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Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,

It's been an exceptionally wonderful and busy two weeks here in TN.  Our December food distribution went very smoothly, and we praise the Lord for that.

Children waiting with their parents for the truck to arrive.

We had a good crowd on a very chilly December morning.

Last weekend we were blessed to be able to participate in the Christmas Store at First Baptist Greeneville.  For that event many of our friends at Central Baptist Church in Wendell and Calvary Bible Church in Williamston, NC collected diapers, peanut butter, and toilet paper.  Our friends Graham and Jean Dean pulled a trailer load of items for the Christmas Store and our Storehouse over the mountains from NC last Friday.  I forgot my camera when we were unloading, but it was a lot of stuff!  We're so thankful to everyone that donated items to help with the ministry here.  You're a blessing to us and the people of East Tennessee. 

Graham and Jean Dean brought a trailer load of items for our ministry over from NC, and they were a tremendous encouragement to stay with us!

The Christmas Store was awesome.  We got to serve about 90 families, providing them with toys, food, and some other of life's necessities.  We also sat down with each family before they left and shared the gospel with them.  The Lord was gracious to allow us to see a number of men and women place their faith in Christ, which is what it's all about.  I had the privilege of counseling a sweet lady who had never heard the gospel clearly presented.  She came to the Christmas Store because the other programs in town wouldn't help her because her daughter is 37 years old.  But you see, her daughter is mentally handicapped, and functions on the level of a 5 year old.  We were able to be a blessing to her and her whole family, and when we came to the counseling room, I sat down and explained that the love of Christ compels us to love others, because He first loved us.  I shared the gospel with her as clearly as I could, and when I asked her if she had ever repented of her sins and given her life to Christ, she said she had not, but wanted to.  I led her through a simple prayer of confession and faith, and she added her own ending for emphasis!  We'll be following up with her in the weeks to come, and encouraging her to join our fellowship of believers!  Please be praying for her and the other men and women who made professions of faith last Saturday.  Follow-up is crucial, and our prayer is that the decisions that were made were genuine and not simply emotional.

Associate pastor Joey Tillery praying for the Lord's blessing on the day.

All set up!  The wrapping tables are ready!

Guests were provided with hygiene products, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and some food items.

Deanna and Darlene get ready to greet guests.

A family receives the gifts for their children.

A family picking out socks and underwear.

A volunteer wrap the gifts beautifully.

 

Graham and Jean manned the food table!

Families selecting hygiene products.

Wrapping more gifts!

And more gifts!  The wrappers were the busiest volunteers!

 

Another family selecting their gifts.

A wagon full of gifts for a family of 6.

The church set up an "angel tree", and one a large gift (~$25) was purchased for each child by someone in the congregation.  The parent was also able to choose 2 approx. $5-$10 gifts for each child.

We were blessed to have the Deans serve with us.  They fit right in and made themselves at home!

This week Charlie and I will be doing our 2012 strategic planning, and we appreciate your prayers as we map our where we believe the Lord is leading us next year.

On Thursday, I have a couple of meetings with key local leaders to talk about pastor training.  Please be in prayer for those meetings as we seek to find a way to labor together!

thanks you for all your prayers and support.  I leave you with a few more gratuitous Lily pics.  :)

At the Christmas Store, Lily attempted to take off with one of the wagons.

Caught!

Doesn't matter.  I'm going anyway!

Camera?

Lily loves to play with shoes.

I don't remember what I was feeding her, but she wasn't thrilled.

When we get to the end of a meal, Lily leans over the side of her chair and announces "All done!  All done!", which is an appropriate way to end this blog post.