Wednesday Night World of Blessings

Kids work on their crafts during a Wednesday night class
at Grace Pointe Missionary Baptist Church in Brownwood.

Growing up in Jacksonville, Texas, Wednesday nights were a special time. Our youth group would meet at church at 6 p.m., with the boys participating in the Galileans program, and the girls joining the Girls' Auxiliary. Both programs trained up the youth for future church service. Though I was not yet a Christian, I attended the Galileans, and even advanced in their program. The things I learned in that program came to life when I was later saved and surrendered to the ministry.

Today, Wednesday night attendance at churches is sparse. At Grace Pointe Missionary Baptist Church, we are likely to have 20 in attendance, but 15 of those in attendance will be children. Most of the children receive rides to church by youth volunteers (namely, my wife). We are blessed at Grace Pointe to have a man who teaches the adults while my wife and I teach the children.

The decline in Wednesday night attendance is due mostly to a cultural shift. As time goes on, life goes faster, and people as having trouble finding the time to go to church. Children have a myriad of activities, and Wednesday nights are no longer off limits to baseball/softball practice, school athletic events, drama practice or other extra-curricular activities. I'm not trying to stir controversy, just stating how things are.

Despite the things that compete for the time, hearts and minds of people, some churches are still enjoying good attendance on Wednesday evenings. Some churches have begun having fellowship meals on Wednesday evenings, and others focus on auxiliary and Bible club meetings. Even if attendance is not very high, Wednesday night services can still offer church members the opportunity to fellowship during the week and get a little more Bible study accomplished.

At Grace Pointe, we are entering an exciting new chapter in our Wednesday night services. Bro. B.R. Teague has begun teaching the adults while Jessica and I teach the kids. Starting next week, we will unveil a new program entitled, "Jesus, the One and Only," an in-depth study of the life of Christ for kids in First through Sixth Grades. This is exciting. After getting to teach ALL of the kids tonight, I have learned that they know a lot about the Bible. Jessica has done well.

Do you attend church on Wednesdays? Does your church offer any Wednesday night services/programs?

Wednesday night services at Grace Pointe begin at 6:30 p.m.

Market Place update

We had 14 last night at Market Place. I preached on the condition of the world from Genesis 6.

Some of the Market Place residents are now coming to Grace Pointe. That's a welcome development that I didn't think would happen. God's really on the move here.

Midweek report

Our Tuesday youth night at Brownwood Phase II continues to be a dissappointment as we only had five in attendance again. Market Place holds steady with 14 in attendance. Last night, I preached Divine Comfort from Isaiah 40.

I am encouraged today, because I think God will bless us with good attendance Sunday. I am working the fields today, tomorrow and Saturday in hopes of boosting attendance. As our attendance increases, so are the chances for additions. Last week, we had one first time visitor, and one repeat visitor. I really want Grace Pointe's attendance to be pushing 30 by mid-summer. That's my desire, and I'll work for it. However, God will add to His flock in His time.

Market Place Recap

I preached on Fruits Worthy of Repentance last night before a group of 12 at the Market Place apartments. I'm looking forward to my series on the book of Isaiah which begins next Wednesday night.

Sensational Seniors!

We had 17 in our services at Market Place tonight as I preached "Lessons Learned from the Birth of Christ" from Luke 2:1-20.

I. The Humility of Christ.
II. The Peace of Christ
III. The Proclaimation of Christ.

We've had several who have had family members who have passed away, but this has not dampened spirits at Market Place. In fact, one of the ladies there excitedly shouted, "I'm next!"

IDF

IDF is a military term meaning "Indirect Fire". It is a situation where the enemy is firing morter rounds in your general direction without knowing your exact coordinates. The idea I get from talking with soldiers is that when you are taking IDF, you often hear the rounds explode in the distance, and often close to the base, sometimes too close, but rarely do you actually suffer a direct hit.

Granted, I am no expert on military matters, but soldiers I know that have been to Iraq told me that they could take IDF two-to-three times per week, sometimes daily. I never heard them discuss getting hit, though. In fact, the U.S. Army still didn't require their soldiers to wear body armor unless they were leaving base.

