Well since this is kind of my blog I wanted to tell you that our youngest daughter just turned 27 on Monday. Joy Soncco is our baby girl. She is married to Julio and has two children –Benjamin and Lelia. They serve in Peru as missionaries from our church and help Chris and Andria in the ministry of the Peru Bible College.
Joy has been a special blessing to her parents. The night she was going to be born Betty began to feel the labor pains. Betty said that she wasn’t sure she wanted to have a baby. I told Betty that it was a little too late for that decision!!!!
Then I told Betty don’t worry “weeping may endure for a night but JOY comes in the morning!” At 2:30 AM more or less JOY was born. She is my little girl and I can never tell you how much I love her and miss her. I hope she had a very wonderful birthday. Subscribe to Vision News by Email
This just came in from David Lundy: The latest drought news is pretty dry!
Don’t know the source of this official drought information, but:
It’s so dry in Georgia that the Baptists are starting to baptize by sprinkling; the Methodists are using wet-wipes, the Presbyterians are giving out rain-checks, and the Catholics are praying for the wine to turn back into water.
Don’t forget that this Sunday will be Time Change Sunday. On Saturday night before you go to bed you will need to set your clock back one hour! So that means that if you go to bed at 11 just set your clock to 10 so that you will know the right time the next morning.
Now to be honest here in the office we have been joking about not reminding you to change your clock so that those of you that do not come to Sunday School will show up early and be here for Sunday School. That would let you see just how exciting and good our classes are on Sunday for both your children and you.
Those who already come to Sunday School would get here an hour earlier and we could take the time to get to know each other better or you could go pick up some children or something like that.
Well do not forget to set your clock forward because we will be having a very special time this Sunday and you are not going to want to miss it.
It is fall now for sure–freezing temperatures around Atlanta last night. It is a wonderful time of the year. I love this weather. So you are settled in now for the Fall and Winter–your children are in school, vacation time is over–lets get together in church and grow in grace and serve God together in this time.
Well yesterday was Mother in law’s day. I find it very humorous that they tell us to celebrate that day the same week as Halloween but what can I say. No one has more jokes made about them than the mother in law, I guess.
Yesterday, my mother in law, Evelyn Ferguson came to the service. She has been my mother in law now for over 34 years and she has been a good mother in law. I am very grateful to her and for her. She along with my father in law raised the most wonderful woman that I have ever know, Betty–obviously. They put up with a guy that was way too young to marry their daughter or raise their grandchildren. They have helped us over the years many times and have always been supportive.
I hope that my son in laws and daughter in laws came say the same type of things about Betty and me that I have been able to say about Mrs. Evelyn Ferguson.
God has been good to me. I thank Him for all that He has done in every way possible to bless me and work in my life. I thank Him for the salvation that He has given me by His grace.
Jonathan, Allison, Patrick and Randy all became members of Vision Baptist Church this morning. What an honor and privilege to have our good friends join us in our endeavor to glorify the God of Heaven. I love the Clapps and count it a great honor to have them join our church. I hope you will give them a very warm welcome and be praying for them as part of our family.
Today was our Family Fun Fall Festival and God blessed us greatly. We had 8 adult visitors with 112 in Sunday School and 141 in the AM service. The message was pretty hard and straight. God wants us all to Risk our lives to allow Him to direct us in every area of our lives. I hope that the message will soon be available for download but it not you should ask for the CD.
I want to invite you to check out Mark Tolson’s blog and see some pictures from today’s activities from after the service. It was a blast and seeing the shower tank wetting the guys down. Everyone did a great job with the games. All in all it was a great day.
I am looking forward to the service tonight that will start in just a couple of hours. We will see Fussing and Fighting in the Church. The council of Jerusalem was a very important date in church history. Don’t miss it.
We are headed towards November real fast now. The weather is beautiful. This is a wonderful time of the year. I believe that God is doing a work that is beyond our wildest imagination. I am excited about our future. It is wonderful to see God bringing in just the right families to build a work for His honor and glory.
Hugh sent me this in an email and I thought you might enjoy the truth in it so I asked his permission to put it on the blog for you.
My cardiologist told me regular exercise is important to stave off a valve replacement. So I hike Sawnee Mountain every day (weather permitting).
The other day in the morning I noticed a lot of home schooling mothers with their children in the parking lot. Not thinking much about it, I went on my walk. There are two ways to climb the mountain, one easier than the other. I take the longer, steeper route to give the heart and lungs a workout.
Over a mile into it the trail starts to get quite steep complete with a ’switchback’. A little ahead there was a woman with one small child in her arms and another crying by her side.
She asked for help wanting to know which way to go, she’d never been there before. Her choices were to turn back the way she came or press ahead. The way back was downhill but longer. The way ahead was even steeper but much shorter. She chose the way ahead.
I related that story to the nursing home folks with the following admonition:
Your walk with Christ down the trail of life has led you too far to turn back now. While the way back is easy, it’s a retreat that wipes out all the progress you’ve made to date. The way ahead promises to be even more challenging yet we get the benefit of being exercised to strengthen us and the end of the trail with its rest is just a bit further on.
Robert Canfield and Kelli Perkins are now married. Tony Howeth did a wonderful job as he married them and then pronounced them Mr. and Mrs. Robert Canfield. They will be back in a week. They will be missed but we are all happy for them and very proud of them.
I had the privilege of asking who gave the woman in Holy Matrimony and then preaching a short evangelistic message. I am also impressed when I see the bride in a beautiful Christ honoring white dress that symbolizes the purity that we only get from Jesus Christ and His blood that he shed on the cross of Calvary.
I am always thrilled when I see two super fine young people like Robert and Kelli get married in holiness and purity. I am blessed to know that they plan to serve God with all of their lives. I am privileged to be their pastor and to also have a part in training them for the ministry.
Well I am really looking forward to tomorrow morning. Trent just wrote to tell me of a very good group of young people that they hope to have in their class tomorrow. I know that David Lundy is working hard to have a good group of children. I know that the activities will all be fun.
But most of all I am happy and excited about a chance to preach. I didn’t get to preach on Thursday and so I am really ready to open the Word of God and share its wonderful truths with you. I will be preaching a message about Risking your life for the cause of Christ.
In the evening we will see a message about the Fussing and Fighting in the church. It is going to be a good day. God is going to do a great work in our lives. I know that He has plans for us that are greater than we could ever imagine.
God has been doing some pretty spectacular things in our church recently. He is blessing. I see it all coming together for great things to happen.
Did I tell you thank you for allowing me to be your pastor? Did I tell you how blessed i feel right now? I honestly feel the emotion bursting from my heart as I think of you all.
Thursday evening Brother Wayne preached a tremendous message on soul winning. God blessed us with 117 in attendance but of course only about 55 or 60 were in the auditorium for the great message. Those of you that were working in Master Clubs I hope you will get the CD. The altars were full of people as they prayed for their friends and family that do not know Jesus Christ.
After preaching Brother Wayne announced that he would soon be a grandfather again. Trent and Stephanie will be having a baby and we all request your prayers for them. God has tremendously blessed our church with these fine young people.
I plan on having him back sometime when he can bring a group from the church to be with us also. Please pray for their services tomorrow.
Benjamin Armstrong and the guys from the TV station have made the following video to send to Ireland for their mission’s conference. I know that you will enjoy it. I thank God for Chris and all the work he does in the Bible College. Our son in law Julio also is helping greatly and I thank God for him also.
