Revival In Pictures - Bernice, Louisiana

It has been another wonderful week of revival in Bernice, Louisiana. Pastor Michael Brandon and his church opened their arms to us and received us and we have enjoyed every moment of it. We are so thankful for God's people.

The weather has been a little on the chilly side, but much better than Ohio at the moment. Especially with the ice and snow that is hitting hard across several states just north of us. Staying around I-20 or much further south sounds like a super deal!

We have received great comments and feedback from our posts this week. Thank you for reading and thank you for taking time to let us know you enjoy something we write or post on YouTube.

AND Thank you for tuning in for a few minutes today. I hope you enjoy the Revival In Pictures. There are a truck load of pictures below.

Davy

Wonders of Numbers!

For much of January, KJo and I were crunching financial numbers for 2021 for Boggs Family Ministries. We have to do this for four reasons. 

First, budget. We live personally and Boggs Family Ministries runs on a budget. In order to know whether or not the budget is working, you have to know the numbers.

Secondly, we had our annual Boggs Family Ministries board meeting last week and I always give them an overview of our ministry finances. I hold myself accountable to them and I ask them to guide me along the way. I need numbers for that.

Thirdly, as a 501c3, we are required to send donation receipts to individuals and businesses that give directly to Boggs Family Ministries. Those must be emailed or snail-mailed by January 31.

Finally, Boggs Family Ministries is a 501c3 but not a church. Therefore, we must fill out form 990 EZ for the IRS by May 15 each year. It is not a tax return, but a reporting form. The 990 EZ is anything but easy. It is a multiple page undertaking and I need all the financial numbers to complete that task. 

The numbers are in. The results are both frightening and enlightening.🙌

Because of sickness and being home for nearly seven months, the ministry's main income in 2021, which is revival income, was about half what it was in 2020. Keep in perspective that 2020 was also an abbreviated and unusual year. So, our 2021 revival income was a little over 1/3 of our normal revival income.

Much of our ministry and personal expenses continued as if we were working as normal. Property taxes, house and barn maintenance, barn insurance, house insurance, bus payments, bus and car insurance and higher utilities since we were home. Plus, food costs were way up for everyone.

We did have a few personal expense categories that were lower since we were not traveling as much. We were not buying as much diesel and we were not spending as much on bus repairs. Realistically, the bus repairs will still have to be done, but that particular personal expense was pushed down the road a bit.

All of that to say, it would have been very difficult to survive all year on about 1/3 of our normal ministry income. Thinking about that is frightening. However, we not only survived, but with God's help, we thrived all year.

Churches and individuals and families and businesses were extremely kind and generous to us all year long. Most of the churches that we had to cancel, sent an offering anyway. Some of them sent offerings twice, some of them three times.

Boggs Family Ministries was able to keep its obligations and commitments and to pay us even though we were not capable of producing income. We were not only able to feed our family and pay all of our regular bills on time, we also were able to help others, fulfill all our foreign and home mission commitments and added more mission giving besides.

We knew we had been divinely helped and blessed, but adding the numbers and comparing the dates of miraculous income and outflow was enlightening. God walked with our family down through the valley of the shadow of death and kept pace with us all along the way! He never left our side one moment!

We are overwhelmed with the goodness of God and the goodness of the people of God. Many of the people that stepped up and did amazing things for us read these Mile Markers every day. It is difficult to know how to express our extreme gratitude.

We have tried to thank each of you personally, but you deserve public appreciation as well. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for helping us. May God bless you for blessing our ministry and family.

It is our sincere hope and prayer, that we can work in revivals all year long in 2022 with very few interruptions. That is our heartfelt desire. But we will never, ever forget God's incredible and almost unbelievable provision for us in 2020 and 2021. He truly helped us when we could not help ourselves.

The last two years have been difficult years for everyone. We have all lost way too many friends prematurely. Many of you and us have been sicker than we have ever been and for longer than we have ever been sick. These are troublesome times.

Yet, these last two years have been unbelievably wondrous and miraculous too. We will never forget God's marvelous works. He is great and greatly to be praised!!!

Thank you for reading today. In the midst of your trouble, I hope you can see the fingerprints of God's goodness in your life.

Davy

A Word For Wednesday-Valuing The Word of God

It is time for A Word For Wednesday. A Few minutes ago, I posted A Word for Wednesday on our YouTube Channel. Please give it a listen and leave us a comment here or on YouTube.

Valuing The Word of God

How much do we value the Word of God? Are we captivated by the words of men? Does a man making a speech inspire us to great things? That is OK, but what kind of man is making that speech? Is he Godly? Is he even moral? Does he have a firm foundation of inward goodness to stand on?

I am afraid there is a possibility that we get carried away with the oratory skills of a sinful man and we are bored with the eternal Word of God. God help us to value His Word!

Matthew 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.

17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?

18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?

19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.

20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?

21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

These men marveled at the words of Christ. They had never heard a man speak like this man. But they left Him and went their own way. I want to be marveled by the Word of God. I want to be moved by the Word of God AND I want to be modified by the Word of God We must allow the Word of God to change us.

