Sunday Summary

Greetings Everyone!!!

I want to start this post off by thanking everyone who has contacted me about my absence from the blogosphere. Names are too numerous for me to call and I don't want to leave anyone out, so thank you all! I really am overwhelmed about the concern for me and my well doing from people all over this country who have only met me through this venue. I am glad to be back with the "Blogging Bunch"!!

Today we had wonderful worship in BBC. This day started off with our Early Morning Prayer Service. For the month of December our youth are in charge of prayer meeting. It is truly a joy to see young people engaged in prayer meeting. I believe that we are building a foundation with these young people that will hold them and make them mature Christians. The prayers were fervent and faith filled as the people of God poured out their hearts to Him.

Today being 2nd Sunday, we were blessed with songs of Zion from our Male Chorus. I was lifted by seeing these men sing praises to God! I was very excited about preaching today and could not wait to get the message that the Lord gave me out of me. Today, I understood what Jeremiah said when he described God's Word being in his heart as a burning fire shut up in his bones! Don't get me wrong, I love, cherish, and am excited EVERY opportunity I have to preach, but today, I was really fired up about speaking on behalf of God. I preached a message today from Isaiah 9:6 entitled, "The Gift that keeps on giving". Here's a brief synopsis of the message:

The Gift that keeps on giving was:

1. Sensible

The text says, "For unto us a child is born". This made it a sensible gift. Our Messiah came to us and lived among us as a real human being. He felt pain, rejection, frustration, headache, heartache, and everything else that we feel. What good would it be to have a Messiah that could not identify with what we go through everyday? This is why it is a sensible gift. The Bible say in Hebrews 4:15, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

2. Spiritual

It goes on to say, "unto us a son is given." In normal Hebrew dialect when a son was introduced, he was introduced by the name of his father. In this instance, it was left out, not by accident, but to let us know that this Son is the Son of God! John records that we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. He was given to us, or should I say He was given for us. The bible declares that Jesus was a Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Jesus came to fix the spiritual problem with man. Our sin alienated us from God and Jesus became the propitiation or intermediary between sinful humanity and a Holy God. Romans says that He came for sin and condemned sin in the flesh. Jesus did not come for our creature comforts; clothes, cars, cribs, and cash, He came to rid us of sins penalty and power, and when He comes back, He will remove us from sins presence!! Glory to His name!!

3. Substantial

The last part of the verse says, "and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. All of the earthly kings whether good or bad could not handle all of the responsibility of ruling and reigning. They would forget some things or let some things go undone, but Jesus ca "shoulder" all of the responsibility!! This means that there is nothing in your existence that Jesus cannot handle!! If I were preaching now, I would say, "Is there anybody here that knows He can handle it? Have you any rivers that seem uncrossable? Have you any mountains, that you can't tunnel through? God specializes in things that seem impossible, and He can do what no other power can do!!!" I closed the message on the last part of the verse describing His name or His attributes.

God really blessed the exposition and presentation of this text. I thank God for giving me the power and passion to preach His Word!!

If I don't communicate with you anymore before Christmas, I want to wish from my family to your a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. May God richly bless you is my prayer!!!!

Wednesday in the Word

We witnessed a wonderful Wednesday in the Word!! Both of our Bible Study classes were well attended and the saints were eager and excited to learn! Our Sunday School Teachers Meeting went very well. I am excited about this teaching setting because the teachers are so excited about learning. The lesson was entitled, "The Promise of Life", taken from Deuteronomy 30:1-10. This was a very interesting lesson the showed the sovereignty and graciousness of God.

In the first 5 verses we see RESTORATION. I found it interesting that Moses was speaking of God restoring them to the land God had promised them before they actually inhabited it. Even with repeated warnings and promises of blessing for obedience and cursing for disobedience, the Israelites still did not follow the commands of God. In spite of their inadequacy and inability to follow God, God still had a plan for them! I get joy every time I think about this, because there are times why I don't do right, but God doesn't forfeit His plan because I have flaws in my person!! God tells them that if they return, He will restore them! What I really like about this is, God says that He will go as far as it takes to bring them back! Someone other than me has that testimony, that He came a long way to rescue me! Glory to His name!! God is in the restoration business. I don't know why we want god to be mad all of the time and get everyone as soon as they mess up. Do we forget that we mess up as well? God is looking to restore us.

Next the lesson talks about REPENTANCE. The section speaks of loving God with all of their being. To repent means to turn from sin and turn to God. I believe that many only have one step down. It's not enough to turn from sin, you must turn to God. A turn from sin without a turn toward God, creates legalism. Unfortunately, we have many in the church that are loyal to legalism, but not in love with the Lord!

The last section talks about REPLENISHMENT. Once God restores them and they repent God said that He would bless everything that they touched, their family, food, and farm would be blessed and plentiful. He also says that He would take pleasure in doing so. God loves to bless His people and do good to them!! Who wouldn't serve a God that loves to restore and to replenish?

In Bible Study we covered verses 16-21 of chapter 10 in Romans and verses 1-10 in chapter 11. This was a great lesson for our church . This lesson deals with God's dealing with Israel, Israel rejecting the Gospel, God extending the Gospel to the Gentiles, and God's future plan for His chosen covenant people. Where we really dropped anchor last night was in chapter 11 :1-4. Paul clearly states that God has not cast away Israel. Can I ask a question? If God has not cast away Israel and he still has a plan for them, how can the church be New Israel as I have heard it called so many times?

Paul gives 2 examples of why God is not through with Israel. First is a personal example. Paul says I know that God is not done with the Jews because he is one. Paul says, if Jesus can save him, He can save anyone! We need to apply this truth to our existence. No one is so good that they don't need to be saved and no one is so bad that they cannot be saved! If God saved me, He can save anyone!! The next example is one from a prophet. After a great victory on Mount Carmel against the prophets of Baal, Elijah receives word that Jezebel is going to kill him and he takes off running for his life. God asks him what is doing here. Elijah's answer is both anxious and arrogant. Look at what he says. 1 Kings 19:14 (KJV) And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. God responds by saying. 1 Kings 19:18 (KJV) Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. He tells Elijah that he is not the only one who is still serving. We need to take this to heart. Many people have the idea that if they don't do it, it wont get done. If you prescribe to this idea, I tell you what I want you to do, die and see if things continue to roll on. This is why I say it is a privilege to be in the service of the Lord. God don't need us, but Thank God that He chooses to use us!! God Bless!!

Sunday Summary

This past Lord's Day is one that we at BBC shall not soon forget!! The power of God was manifest from beginning to end. I was not at Early Morning Prayer, but I am positive that the intercessors played a significant role in happenings of Sunday. I know that they bathed all of us in prayer and it was definitely felt.

Morning Worship started off on fire. Our Deacons Ministry really set the tone in the Devotional Service. The Mass Choir really blessed us with their ministry and took the service even higher! We felt the Glory Cloud fall in the place!! At this point, I pondered whether I should preach or should we just continue to praise. I was compelled by God to preach and I am so glad that I obeyed the command of God!

I preached a message from Psalm 91:1-3. The message was entitled,, "A story worth Telling". I argued that for too long many of us have been telling the wrong story. We have been telling about our mistakes, mess ups, and mis haps, instead of our miracles and makeovers! The story that we should all be telling includes these few things:

1. Devotion
A. Presence
B. Protection

2. Declaration
A. Provision
B. Praise

3. Deliverance
A. Power
B. Peace

God truly blessed the preaching of this text! I believe this is just what our church needed and I feel the winds of change beginning to blow on the hearts of the people. There was great celebration over the Word of God!! Bless His Holy name!!!

This did not conclude our day of worship. We traveled to Dowagaic, Michigan to Second Baptist Church to celebrate in worship with them for their 142 Church Anniversary! This was a blessed occasion for a church that has such a rich history and I am honored to have been asked to be the preacher. I preached from their theme which was, "A foundation that cannot be moved" Luke 6:48-49. Here's the outline:

1. Advantage of Selection

2. Assurance of Storms

3. Ability to Stand

4. Abruptness of Shattering

God blessed this preaching moment as well. Thank God for His Word!!! However, my day ended on a very sad note as I had to travel to Gary for a wake of one of my childhood friends, Lewis Eldridge or "Two Ton" as we called him. On last Tuesday he was brutally murdered in front of his home washing his car. I cannot express how tired I am of burying young men and women due to gun violence! THIS HAS TO STOP!!!! This is why I am so passionate about our Gun Buy Back! I am really looking forward to doing the next one, but in the mean time, let's strive to make our communities safer places!

Well, that's enough for now. I have really enjoyed my off day today to refresh and refuel for this busy week ahead filled with preaching, teaching, and meeting!! I am off to do tomorrow the same thing I do everyday, try and take over the world for Jesus Christ!! God Bless!!

Wednesday in the Word

We had a wonderful Wednesday in the Word. Both Bible Study classes were well attended. I really enjoy the teaching ministry of our church. It is truly a joy and a privilege to teach people that are hungry for the word of God!

