Showing posts with label schedule. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schedule. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Plan Wisely and Hold On Loosely - Part Two

Last Friday I wrote about my passion for planning and the potential for problems when my careful plans are psotponed. IF you missed Friday's Mile Marker, you might better understand this one if you read it although I believe today's can stand alone.

I mentioned to you again that the Lord has been amazingly kind to me by planting peace and contentment deep in my soul over the last 10+ weeks. I would be going crazy right now, stark raving mad, if the Lord was not helping me.

That does not mean that I am not antsy to go, I am sitting on go this moment. But I am not descending into despair over my carefully made plans being indefinitely delayed. 

I am still making plans but I am aiming for wise plans that I can hold loosely. These are my new loose plans for the near future. I have categorized them in order, but the items may not happen in this order or at all. I am OK with that.

1. We warm up my vocals and practice singing nearly every day. I am also using my speaking voice recording A Word for Wednesday episodes.  At some point, I intend to incorporate a full online type service into our practice. 

It may be recorded or it may not, it may be published and it may not. The main thing is to see if we can sing and I can preach a service right here in our home. 

2.  If that works, then I intend to preach single services in the local churches that have invited me. It would take me a few weeks to preach services in several churches and that should give me an idea of what I am capable of at this time.

We are well acquainted with these churches and they would certainly understand if I needed to stop halfway through a sermon.

3. Travel outside the area for single services or maybe weekends, building endurance and confidence. I also need to discover if I am able to travel extensively. 

Travel will also depend on my outpatient therapy schedule. As long as therapy is helpful and as long as they keep me going back, I want to take advantage of it.

4.  IF we travel a bit, it will be in the Jeep. I intend to take the bus to Jeff Rowe in Vonore, Tennessee for a few weeks at some point. While it is sitting still, would be a good time to be in his hands to work on a few things.

Traveling without the bus, especially IF I am not able to eat in restaurants yet will present a whole new set of challenges.

5. If the single services and weekends and travel go well, I will probably preach a few partial week revivals closer to home that were previously unscheduled. 

6.  Once I can preach a few revivals in a row and handle the travel well, it will be time to consider climbing on the bus and continuing our scheduled revivals, wherever we are supposed to be at that time. 

Kelly and I executed a plan similar to this after I had been sick with COVID in 2021 and it seemed to work well. I am holding this plan very loosely and I am willing to adjust it as needed and as directed. 

There is one potential obstacle to this loosely held plan. The right side of my body still feels like it is completely asleep. I am not entirely sure, that I can get past steps #1 and #2 in this condition. 

I am sincerely asking you to pray for us. Thankfully, I am walking, talking and swallowing better. There is nothing that doctors can do or therapy can do to eliminate the numb like feeling. 

I am trusting God’s healing process and believing Him for a miracle to fix this. God is able to do a miracle. Thank you for praying.

Thank you for taking this journey with us.

Davy

Coming tomorrow:



Friday, March 8, 2024

Plan Wisely and Hold On Loosely - Part One

If you know me well at all, you know I am a planner. I live and die by the plan. I like to know when, where, what and sometimes why

The plan is not sacred to me. It is not totally unchangeable. I am willing to adjust the plan, tweak the plan or even pause the plan. However, I must begin with a plan and keep some variation of a plan in motion, if possible.

Scrapping our well made and thought out plan for months at a time is obviously challenging for me. I imagine that some of you understand that well.

We had planned to be in Mississippi this week, then Alabama, then Georgia, then Virginia, then three weeks in West Virginia and then nearly two months in Virginia.

We were looking forward to camp meetings, revivals, Easter sunrise service, Homecoming revivals and generally experiencing great fellowship and wonderful services. 

Obviously, this current health crisis postponed my plan. An interruption like this would normally cause quite a bit of disturbance for me emotionally. 

However, I have mentioned before, that the Lord has enveloped me with beautiful peace and contentment during this time. I am extremely thankful for the Lord’s specific help in this. 

That does not mean that I am not antsy to go, I am sitting on go right now. But I am not descending into despair over my carefully made plans being indefinitely delayed. The Lord gets all the credit for that. I would fall apart on my own, no doubt.

Therefore, since the original plan has taken a detour, the planner in me has been percolating a new plan. It is not a solid plan, in fact, it is a plan I am purposely holding onto very loosely. I am pretty happy with myself for that.😇

First of all, I have no firm idea when I can implement my new plan or when I will return to weekly revivals all over the US. I am determined to take time to heal and the pastors I have spoken to on my schedule are supportive of that.

