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When I got up Sunday morning and saw the weather, I thought “Nobody is coming to church today.”  Wrong!  What a great day.  I especially want to salute the 180 souls who braved torrential rains and potential tornadoes to come to the 8:30 service.

Our students moved back into the renovated Student building.  It’s almost done, but not quite.  Nathan Waganer and his team did a great job getting it ready - it has been transformed.

What a thrill to dedicate 8 children and their parents to the Lord during the 11:00 am service.  As I have explained many times, parent child dedication is not to be confused with a saving act.  That is the false promise of infant baptism and that’s why we don’t do that.  Baptism is to be a free choice as a sign and symbol of a person following Christ.  What we do at Parent Child dedication is call the parents to promise before God that they will be the best parent they can be and will lead their children toward faith.  We as ADBC commit ourselves to these parents and these children to provide an environment that lets the children know they are loved and valued.

PLUS we got to celebrate baptism at 11 - always the topper in any worship service.

Several folks told me how much they liked the mini-Cooper prop as we talked about the game of life.  My thanks to Beth Hawkins for letting us borrow her car and Sonja Curry who made the “Pin-People” props. 

Based on 2 Timothy 1:3-7, here again are the main things to remember about leaving a legacy for the people in the back seat:

1. Pray for the people who look up to you.  Give thanks for them.

2.  Connect to them emotionally.

3.  Set an example.  Talk to them about their faith.

4.  Encourage their gifts.

5.  Remind them what God has given them - not a spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.  A powerful trio!

It’s Sunday night and I am dead tired.  Gina and Hannah have been gone a Sumter High choir tour - they return tomorrow, so I have been trying to get the house picked up and cleaned up. 

I am enjoying the “Games of Life” series - I hope you are.  Mark hasn’t told me yet about the response but I saw alot of folks turning in their commitments to be encouragers.

I think it was a new idea for many - that your giving could be an encouragement.  I hope you are thinking about who needs your encouragement, who you need to pray for, and how your giving can be used by God to encourage others.

The CME kids did a great job this Sunday night presenting their musical.  It may not all be polished, but I honor their effort.  There is something about the charm of kids and the truth of the gospel that helps you hear it in a whole new way.

Don’t miss next Sunday - Baby dedication, plus an over the top sermon illustration!

When When people turn out for church in the rain, I am always humbled.  I know it is a lot of trouble.  There are times when I adjust my schedule because I just don’t want the hassle of being out in the weather.  So THANK YOU for honoring Jesus enough to get out of warm beds and comfortable houses to come and worship.

The Series “Games of Life” got off to a great start.  PLUS the baptism video of the students was awesome. 

The Volunteer Banquet was out of this world.  It is worth being a volunteer at ADBC just to be at this event.  If you missed it, the ministers did a parody of the David Letterman show - and Jock imitated me being a special guest.  I hate to say it, but he did a pretty good job on the gestures!

The great energy at ADBC these days isn’t good leadership or planning - it is God helping us be ready for our next step as a church!

God is doing something pretty amazing at ADBC.  Let me explain - usually, this time of year, spring fever hits, attendance drops, energy in church wanes, and everybody slips into a pre-summer coma.  But not this year!

We topped 1100 in worship for the second Sunday in a row.  We baptized three folks - and I loved what David said to me in the third service.  He said that even though he had grown up in a church, he was really just putting an “x” in the box.  But when he and his wife came to ADBC, something clicked and he had a real encounter with Christ.  That’s what it’s all about!

Travis Pruden did a great job helping us remember what Build on the Rock is all about - Raising Leaders, Offering Offerings, Creating Community, and Kneeling before God.

And we wound up our series on Beyond - what a great series, thinking about life and death and what really counts.

As I shared with you Sunday, and I am so thankful to be part of a church like ADBC - a people where God is at work!

Great to be back at ADBC!  And what a day.  First, any day you get to baptize 6 people is a good day!  There are so many churches that never get to baptize this many in one year.  I am humbled and grateful that God is using us to reach people for Him.

Strong attendance.  Over 1120 in the three services.  Best of all, about 730 or so in the Bible Community Groups.  Normally we’d be dipping this time of year - but I’m grateful we’re moving forward.

