to talk to people. Between all the teams, 15 people said they were interested in the church.

We ended with lunch together. The Moody FWB Church provided lunch for us.

You could tell Len was a little nervous on Sunday morning. This was a big event! This first service was in the Civic Center. Starting this Sunday, they have another building rented. Here is Len and some of the folks setting up for church. The attendance was 126! Of course, many of these were out of town friends. But there were local people, too.

Shane and Jaime Suggs are moving up from south Georgia at the end of this month to be the co-church planters. Here they are giving greetings.

Of course, we had to have lunch again. Catered barbeque - it was great!

Len has experience, a heart for people, and a passion for the work. I'm excited about what God is going to do through him, Linda, Shane, and Jaime.

SAN ANTONIO

A group of pastors and their wives (and some other folks) accompanied the staff and wives to San Antonio over Memorial Day weekend.
We visited two Home Mission churches while we were there.

Here is Jeremy and Jill Lightsey. They currently have Sunday services in a daycare facility.
Jeremy did a great job preaching that morning.




On Sunday evening, we saw home missionary Don Bailey and his family. We had a picnic on the church property.




This is the line for food. Home Missions Board Member Ron Parker has his hands on his hips. Looks like he is trying to be patient until he gets to the food.




Don showed us around their new building. They hope to be in it by the end of summer.
Here is Larry Powell (HM General Director), Trymon Messer (former Director), and Don Bailey.




Don and Sonya Bailey family

Besides seeing the home missionaries, we did some other fun things on the trip. San Antonio has several interesting places to see.

Here is Sandy and me in front of the Alamo.

We took a boat ride on the Riverwalk. It was hot that day and Jay Baines from Delaware covered his head with a towel.

I didn't even get a picture of David and Kathey Crowe. They worked the whole trip to make sure things went well for us and did a great job!

If you have never been to San Antonio, I definitely recommend it as a place to visit. And stop by and see our home mission churches while you're there.

OAKLAND, TENNESSEE

Oakland is a suburb of Memphis. Tim Osborn is starting a church there.
For the 2nd time in 2 years, Sandy and I spoke at the church's couple's retreat. They have a bunch of nice people and we have a good time with the folks there. The conference center is on a beautiful and peaceful piece of property. (And they have great food, too)
Here is a picture right before one of our sessions.



This is Tim and Robyn Osborn.
Tim is going through chemotherapy for colon cancer. 3 down and 9 more to go - he should be finished with them in July. The prognosis for beating the cancer is pretty good - about 65%. Please pray for him and the family.



On Saturday afternoon, we got to see the strip mall where they rent a space for church.
(Tim has been on a diet and lost a lot of weight - he looks younger.)



On Saturday night, Tim and Robyn took us to a hole in the wall restaurant that he had seen on TV. The food was great. Tim may have lost weight, but he can still put away the fried chicken!





Here is a picture on Sunday morning before church started. Notice the mirrors in the back. It used to be a ballet studio.

This is the praise team. The two young ladies on the front right are Osborns - Micah and Emma. Tim and Robyn have 7 children and I like every one of them.

This is the congregation during the service. We had 64 people there! Tim said if one family had been there (that is usually there), they would have broken their attendance record. The church is really rallying around the Osborns during this ordeal. There is a great spirit of love in the church. I look for greater things in the future.

ARIZONA TRIP

Sandy and I just got back from visiting our FWB church planters in Arizona. On Thursday and Friday we visited with the Goodmans and Bennetts in Marana (just north of Tucson). Jeff and Josh took me out to see the area and then to have a Sonoran Hot Dog for lunch. It was, I mean they were good.
On Thursday night, we attended their weekly Bible study. They meet at their apartment complex and here is their sign and the room they meet in.




Everyone is invited to a free meal before the study. Here is Jeff, Josh, Heather, and Ashley getting everything ready.




Singing




Jeff is teaching.



After another song, Josh finished the teaching.
They both did a good job and told it straight. There was a record attendance of 41!
On Easter Sunday, they start meeting on Sunday mornings in a local school.



We had a great breakfast on Friday. You can eat outdoors in February in Arizona.
On the left is Jeff and Heather with their daughter, Ava.
In the center is Josh and Ashley Bennett.
My wife, Sandy, is on the right.





Here is Sandy and Ava with some beautiful desert scenery. Ava was a little sweetie the whole time. (Sandy was, too)

Cactus are bigger than they look on TV.

Arizona has a beauty of its own.

In the center right of this picture is Old Tucson, the location of many movie westerns.

On Saturday we drove up to Florence to be with Howard and Patsy Gwartney.
They took us out to see the property for their new church.

Here is another picture of the property. It was a rare occasion and actually rained.

Of course we had to eat out. Here we are with Howard and Patsy.

This is Sunday morning at the school. You can see the church's truck. They started unpacking it about 6:30 that morning.

Before church

Mrs. Pat Thomas mans the information table. She also plays a clarinet in the band, sang in a trio, and teaches a weekly Bible study at an RV park. She is Patsy's mother and the wife of former Home Missions Director, Roy Thomas.

They have a pretty big orchestra for a new church. They sounded good, too!

Howard during the service.

At the end the chairs are all stacked up to go back in the truck. A lot of people pitched in and take down was like a well-oiled machine.

It was very exciting to be with these families and new churches! We had a lot of fun together. I also enjoyed our times of serious discussion. The Bennetts, Goodmans, and Gwartneys all have a heart for God and for starting new churches.