I am trying to Plan Wisely and Hold On Loosely! I will tell you more about the current plan on Tuesday by His grace. Today the plan is to go to therapy. Thank you for being here today.

Davy

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

What About A Word For Wednesday?

Our most recent episode of A Word For Wednesday was posted on December 27. I fully intended to post the first episode of 2024 on Wednesday, January 3. I already had some notes scribbled down for the first few weeks of the year and I was looking forward to recording them

December 29 was a giant game changer, of course, and since then I have not worked on A Word For Wednesday at all. There have been a few weeks when I probably had the voice strength to record an episode, but I have not done it. 

The reason is this. I need voice strength, strength in my body, time to record, edit and upload and last but not least, I need good material.

I have ideas in my head and notes written down for a few episodes, but all the other ingredients listed above have been in short supply. Once I begin again, I would like to make sure that I record and publish every week if possible. 

I do plan to get back to it in the near future, by God’s grace. As I write this for February 14, I cannot imagine new episodes beginning in the next couple of weeks, but maybe within the next 30-60 days or so.     

I would love to have at least four episodes recorded, edited and uploaded before I begin making them live for you to view so that I will have a little cushion for a week when we are too busy with recovery/therapy or too tired or whatever the hindrance.      

I hope that those of you who have been regular viewers of A Word For Wednesday or even occasional viewers will be patient with me. I am anxious to begin as soon as possible. 

We have had 149 episodes of A Word For Wednesday since January 2021 and if the Lord will help me, I would like to continue for many many more if we have an audience.

I will be with you as soon as possible. Thank you for reading today

Davy 

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

A Day of Therapy

Yesterday we were back at the hospital/rehab for a day of outpatient therapy. I am scheduled for several weeks of therapy two times each week. Thankfully, it is only ten miles away.

Each therapy trip involves three 1 hour sessions. There is one hour of physical therapy, one hour of occupational therapy and a third hour of speech therapy.

I would not say that it is completely enjoyable, some of it is plain hard work. However, it is all necessary to try to get the use of my body and voice back to normal. I look forward to each session.

The physical therapist is working on helping me walk by strengthening my right side and working on my balance and dizziness issues. Incidentally, they checked last week to see if the dizziness might be ear related. It is not. The problem is directly stroke related.

The occupational therapist is mostly working on the manual dexterity in my right hand and the balance and dizziness issues as they affect the day-to-day things I need to do. They are also tasked with getting me prepared to drive again in the future.

The speech therapist is working on helping me swallow better, expand the type and texture of foods that I can eat and the quality of my voice. My speaking and singing voice has been greatly affected, and they are helping me with that the best they can.

All three of these descriptions are only general characterizations of much more complicated processes. The therapists are optimistic that I will gain back much of what I am lacking now, but there is no guarantee. 

Much of the progress depends on how diligently I work. Therefore the therapy continues each day at home. I break it into 3 to 5 sessions each day. 

Very early in the morning, I work on my hand and arm. A little later in the morning I work on a lot of the balance and strengthening exercises and activities. Early afternoon I work on a lot of breathing and voice exercises. Later in the evening, I go through random exercises of all kinds that come to mind.

So literally every day is a day of therapy. As my brother Steve said, This is now my job. I say it is a job I want to do well.

Kelly and I are so thankful that we have these professionals to guide us because we would absolutely have no clue what to do.

Ultimately we are thankful that the Lord has stood by us and is helping us daily. We are experiencing and expecting divine intervention as we move through this process.

We appreciate God’s people very much for encouraging us and praying for us. We have always valued you and we realize that value more and more each day.

May God bless you, our dear friends. Thank you for reading today.

Davy

Thursday, November 30, 2023

Posting Plan The Next Two Weeks

Real time update: KJo and I made it to Nigeria Wednesday. Our plane landed early at 3:35 AM Eastern Time which was 9:35 in Nigeria. It took us about two hours to exit the plane and work our way through customs, immigration and baggage claim. Two hours after that, our friends were depositing us in the hotel.

This is our posting plan for the next two weeks.

I am writing this while still in the States. By the time you read this, we should be preaching the first services of the Minister's Conference in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, West Africa. I am supposed to preach three times on Thursday and seven times in our first 72 hours in Abeokuta.

