I am looking forward to baptizing 8 or 9 people this coming Sunday, September 23rd, 2012 at Life Pointe Church! It is indeed exciting! God is blessing.  I must admit the last time we baptized a few people I thought "I sure hope God give us more people; I don't want it to be too long before we are baptizing some more people who have made a serious decision of living for Jesus!' and then 'lo and behold, here we are a few months later baptizing almost as many as we have altogether, so God is amazing!  Thank you Jesus for all you do! Both in me, in our church, and in the lives of those who love you!  Thank you!

With so many things happening at Life Pointe Church, I just feel like I could have a post on the blog page everyday!  I feel bad that I don't but when things get busy, I must admit the blog page is not my first priority!  I need to write more though, I know... this past weekend we had a camp reunion at Tapawingo in Tennessee and it was fun and it was all Andy's idea to get it going.  People were pleased and it was nice to see old friends and walk down memory lane with those who came out for the Camp Reunion.  I know one day we will look back at the things that have occured at Life Pointe and do the same thing.  We have had 41, 42, and 42 for our attendance numbers this past 3 weeks! That's exciting!  God is doing a work and I am just so glad He lets me be a part of it!  I also have 6 people ready to be baptized on September 23rd which will be an excellent birthday present for me since my birthday is the day before.  With VBS being blessed by the Lord we have gained about 8 to 10 new young people who just keep coming back and wanting to be a part of the church.  God is so good and I am thrilled but somewhat a little nervous in that I want to make sure I take good care of those who God has entrusted to me and to all of us at Life Pointe Church.  This past Sunday we made history somewhat in that we had to  have 3 different groups for our young people, so that was great! I pray God continues to bless and to bring the workers we need to take care of those He has brought!

Hallelujah!  I say that for a couple of reasons! One is to finally be able to post on my Life Pointe Blogpage!  I seem to always forget what the email address is or what the password is, so it's so hard to post something when I can't remember that essential to posting "stuff"! But finally I got it to my page so I wanted to make sure and post a few things that have transpared in the last little bit!  On August 4rh, just over a week ago, (today's Sunday the 12th) I performed only my second wedding, and that was with Joey and Kate Patterson! It was a nice wedding the backyard of Joey's mom, who lives in Salem.  I was glad to marry Joey and Kate and to see them continue with their committment both to each other and to Jesus!  And then there's what happened this past weekend.  I should probably make this a seperate post but I will go ahead and tag it on to this one.  This past week we got a suprise in that we were told that we couldn't have our planned VBS in Round Hill Elementary School and not only couldn't have the VBS on Saturday but couldn't have our church service today, the 12th of August or even next week, the 19th of August!  So satan tried to shut us down both for our planned VBS and for our church services...but God is greater and instead of shutting down, we had VBS and....saw several make decisions for Jesus!  So PRAISE the LORD! We had victory over the devils plans and saw God work in the hearts of the kids we had attend VBS this past Saturday! We also had a group of very nice people come up from Williamsburg to help us.  They were the guys from Smith Memorial Baptist Church and were so nice to sacrifice their weekend starting on Friday evening, then all day Saturday practically, and then worship with us this morning on Sunday!  So with all the goings on, God worked and it was so neat to see the kids who made decisions for VBS come to church this morning and even tonight for our Sunday Night Movie Time!  So...it's been busy for the past while, but God is mighty and let 3 different churches work to bring glory to Himself! Amazing!

I forgot to make mention in my last post about performing Josh and Holly's Wedding in Floyd on June 2nd! The ceremony went really well and God blessed us with a great day!  Everyone seemed to enjoy the ceremony and the reception afterwards and things went very smooth!  For my first wedding I couldn't have asked for a better couple than Josh and Holly!  They were very nice and very sweet to listen to my counseling sessions for three Saturdays in a row and then were very kind and encouraging treating us to a delicious dinner the night before the wedding at a nice resturant in Floyd right across from the church.  So the whole experience was just great and God once again blessed us richly!  I am learning...my first wedding!  Thank you Jesus for you help!