Thank you to Pastor Devin Birdsong for loaning us his best announcer voice to A Word For Wednesday.😍 I asked him to record an intro and outro for these episodes and he did a super great job. I highly recommend Bro. Devin's Podcast called Pod'N Me.

Thank you for joining us today.

Davy

The Weekend Dispatch 1/31/22

Normally you would find this weekend post on Monday, but it was bumped forward to Tuesday to make room for a special January 31 Mile Marker. Thank you for the nice feedback from that post.

January 2022 is already behind us! Wow! How does that happen? It happens one day at a time, I suppose, but those days are flying by!

We are taking full advantage of the days that we have built into our winter schedule this year to rest and rejuvenate for the next revival. I worked outside for maybe 40 minutes on Thursday, but spent most of the day reading, preparing sermon material and resting.

KJo and Odie drove to some neighborhoods on the west side of Houston for some therapy, retail therapy that is. Kelly said there were very few people out and about, just like we like it.

Thursday night we had our annual board meeting for Boggs Family Ministries. Pastor John Eaton and Bro. Kurt McCrorey serve on the board with me and they have been with us since the beginning. I appreciate these fine men standing with us and guiding us for many years.

All of our board meetings are by conference call and we have never had an "in person" meeting. I guess we have been operating according to Covid protocol before it was even cool.

We were cranked up, hooked up and pulling out of Full Gospel Lighthouse in Sweeny by about 8:30 Friday morning. We would have left earlier, but Houston is always going to be a traffic problem during rush hour so we try to avoid that.

We pretty much sailed through Houston. We did have about a twenty minute slow down a little later due to an accident. The route to Bernice, Louisiana reversed the route we took two weeks ago from Shreveport to Livingston.

The roads are good and mostly four lane, but it goes through or around several towns. It is tough to make good time. We drove 289 miles Friday, but it took us six full hours. That included a 15 minute stop to do the work of the evangelist at a Flying J, but the rest was driving.

When I pulled into a spot at the TA truck stop off I-20 in Greenwood, Louisiana, I was glad to get stopped!

KJo prepared tacos Friday night with deer meat from Pastor Larry Lamb. Wow! Excellent!

Saturday we cranked up the bus and rolled the last 100 miles or so and pulled into Abundant Life Holiness Church in Bernice, Louisiana a few minutes before noon. Pastor Michael Brandon, his wife, daughter and Sis. Paula McCutcheon helped load in sound equipment. After a late lunch, we went back to set up and did a soundcheck.

Sunday we had two wonderful services! We are praising God for His help and looking forward to three more great revival services this week. We appreciate Pastor Michael Brandon and his family and the saints in Bernice. They have been so kind to us.

That wraps up our weekend. Thank you for stopping by.

Davy

It Has Actually Been A Great Year!

We interrupt our normal broadcast for a special bulletin. Please tune in tomorrow at this same time for The Weekend Dispatch that you would normally find here on Monday.

It Has Actually Been A Great Year!

We celebrate dates here on Mile Markers. It is one thing we do consistently. We mark birthdays, anniversaries and special days of all kinds. 

We usually do not mention dates that mark events that we would rather forget, but marking dates happens in my mind whether I want to remember the date or not. It is part of my psyche. It is who I am.

Even though the dates I would rather forget stick in my mind like neon billboards, I usually do not commemorate them here among all of the hallowed dates. I especially do not push off a normal weekly feature post to mark such a date, yet here I am.

This date, January 31, has some significance because it is a date that is relatable to my readers. It may not be your date, but many of you have a date in the last two years that rings true with my date.

One year ago today, January 31, 2021, is the date that Odie and I tested positive for Covid in a small hospital within walking distance of where I sit this very moment at Abundant Life Holiness Church in Bernice, Louisiana.

Yes, January 31, 2021, is a date that I would rather forget for many reasons. It is a date that I wish was wiped off the calendar and all of the bad events of that day with it.

Beginning on that date, Odie and I became sicker than we have ever been in our lives. We stayed sicker longer than we have ever been sick in our lives. One year later, I am still dealing with after effects of that horrible day. 

On the evening of January 31, we pointed the BoggsMobile toward home. On February 2, we pulled the bus into the barn. The trip home had been difficult, agonizing and stressful on all three of us, but by God's grace, we made it!

In the course of those three days of driving, at least four Pastors had invited us to park at their church while healing. For nearly 1000 miles I wondered if I should have taken one of them up on their kind offer. It surely looked like we were not going to make it home.

Over the next few months, I would praise God repeatedly that He had given us the strength to make it home. Hallelujah! Once we made it to Ohio, we were so glad to be there!

Two days after arriving home and pulling into the barn, there is no way in the world I could have driven the bus one mile. I was too sick to do it. We are very thankful that I did not reach that breaking point out on the Highway somewhere.

By the seventh day, February 6, my body temperature had been wildly fluctuating for over 36 hours. It would go from outrageously low to dangerously high and back again in only minutes. I was tracking the violent temperature swings with two thermometers and I felt like my body could not take it anymore.

I do not mention the actual temperatures, because I am not sure that anyone beyond people that know me well would even believe the numbers.