Our Sunday School lesson was taken from Deuteronomy 6:1-9,20-24. The lesson was entitled, Obeying God's Commands. This was a very good lesson with valuable insight for us on today. The lesson begins with the TARGET. Moses stated that the Lord wanted to tell them some things before they went into the Promised Land. The 1st target or the aim of this is that the children of Israel might fear the Lord. This word fear does not mean to cower, but to have reverential respect or to be in awe. I believe that one of the problems with our worship is that there is no more awe of God We have relegated God to formulas and He is so much more than that!! The 2nd aim was so that the children of Israel may have long days upon the earth. Long life is a blessing from God. Obeying His commands causes us to make proper choices in life which is one step to long life. proper choices along with the Power of Christ guarantees us long life!!

After the target was given, the next step was to TEACH. They were instructed to teach their children and their grandchildren. The instructions were to teach them at every available opportunity! This is a lost art today! Most families don't sit down and enjoy a meal together anymore where teaching time could occur. Some children are being raised by X Box, PS 3, My space, Facebook, MTV, BET, VH1, or some other media source. We as a society need to be more involved in the upbringing of this next generation, especially those of us who are the Body of Christ! Someone once said that the church is only one generation from extinction. We must return to teaching the younger people the ways of the Lord!! It is the only way that they will be saved!

The final step in this lesson was to TESTIFY. One day someone will ask about the reasons that we do what we do. This is testimony time!! We need to be able to tell them what God has done for us and as a result of what He's done, this is what we do!! I challenged the class about the meaning or purpose of some things that we do in our house of worship. I told them someone is going to ask them and they need to know and if none of us know, then why are we still doing it?

In Bible Study we continued our series in Romans 10. We looked at verses 5-19. This was a powerful lesson! Being that I am trying to move the church into an evangelistic methodology, I really hammered in on verses 14-15. The context is Israel, but we made relevant application for us today. We know from our own experience that if we call on the Lord, He will save us. This is true for anyone. However, how can someone call on someone that they don't believe in? How can they believe in someone that they haven't heard about. How can they hear about Him of we don't tell them? How can we tell them, except we have been given a commission to do so? We all have a commission to tell people about the Good News of Jesus Christ, Matthew 28:19-20!!

That's enough for now, because my soul is getting happy!! Got more work to do here at the office, so I will blog later!! God Bless!!!!

Wednesday in the Word

Today we had a wonderful Wednesday in the Word!! The day started off with our Noon Day Bible Class. Class was well attended and the dialogue was dynamic! I taught the same lesson in both classes, so I will give you a synopsis shortly.

These past few Sunday School lessons have really been a blessing to both the pastor and people of BBC! Today's lesson was taken from Numbers 20:1-13. This is a great story with valuable insight for leaders everywhere. Moses and Aaron had led the people to Kadesh. When they arrived there, the congregation of the Lord began to complain and criticize the leadership because of a lack of water. You would think that after all of the miracles the people experienced, they would not have complained, but this is exactly what they did. In essence they blamed their lack of faith of Moses and Aaron's ability to lead. Why do people put their inadequacies on you?

Moses really blessed me with his next move. Remember, not only is Moses frustrated because of the murmuring of the people, but he is also grief stricken over the death of his sister. However, I like what he does, verse 6 says, "And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them." When things got too much to bear, they removed themselves from the situation. This is good advice for all of us. There are times when we need to remove ourselves from the presence of the assembly to get a fresh perspective on what is going on. Now they didn't just remove themselves from the assembly and take a break. When they left, they went into the tabernacle and fell on their faces. Getting into God's presence gives us a renewed spirit and a refreshed mind.

God tells Moses to take the rod and gather the people and speak to the rock and it shall give water to the people and their beasts. Moses takes the rod, gathers the people and then makes mistake #1. He begins to speak to the people. God did not instruct him to tell the people anything. He tells them to listen up and calls them rebels and then makes mistake #2, he suggests that he and Aaron are the the ones that are performing this miracle, and then he makes mistake #3, he strikes the rock not once, but twice. Moses allowed his frustration to get the best of him, and that caused him to act out of the will of God. How many of us, have allowed our feelings to make us act contrary to our character and the codes and conduct of Christ? The amazing thing is, even though Moses acted wrong, the people still got the water that they desired. Thank God that our problems don't prevent God from providing for His people!

God then tells Moses and Aaron that because of their disobedience and their failure to sanctify God in the presence of the people that they would not be permitted to enter into the Promised Land. You mean after all they had been through with these people grumbling, complaining, murmuring, challenging, disrespecting, and lack of faith and trust in God, that it was Moses and Aaron that didn't get to go in? This tells us that we cannot be driven by our emotions and feelings because they can cause us to miss out in the very thing that God has promised us. What is an even bigger slap in the face is that the people who caused all of the emotions still got to go in. We are to be God driven and not emotion driven!!

Bible Class was really off the chain! Today we looked at Romans 9:30 - 10:4. This was a very interesting portion of scripture. I was always used to hearing this Romans 10 passage read during revival services, but never took the time to do an in depth study on it. Wow, I've been really missing out! This passage is packed with powerful and pertinent points! Israel did not have full understanding of God's provided righteousness through Jesus Christ. As a result of this, they went about to establish their own righteousness. This is where many Christians find themselves today. God's provided righteousness requires nothing of us but to believe it. This confuses many people as they seek a works based religion that will allow them to have badges of honor on their chest. When seeking your own righteousness, you cannot or will not submit yourself unto God's righteousness.

The last verse we studied says that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. The Law did not and could not of itself provide righteousness before God for us. But Christ fulfilled the Law by keeping it perfectly during His sinless life and then gave His life in payment for the penalty of sin and the broken Law. The Law then pointed to Him as the Source of the God-provided righteousness it could not supply. So in closing, ITS ALL ABOUT JESUS!!! It got real hot in church right then and I had a Sunday Morning felling on a Wednesday night!! It is our job to lift Jesus up for all to see. How to reach the masses, men of every birth. For an answer, Jesus gave the key. He said and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all men unto me!!

I forgot to add one thing to my laundry list for the week. Yard Work!! UGH!!!!!! God Bless!!!

Sunday Summary

Today was a great day of worship! I arrived at church right before Sunday School. I had the opportunity to visit all of the classes on today. I was encouraged and strengthened by most of what I heard. As I viewed one class, I was troubled by a spin that was put on the lesson that was not there, but encouraged because the teacher addressed it very well. This means I must work harder in teacher's meeting. The Lesson today was from Numbers 14. This was a fantastic and an encouraging lesson for me. I really like how Moses in spite of all of his opposition by people who had not too long ago sang his praise, prayed for them as God wanted to eliminate them for their rebellion and their wanting to get a new leader to go back to Egypt. I really enjoy Sunday School, especially teaching it.

Today, we were blessed with songs from our Male Chorus. I have some men that have really stepped up their role in corporate worship! To God be the Glory!! I did not preach today. We were blessed in the preaching moment by Rev. Jordan Key from Michigan. He is an associate minister of Christ Temple Baptist Church and the son in law of one of our most faithful and dedicated members, Sis. Daisy Barnes. It was a blessing to hear him preach and he did an awesome job! He preached from Jonah 1:1-3. The message was entitled, "A ship headed in the wrong direction". This was a timely message that was a blessing to the people of God.

This was about it as far as worship went on today. I ask for your prayers as this week will prove to be a busy one. I have meetings that begin on tomorrow, there is a revival that I wanna support at Macedonia MBC, hosted by Pastor Ray E. Owens, where the guest evangelist is Pastor Rickey Harvey, Bible Study and sermon preparation for this coming Sunday, as well as an IMA meeting this weekend. My mind has been flooded with various thoughts that I've been meaning to write down. Unfortunately many of them have since escaped me, but on this week, I will attempt to blog about some of these discussions. Be Blessed!!!

Sunday Summary

This Lord's Day has proven to be one that I won't soon forget! Has anyone ever had a day of worship that seemed to be tailor made to your needs? At Early Morning Prayer Service, the topic of today was forgiveness. The prayers were fervent, the spirit was high, and it really helped to lift me up. I thank God for this time of corporate prayer. I feel like the songwriter when he said, "What a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer!

I really needed God to show up in a mighty way in worship today. Sometimes we all can get in a routine where things become mundane and stale. I needed to feel a move of God on this morning, and God did not disappoint. Our mass Choir did a tremendous job of setting the tone for worship. The last selection that they sang was, "Incredible God" and this really lifted the congregation into a spirit of praise. It was prime preaching ground now.

I preached a message from 1 Peter 5:10. This is a favorite passage of mine that has brought me through many of the storms in my life. However, this was the first time that I preached an entire sermon from this passage. The message was entitled, Reasons for Rejoicing. Here's the outline:

1. Commission

A. Sufficiency of the caller
B. Station of your calling

2. Condition

A. Severity of your suffering
B. Span of your suffering

3. Cause

A. Service
B. Shape

God really blessed the exposition of this passage! I thank God for His Word. This passage once again has moved me from looking at my circumstances to looking at my Christ! To God be the Glory!

This evening, our Mother's and Deaconess Ministry celebrated their Annual Day on today! Our special guest was Pastor H. Gregory Haygood and the Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church of South Bend. Pastor Haygood is a writer for the Sunday School Publishing Board and a tremendous preacher! I was excited for him to be with us on today!

