You win some, you lose some

One more post to get things up to date a little bit

The last few months have been difficult in some ways, because we have lost a couple of families that had been very involved in the work with us. It is discouraging, mainly because they have been lured away to a church that does not practice and preach the truth. A former member of our church has moved back into the area, and because he apparently has some problems with our church, he began to seek out those who he thought he could lure away. He successfully sowed discord and spread gossip which led to these two families leaving and joining a "non-denominational" church in the area. I think by now he has already reached the extent of his influence with our congregation, so I hope there will be no more problems from him.

While we could have allowed this to seriously discourage us in the work here, instead we chose to press on, and with God's help we will persevere. Since those families left, we have been having several regular visitors, that show signs of wanting to join our church and serve the Lord with us here. The Dawson family is one of those (We used their pond for our baptisms). Also there is another nice lady that has visited several times this month (her husband came with her once, but he often has to work Sundays). And just this past Sunday a family of 3 came, bringing another friend with them. It is encouraging to see all these new visitors, especially when they come back for a repeat visit.

5 baptized this month!

The first Sunday this month, we had a baptismal service scheduled. There were 4 young people wanting to be baptized - Dorthy, Chris, Lyndsey, and Ashley. Unfortunately, Ashley was running a fever that day, so her baptism had to be rescheduled. That left 3 to be baptized.

We went to a pond belonging to the Dawson family, who have been regular visitors to our church. It was the perfect setting for an old-fashioned style baptism. Before we started the baptismal service, Chip Dawson approached me asking if he could be baptized as well. I had talked to him previously about his salvation, so I was comfortable with his profession of faith. As we gathered together to begin the service, I asked Chip to come forward, and he shared his profession of faith with the church, and they voted to add him to the list of candidates waiting for baptism. We were at his house, so it was no problem for him to find a change of clothes afterward. That brought the total to 4.

After all 4 were baptized, Wade Dawson, who is Chip's son, asked if he could be baptized too. I had talked with him a few times before, but I asked the church if they could give me a few minutes to talk to Wade privately, and after talking with him again, I presented him to the church as a candidate, and then he was also baptized. So there were actually 5 baptized that day. It was truly an exciting day. Below are some pictures that were taken at the baptism service:

Property Update

It is now August, and the progress has been slow with the negotiations for the property that we wanted for the church. It is frustrating, I admit. Everything seemed at first to fall right into place, convincing me that it was the Lord's hand guiding us. As a few obstacles have begun coming up, my confidence is a little shaken, but I still believe that God will lead us to the right place. I am resigned to the fact that if this property works out, we will know that it is because of God's provision, but if it doesn't, that will prove that God has something else in mind for us.

The owners of the property are not willing to negotiate, it seems. Their asking price is $179,900. Each of the offers we have made have been refused. We may make one more offer, and see how it goes. Please pray that the will of God will be made clear to us, and that He will give us the wisdom that we need to accomplish His will.