PBA Kidz on Mission

Take a look at pictures of Jerod & Bro. Bob working hard at Camp Paron.
http://www.pbacares.com/templates/System/details.asp?id=32222&PID=403877&Style=

Impacting Eternity at the Cross Road of Life

Friends and Family Day

What a great day!  Attendance for Bible Study and Worship was outstanding.  The Apostles were wonderful.  The food was plentiful and delicious.  And the preaching was __________.  (You can fill in the blank!)

Thank you for supporting and participating in special days like Friends and Family Day.

Impacting Eternity at the Cross Road of Life

New Orleans

The trip to New Orleans was fantastic.  We are planning another trip in October.  Start planning now to take part; you will be blessed.

Our team was able to complete hanging sheet rock in two houses, install plumbing fixtures in a house, start hanging sheet rock in one house, and build storage shelves for Arkansas Baptist Builders.  Every homeowner we met was full of joy and thankfulness.  We witnessed to them and feel confident that most if not all are Christians.

It was an unbelievable experience as God worked through us to restore hope to people who have experienced so much in the last 20 months.  Ask me for information about the next trip if you are interested in going.

Impacting Eternity at the Cross Road of Life

VBS Clinic

Anyone supporting VBS will benefit from the VBS Clinic provided by the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.  The clinic in our area is Thursday, April 26, at First Southern Baptist Church in Bryant.  The church is located on Reynolds Road south of I40…just keep driving til you see it on the right.  It starts at 6:00pm.

Impacting Eternity at the Cross Road of Life

Mission Trip

Our team will be leaving early Monday morning for New Orleans to help people repair their homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina.  Arkansas Baptists have been in New Orleans since the Hurricane hit in 2005.  We are still there.  The work has included clean-up, showers, meals, construction, VBS, block parties, and much more.  Since church facilities were damaged and church members were scattered, the work there is broad and includes ministries the local church would/should do…if the church was still there.

We will be working in the Gentilly area and staying at Gentilly Baptist Church.  This church once averaged near 300 in worship but now has a few dozen even though they are meeting together with Elysian Fields Baptist Church.  Both churches felt the impact of Katrina in both buildings and people.  The need is great.

Thank you for contributing to this mission trip in the many ways you have.  Please pray NOW that no circumstance will exist that will limit the team’s ability to go.  Pray NEXT WEEK for safe travel, witnessing opportunities, job safety, and few or no problems that would limit the team’s ability to carry out the task.

Pray, too, about a possible return trip later in the year.  The timeline has been extended through November 2007.  Some have expressed a desire to be part of the team but the timing has not worked out for them.  Perhaps we can put another trip together in the Fall.

Impacting Eternity at the Cross Road of Life

Va Tech Shooting

While our understanding of the details regarding the murders on the campus of Virginia Tech is still coming together, what is clear is that a person has taken the lives of many innocent people. Media outlets are reporting the fatalities as high as 31 at this time with the possibility of the count going even higher. That makes this the deadliest school shooting in a history that includes Westside and Columbine.

Rather than try to explain what happened, let it be enough for now to know that families and communities are hurting and grieving. As Christians we should pray for God’s grace to be prevalent at this time in their lives because we have learned from our own experiences – similar or not – that his grace is the only consolation. While it is now too late to pray for the salvation of the deceased it is never too late to pray that this might open the hearts of others to experience salvation through Christ.

Recent events – Don Imus, NBA star vs referee, school shooting – are evidence that we live in a fallen world among fallen people. When people stop having the mindset that “it’s all about me” and realize that life is about a relationship with Jesus…then we may see a change. I believe this can happen but only when Christians submit themselves completely to the Holy Spirit so that he can move through us and use us to accomplish his purposes.

Over the next days or weeks you may have conversations with family members, friends, coworkers, and others regarding this rampage. Please take that opportunity to express your belief that a relationship with Jesus is the answer to a person’s problems.

