Life Here and There

Rather than writing a lengthy post about this huge moment in my daughter’s life (and mine and Angie’s as well), I thought I’d just let you watch the video and hear my comments. I’m quite thankful that family and friends at a distance can enjoy this video. Two things to notice. On her way down the steps, she panics for just a second and says, “I don’t want to today…” But she never stops smiling. Then, we’re not sure what was up with her feeling of paralysis at the end, but it also gave us a good laugh.

Ella’s Baptism from Brandon Cox on Vimeo.

I love being the Pastor of Bethel Baptist Church. This past Sunday marked three years that my family and I have been serving here and as I said from the pulpit last night, God has blessed us so far beyond what we deserve! We’ve come to love and know the people here and we’ve built a trust-relationship with them. They appreciate the Word of God and they show appreciation for their leadership. I am so humbled by them!

Yesterday was an awesome day. We closed out our Sunday School class called Marriage Matters and I think all the couples were challenged to deepen our love for each other. We had a great attendance as both morning services felt fairly full and Sunday evening was a great crowd as well. The music in all three services was probably the best I’ve experienced since coming here.

Before church a boy named Wesley came with his Mom to tell me about how he’d asked Jesus to be his Savior on Thursday night and that he was ready to be baptized. When I asked when, his Mom said, “aren’t you baptizing today?” So yes, we baptized two in water much warmer than the week before when a valve issue caused our baptistery to be 53 degrees.

As an added bonus, I ate “chicken over the coals” at the historic AQ Chicken House in Springdale. By day’s end, everyone kept talking about how they had really felt the presence of the Spirit of God in our services. I pondered the fact that we use that term sometimes without explaining it. We believe that the Holy Spirit takes up residence and lives personally in the heart of every believer, so when we gather together in corporate worship and we are all mutually submissive to God and to each other, His presence may be felt in a very real way by believers. It is this powerful presence of God that makes the difference in a winning Sunday and a normal one.

I thank God for all the winning Sundays we’ve had at Bethel, and I look forward to experiencing more of them for the years to come!

I just wanted to praise God for an awesome Sunday! Camp had such an impact on me that I wanted to challenge our people to line up behind me as I repented of small-mindedness, self-centeredness, and short-sightedness. I want to have the mind of Jesus and see people as He sees them – in need of Him, in need of healing, and in need of life change.

At the end of the day, two couples joined by letter (one was our new Youth Pastor and wife), two kids were received for baptism, and another indicated after church he wanted to be baptized as well. Though I can’t wait until next Sunday, I REALLY can’t wait to meet a need this week!

Today is pretty special for several people. I have the privilege of baptizing a man who is 68 years of age. He’s been a Christian for a long time, but was baptized after he received Christ. I’m excited to welcome Bob into our church family and his encouragement has already gone a long way in my life. Jimmie is 70, and she’s also joining our church by baptism in the evening service tonight. Then there’s little Alexandria who is in elementary school. All three are giving a public testimony of their salvation. (more…)