Prayer Update - September 30

I have included my schedule for the next 6 weeks as a prayer request.
A glance at it will let you know why.

September 30 - CCC - 11am
October 3 - FBC Henderson TN - 6:45pm
October 12-26 PTI 3 - Ethiopia
November 4 - FBC Henderson TN
November 11 - CCC - 11am
November 18 - CCC - 11am

Also, the time is quickly approaching for PTI 3 in Ethiopia.
I am departing on October 12, one week from Friday.
We are close to half-way on the funding, and need your prayers for
this provision.

Thanks for praying with/for us.

Beach Week

PTI Round 3 is ON! & It Is a Prayer Request!

In just over five weeks, the third round of PTI will begin. Plans are coming along rather well and all is set for 70+ men to continue their preparation for planting churches among the un-evangelized peoples of Ethiopia.

I will be heading up the training this time around and I am exited about it. I will spend about thirty hours on the Doctrine of Humanity and then thirty more on the Doctrine of Sin. So, there will be sixty hours of teaching/preaching in these two areas combined! It goes without mentioning that I covet your prayers in the coming days. We are headed out of town (whatever 'town' is for us) on vacation this week and I plan to do a major portion of the work while away.
Please pray for the time, both the work and the vacating!

One reality of training these men for gospel ministry is the expense involved. These are extremely poor men who are traveling into the city away from their homes and families in order to participate in the Institute. Their churches as well as some of the men as individuals are paying some of the cost, but it is impossible for them to cover it in it's entirety. (over a month's salary) Please do petition the Lord to show Himself Strong as the great Provider yet again.

Thank you for praying with us concerning this!

Our week to the North

In Pictures.



Ellie & T-Rex
Brandy & Violet
The Strassners
Shish Kebobs
R & R
Ellie, Julia, & a Triceratops
Tobey & Amber
Ellie & Violet

Hymns for the Wedding Feast

Click the text for the tune.

Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
’Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in Thy great day;
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully absolved through these I am
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.

The holy, meek, unspotted Lamb,
Who from the Father’s bosom came,
Who died for me, e’en me to atone,
Now for my Lord and God I own.

Lord, I believe Thy precious blood,
Which, at the mercy seat of God,
Forever doth for sinners plead,
For me, e’en for my soul, was shed.

Lord, I believe were sinners more
Than sands upon the ocean shore,
Thou hast for all a ransom paid,
For all a full atonement made.

When from the dust of death I rise
To claim my mansion in the skies,
Ev’n then this shall be all my plea,
Jesus hath lived, hath died, for me.

This spotless robe the same appears,
When ruined nature sinks in years;
No age can change its glorious hue,
The robe of Christ is ever new.

Jesus, the endless praise to Thee,
Whose boundless mercy hath for me—
For me a full atonement made,
An everlasting ransom paid.

O let the dead now hear Thy voice;
Now bid Thy banished ones rejoice;
Their beauty this, their glorious dress,
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness.
-Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf

O, The Bitter Shame and Sorrow
O the bitter shame and sorrow,
That a time could ever be,
When I let the Savior’s pity
Plead in vain, and proudly answered,
“All of self, and none of Thee!”

Yet He found me; I beheld Him
Bleeding on th’accursèd tree,
Heard Him pray, “Forgive them, Father!”
And my wistful heart said faintly,
“Some of self, and some of Thee!”

Day by day His tender mercy,
Healing, helping, full and free,
Sweet and strong, and ah! so patient,
Brought me lower, while I whispered,
“Less of self, and more of Thee!”

Higher than the highest heavens,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last hath conquered:
Grant me now my supplication,
“None of self, and all of Thee!”
-Theodore Monod

The Wedding Feast - Matthew 22:1-14

If you are reading this, the chances are good that you have heard this sermon already.

But, just in case you haven't. Here is your chance!