Impacting Eternity at the Cross Road of Life

Sufficient Grace

My sister and brother-in-law set out during Spring Break to travel Route 66.  They, along with their two daughters and a dog, left with very little on the agenda: no specific places to go and no hotel reservations.  The plan was to simply go and do until they had spent all but what was necessary to get home – in other words, until they were broke!

After five or six days on the road my youngest niece called her grandmother and said, “We’re headed home; we’re broke!”

Have you ever been broke?  Initially, we think of being broke as a financial situation.  I’ve been there.  Those were hard times when valuable lessons were learned.  Those were times when I was burdened with the weight of not being able to provide for my family like I wanted.  Those were times when I felt very inadequate.

“Broke” can also describe your relationships.  Maybe a high school sweetheart broke your heart or an adult relationship fell apart.  Times like these often spin a person into despair.  If it happened to you, did you feel hopeless?  This is often the case.

The loss of a job breaks our hearts.  The loss of a dear friend or loved one hurts.  An arrest or conviction or jail time (your own or a loved one’s) leaves you broken.  The doctor’s words bring so much pain yet have a numbing affect at the same time.

For me, I rarely experience one “breaking” thing at a time; it seems like they come in pairs or even in waves.

The apostle Paul might calls these things “a thorn in my flesh.”  This great man of God experienced it, too.  The burden is so heavy it seems unbearable.  When Paul pled with the Lord to remove the burden, Jesus simply replied, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

It is often said that grace is not getting what you deserve.  Let me clarify the point.  MERCY is not getting what you deserve.  GRACE is getting better than you deserve.

God’s grace is sufficient – enough – best – OK – just what I need.

Sufficient grace is this: when you think you’ve spent all you have and your are broke…you still have enough to get home.

Impacting Eternity at the Cross Road of Life

Sunday Guests

Spring Cleaning

We finally found a way to keep our dog Sandy outside; she’s been spending the nights in the garage since mid-January.  Now that she’s not in the garage Deana has straightened up in there and I’ve moved all the left-overs from the remodeling to the burn pile.  We are close to being able to park in the garage!

Spring is the time for cleaning.  I have some “yard tools” that were just tossed under the house when we moved in that need attention.  My desk is always in need of Spring cleaning no matter what time of year it is!

How about your life?  Sometimes little things pile up in our lives.  We often just sweep them aside and the clutter grows almost with no notice.  Next thing you know, you’re a mess.

Just like neglecting your house cleaning can be a physical health issue, so neglecting your sins is a spiritual health issue.  Often, physical, emotional, psychological, financial, and relational issues accompany sin.  Don’t you think it’s time for a little Spring cleaning?

This is what God’s Word says about this: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1:9

Cleaning out the garage is a lot of work but we always like it better after the work is done.  Cleaning up your spiritual house is a lot of work, too, but Jesus did the work for you.  All you have to do is confess your sins to him and he will forgive them.  You’ll like it better after you do that.

Impacting Eternity at the Cross Road of Life

Study of "Ruth"

She wasn’t even a Jew!  Even worse, she was a Moabite: a descendent of Lot’s relationship with his older daughter.  The Moabites were hostile toward the Hebrew people during the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.  Ruth was one of them.

Yet God chose to have a book in the Bible tell her story and bear her name. Join me on Sunday nights for a study of a story of decision, compassion, commitment, and blessing.

Impacting Eternity at the Cross Road of Life

 

Another Great Sunday

God just keeps on being God!  And he always surprises me.  It’s not that I don’t think he can do great things, it’s just that he does it in new ways.  I always believe he CAN do great things; but I’m always surprised at HOW he does them!  Praise him!

The choir sang wonderfully as they presented the musical Jesus, the One and Only.

A teenager was baptized.

Another teenager accepted Christ as Savior and Lord.

Have you noticed the revival taking place among our youth group?  Let’s pray that God continue to be the difference in their lives.  Those of you who work with the youth are being excellent vessels in God’s hands.  He is using you in amazing ways.  That’s what discipleship is all about.

The atmosphere of service, fellowship, and worship are top notch.  You are…

Impacting Eternity at the Cross Road of Life