I hope you have heard by now that God greatly blessed at the new Hope Baptist Church in Middletown, New York. I spoke with Wayne Cooke, the pastor, and also Jeremy Hall who was with them. They had 11 in the service and over a $400 offering. God is working.
Today He also worked greatly in our church! Three were baptized. We had 128 in Sunday School and 168 in the morning service. God allowed us to begin our studies in I Peter with a study on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ which is the guarantee of our Eternal Security.
In every way this was a very special morning and I praise God for what He did and is doing in His church at Vision.
I am looking forward to the evening service because in just a few minutes we will take the Lord’s Supper after doing a detailed study of the subject.
Can I get you to pray for one more thing today! God has been so good to us and has done so much to get the gospel out to the world. It is His harvest and we know that. He is doing the work. I heard from Nathan Saunders in Montana this week and was impressed to hear how God is building His work.
I now want to ask you to be in very special prayer as I am for Wayne Cooke and his family. Tomorrow will be his first service in the brand new church. Hope Baptist Church will have a Bible study as they prepare to have a great Celebration service in the fall.
It is always a scary time as you start from scratch and that is exactly what Pastor Cooke is doing. Will you pray for him. I wish that I could be there with him to help him and encourage him but I have to be at my post.
I do thank God that Jeremy Hall is there with him. I can’t wait until tomorrow afternoon to hear all the great things that God does. Will you pray with us for Hope Baptist Church, Middletown, New York.
I just found out why Anne missed church on Thursday night! She has the Chicken Pox. She is an extremely faithful worker for the Lord and in our church. She and her husband David are in charge of our children’s ministry. Please be sure and pray for her that she will soon recover and be back in her place of service — where she wants to be.
Easter is always a very special day. I wanted to ask you to be in prayer for our sister churches that I know of right here in the area and other places as well. I hope that you will pray for our missionaries around the world that God will use them tomorrow. Pray especially for those that are members of our church and the places where they will be preaching tomorrow.
But I also wanted to ask you to pray for our sister churches right here.
Pray for Greater Heights Baptist Church in Cumming. The pastor is Chris Grinstead. They are the former Sharon Baptist Church and have been used greatly of God for many years. God has blessed them with new land to build on and a new temporary meeting place very close to Cumming. Pray for them tomorrow as they have their first service in the new building. I am asking God to bless them greatly.
Pray for our dear friends at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Dawsonville where Charles Blackstock is the pastor. They are dear friends and have been so for many years now. I am praying that God will give them their best attendance ever and souls saved and new people joining the church.
Pray for Derik Lawrence and the Victory Baptist Church. We have no dearer friends than them. They are getting ready to build and are already having to have multiple services. It is an honor to see what God is doing and I pray that they will be bursting out the seams tomorrow. I am not sure exactly what day it is but Pastor Lawrence is also celebrating a birthday and so we send our Best Birthday wishes.
Pray for Pastor Gary Leford at the University Baptist Church in Atlanta that God will bless their church in a great way tomorrow. Pastor Ledford is a very special man with a great heart for the Lord and His work in our area of the world.
Pray for Pastor Wayne Cofield and the Whitfield Baptist Church in Dalton. Pray that God will give them great results for His honor and glory tomorrow. This was our home church for many years as we served as missionaries.
Pray for Pastor Jon Williams at the Bible Baptist Church in Gainesville that God would just fill their church to overflowing and give the pastor exactly what to say for His honor and glory.
Pray for Keith Lee at the Fellowship Baptist Church that God would do great things in their lives and ministry tomorrow. They have gone through a lot with the birth of their new baby and always need our prayers.
There are other churches in the area that I pray for but do not yet have the opportunity to know the pastors well or have not seen them recently like Pastor Bob Baines at Berean Baptist Church, New Light Baptist Church on Post Road, Grace Bible Family Fellowship Independent Baptist Church in Cumming, Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Cumming,Refuge Baptist Church in Cumming, Antioch Baptist Church in Cumming, Whispering Hope Baptist Church in Cumming, Victory Baptist in Cumming, Lebanon Baptist in Roswell, Truway Baptist, Philadelphia Baptist in Alpharetta, Reformers Baptist, Field of the Woods Baptist, Christian Hope Baptist, Blessed Hope Baptist, County Line Baptist, and I am sure that there are many others that I am forgetting or do not know about.
I hope that you will pray for everyone, anywhere that will lift high the name of Jesus tomorrow. Let’s pray that He get great honor and praise tomorrow and every day. Let’s pray for other churches like ours that are working so hard in this area to get the gospel out.
There is no way that all of us together will get the job done. There is too much to do. We need God to send and old fashion moving of the Holy Spirit amongst us.
Don’t forget the previous post that tells us that Forsyth County has plenty of work for all of us to do.
