Well, Camp Meeting 2012 has come, and it has gone...so quickly. This year we again had the following preachers: Brothers Steve Cowgill, Sam Gipp, Nathan Gipp, Eddie Wyatt and Buddy Blunkall. All of these men of God were used by the holy Spirit to deliver messages to us in such a powerful way. I truly praise the Lord for His ministering to all of us each service. Before I forget you can download and listen to most of the messages on our website (http://www.churchworksmedia.com/recordings/). Most have already been placed on the website but some still need to be uploaded. Feel free to download and listen at your convenience.
The "THEME" for this years Camp Meeting was "REVIVAL in US and USA" My wife, Bonnie, and I have been searching the word of God and reading books about revival for several months and we have been researching revivals that have taken place in the past. We have been praying for the holy Spirit to work in our midst, our church and our nation! In our study & search we came across much information about one revival that captivated our attention and our heart...the Welch Revival of 1904-1906. That revival was primarily spurred on by young people who were seeking revival. As the revival spread (over 100,000 were reported saved), pubs closed, the crime rate dropped, drunkards were reformed, bad language disappeared and never returned to the lips of many. The newspapers reported the revival extensively. There is a hymn associated with that revival entitled, "Here is Love, Vast as the Ocean". It was spontaneously sung by a young woman, Annie Davies, at one of the meetings in Wales back in 1904 and it eventually became known as the "Love Song of the Welsh Revival".(here is a link to it being sung http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APrUPPC8bFY) There are several verses but you can get a blessing listening to this short version. I also suggest you take a look at this link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yWKXkdDZ-A), however, be aware that it is graphic as it attempts to depict the scourging and crucifixion of our Saviour. As a congregation we sung this hymn at every morning & evening service during the Camp Meeting. I do not think I will ever get this hymn out of my mind and heart!
This coming Sunday night (July 22, 2012) at the 6:00 PM service we will be graduating another of our Bible Institute students, Buddy Sadlosky. It is always a joy to see folks graduate. They invest much time and effort into taking all of the classes and their labor for the Lord will not be unrewarded. Buddy will be following the Lord's leading and starting a new church (Cornerstone Baptist Church) in Brattleboro, Vermont on September 9th. I am blessed to be the one to open the church with the first service and introduce Pastor Buddy to the townsfolk of Brattleboro. What a blessing it will be for me! I am looking forward to opening the doors of another church here in New England! Glory to God!
Next Tuesday through Thursday (July 24-26) a bunch of folks from FBBC will be traveling to Berlin, NJ for the Northeast Vision Conference. Approximately 200 pastors attend this meeting! Pastor Clark and all of the folks at Solid Rock Baptist Church have always done a GREAT job ministering to all of us who attend. Last year we had 53 folks from our church travel down for the meeting. All of us were spiritually refreshed and helped. We are looking forward to the Lord speaking to us again this year. I am so thankful to the Clark family and all the wonderful folks at SRBC. They have such a ministering spirit! Please pray for this meeting.
Tean Camp in Maine (August 13-16) , VBS (Aug 20-24), special meetings with Brother James Knox (Oct 1-5), and our Missions Conference with Pastor Jim McGaughey (Oct 28-31) are just a few of the highlighted events over the next few months!
Please continue to pray for the Lord to use FBBC to reach lost souls for Christ, disciple them, and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ with our lives.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Street Ministry Update...
Here is the update for the street ministry for First Bible Baptist Church. I sure do appreciate David Howard for his faithfulness all these years heading up our street work and all those who are with him in downtown Hartford.
http://street-preach.blogspot.com/
http://street-preach.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Street Ministry Update 3-31-2012
Check out the video of Dave witnessing to a lost man on the street.
I praise the Lord for our faithful men who work the streets of Hartford for the Lord Jesus Christ proclaiming the glorious gospel!
http://street-preach.blogspot.com/
I praise the Lord for our faithful men who work the streets of Hartford for the Lord Jesus Christ proclaiming the glorious gospel!
http://street-preach.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
It's been awhile!
