"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us..." (Ephesians 3:20 ESV).
Ever thought about that verse in relationship to your life, to your family, to the church? If all that is happening in these venues is what you expect, you must not be expecting enough. If nothing is happening, then you must not be asking enough. Think about it. MORE. Dream more, ask more, imagine more...believe more! What more is God doing in the realms of your life? "Don't limit God" - He can always do more!
So many of you have assured me of your constant prayers for the Spring Meadows church and so many of you ask about it all. So an encouraging update seems due: Last week we set "normal" records all around. Our Sunday morning crowd was 187, Sunday Bible school 156, Sunday night 149 and Wednesday night 116 - all records. Then today (April 8) we had 241 present - a new all time high. God certainly has blessed this work - "Easter Sunday" last year 78 were present.
The names of nine prospective deacons and their respective areas were presented to the church...it could have been 20 or more but we weren't going for numbers in this attempt but trying to buttress some specific areas where we needed servant leadership.
On May 6 we are planning a spring picnic "at the property" and hope to have a BIG announcement soon about that day.
Thank you all...but most of all praise our Father, He is doing great things here...more than we could ask or imagine.
As a friend asks - need I say more?
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We are blessed...
This is my one place for me to write without someone who looks over my shoulder - it is a place where I can be much more myself. I can be politically incorrect, I can be gramatically comfortable and I can talk about WHATEEVER I want to without feeling I represent anyone - that is except God. . . To get a real taste of what I'm doing in life right now and why I would ever leave Granny White read: http://dalejenkins.blogspot.com/2006/05/living-courageously.html
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About Me
What I'm Reading...
- The Reagan Diaries
- The Servant
- The Gospel According to Starbucks
- EPIC
Who I'm Reading...
- Steve's Preaching page and blog
- My Sister's Writing - She will bless your soul
- "Where Your Treasure Is" - Money saving tips from some Christian friends
- My friend Heather's thoughts
- Like Heather - Tesney and I go back about 20 years
- My brother and his son' site
- Jonathan Jones site
- My Friend Adam's blog
- Don't Miss Drew!
- Jeremiah Tatums thoughts
From the Wedding...
We are blessed...
13 comments:
Dale,
Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Spring Meadows has the right man in the pulpit for this exciting work. God bless!
Steve Baggett
I'm not surprised because I know to WHOM you have always given the credit. It reminds me of another church I read about in Philadelphia - that is, Philadelphia, Asia Minor. Revelation 3:8, "I know your works. Because you have limited strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name, look, I have placed before you an open door that no one is able to close." (HCSB)
Praise God.
Tracy
Dale:
What a blessing you are to so many! I am proud of you and the wonderful work that you are doing for His kingdom-- I Know it is your goal to go to heaven-- and to take as many as possible with you...and I believe you and the SM family are doing your best to achieve this! I am thankful to be part of your family-- I love you!
I'm proud of you, Dad.
It sounds like wonderful things are happening at Spring Meadows! It reminds me of my dad's favorite expression: "If you can dream it, you can do it." Another twist on that is "If you can dream it, He can do it!" Dream big, pray hard, and watch things happen.
By the way, I didn't even realize you were holding a meeting in Hamilton. Hopefully, I'll get to come home that week and see you.
Oh my goodness, what a slip! I said "come home." Memphis is actually home now. It's weird how you never get your hometown out of your system.
I'm a first time visitor to your Blog. I've enjoyed engaging various posts from you this morning. I even went back and read your post discussing your move to Spring Meadows. I met you last week in Centerville for the first time where I sat in front of you and your son. When you told me your name and the congregation you used to work with I had a faint recollection of what that meant. There was a time when I would have been impressed by that. But that time has come and gone in my life. And to be honest with you I was a bit proud of myself for my forgetfulness. It was a small but significant personal victory for me to have missed the significance of your temple declaration. Odd, that forgetfulness can be a victory. You see, I've been away from TN for almost nine years now. I grew up in TN, my father was a preacher there for 35 years, I have an F-HU pedigree, and I was "up-to-date" with the brotherhood business. I love the church in TN. But more than that I love the church. For me it has been spiritually healthy to be away where I'm able to focus on what most needs focus. Thank you for your story. Thank you for the wonderful insights and open dialogue. Best wishes to you in your good work for Him.