God has allowed our church to be placed in Forsyth County. Whenever you go fishing you want to go where the fish are and where they are biting. Here is some more news about our county. You can click here to get the source of this information.
“Three Georgia counties have drawn significant populations in the past year, ranking among the top 10 in the nation in growth rate.
Forsyth County ranked No. 8 in the nation, increasing its population by 7.2 percent, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday. It was the fastest-growing Georgia county.
“Once they discovered us, they’re all moving here,” said Forsyth County Commissioner Linda Ledbetter, a lifelong resident.
“It’s the greatest place to be. We’re 40 miles from Atlanta and we have Route 400 to get you there. We’re six hours from the beach and three hours from the mountains,” she said. The county added more than 10,000 people in one year, measured from July 1, 2006, to July 1, 2007.
While Jackson County broke the top 10 this year, Forsyth County has consistently been a pace setter for growth, placing sixth in the nation when looking at the time span of 2000 to 2007. Forsyth has grown by 62 percent in that time period, the census data show.”
This is great for a church that wants to reach souls. Some people are uncomfortable with growth but I am excited when I think of all the people that need to hear the gospel and God has put them in our back yard. I hope that you are praying for our church and its ministry.
I hope you will learn to look at our area as a mission field where God has placed us. Let’s do all in our power to get the gospel to the area. Invite your friends. Pray for your neighbors. See what you can do to personally get the gospel message to more people.
He said that He would make us fishers of men and I certainly hope that we really turn into that for sure. Pray for me that I will preach like I should tomorrow. Pray that God would use me. Pray that souls would get saved.
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. It is the most important holiday of the year. It is the year that we celebrate that Jesus Christ arose from the dead. He conquered death and the grave. Actually we celebrate that event every Sunday. I am not sure if you know this but one of the main reasons that we respect Sunday and worship on Sunday is that Jesus arose on the first day of the week. That is He arose on Sunday.
I hope that you will not miss but it is already getting ready to be a very special day. We will be baptizing several people. I will actually personally be baptizing my first person since we started the church. There is a very special testimony to share with you tomorrow. I hope that you will not miss it.
In the evening service we will continue with our classes on discipleship about the Lord’s Supper and then we will take the Lord’s Supper. I really do not think that you will want to miss this very special time. Come learn the Biblical lessons that are to be taught about the Lord’s supper and also participate in this super special form of worship.
I hope that you will always try to keep up to date on what God is doing with our church’s missionaries. As you know Tony Howeth is in Northern Ireland with Travis Snode. God is really using them both. They had 40 in attendance at one of the meetings this week. You can read about it by clicking on the different links. I praise the Lord for what He is doing in the lives and ministries of these two families and hope you will pray for them over this Easter week end.
Pray that God will give new people to attend the church and that someone will be saved and added to His church. Pray for Brother Tony and his ministry there with the Snodes.
Also our missionary Chris Gardner is in Peru visiting the Julio Soncco family and the work there. As you know Chris is back in the states raising money for the Peru Bible College. He made a short trip to Peru to preach there, be with the brethren and also to check on some things that might be done to help the Bible College financially. Chris will return to the states on Wednesday after Easter, Lord willing.
I hope that you will be praying for our missionaries around the world. Pray for all of them because God has given us a wonderful missionary family. Pray especially for those that are members of our church. Chris Gardner,Travis Snode, and Julio Soncco are members of Vision Baptist Church.
This Sunday evening we will have the Lord’s supper at Vision Baptist Church. This is Easter week. We are remembering that Jesus died on the cross for us and that He arose. We actually do this every week and every day but it is good that there is a day set aside each year to think about what He did for us on the cross of Calvary.
He arose. That is the seal of approval–the proof that He is who He said He is and that God accepted His sacrifice for our sins.
This Sunday evening we will celebrate once again all that He did for us in memory of Him. I love the Lord’s supper. It is a time of reflection and meditation for us as His children. He wants us to remember and to take the time to think about what He did. Get ready!
Who are you praying for this week that God will work in their life on Sunday morning. Who have you invited to be with us? Who will you be picking up?
See you Sunday for a Resurrection message from the book of I Peter!
Make sure that you have marked your calendar for May 5-7th! We will be hosting the Pastor’s Conference for World Evangelism. I hope that you will help us host all of our guests. We will be providing all the pastors with a food and lodging and 2 days of Conference.
We need help cooking, cleaning, serving, paying for the conference, praying, and a thousand other things so let us know if you can help with anything.
We will have 4 special preachers for the conference and you will be able to be with us on Monday and Tuesday nights. On Monday night we will have Tony Howeth and Wayne Cofield. On Tuesday night we will have Chris Gardner and Charles Blackstock.
You will not want to miss these very special days.
