"The happiness of the creature consists in rejoicing in God, by which also God is magnified and exalted." ~ Jonathan Edwards

Our new Pastor, Bro. Brian Baldwin and his family.

I thought I heard someone out on the porch here at the ole blogger ranch. How in the world are you doing? I believe we might just take a few minutes to get caught up and maybe enjoy a hot cup of Community. I thought so. Sounds good to me also. Today is Thursday, October 16, 2014, and I think I feel something bubbling up that is worth sharing. Our local fellowship of believers officially began seeking God's man to lead us as our senior pastor back in July of 2013. As of yesterday we now have the man God has sent to pastor our local flock. This is an Amen, Hallelujah, praise the Lord outcome for us all. Additionally, for the five members of the pastor search team, well, this comes as we have pretty well exhausted our time, talent, and just about all of our strength. It has been my humble privilege to chair this effort where we met nearly every week, sometimes twice, we have reviewed, discussed, interviewed, watched sermon videos, made conference calls, and discussed, prayed, and started, stopped, and restarted for these many months. We know that through it all God was preparing the man He wanted for us and He was preparing us as well. What a journey it has been! My heartfelt love, appreciation, and thanks go out to Brother Robert, Brother Phil, Brother Elmer, and our dear Sister Betty for their devoted time and effort in support of this great cause. Thanks to our local fellowship for acting unanimously in support of our recommendation. Big deal? I think so. We are Baptist and unanimous is not always a feature of our practice. I also thank my wife who has supported me, and, lastly, I bow my knees before the Almighty God who has shown Himself to us in working this out. I so look forward to all He is going to do as we seek to move forward for His honor and glory. Amen.

Now you know why some of my writing may have reflected some energy drain. Just kidding. I can't blame any of my lame stuff on anything other than the one and only me, myself, and I. Whoever said that being involved in many different projects at the same time helps to keep one young, well, I'm going to have to think that one over for a while before I can give you my informed opinion. I do know that what we were involved in was a good work because it is the Lord's work. Our committee has been perhaps showing some signs of wear and tear along with some weariness. And, I am well aware that our congregation was weary as well. One thing that has come out of all of this waiting has been a great encouragement to us all. We kept our ministries going. We took care of the Lord's work as best we could. Folks stepped forward. Folks filled in the gaps. We did not throw in the towel. And, in the end, God gave us the man He wanted us to have. Ross Perot said that great sucking sound being heard was all our jobs going to Mexico because of NAFTA. I think it was the sound of relief sung in unison by our search team. It's only a little joke. Don't get all huffy about it.

We could have hired someone to become our pastor. There's no shortage of unemployed preachers. We set out to seek God's man and to seek His provision of that man according to His working. We knocked on a number of doors. God is in the opening and in the closing business. We were not certain of the choice He wanted us to make but He continued His guiding of our actions. Steps, missteps, maybes, they all worked together to get us to a unanimous conclusion about how we should proceed. We didn't know how the congregation would respond. That too was in God's hands. I suppose what I am trying to communicate is how that the work He established commonly called Church today is His design, it truly belongs to Him, and we are privileged to be a part of what He wants to accomplish in reaching men, women, boys, and girls for Christ. Part of our desire is to hand down a viable ministry focused Church to our children and grandchildren. One that is actively desiring to honor God and see others touched by His power. At the same time I am so very much relieved to see this mission accomplished. Thank You Lord! You folks take care, have a good one, and Lord willing I'll see you next time. Amen. ....More later.