Sunday Reflections

Happy New Year my fellow bloggers! I know what you’re thinking! It’s been a long time…right? Well, I will try my best to resume this medium with greater frequency this year. Besides, members of the church have already informed me of their desire to hear from me on a regular basis. I don’t know about that but we will see.

This past Sunday was great. The spirit was high most of the day. We had one person to unite with our fellowship while the rest of us were being spiritually recharged. It was also Installation Sunday, a time set aside to officially consecrate our newly elected leaders for service to God and the people of GSJ.
We did not have an afternoon service, as many churches do for this occasion, so I took it upon myself to charge our leaders to always maintain a servant and steward mentality. The message was taken from I Corinthians 4:1-5. The title of the message was “A Testimony of a Servant”, in which the following ideas were expressed:


I. The recognition of a servant (v.1)
II. The requirement of stewards (v.2)
III. The reward for service (v. 5b)


That evening, one of our associate ministers, Rev. James King, and I traveled to Gary to attend the annual Twelve Night Revival Service, sponsored by The Baptist Ministers Conference of Gary & Vicinity. This idea was brought to Gary some 32 years ago by Pastor Charles L. Emery of Pilgrim Baptist Church. It allows area pastors and churches to fellowship in praise, preaching and praying so that God will get the glory for the next twelve months. Needless to say it was a high time and the Lord really used Pastor William Collins of Mt. Zion, Hammond and Pastor Marion Johnson of Gary.

If the Lord delays His return, I may attend the last night tomorrow to hear President Talley. Because of weather conditions, I was not able to attend any nights prior, but I was glad to be in attendance last evening. Please pray for the success of this revival. May it last far beyond January 12th. God Bless All!!!!

What A Fellowship

Last evening my brother, Pastor Keith D. Witherspoon and I, had the awesome blessing of traveling to Grand Rapids, MI., for worship with Pastor Decarto Draper Jr., and the Bethlehem Baptist Church during the second night of their “Power-Pac Revival 2008."

We were encouraged, empowered and enriched as we heard the teaching and preaching of Dr. Clifton Rhodes Jr. of Messiah Missionary Baptist Church(messiahmissionarygr.org), Grand Rapids, MI. and Pastor Marvin E. Wiley of Rock of Ages Baptist Church(rockofagesbc.org), Maywood Ill.

Dr. Rhodes was the featured lecturer who stirred us up immediately by challenging us to evaluate our spiritual posture before God. He stated that in order for us to accomplish this feat we must begin with an honest assessment of our obedience to the word and discipline in prayer. Pastor Rhodes is a seasoned preacher who can be a tremendous asset to the young Timothys of the gospel.

After music rendered by guest choirs, we were ready to hear preaching from Pastor Marvin E. Wiley. He preached a message entitled “It’s All Good” taken from Psalm 119:71. As a young pastor, I was really locked in, not only because he is one of my pastoral heroes, but because he really encouraged us to develop a deeper appreciation for God’s word while facing various afflictions in life. I don't have to tell you that serving the Lord has it's share of bumps and bruises, but God will deliver us out of them all. The message ended with a brief testimony highlighting how God’s faithfulness and the love of his beloved congregation helped him in recent physical afflictions. God always come through for us when we stand on His word.

We were able to further cherish this rare opportunity to glean from these men over dinner as we discussed church life, mutual friends and ministerial philosophies which proved to be simply delightful. I came away from the experience of fellowship more determined to improve my stewardship toward God as it relate to my church and the whole of life. God Be Praised!!!!