God Showed Up!

Have you ever been in one of those services where nothing goes as you expected? I've been in several. I remember the night a church member asked us to pray for his child, I closed my Bible, and people gathered around him to pray... for an hour! God answered that prayer. I can also remember the morning when people started going to the altar during a song. A quartet was singing and people began to get up out of their seats, come to the altar, and weep. I can remember a service when a couple confessed their sin before the church, they were broken and repentant, they asked forgiveness, people gathered to pray around them, prayed, and the church family stayed to encourage them for over an hour after we dismissed. Those services are special!

Well, we had another one of those services last night... on a Wednesday night. I've been teaching a Bible study through Romans and we've been camping on Romans 7 where Paul admitted the civil war he was having between his spirit and his flesh. Last night,we were supposed to get into chapter 8 and help people discover how to "stay up, when life gets you down." I introduced the message, told folks that we can't always live on the mountain top, and shared the story of Moses going up the mountain and coming back down to see God's chosen people worshipping and idol.

From the back, a man said, "I feel like I'm living in the valley and can't get out." Immediately, someone shared a personal story of encouragement. Then another person shared. Another shared scripture. The stories went on. The testimonies went on. The masks came off and before we knew it, there were tears and confessions, and God's Spirit was MOVING!

After 45 minutes, it was obvious that I was not going to ever get to Romans 8. Instead of my best made plans and preparation, God chose to use the testimonies of people to encourage others. My words can never convey the heart-warming and soul-stirring service we experienced. It's amazing what God can do when we just get out of the way. I wish you could have been there.

Sunday Summary 9.6.09

Sunday was amazing. We had a much lower attendance due to Labor Day and a variety of sicknesses, but the spirit in our service was tremendous. Brian G. led the worship (even though he was not feeling well). Brad was back on the drums (he was awesome)! We had several band and praise team members filling in due to the absences. We also had several guests, a sermon addressing the "works" of an authentic Christian, and a fun skit to promote the upcoming MOPS ministry. It reallly was a fun and spiritually challenging day.

There was a good response at the invitation and a couple talked to me about baptism and church membership following the service. Another family also expressed their interest in church membership. God is really moving in the hearts of people and prompting them to take spiritual steps. It's amazing what God can do when His church is moving forward in unity.

While we are growing, we never want to lose our "family" feel, so we took time to brag on one of our teens, Bridgette Smith, who continues to advance in the Hartsville Idol competition, shared the need to cut down a tree for a single mom, shared the need of a church family who is having difficulties, and bragged on several ministry leaders. Our church family responded like champs!

We had no evening service due to Labor Day. While we miss worshiping together, it did give us a chance to visit our daughter at Liberty University. We are REALLY missing her!

Sunday Summary 8.30.09

We had the privilege of having Joey & Cynthia Colson stay with us this weekend. Cynthia's dad led me to Christ and was my spiritual mentor. I watched Cynthia grow up and we prayed as Joey battled cancer shortly after they were married. Those trials increased their faith and matured them spiritually. We also enjoyed their little miracle, Abigail.

I've c0ntinued preaching through James and moved from talking about trials (tests of faith) into temptations (opportunities to sin). Since I started this series, I've been living the trials and seemingly everything I touch breaks. I've been working a side job to help pay for my daughter's college and rather than saving... all I've been doing is spending (for misc. repairs) more than I've made! This morning, I pulled into the church, unloaded some boxes, and then my car wouldn't start. Earlier this week, I had our other car in the shop. I'm hoping these tests are almost over, so I can stop being my sermon illustrations. Regardless, Flora and I are learning that God is faithful and He always provides. My trials are small in comparison to many, but they do make you weary.

Brian Watts led the music portion of our worship service today and did a wonderful job. He opened with a trumpet solo as our call to worship. He also had his friend, Morgan Dampier, to accompany our orchestra on her saxophone. It was beautiful! We're without a Worship Pastor, but we have many talented people who are filling in. In fact, we have a special program coming up on Sept. 13 and it is all lay-led.

We had a father and son baptized this morning and it was a great way to start the service. I also had two other families tell me they are ready to join the church. God continues to bless us with visitors and we never take this for granted. There are many other churches in Hartsville they could have worshipped at, but they chose to visit with us!

We lost a dear church member this week, Mr. Walter Hartis (69). Walter enjoyed a great day with his wife, they went to bed, he told her that he loved her, and then he died. What a way to go! His funeral was today and it was a very sweet time. It was a picture of Ps. 116:15 - "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."

Tonight, I tied the morning messages of James (trials and temptations) together with a message from Job. It's still amazes me that God allowed the seriousness of the trials. Again, our trials seem so petty.

Let me close by sharing with you that we have a spirit in our church that has not been here since the moral failure of a worship leader in 2007. It is a breath of fresh air and people are really "buying into" the ministries at EBC. There is a sweet spirit and a unity that is catching the attention of many. Please continue to pray!

Emmanuel Christian Opens Strong!