The reason I bring this up is that Mission: Brownwood has been taking IDF from satan's forces since May of this year, when we began the final preparations to move to Brownwood. Satan would seek to stir conflict in mine and Jessica's marriage via miscommunication. He would try to drive a wedge between me and my sponsoring church via miscommunication. Once on the field, he would attack through various people we met on the field.

Satan's attacks in these instances amount to IDF, in my opinion, because my family and ministry have been directly attacked by satan in the past. In various places in my ministry, I feel like he brought on an all-out attack. These attacks ranged from temptations to false accusations, to attempts to assassinate my ministry through the false accusations and rumors started by other preachers, to all-out rebellion by the members of the body of Christ where I ministered. I remember thinking in some instances that these attacks would literally kill me. Once, it almost did, but that's a whole other story altogether.

No, in comparison to previous experiences, these attacks have been mild... hence they are IDF.

The IDF we are experiencing right now comes from the apartment communities where my wife works, where I also minister. There are those there who love us and want us to continue ministering to them. Then, there are those who live there and would rather Jessica and I fall off the face of the planet. Neither these people, nor these complexes have ties to our mission-church, Grace Pointe. However, they still oppose our ministry.

So far, the attacks have been limited to lies, false accusations and rumor-mongering which has gained no traction with the ownership of the apartment communities, or the company for which my wife works. Still, it is annoying and is having a draining effect on my wife. (One courageous man boldly confronted my wife while she was alone in an elevator... yes, we have elevators in Brownwood). Others have also vandalized property.

Our plan is to stay the course. When God calls us to a ministry, we also understand that He calls us to a battlefield. Satan has no respect for God's people, or His creation, and will oppose the spread of God's word everywhere he can. We understand that. We just covet your prayers.

Last night, we had 10 at our Wednesday evening services at Market Place. Four were out of town at a funeral, one was having surgery, one was recovering from surgery and one was tending to her mother who just returned from surgery.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Oh, and things at Brownwood Apts. II are still going well. This will be where we build the core group (which is already taking shape) and be able to organize and launch the church.

Market Place recap

We had 18 in Wednesday night services last night at the Market Place Apartments. I continued the Faith Hall of Fame series with a sermon on Abel.

Market Place update

We had 13 in services tonight. We are maintaining the same group at Market Place. Current series is the Hebrews Hall of Fame from Hebrews 11.

Heading to Market Place

I'm expecting a down night tonight as my wife and kids are sidelined by illness and there has been another round of controversy at Market Place. Satan just seems to be attacking on all fronts. Tonight, I'm preaching on why we need faith from Hebrews 11:1-3. You can read my sermon outline here. Of course, you can catch up on all my primer articles and devotionals here.

The Roman Road goes on forever at Market Place (and the Fiesta never ends)

We had 16 in attendance tonight at Market Place as I preached Romans 8:28-31, preaching that if the promise of Romans 8:28 is to come true, we must align ourselves with God's purpose, not try to get God to align himself with ours.

You see, Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for the good of them that love God and are the called according to His purpose. The called are God's appointed, those that repented of sin and trusted Christ as their Savior. When God saves, He saves for service. Every Christian is called to service. So, We must be obedient to that call, and obedience is how we love God. (John 14:15, John 15:14). So, if we are obeying God's call for our life, He will work all things together for our good according to His purpose... which means we'll be successful in what He's called us to do, not in what we want to obtain.

Then, in Romans 8:29, we discussed being conformed to the image of Christ. Then, we discussed foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification and glorification. Admittedly, this sermon might have gotten too deep, theologically speaking. However, you can't expect anyone to grow if you never challenge them.

I'm not sure what we are going to do next week. We'll either move on into Chapter nine in Romans, or we'll skip ahead to chapter 12, a la Bro. Brock. (You TBI guys will get that!)

We end each Wednesday night with a fellowship meal... hence the Fiesta!

Mission: Brownwood to begin Wednesday evening services

I am pleased to announce that I have been asked to hold services at a local apartment complex (not the housing authority) on Wednesday evenings beginning in September.

Our ministry in Brownwood is starting to get attention locally, and I am very excited about what God is doing here. More details on those things will be included in my monthly report, due out in two weeks.

I also had a great time of encouragement and refreshing while studying John 21. I'll post what the Spirit taught me through the scriptures sometime after work today.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.