A great night and boy, were there a lot of kids “in the house” tonight. The AG Center was pretty full tonight and everything went great. There were 5 decisions for Christ that I heard about. The leadership was still going through things when we left. My voice was strong and things went well, so thanks much for all the prayers.
We will be heading home in the morning to spend the night and run errands before heading out again.
Blessings,
John

We arrived to set up for the UPWARDS basketball awards in Pontotoc. Wow…..it is being held at the AG Center in Pontotoc becuase that is the largest venue in town. They have 540 kids involved involved in the program and with the parents and coaches there they have set up for 1000 people. Large screen projection and all. Pray for a great harvest as many of these will not be regular church attenders if at all so the field is ripe.
I’ll try and let you know how it goes so I’ll thank you in advance for the prayers.

Blessings,
John

Wow, an incredibly busy day on Saturday. The family conference that featured Richard Ross from Southwestern Seminary speaking to parents, Doug Compton of Doug Compton Ministries for the students and me with kids.
Tough toward the end. The afternoon involved 3 one hour sessions with small breaks in between. I had 3 yr old through 5th grade. Not my ideal setting and as the afternoon wore on the kids really got tired making things all the more difficult but all in all things went well.
We drove on to Yazoo City last night arriving around 11 p.m. We’ll use today to rest up and visit with parents before heading out to Pontotoc, MS, tomorrow for a large UPWARD Basketball program. I understand there are 500 kids involved with the program so pray for God’s word to be clear and penetrate hearts.
Blessings,
John

It was an incredibly busy 3 days at home. When we got home Monday night I began listing things that need accomplishing before heading out again on Friday. Priority was this weekends Family Conference in Quitman, MS. 3 separate sessions to do. Then an UPWARDS Basketball Program on Monday in Pontotoc, MS. So I took some time to look it over.
The thought came to me that we would get home on Tuesday evening, be home Wednesday, then leave Thursday for a Student Conference that I am leading in TN on Friday through Sunday. In other words, that prep work needed to happen now for there would be no other time to do it so I got busy.
And there you go. Finished the prep work last night around 9:15. We will pack this morning and leave around noon. Your prayers are much appreciated as we continue the work. Will try and let you know how things are going but not sure of the availability of the blog where I am headed. Should be able to catch you up on Monday at the latest.

Blessings,
John

Hi Gang,
Just got in and it’s good to be home. We’ll settle in and take a day or so to get some rest then hit it hard preparing for our next trip out. Thanks for your prayers and we “burn up the roads” all over the country.

Blessings,
John

It was a good day at Earle Baptist Church. All the equipment worked well and there was a good crowd in attendance in the new sanctuary. The pastor was really pleased and said there were several people there that he had been working on for almost 10 years. He was really excited to see God use the revival and the new building to bring them in and renew a relationship that had severed 10 years ago.
He told me that even though I didn’t see a lot of movement not to be disappointed. There were several “God” things that had happened this week. Praise the Lord and thank you for the prayers.
We plan on heading home tomorrow.
Blessings,
John

Well, the crowd was down from the last few nights. I guess, being Saturday and all but there were several who had not been there previously and although there was little movement at the conclusion the spirit was good and those in attendance were responsive.
Pray for continued strength. I’m beginning to wear down. It’s been a long road trip but things have gone well so thanks!
Had a bit of difficulty with the pianist tonight so I’ll be using tracks the remaining 2 services. Pray that I do exactly what God wants the people to experience.
On the tech front, we only had use of 1 projector again tonight but worked on the problem following the service and it looks to be solved. No echo either. Still don’t know the cause for that one but God took care of it so thanks for the prayers!
I’ll be in touch,
John

Bugs, bugs, bugs. Well, one of the projectors continues to malfunction and turn off after a few minutes of work but we did have one that was working so we made it fine.
An new bug tonight. An echo. Yep, my voice was in a five second delay. Really, really, very distracting. The few I spoke with following the service just thought someone was talking, like, out in the foyer or something. That’s what I thought until Patty told me it was me I was hearing. We’ll have to get that straightened out before tomorrow night, I’m telling you right now.
Thanks for your continued prayers. A pretty good crowd although down just a bit from the last two nights but several at the altar again so God is moving and people are being responsive. We praise Him!

Keep praying,
John

Hi friends. I know you check this blog and I thank you so much for your prayers and support. I’m writing now because the blog tonight will be somewhat later. There is a couple in the church that will be taking us out to eat following the service so I won’t be blogging until closer to 10 tonight.
We went to the school this afternoon and had a good time but I have to tell you how truly much I resent not being able to tell the kids about the love of Christ.
Nevertheless, a talk and demonstration on ventriloquism with a little humor and a quick lesson for the kids hopefully will draw them into the upcoming services.
My voice is really showing some fatigue especially following the school program so your prayers would be very much appreciated.
I checked with the pastor and all the equipment at the church is up and fully functional so thanks for the prayers and keep em coming!!

Blessings,
John

Well, pretty rough night beginning but God had the victory. The sound tech company came back today while we were out to “tweak” a few things and fix other problems.
We intentionally showed up early at the church to prepare. They had informed the pastor that they left it as it was yesterday. This wasn’t the case. We had no sound. The new sound board had been “zeroed out” meaning all knobs turned as if the board had just come out of the box. Remember, there hasn’t been a training time yet for the church people who plan on running the system. So……….it took a while but I along with the pastor was able to get sound up and running.
Then came problem #2. The tech group was suppose to get the projectors fine tuned and it fine tuned means not working and talking to the computer in the sound booth, then they did a great job. Again, the pastor and Patty got busy on that part and managed to get one of the two projectors to work, so praise the Lord.
Other than the frustrations, the service went well and the pastor was extremely excited over the crowd. The 90 in attendance was the most they have had in as long as he could remember. A little movement at the invitation was encouraging as well.
Thank you for your continued prayers. We will be in the elementary school for a program at 2 p.m. then back to the church for the 7 p.m. worship
Blessings,
John