Busy Days on the Coast

There was lots of activity around the church building and community today as groups from various places got to work. I'm adjusting to being back in the office after an extended time at home and then Bible Camp. It still just amazes me to see the people scurrying around from job to job doing all they can to help as many people as possible. Jeff Smith is the preacher from Shelbyville, TN. He arrived with the knowledge that one of their members may pass away at any time. Unfortunately, this did come to pass, so he had to go home. But I did enjoy a great conversation with him before he had to go home. Above is Rod Lindsey and another brother from Shelbyville. Rod is a real go-getter who likes to see things happen. I bet he is hard to keep up with! His son Chris is the lead singer in Watershed Worship. Rod also reads the blog (which puts him up a notch in my estimation!). He knew when I came in with a cup of coffee this afternoon that I had been to Dough Joe's!

Will Collins is now here at Central working with our teens for two months. I appreciate him getting them involved in service right away. Spending some time painting today were John Robert Dobbs (my favorite son), Ashton Spivey, and Lanni Harris. That's Will in the orange shirt. Will and Joel Jordan were going to participate in open mic night at Coffee Fusion tonight in Ocean Springs, so they headed over there not long after this picture was taken. Tomorrow night (Wednesday) Bobby Smith will speak at Central. He is the Youth Minister at Memorial Drive Church of Christ in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has only been married nine months and is missing his beautiful wife. I know he'll do a great job. This coming Sunday we will have a double blessing as Terry Rush and Craig Hicks bring the morning message and Sunday school lesson, respectively. The following Wednesday night Smith Street Church of Christ (Fulton, Tennessee) minister, Miles Mayo, will bring the message. These are some great opportunities to recieve some wonderful spiritual food! Remember that if you are in the area, I'd love to meet you at the Airline Drive Church of Christ Wednesday night at 7:00. After the service they are going to have a fish fry. I wonder why they are eating AFTER I speak? Think they've found a way to get me to quit on time? I think it will work! One our new brothers since Katrina hit is Robbie Woods. Robbie is a wonderful young man that I admire. He recently received his 6 month chip from AA for being clean and sober! Awesome! Robbie has had a strained relationship with his father for most of his life. Last week his dad had a severe motorcycle accident and nearly died. During that uncertain time his dad called him for the first time in a long time and they had a long talk. Robbie is going to fly up to West Virginia to see his father. His ticket is just over $600, half of which is being contributed by a visiting church group. If you would like to contribute the other half, let me know. Also, we have now established a building fund to refurbish our church building. Donations are being accepted and must be specifically earmarked for that part of our mission. All other funds go directly into the hurricane relief fund and are used to minister to our community. The seed money for this account was a $56,000 gift from www.ides.org, and a $1,000 gift from a Methodist church that wanted to help us get our church building back in order. The address to send gifts is on our website, www.123Jesus.com. Click on the icon for the KATRINA page. Pray for our safe journey over the next week and a half. I will do my best to keep you informed and let you know how things go! Thanks for reading. It is a blessing to me that you have such an interest in my world.