It's amazing how the Lord works, especially when He wants to confirm or establish a Word in His people. You've already read what I preached, Pastor Haygood came this evening and preached from 1 Thessalonians 5:16, which simply says, "Rejoice Evermore". He entitled this message, "A short message that goes a long way". I wont post his outline, but let me be the first to say that his sermon was a walk off grand slam!! I thank God for his ministry! He serves as a mentor to me and several other young pastors in the area, and today he really encouraged me.

I have great anticipation about this upcoming week. My youngest son, Deonne and the rest of the family are traveling to Des Moines, Iowa to watch him run in the AAU Nationals! I am really happy and proud as a father because this is only his 1st year running. God has really blessed him with great ability. I ask for your prayers this week for him and our safe travel. I am also asking for prayer for BBC as this week is Vacation Bible School.

Seasons

Summer happens to be one of my favorite seasons. I love to hear the children playing, see people riding their bikes, and others just out enjoying the weather. As delightful as summer is, there are also some negative aspects, such as heat stroke, an increase in crime and violence and those dreaded mosquitoes!

i guess it is safe to say that every season has some ups and downs that accompany it. Solomon said in Ecclesiates 3:1-8 ESV "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. Whatever the season is, you will experience both aspects of it. You cannot truly know peace until you've been in war!

Recently, the Lord has placed me in a season of promotion. I don't want to list all that has happened at the risk of bragging or sounding arrogant, but I can sum it up by saying that God has been good to me! He has done much more that I deserve, can take credit for, or even expected, and for that I am truly grateful! However, I failed to remember that there are 2 sides to every season. With advancement comes adversity. What is so troubling about this is that sometimes the adversity comes from those you expected to be happy with your advancement. This is the place that I find myself in today. I know some of you reading may be experiencing similar struggles such as I am, so that's the reason I am writing , to encourage you as well as myself. We can become so frustrated in these times that we feed our haters and give them more fuel with which to fight us with.

When Sinbad and his sailors landed on one of their tropical islands, they saw high up in the trees coconuts which could quench their thirst and satisfy their hunger. The coconuts were far above the reach of Sinbad and the sailors, but in the branches of the trees were apes. Sinbad and his men began to throw stones and sticks up at the apes. This enraged the monkeys and they began to seize the coconuts and hurl them down at the men on the ground. That was just what Sinbad and his men wanted. They got the apes so frustrated that the apes would gather their food for them. So many times, we feed our foes when we fall into frustration!

Many times when we face these things, we tend to look introspectively and try to find a reason for the present predicament. However, I have come to discover through the Word of God, that many times, you will suffer adversity just because God has advanced you. Joseph didn't get thrown in the pit until his father gave him a coat and he had a dream that he would be advanced. David didn't have problems with Saul until he was anointed the next king of Israel. Nehemiah didn't have problems with Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, until he was given authority to go and rebuild the wall. Daniel didn't have problems until he was promoted as one of the administrators over the kingdom, and the list goes on and on.

So the question becomes, what do you do?The answer is simple, but often times does not seem sensible. You continue to do what God has advanced you to do! Success or even perceived success has enemies. You can't stop being successful because you have people that don't like it. Don't throw away God's appointment for man's approval! If God has placed you somewhere or in some position and you are facing opposition, continue to do what God placed you there to do. Joseph went on through adversity to become prime minister of Egypt. David went on to become Israel's great king and the apple f God's eye Nehemiah finished the wall. Daniel went on and laid down on a lion!!

You must always remember that some people are haters and there is absolutely nothing you can do to change that. Actually you must let people be who they are. Haters must hate, just like preachers must preach, and singers must sing. It's who they are. Like a popular Gatorade commercial, I must ask, "Is it in you?"

God has advanced you for a reason. He didn't place you where you are for the haters to take you out or make you give up what He has blessed you with. He placed you there because He knew you could handle the haters and ultimately He wants to advance you THROUGH your adversity!

So in this season, I encourage you to stand strong, and always remember, seasons come and seasons go! God Bless!!!!

Sunday Summary

Greetings Everyone

It has been a very long time since we have communicated in this fashion It has been an extremely busy season for me. Let me try and catch you up on a little bit. The Gun Buy Back was a tremendous success! There were 175 guns collected. Many of which were illegal to own. There are some who say that these don't work, but I beg to differ. Most of the weapons used in violent crimes are weapons taken from home invasions from people who have not properly secured them. This was not and was never intended to be an anti gun movement, but it is an anti violence movement. We even had parents to bring guns that they found in their sons room. There were guns turned in that were taken from people who were intoxicated at the time. There were guns that were taken from underage children, so this was a much needed step in the right direction to help bring an end to violence in the community.

This past week, I was privileged to attend The National Baptist Convention Congress of Christian Education, that was held in Detroit, Michigan. This was a wonderful congress! I had an opportunity to learn some valuable information that will be a blessing to our church and community. I attended the Moderator's Workshop. This class was taught by one of my mentors, Dr. Cato Brooks Jr. as well as Dr. Clifton Rhodes, and Dr, Green Davidson.

I was also fortunate to attend, "Generation Next". This was held at the historic New Bethel Baptist Church, where Dr Robert Smith is the pastor This was 3 nights of preaching by some of the country's finest young preachers such as; Rev. Sedric Veal, Rev. Clinton McFarland, Rev Marcus Davidson, Rev Clifford Mayes, Rev. Elliot Ivey, and Rev. Bertrand Bailey! These men of God really preached out of their souls. I was blessed to witness such a plethora of proclamation!

After all of that preaching including day time sessions and Late Night, it is needless to say that I was ready to preach at BBC on this morning! I arrived at Early Morning Prayer early this morning. I could not wait to get this day of public corporate worship started. This morning's topic was obedience. The prayers were fervent and filling and we felt the power of God come down and rest in the place!

I attended a portion of the adult Sunday School class and it was on fire as well. I could not wait until 11:00am worship started. Service was very high on today and I could not wait until the preaching moment. I approached the pulpit ready to tell anyone that would listen that Jesus can change their life! I preached the final message in the series, "You made a believer out of me". I preached today from John 11:39-45. The message was entitled, "A testimony from the tomb". Here's the outline:

1. Requirement for the miracle
A. Priority
B. Preparation
C. Protest

2. Raising by the Master
A. Prayer
B. Proclamation
C. Proof

3. Release of the man
A. Position
B. Pardon
C. Partnering

God really blessed the exposition of this passage on today! I thank God for His power and presence! It looks like I get a breather on this week and I plan to take full advantage of it. Pray for us as we refuel for the next phase of the " Conquest for Christ".

Weekend Wrap Up

What a wonderful weekend of witness and worship for BBC! The weekend started off with the Annual non-violence march sponsored by Mamas Against Violence. This is a group of women who have had a child murdered. This ministry is led by, Bobbie Woods, who is a member of our church. They come together for support and violence prevention. Normally this event is lead by the Mayor of our city, but this year they asked the IMA to lead the march. I think it sent out a special message to see the preachers leading a march against violence in our community. I had an opportunity to push the Gun Buy Back as well as speak out publicly against the violence in our community. The IMA has vowed to do something to reduce the violence in this area, and our presence there was felt and appreciated by all in attendance.

After leaving there, I was invited to a cookout/concert in Lasalle Homes. This is a housing development located in our city, which has seen an increase in violence lately. This event was out on by Camp Salvation. This is a young group of gospel rappers, who instead of competing with one another have joined forces to do ministry. One of these artists is Bro. Cory Brazier, who is a member of our church. I had an opportunity to fellowship with people there and met several new acquaintances with whom I look forward o fellowshipping with in the future. Being in Lasalle Homes reminded me of being back home in Gary, so I felt very comfortable. The people there are very nice and warm and they helped out in serving food and everyone enjoyed the music. I also had an opportunity to promote the Gun Buy Back there as well and share my passion about seeing a decrease in violence in our community.

After this great day of work in the community, I could not wait until public worship on Sunday. Our morning started with Early Morning Prayer. The topic of the day was Togetherness. The prayers offered up were passionate and powerful as the people asked God to bring them together and to remove anything from them that caused any separation in the body.

Morning Worship started off high and lifted up! The songs were beautiful and the prayers were fervent. I could not wait for the preaching moment as we began a new series of messages in the Gospel of John. This series is entitled, "You made a believer out of me". In this preaching series, we will look at the miracles in the book of John. I believe that there is a message in the miracle and the signs have significance. The overall scripture for this series is John 20:30-31, which says, " Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. "

The 1st message in this series was from John 2:1-11. The message was entitled "Advice for your Adversity". Here's the basic outline:

1. Acknowledge the problem

2. Adhere to the procedure

3. Advance to praise.

God truly blessed the exposition of this passage! We had run em go get em, pick em up and put em down church, followed by a soul coming back home on restoration. God be praised!! I am pleased to see the people of BBC allowing themselves to be free in worship once again. I believe that God was pleased with our presentation of public worship on this past Lord's Day!

