Post date: March 10, 2009
Life House has been blessed to have an awesome Sponsor Church, Shiloh Baptist Church, Texarkana, AR and several other churches who are Partner Churches. One of those partner Churches is Raymond Road Baptist Church in Jackson, MS and their pastor, Bro. Jonathan Russell. The great folks at Raymond Road have taken on the task of helping us collect plastic easter eggs, fill them with wrapped candy and put a verse in each one. Bro. Jonathan challenged his church in a “BIG” way and they are stepping up to the plate to help us. As of last night the “official” egg count for Raymond Road Church is almost 2,500. They still have several more days before Bro. Jonathan, Mandy and family leave to come to Arkansas to visit family so WHO KNOWS what the total will be when they drive up at Life House!! We have a “goal” as a mission to gather 6000 eggs for our Community Wide Easter Egg Hunt and it looks like that Raymond Road is going to do their part! WOW! They have gone Easter Egg Wild!!!! Wouldn’t it be great to top that number – 6000+ verses in the hands of children and youth in our area. Pray that God would use the Community Wide Easter Egg hunt to allow us to get to know even more people in this community, witness to several and maybe even win some of them to the Lord. God is opening many doors for Life House and we know He has great plans for the church. Pray that we can be faithful to recognize those open doors and walk through them. Pray that we reach our goal of 6000 eggs (It’s not too late – you can help!).
Thanks for your prayers, love and support for this ministry. God is using YOU to plant a new church in Texarkana!! Pastor James
When you first surrender to preach you are excited and desire to preach anywhere and everywhere for the Lord. Being so young it was especially exciting when churches began to ask you to come preach.
My first revival was held at Pleasant Springs Baptist Church in McCaskill, AR. My first full week of revival was held with the Shover Springs Baptist Church near Hope, AR. The first church that I filled in for on a prolonged basis was the Knighton’s Chapel Baptist Church. I only preached at the church every other Sunday due to my work schedule at Wadley Hospital. I preached for them for a little over six months. The first church that ever issued a call to me to invite me to become their pastor was the Community Baptist Church in Okay, AR. On the very same afternoon I received a call from Bodcaw #1 Baptist Church in Bodcaw, AR telling me that they too had called me as their pastor. After much prayer I felt it was God’s will that I accept the call of the Bodcaw #1 Baptist Church family and become their pastor.
In each of these churches and many more I was able to meet some of the nicest people and the best cooks anywhere. These churches were gracious in that they gave a young preacher a chance to spread his wings and learn to preach and share God’s Word. There aren’t many churches left in this day and age like them. Most “modern” churches want only those who have a degree, education or seminary title to fill their pulpit. While I totally believe that an education is wonderful, helpful and useful – I don’t believe that it is necessary to be called to preach. One of the men that made a huge impact on my life didn’t have a completed elementary education but was one of the hardest preachers, biggest soul winners and great pastors I ‘ve ever known. I realize it’s a “different day and age” but thankfully there were churches in my early ministry that wanted to give young men a chance to preach and sought to be a blessing to them. God has a special blessing for the church that will nurture, encourage and aid those young men of God as they begin the ministry God has called them into. I guess I can say I was blessed that my ministry began in a day and age when there were godly people who wanted to be a blessing to young preachers. It seems that not many young men are being called into the ministry in this day – or maybe it’s that not many young men are listening to God’s call. It’s not about a profession – it’s about a calling. My call to the ministry was as distinct and real as the call to be saved that I experienced in my life. May God raise up more young men today who have a real calling on their lives for the preaching of the gospel and the sharing of the good news to lost people. We have too many “professional” preachers/pastors in this world today. As someone well said – “too many preachers today are daddy called and mama sent.” Thank God for churches that sow good seeds in the life of young, “just getting started”preachers.
Thanks to all the churches who gave us a chance – endured my sermons and loved us, encouraged us and sowed seeds of faith in us. It’s because of you, your love, God’s faithfulness and your encouragement that I continue in the ministry even till today. May God raise up more Christians and churches like those I’ve described even today!
More tomorrow…. Pastor James
As a young man who had surrendered his life to ministry, I was always excited about being called to go preach or serve area churches in some way. I would travel anywhere and preach anywhere if i could. I preached many times (a total other blog is coming) at Knighton’s Chapel Baptist Church, Lewisville, AR, Community Baptist Church in Okay, Arkansas, and many other places. The first church that I was ever “called” to was Grand Avenue Baptist Church in Texarkana, AR. The pastor was Bro. David Landers. I was called to be the Youth “director”. Our youth group consisted of all children and youth. At age 19 i was only a few years older than most of the youth that Cindy and I were overseeing. They gave us a Sunday School room, and a few youth and said “go for it” and go for it – we did! Cindy, the youth and I spent time “fixing up” the room. We all got together and painted the room. We raised money and bought carpet for it. We hung out together at our apartment. Cindy and I cooked for them, loved them and made friends with them. My memories of that youth group are still vivid as i write this.