It has been awhile since I have made an update here. I guess you now understand why I call it my "once in awhile blog". Just a few updates.
First the great spiritual news. We have had two families join the church in the last couple of weeks. We also have several families who have been attending for the last 2 months and they have commented to my wife and me that they are rejoicing to have found FBBC. That's always a blessing to hear. We have also had two adults baptized in the last month. However, the BEST news of all is that three adults have been saved in the last three weeks! GLORY TO GOD! One couple is Adrian and Cindy. They are both nurses and moved to CT to work on contract with St. Francis hospital for 3 months. I am praying they will have their contract extended so we can get them both grounded in the scriptures before they have move on down the road. In fact, it would be great if the Lord left them here with us. We have fallen in love with them. Another is a young Mom. Her name is Amy. My wife and I met with her in her home and she was gloriously saved! It so wonderful to see the lights go on as the holy Spirit gives them understanding of the gospel. I love being a Christian and an ambassador for Christ!
The Teens just returned from TEEN THUNDER at Pastor Lake's church, Blessed Hope BC in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Five teens were saved from Canada, and all of our teens came back fired up to serve the Lord! Praise the Lord! I am so grateful for Pastor Ken Sparks and the adult workers (the Sturgeon's & the Burhoe's) who sacrifice so much of their time and finances to work with our young people!
Our men handed out over 2500 tracts and did extensive street ministry at the St Partick's Day parade last week. I am so grateful to Dave Howard for heading up that ministry for us. He has been so faithful to the street ministry for many years. I sure do appreciate all the faithful men (Harry, Bert, Herb, Dave, Isaac, and many others) who faithfully go on Saturday's!
Our 28th Church Anniversary will be in just a few weeks (April 9th to 15th). This year we are blessed to have with us Pastor Doug Fisher from Lighthouse BC in Lemon Grove, CA., as well as Evangelist Brian DelGrande. We are looking forward to a wonderful week of preaching and fellowship together!
Camp Meeting will be here before we know it too! This year it will be July 8 to 15. Dr Sam Gipp, Evangelist Steve Cowgill, Evangelist Buddy Blunkall, Pastor Eddie Wyatt and others will be preaching this year. Camp Meeting is always a great time and such spiritual refreshment!
We also had most of our Fellowship hall floor tiled. We are still needing about 1200 sq ft of ceramic tile to finish the entire floor. We are grateful to Brother Kaiser from Solid Rock BC in Berlin, NJ for arranging to get the tile for us in the first place! He and his wife have been such a blessing to us here at FBBC! I will attempt to attach a few pictures of the tile work. Two of our faithful men, Isaac Raymond and Darren Maynes laid the tile and did the grouting work! They did a SUPER job!
First the great spiritual news. We have had two families join the church in the last couple of weeks. We also have several families who have been attending for the last 2 months and they have commented to my wife and me that they are rejoicing to have found FBBC. That's always a blessing to hear. We have also had two adults baptized in the last month. However, the BEST news of all is that three adults have been saved in the last three weeks! GLORY TO GOD! One couple is Adrian and Cindy. They are both nurses and moved to CT to work on contract with St. Francis hospital for 3 months. I am praying they will have their contract extended so we can get them both grounded in the scriptures before they have move on down the road. In fact, it would be great if the Lord left them here with us. We have fallen in love with them. Another is a young Mom. Her name is Amy. My wife and I met with her in her home and she was gloriously saved! It so wonderful to see the lights go on as the holy Spirit gives them understanding of the gospel. I love being a Christian and an ambassador for Christ!
The Teens just returned from TEEN THUNDER at Pastor Lake's church, Blessed Hope BC in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Five teens were saved from Canada, and all of our teens came back fired up to serve the Lord! Praise the Lord! I am so grateful for Pastor Ken Sparks and the adult workers (the Sturgeon's & the Burhoe's) who sacrifice so much of their time and finances to work with our young people!