About 9:00 PM on February 6, Bro. John Gabbard called and said, "Me and Ann are going to prayer right now." And boy howdy, did they ever go to prayer. I was instantly saturated with the Holy Ghost as they prayed and while they were praying my body temperature went to normal and never rose or fell again!

Put a finger right there in the story because it is important.

I had been marching in place and singing several times a day since we had arrived home. I knew I must keep moving and I intended to build my voice strength. I thought I would be back to revivals in 2-3 weeks and I knew I must have breath and my voice.

On day 11, four days after God touched my temperature, I could not breathe. Through miraculous intervention two local Pastors, Bro. Philip Hoskins and Bro. Danny Lamb brought an oxygen bottle to me and later that night an oxygen machine. They did this late at night in the middle of a snowstorm and saved my life.

In week number six I started struggling to breathe again, even with supplemental oxygen. In week seven, as my lungs filled with inflammation, I felt like my breath would soon stop. With full flow oxygen, my levels were very, very low. 

One evening that week, Pastor Mike Metzger called a few minutes after 9:00 and hit his knees in fervent prayer. KJo was in the bus at the time and she is my witness.

While Bro. Metzger prayed, the Holy Ghost covered me and Kelly Jo. We rejoiced, praised God and we were lost in His Spirit for over 20 minutes. I was not instantly healed, but I received a glimmer of hope that I might live to preach again.

Now, let me go back to the night of prayer on February 6. From the moment Bro. John and Sis. Ann prayed for me until way up into May, the presence of the Lord was near me, more consistently near me than I have ever felt Him in my life.

All I had to do was raise my hand or whisper His name and His sweet Spirit would overwhelm me, strengthen me and help me. It was an absolutely amazing three + months and that is reason enough to mark this terrible day.

January 31, 2021, was the beginning of something awful in our lives. It was also the beginning of three of the best months of my life. Hallelujah! I never want to be that sick again, but IF I could have God that present and real every moment, I believe I could take it.

There is no time to tell the whole story here, but we remained mostly in our home area for 203 days. It was late October, over ten months before I felt like I had turned a corner and began to build strength. It is still a road we are walking. 

Yet, from the very beginning, good friends would call and text and remind me that God had told them I would rise up and preach again.

Thank God for His sure Word of prophecy! 

Thank God for His protection. 

Thank God for His provision. 

Thank God for His healing power

Thank God for His people. 

He has brought me, yes He has brought me a mighty long way!

So to sum up this January 31 anniversary, it has actually been a great year. It has been a horrendous year and it has been a wondrous year! We look forward to another year that is hopefully and prayerfully more wondrous than horrendous.

Thank you for riding along with us. You prayed with us and you stayed with us and we will never forget it. May God bless you abundantly for it.

Have a great week.

Davy

View Out The Front Window 1/30/22

Sunday Morning Sanity

Smartphones can not replace church bulletins. It is much cheaper to put a bulletin into airplane mode and throw it across the room than a phone. Mr. Church Guy

Our view out the front window of the bus in Greenwood, Louisiana at TA Truck Stop.

This is our view out the front window in Bernice, Louisiana

I hope you have a super great Sunday. Thank you for spending a moment with us.

Davy

Introducing Chloe Jean Shoemaker

Hey Friends,

This is Odie reporting in from the road. Thank you for spending a moment of your weekend with me.

I hope you had a great week. We enjoyed spending part of our week with our family and friends in Sweeny, Texas. The Lord blessed us with His sweet presence during revival!

Baby Update

Earlier this month, I wrote about a baby boom in our extended family this year. Babys are a special gift from God and I love all of them! I am excited for all of my cousins as their families are growing! 

I introduced you to Karleigh Jo Daniels on the blog here. Karleigh Jo has adjusted well to life. I think she gets cuter all the time! Here are a couple updated pictures so you can see her progress.

Introducing Chloe Jean Shoemaker

I have another precious baby making her blog debut today. Deidre and Ben Shoemaker added a baby girl to their family last week.

Chloe Jean Shoemaker was born on January 20th. We are thrilled to welcome Chloe Jean into our family!

Chloe arrived four weeks before her target due date. Thank God she is doing fantastic! Deidre and Chloe both have been home for almost a week. God answered many prayers that we all prayed for Chloe and Deirdre.

I think Chloe is a healthy, perfect petite princess! Here are the details from the start of her life. She was born weighing 6lbs and 3oz. and 18.5 inches in length.

Hopefully, we will get to meet Miss Chloe Jean very soon! I can not wait to hold and snuggle this baby girl.

Deidre, thank you for providing pictures for this post. Thanks also for allowing me to introduce Chloe to my friends!

Congratulations to the Shoemaker family of four. I am excited about this new chapter in your lives! I love you, Deidre, Ben, Charlie and Chloe!

Charlie is going to be a great protective big brother! He is fascinated with her.

Stay tuned. I know Chloe will be making regular appearances on the blog, just like all of our family. You will get to watch her grow up.

Thank you for reading. I will see you next week. I will leave you with two more pictures of my Princess Chloe and Prince Charlie. 😍

Odie