Wednesday Night In Richmond, Indiana

Pastor Ronnie Baker from Richmond, Indiana had invited me over to preach for him and his folks so Wednesday night was appointed time. It is not really that far to Richmond from the Lazy OD Ranch. It only took us about an hour and five minutes to get home after church but the drive to Richmond was quite a bit longer because of traffic.

Eaton Pike Pentecostal Tabernacle is a beautiful church in a great location. They are just south of I-70 and at the very edge of the city. A good arm throwing a rock could almost hit the Lowe's and the restaurants around it from the church drive.

It has been several years since we had been to the Tabernacle and we were so glad to be back. Bro. Baker and his folks received us very warmly and responded well to the singing and preaching. It was a great night.

Odie captured a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

This week has been going pretty much as we planned it. Kelly Jo and Odie have been buying, planning, preparing and packing things for Nigeria and I have been working on sermons. We are running close to our schedule and hoping we can keep the train on the tracks a few more days. It will not be long and we will be with our friends in Nigeria!

May God bless those that have helped with the school supplies for GoodNews Christian School, building the new classrooms and other Nigeria related expenses. Thank you very kindly. We appreciate it and we know that Bro. Shobanke will appreciate it too.

Thank you for reading.

Davy

What To Say On A Day Like This?

What to say on a day like this?

Well, I certainly am glad that Mrs. Hillary Clinton will not be the next president of the United States of America. There should be no doubt about my happiness on that.

However, I am not ecstatic either. Bro. Bro. Mitch Hasty's classic sermon has been ringing in my ears since yesterday evening. "When You Get What You Want, Will You Want What You Get?"

If President Trump calls me to preach in the White House every Sunday, will I go? Yep, just like I would have for President Obama. Will he call? Well, if President Obama called, I must have missed it.

The next four years were going to be interesting and challenging either way. But I am very curious to see how Christians that loved candidate Donald Trump respond to President Donald Trump when he does exactly as he has always done. The oval office does not make a man moral, spiritual or even appropriate. More likely the power of the presidency amplifies what a man already is.

What do you do with elections that go your way? You do the same thing with them that you do with elections that do not go your way. You get up the next morning and you serve God.

The day after President Obama was elected in 2008, I had the unenviable task of preaching the chapel service in a Christian school. The kids were in an absolute daze. Most of them did not remember any other president besides George W. Bush and they thought the end of the world had come.

I preached to them "The Truth About Elections" that morning. I posted it here the first time in 2012. I have updated it this morning.

The truth about elections.

Truth #1. God established that we should have government.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Romans 13:1 

There can be no doubt that God’s plan for humanity included that we should have government. The Bible is plain on this subject.

Truth #2. According to the Bible we have certain rights and responsibilities to that government.

We are to be submissive to our government to the full extent that our relationship with Christ will allow. I Peter 2:13-14 and Titus 3:1 are two examples.

We should pray for our government and I believe we should participate in our government. We should participate in the national conversation and make our voice known by voting.

Truth #3. Elections do not always go our way.

The first election that I was fully aware of was 1976. I was terribly disappointed in the outcome. After that election I became accustomed to elections going “my” way. 1992 hit me hard! I remember exactly where we were when we heard the results of the 92 election.

There have been lots of times since then that "my guy" lost and I was disappointed again even though most of the time I was not even very enthused about "my guy."

I am not happy with the path that many of our presidents have led us down at all. We are not in a good place morally, ethically and many other ways. But...

Truth #4. We need to make sure that we keep the enemy in proper perspective.

There are spiritual forces at work. There is a real devil with a real agenda against all that is good and right. There are men in our world system that will do their dead level best to fulfill all of satan’s will. But man is not our enemy!

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) II Corinthians 10:3-4

President Obama is not my enemy. His policies are liberal. His tendencies are socialist. His loyalties are questionable. His intentions are debatable. He has governed in a way that seems haughty, aloof, arrogant and proud. But even IF all of this is and much worse is true, President Obama is not the enemy. He has damaged our country, in my opinion, but he is not the enemy.

Mrs. Clinton is not my enemy. If she is guilty of everything she is accused of and more, she is not my enemy.

We are not fighting flesh and blood! The enemy is not a person. The enemy is the devil! We must keep that in perspective.

Donald Trump is not the enemy, nor is he our savior. We did not elect a savior, we have one of those, we elected a president. That is what we do every four years.

Truth #5. God has a divine plan. 

We must remember that. God has a divine plan. You do not know what that plan is. I do not know what that plan is. The president, your congressman, your senator, not even your mother knows what that plan is. 

It amazes me how many people are very sure every election that they are on the inside of God's plan. Most are not. God tends to keep those things to himself and that is evident in the deafening silence when man's plan goes haywire. It will happen again, just give it some time.

This election is a good example. The world is in shock. The media is in shock. Hollyweird is in shock. But God is not in shock. He was not surprised in 2008 or 2012 either. God has a divine plan.