Our men handed out over 2500 tracts and did extensive street ministry at the St Partick's Day parade last week. I am so grateful to Dave Howard for heading up that ministry for us. He has been so faithful to the street ministry for many years. I sure do appreciate all the faithful men (Harry, Bert, Herb, Dave, Isaac, and many others) who faithfully go on Saturday's!
Our 28th Church Anniversary will be in just a few weeks (April 9th to 15th). This year we are blessed to have with us Pastor Doug Fisher from Lighthouse BC in Lemon Grove, CA., as well as Evangelist Brian DelGrande. We are looking forward to a wonderful week of preaching and fellowship together!
Camp Meeting will be here before we know it too! This year it will be July 8 to 15. Dr Sam Gipp, Evangelist Steve Cowgill, Evangelist Buddy Blunkall, Pastor Eddie Wyatt and others will be preaching this year. Camp Meeting is always a great time and such spiritual refreshment!
We also had most of our Fellowship hall floor tiled. We are still needing about 1200 sq ft of ceramic tile to finish the entire floor. We are grateful to Brother Kaiser from Solid Rock BC in Berlin, NJ for arranging to get the tile for us in the first place! He and his wife have been such a blessing to us here at FBBC! I will attempt to attach a few pictures of the tile work. Two of our faithful men, Isaac Raymond and Darren Maynes laid the tile and did the grouting work! They did a SUPER job!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Spanish Ministry at FBBC
Approximately 4 years ago the Lord began to deal with me about beginning a Spanish ministry here at FBBC. I have prayed about this truly seeking the Lord's full direction for the initial questions I had...the "who, what, when, where" type of questions. The Lord began giving me direction and filling in all the blanks I had in my mind and heart. This past year was really the year the Lord began to completely put all the pieces together. I praise the Lord for His guiding me in every step of the way. He has ordered my steps for this entire journey.
Two months ago we began handing out invitations and John and Romans in Spanish in the heavily Spanish speaking areas of Bristol and New Britain. They were well received. We also had pocket sized Spanish invitations printed. During the last several weeks I had run into so many Spanish speaking folks every where I went. I was able to give the invitations out to very receptive hands. We were doing all we could to follow the Lords direction for this new ministry.
The start date was last Sunday, January 8th. We have prayed, we have worked and invited, and now it was the first service. Saturday, January 7 I received a phone call from a man who received a tract from our church as well as a Spanish invitation tract. He said he wanted to come to church but he needed a ride. He also said there were several Spanish folks who also wanted a ride to church. I told him we would pick them up. I called Harry that Saturday afternoon and he immediately went to visit those folks. Sunday morning Harry and his wife took one of the church vans and brought those folks to church. Brother Harry Torres and his wife, Estella were excited, we as a church were excited to see what the Lord was going to do as we began this new ministry. Well, praise the Lord, we had a class of 9 show up! Each of them were genuinely excited to be in the church for the Spanish Sunday School Class. They came out of that class all smiles. The man who called me that Saturday also came, brought a friend and they both sat in my Sunday School class (as they both spoke English). They all stayed for the morning service and sat together in the church. At the conclusion of the service three of them came forward for salvation! WOO! HOO! GLORY TO GOD!
Please be in pray for the Torres' and for FBBC as we go forward in this ministry reaching the Spanish speaking community here in our Jerusalem for the Lord.
Two months ago we began handing out invitations and John and Romans in Spanish in the heavily Spanish speaking areas of Bristol and New Britain. They were well received. We also had pocket sized Spanish invitations printed. During the last several weeks I had run into so many Spanish speaking folks every where I went. I was able to give the invitations out to very receptive hands. We were doing all we could to follow the Lords direction for this new ministry.