Pray for us as we have a long week of meetings gearing up for our 60th Church Anniversary, our 1st ever Youth Sunday, Gun Buy Back promotions, and Teaching/Preaching prep. Also I am pleased to announce that I will be meeting with Rev Jessie L. Jackson Sr. on today at 3pm EST!!

By the way, if you would like to help us with the Gun Buy Back, visit our website and click on the CURE link. God Bless!!!

Sunday Summary

After a day of worship like today, all I can say is WOW!!!! Our Early Morning Prayer Service really set the spiritual atmosphere in BBC today. The prayer warriors were on fire this morning! I joined in with our young adult Sunday School class today and we had an awesome time there sharing the lesson.

From the time Morning Worship began, the Spirit of God fell down and rested upon us. Our Deacons were on fire this morning for devotion! They prayed and sang, and sang and prayed! After this the spirit just flowed through the service. The choir was on point as they sang out of their hearts and not their habits. One song in particular, "How great is our God", just sent us all in!! After another selection, it was preaching time. I must admit, with service that high, I wanted to jump in and preach, but I allowed one of the sons of the ministry exercise his gift, Rev Terry Tate. He preached a message from Mark 5. I don't recall the title, but it was a very inspiring message. This kind of worship was really needed in our church on today. I felt a release on today that many needed. There had been a heaviness, but I believe that God lifted that on today! Praise God!!

This afternoon, I had the privilege of preaching the closeout message for my pastor, Rev. Isaac Culver Jr. in his 11th Pastoral Anniversary. I really enjoy preaching at my home church as well as fellowshipping with friends that I grew up with there. Service was great. I was excited about the preaching moment. I have a new perspective on preaching Pastor's Anniversary. I don't believe that it is my assignment to go to another church and beat up on the people there about what they should be doing for their pastor and things like that. We can cause irrevocable damage by some of the things that we say trying to be helpful, and actually do more harm than help, we leave then the Pastor has to spend countless amounts of time trying to straighten things back out. I believe that it is my assignment on these occasions to encourage both Pastor and people and that's what I attempted to do. I preached from a familiar passage located in Daniel 3:15-18. The message was entitled,"Furnace Faith". I've posted the outline before.

There was an overwhelming response to the message! I think BBC had some leftover shout from this morning and brought it to Jerusalem! i was really honored to be able to share with my pastor this evening. He is so full of wisdom and is a man worth modeling. I pray God's choicest blessing upon him!

This week will prove to be very busy as our District Association is in its Annual Session in Gary. I have a final meeting about the Gun Buy Back, as well as my pastoral duties for the week. I am also beginning a new preaching series this week. Pray my strength in the Lord!

Also, I am happy to announce that you can check us out on the web @ www.bbcsb.com . Check it out and let me know what you think. God Bless!!

Sunday Summary

I showed up, stood, sang, spoke, and sat. Now I'm ready to sleep.

Sunday Summary

What a delightful day in the Lord! Although this past Lord's Day was a busy day, it was a blessed day! I was very honored to be the 8am guest preacher for Pastor Rickardo Taylor and the Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church. Pastor Taylor and church were celebrating 11 years of service as Sr. Pastor. He has an awesome testimony as he left a good paying job in Indianapolis to come and pastor a 15 member church on the southeast side of South Bend. With the Lord's help, he has since grown this church into one of the largest, most progressive churches in the region. I was very glad to be preaching at 8am, as the Oklahoma City Tornado, known as Pastor Ray Owens, was preaching at the 11am service.

The service was very uplifting and inspiring as their music and mime ministries set the atmosphere for preaching. I know that the schools of thought vary on this issue, but in my feeble opinion, I do not believe that our job as pastors is to go to another church and then chastise the people about what they should be doing for their pastor. In my experience this does more harm than good, because as the guest you leave, and the pastor of the church has to stay and deal with the backlash, which often lasts longer then the sermon. So i went simply to encourage the pastor and people. I preached a message from Psalm 27:10-14. The message was entitled, "The blessing in being forsaken". Here's the outline:

1. Dependence (10)

2. Direction (11)

3. Deliverance (12)

4. Determination (13)


God really blessed the preaching moment as we rejoiced on verse 14. "If you have the patience, God has the power".

When I arrived at BBC, I was excited about seeing the saints. I always appreciate the opportunity to travel and preach in other venues, but the saying is true, "there's no place like home". Worship was inspiring from the devotional service until the benediction. I was really excited about preaching in the pulpit that Christ has made me overseer of. We continued in our series, "No More Drama". The message was taken from James 4:7, entitled "Make the Devil Do it". Before you tune me out, please read the introduction, "There was a popular comedian, named Flip Wilson that had a variety show. One of the most popular characters was Geraldine Jones. Every time Geraldine was confronted about something that she was not supposed to do, she wold reply by saying, “The devil made me do it”. This phrase became extremely popular and even found its way on t-shirts.

Even though he passed away in 1998, his popular phrase lives on, and what’s worse is that it has found its way into the church. There is so much “Devil talk” in church, that we forget that God and the devil are not equals.

A careful study of scripture will reveal to you that the devil cannot make you do anything, but today’s text let’s us know that we can make him do something and that is flee from us. "

In order to make the devil flee, you must:


1. Relinquish

2. Resist. If you do these 2, the devil will

3. Retreat


God really blessed the exposition of this text as we were challenged to "Submit to God". I really liked this word because it literally means to place under. It carries the connotation of voluntarily placing our total selves under God's authority. This includes our failures, fears, faults, and frailties. I contend that the reason we have so much "drama" in our lives is that there are some things that we haven't placed under His authority.

Our day of public worship ended at the Pastoral Appreciation service for Pastor Cory Gathright. Pastor Gathright is a son of BBC and he pastors the Greater New Birth Christian Ministries Church. Dr. E.A. Jones preached a wonderful message, entitled "Love and Happiness".

I believe that God was pleased with our offering of public worship on today. Pray for us this week as the Gun Buy Back draws closer. It's looking well, but we are still looking for support. Later on in the week, I will post a link to it. God Bless!!

Weekend Wrap Up

This was a wonderful weekend worthy of recollection! I was afforded the privilege of traveling to Oklahoma City, to participate in their 65th Annual Simultaneous Revival, hosted by the BMA of Oklahoma City, where the president is the Sr Pastor of Fairview Baptist Church, Rev. Dr. John A. (Pop) Reed.

It was a tremendous blessing for me and my life has been bettered to hear from some of the greatest seasoned preaching minds of our day, such as, Dr.L.K. Curry from Chicago and Dr. Wallace Hartsfield from Kansas City. The fellowship was rich among the clergy and I have met many new friends. I also had the pleasure to meet my blogging brother Pastor Tony Rhone in person. It was great to hear his voice instead of just reading his thoughts!

I was humbled and honored to be invited to preach at the Greater Mt. Olive Baptist Church, where Dr. A. Glynn Woodberry is the Sr. Pastor. I want to thank Pastor Ray Owens for opening this door! I'm eternally grateful to him. Greater Mt. Olive is a HOUSE!! I understand why some of the members call it the "Metro-plex". Not only does it have a state of the art sanctuary and plenty class space. It is equipped with a fellowship hall and a full gymnasium! Also located on the campus is a Senior Village, which consist of about 50 duplex units. Pastor Woodberry is doing a great work and Greater Mt. Olive Church serves as a testimony to what a pastor led people can accomplish!

I failed to mention, but did not want to overlook the tremendous preaching ability of Pastor Woodberry! He is truly one of the best and most gifted preachers that this country has to offer.

I am normally nervous about any preaching assignment, but this time, I was flat out scared! This past Lord's Day was Youth Sunday. G M O has a great youth choir under the direction of fellow blogger Rev. K.D. Moss. They sang beautifully, even though Rev. Moss tried to convince me that most of them were not there. i was shaking as I did not want to flop in front of God and this great sea of humanity. I know God would forgive me, but not sure about the others.

I preached a message from 1 Samuel 17:31-45, entitled, "How to Handle your Giants". This is a message I had preached before and it was the one I was directed to preach that day. Words cannot begin to describe how the preaching moment went! Like my son says, "IT WAS OFF THE HIZZLE FOR SHIZZLE MY NIZZLE" The people were both receptive and responsive to the preached Word and we all rejoiced at the close of the message as we remembered how God has moved some Giants out of our way!!! This was a preaching moment that will forever be etched on the walls of my mind! I want to thank Dr. Woodberry again for allowing me to come!

Now on this week, I will be going back and forth to Gary this week for their Simultaneous Revival. I cannot get enough good preaching! Also I want my blog family to be in prayer for my grandfather who is in the hospital. Gotta go, it's time for me to do what I do everyday and try and take over the world for Jesus Christ! Be Blessed.

Weekend Wrap Up

This has been a weekend worth remembering! It started off with the IMA "7 Last Sayings of Christ" . This worship experience was held at the Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. I must say that this was one of the best 7 last sayings services that I have attended. We were blessed with the presence of 32 local pastors and preachers in attendance. I also heard from many that this was the most well attended service of this kind that they had experienced in our area. God is really blessing us in the IMA and I am extremely humbled to be able to serve in any capacity. God Be Praised!!

