Wednesday, May 11th, 2011.

On the 10th we arrived in Pennsylvania.  On the 11th of May (Wednesday) we met with Lehigh Valley Baptist Church in Emmaus, PA (Pastor Roland Hammett).  We had a great time in the Word of God.  We were very kindly received and had a fine time getting to know Pastor Hammett and his family.  I preached on Acts 13 and being a powerful missions church.

LVBC meeting house in Emmaus, PA.

Preaching at LVBC.

Sunday, May 8th, 2011

On Sunday we were in New Martinsville, WV at New Martinsville Baptist Mission, a church plant in progress under Evangelist Church Planter Jim Males.  We had a blessed time in song and ministering in the Word of God.  Please pray for this church plant, and the Jim Males family as they labour in WV to fill the tremendous need of a Bible-believing indegenous Baptist Church in this area.

April 27th, 2011; The Lord had other plans.

April 27th, 2011 will be a day that many people in the Southern USA will never forget as a huge storm system dropped a large number of powerful tornados accross a number of states.  We were in our hotel room in Winchester, TN in the late afternoon of Wednesday, April 27th, 2011 watching the green glowing skies, a sure sign that tornadoes are in the area, as the power went out.  We were without power until the wee hours of the night--it came on while we were sleeping.

We were scheduled to present the ministry at Faith Baptist Church in Estill Springs, TN (Pastor Randy Jackson), but the Lord had other plans.  There was no power at the church house and, in addition, they had a water flooding problem.  Many of the men of the church showed up to help, but there was no meeting at the church house that night.  We were thankful that the Lord kept us safe.  Pastor Jackson rescheduled us for a Wednesday this coming November, and we will look forward to spending time with these kind folks under better circumstances, Lord willing.

Faith Baptist Chruch, Estill Springs, TN.

April 27th Tornados

The power of my God's creation is amazing.  Consider the power of a God who can make a universe of such power.  We were in Estill Springs, TN on the 27th, and were in our hotel room without power late from late in the afternoon untill sometime through the evening.  I will post a video when I am able of some destruction we drove by at exit 29 on I-81 in Virginia.  We are thanking the Lord for His protection.

The destruction is amazing.  Large trees snapped like a tooth pick; houses reduced to a trash heap; tractor-trailors turned over; 48' and 60' trailors throne 100 to 200 yards.

Here is a little video that we recorded on April 28th, driving through the western portion of Virginia, headed to Ohio, on I-81.  It shows, although not very well, some tornado destruction described above.

Sunday, April 24th, 2011.

The Lord continues to bless our hearts as we serve him on deputation.  On Sunday, April 24th, 2011, we had the privilege of ministering and presenting the church planting ministry to Faith Baptist Church of Humboldt, TN, and their pastor, Wesley Tomlinson. 

We began our Sunday with Sunday School at 10am.  Sandy, Adam, and Natalie ministered with a couple of songs in Sunday School.  I then presented the church planting ministry through our video and explaining our vision and plan.  The members asked some good questions, and we were thankful for their interest.  I then used the remaining minutes to give a brief challenge from Matthew 28:18-20.

In the 11am service Adam and the ladies sang a couple more songs and I preached from 1Corinthians 15: 54-57, a message entitled Why Afraid to Die?  The Spirit of the Lord gave good liberty.

After the 11am service was over we hopped in our vehicle and followed Pastor Tomlinson over to an assisted living home and were able to minister to some fine ladies in song and the Word.  I preached a message on the resurrection entitled, Facts are Difficult Things to Deny.  We had a fine time and the ladies served us lunch afterward.

We had a short rest in the afternoon and then assembled for the evening 6pm meeting.  This was an extended service, lasting till a little after 8pm.  Adam, Sandy, and Natalie sang five songs--solos, duets, trios.  After that Adam preached from Joshua and the Achan incident, and brought out some lessons to be learned. 

I then preached from Acts 13 about a powerful missions church.  We had a blessed day.

We also were rejoicing as Pastor Parks (my pastor) baptized five people in Shelbrune, NS and our church (Chegoggin Baptist Chruch) had a joint service with Roseway Baptist Church to officially constitute that new church.  God is great.  The work is not over, but we thank the Lord for the increase to this point.  Please pray for this new church and their need for a shepherd.

Expansion on those First Principles.

I had mentioned these first Bible-Baptist principles in a previous post.  No one has commented yet.  Here are some Scriptural cross-references with brief comments on each principle.

Hebrews 6:1-2
"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment."
The Author of Hebrews (the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul) tells us that these principles are the most basic of the Faith once delivered to the Saints. 

First Principles:
Repentance from dead works.
        Heb. 9:14.  Lost men are dead in tresspasses and sins.  Christ, and His atoning blood, is their only hope and all me are commanded to turn to Christ in faith from a repentant heart.

Faith toward God.
        Rom. 1:17; Mk. 11:22; Heb. 10:38; 11:6; 2Cor. 5:7; Gal. 5:25.  Faith is believing what God has said from the heart.  Faith is the door to the grace of God in salvation and the child of God is to walk in faith thereafter.

The doctrine of baptisms.
        Water:  Rom. 6:1-4; 1Pet. 3:16, 21; 1Cor. 12:13; Acts 2:41.  Indetification.  Putting on Christ; having a good conscience is following Christ obediently; and, being organically added to Christ's body, the NT. Baptist church.
        Spirit:  Acts 2:1-2; Lk. 24:49; Acts 1:8; 1Tim. 3:15.  Identification of God's house and the empowerment of the NT. Baptist church to carry out the Commission.

Laying on of hands.
        Acts 6:6; 1Tim. 4:14; 5:22.  The laying on of hands is signifying of the passing of what one possesses to another.  We call this ordination.  A current minister of the Gospel trains and proves a man and then lays hands on him to signify that he has passed, in full, the doctrine and the ministry to the younger man.  Perpetuating the ministry.  Necessary for church planting.

Resurrection of the dead.
        1Cor. 15.  Our hope.  The verifing evidence of all the Christ did and said.  Our eternal hope--our new lives now and our new bodies in the future.

Eternal judgment.
        Rev. 20; 1Pet. 4:17; 2Cor. 5:10.  Yes, of the lost; but, also remember that judgement begins at the house of God.

The above is not meant to be exhaustive, but to be a catalyst for study and thought.

God bless.

Pastor James R. Beller from St. Louis, MO preaching at Elk Valley Baptist Camp Meeting in Fayetteville, TN.  This camp meeting focused on Bible-believing Baptist doctrine and heritage.  What a blessing it was to me.

Sunday, March 17th, 2011.

Greetings all.

We had a fine day today with the people of Ozark Baptist Church (Pastor George Smith) in Bergman, AR.  We attended Sunday School and the morning meeting, in which Adam, Sandy, and Natalie ministered in music.

In the evening meeting Adam ministered in music with two songs, and I presented the church planting work and preached from Mark 2 about the nature of Biblical faith and the centrality of the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.