The last few weeks have afforded me the opportunity to be in some of the prime hubs of our fundamental movement. As always, it was my great joy and privilege to be with the good people of Lancaster Baptist Church and West Coast Baptist College. So many dear friends work in that ministry and I count it an honor to have preached there on a number of occasions. Of course, having Nathaniel there makes the visit that much more satisfying!

Exciting! That’s the way I would describe the men’s meeting at the First Baptist Church of Hammond. Bro. Schaap is such a gracious man and host, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to preach to the men while the women attended the Ladies Spectacular. The music was tremendous and so was the response at the invitation. I’m learning that an altar call has a whole lot less to do with the preacher than it does with the sensitivity of the congregation. I thank the Lord for a truly Spirit-filled service.

These past two days have found me at Pensacola Christian College where I had the opportunity to preach to the student body a couple of times. Obviously the facilities are overwhelmingly beautiful, but I was so pleased with the good spirit and great response among the student body. In particular, I was grateful for the incredible response to my Tuesday message on the topic of salvation. Scores flooded the aisles to trust Christ as Savior– I had the opportunity to deal with several myself. What a joy!

In the midst of these meetings, I preached for my new friend, Joel Bixler in Lenoir, NC. Bro. Joel is a graduate of Crown College who is doing an exceptional work in the Hickory area. The services were vibrant and the people possessed a genuine sweet spirit for the things of God. Bro. Bixler and I traveled on that Tuesday (a week ago) to Hickory where I preached a combined chapel service for a couple of Christian schools. Pastor Scott Hooks and Administrator Greg Weber hosted us for the meeting. The Lord blessed with several teenagers trusting Christ as Savior. PTL!

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Pray for him (and let him know that you are praying for him!) 2 Timothy 1:3; Luke 22:31-32

Like most people in church, teenagers are willing to share prayer requests. While it is difficult at times to get teens to share a testimony or witness to a friend, it seems that they are willing to share prayer requests. And your reaction to such requests is probably positive—that is, at least outwardly.

“I’ll be praying for you!” Or, “I’ll remember that in prayer.” But do we actually follow through on such promises? How prone we are to forget such spur-of-the-moment answers! And if we have trouble praying for our young people when they ask for us to do so, how much more negligent are we when it comes to praying for them when they don’t ask?

Paul encouraged Timothy by reminding him that every time he spent time in regular prayer (morning and night), Timothy was one of the subjects of that prayer time. Unlike Paul, many youth leaders tend to say that they are praying for their teens… when sadly they are not. Leaders simply must rededicate themselves to the discipline of prayer!

Prayer goes places that you cannot go and influences in ways that you simply cannot. It is the royal invitation for God to work on the behalf of another. It is the indispensable weapon of every believer, and without it, victory is an utter impossibility.

In the context of Peter’s impending denial of Christ, our Lord promised him that he would be restored. Satan desired to sift the disciples as wheat. He intended to destroy them and thereby eradicate Christianity in its seminal form. “But I have prayed for thee,” said the Lord Jesus. Prayer is as strong as God is! Read more…

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These past few weeks have been a literal whirlwind of activity for us here at Harvest! Visitors have been pouring through the doors, and we’re doing the best we can just to keep our heads above water.

One of the major concerns I have had in the transition has been for our Sunday morning adult Bible classes. Although we have much more space than we have ever had, ironically we have fewer spaces than we had before. As a result, we have had to combine several of our adult classes into a combined auditorium class, which has been less than ideal. Our adult Bible classes are the lifeblood of our ministry and the primary medium through which accountability, fellowship, and strategic teaching take place. Losing several classes on a long-term basis would be catastrophic!

Fortunately, due to some reworking and additional space becoming available in mid-November, we will be able to offer a full slate of adult Bible classes again in about a month. We are especially looking forward to revitalizing our young couples class—one of the most important (and one of the largest) classes in the entire ministry.

It has been my privilege to teach our prospective members class for these past four weeks. The class was so popular that we had to cut off the sign up sheet at 50. We sill offer another cycle soon, of course.

This Sunday I preached a simple message from Daniel 3 on the topic, “To Whom Will You Bow?” Using the familiar story of the 3 Hebrew boys, I offered the following outline to our people: (Obviously this is merely the basic outline, but you get the point.) Read more…

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