We were blessed by sermons from: Pastor Barney Lewis (New Peter's Rock MBC), Pastor Timothy Rouse (First AME Zion), Pastor Rickardo Taylor (Mt Carmel MBC), Pastor Ray Owens (Macedonia MBC) and yours truly. We were also blessed by Rev. Barrett Berry (Assoc. Min. Pentecostal Cathedral COGIC) and Rev. Derick Buggs (Assoc. Min. BBC) . Let me say that all of these preachers did a marvelous job! I was honored to be in such a great lineup.

I was also privileged to preach on WUBU, a local radio station which has a Sunday Morning show called, "Michiana Talks", hosted by Vivian Sallie. This was a new experience for me, but all in all I believe it went well.

At BBC, we do not have traditional Morning Worship on Easter Morning. We allow our young people to have their "Easter Program", during 11:00 am service. This has proved to be a blessing not only to our young people, but to family and friends as well. We have some very talented kids at BBC, and they were really on display this past Lord's Day. I was so proud of them. We are taking steps to engage our youth more at BBC. I am excited because we are actually beginning the first ever Youth Sunday at BBC. These will take place on 5th Sundays for right now. My vision is to give them a Sunday every month. Hopefully this will turn into our youth playing a more integral part of Morning Worship, as I believe that public worship is for all who attend.

Pray for me this week as I make preparations to travel to Oklahoma City, OK, to do what God has called me to do! Join in with me as we take over the world for Jesus Christ!!

Sunday Summary

We had a wonderful day of public worship at BBC this Lord's Day! Our Day started off with our Early Morning Prayer Meeting. For the month of April, our Deacons and Trustees are providing leadership in prayer meeting. the topic for today was forgiveness. Our hearts were lifted as the people poured out their hearts to God about desiring to be more forgiving toward others. Thank God for the power of prayer!

Morning Worship started off a little differently this morning. Instead of the Deacons leading devotion, the Mothers and Deaconess carried on in their stead. This took several of our members back to their southern roots as it was a tradition for the Mothers and Deaconess to lead the devotional service on 1st Sunday in the south. This was welcomed and warmly received by the congregation as the praises of God went up!

We were blessed in song by our Mass Choir as they lifted the Savior up for all men to see! I approached the preaching moment with great expectation. My prayer for the week was that the people of God would be both receptive and responsive to the preaching. I continued in our series entitled, "No more drama". Today's message came from James 3:1-12. The message was entitled, "Tempering the tongue". Here's the basic outline:

To temper the tongue, you must;

1. Tame its ability to influence (1-5a)

2. Terminate its ability to impair (5b-8)

3. Train its ability to inspire (9-12)

God really blessed the exposition and presentation of this passage! The power of speech is one of the greatest powers God has given us. With the tongue, man can praise God, pray, preach the Word, and lead the lost to Christ. But with that same tongue he can ruin a person’s reputation or break a person's heart. The ability to speak words is the ability to influence others and accomplish tremendous tasks; and yet we take this ability for granted. I pray that this message was well received and the people would respond by using the gift of speech to edify, equip, encourage, and enlighten one another as well as evangelize the sinner.

I believe that God was pleased with our offering of public worship on today! Pray for us this week as I have meetings about the Gun Buy Back. We held a press conference that appeared on the news. I am interested to see the response from the community. I'm praying that this one will be more successful and more lives would be saved as a result. In the words of Pinky and the Brain, with some slight variation, "What are we going to do today Brain?" "Same thing we do everyday Pinky. Try to take over the world for Jesus." God Bless!!

Weekly Wrap Up

Greetings Blogging bunch! I will start this post by letting you know that this will probably be a little lengthy, so I apologize in advance. Last week was the annual City Wide Revival put on by I.M.A. . I was excited for 2 reasons, first because I really needed to be preached to and secondly this would be my first event as president of the I.M.A. Our evangelist for the week was, Rev. Dr. James A. Boyd, pastor of the Zion Gate Missionary Baptist Church of Columbus, Mississippi. Dr. Boyd has served as the pastor of this church for almost 44 years! He preached with power and passion each night, challenging both clergy and congregation to live up to our God given potential. He was truly a blessing to the body and I look forward to hearing more from him.

Normally, during the revival, we have noon day services featuring local pastors. However, over the past few years, attendance has been extremely low. Because of the drop off in attendance, we decided to combine the noon day into the night service and allow the local pastors to lecture. This turned out to be a wonderful idea! All the pastors were to lecture from an invitational passage of the bible. I was selected for the lecture on Friday night. The passage I chose was Matthew 11:28-30. It was simply called, "An invitation to rest" Here's the outline:

1. Request (Come unto me)
2. Requirement (All you that labor and are heavy laden)
3. Reward (I will give you rest)
4. Responsibility (Take my yoke upon you and learn of me)
5. Resume (I am meek and lowly in heart)
6. Revelation (You shall find rest unto your soul)
7. Report (My yoke is easy and my burden is light)

God blessed as I did my best to keep this at a lecture! This revival was truly a wonderful experience as Dr. Boyd shared with the pastors and ministers some of the pleasures and pitfalls of pastoring.

After hearing such a great week of preaching, I could not wait to get to the pulpit on Sunday! As always, we started out public worship day with Early Morning Prayer. The topic for the day was being available.. My heart was lifted as the prayers of the saints went forth. It was amazing to see the people of God crying out to Him for them to be available to be used by Him.

The choir truly blessed us and set the tone for worship. I approached the preaching moment with anticipation of something transformitive happening in the lives of the people of God as a result of hearing the Word of God! We continued in our series, "No more drama". The passage for the preaching moment was James 2:1-4. The message was entitled "The problem with partiality" Here's the basic outline:

1. Adverse Contradiction (v.1)

2. Absence of Consideration (v.2-3)

3. Antagonistic Conclusion (v.4)

God blessed the exposition and presentation as we were challenged to not show favoritism. The closing argument was simply this. We are no better then anyone and all of us have what we have, simply because of God's grace! It's not that we've applied ourselves, been good, been careful, made all the right decisions, or even the fact that we are saved, it is simply God' grace!

The IMA started a night worship on 5th Sunday nights at 7pm. This is part of fulfilling the three-fold vision of the IMA: 1. Restoring the Worship 2. Reclaiming our Witness 3. Reconciling the World. Our preacher was Rev. Dwight L Gutridge, pastor of the St. Luke AME Zion church of Gary, Indiana. We were truly blessed as he encouraged us on what to do when your life is a mess. This was a tremendous day of worship and I believe that God was pleased with our offering of public worship!

Pray for us this week as we continue to "Serve the Lord with gladness"!

Sunday Summary

What a day of worship this Lord's Day! I arrived back home yesterday from a wonderful Georgia trip extremely tired. I will admit early that I did not think that today was going to be a good day. It really started off rocky as I overslept for prayer meeting. I really don't like to miss prayer meeting. I pledged to myself that I would do better in the future!

When I arrived at church, I was greeted warmly by the saints at BBC! The saying is true, "There's no place like home!" I was happy to see my church family. Service started for me with a very lively devotion, which really set the tone for morning worship! The choir blessed us with beautiful songs of Zion, which continued to build the worship experience!

I was very excited about preaching in my pulpit on today! I couldn't wait to get back to our series. today we continued in James 1:26-27 ESV, which says, "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. The message was entitled, "Do you got good religion? Here's the basic outline:

Good Religion involves:

1. Dialogue (26)

2. Duty (27a)

3. Detachment (27b)

This message was well received by the congregation! Praise God for His Word! I really thank God for BBC! God has blessed me to pastor a great church with great people!

My day of public worship concluded with an evening service at the Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church here in our city, where the pastor is Rev. Larry W. Davidson. Pastor Davidson is a member at BBC, so I was happy to have been invited to share with him and his congregation. Greater Friendship is a wonderful church with a very powerful youth ministry. We were there to celebrate their Nurses Anniversary.

This was going to be my fifth sermon in as many days and I really didnt know how much I had left. The longer I'm in ministry, the more real the scripture becomes that says,"His strength is made perfect in my weakness". I wanted to encourage the nurses especially and the congregation to continue to serve in spite of obstacles that they may face. I preached a message from Hebrews 12:1-2, entitled, "Being committed to the cause" Here's the basic outline:

To be committed to the cause, you must:

1. Embrace your cross (2a)

2. Erase your contempt (2b)

3. Elevate your condition (2c)

God blessed the message and gave me power to preach it! This has been a great welcome home day for me. I was glad to see family, friends, and have an opportunity to fellowship. I'm exhausted and ready tp rest. Thank God for monday! Pray for me this week! God Bless!

Revival Night 3

Tonight we had a wonderful closeout of this revival! We were blessed with the presence of the vice moderator and several other pastors. The New Beginnings Choir really took me back with their singing. They sang one of my favorite songs, "God specializes in things that seem impossible".