The start date was last Sunday, January 8th. We have prayed, we have worked and invited, and now it was the first service. Saturday, January 7 I received a phone call from a man who received a tract from our church as well as a Spanish invitation tract. He said he wanted to come to church but he needed a ride. He also said there were several Spanish folks who also wanted a ride to church. I told him we would pick them up. I called Harry that Saturday afternoon and he immediately went to visit those folks. Sunday morning Harry and his wife took one of the church vans and brought those folks to church. Brother Harry Torres and his wife, Estella were excited, we as a church were excited to see what the Lord was going to do as we began this new ministry. Well, praise the Lord, we had a class of 9 show up! Each of them were genuinely excited to be in the church for the Spanish Sunday School Class. They came out of that class all smiles. The man who called me that Saturday also came, brought a friend and they both sat in my Sunday School class (as they both spoke English). They all stayed for the morning service and sat together in the church. At the conclusion of the service three of them came forward for salvation! WOO! HOO! GLORY TO GOD!
Please be in pray for the Torres' and for FBBC as we go forward in this ministry reaching the Spanish speaking community here in our Jerusalem for the Lord.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Zambia, Africa... November 8 - 23, 2011
Well, on Sunday night , November 7th, at midnight 23 of us left VIA a bus to drive through the night and early morning hours to head to Washington, DC Dulles airport. We arrived at 7:00 am in DC and at 11:00 AM we were aboard an Ethiopian airplane heading to Zambia, Africa.
We flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, had a 2 hour layover then departed for Lusaka with a short stop to refuel in Zimbabwe.
We arrived safely in Lusaka and were greeted by John Sarra, Yohannes Getaneh, Joseph (John Sarra's right hand man), Pastor Douglas Sakawaka and a few others. We were so warmly greeted and hugged and loved. I have been to Zambia several times since 1993 when I first took John Sarra there to view the work and get God's direction for his life and ministry these last 18 years. It was so wonderful to see many of the men I knew from previous trips still serving the Lord faithfully! Joy flooded my soul!
We then split up to spend the first night in two different locations to sleep that first night. The next morning we split the group into two groups of 8 and 15. Eight of us stayed in Lusaka and preached and taught several times for the next 6 days at a Bible conference run by 9 pastors from the area of Lusaka, teens and adult services and also ministering to the deaf at Brother Yohannes Getaneh's ministries. The remaining 15 went on to John and Lorna Sarra's mission station in the copper belt area of Luanshya (about 5 hours drive away from Lusaka).
Those who stayed with me in Lusaka for those first 6 days were blessed to minister in the deaf church and school, the deaf Bible college, a bible study group at the Intercontinental Hotel (where there met about 18 hotel staff who have been faithfully meeting each week), and also at the Bible conference in a compound area of Lusaka. Pastor Drummond, George Kie, Cameron Prewitt and myself preached and preached, and Cam drew chalk drawings and preached. It was an amazing week there because in the 6 short day while we were there we saw 46 deaf folks, 5 teenagers, and 18 adults saved at the Bible conference during that first week. The group that went on to the mission station saw 28 saved. All together we were aware of 97 souls who were born into the family of God through repentance of sin and faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary! There was also a plowing, and planting of the seed of corn as Ed Young, George Kie and Cameron prepared about 10 acres of fallow ground to plans corn for the mission station. Physical seed and spiritual seed planted in order to see a harvest of souls and nutrition for the body. GLORY TO GOD!
I want to say that I was blessed to have such a great bunch of young people and "ol goomers" go on this missions trip. There was a GREAT spirit during the entire trip. THANKS FOR GOING! You ALL blessed my heart and filled me with wonderful memories as we worked together for the Lord Jesus Christ . I sure do love you all!
Below is a web site to view some of the video and pictures taken by Brent Burhoe who was at the Mission station. I have also attached a few more pictures at the beginning of this post. They were taken in the area of Lusaka with our group of 8 so you can get a brief glimpse of the deaf work and services at the compound in Lusaka.
Go to this site to see the video of our trip to Zambia, Africa: http://vimeo.com/32826221
Thanks Brent! Great job putting the video together!
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