Cantata Celebration

Sunday, December 17, was a huge success. I was so proud of our faithful folks who labored diligently to present a Christ-honoring Christmas cantata. Under the direction of Brother Ray Turner, the choir and orchestra did a superb job. I heard several comments from our people like: "This was the best musical I have ever heard." Another said: "In all of my years of being involved in church, this has to be the finest cantata I have ever experienced." A visitor made the comment that she was extremely impressed.

I must say that the orchestra was outstanding. In addition to our own players, ten additional musicians, including my brother Mark and my niece Lauren, and others that had been taught by Brother Jared Matthews in high school, joined forces with us to add to this festive night. The drama team, the choir, the orchestra, and the special singers were at their best! The Lord was glorified and the church was helped. All of this followed the morning service as eight precious souls came to know the Lord as their personal Savior, another joined the church, and one of our missionaries borrowed our baptismal pool Sunday afternoon to baptize a new convert.

That's not all! Sunday night at the end of the service, the packed house came forward to bring a birthday offering to Jesus. This is an annual event that we call our "I Love My Church" offering. Members as well as visitors came forward and brought almost $50,000 to the altar.

The whole day was a huge blessing and an encouragement. I love my church and our precious people. The spirit was festive and the music moved everyone's heart. I give God the glory and thank Him for His unseen hand.

Thankful for Family

Christmas season is upon us and before you know it New Year's Day will be right around the corner. I love the holiday season but remember that it all starts off with that final Thursday in November, Thanksgiving Day. We must be sure that we are grateful for all of the blessings of God. I can't believe that we are already about to start another year. Where has the time gone? God has been so good to me. This past year has not come without battles but the Lord has seen me through every one, and the blessings have far surpassed any trouble I may have experienced. God is good, all the time!

One of the main things of which I am grateful would be my family. We had a great week together with my parents, my brothers, my sister and her family in Chesapeake, Virginia. My niece, Jennifer, was married the Saturday following Thanksgiving. It was so good to be together. It is a shame that we all don't get together more than we do. In order for all of this to work we had to leave Wednesday morning and head to Powell, Tennessee, to pick up Monica from Crown College. The trip to Crown (which I have been making for about 6 years) normally takes 3 1/2 hours but this day it took about 6 hours. The holiday traffic was unbelievable and the law enforcement agencies were in full force. After we picked up Monica we started towards Chesapeake, Virginia. We spent the night in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The next morning we left for the final 3 hour drive to my sister's house. Thanksgiving Day was so much fun just being together with most of my family present.On Friday we all met together at a place called Warner Hall. Warner Hall is the home place of George Washington's great grandparents. This place sits on the Elizabeth River and it was some kind of beautiful. There were 16 spacious bedrooms of which my sister and her husband had rented out for the big family get-together and wedding ceremonies. On Friday night we all sat around the piano and sang and had a great time. The food served was excellent and the luxurious rooms were something that will be talked about for years. I heard my wife telling some of our ladies at church that the wedding was the most beautiful wedding that she had ever seen. My older brother played the piano with my younger brother playing the trumpet. My dad and I officiated the wedding and I will always treasure that time together. My niece made a beautiful bride. All in all it was great family time.

After the wedding my wife and I and our two girls headed for home. We had to go to Crown College near Knoxville and then to Atlanta. We had so much fun just being together. We sang while the three girls worked on one of Monica's school projects. We left at 5 p. m. on Saturday and pulled up to my house at 5:30 a. m. the next morning. I really appreciate my sister and her husband who have made the trip to Atlanta many times for a family gathering. We slept for about 2 hours and went to church and what a great day we had at PBC. I am so glad that we kept going to make it home.

This brings me to my next BIG POINT. I am thankful for my church. I love my people and I believe that they love me. In all that is going on in your life this holiday season, don’t forget family or church. Jesus Christ ordained them both. Let's honor the Lord and keep "Christ" in Christmas!

What a Great Day!

Sunday, December 3, was a great day for our church. That day was declared as "Mission Sunday" for PBC. We started off by having all of our adults in the auditorium for missionary Ernie Moore to present his work in Israel. Brother Moore started a church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and pastored there for 28 years. He stated that he thought that he would be there for the rest of his life, but found that the Lord had different plans for the future. He showed a 15-minute DVD on Israel that was excellent. It renewed my passion for the country of Israel.

In the morning service we had one of our fine men, Fred Chitwood, give testimony of how he was in the military in Vietnam and went to a church service where he and his wife were saved. Dr. Don Sisk was preaching in that particular service and later baptized the two of them. Mr. Chitwood thanked Dr. Sisk for preaching the truth and for allowing God to use him to see him and his wife saved. The church applauded as he hugged Dr. Sisk's neck. Then Dr. Sisk preached a wonderful message on giving to missions that seemed to touch everyone's heart. After the service I was able to take twelve missionaries out to eat and we all had a great time of fellowship.

Sunday evening was again a blessing. We heard from missionary Alan Saunders as he gave testiomony of how his wife surrendered to the mission field in another service where Dr. Sisk was preaching. We also heard from missionary Nathan Kinoshita. His video presentation reached all of our hearts as he shared his vision for Tokoyo, Japan. I must admit that I have never heard a missionary with more passion in his heart for his own country.

Dr. Sisk preached on faith promise missions and then we took our faith promise commitments. Our members pledged over $240,000 to missions. Prasie the Lord! After the service approximately 80 staff members and the spouses came to our house for a Christmas party. The mood was festive and the fellowship was sweet. All in all, it was a great day at Peoples Baptist Chruch.