A New Year, A New Week, A New Blog

A verse for the week: “[Be Holy] Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”- 1 Peter 1:13


Last Sunday: Elaine and I had a great visit at Senatobia (MS) last Sunday. What a warm and friendly congregation. Rev. Phillip Bumpers and wife Linda are really loved by this congregation. What a joy to worship with them.

This Sunday: Union (MS) Help us pray for this church and for a new pastor. Following the service we will drive to Louisville, KY and join other district leaders for the Leadership Conference sponsored by SDMI.


Did you make any resolutions this year? I'm not sure about resolutions but I set some goals. Here are a few:

1) Read the Bible through using the NKJV. (As a pastor I tried to use a different Bible version each year or a different devotional plan.)

2) Read 58 books this year. (My goal the past 2 years was 52, so I thought I would increase it 10%)

3) Sleep in my own bed 240 nights. (Means better scheduling)

4) Exercise more. (If you never set a goal, you seldom reach it, so here it is.)

5) Journal for 100 days. (Following a suggestion of one of my DS friends I am going to attempt to do this for a season.)



Special Notes:

• January 31 Rally of African-American churches in Hattiesburg at 3 pm. If you are close enough why not dismiss your Sunday evening service and join Dr. Johnson and our other Black churches for this wonderful time of worship.


• Rev. Wayne Stallings has accepted the interim pastorate at Shreveport GracePointe. Rev. Stallings has a rich history of ministry and has served the past several years as an interim pastor in MS and TX.


• Pray for Jerry Hatcher (Rosebloom, MS) who lost his brother, and Rick Boyt (Husband of Rev. Dee Boyt, Cenchrea, LA) whose father is in serious condition.


• Installation for Rev. Lisa McCleese (Gulfport First, MS) was held on Dec. 20. She is off to a great start.


• January 17 I will conduct a Baby Dedication at Brookhaven for Lilliane Marie Rego, daughter of Rev. Chris and Kelli. At 2:30 in the afternoon we will install Rev. Keith Matthews as the new pastor at LifePointe (McComb, MS.) If you are a pastor nearby please plan on attending and announcing it to your people. At 5 pm I will be conducting an interview at Vicksburg First.

Thought of the Week: Defeat is better than sitting around doing nothing. John Adams

Books I Recommend: Our Watchword and Song by Floyd Cunningham, et al. A wonderfully compelling history of the Church of the Nazarene taken from the archives of the church. You will read things in this book you never heard before. Very enlightening.

Books I Recommend: Postmodern and Wesleyan by Jay Ackkerman and Thomas Oord, et al. This is a dialogue concerning the major issues confronting the church and the Christian as we try to formulate an understanding of the Postmodern mind and culture. If you have concerns and questions about the attempts to reach this current culture, or about the Emergent church mindset, this book will help you. It will challenge and change the way you think about things you thought you knew.

Let's Trade Prayers...