The last month of ministry and life in general has flooded my mind with a realization of the manifold blessings of God. He has given us another year of serving Him and seeing others turn to Him as we give the truth.
For the family, this Christmas will be the first in which our family will not be all present. Josiah is currently in Colombia ministering with a friend from college. He plans to be there through the new year serving God. The rest of us are currently in Mississippi doing the kinds of things that normally occupy our time near the Christmas season.
For an evangelist, meetings are usually fewer in number this time of year. Despite that tendency, the Lord has blessed with meetings unusually close to the Christmas holiday that have been a blessing to us.
One meeting in particular deserves special mention because of what the Lord did. Great Hope Baptist Church of Chesapeake, Virginia, has done a living nativity for the past 3 years. Last year, they discovered that it would be better to have two Gospel preaching stations rather than one. That way, there would never be a bottleneck of people to distract those who were hearing the Gospel. The pastor of the church, John Godfrey, Jr., is a friend of mine from my days in college. For two years straight during the college years, we traveled together in music groups. He called me this year and asked me to help present the Gospel at the end of the living nativity.
The event lasted three nights, from December 13-15, 2024. In that time, we had 1,785 people attend the event. After they went to each location to hear actors tell the story of Mary, Joseph, and the birth of Jesus, they then proceeded to the cross and the empty tomb where a man dressed as a Roman soldier told them about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. From there, the groups--each numbered about 60 people--came into one of two tents where the pastor and I preached the Gospel, he in one tent and I in the other. The entire event was built around making much of Jesus. Over the three days, we had 270 people profess Christ as Savior. It was a great way to celebrate the Christmas holiday.
Not long after Christmas, Abigail and I head for Louisiana, she to work in a winter camp and I to preach in Lake Charles. We scarcely return from there before she heads off to college, and I to my traveling schedule.
As many of you know, I have been producing a podcast on a regular basis throughout much of 2024. The computer that I have been using for seven years is giving me some problems recently. This machine has become essential to the work that I have been doing. Please pray for wisdom as to whether we should repair or replace what we currently have.
May all of you have a merry Christmas and a wonderful, fruitful new year.
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