DIRECTOR’S DIARY – April to August 2010

We had an exciting weekend the first Sunday in April as we attended the two-year anniversary of Community Baptist Church, Spring Hill, Tennessee.  The Lord has wonderfully blessed the efforts of Dr. Mike Stalnaker from the very outset of this plant.  The auditorium was filled for the service and the church now consistently has 80-100 people attending each Sunday.  The church is seriously looking for permanent property.

The following Sunday it was my privilege to preach for a missions emphasis Sunday at Bluestone Baptist Church in Danielsville, Georgia.  George Lovely is the faithful pastor there and it was a joy to minister and fellowship with him and his wife Rita.

The first Sunday in June, Rev. Lee Wiggins invited me to preach for the chartering service of Living Hope Bible Church in Rural Retreat, Virginia.  Brother Wiggins didn’t plant this church under the GFA Church Planting program, but he contacted me for some advice several times early in the plant.  We had a great day with the people.

I closed out the month of June supplying the pulpit at Temple Baptist Church in Sumter, South Carolina.  I preached revival meetings at this church some years ago.

July and August included visiting a non-GFA church plant in Boston; presenting several seminars at the New Beginnings Conference on the BJU campus; and attending a delayed wedding reception in Georgia for a couple I married last December in Texas (the groom was originally scheduled to be deployed to Iraq early in 2010).

In my fall/winter diary, I’ll tell you about visits to GFA church plants in California and New Hampshire as well as preaching in Georgia and Delaware.

February/March 2010

My travels have been limited during these months because I’ve been coordinating the Bible Evangelism block classes at BJU this semester. I’ve done this since the major was initiated several years ago; however the program is being revised next year so this will be my last time doing it.

I was scheduled to hold revival meetings in Cumberland, Maryland, in mid-February.  However they had such horrendous winter weather that the pastor thought it best to cancel the meetings at the last minute because many of the folks couldn’t even get out of their driveways because of the 40 inches of snow. The following week I spoke for a missions Sunday at Bethany Baptist Church in Brevard, North Carolina, where Matt Collier is the pastor. Brother Collier was on a mission trip to Peru so Assistant Pastor, Larry Curtis, was in charge of the services. It was a great day of fellowship with the folks—some of whom are on The WILDS staff.

Just before Bible Conference week at BJU, I was with the Fellowship Bible Church in Fort Gratiot, Michigan. Brother Ken McBride, with the GFA interim pastor ministry, is serving as interim pastor at the church.  He asked me to come and speak on faith promise giving since this was an unfamiliar approach to many of the people that he wanted to introduce them to. It was a delightful day. Believe it or not, the weather there was better that weekend than in Greenville.

The Grace Baptist Church in Queens, New York, planted by Tim Richmond and assisted by John Brackbill, held their chartering service the last Sunday in March. It was a joy for Joyce and me to be with them on this special and very exciting day in the church’s life. After less than two years, the church is averaging nearly 50 in attendance. They are meeting in a private school in Queens. This has been a very adequate and nice facility at a very good rental rate, but Tim is starting to look for a building that will give the church 24/7 use.

In the next Diary, I’ll tell you about some exciting meetings in Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia. If your church would like to have revival or evangelistic meetings or other types of special meetings, I still have dates available in the remaining months of 2010.

Director’s Diary – November 2009

November suddenly appeared on the scene and I spent the first four days preaching a round-robin missions conference in the Bay area of California. Interestingly enough, I’d held revival meetings for all four of the pastors involved—Pastor Joe Carruthers, Manor Baptist Church, San Leandro; Dr. Daryl Wilson, Foothill Baptist Church, Castro Valley; Dr. David Innes, Hamilton Square Baptist Church, San Francisco; and Pastor Brent Snow, Cornerstone Baptist Church, Pleasant Hill. There were four speakers in the conference and each of us spoke one night at each church. The disadvantage of such a conference is that the speakers never get to hear or cross paths with each other. However, Manor Baptist held a brunch Monday morning for the visiting speakers and the host pastors. This gave us a good opportunity for fellowship.

I finished off the week preaching for the weekend missions and faith giving conference at Holmen Baptist Church in Holmen, Wisconsin. I was anticipating rather cold weather but the weekend was sunny and unusually warm. The congregation matched the weather.  Pastor Keith Habegger has been at the church almost 75% of its life--thirteen years--and has seen some good things happen over those years. For a church of about 100, their missions faith-promise goal of $35,000 was outstanding, especially in the present economy.

After a few days at home, it was on to Machias, Maine, for a revival meeting at the Down East Baptist Church where Stuart Hilton is serving as the interim pastor under the GFA Interim Pastor program. I held four meetings for Brother Hilton when he was pastoring in South Gardiner, Maine, but this was my first time in Machias. This remarkable 4-year-old church plant has a very nice 3-year-old permanent facility on 3 ½ acres of land just outside of town on the main highway. The attendance is running around 35-40 with a good mix of ages. The folks are friendly and responsive to the preaching of the Word. A branch of the University of Maine with about 700 students is in the town and about 8 small towns are within 5 miles or less of Machias, so there is potential for outreach. This was my last meeting for 2009.  I’m now developing my 2010 itinerary. 

Director's Diary - September/October 2009

This fall has been filled with meetings. In September, Joyce and I spoke for a family conference at East Park Baptist Church in Decatur, Illinois. Ray Banman is the pastor. I held revival meetings for Dennis Komis at this same church in the early 90s, when they were in their old downtown location. It was good to see the new location and to see the Lord continuing to bless the church.

From there we went to Faith Bible Church in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, for a missions conference. Pastor Danny Linville is the current pastor. It was a blessing to see not only the foreign mission enthusiasm of these folks but their vision for church planting as well.  The previous pastor, John Lutz, planted Harvest Bible Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, about ten years go. John is now planting New Life Bible Church in Bedford, Texas.

We had a day-long stop at home and then traveled up to New England for a round-robin missions conference at First Free Will Baptist Church in New Durham, New Hampshire, with Pastor Jim Nason and Heritage Free Will Baptist Church in Laconia, New Hampshire, with Jim's son, Dr. Joel Nason. I've held meetings for Jim before but this was my first time at Joel's church. Joel planted Heritage FWB some years back and had some discouraging early years. It was a blessing to see how he has stuck with it and how God has blessed that faithfulness. By the way, both men have chosen to be independent of the national FWB denomination. I preached each night and Joyce spoke to a ladies' session. The very first service in New Durham, a young boy stayed back after the service to talk with Jim and received Christ as his Savior.

From New Hampshire we went to Presque Isle, Maine, for revival meetings at New Life Baptist Church pastored by Joe Mortland. This was the third time to be with the Mortlands and we always enjoy their fellowship. The military base in their area has shut down and this has taken people away from the church. Joe is very involved in the county's work with migrants and this gives him good opportunities for outreach. Leilani teaches and serves as guidance counselor at Houlton Christian Academy. I had the opportunity to speak in chapel at the school one day.

October began and Joyce decided she needed some time at home to get things done, so I went alone to Dover, Ohio, to preach revival meetings at Dover Bible Church with Pastor Ed Scaglione. Ed has been at the church thirty years. I was with him for revival meetings twenty years ago. The folks that attended each night warmly received the preaching of the Word.

Although I had a brief break from traveling, I did not have a break from the ministry. I manned the GFA Church Planting booth during Missions Emphasis Week at BJU and caught up with some office work the following week.

My next report will tell of meetings in California, Wisconsin and Maine. Stay tuned.