Wow! It's Been a Long Time

I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted. So I will try to catch everyone up in this one post. Before I do, I have spread pictures throughout this post. Most are from Osborne, KS so when you read of that section, you will know more of what the picture is about. The third picture down (the one with the water) is of Land Between The Lakes in Kentucky.

Now, let's see - May 12th was the last time I posted, so what has happened since then?

Well on May 16th I headed North to Springfield, MO where I attended the National BBFI Fellowship meeting. From there I headed to Branson, MO to "chill" for a couple of days. Here is a pic I took from my third floor balcony.

This was a nice and welcomed time after the previous week with stressful vehicle problems. I was also able to get started on the current project that has occupied much of my free times since then. I am working on a new program to be able to present in my meetings. You can find information about it here.

From Branson, I drove North to Decatur, IL where I was at Temple Baptist Church and presented my Prophecy Conference. While there I was able to video the whole conference that I now have fully edited and have on a 3 DVD set that I make available at these conferences. This was needed as all I had was VHS tapes that were recorded some 6-years ago, so an updated set was badly needed.

The greatest part about this meeting was that one young man stepped out and accepted Christ as savior. That is always a blessing to see.

From Decatur, IL I headed South to Paducah, KY where I was at Highland Baptist Church for a Family Conference. I had a great time with these people appreciated the pastor, who covered the expense of my hotel bill from Thursday night and Friday night, an expense that I would have been out-of-pocket for.

This was my first time in Paducah. The meeting was the week of Memorial Day so we took a day to go to a place called "Land Between the Lakes". This is a 170,000-acre national recreation area in Western KY and TN located near 1-24, about 90 miles N. of Nashville and just S. of Paducah. It was a beautiful location for pictures and nature. I really enjoyed it.

From Paducah, I headed back to Branson where I "camped-out" at the condo again. I had a last minute booking in Nixa, MO (I booked this while in Springfield a few weeks earlier). At this church, the pastor is brand new. In fact, he was once the music minister at the church in Decatur, IL that I had just been at.

While in Nixa I presented an overview of my Prophecy conference, in hopes that I would be able to book a full meeting next year. This past week I booked that meeting, so that was successful.

From Nixa I finally headed back home on June 5th after being gone for 21-days. I was good to be home and in my own bed again. The only bad part is that I would be home for the next 5-weeks, with the exception of one Sunday meeting, which translates to a full month without income. So I knew things were going to be tight.

On June 17th, the day before Father's Day, I headed to North Texas to Bowie. I had not been in Bowie in close to 14-years. I don't remember from then but I am sure that very little has changed.

This was the first time I had been in this church and we had a great time. I was able to bring a special Father's Day message that was well received with many decisions that day. In the evening service I did a concert. It was nice to get out of the routine and do something different.

I want to thank this pastor, Ron Abbott, for allowing me to be with him. It was a last minute call that I made when I found out that I had been cancelled from another church. So this was a real blessing.

Now I would be home until the second week of July, but it was good as I was able to spend my birthday at home ... something that I don't usually get to do.

On July 15th I headed to the Fort Worth area where I was with Terry Kizer at Alliance Baptist Church. I presented my Prophecy Conference on Sat. evening and all day Sunday. Again, this was well received and I was able to just about sell out of the 30 DVD's that I had made. Actually, I had pre-sold 5 of these at the church I recorded them at in Decatur, IL and 6 at the church in Nixa, so I only took 19 sets and sold all but 2 sets. That was good as the income was very much in need by this time. We had a great time at the meeting and again, many decisions were made during this conference.

On July 17th I started a VBS in my home town of Leander, TX which meant that I could work while at home - another treat. We had a great week with over 140 kids each night, yes, it was an evening VBS.

The only bad part about the week is that I blew a head gasket in my truck but didn't know that I had blown it. The truck over heated on me while sitting in line at the bank. I thought the thermostat has gone bad so I bought a new one and replaced it. It seemed to help, but alas I was wrong.

On Sat. July 22nd I headed North to Gardner, KS where I was to hold a week long Family Conference. As I said in the previous paragraph, I thought I had fixed my truck. I was wrong. I was able to drive from the Austin area to Hillsboro, TX before - BAM!! - my truck over heated again. I was less than a mile for the Hillsboro exit so I just coasted in to the gas station and began to try and figure out what to do next.