I was ready to preach after that, but Pastor Vincent T. Ellison took us to another level as he sang the sermonic hymn. He is truly a gifted man of God. I was blessed by his fellowship. Tonight, we concluded with a message from 2 Corinthians 4:17 entitled, "The pleasure of persecution". Here's the basic outline:

1. Your suffering is not serious

2. Your suffering won't stay

3. Your suffering causes success

God blessed in a marvelous way and the people praised over the preached word! When I was done preaching, Pastor Ellison sang, "When the gates swing open", when he did this HE DUMPED THE HOUSE!!! You can check him out on you tube!

All in all this was a great week of revival, and I am grateful to God for allowing me to come and share my convictions. However, I am ready to go back home and see my family and the people of BBC! God Bless!

Revival Night 2

Tonight was another great night of revival! I'm in agreement with the saying that every round goes higher and higher! We were blessed tonight with the presence of several local pastors who showed themselves to be very friendly.

Tonight, I preached from Job 1:8-12 although some of the sermon material covered the entire book of Job. The message was entitled, "What to do when the hedge is removed" Here's the basic outline.

When the hedge is removed, you must:

1. Worship

2. Witness

3. Wait

God blessed the exposition and presentation of this passage! The people were both receptive and responsive to the preaching. This has been a tremendous revival and I am sad that it is coming to an end. New Beginnings is a great church with a great pastor. I am so grateful to God for allowing me to meet Pastor Johnson. After worship, the preachers and I enjoyed a rich and warm fellowship at a restaurant.

It's late, I'm tired, and have a full day on tomorrow. God Bless!

Revival Night 1

Today was an awesome day! I flew out from Chicago at 6am, and landed safely in Atlanta! God be praised. Pastor Johnson and his associate minister Rev. Churchwell met me at the airport and were very helpful and friendly. I was so excited to be back in Columbus, GA! I was really excited about preaching this year. Not only because I get an opportunity to express my convictions about Christ, but when I arrived last year, I was sick and had no voice and preaching those 5 nights was a struggle for me. Thanks be to God, that this year, I am feeling fine.

They dropped me off at my room to get some rest and I could hardly rest because of the excitement I had about preaching! When we arrived at church, people were already there excited about the revival. Pastor Johnson did something very unique and commendable in my view. The church gathered on Monday and Tuesday to pray for the revival. Needless to say, that after 2 powerful days of prayer, there was an atmosphere of praise in the place!

I anxiously approached the preaching moment and as it drew closer, I had to ask the Lord to calm me down so I could communicate His Word clearly. Tonight I preached a message from Daniel 3:15-18, entitled "Furnace Faith" Here's the outline.

Furnace Faith:

1. Accepts the Challenge

2. Announces the Creator

3. Astounds the Critics

God blessed the exposition and presentation of this passage! The people were both receptive and responsive to the preached Word! God gave further evidence of His presence, as a little girl came to give her life to the Lord! Hallelujah!!! I am really looking forward to the remainder of this revival as we are expecting God to continue to manifest Himself in the place!

I'm going to bed now so that I can be rested and refreshed! See you tomorrow! God Bless and pray for us!

Sunday Summary

We had a wonderful day of worship this past Lord's Day at BBC! I got started late, because I forgot to set my clock an hour ahead. Therefore, I missed prayer meeting. I thought my day was going downhill from there. However, I could tell when I arrived that the saints at BBC had been in prayer! I arrived ready to preach God's Word!

We were few in number, but mighty in spirit! I was extremely blessed by the ministry of the mass choir ! They really prepare the worshipers for the Word of God! We continued in our series entitled, " No more Drama". Sunday's message was from the book of James. I preached a message from James 1:12-17, entitled " A Tussle with Temptation" Here's the basic outline:

1. Resist the strength of temptation

2. Recognize the source of temptation

3. Remember the solution for temptation

God really blessed the exposition and the presentation of this message! I am grateful to God for this series! It has been a blessing to me as well as the people of God!

Pray for me as I will be travelling to Columbus, Georgia as the guest evangelist at the New Beginnings Baptist Church, where the pastor is fellow blogger Rev. J.D. Johnson, http://pastorjdjohnson.blogspot.com/ , for their Spring Revival. This is my 2nd year preaching for Pastor Johnson and I am really excited. He has a group of believers that are really on fire for God. They are both receptive and responsive to the preaching of the Word of God! I will post during each night of the revival! See you soon!

Sunday Summary

We had a wonderful day of worship this Lord's Day at BBC! Our Christian Education Dept. is in charge of Early Morning Prayer Meeting this month. The topic of today was compassion. The Spirit of God really moved in the place as the people poured out their hearts to God asking Him to place it in their hearts to be more compassionate toward their fellow man. The desire of the prayer meeting was that we would be as compassionate with others as God is with us! Through this ministry of prayer I am watching the Saints at BBC mature right in front of me! God be praised!

Worship started off with a bang as we baptized 5 new converts into the family of God! Our choir was really on point today and everything flowed just perfect. I normally don't list the songs they sing but I really want to share as much of my worship experience with you as possible. Our choir opened up with, "God is an awesome God", followed by "My worship is for real"! This really charged the atmosphere as the Saints went up in Praise and Thanksgiving to our God. After altar prayer, the choir continued with "Because of who you are" and "Calvary". Praise God for a music director that is in tune with the Spirit of God and can move as God is moving!

This set the atmosphere for preaching! I was really excited about beginning this new preaching series. The series is called "No More Drama". The first message was from 1 Thessalonians 4:11, which says, "And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you." The message was entitled, "Drama Free Living". Here's the basic outline:

1. Manage your behavior (Study to be quiet)

2. Mind your business (Do your own business)

3. Move your body (Work with your own hands)

God blessed the exposition of this passage! I was not expecting a celebratory response from preaching like this, but I received some very favorable feedback from this message! Several members came up to me and said that this is exactly what they needed. God be praised!

I believe that God was pleased with our offering of corporate worship on today! Pray for us this week as we continuously endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace! God Bless!

I also wanted to let my blogging family know that you can catch a glimpse of a worship experience at BBC via youtube! Have a great week and see you on Wednesday!

Wednesday in the Word

We had a wonderful Wednesday in the Word!! Both of our Bible classes were well attended and Teacher's Meeting was a tremendous success! God be praised!

Our Sunday School lesson came from Ezekiel 11:14-21. The lesson was entitled "A New Heart" Ezekiel was told by God to let the people know that wherever they were scattered God would be a sanctuary for them there! It is great for us to know that God is not confined to a geographical location? He can meet us and we can be in His presence right where we are! This news brought great joy to the Israelite captives because they were displaced and disconnected from the Temple.

He also promised to do something else for them. He said that He would give them a new heart, so that they could keep God's commands. I got real excited when we explored this part of the story. God knows that on our own power, we cannot keep His Word, so He gives us the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to assist us in doing His Will. What a Gracious God we serve. There were several other points in this lesson, but those were a few of the highlights we touched on.

Bible Study was off the chain! I will say this early. I have seminary training and know the difference between preaching and teaching, but today I admit that I raised up just a bit! We are continuing our series in Romans. Today we looked at Romans 4:18-25. This chapter deals with justification by faith. We see that through the life of Abraham that God justifies by faith, not our works, not our religious rites, nor by the law.

This is an awesome passage filled with promise! It has already been stated that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Having said this the text goes on to explain in verses 18-21, "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

This about knocked me over! I wonder today can we believe God in spite of what it looks like? All Abraham had was God's promise, but that's all Abraham needed! He was so confident that God was going to do what He said that Abraham forgot that he was almost 100 and Sarah was almost 90! Someone once said that we don't realize that God is all we need until God is all we have left!

He was not divided between God's Word and his wisdom, but rather was strengthened by his faith and had full confidence in the fact that if God promised it, God would perform it! That's a word for someone today. Stop looking at what's going on around you and remember what God promised you! It doesn't matter if it makes sense to anyone or even yourself, just trust His promise! If God promised it, God will perform it! If God tells you a duck can pull a truck, just be quiet and hook the duck up!

God will do what He said He will do! The problem is not with God but with us. We have to have the patience to wait and the perseverance to walk. What do you mean walk? There's a promise of blessing, but there's also a place of blessing, and you have to walk by faith from promise to place. I know what you may be thinking; there are pitfalls, potholes, problems, and persecutions, but there's also a promise of His Presence. If we walk by faith, God will lead us from promise to place by His Presence!

The lesson closed by letting us know that Christ died for our sins, but was raised for our justification! This is where it got real heavy! Christ’s resurrection was the proof, the demonstration and vindication of God’s acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice! If you ever question the fact that you're forgiven, go check out the tomb! He's not there! Above the tomb is a sign that says, "He is not here, He is risen!" Living He loved me! Dying He saved me! Buried He carried my sins far away! Rising He justified me, freed me forever! One day He's coming back, what a glorious day!

I'm still in a blaze from this Wednesday in the Word! Well it's late and I just found out that I have to preach at our District Board Meeting in a few hours, so let me get some sleep. Pray for us that the Lord gives us strength and power to preach His Word! I will post later to let you know how it went. Be Blessed!

Sunday Summary

Greetings All,

I know I haven't been a good steward lately to the blogging bunch, so please accept my apologies and keep my in your prayers.

