Voice of Hope

I trust this weekend will be a time of fellowship, food and fun for you and your family. My family and I are taking the weekend off for some much-needed rest. I trust that you will all have the same opportunity. God bless you!

Last night, I was privileged to visit with the church at Chattanooga (Chickamauga Loop) where I received a warm welcome by Pastor Waleed B. Ajamu and the congregation. The church was to kick off Vacation Bible School this evening and going through the weekend. The church there is meeting in a new building, since moving from the Wilson Street church last year. Please help me pray for the local church there, and all of the precious saints.

Debra and I attended the graveside services for Gracie Hall, mother to former State Overseer, Bishop H. Wayne Hall. I was please to see several of our pastors, International Offices Staff and our General Overseer in attendance. Bishop Hall officiated the funeral and did a nice job...I'm sure his mother would be proud. Please continue to pray for the Hall family.

I just learned that former Tennessee State Overseer, Bishop H. Wayne Hall's mother has passed away. I have received the following information on arrangements from our District Presbyter, F. Leon Graves. Hunter's Funeral home in Watertown. Visitation on Tuesday 1:00 - 9:00 pm Wednesday 8:00 - 10:00 am Graveside at 11:00 am Please join us in prayer for the Hall family.

As we approach the General Assembly, I will be continuing to share with you events, and perhaps as with today's post, so new things that will be at our gathering in August. Each day of the General Assembly, the Assembly Task Force will be circulating a publication known as "Assembly Communique" whith will highlight interesting information, along with features on the events of the week. This will be a quality production that will be available to help keep the delegates up-to-date. I do hope we will be well represented in our morning times of prayer, at which time these communiques should be available. May the Lord bless you!

Our General Overseer has asked for all pastors to call their local church to a time of special prayer for our General Assembly. Other areas of the world have had their time-frame set, and the time-frame for North America is June 25-30, 2006. I am asking that each of us spend extra time in prayer for this assembly. I am of the firm conviction that the Lord will bless if we seek His face. It goes without saying that we need the Lord's intervention as we handle business, and select a new General Overseer to lead our church. Thank you, God bless.

I have scanned my copy of the General Assembly program and made it available for you at my personal download site. This is a pdf file and is a little large (6.2mb), so if you have a slow connection it will take a while. If you have DSL or Broadband it should be fairly quick. To get the file, go to my page by clicking here. After typing in the first page, I thought it might be easier to just do it this way. I hope this helps you with your planning for the Assembly. My heart's desire today is for God's best in your life!

This morning, I spoke with Kathy Creasy, our Internation Director for Childrens Ministies. She will be needing workers for our upcoming General Assembly in Nashville. This is a great opportunity for the "Volunteer" State to respond. To volunteer, you can email Leslie Green by clicking here. She will email you an application for follow up. Thanks for your help.

MONDAY -AUGUST 21 9:00 AM Session Begins Praise and Worship song: Jason Duncan, Tennessee Prayer: General Presbyter Sherman Allen, Africa Open Forum (for discussion and clarity), held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center Note: All early arrivals for Assembly are invited to attend REPORTS Biblical Doctrine and Polity Committee Finance and Stewardship Committee Administrative Committee Tomlinson Center Board 12:00 PM Dismiss for Lunch 2:00 PM Assembly Business meeting continues...SPIRIT DRIVEN 4:00 PM Dismiss 6:30PM SPIRIT DRIVEN singing: Tennessee Harmony 7:00 PM Special Announcements by: Jenny Chatham (White Wing Messenger Editor) Spirit Driven Worship, Jason Duncan and worship team Offeratory, Prayer led by Pastor Duke Stone, Tennessee Spirit Driven Singing, Cabales Trio, Washington Message: "A Spirit-Driven Move in North America" Sam Clements, North American General Presbyter Spirit Driven altar service

The Lenox church is preparing to celebrate their 75th anniversary. And would like to invite former overseer's, state staff, pastor's and or their families, member's, and anyone who has been a part of the Lenox church over the past 75 years. We have planned 2 services and invite you to attend either one or both. On Sunday August 13, 2006 former Overseer Eugene Weakley will be preaching. On Sunday September 17, 2006 our present Overseer E. C. Mckinley will be bringing the message. Both services will begin at 10:30 AM, with dinner following in the Family Life Center. If you have any pictures, stories, etc, about the Lenox church and would like to share them. You may contact pastor Melvin Rector at 731-285-5187; or email mrlenox@cableone.net

Debra and I travelled to Camp Hickory Hills today to visit with the youth camp directed by Jeff and Tammi Rice. It was so good to see all of the children thoroughly enjoying their time at our campground, and to see the staff interacting so well with the them. Thank God for the churches of Tennessee for their support of this much needed ministry to the children. Please remember to pray for a great move of God during the remainder of this week's camp. God bless

As we approach the General Assembly in Nashville, its important to remember that one of the reasons we gather every two years is to discuss issues, and hopefully come to solutions that will be helpful to the work of the church around the world. The Biblical Doctrine and Polity Committee report is a rather lengthy one, and each of the ministers and members of our church should take the time to familiarize themselves with every aspect of it, in order to make intelligent decisions. I am pleased to make you aware that they have a website, where you may download the proposed reports and print them at your convenience. The site is in several languages, and will be quite helpful to you. Simply go to this website: http://www.doctrinestudies.org/ May God bless you.