June Baptisms!

It is now hard to believe that last June, on June 6th to be exact, we baptized our first people at Life Pointe!  We baptized 6 people that day with Melanie, Emily, Benjamin, Maddie, Sarah, and Brain being those people.  Now just over year later....we baptized 3 more people...Beth, Jim, and Ben!  God is good!  With Joey being last September, God has now allowed be to baptize 10 folks in one year!  I would never have thought that a year ago!!  I am excited and there are even more on the way, so may God continue to bless us and use us to be a shining light on the hill at Round Hill Elementary School! Thank you Jesus!  Last Sunday I had a super prayer time with the Lord which lasted an hour and a half! When finished, it made the difference for a good week.  Although I didn't feel super physcially on Wednesday, June 6th, Ginny, Andy, and I all enjoy a trip to the Liberty Station to celebrate 31 years together!  Again, God is good! 

Here it is, May 22nd, 2012 and I have been praying and thinking and having a good morning with the Lord.  I have some good ideas and thoughts for Sunday's message and it seems that God, in His amazing way, as usual, has blessed me with ideas and thoughts on how to convery His heart to others because His heart has first been conveyed to mine.  He is teaching me and speaking to me and for that I am grateful.  As He has blessed me, I want to write down some things before they escape my mind and so after I emailed Ginny and Andy and told them how much I love them and how they are a blessing to me, I then for some reason started looking at my email; which led to me looking at potential future sights for the church.  I still can't believe I am looking at property and buildings and picturing us as a church in those buildings.  I think to myself, "are we really ready for this?" or "can we really do this?" and then I just see God in all that we do now and remember that a few years ago, I wondered the same thing as we were launching and planting Life Pointe, and suddenly I realize, "sure we can do it" for we serve a mighty God is who Jehovah Jireh, our provider! It's just that it is scary sometimes and involves a lot of money, but once again, God can do it, and so I must practice what I preach and step out in faith and take a deep breath, and continue to walk in grace and faith, and with vision, watch the amazing things God accomplishes through those who have been called according to His purpose, and to those who are obedient to following His will.  It's exciting, and just like a little kid at Christmas, I look forward to opening the presents God has in store for us and to all those who are looking forward to His appearing!

New Responsiblities!

I must admit I am still learning a lot being a church planter and pastor.  This past week a neighbor who lives down the street but close to us came up to see us.  We really haven't talked a lot but do speak from time to time.  It has been awhile so I was somewhat surprised because we've never really been that close although we knew the parents of this woman and have talked to her and her husband a few times.  Most of the time I see her husband Randy, as I am walking our kitty cat Tory on his leash.  So while I have spoken to both Randy and Jane a few times, I must admit I don't know them a lot just to share a few bits of news from time to time.  But this time the news Jane brought was really completely shocking.  She came up, knocked on the door and the proceeded to tell us that Randy has stage 4 cancer.  That means he really doesn't have that long to live.  So I went to visit with him the other night and then have been back once since then.  I suppose that is the very first true visit I have made as a pastor to a person in the hospital.  It is a shame that the person is dying that I am visiting.  I want to make sure he knows Jesus for sure before he leaves this world, that's for sure but just to be in this place at this time, while it doesn't surprise Jesus, it does suprise me; but God gives grace and prayerfully I will make a difference. And to show the contrast of the above information....this afternoon I visited with a couple that want to be married so I conducted my first ever premartial counseling.....everything went very well so I was blessed and pleased.  God was with me or should I say "us" as we planned for the upcoming wedding, which is just in 3 weeks!  So from counseling in a hospital to counseling a couple wanting to be married God continues to grow me both as a pastor and a person; I hope and pray I mature the way HE wants me to and do the things successfully that He's called me to do.  God is good; may the adventure He's called me to....continue with His annointing and blessing!