A Word from the Pastor

The first three months of this year have been very busy for First Baptist Church LaBelle. We celebrated our 100th Anniversary in February, which God blessed us greatly. In March we did Judgement House and we had 25 professions of faith in Jesus Christ. We are still feeling the effects of Judgement House in our church and we are thankful to the Lord for that. In March, I went to Romania to work with the local Pastors in Zalou to give encouragement to them and their congregations. I took the toiletry items that you donated to these Pastors in Zalou and they will distribute them to the needy families in their churches.

This weekend our church will be involved in "Relay for Life" at LaBelle High School. For the last several years our church has had a team representing our church. Activities start around 3pm, Saturday afternoon and go to Sunday morning around 8am. If you have a chance go out to the LaBelle High School and support our team.

I've been reading the promotional material for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. This year the theme is "Whatever It Takes". In Mark 2:1-12 we find a reminder as Christians of what we should do to bring others to Christ. Whatever It Takes!

May we be a church to do "Whatever It Takes", to reach people for Christ. May we pray for our church and the other churches in our community who are reaching people for Christ. May we see that our giving to our church is very important to the ministry of our church. Your offering is a gift to God and may we be faithful to him through our giving.

Romania 2012

In the next few days I will be sharing about my trip to Romania.  I'm in Budapest, Hungry waiting to have supper with Brian and Pearl Williams from Vienna.  Brian and Pearl have been in our church several times.  We have had a great trip to Romania, working with the churches and pastors have been a blessing.  Encouraging these Pastors have been a unexpected blessing.  Our group is very tired and looking forward in flying back on Wednesday and getting back to LaBelle Thursday morning.

I hope the Lord is blessing you and can't wait to see you on Sunday.

God is so Good!

In our Morning Worship Service this morning we were blessed in many ways. We worshiped under the tent in our ball-field and had great weather and a great crowd. We heard great testimonies from our girls who went on short-term mission trips during their spring break. Olivia Luckey in Haiti, Savannah Smith in Guatemala and Tonie Marie Tolar and Brooke Awbry in Brazil. Peggy Mills shared she was glad to have her mother with her today and that her mother is 98.

We had a couple that on March 11th, sixty one years ago today got married in what is know as our social hall (the old church). What a blessing to have them as they celebrate their anniversary.

Cathy and I were blessed by having friends surprise us from Bogalusa, Louisiana, Buddy & Hope Banks. They where down for a tractor show in Leesburg, Florida and came down and went to Judgement House last night and then went to church with us this morning. Thank You Lord for friends!

God is so Good! We felt that today at First Baptist Church LaBelle.

Judgement House Update

The Lord has been truly blessing us this week at First Baptist Church in Judgement House. Friday night we had 70 people go through Judgement House and we had 3 Salvation, 5 Re-dedications, and 10 Prayer Needs. On Saturday night we had 89 people go through Judgement House and we had 5 Salvation, one re-dedications and two Prayer Needs. We even had one person get saved on the night of our Dress Rehearsal for Judgement House. We are thankful to the Lord for these decisions.

Sunday evening (March 11th) we will have our final performance from 4 to 8pm. Please be in prayer for Judgement House. Take time and invite your friends to attend Judgement House Sunday evening.

Judgement House Dress Rehearsal

Wednesday night we had dress rehearsal for Judgement House. We had 41 people go through Judgement House that night. We had two decisions made and we praise the Lord for those decisions. One was for salvation and the other for re-dedication.

Friday night we will begin performances for the public starting at 6pm to 8:30pm. It is suggested for larger groups to make reservation by calling the church @ 675-2171. We are asking for a $3 donation to go through this performance but nobody will be stop from going if they don't have the $3.

This years story is entitled "Finally Forgiven". Come and hear this true story about forgiveness. We will also have performances on Saturday from 6 to 8:30pm and Sunday 4 to 8pm.

A Beautiful Day

This morning I'm sitting on the picnic bench under the oak tree watching the men put the tent up for Judgement House. As I watch them, I hear the children playing on the playground. I hear one saying "swing me", and another yell "come over here". These sounds seem so wonderful to me. Today I have received several phone calls while I was outside and it was nice to be out and enjoyed watching and hearing the beautiful sounds around me.

I think of the phrase, Stop look and listen. Today I believe that is a good thing for me to do. Our wonderful God wants us to see the beauty of this world and the blessings that are all around us. Take time to look at things the way God would want you to look at them. I know I have already been blessed by looking at things differently today. Also today lets listen! Listen to sounds! Listen to our spouse! Listen to our children! and most importantly listen to God.
I hope you will have a beautiful day!