Happy Thanksgiving!

Psalm 100: 4 " Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, [And] into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, [and] bless His name."

Wow! I can't believe how long it has been since I have written on my blog. It has been a very BUSY fall season, but I must slow down enough to reflect on how thankful I am. First I must say Happy Thanksgiving to all! We need to all remember what Thanksgiving is all about. It's more than just eating great food with family and friends and football. We need to reflect on the many blessings that our Lord had poured upon us. He provides all of our needs. He is our SALVATION! He is our COMFORT! He is and always will be! Thank you GOD! Let us rejoice in Him and bless His name!

Here is just a list of things on my mind that I am truly thankful for:

1) My God: The Father. The Son. The Holy Spirit

2) My wonderful wife, Sandra.

3) My family.

4) My church family. Thank you for all of your blessing 1st "B"!

5) My Pastor. Thank you Shaun and Jodi for all of your love and leadership!

6) A roof over my head: housing

7) Food and clothing.

8) Wonderful Wyoming- Especially our community of Worland.

9) Music!

10) Football!

11) Fishing!

12) THE LIST CAN GO ON AND ON! I missed some.....friends...jobs...

Thank you God for your many blessings.....at this Thanksgiving may we reflect on each and every blessing.....and continue the reflection beyond the holiday.

Amen.

Light of the World!

Wow! I can't believe that Christmas will be here before you know it! You know what that means....we look forward to taking part in the Christmas Eve program at 1st "B". In order to have another very successful program to honor Jesus Christ, we need your help. If you like to sing and would like to be a part of the mini-musical, called "Light of the World", we would love to have you. We had well over 20 people involved last year and would love to go beyond that number this year.

The first rehearsal will be Sunday, November 1, 2009 at 6:00 pm. The rehearsals will be every Sunday at 6:00 pm after that until the Christmas Eve program in December. You will receive a practice CD and book. The practices usually last no more than an hour.

We look forward to singing with you in this exciting Christmas musical. It is always a blessing to be a part of it. What an opportunity to present the Gospel message...the TRUE reason for the season!

One Month to Live!

What an incredible campaign! What would you do if you had one month to live?

Well, there is no time like the present to be challenged by Christ! Please join me in this great effort to live a life for the Lord with no regrets! The challenge of "One Month to Live" is to live passionately, love completely, live humbly, and leave boldly for the Lord Jesus Christ.

I know I can pray more, study more of God's Word, tell others about Him, show more of God's love, and leave a greater impact and legacy in this world for Christ when He calls me home. Lord God, give us the strength by the Holy Spirit to do so. Amen.

Colossians 1:9-12
"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing [Him], being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light."

Student Ministries at First "B"!

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way that he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

A lot of us as parents have read and heard this Proverb from the Word of God. How important it is to teach our children about God. I totally agree with many others that it is the parent's responsibility to train up our children and teach them about God from His Word, to pray with them, and to model our Christian walk before them. It is also my prayer that each parent has the opportunity to help lead their children to the Lord. I am so thankful to God that I have had that opportunity with my own boys.

On top of that, I think it is very important to have our children involved with youth group. I am so thankful for Student Ministries at 1st Baptist Church. My brother-in-law, Pastor Jess Rollema, is doing a terrific job with our youth, grades 6-12. When our children are involved with Student Ministries, they are taught even more about God's Word. They are able to fellowship with other Christians and also invite students that may have not made a decision for Christ yet to Wednesday Night for worship/fellowship/ Bible study.

Tonight kicks off the new Student Ministries Wednesday Night youth group called "The Well". We come to the well to help quench our thirst for Jesus Christ every Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. I am looking forward to seeing the youth and being able to participate with them again this year in this worship venue.

Please be in prayer for this ministry again this year. God has been so good...and we are looking forward to what He has in store for the youth and staff again this season.

Arena Football Championship!

Back-to-School shopping was great last Saturday in Billings, Montana! Why? I didn't have to be a part of it!!! Instead....my wife let me off the hook, and my pastor and good friend Shaun Matako and I went to the Indoor Football League Championship between the Billings Outlaws and the River City Rage...instead!

At Rimrock Arena in Billings, the crowd was going nuts ranting and raving over the Outlaws! Horns were blowing! Guns were going off! About 8,000 people were in attendance! The game was great, with a lot of fast paced football action! Hard hits....football players going over the walls....forget the pads.....Yeah!!!! In the end..the Billings Outlaws won the championship, 71 to 62.

It was great for Shaun and me to get away a little and blow off a little steam! Thank you Jodi and Sandra for letting us get away! We had a great time! Ask Shaun if he will be chewing gum at the next sporting event;-)

A Big Thank You!

As some of you may know.....Sandra, the boys, and I got back from our Idaho vacation with family. While I was gone I truly missed our congregation and of course worshiping with everyone.

I want to say a special thank you to Roger Pomeroy for taking over, and leading worship last Sunday while I was gone. I also want to say thanks to the rest of the 1st Praise Worship Team, for working hard to keep things going while I was gone on vacation. I heard that you did great last Sunday. You are incredible to work with, and I know that the Lord has truly blessed you and given you many gifts and talents. I am so proud of the fact that you have chosen to give back these gifts to the Lord.

I am encouraged to know that worship can and will continue regardless of who leads. God is our Leader. God is in control. We worship a Mighty God. It's not about us.....It's all about the Lord! Thank you once again, team, for allowing my family and me to go on vacation. You are so wonderful!

Thanks For Your Support!

Thank you so much for coming out to the Washakie County Fair and supporting the young people in our community, including my sons and the other kids from 1st Baptist Church. It was great to see everyone out and enjoying themselves.



It was especially great to see the involvement and support by those that are apart of 1st Baptist Church. Several of our 1st Baptist Church kids placed and won awards in many different categories in livestock, arts and crafts, woodworking, photography, baking, etc. Great job kids and thank you leaders for lending your helping hands in this effort each and every year. God bless all of you! See you in church!