We had a wonderful day of worship this past Lord's Day! Our prayer service was very inspiring, as the topic of prayer was self examination. The heart felt cries of God's people went out as we petitioned God to allow us to give us the mind to honestly look at ourselves and make the needed changes to live a more productive life for Christ. It amazes me how the Lord just lines things up for our benefit.

After the prayer service, the Sunday School lesson was from Isaiah 6:1-8 entitled, "A commitment to change". This was a powerful lesson and since i didn't go over it on Wednesday in a post, here's what I taught the teachers. If you will have a commitment to change you must:

1. Change your view of the Savior
2. Change your view of your Self
3. Change your view of Service

This was a powerful and practical lesson for all to embrace!

One of the things that I have noticed about most Christians is that they like predictability in worship. Even if it's "off the chain church" they want to know that in advance. I generally preach in robes at home. When I come to the pulpit in a suit, it means that someone else is going to preach. This is such a pattern that when my preachers did not see me change, they began to wonder who was going to preach. I have taught them to be ready at all times. They began to casually scroll through their bibles just in case the were the one.

When I went to the pulpit, I could see the looks of wonder on the faces of the congregation wondering who was going to preach. My choir director asked me if I was going to sing my song today because she thought that I was not preaching. Worship was fantastic! The choir was a real blessing to all as they sang Zion songs. I was anxious about the preaching moment because from Early Morning Prayer Service until the moment I mounted the pulpit the flow had been the same, and wouldn't you know, the message that the Lord gave me fell right in line! I preached a message from Luke 15;11-24. We know this as the parable of the prodigal son. I entitled the message, "There's no place like home!" Here's the basic outline:

At home you will find:

1. A Forgiving Father

2. A Feast of Food

3. Future Fellowship

God really blessed the exposition of this text even though I felt this was not one of my better presentations, and the Lord demonstrated His approval by sending a candidate for baptism! God be praised! The older I get, the more I discover the truth of the scripture that says, " His strength is made perfect in my weakness."

Sunday was our Mass Choir Anniversary! Our choir works so very hard, and they play an integral part of our corporate worship! This was their day to celebrate and thank God for another year of service. Our special guest were the Community Baptist Church of Elkhart, Indiana, and their pastor, Rev. Lefate Owens. This has been a fellowship in our church for several years. Pastor Owens is a well seasoned and very energetic preacher, who really gave us something to think about. I wont post his outline, but we all left there in amazement! All in all, I believe that God was pleased with our offering of public worship!

Pray for us as we have already began preparation for our new preaching series that will begin on this coming Lord's Day entitled, "No More Drama". This is a series on spiritual maturity in the church and in our lives.

I am excited as the DVD ministry is really beginning to take form and our website is under construction! I praise God for these new avenues of ministry!

Well, I must get on my way as I have a meeting today about the Gun Buy Back! Pray for us that it will be a success as we try and do our part to "Serve this present age". God Bless!!!

Sunday Summary

What a wonderful day of worship at BBC! We had our Friends and Family Day this past Sunday, and the Spirit of God met us there! Our Early Morning Prayer Service was a blessing for all! God met us in the meeting and poured out His Spirit in that service. Again, I must say that this Early Morning Prayer Meeting has brought new life into our church family.

Morning Worship was simply outstanding! Everything just seemed to flow so well. As a matter of fact, worship was so good, the closer I got to the preaching moment, the more nervous I became. I certainly did not want to mess up an experience like this with my presentation of preaching. I was excited and nervous at the same time. During the sermonic hymn, I heard a voice say, "Do what you have been called to do". After that I was fine. I preached a message from Acts 12:1-10 entitled, "How to handle a crisis". Here's the basic outline;

1. Sovereignty of God's Purpose

2. Service of God's People

3. Superiority of God's Peace

4. Splendor of God's Power

God truly blessed the exposition and presentation of this message! Friends and Family Day was a tremendous success! So many people brought guests and they enjoyed the worship experience at BBC. I had several people suggest that we should do this more often! We presented 3 people that brought the most people with gift cards. After worship we went to the fellowship hall for food, fellowship, and fun.

All in all I believe that God was pleased with our presentation of public worship on today! Pray for us this week ! God Bless!

Sunday Summary

We had wonderful day of worship at BBC this Lord's Day! As normal, we started off with our Early Morning Prayer Meeting. Our Usher's Ministry is providing leadership for the month of February. This prayer meting has been a real blessing to our church. It has helped to revitalize our worship and it has put the driving force behind many of the things that the Lord has given us to do.

During this week of sermon preparation, I was tossed between 3 passages and really in turmoil about what to preach. Later in the week than i would've liked, a passage finally settled in me. There was a heavy burden on me to exhort the congregation in the midst of these troubling times to put their trust in the Lord. i was excited about the preaching moment. I preached a message from Psalm 121. The message was entitled, "Help is on the way". Here's the outline;

Help is on the Way
Psalm 121

1. Provider
1. Creator v.2
2. Confidence
A. You won’t slip v. 3a
B. He won’t sleep v. 3b-4

2. Protector
1. Battle v.5
2. Being v.6
A. Sun – Body
B. Moon – Brain

3. Preserver
1. Adversaries
2. All Ages

God truly blessed the exposition and the reception of the Word was great! God be praised! I am truly excited about the new things going on at BBC. We made some changes to our Morning Worship that help service to flow real smooth. Also, on last week, the DVD ministry was started! Special thanks to Monica and Cory Brazier for volunteering their time, talent, and treasure to help us begin this form of outreach!

I thought I would be able to rest today, but I had to attend a school board meeting because they are getting ready to embark upon some new forms of education, meaning a new tech high school and a high school program that gives kids enough college credit to obtain an Associates degree. I was very interested in this and wanted to see if these new avenues of education would be available to all South Bend residents and not just some. The matter will be voted on next Monday. Keep our School Corporation in your prayers.

This will prove to be a busy week as we are getting ready for Gun Buy Back 2009 and as I am preparing my 1st Agenda as IMA president. Please keep me in your prayers that all of these endeavors do not keep me from my first love and calling and that is to PREACH!!! God Bless!!!

Sunday Summary

What a day of worship today!!! I got a chance to sleep in this morning, at the advice of Deacon Trellis Porter. He conducted prayer service in my stead and I am grateful to God for his faithfulness and leadership that he demonstrates in BBC! I have a good group of men that I can depend on, and I am eternally grateful for them.

When I got to BBC, I was very rested and restless at the same time. I was excited about preaching! The worship service was a real blessing to the people of God! I approached the preaching moment with great anticipation, and after my hymn of preparation, "Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross" I was ready. I preached a message from Luke 13:10-13. I struggled with a title for this message all week long almost until the preaching moment. When I was in the pulpit, the title came to me, "Jesus can straighten it out" Here's the outline:

1. Her Condition
A. Cause
B. Crippling
C. Commitment

2. Her Call
A. Consideration
B. Command
C. Communication

3. Her Cure
A. Contact
B. Comfort
C. Celebration

God truly blessed the exposition of this text! We had a very high time in the Lord, as a result of the preaching of the Gospel!

I was also glad to see my family from Gary come to worship with us. They were in attendance because at 4pm, I was going to be installed as the President of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of St. Joseph County. Thia is a tremendous honor for me and I am thankful for the opportunity to serve with such great pastors and preachers as those of the South Bend area!

For an occasion such as this, I could not think of anyone greater to preach than my pastor, Dr. Isaac Culver, Jr. He preached his can off!!! We were charged and challenged to seize the opportunity that God has blessed us with! I thank God for my pastor!! I really look forward to serving with the other officers and members of the IMA!! I believe that God is going to do great things for us as we seek to make St. Joseph County a better place to live for all.

Pray for us as we go to work! In closing, I want to thank God for BBC as well as my family for sharing me with others so that we can be a blessing to someone. For the words of the song ring true, "If I can help someone along the way, If I can help someone with a word or a song, or if I can help some sinner who has gone wrong, THEN my living shall not be in vain".

God Bless!!!

Wednesday in the Word

This has been a wonderful Wednesday in the Word! All of our classes resumed on today! I was extremely excited about teaching Bible Class and Sunday School teacher's meeting again. When it was time for our "Hour of Power" class, I was presently surprised with the attendance. Our class was very insightful and a blessing to be involved with.

When it was time for Sunday School teacher's meeting, I was bubbling over with joy over something that the Lord had revealed to me! The lesson for this Sunday is a very great lesson entitled, Preparing for Commitment, taken from Judges 13. This is the story of the events preceding the birth of Samson.

There were several things that popped out at me, but I will just share a few of them in this post. The first thing I saw was an excitement about the Word of God. The wife of Manoah received a Word from God that she was going to have a son. This was great news to her because she was barren! She was genuinely excited about this Word from God. I f we will be committed Christians, we must become excited about the Word of God. I wonder about the level of excitement about the Word of God that exists in some churches today. There is never a problem filling up a concert or an athletic event, but many times we are hard pressed to find people who are genuinely excited about the Word of God!

