So I've decided to write tonight, simply because I need to Praise God for what He has done, and also because I feel like I'm going to explode.

This past Christmas, I was taking the family to my mothers house, and as we were getting prepared, I called my mother. She told me to wait because my Grandmother was in the hospital, and was not expected to last very long. The weather was pretty bad in Tennessee during Christmas, so we decided to wait. Well we didn't have to wait long, my Grandma past into glory the day after Christmas. She was very old, and very much in pain, but most importantly, My Grandma IS a Solid Christian. The funeral arrangements were made for Wednesday, and we attended the viewing on Tuesday. I have been praying for my family for more years than I can count, and I have tried to share the Gospel with them individually since the day I was saved. I have been shut down every time! My Grandma raised me and told me that when she died, that she wanted me to make sure that I shared the Gospel with the Family. So I let my mother know that I would be speaking at the funeral, to which she reluctantly agreed. On Tuesday morning she told me that she wanted me to only do a Bible verse or Two, and I told her that what I said to the family was between me and God. To my great shock, and subsequest tears, she told me that this funeral was about "granny", not the Lord! She introduced me to the other pastor who was officiating the funeral, and he and I talked for a while, turns out that he totally agreed with me, Praise God! He changed the entire program and gave me " all the time you need"!

I cried and prayed over the message for several long nights, and when the Pastor asked me to come up, I spoke about 20 words that describe my Grandma. Then I told the group about the one thing that Granny refused to be called. She refused to be called a "Good person", and that was because she knew that according to God there is none that are Good. Well my family became very angry, and made it known very well, but the pastor kept poking me in the back of the leg saying " you go boy". I was scared to death, but so happy that I was able to explain The Law of God, The Justice of God, and God's amazing Grace through Christ. When I finished, and sat down, I felt like a large stone had just fallen off my chest, I knew that I felt clean, my family has heard the gospel of Amazing Grace, and God was glorified! I was then asked to pray at the grave site, and I read Psalm 23. Most of my family didn't say much to me, accept for my cousins Tommy and Dale. Tommy, who is an Alcoholic, and has destroyed his life, came up to me crying, and thanking me, because he said " I just never knew, I never heard that before". I'm praying for him to come to Repentance!

Now here's just a small example of how great God is!! My stepdad has never agreed with one single thing I've said, and has went out of his way to fight and argue with me about scripture since that day I became a Christian. That is accept for this day!! We went back to the Pastors church, and had a meal, and most of the family wanted to kill me there, including my mother. Then God stepped in, He had my stepdad Ronnie stand in front of the pastor, my mother, and everyone else and proclaim " That's my son! He preached the truth, and I'm proud of him". ( ok I'm crying now)

Don't get me wrong, I didn't do it for anyones approval, or acalades. I HAD TO, because I was compelled to, commanded to, and God is worth it! But it is soooo nice to have God open my stepdad's heart up like that. Well, on the way home, I felt sick, and by the time I got home I had the flu Yuck!! I decided to give the flu to my wife and kids, and we spent a week and a half at home, sick!

So when we got all better, and made it back to church, I find out that the Pastor had resigned due to many problems with the church as a whole. I have been at this church for 6 months now, and it's been a constant struggle. These guy's have never been taught anything Biblical, and believe that they are the Authority in the church. This is the 8th pastor who has left due to whatever, and it has really become hard to help them, when they just won't listen. I started a class "Essentials of the Christian Faith," which is a class teaching them Doctrine and Theology. Unfortunately, very few showed up for the class and that is discouraging. so anyway, I've been praying about what God would have us to do. and then I start getting some phone calls asking me if I was going to plant a church in the area, which I have been praying about, but this seemed like a big "WAKE UP!!" shout to me. I'm still praying, and earnestly seeking Gods guidance here!!

I am so thankful that God allowed me to share the gospel with my family, and that He sent, of all people, my stepdad to defend that preaching. I greatful that I didn't die with the flu- it was terrible! But most of all I'm greatful that God seems to be opening doors here, when He shut them elsewhere.

Now for the heartbreak. I love the Church, and want so much to be in fellowship with Christians, who love Biblical preaching, Doctrine that Is deep and sound, Theology that seeks to magnify God! I love to preach, and I love Line by Line, verse by verse Biblical, Grammatical, Historical, Expository Exegesis! I love lifting God and Jesus up as The Authority in the church, and in all our lives. Then I think about the church I'm in right now and I feel sorrow for them. I look at what they have been taught for the past 15 years, and I say ' no wonder these guys think the way they do!! Not one pastor has bothered to truly teach them God's Word." And that's just killing me! Then I see a friend tonight who is a pastor, and he tells me that a former pastor, friend, and mentor is telling everyone, including him, that he kicked me out of the church!! ( For the record, I surrendered to the ministry, and was compelled to leave to be mentored by another pastor, who is still my mentor and friend)! This lie has been perpetuated for the past 5 years, and I've lost many friends due to this lie! And I didn't even know that it was happening until tonight! Yes I've already forgiven him, but this really hurts! But what hurts most is that as I look around, and see so many people clammering to the top of the " Christian" pile, trying to make a name for themselves, lying cheating stealing or killing to be "the man", and I ask, why? for what? Do they really see themselves as the One True Authority. The One True Power?? I don't mean this to sound holier than thou, I just want to Preach! To magnify God, To make His name famous! To make disciples who love Him, not me! To see Bristol and Tennessee, and Virginia, and America and the world come to know Jesus. It is my absolute conviction that if God would have one man, truly come to North Bristol and every other church and soundly preach the whole council of the word of God, that all the churches would change, purely by the sound preaching of the Word! I'm not saying that I'm the one for the job, and I know that the former pastor tried hard, but- I am saying that this Town and Country needs a revival, NO a Reformation! But it needs to start in the pulpits, with men who will stand up a can say "Thus Sayeth The Lord"! If God will allow me to serve Him, in His time and plan, and be part of His name being glorified, i think, no matter what the outcome, i will die happy!