I walked across the highway to a car dealer, who put me in contact with a garage what was opened until noon (it was now 10:30am) - so I "high-tailed" it back across the highway, jumped in my truck and headed to the garage.

$75 later I was on the road. They said that I had a pocket in my engine that had trapped air, not letting enough water in to cool the engine. It worked for me ... I mean, they are the experts, at least they charged me like they were the experts.

Well, I made it about 30 miles up the road and noticed the temp. gage beginning to rise once again. So I quickly got on the phone and called the garage ... they were all gone for the day. So, to make a looong story short, I was able to ease my truck all the way to Gardner, KS (this is in the S.E. section of Kansas City, KS) by driving with my heater on about half of the way there.

At this point I take you back a few paragraphs where you will note that we are in the middle of July - IT'S HOT!!!!!!! And I am running my heater. As it turned out, I ended up totally replacing the engine in my truck and $2,200.00 later I was able to leave Kansas with a new (re-built) engine in my truck. What a week! I just laughed most of the week because I realized that it wouldn't do me an ounce of good to complain.

Well, I was at the Liberty Baptist Church in Gardner for a week long Family Conference. This pastor had spent over $1,100.00 in advertising in hopes that he could attrack the people of this bedroom community to come out. They did not. I really felt bad for him. He had worked so hard to try and have a good turn out. One night it was he and his wife, myself and one church member. I didn't mind it but I knew that he was really discouraged.

In spite of a terrible week as far as response to the conference, this pastor went well beyond the call of duty by giving me the best love offering I had received in a long time. I was honored and humbled, not to mention thankful (agian, I refer you to the month without income). This was just in the nick of time.

On August 5th I caught a plane to Columbus, OH where a pastor met me and we drove to Findlay, OH - about an hour and a half drive further North. I did a 2-day Heritage Builders Conference and took a very quick day trip to Rittman, OH for a Fellowship Meeting on Monday.

This was a good meeting. I had been at this church about 5-years prior, but they had changed pastor's and I knew they were not in a position to have someone in so I waited before calling them. It was good to refresh aquaintances agian with some of these people.

On Tuesday we drove back to Columbus were we had breakfast with a couple of pastor friends. Actually one is a pastor and the other used to pastor, but now is a radio announcer for a Christian radio station in Columbus, OH. He took us on a quick tour of the station which was really fun, then we were off to the airport where I caught my flight home.

I got home on Tuesday, August 8th and on Thursday, August 10th I headed North to Osborne, KS. This has been my annual meeting since I began this ministry 6-years ago. This marks the 5th time I have been in this church and what a joy it is every time.

I have become good friends with this pastor and his family and enjoy each and every time we have to fellowship together. As well, there is another family in town that have befriended me ... actually, they make me part of their family. Tim and T.J. are some of the sweetest people I have ever met. Everytime I go to Osborne I stay in their home. This is something that I usually do not like doing, but I don't feel like a stranger in their home, which makes is so much better.

In Osborne I did a weekend, city-wide, Heritage Builders conference which involved four of the seven churches in town. There was Baptist, Methodist, the Christian Church and the Church of God assemblies represented at this conference - and we all got along - what a novel idea. On top of that, we met in the school auditorium - things like this only happen in small towns. Try to get a school to allow a religious meeting to take place in a big city ... for free ... it ain't gonna happen!

I preached for Billy Neumann on Sunday morning and then in the evening we did a concert in the park. Another fun small town experience. While I was setting up doing sound check and all, there were people across the street from the park in their lawn chairs watching and wondering what was about to happen. I played one song while Billy and Tim walked around for me to make sure the sound was loud enough, but not too loud. When I finished the song, the people across the street from the park began to clap. We all got a good laugh out of that as it was still a good 45-minutes before the "official" start time of the concert.

I have no idea how many people were present as there was quit a few behind me that I never saw, but I do know the people across the street from the park increased their crowd from two to four by the time the concert started.

Well that's it. I have caught up about 14-weeks of travel. "IF" you are still here reading this ... thanks! I will try to keep this more current in the future as this took way longer that I expected to finish.