Now her excitement was demonstrated by what she did next. Her excitement led to evangelism. She immediately went and told her husband about all of the wonderful things that she had heard from the Man of God. If our excitement is authentic, it will lead us into doing something other than being excited. Often times there are emotional moments that end up with empty meaning because there has been no action. We can sing, shout, or fall out, but what do we do when that is done? She went and told her husband! We see evangelism all in this. When we are excited about God, we don't have a problem telling others about His goodness, His faithfulness, and His mighty acts toward us. We must be committed to telling others about the good news of Jesus Christ!

The last thing I would like to lift here is Manoah's eagerness to respond to the Word of God! As soon as he heard this, the text records that he went into prayer! This was not a prayer of doubt, but of faith. He went to God to ask Him what was he supposed to do as a result of hearing the Word of God. I asked the class how often do they go home after church and ask God about what they are supposed to do as a result of hearing His Word. I also asked about how many are praying for God to show them what to do when preaching is taking place. The lesson ends with a very simple biblical principle. Manoah's wife did what God said and as a result, she got what God said that she could have!

Bible Study was off the chain! I wish I could share the whole lesson with you. We continued in the book of Romans. Today we looked at Romans 3:1-8. Previously we dealt with how God deals with the heathen and the hypocrite. Today we dealt with How God deals with the Hebrew. The Jews believed that they had certain advantages and privileges because they were God's chosen people. Paul quickly refuted this by letting them know that neither their rites or religion could save them. So then the question was asked, "What advantage has the Jew, or what benefit is there from circumcision?" Paul responded by saying that the advantage they had was that they had the oracles of God committed to them. What an advantage!!! These things that they put their trust in could not save them but, they identified them as children of God. We need to be mindful of this same truth. Remember the context, "The just shall live by faith!"

I like how how lesson ended with verse 8. Paul was accused of teaching that you should do evil, so that good may come. I like how Paul handled this, he didn't! He gave the matter over to God to let Him handle it! How much further along and better would we be if we would do just that? Paul did not validate or qualify their statements, he just gave them to the Lord. We waste too much time chasing down gossip and rumors. You can never stop people from talking about you. However, you can make sure that what they are saying is not true.

Today was a great day and I thank God for it! Pray for me as I have another day full of meetings!

Weekend Wrap Up

This was a wonderful weekend filled with worship of a worthy God!! Our Early Morning prayer service was very uplifting as the prayer warriors at BBC prayed concerning servant hood this past Lord's Day! I am always strengthened by the prayers of the saints!

On Sunday, we celebrated our Officer's Installation Service during the morning worship. Our special guest was Rev Dr. Marion J Johnson, Jr, pastor of the Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church of Gary, In. He preached a timely message from Exodus 17, entitled "The driving force behind ministry". Our officers were then installed and charged with the task of leadership and following leadership for the upcoming year. I am expecting great things from our leadership this year!


On Sunday afternoon, the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of St. Joseph County, held it's Annual MLK service. This worship experience was held at the Greater St. John MBC, where Rev. Andre A. McGhee is the pastor. Our very special guest was Pastor Addis Moore and the Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. I can only describe it this way, "We had us some church up in there, up in there!" His choir was phenomenal, but paled in comparison to the preached word from Dr. Moore. His text was 2 Chronicles 7:14, and his message was entitled, "The power is in the Church". This was a call for the church to be the church because we have been given a Divine obligation to bring change in the lives of those that we come in contact with. I was really challenged and inspired to do more as a result of the preached Word!!


One of the things that I absolutely love about South Bend is the amount of things that they do to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his legacy. There are things going on from 7:30 in the morning until 9:00 at night, and they are all enjoyable. I participated in the Traditional March that goes from the County-City building to the Convention Center. This is a wonderful event and it always puts me in the mind frame of those who marched for our rights and civil liberties.


During the ceremony that preceded the march, I was asked to participate in the Night Worship Service as the speaker. I humbly and graciously accepted. I was grateful for the opportunity and I believe that God was pleased with the presentation. I am really grateful to God for all of the doors of ministry that only He can provide. I can truly say that not only am I walking in my Divine purpose, but I'm living out my dreams at the same time to serve humanity and make a difference with the life and time that God has given me! Hallelujah!!!


I am really excited about Bible Study on tomorrow. I didn't get to teach last week because we were snowed in. Hopefully the weather will not present these problems tomorrow. I am also excited about preaching on Sunday! Pray for us as we continue in the grace of our God!!

Wednesday WOW!!

I saw this clip on Pastor HB Charles Facebook page and thought it would make interesting conversation. Please tell me what you think!!

Weekend Wrap Up

This past weekend has been one of the most exciting weekends of my ministry! On Saturday about 60 saints from BBC and GCC joined together to minister to the needs of the community. There was a truck of food and personal care items that we passed out in Harbor Homes, which is a housing development near BBC. This may not sound like much until I tell you that there was 8 inches of snow on the ground! In spite of all of the snow, everyone was enthusiastic about meeting the immediate need of these residents. Every home that we went to, we were received warmly and had an opportunity to meet new families and pray for them. This was a great expression and I know that the residents of Harbor Homes were appreciative! Every time I think about it, I get excited all over again! Several of the members that participated are now eager to do more ministry outside of the walls of the church building!

With this kind of Saturday, I could not wait until Sunday to preach. I must admit that sermon preparation was difficult for me this week because of the text that I was going to preach. When I read the blogs of Pastor Ray Owens and Pastor Ronald Saunders, I noticed that both of them recently preached wonderful messages on the same passage. In my preparation, I did not want to run into either one of their outlines and I still wanted to be doctrinally sound and socially relevant.

When I arrived at BBC on Sunday morning for prayer, I was still bubbly from the day before. Our prayer service was spirited as we petitioned God about relationships, ours with Him and the ours with others. I'm a firm believer that if we can relate to God right, we should have no problem relating to one another. This prayer service has been a blessing to our church.

This past Sunday, we were blessed by songs from our Male Chorus. I approached the preaching moment with great anticipation. I am extremely grateful to God for counting me faithful enough to preach His word! I preached a message from Luke 13:6-9. This is the parable of the barren fig tree. At points in our existence, all of our lives have mirrored this fig tree. We have been positioned in a good place, given access to sufficient resources, and consistently fail to produce. I got happy when the Liaison said let it alone this year also. The word also suggests that this wasn't the first time that the Owner wanted the tree down, but thank God for the Liaison!! The message was entitled " Let it alone this year also". Here's the basic outline:

1. The action fitting judgment.

2. The announcement foretelling judgment.

3. The appeal forgoing judgment.

God really blessed the exposition as several members came to me after church desiring to be more involved. I look forward to what God is going to do through our church in 2009!

After morning worship, Pastor McGhee and I travelled back home to Gary to attend the 12 Night Revival. Pastor Keith Winfield and Pastor Raymond McDonald II both preached excellent messages. I really thank God for the fellowship that exists between the pastors in Gary. It is a breath of fresh air to see so many men of God come together and worship. On yesterday we went back down to hear the President of the conference, who happens to be my pastor, Rev Isaac Culver Jr., pastor of the Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church of Gary. He preached a timely message from Esther entitled "It's your time!" I may be a little biased, but my pastor set the place on fire last night!

I pray that God was pleased with our offerings of worship!

Pray for us as Bible Study resumes this Wednesday, so the Wednesday in the Word posts will resume as well. God Bless!!!

Sunday Summary

Happy New Year to my blog family! I pray God's choicest blessings upon you all this year. We had an delightful day of worship at BBC this past Lord's Day. The Hospitality Ministry is providing leadership in prayer for this month. The topic of prayer for this past Sunday was Restoration and Renewal. There has been a spirit of heaviness in our church do to the recent misfortune of one of the members, but the prayers were fervent and God answered!

We started off this year baptizing 2 adults. This set the tone for worship! I was expecting our morning worship to be a little bumpy because we did some rearranging to our order of worship. I think the changes will allow the service to flow better and make a better worship experience for all. I was ready and eager to preach in spite of the few bumps in the road. I preached a message from Ecclesiastes 7:13-14, entitled "How to be Better". Here's the basic outline.

1. Recognize Dominion

2. Responsible Duty

3. Regular Dependence

I experienced some vocal problems and my delivery was a little off, but God has a way of making up the difference. God blessed the exposition and when the call to Christian Discipleship was extended 3 new candidates for baptism came forward! God Be Praised!!

Pastor McGhee and I traveled back home to Gary to attend the 31st annual 12 Night Revival. The revival is the first 12 nights of the year at a different location with a different evangelist every night, except on Sundays where there are 2 evangelists. We were blessed to hear Pastor Thomas Fuller of the Holy Bethel Baptist Church of Gary and Pastor Levern Swain of the Koinonia Baptist Church of Gary. Both preachers preached excellent messages. I was extremely blessed by the preaching of the gospel!

Pray for us this week as everything is back to normal and at full speed. We began our Food Pantry this past Sunday and on Saturday, BBC along with Grainger Community Church will be distributing 100 food baskets and 100 boxes of personal care items to Harbor Homes which is a housing development close to BBC. This is a good way to start off the new year and I look forward to partnering with our friends and co-laborers in Christ from GCC!