Kayla and the younger children Debbie Haliday teaching the Word of God
Debbie Haliday with Fellowship of Christian Athletes runs a basketball camp each year at our church. They use different sports throughout the year to reach children and then teach them the things of God. My daughter, Kayla, is helping lead the camp for the smaller division, and Coach Debbie is seen in the picture above teaching the Bible to the campers in a morning session. Please keep all these young people in your prayers, and pray for all the huddle leaders and helpers as they teach the game of basketball, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, as they teach about the way of God.
You might notice ONE camper with a strange green top on… that just might be Kerri… 🙂
Joe the Pizza Man being baptized Dudley and Joshua Merrill baptizing in the big Waves… Worship by the Shepherd Team
Yesterday was a day of all days. We had close to 250 people baptized into the name of Jesus. The waves were big…. the crowds were big…. and the Lord showed up in a BIG way.
Words are difficult to come by as I think about the first day of the Church in Acts 2 where some 3,000 people were baptized at one time… I actually felt like it was the day of Pentecost yesterday as I saw so many tears and so many decisions for Jesus Christ. People were stepping out to proclaim their faith and to walk in obedience. We were there to testify that we believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We had people from both the Porter Ranch Campus as well as the West L.A. campus be baptized. We even had someone who walked up and started asking questions and one of our staff members led this individual into making a decision for Jesus Christ and was baptized that very moment.
I shared the story of a woman who had been a Jehovah’s Witness for 35 years and was there to be baptized, knowing that her family was going to disown her for becoming a Christian, and yet she was soooooooooooo blessed to see so many other people giving their lives to Jesus, too.
You see, God is at work in our lives and in our church. Check back to the blog soon, and we hope to post a video from this day. For now I will post a few pictures…..
For over five years, there has been a group of people watching our services on DVD each week. Several weeks ago, I traveled to Northern California, just outside of Oakland, to fellowship over lunch with these gracious and kind people. Can you imagine??? They have been watching and listening to our sermons for five years, and we finally got to meet. It was such a joy… sheer joy to get to meet them….
The couple to my left is Myrtle and Wong and their little girl Katrina. The gentleman in the plaid shirt is named David. The couple to my immediate right is Richard and Yvonne, and the couple to the far right is Manny and Wendel. Manny got saved in Saudi Arabia and started coming to Shepherd. He fell in love with our church and then moved to Union City. He just could not find a church that was like Shepherd, so he started this group, and now Richard helps spearhead this group.
I want to encourage you to look them up if you are ever in the bay area. You can locate them off our church website, http://www.theshepherd.org/, and hopefully you can stop by and encourage them.
I have to mention the unbelievable LUNCH that Wendel fixed. It was Filipino food, and it was sooooooooooooooooo good….. I’m thinking about becoming Filipino…
Todd Clark after he just finished preaching at the NACC Pastor Tim, myself, and Sir Dallas (my son)
Today is the last day of the North American Christian Convention in Kansas City. We have 20 staff people here, and we all missed the fireworks display back home. But today, Lord willing, we will all be returning to L.A. Last night, Todd Clark preached and did a marvelous job. As a church planter, he challenged the convention attendees to be even more aggressive in planting churches…
I also spent some time with Pastor Tim, who is going to be taking a few weeks off in the near future… He has been such a loyal, faithful friend. He is such a blessing to our church, and he often carries a lot of the pressure of our church on his shoulders. I have always stated that if Tim ever left, I’d have to hire three people to take his place. Tim, I will be praying for you as you get away for a while and recharge your batteries.
There are many more things to share, but I need to get BUSY…… the main session begins in a few minutes….
Allan Dunbar to my right Larry Jones of Feed the Children
This morning is a KEY morning….. I am meeting with the Executive Director of the North American Christian Convention in a few minutes. Alan Dunbar, a Canadian, has been given the unbelievable task of organizing the convention year in and year out. Alan has such a quick wit and is just a fun guy to be around. That is him to my right, as I was speaking earlier in the week.
Then from 8:30 to 10:30 this morning, I am hosting a meeting where we are going to work together to mentor African American ministers in the Christian church. I am VERY excited about WHO is going to show up this morning and help us… Please be in prayer….
Tonight, Todd Clark from our church plant in Simi Valley will be preaching at the Main Session. I know he would appreciate your prayers as well. Todd is such a gifted communicator, but I’m sure he has to be a little nervous.
Yesterday, I was able to host Larry Jones from Feed the Children, which provides half a million meals EVERY DAY around the world. Larry is a Godly man, and I hope to get him to come speak at our church one day soon. He is a true gentleman, and God is doing great things through his life.
Well, that’s it for now… I’m running late…. but at least I’m running….
