What gets you excited spiritually? Do you anticipate the day that God calls you by name into your eternal rest. One of the most rewarding and encouraging scripture passages for faithful believers is: His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” Matthew 25:21, 23 In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), a man entrusts different amounts (talents) to his workers. He went away on a trip, but the workers left behind were expected to use the talents that they were given in ..read more

Hello Church family! Thank you for your prayers and encouragement as Nicole and I went to Georgia for my cousin Clint’s celebration of life service. He was just 43 years old. He leaves behind his bride Lauren and 5 children. Please pray for them as they pick up the pieces of this loss. Clint surrendered to preach the gospel when he was 13 years of age. He left behind a legacy of spiritual fishing and farming. Something that I share with him as his older cousin. We had many talks and phone calls over the years about our responsibilities as spiritual fisherman and spiritual farmers. That becomes ..read more

Thank you for allowing us to take a few days off. We are grateful for a praying church family. I received many texts and emails that stated how you were praying while we were traveling. Let me share a story of how God answers prayers (yours and ours). While traveling home in our RV, we had a tire that began to come apart. We were in a slow-moving traffic jam between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. A man in a truck blew his horn and we rolled down a window. He said that one of our tires looked low. I told him thanks and we got off on the following exit. Sure thing, the tire was low and it was com ..read more

It’s Not About Me This past Sunday we finished our “It’s Not About Me,” sermon series. I attempted to give you some points of encouragement for your unfinished task of Evangelism. WE, the church, are called to proclaim the excellencies of HIM who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). Will you take this call seriously? Will you walk in obedience to your calling this week? I encouraged you to go up to someone and say, “Has anyone told you today that Jesus loves you?” or “Have you had any good news today?” These are great “ice breaker” statements to open the door in s ..read more

Merry Christmas or Merry Xmas? As we move forward in our Advent preparation and celebration, I want us to consider one our Christmas greetings: Merry Christmas. In the Greek language---Christ is Χριστ ὸ ςς, which is pronounced Christos. So when you place X in place of Christ in the word Christmas, you are actually saying CHRISTmas. You may be familiar with the fish (Ichthus/Ichthys) symbol with Greek letters. Ichthus/Ichthus is the greek word for “fish.” The fish or Christian fish is one of the symbols that Christians used in the 2nd century to identify themselves as “followers of Christ.” I ..read more

Church Family, We are transitioning seasons here in the mountains. The mornings are colder and the afternoons are just right. We are blessed to host the Ladies Joy Gathering this weekend and we are preparing for the Trunk R Treat on October 31st in our lower parking lot.  Also, we will have a potluck and member’s meeting following our worship on October 29th. We are finishing off October on a strong note with ministry and opportunities. On Sunday mornings, we’ve been talking about the Assurance of our Salvation/Eternal Security. One of the key verses for our study is Ephesians 2:8-9 ..read more

Church Family, I left a section of our outline from Sunday unfinished. I know that those unfinished blanks bother those of us who love to “fill in the blanks.” Within the context of the Shepherd’s restoration in our lives, I had planned to teach on some ways the Lord disciplines those he loves. Using Hebrews 12:5-11, allow me to fill in the blanks for you. Discipline/Correction/Chastening:  I.Reveals Your Sonship (Hebrews 12:5-8)  5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved ..read more

Hello Church Family! I’m trusting you had a good and safe Independence Day.  I was reminded yesterday of the following  quote from Ronald Reagan. “Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.” Reagan later said, “The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of that the principle upon which is it is founded.” As we celebrate our ..read more

“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16b Raising kids in today’s culture is a challenge. In our parenting class on Sunday morning, we’ve been talking about how to intentionally build character in our children. Personally, as my children grow older, the day is drawing near when they will no longer be living under our roof. Many of you are past this point in life, but for Nicole and myself, it is an ever increasing reality. While they are under our roof, we are trying to impact their lives for Christ as much as we can. I hear parents say sometimes, “Well, the k ..read more

The road from Jericho to Jerusalem is a treacherous road (bandits, robbers, twists and turns) that ascends about 3300 feet in elevation over a roughly 17 mile hike. It can take most of a day to walk/hike this road. This is how Jesus and the disciples traveled to Jerusalem for the Triumphal entry of Palm Sunday.   In Matthew 20, verse 17, as Jesus and disciples traveled to Jerusalem, he said something really important to his disciples. Jesus said, “See we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to deat ..read more