That pretty much sets the course for the whole trip and we are fine with that. We might as well stay busy while we are there. In a few days, we will be home and I will be wishing I was back in Nigeria.

I have no idea if I will have time to post each day or any internet to post at all. Some years we have passable internet, some years we have none at all. It may be that I can not post. If that is the case, then Odie will take over as much as she can.

IF I do have internet, then I may post more than once a day. When you read each day for the next two weeks, check to see if there have been previous posts that day. The posts could show up at any time because Nigeria time is six hours ahead of Eastern Time in the USA.

Thank you for checking in and thank you for praying for us. We need and desire God's help.

Davy

Monday, October 30, 2023

The Weekend Dispatch 10/30/2023

The last night of revival at House of Prayer in Tusla was wonderful. We are praising God for His help in the final service and the whole week. We appreciate Pastor Bill Parks and all of his fine congregation.

We have some pictures from Thursday and Friday.























Saturday afternoon we made the short trip from Tulsa to Claremore, emptied our tanks and got set up in the rain. In the evening we carried in the sound equipment and got a soundcheck.


Sunday morning was Pastor Appreciation for Pastor Jimmy Millikin here at Westside Holiness Church followed by a fantastic meal. It was a wonderful day and we loved being a part of it.



















The Sunday evening service was a super finale to the wonderful weekend. Wow! Thank you for stopping by to check on us.

Davy

Schedule Note From Davy:
Pastor Phillip Horton from Richlands, Virginia passed away Friday and his funeral is scheduled for Monday. Pastor Jimmy Millikin from the church here in Claremore has a long history with the Richlands Church and He will be attending the funeral Monday. We will not be having revival service tonight while he is gone, but we plan to crank back up again Tuesday night. If anything else about this week changes, I will let you know on Mile Markers.






Thursday, October 26, 2023

A Schedule Change

We have four more revivals on the schedule before we go to Nigeria later in the year, but we have made a change this week. We were supposed to be in Birch Tree, Missouri at Victory Holiness Church with Pastor Ronald Coots November 12-16, Sunday-Thursday. 

That date has been postponed and will be rescheduled next year, hopefully in the summer. Bro. and Sis. Coots' daughter-in-law is going through a major health crisis and they need to devote their full attention to that situation. We agree completely.

We are still scheduled to be at Junction Hill Pentecostal Church near West Plains, Missouri Friday-Monday, November 17-20 so we will be somewhere between there and Wichita, Kansas Sunday the 12th and the days following. I will let you know when the situation becomes more clear.

Thank you for checking in with us. Have a great day.

Davy

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Where And Why?

It occurred to me while I was driving today that I had not brought you up to date on our whereabouts for the next several days. Where are we and why?

If you looked at our schedule two weeks ago, you would be excused for thinking we left Alabama yesterday afternoon on our way to Texas for revival beginning Wednesday. That was the original plan.

Plans are always subject to change and the church we were going to had a change of plans nearly two weeks ago. I shifted gears and decided to make a very quick trip to Ohio in order to deliver our tent trailer to the barn where it needed to be.

Going to Ohio opened up two opportunities. First, I was able to schedule a quick trip to East Tennessee Luxury Coach to have a wheel seal replaced and secondly, we should be able to stop for a couple days of Bond Campmeeting. We are on our way to see you, friends. Surprise!

Then we will drop the trailer at the Lazy OD Ranch and make our way to Oklahoma. The change in routing added 700 miles, but it will save me many more miles later by having the trailer in place. Adding Bond Campmeeting to that was like a cherry on top!

With the trip to Texas deleted, I was able to accept the invitation to preach Sunday night at Allentown so we can add that to the plus side too. All in all, the change worked out fine.

Yesterday we finished the first leg of the trip. We left Tanner Williams at 6:30 and we were hooked up to the trailer and leaving Allentown by 7:00. Eleven hours later we were pulling into East Tennessee Luxury Coach in Vonore, Tennessee. I drove the bus 508 miles pulling the tent trailer and KJo and followed in the Jeep.

That is probably the longest bus travel day since Covid and absolutely the longest day pulling the trailer in a few years. I am really glad to have that day over. Hallelujah!



That is where we are and the why. I hope we see you along the way. You can find our latest schedule changes HERE. Thank you for stopping in.

