As we watched The Passion of the Christ again last night we were overwhelmed with the fact that Jesus was "wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities"(Isaiah 53:5). We struggle to get our minds around the great love of God. Wow, what a glorious salvation! What a thrill and joy it is being a child of God. 1 Corinthians 15 speaks of our great hope through the resurrection of Jesus. The early believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, so believed that the resurrected Jesus would return soon that they forsook all worldly gain and willingly gave their lives for Jesus, even unto death. May the resurrected Christ so powerfully live in us that we too will give all for the One who gave all for us.

Our Father blessed us so much in our meeting at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. It was great to be with Bro. Darreyl and the awesome believers there. God blessed each evening. We praise the Lord for His work in that place. There is some great kingdom work happening there. It was especially good to be with Brady and Chelsea Wood (Bro. Joel's son). God is using them in a great way.

How blessed we were to be with our family at Stevens Street in the marriage conference. Those who planned the event did a great job. We were so encouraged in our marriage and in our walk with Jesus. Please continue to pray for SSBC as everyone waits for God's man to come as pastor.

Please pray for our revival meeting at First Baptist in Halls, TN. The pastor has accepted the call to another church family. The meeting will begin on their first Sunday without a pastor. We believe that our Father has some awesome work planned for His glory.

Thanks for your prayers for our family. The next couple of months will be a time of celebration and transition. Our Father is so very faithful! One great celebration is that we will celebrate 31 years of marriage. God's grace is the key to life! We love and appreciate you all!

This morning our Bible reading was from Psalm 62. The first and second verses read, "Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved." Our Heavenly Father is so wonderful and so faithful. We are thankful for His many blessings through Jesus our Savior.

Last week we finished up our time at Poplar Grove Baptist Church in Cookeville. We enjoyed every minute with God's people in that wonderful fellowship. We are so thankful that our Father allowed us to be there during the Christmas season and during the winter months. Please continue to pray for them as they continue in their interim time and seek God's men as pastor and worship leader.

We also were blessed to share several times during the Valentine season. We enjoyed being with our brothers and sisters at Cookeville Free Will Baptist and at First Baptist Crossville. Our Father blessed so much in our marriage revival at Dodson Branch Baptist Church. Please pray for our marriage retreat with Stevens Street at the end of this month.

Please pray for the upcoming revival meetings. We pray that in each place Jesus will be exalted to draw all men unto Himself.

Thank you so much for praying for Diane's mom. Her hip replacement surgery went great. We are blessed to be able to be helping them for a couple of weeks.

Shannon continues to live in Cookeville. We were so blessed to have her with us at Poplar Grove. As for Nathan, he plans on graduating in May from North Greenville University. Also, HE IS ENGAGED TO LAUREE BROWN! She loves Nathan and loves Jesus very much. We are are so blessed that God has chosen her for our son.

Thank you all so much for your love, prayers, and support. A special thanks to Stevens Street Baptist Church. Our family at Stevens Street continues to play such a key role in our work for our Lord. Let us all go forward denying ourself, taking up our cross, and following our Lord Jesus!

Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God..." We have determined that this is to be our foremost thought for the year 2012. Yesterday in our worship time we looked at the sixth day of creation, where God created man, gave man the privilege of work, and gave to mankind the gift of marriage. When He had finished that day, He said that it was very good. It is still very good when we keep our eyes on Him, depending on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our forgiveness, freedom, and direction. Our Heavenly Father is so good, all the time! It is so awesome to realize that He can only do that which is perfect. He is incapable of doing any less.

God has blessed us so much in allowing us to serve with the His family at Poplar Grove Baptist Church. It is such a wonderful fellowship. Our Father is moving in such a great way in our time together. We look forward to being with them through the month of February.

Continue to pray for us as we enter into the next few months with several opportunities to speak and preach on marriage and the family. As you all know, the needs are tremendous in this area. Pray that marriages and families will be transformed for the glory of God.

Thank you so much for your love and prayers. As most of you know, we will be moving during the month of March. We could not praise our Lord enough for the awesome place He has provided for us over the past 15 months. He is so good! While we do not know where we will be living yet, we know that He is spiritually and physically preparing the next place He has for us. Pray that we will be patient as we wait for His word to us. We are so undeserving of His mercy and grace in allowing us to be His children and to be involved in His kingdom's work.

We so enjoyed spending time with our children and family during the holidays. We hope you all were blessed as well. May God bless you all with a close walk with Jesus during this new year.

As we enter this season of Thanksgiving, we have so much to be thankful for. We praise our Heavenly Father for His glorious salvation through Jesus! We praise Him for our wonderful family. We praise Him for our wonderful Christian family, especially at Stevens Street. We praise Him for His abundant provisions. We praise Him for providing this wonderful home for us. We praise Him for the beauty of His awesome creation, especially at this time of the year.

We praise Him for allowing us to share with the world that Jesus is Hope! We were so blessed during the month of October to share Sundays with New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro and with Church on the Hill and First Baptist in Cookeville. These are awesome fellowships. God blessed us with a wonderful revival meeting at Silver Springs Baptist in Mt. Juliet with Bro. Russ. Our Lord blessed us with His awesome presence. We had a great week with Bro. Tim and the fellowship at First Baptist in Carthage. Praise be to God for the mighty work we witnessed during our time together.

