A Fantastic Trip
Thank you for praying for me and my wife this past week!
Sioux Falls, SD. On Thursday we flew into Sioux Falls, SD, to be with Pastor Jason Jett and the Eastside Baptist Church. It had been almost exactly 20 years since we had been there last, and we were the speakers for their youth conference.
On Friday, I preached a sermon from 1 Thes. 4 on “Ice Cream Sundae Relationships” and encouraged the teens to commit their hearts to the Lord and keep themselves pure for marriage. We are going to reprise our Preaching Rally theme this coming year, and I’ll be preaching the same message here in February.
On Saturday, we had three sessions, one of which was a split session for men and ladies. The girls loved Mrs. Jamie’s session the best! 😊
Then on Sunday, I did a Sunday school lesson on Bible study from the book BIBS, and preached the morning and evening services. What a wonderful church! It is a hub for that region, so churches traveled for 5 hours from three states to be there.
Phoenix. Sunday night after church we flew to Phoenix, shared an AirBnB with Pastor Andrew Opilas (Mira Mesa Bible Baptist Church), and started the church planters conference that evening. I was honored to present California as the missions emphasis for that night, and four church planters presented their needs.
We were able to support all four with over $2,000 of our own “Reach California” funds, and about $40,000 was raised for them in that one night!
Other states represented were Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona, and over $130k was given away throughout Monday and Tuesday! Pastor Dean Herring preached four encouraging, challenging, and down-to-earth-practical sermons, and everyone there was blessed.
Maybe you can come next year! – Pastor Ryan