Believing
By Tony Driver

Matthew - Those who do not believe in me will be cast into darkness.

We should fill our hearts with His never-ending love. Fill our minds with His words. And fill our souls with His Spirit and serve Him with every ounce of our being.

And love our neighbor as ourselves. The promises of the path to Heaven shall be opened to us. And we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 

And on that great day I hope to see you all there in that great kingdom with our Lord. 

Where there will be no more sickness, no more death, no more hate, no more darkness, only the light of our Lord forevermore.

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​by Linda Hokit


        Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
    In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

      I have seen the Lord lead me in many ways over the years. Let me share some examples of how God worked in the past and fulfilled His promises in the present.
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      PAST: When I was only one month old my parents traveled by car from California to Alabama. While driving, we hit what is now referred to as the Panhandle Blizzard of 1957. There were no hotel rooms available, gas was running out and people where dying. Late into the night, my father pulled into a gas station and asked for help. The owner said, he and his wife had been praying for a young couple with a baby they could help. That first trip turned into 7 we took adding my brother a few years later. As a result, I was familiar with many cultures and environments before I finished first grade!

     PRESENT: Later in my adult years I taught Conversational English, a form of English as a Second Language. During my missionary years I was the support person for a number of schools throughout the state of Alaska. My mentor, Louise had retired but was still teaching when she heard about a church in Georgia who was sending a construction team to Alaska. The leader of that team felt strongly that he should invite the Vietnamese pastor to come along. The pastor had no skills in construction but God had a plan. Louise heard he was coming, drove to a town where they were working and told the pastor why she believed he was in Alaska! She had been working with a group of Vietnamese for well over 10 years.

      They learned English but never embraced Christ. She called together all the Vietnamese she could gather at the last minute. About 5 adults came. Once they heard the Gospel in their language from a man who happened to be in the same refugee camp at the same time they were, they all accepted the Lord!

      PAST: On our last trip to Alabama, we attended Mt Zion Baptist Church in Huntsville. During VBS I accepted the Lord and was baptized. It was a large red brick church of about 2,000 people which was a bit overwhelming for a child who attended a church in California that was created from a ranch style  home. Bethany Baptist only had about 50 people, but it was the first place I remember at age 8 understanding the awe of God. My pastor came from an organization that ministered on the streets. He was a “chalk talk artist” and drew his sermon on Easter Sunday that year. Easter has been my favorite holiday since then.

      PRESENT: After I became a missionary, I received a card from a women’s group who sent me card on my birthday to say they were praying for me. It was from Mt. Zion Baptist Church. I wrote the ladies to say their church played a role in growing up a missionary and often spoke about the faithfulness of their church.
     
      The Alabama ladies participated in a tradition we have in Southern Baptist circles to pray for
missionaries on their birthday. If you would like to see the names of missionaries you can pray for, go to https://wmu.com/prayercalendar. You will see me there on the 23rd .

     PAST: Before I graduated from High School we lived in California, Alabama, Mississippi, Alaska and Colorado. We moved and changed our address 25 times. As an adult I moved 20 more times and have to date lived in 11 states and 2 Canadian Provinces. I arrived in Vermont 8 years ago. MISSIONARY PAST: Many people have asked where I served and what I did. Before, I was appointed I served in my church while employed as a paid worker for Girl Scouts, USA. About 8 years later, I went to Vancouver, British Columbia to serve during the World’s Fair and then moved over to Calgary to direct the Canadian Southern Baptist ministry outreach during the Calgary Olympic Games. That was followed by service in Alaska as interim Youth and Education Director and in New York as a Resort Ministries project leader. I received my call to ministry while in New York. At the time, Baptist Convention of New England had a seminary extension program in Boston sponsored by Southern Seminary. I became a Church Starter Strategist serving in New Hampshire and Massachusetts while going to seminary. After Seminary I went to Buffalo, New York to direct a ministry during the Summer World University Games, then worked at the New York State Fair Ministry we developed during my first experience in New York.

      Most of the work I did before seminary was related to meeting people in the places they play in order to bring them the Gospel, which is called Resort Ministries. 

      AFTER SEMINARY: After seminary I moved to Alaska as an appointed missionary. I was a Church and Community Ministries Consultant. I helped churches meet the needs of people in their communities while sharing the Gospel; I did this role twice before retiring. In between, I served in Stone Mountain, Georgia working to establish permanently ministries that were begun during the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta including a campground ministry at a local state park. After retiring from Appointed Missionary Service, I served 10 years with American Red Cross in Alaska and Vermont. In it all I can say,  God directed my path.

by Will Brannon

​Following God is a series of choices.The first choice is to accept him into your heart as your Lord and savior, when you do this you will be filled with holy spirit and your sins will be washed clean. Now what?

We have the spirit and must now walk in it. What does that look like?

These are just a few examples…

Do I allow my pride to seek its vengeance, or do I choose to forgive?

Do I spend time out partying, watching movies, playing mindlessly on my phone, or do I read my Bible?

Do I allow my laziness to reign over my decisions and stay home, or do I go to church?

Do I allow depression and intrusive thoughts to take over my mind, or do I choose to seek God, and allow the peace that is in Him to rule in my mind?

Do I put my life first, or do I deny myself in pursuit of service to Him?
 
Jesus tells me to deny myself, to bear my cross daily and follow him.

Some days are easy and my cup is overflowing with grace and joy, others I feel far from God, like I can't even feel, see or hear Him. I’ve learned that in those times if we stay true and do not stray from His path, that feeling is unfailingly replaced by a peace like no other. 

I will not lie, it can be hard to be in a world saturated in sin, such as the one we live in now. We trip and stumble on that sin, then feel shame and despair. But when we walk in the Spirit, we can see sin as it truly is, our eyes are opened to the Truth. We can take heart in the fact that those who do not have Jesus in their heart cannot feel that way. The simple truth is that feeling that way is our reminder that the Spirit lives in us, that the path isn’t closed to us, as I know it can sometimes feel. 

Here’s the corrected version:
Remember, we are all trying to walk the same narrow path together, but it’s not good enough to walk it. When we walk past others on the same path who are tired and weak, who have stumbled and need help to stand, we must stop to pick them up, help them walk, and give them encouragement. Otherwise, we are just stepping over God's children in order to get ourselves where we want to be.
Imagine your child falls down. Everyone ignores their pleas for help, walks around them, steps over them as they are too weak to stand, then those people come to you and say I'm here, I've finally made it. What would you say, seeing what they had done to your child? 

I have a pretty good idea of what God would say, but I definitely know what I would say.

Jesus told us about the importance of love, how we are called to love each and every person as we love ourselves. If we have no love in us and God is love, how can we say that God lives in us? 

Please my friends, understand you are not alone. God is with you and so am I. If you ever need someone to talk to, If you are struggling, I am happy to be here for you. I chose to devote my life to helping those who believe they can’t talk about things, feel doubt, feel weak, feel as though they can't stand. It's ok to talk about it. You aren't the only one with these thoughts, these feelings, these fears. We are all real people, we can't hide from what makes us human. Sometimes it's not pretty and that's ok. God has given me the strength and the desire to be of help. I hope anyone who's in need and wants to talk will approach me anytime. In church, after church, you can facebook me, we can chat in person, texts, email, whatever you most comfortable with. You only have to make the choice to open up.

I am not a professional, I'm just your friend in Christ.