Tuesday Morning on the Coast

I'll be a morning blogger today, I guess! Last night we had our first event for children following Katrina. Spring Bible School runs through Thursday night. (Picture Above: Craft Time at Bible School. Joann is in blue shirt at the end of the table.)The teens from the Southern Acres Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky are doing all the work. They decorated our auditorium, did puppets, songs, crafts, and Bible stories. Seven kids were present. Perhaps there will be more tonight. Joann is a sister who is overseeing the Bible School, and she was so excited to see seven in attendance. SACC is a thousand members, with three worship services each Sunday morning ... so I was touched that she was not disappointed with the seven students. Last night Danny R. Jones brought in the chairs from Greenwood, MS. (Not to be confused with friend Danny Jones who oversees Sardis Lake Christian Camp! That's why this Danny uses the "R"!) We appreciate his interest and his willingness to be such a helper. Danny is from the Hernando, MS church of Christ. He has been to Gulfport several times to help out with their relief effort. We can now put away some of the student desks we had for people to sit in and replace them with nice padded chairs. I think we have some more chairs coming from somewhere else, but I am uncertain when they will get here. I digitally recorded Sunday morning's sermon called, "Does Jesus Think It Was Worth It?". If you wish, you can download and listen to that sermon on our church website at www.123Jesus.com . My friend Mike Kjergaard, who preaches at Cedar Creek Church of Christ in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was attending a church's second anniversary. It was a church that Cedar Creek helped to support, and he wanted to be there to celebrate with them. The preacher, during his message, talked about being at this church on the Coast that had 31 nights of preaching. He went up to the preacher afterwards and said, "are you talking about Central Church of Christ in Pascagoula?" The preacher couldn't believe that Mike knew that. The Saltsman family was down here last week for a few days helping out. I didn't even know he was a preacher! Anyway ... it's a small world ... but it's neat to see those connections being made! Today we have a shortage of ladies to work in the kitchen. Two ladies that usually help have gone to Tennessee to a funeral. One of our ladies has been sick all night. One lady who might usually help fill in is also sick. These are the kinds of things we learn to deal with as we go! I've volunteered to help in the kitchen as needed. I'll do one last call ... if anyone has left a super nice digital camera in Pascagoula, you need to e-me or call me soon! Transfer of ownership is about to take place.! It was actually left in my van at some point. A friend found it under the seat! I still encourage ministers to come down and spend a week doing mission work. Very few will take me up on the offer. There are literally hundreds of visits that need to be made. These are visits to people that we have helped in significant ways, who would welcome a visit from us. So I again make my appeal! If you are not a "minister" on staff with a church, but perhaps a retired brother or sister who loves to talk to people, come on down! I guarantee you'll meet some of the most awesome people in the whole world!