We truly enjoy having Dale at Spring Meadows as he and Melanie are doing a fabulous job!! Likewise, what a wonderful group of people we have at Spring Meadows to worship with each week! A group of people with passion and love for one another.....and a group of people hungry to do God's will! What a blessing!!!
I've never read anyone who fishes for compliments as much as you. "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips."
I just said a prayer for the anonymous blogger from 6:55pm. I can only hope it was a joke.
I cannot imagine anyone who knows you would doubt your authenticity.
I am a thankful member of Spring Meadows. I thank God for our church family all the time. I have been praying to find our church home for years now.
Just for fun......here's how we found our church family: or should I say, here's how God with His marvelous ways led us to where we belong:
(beware Dale, this might be Sorrel 2:1) :)
When we were living in Florida, we didn't know anyone. We tried to make friends and lasting relationships, we tried visiting churches to find some good people. Nothing fit. I prayed and prayed and studied the Word. I knew that God WANTED us to go to church, I knew that God WANTED us to be with a group of people who loved Him and loved us. But we didn't find that...anywhere. The disappointments led to laziness and lack of interest. I kept praying but we stopped visiting. It is amazing how quickly and invisibly Satan can isolate you. All that to say, there was nothing keeping us in Florida, and so when the idea of moving back to Tennessee came into play, we jumped on it! Tennessee is our home and everyone we love resides nearby.
We moved back to Spring Hill, and we began visiting churches again. Without naming names, Chris and I visited some other churches that he thought he would be comfortable in. Again, they didn't fit. I took a chance and visited a Baptist church on my own and loved it. The people were nice and real. The message was truthful and applicable. No one was yelling and no one was judging and that experience got me "back in the habit" of going to church on Sundays. I asked Chris to visit and as I knew would be the case.....he did NOT like it whatsoever. I decided that I would just go by myself if he didn't like it. If he wanted to have a say so in where we were going to go to church then he needed to start making suggestions. (can you hear my nagging tone of voice there?)Again...Satan creeping crawling in.....trying to keep us from where God was leading...I continued to go to that Baptist church by myself for a few weeks.
One of my single girlfriends went on a blind date with a guy that was part of starting a new Baptist church in Spring Hill. She was going to visit it one Sunday night, so I agreed to go with her. The message was good, the music was entertaining and it was a pretty feel good time.
At the time I was teaching at Page Middle School. I became close with a beautifully humble woman; Marian Brown. As we ate lunch together we began to talk about God. She mentioned she was looking for a church and I told her about the one that I had visited the night before.
The next Monday Marian came in raving about how much she loved the church on Sunday. She started describing it and it didn't sound like the church that I visited. I asked her the name and she told me, "Spring Meadows church of Christ". We laughed and laughed because she got lost tying to find the church I told her about and ended up at Spring Meadows! She loved it so much that I wanted to give "Chris's kind of church" another try. We visited....and the rest is histoy.
It's HIS story and it's still going on strong. HE knew where we belonged. HE knew HOW to get us here and HE knew the right time for us to seek and find.
He has given us FAR MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN ALL THAT I asked. I asked and asked for a church family. I prayed and prayed that our little family would go to church together so that our children would know and love the Lord. He has shown us much more. Everyday I am excited to see what He has planned next.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks find; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened".
(Matthew 7:7-8)
*I joke with my girlfriend about it all the time. Her dates with that guy were short lived. He turned out to be FAR from "the one". When she complains about why she always has to date the "crazy guys", I remind her that her blind date led us to our church home.....you never know what God is up to! :)
***This is why I don't have a blog. I could go on all day.....
Sorrel
God bless you Dale. Keep up the good work. I love reading your blogs. You are truly an example for all to want to do more for His Kingdom. Liz
Dale,
I love Eph 3:20... I really think each word has special meaning that most of us at least me find it hard to take in to our lives. Looks like you got you at least one squirrel reading your blog... lets she what GOD will use him to do. I hope whoever that person is keeps reading and understands you better. Who would was it that said... if you don't like someone, you probably don't know them well enough. So often I find that to be true. So Anonymous non fan of this blog Please keep reading. We will pray for you to find the Peace God offers his own.
I am so excited to read your numbers... wow.. not for numbers sake but because each one represents an eternal SOUL!
You cuz are in my prayers especially this week. check your eMail for a cuz'n party. Love ya, Brenda
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