From LR to LA

I am between flights, on my way home from Little Rock. Last night I finished three nights of preaching at the St. Peter Baptist Church, pastored by Robert Townsend. It was a good meeting. St. Peter is a good preaching place. They were attentive, patient, and receptive. This is a reflection of their pastor, R. Townsend. He himself is a strong Bible preacher, so I don't think his congregation expected him to bring in a preacher to feed them "popcorn."

This was my second time preaching at St. Peter. Last year, before my arrival, Pastor Townsend sent me an information packet about the doctrinal convictions and ministry philosophy of St. Peter. There were statements in it about the church's position on women in (pulpit) ministry, Charismatic theology (isn't that an oxymoron), and prosperity teachings. Honestly, I had never received a packet like that. And he immediately won my respect, before I even met him or arrived in Little Rock. And having spent time with him these past two meetings, my respect for him has grown all the more. In fact, I leave Little Rock considering myself to have gained a new friend.

If the Lord allows me to get home safely, I plan to check into the office and finish up some work I have to do to prepare for my Church Council meeting in the morning and for my Sunday morning assignments. After that, I intend to hang out with my wife and kids as much as I can this weekend. I miss them a lot and look forward to seeing them this afternoon. I really do think my family is the champion of making up for lost time. We play hard! And I can't wait.

This Sunday is Palm Sunday. But because of schedule restraints, I will press on with my series on the Ten Commandments. I am at the the ninth commandment, recorded in Exodus 20;16: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." I am calling the message, simply, "Tell the Truth." In my Sunday School class, I am scheduled to finish up the lesson I began last Sunday on "Loving One Another." Last hour, I talked about the call to love one another. This Sunday, I intend to talk about both the importance and practice of loving one another. I really do look forward to being in worship with my own church family and ministering the word of God to my beloved congregation. I pray that it will be a great day of worship and fellowship.