Worship

We are having a great time at MCBC. The Team from HBF is doing a fantastic job of ministering to the children of Monmouth, Illinois. My journey started Sunday night travelling in my old beater Ford with Jay Grimwood to Monmouth. It was funny when I arrived to pick up Jay, he saw my truck and asked if he needed to drive. The funny thing is that my truck looks old but many of the parts under the hood are new. My radiator is a week old, my starter is three weeks old, the alternator, motor, have all been replaced fairly recently. The motor has well under 100,000 miles and the tires have a couple thousand miles on them.

Looks can be deceiving. That is the case with my truck and that is the case with many believers. One of the finest communicators I know pastors Maple City Baptist Church in Monmouth Illinois. Pastor Mike Blake, and Beau Green are a powerful team. I am refreshed when I visit MCBC because they always have new life under the hood! Their building is well over 100 years old and their community is far from cutting edge, yet their ministry is certainly as dynamic as any you will find. There is no doubt God has placed this thriving church in this location to reach the ever expanding Monmouth Scott's. I believe in time the results of MCBC's ministry will have a great impact on the campus of Monmouth College. Some of the best and brightest attend that church and Mike and the team up here really know how to connect with them.

Pastor Shane Crawford of Rocky Mountain Baptist Church is preaching on worship. Last night's sermon was excellent! He spoke of how we always worship, it is just a matter of what we choose to worship. It was simple yet profound and caused me to evaluate the things I sacrifice for and what I really worship. I know tonight will be excellent as well as we talk about the alter.

Tomorrow night I give an update on the ministry of HBF to the Bhutanese. I'm looking forward to glorifying what God is doing for displaced Nepali's of Bhutan. I spent all those years working at a homeless shelter never realizing that some day God would introduce me to a homeless people group. It is a problem of biblical proportion which requires a biblical sized solution. It is comforting to know that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is powerful enough to address even this monumental spiritual, political and humanitarian problem.

It has been a great joy to visit with Blake Anderson, Mark Shaffer and the folks of MCBC. I especially have enjoyed meeting Artemio (I hope that is how his name is spelled). He is a pioneering pastor with a heart for God and a heart for people.

I praise God that as our bodies grow old, he continually renews the heart so we can run our race and finish our courses. I pray that we all finish strong as we follow Him to the finish line of glory!