“I am the true grapevine, and my
Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t
produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will
produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the
message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in
you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you
cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am
the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will
produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-6
Barbara and I are very eager to see
our great-granddaughter in person. Work schedules and bad weather have
prevented us from getting down to Roanoke. It is driving us nuts!
We enjoy all of our grandchildren
but this will be a new experience for us! What a blessing!
This week-end will provide me
another memorable experience when I travel to Las Vegas to meet a group of
spiritual grandchildren!
Sunday I will be the guest speaker
at Sin City Church in Henderson, Nevada for their first anniversary
celebration.
A year ago, Randy and Rhonda Baker
were part of a group that launched this church plant committed to the mission
of loving people to life. For the past year they have been doing exactly that!
Randy Baker attended the youth group
at Princeton Wesleyan Church in Princeton, IL during the ten years I was
privileged to lead that church. Randy met a young lady named Rhonda and began
bringing her to church. It wasn’t long before she accepted Christ as her
Savior. It was my joy to baptize her and lead her through New Believers Class.
Several years later I united them in
marriage.
I moved on to another church in the
Chicago area and they began their family and stayed very active in their
church. After they finished raising their two godly sons, Rhonda began sensing
a calling to pastoral ministry. After much prayer, she answered the call and
enrolled in seminary. When she received her Master of Divinity Degree she sent
out resumes to various churches for a ministry position.
She was offered a top position in
the Women’s Ministry at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas. It is a large
multi-campus megachurch where she received great training and enjoyed much
success in ministry. About a year and a half ago I got an email from Rhonda
asking me to pray for her because she was sensing a stirring in her spirit that
God had something else in mind for her to do. So I began to do so. A couple of
months later she told me that God had put it in her heart to plant a church in
the Las Vegas area and there was a group of people who wanted to be part of
that faith venture. So they began Sin City Church for the sole purpose of
loving people to life. For the past year they have done exactly that!
Since I am their “spiritual father”
the people they have loved to life in Jesus can be considered my spiritual
grandchildren!
I ask for your prayers as I travel
and then as I challenge them with a message God has laid on my heart.
God is indeed faithful to bear fruit
through us when we abide in Him!