Our first Pastors' Conference at Lighthouse Christian Camp was a huge success. Bro. Gene Mims did an awesome job leading the sessions. It was definitely one of the greatest pastors' meetings I have ever attended in my 30 years of ministry. Bro. Ben and the staff at Lighthouse could not have done a greater job of preparation and ministry. We look forward to others in the days to come.

Pray for our revival at Whorton Springs beginning this week. Pray for our time next Sunday with our friends at Midway Baptist. Pray also for us as we will be at Poplar Grove Baptist for the next three months helping them as they transition to an interim time with the resignation of Bro. Bobby after 19 years. We look forward to spending some time at this wonderful fellowship.

Psalm 100 instructs us to enter His gates with thanksgiving. It is our prayer that not only at this time of the year, but that always our lives will be characterized by overflowing thanksgiving. We love and appreciate you all. Thanks for your prayers. God is good...all the time!

Wed. Oct. 5
The most beautiful time of the year is what we are experiencing on the Cumberland Plateau. I love the crisp fall air and the beginning of reds, oranges and yellows. There are times during this season of our lives that I wonder "Lord, what in the world am I supposed to be doing during these days?" We are so out of our element being used to having so many responsibilities before us & somewhat of a hectic schedule, which actually drives both of us. The Lord reminded me that we are right where we are supposed to be, and He is working on us to make Himself all we need for our purpose, our significance, and our daily needs. Of course, Jimmy helps me to keep that right perspective. He calls it not letting my plane fly too low or completely crash. Ha! Ha! He is so good to encourage me in the Lord. I am blessed to have him as my husband and friend.

We had three great revivals in September and enjoyed spending time with new friends. Its good that I am an extrovert. I would be going crazy if I didn't like meeting new people. Valley View in Monterey, Elizabeth Chapel in Smithville and Laurel Creek in Rock Island were all so gracious to us and responsive to the messages. We are praying, as one pastor said, that this is only the beginning of revivals for these churches. We have seen, in every church we have been in, the great need for Jesus being hope for individuals, families, and pastors & wives. We have also seen Spirit-filled believers who love and faithfully serve Jesus! What a blessing to know that God has His people planted in every little corner.

Also, in September, Jimmy performed the wedding ceremony of Mark Apple & Lauren Essex. Lauren has not only been Shannon's best friend since Jr. High, but she & Mark have been like a son & daughter to us over the past several years. Shannon was a beautiful maid of honor. It was a God-honoring ceremony which we were so glad to have a part in.

This past weekend, we spent "family weekend" at North Greenville University in South Carolina. It was a joy to spend time with Nathan & friends & their parents. We are all anticipating May 2012 graduation & planning to all be together again for that great celebration. God is so good!

Thank you for your love and support!

Every month I think that I will do better in reporting on our blog. As you can see, those are only passing thoughts. Sorry about that. We do try to keep our calendar up to date as soon as the opportunities are scheduled. Thanks for your continued praying. Our Father has opened great doors for us to share that Jesus Is Hope!

We have had a wonderful month serving our Lord. We so enjoyed being with our brothers and sisters at Bangham Heights Baptist Church on the Wednesday evenings. Be praying for them as they will be voting on their new pastor in the next few weeks. As always, we enjoyed being with our friends at First Methodist Church in Cookeville. They are always a blessing to us. Our Father blessed our time with our new friends at First Baptist Church, Whitwell, TN. Please pray for them as they walk through this transitional time, looking forward to God bringing them their new pastor in the months ahead. We were so challenged and encouraged at the Ignite Conference at the River Community Church. They continue to have such a heartbeat for missions.

Our Father slipped up on us at the "Let's Be The Church" revival services at Dodson Branch Baptist Church. During the week we looked again at what it means to really be the church... the supernatural body of Christ. We were all challendged, to say the least. Bro. Jim and Janet Phillips continue to be such a blessing to us.

Please review the schedule and pray with us for Jesus to be exalted in each place. The next few weeks will be fairly busy. Our Father is so good and faithful! Acts 20:24

The last few weeks have been such a blessing as we have spent time with brothers and sisters at Smithville First Baptist, Cookeville Free Will Baptist, and at Monterey First Baptist. We had an awesome time sharing at Stevens Street on a Wednesday night. We are so thankful for their prayers and support. Our Lord has spoken to us in these services. We pray that others have been blessed as well. It is a great joy to worship our Wonderful Savior with other believers.

Please continue to pray for God's word to be shared with clarity and conviction. Pray for believers to be encouraged and for the lost to be saved. Pray for opportunities to share that Jesus Is Hope! We praise Him for allowing us to be His children and for the opportunity to serve Him.

Regularly people ask us about God's future plans for us. What we know for sure is that our Father desires for us to obey Him daily and follow Him faithfully. That is enough for us. I know that when He desires for us to know more about details, He will tell us. As for now, it is, "Follow Me!"

This morning in God's Word we read in Esther 6:1, "That night." Wicked Haman had planned on killing Mordecai the next morning. That night God had stirred the king's heart and he found out that Mordecai deserved honor. Upon God's intervention, Mordecai was not killed but promoted to a great place of honor. In Acts 12:6, the Bible includes the words, "that night." Peter had been placed in prison to be killed the next morning. That night God sent an angel to rescue Peter just in time. The words "that night" reminds us that our Heavenly Father is always right on time. While we would love for Him to be early at times, He is never too late. We have such an awesome, gracious, merciful, loving, and faithful Father.

Thanks so much for your prayers as we all labor together in His Kingdom.