Flora, Illinois - Revival In Pictures

We are leaving this morning to make a whirlwind trip to Sandy Hook, Kentucky, Dayton, Ohio and then back to Flora, Illinois. We are planning to be at the viewing and visitation for my cousin Lowell Boggs in Sandy Hook, Kentucky tonight and then on to Bro. Joe Bill Houston's funeral in Dayton, Ohio on Friday.

I was planning to have the oil changed in the BoggsMobile this morning in Effingham, Illinois (One of the reasons I scheduled this revival to end on Wednesday) but we will have to squeeze the oil change into our travel day on Saturday if possible. I am very glad we scheduled like this since we usually miss so many funerals of family and church friends at home.

We closed revival last night here at New Hope Pentecostal Church in Flora, Illinois. This was our first visit with Pastor Jeff Hough and his church and we have enjoyed it very much. God has blessed in all five services and it has been a joy to meet and worship with all these fine folks.

It has been great to get to know the Hough family as well. The Hough's have a married son that lives away from here and we know him. Here in Flora they have a married son and daughter in law. Plus they have four girls that live at home. It has been a pleasure to meet them and to interact with them this week.

May God bless them all for the kindness they have shown to our family. I hope you enjoy the Revival In Pictures.

Davy

Sis. Hough and Kelly Jo



Bro. and Sis. Hough

Mobile Viewing of boggsblogs.com

A little housekeeping on the blog today.

Many of you read the blog on a mobile device such as your phone or your tablet. If you do then you may have noticed a different look on our blog the last week or so. Normally when you view the blog on a mobile device you seen the same thing as you see when viewing on laptop or desktop. It should look something like this.

Then you can tap it to zoom it up closer to read the body of the blog.

You can also see the contents of the sidebars on both sides.

I would rather view most websites in their full form rather than their mobile format. I like to be able to see the content in the sidebars. I like to be able navigate to the archives, labels and various widgets in the desktop format. 

Since that is the way I prefer to view it I left the mobile version in the off position. I have been reading lately that most internet users are viewing the internet primarily on mobile devices and those numbers are going up exponentially every year.

Then the company that designed our website at davykellyandodie.com sent me this:

"Approximately 66% of internet users are using mobile devices as well as their laptop/pc to view website content. With this in mind, it is important to offer them a mobile version of your website giving them faster load pages and easier navigation, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, to not lose your website page ranking. 

Google the largest search engine says:

Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices."

Our davykellyandodie.com website  is pretty much just a static information page now with no new content added so it being found by search engines is not as important as boggsblogs being found easily by those searching the web. I probably will not mess with creating a mobile version of davykellyandodie.com but it is very easy to do on blogger.

One thing that has been great about the blog is that it is so easy to find on Google. We get regular visits from all over the world when people search for names of people, churches, towns and restaurants that been in the blog and terms like pentecost, church, preachers, holiness, bible, buses, campgrounds and many more words.

If the blog shows up in an seemingly unrelated search and the searcher follows the link to our blog and stays to read a while, then that is a good thing. I want that to continue as much as possible.

So I toggled the mobile switch on last week and now you see a mobile version on your phone and tablet. It should look something like this.

My question is do you like it this way? Is it better? It may be here to stay but I would like to know what you think. Let me know what your opinion. 

If you would rather view the blog in the desktop version on your mobile device, you can go to the bottom of the page and click on "View Web Version" right under the "Home" button.

Have a great day.

Davy

Joe Bill Houston

Our dear friend Bro. Joe Bill Houston passed away Sunday and leaves behind a large grieving family, a home church that cherished him and a great multitude of friends all over the USA. He was 91 years old. Joe Bill was a Godly man, a preacher's friend, a tremendous singer, a great song writer, a hard worker and generous giver.

Those of you that know Bro. Joe Bill Houston know that the church lost a great soldier Sunday. Those of you that never met Joe Bill or heard him pray or sing have been cheated on a great part of life. Bro. Joe Bill was one of a kind and made a big impression where ever he went.

Bro. Joe Bill is part of our earliest memories of Dryden Rd. Church when we visited there in the mid 1980's. He was one of the first to welcome us with a big smile, a hearty GOD BLESS YOU and a few pieces of candy. We were strangers and his love took us in.

A few years after Dryden Rd. became home for us I made my first road trip with Bro. Joe Bill. I picked him up on a Monday evening to drive 800 miles to Allentown March Meeting in Semmes, Alabama. We loaded every thing in back of my Chevy Sprint but he wanted the large brown grocery sack in the front floor board between his feet. "You got to keep the driver well fed" he said, and well fed I was. It seemed like he had two tons of groceries in that bag. From cookies and pies to colby cheese, bologna, sweet potatoes, grapes, nuts, bananas and much more, he had it all.

He introduced me to Allentown that trip and in doing so introduced us to a whole world of friendships that we still enjoy today. We ate fried chicken, pies and cakes, seafood and my first gumbo! We sang, shouted and said Amen to the preaching until we were about to hoarse to talk on the way home. We duplicated that trip with my girls along several more times in addition to other trips to various campmeetings. It was a continuation of the tremendous influence Bro. Joe Bill Houston had on our lives.

He had a heart full of love and he lived to share everything he had with every one that would allow him to. He loved me and my girls as much as we have ever been loved and it changed our lives for the better. He affected us not only temporally but for eternity. He loved God passionately and talked to him as a man would his friend and that made God very real to us.

Bro. Joe Bill wrote the song "Fix It Man" that his son Evangelist Bill Houston sings and that we often sing as well. Bro. Joe Bill has blessed thousands of people with that one song. It ministers to people every time we sing it but nobody could sing it like Joe Bill did. I guess he danced in the Spirit every time I ever heard him sing it and it never got old.

Bro. Joe Bill was also famous for taking up offerings at campmeetings and praying over meals. He would often ask God to help the "stingy guts" when praying over the offering. I am sure he brought conviction to more than a few "stingy guts" through the yeas. His prayers over meals were as legendary as his healthy appetite.

Here is a picture of Bro. Joe Bill praying over lunch at the end of a morning service at Dryden Rd. Indoor Fellowship Meeting in 2012.



Odie was sitting in front of him when he prayed over the meal at Indoor in 2014. She recorded part of the prayer on her phone and I am glad she did. She made a video of the prayer by putting the audio with a picture of Bro. Joe Bill the same year and most likely the same day. You may have to view it on your computer as it may not play on a mobile device for some reason.

Here are a few more pictures of Bro. Joe Bill through the years.

2014

2012



2007

We miss you already, my dear friend. See you soon!

Bro. Joe Bill Houston's viewing will be at Dryden Rd. Pentecostal Church at 3201 Dryden Rd. Dayton, Ohio on Thursday night April 16th from 5-8 and the funeral will be at the church on Friday the 17th at 12:00 PM. 

Davy