A Prayer Request

I am asking for your prayers as your Pastor. I long for them and need them every week as I have the awe inspiring task of delivering the Word of God. However, through God’s amazing providence I have been given an astounding opportunity: for about two to three hours a week I have the opportunity to go into a local business and serve as their chaplain. What this means is simply walking through and talking and developing relationships in short snippets of time, knowing that as good times or difficult times come there will be a need for counsel. The beauty of this is that there is only one way I know to counsel and that is through the Word of God - there is only one good thing I can offer and that is saving message of Christ. It is very interesting - I can not carry the Bible and I can not initiate a conversation regarding salvation, but I can be there to offer whatever I have at my disposal when a need arises. I can recommend a church, I can recommend a place for counseling, I can even set up a time so that they can come by the church office to meet with me… I am asking you to pray for many opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, pray for receptive hearts, pray that this opportunity will last and we will see a great harvest come into the Kingdom!

The Pastor's Picks

It seems that since we have been going through our “Heavenly Home” series, I have been bombarded with requests to recommend some resources that you could get your hands on that will help you. I have given you some recommendations on this blog at least a couple of times: once for family devotions and once for marriage. As I was giving recommendations, I knew that many of these books would be ones that you either have to order, or go into a local Christian book store and they would have to order them. Sometimes in the world we live in, the idea of ordering precious resources seems to get lost in the hustle and bustle of life. My desire is for you to grow deeper in your devotion and dedication to our Savior - because of that we are going to be offering a book table after our services to those in our congregation. Every book on that table has been reviewed by me (with one exception and it was highly recommended by Bro. Jeff Summers), and I can promise you that you will be hard pressed to find books that are more Biblically based than these. You will find that there is probably a book for every major area of your life.

We will have two parenting books: Shepherding A Child’s Heart and The Heart of Anger. I must confess that no book has made the impact on my life as a father and even a pastor as Shepherding A Child’s Heart.

We will have some marriage books and Biblical role books. Most of those have been recommended on this blog and will be pretty easy to recognize.

We will have a book on finances and real Biblical stewardship - Money, Possessions and Eternity. This book will give you a Biblical perspective on money and consumerism like you have never seen.

Finding and doing God’s will - Decisions, Decisions. The only book I have ever read that goes through discerning the will of God, without relying on “just a feeling” or “you just know.” It is extremely Bible based.

Last but maybe most importantly - The Peace Maker - if you want to know what we will be studying in Sunday School beginning in August and what I will be preaching on beginning in August, this is it! How to handle conflict in your marriage, at your work, in your family or in your church - this is the book! One of the most practical, Biblical reads you will ever put your hands on!

Please take advantage of this opportunity!