Davy

Friday, September 8, 2023

Tent Revival Coming Up

Early this year when I was pretty sick, I knew I needed to work smarter not harder in 2023 IF I was going to make it through the year in one piece AND finish on the right side of the ground.

One of the things we did was cancel the next four revivals beginning the last Sunday in January. I hated to do it, but all of the Pastors were very understanding and the four weeks with no preaching and no singing went a long way toward getting me back on my feet.

We did go to church 3-5 times each week, enjoying services and being fed by various Pastors. That was a big boost to us as well.

The second decision was to cancel almost all of our scheduled tent revivals for the year. I really hated to do that, but I knew in my heart it was the best decision.

We kept the three day tent revival in Vermont. They set up their own tent, it is not super hot weather and it is only three services. We handled that fine although I did get a glimpse of what it was going to feel like to handle our sound equipment each night.

The final tent revival of the year and the only one using our tent is coming up September 17-22 in Richton, Mississippi. I kept that one on the schedule for a few reasons.

1. It was late in the year and gave me the most time to be in better form physically.
2.  We have set our tent up there multiple times and the Richton folks know the routine and how best to help.
3.  Pastor Scott Morris has the same vision for tent revival as me and I do not have to carry that weight.

Bro. Morris has checked several times to make sure I am up for tent revival and I appreciate his kindness and thoughtfulness. However, I want to try and I believe we are ready. 

By God's grace, the tent will go up in the air on Saturday, September 16 and we are excited. Please pray for our strength and for the power of God to touch lives in Richton, Mississippi.

You are welcome to come be with us too! Bro. Jimmie Radcliffe is hoping to be able to come and that would be an awesome bonus.

Thank you for reading, dear friends.

Davy


Friday, August 18, 2023

Schedule Change and Bro. Shobanke

Schedule Change
We have had a change in our schedule concerning the near future. We never know when someone is planning to visit us, so I need to let you know.

Over the weekend we received bad news that shook us. Pastor Ben Shoemaker called to tell us they had an accident at the church in Thomasville, Alabama that included an electrical fire and one of the men getting burned. 

I did not ask for permission to give his name so I will not at this time. One of the church men spent several days in the hospital for burns and faces a long recovery. We are praying that he heals completely without longterm difficulties.

Although the brother that was injured, heroically put out the fire and called for help, the power is off at the church and the building has a lot of smoke damage. They had recently finished a remodel of the sanctuary so it is a double blow.

We were scheduled to begin revival for Bro. Shoemaker two weeks from this coming Sunday and of course, that is understandably not possible at this time. Pastor Shoemaker was concerned about us losing a revival and I appreciate that, but canceling was the right thing to do.

The last thing they need at this time is the pressure of a visiting preacher coming to town in two weeks. They will have enough on their plate as it is. Please pray for Ben, Deidre and the church in Thomasville, Alabama.

Update On Bro. Shobanke
Bro. Shobanke came through surgery on his neck and he is recovering well. He was released this week to his son's house in the Dayton area and we were able to see him yesterday evening on our way to church last night.





I can not describe how thrilled I was to see my friend again and pray with him.


I had talked to him in the hospital on the phone and I could hear that he was a little stronger, but I was comforted to see him face to face. Bro. Shobanke has a long way to go and I would love if you would pray for my dear friend. He is weak and unable to do things he needs to do.

He is scheduled to return to Nigeria soon and his son, Emmanuel, is planning to accompany him home. That is a huge blessing.

Thank you. I think that brings us up to date.

Davy

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

A New Place Coming Up Soon

We met Pastor Marcos Fabiano here at Bethel Revival Center in 2019. He has been pioneering a Brazillian mission work in Everett since 2016.

Pastor Marcos on the left last night with Pastor Orville Plummer.


He is a great guy and we are excited to see him again this week at revival. He called and told me he would be there and we were excited to hear the great news. It was wonderful to have him and to get to visit with him.

Pastor Marcos contacted me a while back and asked about us preaching for him while we are in Boston and we are so glad to receive the invitation. We love going new places.

By God's grace, we will be singing and preaching for Pastor Marcos Sunday evening July 30 at 6:30. We are expecting a great visitation from the Lord in the service. Please pray for us as God opens new avenues for us to minister.


Thank you for stopping in today. Check back tomorrow. I think I will have a special Wordless Wednesday. See you then.

Davy