Our Personnel Team did a great job in meeting Sunday night.  They helped us take a step of faith and upgraded our Preschool position to full-time.  Why is this important?  According the research done by the Barna group, a child forms their world view - their understanding of right and wrong by the time they are 9.  As early as 2, children are learning concepts of right and wrong.  Our budget will have to stretch up some to take care of this position, but I believe we can do it!

I confess, I have been a bad blogger the past seven days.  BUT I was on vacation, getting some much needed rest - accelerated by the fact that I strained my back at the Y during an exercise class.  The lesson?  Don’t exercise!

Easter was a great day at ADBC.  We had over 1600 - but the best part was seeing four people baptized because of their faith in Jesus!  We also had a couple of folks profess their faith in Jesus - what better day than Easter to take that next step!

Today, we avoided the typical post Easter let down with a strong worship experience in all three services.  Even though we had some folks not back from Spring Break, it was a good crowd.  Best of all, we welcomed Todd and Penny Fleming and their family to our team. Todd will begin serving as our new Education and Disicpleship Pastor.  You will love his warmth and his passion! 

Sunday was a great day to finish the series “Would You?”  Funny thing was we weren’t sure how spending a seven weeks on the last day of Jesus’ life would go over.  It’s hard to have happy time around the torture and crucifiction of Jesus.

But this is what we found:  Attendance moved up.  God answered specific requests.  More people professed their faith and were baptized.  Giving went up.

Here’s what I learned about church through this:  people really do want to know Jesus and they want to know the truth.  Packaging is good - but what’s inside matters.

Personnally, I was moved throughout the whole series.  It amazes me how Jesus took our punishment.  I realized that God’s love overcame pain.  Sure, other humans have suffered as much - maybe longer.  But they suffered because they didn’t have a choice.  Jesus did.

Great to have a day and do ministry by wandering around.  What I saw:

• We have some terriffic Bible Community Groups - lots of energy and care.
• New BCG group launched - the CAMO class- calling all men out.  Started out in the kitchen - outgrew it already!
• Thank the preschool workers of our church- they do a great job.
• God has given us lots of space to grow in this building.  What are we waiting for?  Leaders to lead groups!
• Parking is a serious matter between 10:30 and 11:00.  People come for the 11 service and find it hard to get a space.

Clay did a great job on the message - and it was great thing to see two baptized Sunday morning.

Plus Jock had the priviledge of baptizing his daughter on Sunday night - and I realized that it had been 40 years to the day that I was baptized on a Sunday night long ago.

Talmadge Riddick’s testimony brought tears to my eyes.  God has worked in his life!

One thing I love about a day like Sunday - it reminds us all that what God does at ADBC doesn’t depend on one man or one woman - it takes all of us, empowered by His grace!

What a day at ADBC!

First, after two years and two months our search for an Education Pastor has ended!  Today, our church extended a call to Todd Fleming to come and serve at ADBC in this role.  He will begin on March 30 and will be a great addition to the team!

We had the priviledge of seeing five folks baptized at 9:45.  What a great celebration!  Plus, we had young man make a profession of faith during this service as well.

Finally, the Botswana Team made it home safe and sound.  All said what a life changing experience it was.  Be praying about your time to go to Africa.

There was great energy all day long at ADBC - I’m so glad to be part of this church family!

After losing my voice last Sunday, I approached this Sunday with great caution.  I admit I tried to go softer at 8:30 - which had the unintended consequence of going longer!  I realized I couldn’t do that the rest of the morning, so I went back to normal tone and pace and cut some material and cut the sermon time in half (bet you wish I could that every Sunday!).

Clayton did a great job leading worship while Jock was out.  It great to have a strong bench. 

Hats off to Nathan and Leandra - they had 56 kids who participated in Big Weekend.  My three teens all thought it was a win - despite little sleep and lots of motion.

THEN - and this is what I am really proud of - a dozen of our core kids came back on Sunday afternoon and moved all the stuff from the Student Building over to new building - their temporary home for the next few weeks, while their buidling is renovated.  These kids went above and beyond the call of duty.  They have put major sweat equity into their building renovation.

Finally, let me tell how jazzed I am by two of our Bible Community Groups.  Bob Reagan’s group has really stepped up to minister to two families in their groups who have lost loved ones.  Hugh Cameron’s group turned out in force to support one of their class members who lost a parent.  Of the forty or so people at the memorial service, a third were from Hugh’s group!  Plus, they have taken the step of making sure a person without transportation has a ride each Sunday to worship and BCG.  Well done!

This is a great church!