Emmanuel Christian School (ECS) opened in 1963 and launched this 46th year in astounding fashion. The new Headmaster, Clark Ballard, came to Hartsville from Aiken, SC where he served as Headmaster / Administrator of Aiken Christian School for 11 years. Mr. Ballard received his Bachelor's degree from University of Alabama and his Masters degree from the Citadel. He has 22 years experience in education (7.5 in public schools and 15 in private/Christian education).

In spite of the economic recession, the enrollment at ECS continues to be strong and has nearly doubled in the past five years! ECS added over 90 new students in grades 2K-12 for the 2009-2010 school year, bringing the total enrollment to 426. In preschool through 5th grade, there are now two classes offered in every grade except fourth. The majority of our growth this year was in our Upper School and I believe it is because people are finally realizing the high quality of academic product that ECS is producing. Our average SAT scores were 137 points higher than Darlington County last year and we have classes ranked in the top 1% nationally.

ECS continued the campus renovations this past summer. ECS spent $100,000 in renovations, which included technological upgrades across our campus. The technology project included new servers, upgrades for classroom computers, purchase of brand new notebook computers for our students, a Promethean board, and educational software. The project is still underway and more improvements are planned for the future, but lacks approximately $10,000 for completion.

For more information about ECS, visit our website at www.ecscrusaders.com.

Sunday Summary 8.23.09

I just started a sermon series in the book of James. James addressed the Jewish believers who had been scattered and were beginning to lose their way and cave in to the pressures of the world. They were no longer living what they claimed to believe. I see the American church in the same predicament -- pursuing comfort, rather than commitment. Dr. Daniel Kim, a Korean pastor, was beaten by his family for accepting Christ; but he remained faithful. This week, a 17 year old girl from Ohio petitioned for asylum in Florida due to fear that her father will kill her to maintain the family's honor, because she accepted Jesus Christ; but she remains faithful. These are examples of "committed" Christ-followers. Would you cave in to that type of trial? Would you be faithful to God? Would you stand firm in your commitment to Christ?

In James 1:5-12, we discussed proper responses to trials and Paul Longnecker shared his testimony. Paul was a wayward military aircraft mechanic who was in a motorcycle wreck that changed his life. Rather than getting mad at God for taking away his ability to fully function, Paul thanked God for giving him the gift of a second chance and bringing him back to Himself. When trials come, we must stand firm and not waver! God is for us -- not against us

It was a tough morning, but God gave us a tremendous altar response and brought a family into the fellowship of our church. I was in a fog this morning, as I'm still not over sending our oldest daughter off to college. The emptiness is our house is very difficult for me right now. We had some confusion in the absences of a Worship Pastor, but the volunteers responded like champions! We had 16 lights out across our Worship Center, due to a lightning storm; but God shined bright! George Singletary shared his testimony of salvation and challenged us all. With school back in session and summer vacations over, both the attendance and the offerings were strong.

Tonight, we observed communion together and it was the first time our new Deacons had the privilege of serving. There is a VERY sweet spirit of unity and cooperation in our church family at present. You always have a few disgruntled folks; but the most of our people are taking ownership, volunteering for service, showing up at all hours to care for the facilities, starting new ministries, caring for one another, visiting, conducting home Bible studies, and more! Realizing the healthy state of our church, it really made communion a special time tonight.

I've Been Scolded and Will Re-Open My Blog

Life has been busier than I ever dreamed possible, so I let go of the things I thought weren't as important. One of those things was this blog, but I have been repeatedly scolded and realize that more people were reading than I realized. After reading, they were praying, so I am reopening my blog and promise to do a better job keeping it updated.

You may be asking, "What kept you so busy?" Pastors only work 1 day per week... :-)
- I've been serving as a pastor.
- Last school year I also wore the hat of school Headmaster. (I'll tell you why at another time.) We have hired a new headmaster and there is no doubt that God sent him our way!
- I'm serving as a chaplain for Hospice.
- I'm still serving on the Board of the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce.
- I'm the Vice-Moderator for the Carolinas Baptist Bible Fellowship.
- I'm Chairman and co-founder of the Carolina Family Planning Centers. A pro-life group starting crisis pregnancy care centers across SC. Our goal is to open 5 this fall.
- We just took our oldest daughter to college.
- Our middle daughter is a high-school senior.
- We took a family vacation.
- And the list literally goes on...

I'll share more about each of these and give you some Sunday updates in the days ahead. Thanks for reading and for your prayers. God is doing some GREAT things and we are still seeing people starting personal relationships with Christ! PRAY... PRAY... PRAY!!!!!!

Sunday Summary

WOW! Yesterday's services were truly God led and God designed. Let me explain what I mean. I am an extremely organized person and like to plan ahead. I usually have my sermon topics /texts lined up a year in advance. For whatever reason, this year, I am moving a week at a time. I've been contuing a series on worship and yesterday's title was, "Worship Defeats the Enemy." Ron's congregational set matched the theme. Heather's solo matched the theme. The teen drama fit hand-in-glove to the theme. I was absolutely overwhelmed to see how God orchestrated that service. I've had a bad cold for the past several days and my voice has been very rough, but it gave me no trouble during the message. After the message... I could hardly talk. God is so good!

