Off To A Great Start

Our week got off to a great start with the baptism of Michael King. Mike has been an awesome person to have around - he is a lot of help. Mike has quite a story to tell. The passing of his wife several years ago led to years of grief and pain that were numbed by alcohol. This path in life led to predictably bad consequences, including a severly damaged liver. Mike is currently living with the Salvation Army and working with us during the days. Before his baptism, Mike looked up all of the passages in Scripture about baptism and read them. It was a joy to immerse him into our Savior Jesus yesterday! I saw him first thing this morning and asked him how he felt. In his words, "I'm glowing". In the picture above is Mike with David Kilbern. David has been a strong influence for God in his life and he has talked to him several times about becoming a Christian. He is so excited to be a Christian, and has already been bringing others to hear the good news about Jesus. I met a friend of his named James today, and hope we will be able to establish a good relationship with him as well. Following morning worship we had a wonderful fellowship meal together. We had a good crowd to stay. There was so much food - it always amazes me. I especially enjoyed Mrs. Tyler's home made banana pudding - the kind that has to be cooked and is baked at the end with meringue on top. I'm getting hungry again! Enjoying the morning with us was the senior high group from the Hillsboro Church of Christ in Nashville. They worked hard this weekend and headed back to Nashville today. Two new groups were in today. One from Gassville, AR and another from New Salem, PA. Both groups will work together this week to accomplish all they can. The group from Pennsylvania had a rough trip down, with two tires blowing out in the middle of the night. At first opportunity they stopped and had all the tires replaced. They made it, though, and with a great story to tell! The last group from Pennsylvania had a hard time getting here...are we seeing a pattern develop? Nah! I spent some time talking with David Kilbern today and he suggested that I mention the need for donations to continue the work we are doing. Monetary donations to the relief effort go directly into buying materials for people to repair their homes and supplies for those doing the work. As we approach the one year anniversary of Katrina, many have given so much. We know that interest continues, however, and any donations would be put to good use over the coming months. We do hope to be able to receive some funding from some available sources, but sometimes these can take a long time to come through. We've had some e-mails with people wanting to come work on Fall Break and Spring Break 07, and that is excellent! At this point the greatest need we have is for skilled workers to come and help us with home repair. We can always use unskilled labor to do many things that are helpful and good - but what people want more than anything is to be able to get into their home again. Tomorrow Mrs. Mildred will have a birthday. I wouldn't dare guess her age, but if she were a tree she would have over 80 rings! What a neat lady she is. On her birthday she will move back into her home. I know she couldn't receive a better birthday present than that. Speaking of birthdays, my dear friend Bill Collins of Gulfport turned 50 today. I hope he will stay in touch as he heads down the hill. As we face a housing crisis here on the Coast, my friend Daved Baker's organization helped one person regain their home. The news story can be found HERE. Our week is off to a great start with many neat projects ongoing. Thanks to all for the prayers, gifts, calls, e-mails, and other means of support we have received over the months.