March/April 2014
Dear Friends of Grace,
These past couple of months seems to have blown by. It is hard to imagine we are already in the first week of May. Thank God we have seen His hand leading, comforting, and guiding us along the way.
The beginning of March, we had Dr. Bruce Miller stop by one Wednesday night on his way to an Alumni Recognition Service at Ambassador Baptist College in Shelby, NC. Dr. Miller and Dr. Comfort started together back in 1989 with a common prayer to establish an old-fashioned, preacher-training college. Ambassador has put more than seven hundred graduates and former students in ministries around the world. Both of these men have been greatly used of God. Grace Baptist Church is blessed to be able to call both these men our friend. Brother Miller also came back in April with the Atlantic Coast College girls’ ensemble. We schedule Dr. Miller to represent the college to our young people once a year. It was a tremendous service, great preaching and singing. We were somewhat saddened to learn two of the young ladies who are Seniors would be graduating, thus not returning. We had come to love each of the young ladies who travel with Dr. Miller.
March brought us a Tornado in the form of Pastor Tony Finney. Pastor Finney held our Spring Revival meeting. Each message seemed as though God specifically sent it directly to me. Many in the church stated all the messages were God sent. It seems that God always uses Brother Finney in an unusual way to bless, encourage, and stir our hearts toward Him.
March really did bring us some tornadoes, but Praise His name we were spared. There seemed to be an above average amount of flooding and high winds this year. Those major storms always remind me of the One behind them and the One who is controlling them, Amen!
Our Easter Service was well attended. We had promoted ‘Photo Sunday’ along with Easter Sunday as another big day in an attempt to get family and friends in. Right after the service, everyone gathered to have our picture made. Those participating received a copy of the photo. It was very exciting.
Two weeks ago we had Brother Tim and Theresa Strong to join our church. They had been praying and looking for a church after moving into the area. Thank God He sent them our way. We recently had a man in his fifties to walk the aisle for salvation one Sunday morning. With a trembling voice, tears in his eyes, and a tender plea, Brother Tony said: “I need to be saved”. He and his little girl have only been attending a few weeks. What a blessing to see God move and change a daddy’s heart. We also had a returning family that had been gone for several years show up one Wednesday night. The father went forward and got things right with God. He said he wanted to do right with his family. He said he knew Grace Baptist church was where he needed to be. All of this is nothing less than the good grace and mercy of our Father in Heaven. He continues to work in our midst, which is most humbling.
Please pray for Tucker and the church plant in Nashville, NC, as they started their Spring Revival yesterday. Brother Shane will be preaching, along with me and two other Pastors in the area. A week ago they had 40 in attendance. God is blessing there as well. We are praying for them to be financially independent and more souls to be saved.
As always, please let’s continue to pray for each other. Our prayers and thoughts of you are consistently before our Father.
Pastor Wes Bailey
These past couple of months seems to have blown by. It is hard to imagine we are already in the first week of May. Thank God we have seen His hand leading, comforting, and guiding us along the way.
The beginning of March, we had Dr. Bruce Miller stop by one Wednesday night on his way to an Alumni Recognition Service at Ambassador Baptist College in Shelby, NC. Dr. Miller and Dr. Comfort started together back in 1989 with a common prayer to establish an old-fashioned, preacher-training college. Ambassador has put more than seven hundred graduates and former students in ministries around the world. Both of these men have been greatly used of God. Grace Baptist Church is blessed to be able to call both these men our friend. Brother Miller also came back in April with the Atlantic Coast College girls’ ensemble. We schedule Dr. Miller to represent the college to our young people once a year. It was a tremendous service, great preaching and singing. We were somewhat saddened to learn two of the young ladies who are Seniors would be graduating, thus not returning. We had come to love each of the young ladies who travel with Dr. Miller.
March brought us a Tornado in the form of Pastor Tony Finney. Pastor Finney held our Spring Revival meeting. Each message seemed as though God specifically sent it directly to me. Many in the church stated all the messages were God sent. It seems that God always uses Brother Finney in an unusual way to bless, encourage, and stir our hearts toward Him.
March really did bring us some tornadoes, but Praise His name we were spared. There seemed to be an above average amount of flooding and high winds this year. Those major storms always remind me of the One behind them and the One who is controlling them, Amen!
Our Easter Service was well attended. We had promoted ‘Photo Sunday’ along with Easter Sunday as another big day in an attempt to get family and friends in. Right after the service, everyone gathered to have our picture made. Those participating received a copy of the photo. It was very exciting.
Two weeks ago we had Brother Tim and Theresa Strong to join our church. They had been praying and looking for a church after moving into the area. Thank God He sent them our way. We recently had a man in his fifties to walk the aisle for salvation one Sunday morning. With a trembling voice, tears in his eyes, and a tender plea, Brother Tony said: “I need to be saved”. He and his little girl have only been attending a few weeks. What a blessing to see God move and change a daddy’s heart. We also had a returning family that had been gone for several years show up one Wednesday night. The father went forward and got things right with God. He said he wanted to do right with his family. He said he knew Grace Baptist church was where he needed to be. All of this is nothing less than the good grace and mercy of our Father in Heaven. He continues to work in our midst, which is most humbling.
Please pray for Tucker and the church plant in Nashville, NC, as they started their Spring Revival yesterday. Brother Shane will be preaching, along with me and two other Pastors in the area. A week ago they had 40 in attendance. God is blessing there as well. We are praying for them to be financially independent and more souls to be saved.
As always, please let’s continue to pray for each other. Our prayers and thoughts of you are consistently before our Father.
Pastor Wes Bailey