Trust Quartet is about ready to board the bus and head for Georgia. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! All three stops this weekend are in churches that are very special to me.
Saturday night, we'll be with Cedar Springs Free Will Baptist Church just outside Blakely, GA. My dad pastored this church back in the 70s, and I was fortunate to pastor the church at the turn of the century. The concert is scheduled to begin at 7 PM. Please pray for the pastor, Keith Horn and his family. I received a call from him earlier Thursday and he will not be able to attend. He is on his way to conduct the funeral of his uncle in Ohio.
Sunday morning, we'll be with the Bellview Free Will Baptist Church outside Colquitt. This is Bellview's annual Homecoming Day and it traditionally is a huge day for them. My dad pastored this church back in the 60s-70s and they've graciously asked me to come back to preach Homecoming 2014. They wanted Trust to come provide the music. What an honor to be able to be there for this special day! Their current pastor, Royce Horne was a college classmate of mine, so I'm looking forward to visiting with he and his wife as well. The quartet will be singing at 10AM in lieu of the Sunday School hour and I'll be preaching during the 11AM Worship service.
Sunday evening, we'll be with the Midway Free Will Baptist Church in Moultrie. My dad grew up in the Moultrie area and there are still lots of family here. In fact, this was the first church my dad pastored when he graduated Bible College. I wasn't around then, but I did work at this church back in the 80s when I was very young in the ministry as well. I led the music and youth here, so I'm looking forward to going back.
Since these churches are all close to our family's heart, it will be good to see lots of family members this weekend. Some will be driving great distances to help celebrate. Please pray that God would do a mighty work in these three concerts!
Friday, May 16, 2014
Please help us pray
Pat sent a prayer need to me and asked that I pass it on.
Edna Howard is a friend in Ohio battling congestive heart failure. She is 86 years young and is in the hospital for the second time in the past couple of months.
Thanks for praying!
Edna Howard is a friend in Ohio battling congestive heart failure. She is 86 years young and is in the hospital for the second time in the past couple of months.
Thanks for praying!
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Would You Please Help Us Pray?
From time to time we are asked to share prayer needs from our friends and families. It is our honor to pray for these needs and when asked, we certainly are privileged to pass them on to you, our Trust Quartet friends. Please, do take these requests seriously and take them to the Father during your quiet time with Him.
These particular requests came to me today via e-mail from Beverly. Most of them are members of her family. I'll pass along the specifics as we're able, but please remember, each of these are very real needs to these people.
Please pray for Ricky, Edward, and Lee. Edward and Lee are brothers, and each of these are cousins of Beverly. Each of these are facing medical needs. Also, remember Jeff in Texas. He is a kind of adopted son of Pat. He's in the hospital with a serious infection in his foot. He is improving, but still has a ways to go.
Another cousin of Beverly is Tommy. He has been on the waiting list for a heart and kidney transplant for quite some time, but due to some recent problems, has moved to the top of the list. Please pray that God would provide for him and his family during these days.
Thank you so much for allowing us to share these needs with you. As you pray, please do remember to take them to the Father.
These particular requests came to me today via e-mail from Beverly. Most of them are members of her family. I'll pass along the specifics as we're able, but please remember, each of these are very real needs to these people.
Please pray for Ricky, Edward, and Lee. Edward and Lee are brothers, and each of these are cousins of Beverly. Each of these are facing medical needs. Also, remember Jeff in Texas. He is a kind of adopted son of Pat. He's in the hospital with a serious infection in his foot. He is improving, but still has a ways to go.
Another cousin of Beverly is Tommy. He has been on the waiting list for a heart and kidney transplant for quite some time, but due to some recent problems, has moved to the top of the list. Please pray that God would provide for him and his family during these days.
Thank you so much for allowing us to share these needs with you. As you pray, please do remember to take them to the Father.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
What Its All About
God has been so good to Trust Quartet! Over the course of the last few weeks, we've seen the incredible hand of God working in our services.
There have been several people showing interest in becoming Christ-followers. We're sure hopeful they are following through with those desires and commitments to Him. This past week, in a sparsely attended setting, a young lady, 18 years old, decided she needed to recommit her life to Christ.
I'd met this young lady at a previous couple of concerts, and have been impressed with her openness about serving God. She was involved in a pretty serious auto accident the Sunday before we were at her church. When she showed Spence and me the pictures of her vehicle, and heard her say she only got one little piece of glass in her finger, I was amazed! It was only by the grace of God that she simply walked away from that accident!
As we sang that morning, it was hard not to watch her. As I mentioned, the crowd was a bit low. It was easy to watch everybody! When the invitation was given, there was no response ~~ at first. We were just about to pray the benediction, when a voice behind me spoke up. "I know we've already gone past it, but can I still rededicate my life to Christ?" There were more than a few sobs I heard from those sitting around me as this young lady got up from her seat and went to the front of this little church and recommitted her life to Christ. My throat was getting a bit lumpy, too!
After lunch, I had the opportunity to sit and talk with her. I had driven my own car to the concert due to the location, so I had the time after the loading work was done. Listening to how this young lady is responding to her life situations encouraged me. I'm looking forward to going back to that little church outside Okeechobee and seeing how this young lady is continuing to respond to God's plan for her life.
That's why we do what we do. For Trust Quartet, it's far more than singing a few songs and packing up and going to the next place. We know God can do incredible things in the lives of His people. We simply want to be used by Him to encourage those with whom we come in contact to lock in to His purpose for them!