Truth #6. God’s plan will prevail. 

You can not side track God’s plan. The president can not side track God’s plan. A "bad" election can not side track God’s plan. A thousand "bad" elections can not side track God’s plan. God does not need a "good" election to salvage His plan. God will prevail, my friend. God will prevail.

What is the truth about elections? The truth is they matter to us. They matter deeply and I think they should. But elections do not affect God. God was not voted in or out yesterday. God is still on the throne. God is still working His will in our lives. God still has the whole world in His hands, including you and me and our new President, Donald Trump.

You can rest in that, friend. God has got this under control.

Davy Boggs

Summary of City Reach Fayetteville, North Carolina

Writing the summary for City Reach Fayetteville is an emotional experience. It marks not only the end of our very first trip to Fayetteville, North Carolina and marks not only the tent being in the air for the last time in 2016, but it also marks the end of an amazing adventure. It is not the end of City Reach, but the end of City Reach 2016 and there will never be another year like it.

I will probably write more about it later but for now I will say this. With City Reach 2016 behind us we are amazed, thankful, hopeful, relieved and thrilled with a whole bunch of sad thrown in.

I will save all that for another day. Today's post is the wrap up for City Reach Fayetteville.

City Reach Fayetteville had a lot working against it. Hurricane Matthew had dumped a boat load of rain (pun intended) on the whole area the week before. The area the tent was set in was high ground but was close to the river and flood water had been a couple hundred feet way. In fact, water was standing from the rain all around where the tent would be a few days later.

The flooding had disrupted the whole city. People were dealing with all the issues of too much water and the bugs, snakes and mosquitoes were having a party. 

The churches that invited us have a thriving ministry among the homeless but the homeless folks had lost what little they had in the flood. They were disoriented and mainly trying to survive.

One of the men that was instrumental in the homeless ministry had been killed a few weeks before. Although I am told that horrific event brought some cohesion to the work that was going on, it also threw every one little sideways and off kilter as well and that is completely understandable.

Because of the hurricane, the lot was not prepared when Jimmie arrived and required much more work than we had time. It really did cross our minds that perhaps this was not the proper time for City Reach Fayetteville at all.

But we all persevered and God met us under the tent in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Several nights there were men and women in the altars crying tears before God and asking for His help. Many of them had never responded in their homeless services before. They wept and prayed and cried out and I know that God heard them.

God touched lives. God changed hearts. God worked in situations and imperfections and attitudes. And those are only a few of the things he did for me! (Grin) God worked amazing wonders that we may never know about and we are very, very thankful.

It was our privilege to meet and work with Pastor Lavern Hayden, Pastor Devin Brisson and Bro. Jerry Hood. We appreciate these brothers and their ministries for inviting us to Fayetteville, North Carolina. May God bless our new friends for their kindness to us and their confidence in us.

Pastor Lavern Hayden sent a summary of City Reach Fayetteville at my request.

Dear Bro. Davy,

 When I think of City Reach the following comes to mind: 

C- Christ centered 

I- Investment in the Kingdom

T-Truth declared

Y-Yearning for souls to be saved

R-Revival for the churches

E-Eternity focused

A-Alert to needs

C-Care for the local churches

H-Holiness that is based on the Bible.

City Reach Fayetteville was a great blessing to our church. I appreciate The Boggs family and Bro. Jimmie for having a burden to see the church get out of the 4 walls! It was a blessing to have a ministry come in that was a continuation of what we do in our community! Thankful for the people that came up to the altar each night! Thankful for the testimonies of God touching people each night!

I hope and pray that we can do this again next year! I would encourage pastors to pray about having City Reach in your city!

In His Service,
Pastor Lavern Hayden  Wesleyan Pentecostal Church of Fayetteville

Here are a few posts from City Reach Fayetteville with a bunch of great pictures thrown in.

City Reach Fayetteville 1

City Reach Fayetteville 2

City Reach Fayetteville 3

City Reach Fayetteville 4

City Reach Fayetteville 5

One more thing I must mention about City Reach Fayetteville. Every time I look back on this particular City Reach, every time I think about Fayetteville, probably every time I think about the great state of North Carolina I will also think of Bro. Bruce and Sis. Priscilla Mayhan.

Our dear friends traveled all the way from Pauls Valley, Oklahoma to be with us in City Reach Fayetteville. They worked, they encouraged, they prayed, they gave, they pushed, they pulled and they did all this for most of the week! They spent precious time away from their home, their job, their family and their church to help us in every way they could.

They did that for us. They did that for City Reach. They did that for friends. I will never forget it as long as I have my right mind. Thank you, thank you, thank you, dear friends.

Thank you as well to every one that prayed or gave or helped in any other way in City Reach Fayetteville. We have all sown and we know that God will give the increase.

Thank you for reading.

Davy