Beach Pics and Schedule

We just got back from a week at the beach with Brian's mom, dad and brother. We had a blast. Brian especially had fun riding the giant waves that a storm brought in off the coast. It is amazing to watch two guys as big as Brian and his brother play in the ocean. On land next to Kate, and even me, they are huge, but throw them in the ocean with crashing 9 foot waves and you begin to see how very small we actually are in this world. And then, it becomes even more amazing our great our God is that He not only created this beautiful world, but that He knows us by name and loves us.

While we were there, we had Brian's dad take some family photos of us and he did a fabulous job!!! There are a few here, some on Kate's blog and even more on facebook.
Brian and I comparing bellies. I've got him beat, but not for long!!! :)



Next week we are off for a massive speaking tour. If we are in your area and you want to get together for a meal, let us know.
Richlands, NC --September 19-20th speaking at First Baptist Richlands, NC
Chatanooga,TN area September 23-28 (leaving 22) at a GIC with Red Bank Baptist Church
Gatlinburg, TN area the 29th-October 9 --Mandy's family vacation WHEE!
Mandy and Kate in Hickory, NC area from the 10th-14th while Brian is in Forney, Texas for the Forney Summit (advertised below)
Hickory area 15-17th for South Mountain Mission Conference
Stanly County -- 18th speaking at Cornerstone Church
Stanly County --20-22 for Stanly County Mission Conference
Back to Raleigh on the 23rd

As you can see, we have a LOT of traveling to do. The doctors are obviously a little apprehensive about me traveling this much in the last four weeks of my pregnancy and so am I. That is why my mom and dad are going to be hanging with me and Kate while Brian is speaking and I will speak and travel as I am able. Pray for us to have endurance and stamina to get through this month of travel. Pray that Baby Thomas will hold off on his arrival until after the 23rd and that little Kate will adapt well to all her new "homes."

We will keep you updated on all that we can as much as we can.

My time in New York

This blog should have been posted a week ago, but it has taken me time to sit down and write it all out. Thanks for your patience!

I was in western part of New York (west of the Appalachian mountains down by Pennsylvania) for 10 days during the middle of August to speak to an association of churches as a part of their On Missions Celebration (OMC). I ended up going by myself because the trip required a lot of travel time and it would have been hard for my pregnant wife and 22 month old daughter to handle. The Association was the Central New York Baptist Association (link here) which comprises 44 church over 16 counties! Obviously you can tell by the numbers that this association is spread out! This is unfortunate because the distance between churches makes fellowship and encouraging very difficult. One thing that did impress me was that most of the pastors are bi-vocational or tri-vocational so their passion for the gospel was obvious. If there was any doubt to the gospel witness in New York, it was laid to rest. Although the churches are rather spread out, if anyone comes in contact with them they will definitely here men and women of God who really understand how to rightly divide the Word of Truth.

As for us, there were 10 missionaries in all (5 from NAMB and 5 from IMB) to speak at 20 churches. Because of the way the OMC was laid out every missionary would speak at 10 churches in 8 days. This means that we spoke at 2 churches on each of the two Sundays (morning and night) and then a church every night of the week. We would travel to the church where we were to speak for dinner and dinner was hosted by a member of the church. After dinner we traveled to the church and we were given 45 minutes to an hour to share about our lives and ministry in our respective fields of service. After the presentation it was an open floor for a question and answer time at which point people were free to leave. I spent as much time dialoguing and answering questions after my presentation as I did giving my presentation. I never grew tired of talking to people and encouraged them to "try to annoy me with questions"... which obviously never happened. One evening I started speaking at 7:00 and left at 9:00 and no one left early or complained.

I always enjoyed the dinner where I would ask questions about the area and the history of the church. One of the places that we ate dinner was a partner in a farm and I was fascinated to learn about their farm. It was a milk farm, but they grew all their own crops to feed the cows. It appeared to me that almost 70% of their work went to just make food for their cows. They even made a video for YouTube which gave me a greater appreciation for their work. Here is the video for anyone who is interested.


This is a picture of me speaking at Southport Baptist Church.

I was graciously hosted the first half of my trip by Southport Baptist Church in Elmira, New York. I had a great time with them and would consider the pastor and his son new friends. I was greatly encourage in my time with them and enjoyed our sometimes 2 hour car rides one way to speak at the different churches. One of these churches

The second half of the week I was hosted by Beacon Light Baptist Church in Vernon, New York. I spent my stay with a retired couple, Milt and Helen, who liked watching the Yankees as much as I do and taught me a new card game, pitch. The second half of the trip was as much fun as the first. There was one church at which we spoke that was an hour and a half from any other SBC church. It turns out the pastor has an easier time talking to missionaries than he does most pastors because he tends to be isolated like most missionaries.

Overall, my time in New York was encouraging for me and I hope it was for the churches as well. Please be in prayer for the churches in New York that they would be encouraged in their ministries!