Today was a great day of worship.  We celebrated Harry Adkins 14 years of ministry here at First Baptist Church.  He has served faithfully, but has been called to the First Baptist Church of Kingstree, SC.  I’m sure that God will use his talents and gifts to establish a solid music ministry program among their church.  Here are some insights from today.

• About 10 men gathered to pray for me.  It was such a joy to hear their prayers and their hearts.
• The youth choir rocked today.  We are blessed to have such great teenagers.
• Several of you told me the message was for you today.  It was for me too!  Sometimes we get so busy that we miss out on a love relationship with God.  Revelation 2 is a wake up call for churches that are busy doing programs but forget about sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to what he has to say in his word and through your prayer time.
• Had lunch with Vivian and Jacque Ussery today in their home!  What a cool place.  It was built by his grandfather in the 40’s and has been completely renovated by the Ussery’s.  He has quite a collection of cool old stuff including many antique coffee grinders.  We talked about the marriage tune up at the Merge on Feb. 19-20.  It is going to be a lot of fun.  I hope you sign up.  Contact the church office today.
• It was great to see so many come and honor Harry at the reception.  There were several former youth choir members who came back.
• During our church council meeting today we heard several stories of how God is working through our ministries.  The jail ministry shared about the dad of one of our newest members, Art, who traveled from Spartanburg to perform magic tricks with a spiritual message.  The children’s ministry received a grant Trina applied for to bless the mentoring program.  The student ministry had a great parent/teen ski retreats.  The local missions group built a few wheelchair ramps.  The men’s ministry crew is gearing up for the Men’s Retreat on March 12-13.
• May God never remove our church’s lampstand from its place.  May our influence in the community and relevance continue to thrive.
• Saints win the Super Bowl!!  Sorry K.  She is a huge NFL fan and was pulling for the Colts.  I was pulling for the Saints.  Their name sounded more spiritual.
• God gets the credit!

I had the pleasure of having lunch with a church planter in Barnwell, Robert Altman.  He planted Bethany Baptist Church about 3 years ago that is running about 120 in attendance now.  It was such a joy to listen to his passion.  I asked him “Why plant a church in Barnwell?”  His response, “I believe there are some people that are being overlooked by our churches.”

His church is experiencing revival as lives are being changed.  This past year they baptized 85!  Wow!  He retold a story that one of his church members told him.  A lady from his church was talking with someone they worked with.  When the individual found out that they went to the new church on Hwy 70 she warned the girl that it was a cult.  The church member was confused and said, “Why do you say that?”  She then said, “I know of someone who started going out there, and when they came to work they were changed!  Everything about them changed including their dress, the way they talked, and the way they treated others.  Something bad wrong is going on out there!”

That’s what I want them to say about our church.  When people go there they come back changed.  Jesus calls us to be transformed.  Scripture teaches that we are a new creation when we come to Christ.  The old has passed away and the new has come.

Do you remember the first time you fell in love.  Maybe it was in the third grade and your palms got sweaty for the first time and you weren’t allowed to talk to your first love because someone in the class would find out about it.  Do you remember the first time your eyes were opened to Jesus and you fell in love with him.  Jesus wants you to remember and come back to that point in your life.   He is more concerned with relationship than ritual.

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