Friends and some random thoughts

Recently, I put in our mail out bulletin a story that I would like to share. At a recent MBSF conference, there was a speaker that really hit on some things that I feel that we as the church are not doing. The story is about his daughter Samantha. The gentleman is the Executive Pastor of a church in Texas. He was approached by a member that told him that his daughter, Sam, was hanging out with this girl named Serena. Apparently, Serena is not someone that has a very good reputation. The member tells of things and suggests that the father have a talk with her.

As he put it, he would have to have a, "come to Jesus meeting with her." As she came home one night, he said, he needed to talk wth her. "Sam, I hear you are running around with a girl named Serena."
"Yeah, Dad, isn't she great."
"Yeah, she is."
"Don't you just love to hear her laugh?"
"Yeah, it's great."
"Don't you just love to see her smile?"
"Yeah. Sam, I understand that she drinks."
"Yeah, Dad, she drinks a lot."
"Sam, I understand she's slept with a lot of guys."
"Yeah, Dad, she has slept with a lot of guys."
"Sam, why do you hang around someone like Serena?"
"Dad, Serena needs Jesus."

At that moment, he could only think of, "WOW!"

We preach to our kids that we shouldn't hang with the wrong crowd. We don't need to be friends with these "SINNERS". The conclusion to this story is that 3 months later, Serena accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior! We should follow the lead of Christ and hang out with SINNERS. Story after story is told in the Bible about Christ with the wrong crowd. He didn't do the things that they were doing, He just showed them love. The same love that God showed to us when He sent Jesus to die for our sins. As the church, we need to start running with the wrong crowd!

RANDOM THOUGHTS
I found out tonight that one of my best friends in the ministry and life in general has accepted a full time position as the Youth Pastor at a church. I am overly excited about the opportunities that God has for him in this new church. While he leaves a very good church and supportive Pastor, he has had some doors opened by God for him. Be in prayer with me for Richard as he begins his full time ministry to the Youth in Prattsville.

ICE SKATING!
The CBYF and MBSF went Ice Skating in Little Rock on Saturday night. We had a blast! We spent the whole evening laughing at each other and just enjoying the time that we had to fellowship together. Probably 90% of the time, our group hovered around the railing on the edge of the ice. A few brave souls ventured out away from the comfort zone of the wall. Steven and Austin were given skates that had nothing to slow them down. Most of the time, it was the wall that brought them to a stop. Chase hit the ice and skated until we had to leave. He would skate about 30 feet and fall, skate 30 feet and fall. He loved every minute of it. I learned that you need strong ankles for this. There is the first problem that I had encountered for the evening. We stopped at Wendy's on Colonel Glenn Road in Little Rock before we made the journey home to Magnolia.
- Bro. Greg