
I thought that after writing a somewhat scathing post, calling out our fellow SBC pastors to forsake their shallow approach to/philosophy of ministry, I thought that I would write of a joyous Sunday with our Mothers!
Last Sunday we recognized our Mothers and I took text from 1 Samuel chapter 1 and preached on Hannah and her life as we know it from Scripture. Here was my outline… Hannah’s Heartache (v.5); Hannah’s Humility (v.6-10); Hannah’s Honor (v.11-16); Hannah’s Hope (v.17); Hannah’s Happiness (v.18-20); Hannah Handlings (v.21-23); Hannah’s Homage (v.24-28)! We had a great time and at the end of the service we had some very precious people present with us, our little ones. Now we are a very small church, about 50-75 depending on the Sunday, weather, or what’s on TV, and about 95% retired! But we had 6 kids that were dedicated to the Lord. It was a great time and we presented the families with a gift (Voddie Baucham’s new book: Family Driven Faith) and then the shepherds of the Church came down and we prayed for the families!
The best part of the day, however, was that I was able to baptize my first professing believer! Hold on to your hats readers…. She is a 66 year old woman! That’s right! After her inquiring about church membership, she and I met for counseling (as customary). We talked for over an hour and I explained what true salvation is and what it means to follow in baptism. After listening to her she confessed of her salvation when she had her heart surgery a few months ago. We then talked about baptism. Then on Mother’s Day I will never forget when we were waiting to walk in the water, I was fidgety and a little nervous, but I looked to the other side (were she was waiting) and saw her praying silently with tears running down her face as she was about to be baptized. In that moment, I could only thank the Lord for such great joys…
May 14, 2008 at 7:38 pm
That’s awesome! It’s experiences like that, that make all of the frustrations in pastoral ministry worth dealing with.
May 14, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Bless the Lord!
May 14, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Bless the Lord indeed! And how kind of God to allow this for you and your church so soon after you were disheartened by your peers.
May 16, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Thanks Yogi. That lifts my spirit from what has been my roughest day here at the church we are ministering at. Thanks again, and Praise God!