We closed the morning service by singing. We sang for approximately ten minutes and just praised and worshipped the name of our Lord. People were at the altar, some knelt in their seats, and others were wiping the tears from their faces. God's Spirit was moving!

There were other good things that happened yesterday, but I'm just going to stop there and encourage you to defeat the enemy by praising the Lord! He is able!

Crisis Pregnancy Centers Opening Soon

Several years ago, I felt God leading our church to begin the process of opening a crisis pregnancy center in Hartsville. We worked with Care-Net to begin the process and God brought a dear nurse alongside to help us. We were moving quickly, until it was time to establish a Board of Directors. Realizing that the center would have to reach people all across our city, I began reaching out to a variety of pastors and community leaders. We hit a wall as people were willing to "help," but didn't want the responsibility of serving on a board.

I knew God wanted us to open a center in Hartsville, but I couldn't understand why He wouldn't provide the people. I didn't understand what God was doing -- until just recently! I believe God was just preparing our hearts for something that was BIGGER than we could have ever imagined. Through a series of circumstances, God brought new pastors into local churches and caused our paths to cross with a wonderful group of people & pastors in the Florence area, who were working on opening a crisis pregnancy center.

NOW... the plans are to open FOUR centers! They will be located in Florence, Hartsville, Darlington, and Lake City. God has provided the Board, a director, doctors, graphics personnel, willing volunteers, facilities in all four locations, and even two ultrasound machines! Now all we need is financial support, but that is no problem for God.

If you are interested in finding out how you can get involved as a volunteer, supporter, etc.; join us for the community interest meeting on Monday, March 30 at 7:00pm at the Florence Library. I hope to see you there!

Sunday Summary - ECS Day

This past Sunday was our annual Emmanuel Christian School day! Since ECS is one of if not the largest ministry of EBC, we like to highlight the school for annually for our church family. Believe it or not, there are some who have attended EBC for decades and still haven't caught the vision for Christian education. So... we're still trying to help them along.

Before you read too much into ECS day, realize that I am committed to ALL quality education that benefits students. People attend our church who are teachers in our public school system and other private schools in our area. I am 100% supportive of them and realize that ECS is not for everyone. In addition, I have served our community in roles as a Board member of a faith based initiative and concerned volunteer that have benefited our public education system. So, I believe in Christian education, but I never criticize teachers or students who are not part of ECS.

ECS day was well attended and our teachers and students made us proud!

• Michael opened the service with a song. He is a finalist for a music scholarship at Liberty University, so pray for him.
• Our elementary choir was amazing and it's no wonder they received such high marks at the SCACS competitions on Friday. Thanks Greta for the work that you put into those children. Great job kids!
• Catherine recognized many of our students who placed the State competitions in music, art, and academic competitions. Angelica won "Best in Show" for her art piece!
• Jimmy recognized the accomplishments of our varsity girls and varsity boys basketball teams. Our boys team served as our ushers!
• Teresa shared a testimony that helped us focus on what Christian education is all about and how God led her to ECS over 20 years ago!
• Heather led the people of God into the presence of God through congregational worship. I was proud for parents to see the spiritual depth of the people teaching their children on a daily basis.
• In addition, these other teachers were part of today's praise team: Paige, Brian, Libby, and Greta.
• Student vocalists included Michael, Bridgette, and Brooke. Brooke is only in 7th grade, but she got a spontaneous standing ovation! Way to go girl!
• Lisa and Kelly... wow! There is no doubt that your song was a divine selection. We didn't talk beforehand, but your song tied in perfectly with my sermon.
• Today's sermon continued with the theme of worship and hopefully helped people to trust God just a little bit more.

Lord, thanks for allowing EBC to be the home of ECS, for allowing me to be part of it, and for giving the vision for ECS to those who have gone before. It is a privilege to partner with parents in the educational process for the children. It is also a privilege to teach academics; but also to prepare students for life and help them to develop a Christian world-view.

Sunday Summary

I've been chastised for not updating my blog, but it's just been extremely busy. I'm encouraged by how many of our church family are beginning to use this as an additional opportunity to hear what is going on weekly at EBC. Last week, one of our members had to travel out of town on business and missed the Sunday services. He commented on how much he missed the services and has never felt this way before... in any church. He said that he called his wife at the time the service usually ends, just so he could hear what God did today.

So, since I've been derelict in my updates, please allow me to give a quick update and bring you up to speed on what happened last week.

• 1 saved, 1 baptized, and 7 new members added to the church.
• Continued series on worship with message entitled, "Worship Requires Your Whole Heart."
• Text was Luke 7 and compared Simon the Pharisee to the woman who poured the ointment on Jesus feet, washed His feet with her tears, and dried them with her hair. WOW! What a reminder that Pharisees simply what Jesus to sit at their table, but real worshippers want to sit at Jesus' feet.
• Karen... Great job with your song! I truly believe it helped people connect with the story.

For all that takes place at EBC... "To God be the glory, GREAT things He has done!"