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!!!