Pastor Commentary

It hasn't been that long since the last Report(12-23-06), but we have a great deal to report that is encouraging.

Praise the Lord! The young lady of whom I wrote in the last Report came with her fiance to dinner at our house and she and he prayed to receive the Lord. They two were baptized today in the YMCA pool here in Westerly. The Lord has saved them both and opened the door to their marriage. She wrote in her testimony: " I want to be baptized because I want to show God and everyone else that God has saved me and I appreciate all the things he has done for me....and also to show how
much love I have for him."

At this baptism we also baptized our seven year old grandson, Nathan(Sarah and Chris' boy) and his father, Chris. Chris has been saved for several years but had not been baptized. Apparently he had told Nathan that when Nathan got baptized he(Chris)would get baptized with him. So Nathan announced to his dad that this Sunday was the time he was going to be baptized. Chris, though he struggles with social anxiety, took courage and was also baptized. Nathan wrote in his testimony:
"I want to be baptized because God tells us to when we are Christian. I want to show everyone that I am a Christian. I became a Christian when I was 5. I asked my mom how to become one when she read devotions at night."

What a special time today. We had some good singing at poolside and gathered at the close to lay hands on and pray for those just baptized. Randy assisted in the baptism of Kim and Matt. Sarah assisted in the baptism of Nathan.

Two weeks ago I asked those attending the Bible study to write down why they were seeking to know more about God. Some wrote, "because the more I learn about God, the more I appreciate Him," "because I would like to know what God expects of me," "to learn forgiveness," "to let my chldren have all the chances I never had." One young gal wrote that she was thinking that God would make up for the lack of proper fathering in her life.

This helps set the agenda for us as we try to figure how to minister to our group.

There are folk coming to the Bible study of whom it was predicted that they would never come: Parents of some of the regulars at the study. God is working in lives on the "oikos" basis, the households of those whose lives He is already changing.

News Flash! One of the lifeguards on duty while we had our "service" in the pool
asked one of our folk many questions, showing interest in what was going on. He had never seen anything like this before. Please pray for this lifeguard.

Please pray for one of your young men, Jason. He was on probation for some
things that happened prior to salvation. He violated that probation by driving
on a suspended license and being involved with another vehicle in a slight altercation on slippery roads a week ago Friday.. He was picking a buddy up for work. He is now in jail awaiting sentencing. Please pray that the Lord will be ever so close to him in this and that he would not get discouraged, but would "get smart" and have wisdom.
We are praying that the Lord will give us a sense of expectation as we look forward to increasing the number of our small groups. May it be something that we
excitedly anticipate and desire as evidence of God's blessing.

We are also in the design stages of preparing a website. Recent information lets us know that that is one of the major correlates in growing works in today's climate.
May the Lord give us wisdom and direction in this.

Two more correlates are lively, meaningful worship, and lack of conflict in the work.
We believe God can bless all of these indicators and we pray He will do so among us.

Thank you for your constancy in prayer.
We continue to lift Jesus up in South County,

Russ and Carol