One Christmas season we invited the youth to our apartment for a Christmas party. That evening we had “wall to wall” youth and of course we played, laughed and had a great time only to have one of the neighbors call the apartment managers on us because we were too loud. The manager informed us that we had too many people in the apartment so we had to break up the party. That didn’t stop us from having a great time in the future but it kinda put a halt to that night. I also remember the first “Walk of Faith” that we ever took the youth of this church to. The annual “Walk of Faith” was (back then) a 20 mile walk much like the “March of Dimes” walk. The difference was that the money raised by the “Walk of Faith” was used for missions in the BMA (Baptist Missionary Association of America). The youth of this church had never participated in the walk and Cindy and I thought it would be good to get them involved. That year it was going to be held at Fair Park in Hope, AR. We invited, encouraged and pushed all of the youth to sign up, get sponsors and go with us. At the time we had a 1980, two door, baby blue, Mustang Hatchback. We filled that little car up with a total of 13 people (11 kids and Cindy and me). Talk about “stuffed into” something. We even opened the hatch back and had them lay down so we could shut it! (Boy was I stupid back then – talk about a safety hazard! That was before mandatory seat belt laws and the like – but where were the parents? LOL) Anyways, I digress… hehe. We made the trip to Hope, registered in for the walk and started walking. It was at about mile 15 that the kids began to get tired and having trouble and wanted to quit. It was our goal that ALL of us would finish the course no matter how hard it was. As the day wore on, we all started getting slower and slower, more tired and the harder the miles were becoming. We finally decided that if everyone finished the course we would buy them a large milk shake on the way home. EVERYONE DID finish the course, got a milk shake and lived to tell about it. It was a great time and a memory that I will never forget. There were many other good times there and we were blessed to have enjoyed our first little ministry at Grand Avenue Church. That church has since disbanded many years ago but it’s impact on the lives in that area is still going on. As a matter of fact, we were in Shiloh Baptist Church in Texarkana, AR last Sunday night and Bro. Howard Smith came up to us after church. Bro. Howard’s daughter, Kim, was in our youth group at Grand Avenue! She gave us a “going away” gift that we still have displayed in my office almost 30 years later. She is married, lives in Little Rock and teaches school. We would love to hear from her and maybe we will soon as I gave him our e-mail address to give to her.
That’s all for now — but tomorrow is coming. Hmmm wonder which church that has made an impact on my life I will share with you….you’ll see! Pastor James
One church in Texarkana will always have a very special place in my life and heart. That church is Richmond Road Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. While people have come, gone, lived and died since I was a member there – it’s still got a big place in my heart. They have changed pastors, moved locations and time has changed a lot of things but I will never forget the influence they had on my family’s life and my life too. My Mom & Dad were saved when the church planter/pastor of Richmond Road came to their home in the country and told them about Jesus. There was never a man who loved souls and people any more than Bro. Marion Kitchens. He is one of my “hero’s of the faith” because of his love for people and his deep desire to reach them for Christ. After my folks were saved they followed the Lord in baptism and we began attending Richmond Road Church. After a few years I came to know that I was lost and needed a Savior and finally was saved. This church loved us, prayed for us, was faithful to us and supported us in so many ways through the years. I have many happy memories of our years spent there. It was in this church that I was saved, baptized and felt the call to the ministry. It was in this church that I finally surrendered to the ministry. It was in this church I met Cindy Wright who would later become my wife and still is for almost 29 years. I have been so blessed to have as my spiritual foundation a church who is by no means a “mega church” but has served as a MEGA church in my little life. No matter where I go, what happens in my ministry - God used Richmond Road Baptist Church and her ministry to touch my life and help me find Jesus. Those people encouraged me, prayed for me and cared for my family and I as real family would. There are many people from that little church that stand out in my mind but one in particular was Mrs. Glenn Weaver. She was one of the most loving people toward the youth that I have ever encountered. She was in her late 70′s early 80′s when we were all kids and yet she allowed the youth of the church to come “hang out” at her house on Sunday afternoon so we would have a place to go. She fed us, laughed with us and even rode to church in a “jacked up” car filled up with teens just to encourage us. She was one of those rare people who knew what it was to love youth unconditionally, encourage and build them up and make them KNOW that she loved them like a grandma. Now dont’ get me wrong – she could also be a little cantankerous – but aren’t all grandparents that way from time to time? I will also always remember Glenn & Betty Prather. She played the piano and encouraged my limited singing ability. I sang my first “special” in church because of her encouragement and push-ability. She had a God given talent and could make a piano “walk and talk” when her fingers ran up and down the ivories. She was one of a kind. Mr. Glenn was the leader of the Galileans at Richmond Road. The “Galileans” ministry was the boys ministry at the time that sought to teach scripture memorization and how to be a godly christian man. He was ever loving, encouraging, instructing and caring about all of us guys at the church there. He will always be in my memory as the kind of positive man I would like to be toward the youth who cross my path. These are but a few memories of this great church and the members there. There are others that have played a big part of my life too.
My prayers will always be with this church – that God would bless them and that they will see countless other souls saved for years to come. THANKS RICHMOND ROAD FAMILY ! Pastor James
If all goes as I hope in the near future I am going to try to “jog my memory” and take us on a trip down 30 years of ministry. We have such great memories of the people and churches that we’ve been involved in for these past years and I thought it might be neat to put down some notable memories about each phase of our life in ministry. Maybe those who read my thoughts and were involved in those churches could drop a comment and share your thoughts or memories too. We have been so blessed to be able to serve the Lord and be involved in the life of several great churches and thousands of wonderful people. Each experience and church was unique in it’s own right but all of them make up our ministry experience. Keep checking the blog and start jogging your memory and think of notable things that happened while we were there. It’s been a journey – a great journey and it’s not over yet. Keep watching and see what memories I mention. Gotta go – making more memories today at Life House. God is gonna show up and show out – I just feel it! Pastor James