Will you help us pray for more people like this young lady? Will you help us point people to Jesus? This, friend, is what it's all about!
There have been several people showing interest in becoming Christ-followers. We're sure hopeful they are following through with those desires and commitments to Him. This past week, in a sparsely attended setting, a young lady, 18 years old, decided she needed to recommit her life to Christ.
I'd met this young lady at a previous couple of concerts, and have been impressed with her openness about serving God. She was involved in a pretty serious auto accident the Sunday before we were at her church. When she showed Spence and me the pictures of her vehicle, and heard her say she only got one little piece of glass in her finger, I was amazed! It was only by the grace of God that she simply walked away from that accident!
As we sang that morning, it was hard not to watch her. As I mentioned, the crowd was a bit low. It was easy to watch everybody! When the invitation was given, there was no response ~~ at first. We were just about to pray the benediction, when a voice behind me spoke up. "I know we've already gone past it, but can I still rededicate my life to Christ?" There were more than a few sobs I heard from those sitting around me as this young lady got up from her seat and went to the front of this little church and recommitted her life to Christ. My throat was getting a bit lumpy, too!
After lunch, I had the opportunity to sit and talk with her. I had driven my own car to the concert due to the location, so I had the time after the loading work was done. Listening to how this young lady is responding to her life situations encouraged me. I'm looking forward to going back to that little church outside Okeechobee and seeing how this young lady is continuing to respond to God's plan for her life.
That's why we do what we do. For Trust Quartet, it's far more than singing a few songs and packing up and going to the next place. We know God can do incredible things in the lives of His people. We simply want to be used by Him to encourage those with whom we come in contact to lock in to His purpose for them!
Will you help us pray for more people like this young lady? Will you help us point people to Jesus? This, friend, is what it's all about!
A Needed Respite
I've stood in front of lots of people to give presenations of all sorts. Whether preaching a sermon, singing a song, teaching a lesson, moderating a business session ... I've seen lots of people from a platform. The legendary bass singer, George Younce of the Cathedrals Quartet said it when I heard it first, and I've quoted him a few times, "Some folks just look back at you like a mule looking at a new gate!" I've seen quite a few of mule-like people in my day. I'm thankful that's not the majority, though!
One particular concert, we'd had a bit of a difficult time and the communication was harder than most. We've all experienced it at some point or another, but it doesn't make it any easier. Normally, when we look for a restaurant after a concert, we gravitate toward Golden Corral, Sonny's Bar BQ, Steak n Shake, etc. If we're in a bit of a hurry or money is really tight, we'll head to a McDonald's or Wendy's. You get the idea.
After this concert, though, we didn't have a particular place in mind, we weren't finding one of the above named restaurants and we had a little time to kill before getting to our next stop. On the bus, we were seeing all kinds of restaurants and just naming them one right after the other. Someone said, "There's an Olive Garden," about the same time I pointed out the Outback. The Olive Garden was on the right hand side of the road, and Buzz made a bee-line for it.
Rhonda and Jeff were on the couch across from me, and our eyes met and I could feel my eyebrow raise up. Sure enough, that's where we went. Buzz must have known something we didn't know! Buzz parked the bus as we went into the restaurant. We were seated before he even got to the door. They sat us in a little alcove to ourselves. It was much quieter and we were set a bit away from much of the restaurant.
William was our server and he did an incredible job! In fact, when the manager came around to ask about our experience, I told him that I didn't know what he was paying William, but it wasn't enough!
After the difficult concert, it was so nice to be able to have a room all to ourselves where we could re-energize ourselves for the next concert. We were extremely thankful for Olive Garden that day. Oh, and lest anyone think we're financially set since we ate at a nicer restaurant, we each ordered off the special menu ~ got full for less than a meal at Golden Corral!
One particular concert, we'd had a bit of a difficult time and the communication was harder than most. We've all experienced it at some point or another, but it doesn't make it any easier. Normally, when we look for a restaurant after a concert, we gravitate toward Golden Corral, Sonny's Bar BQ, Steak n Shake, etc. If we're in a bit of a hurry or money is really tight, we'll head to a McDonald's or Wendy's. You get the idea.
After this concert, though, we didn't have a particular place in mind, we weren't finding one of the above named restaurants and we had a little time to kill before getting to our next stop. On the bus, we were seeing all kinds of restaurants and just naming them one right after the other. Someone said, "There's an Olive Garden," about the same time I pointed out the Outback. The Olive Garden was on the right hand side of the road, and Buzz made a bee-line for it.
Rhonda and Jeff were on the couch across from me, and our eyes met and I could feel my eyebrow raise up. Sure enough, that's where we went. Buzz must have known something we didn't know! Buzz parked the bus as we went into the restaurant. We were seated before he even got to the door. They sat us in a little alcove to ourselves. It was much quieter and we were set a bit away from much of the restaurant.
William was our server and he did an incredible job! In fact, when the manager came around to ask about our experience, I told him that I didn't know what he was paying William, but it wasn't enough!
After the difficult concert, it was so nice to be able to have a room all to ourselves where we could re-energize ourselves for the next concert. We were extremely thankful for Olive Garden that day. Oh, and lest anyone think we're financially set since we ate at a nicer restaurant, we each ordered off the special menu ~ got full for less than a meal at Golden Corral!
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