Nine months ago, our life changed. My wife was diagnosed with cancer and was
already very sick from its effects. Our
church was incredibly gracious and has given me the freedom to play nurse, take
over a good number of mom responsibilities for our 15 year old and be where I’ve
needed to be for chemo, surgery, etc.
The church was changing, too.
Members of our praise band went off to college; our long time worship
leader felt led to another church. We
found solutions but the energy level of the church dropped and there was little
momentum. I found myself pretty much at the end of all I had to offer and a
church that needed more.
Just before Christmas, it became obvious that God was doing
something in Wellborn Baptist Church.
Life began to percolate under the surface. The only way to describe it is that the Lord
was drawing people to Himself. This past
Sunday was a display of all He had been doing.
The service began with 4 excited adults being baptized, the
music service flowed into a commissioning service for 5 of our members who were
headed to Brazil for work on the Amazon, and then four daughters of ladies
going to the river brought the special music.
I’m preaching through Romans right now and preached from chapter 1,
verses 21-22. At the invitation, four
more came presenting themselves for believer’s baptism. Two were from normal ministry: a young girl who has grown up
in our Sunday School and church who prayed to receive Christ after a recent
concert and another who had come to Christ in our Vacation Bible School. Then there were two men, both of whom came to
Christ after involvement in different kinds of cults. One had been an elder in the local Kingdom
Hall. He “happened” into our fellowship
a couple of months ago and heard about grace. He has never been the same.
I went to the lobby, rejoicing, to greet the people as they
left. After just a couple of minutes,
another of our young girls came to me with tears streaming down her face. Under conviction, she trusted Christ.
All I can do is praise Him!