Today, Debra, Lindsey and I visited the church at Morristown and worshipped with Pastor Robert Carpenter and the great congregation at the Lakemoore church. The Lord blessed us to be there, and it was a beautiful drive back to Hendersonville. Please be sure to check back to our blog for updates for our upcoming assembly to be held in Nashville. As it appears now, there will be a "pastors" session on the Monday before the General Assembly with the business sessions planned for Tuesday, and Wednesday (if necessary). Please remember to have special prayer the last week of the month for the Lord's Presence during our International gathering, and for the thousands of our folks on their journey to and from Tennessee. May the Lord bless and keep you.

As I write tonight, my wife Debra, our daughter Lindsey and I have stopped for the night on our way to minister at the Lakemoore Church in Morristown in the morning. We decided to drive a good part of the way tonight so that we could get some rest before the morning service. We are looking forward to visiting with Pastor Robert Carpenter, his family, and the wonderful congregation there. Lakemoore is an exciting church and is prospering greatly as they are fully dedicated to the harvest. I will be bringing the morning message. As you know, tomorrow is Father's Day, a day set aside for us to honor our fathers. Although my earthly father has gone on to his reward, there are many of you who still have the opportunity to let your dad know how much he means to you. Many has been the time that I have wished that I could just talk to dad for a minute or two, and let him know that he really knew much more than I gave him credit for. As I approach the day when my son will become a fat...

Debra and I were blessed to visit with the Senior Camp that is in full swing this week. The guest evangelist this week is our International Director of Youth Ministries, Palma Hutchinson. Although we were not able to stay until the night services, I was told that she did a great job in ministering the Word the night before. Special thanks to Victor and Renee Rodriguez and the entire staff of the camp for their hard work and love for the kids. May the Lord bless each of you!

Please note the upcoming seminar taught by Pastor Gary Lanley from Hawaii. Here is his description of the seminar: "Leadership Training Seminar The weekend before the General Assembly, Bishop Gary Langley, Pastor of Kaneohe, Hawaii, Windward Worship Center, will be teaching a 3-session leadership training seminar at Sonbright Christian Center, hosted by Pastor R.C. (Chip) Meadows. A lot of the materials I use are from some intensive training I received from Don Cousins. Improve Your Leadership GPA will help you better understand how your Spiritual Gifts, Passions and Abilities are all vital components in your successful ministry and sense of fulfillment. Among the topics to be covered… • Uncover your Spiritual Gifts • Identify your passion • Integrate your natural abilities • Learn effective ways to recruit, motivate and retain volunteers • Examine the pattern for true Biblical leadership • Move toward consistently ministering “in the zone” • Understand anointed moments • Begin ...

As most of you are aware, our General Assembly will be in Nashville, Tennessee this year in August. We are looking forward to our friends and members coming from around the world to sit together for this important event. In the weeks leading up to the Assembly, I will be posting pertinent information on this blog in order to keep you up-to-date on the "flood" of information that will be coming out. Here is an example of the information forthcoming: There will be a Pre-Assembly Pastoral Meeting on Monday, August 21 with the Assembly officially opening on August 22, 2006. The general sessions will be held in the Gaylord Entertainment Center while the ministry booths, White Wing Resource Center and the vendor’s exhibit area will be in the Nashville Convention Center which connects to the Gaylord Center. This information can be printed and diseminated to each of our local congregations. I do hope this information will be helpful to you. If there is certain information that you...

This morning, I ministered at the Lawrence Chapel Church in Crossville, Tennessee. I met many new friends and some old ones as well. As I ministered, I found the congregation warm and receptive and we had a great worship service, with many blessed in a special way by the Holy Ghost. There I saw Sister Vera Bee, whom I have known my whole life, and her daughter Ruth, who "prayed me through" to the Holy Ghost in 1978. It ws a great reunion with them and I was really thrilled to see them. The church there will be undergoing a pastoral change, effectively immediately, so I am requesting that you join me in prayer for these precious folks. God has something great in store for them! Thanks for stopping by today, you are really special to me!

Dear Friends, It has again been another busy week in the work around the State of Tennessee. Camps are in full-swing, and the energy around Camp Hickory Hills is amazing. We visited the Big Shot camp this week and were thrilled to see the great staff on hand to help make the week a success. Congratulations are in order to Kim Batson for doing such a great job. We really appreciate the work that she does. I learned that the Harriman church is in revival this next week, and we are hoping to drop in on Pastor Larry Noe and his congregation there. Its always a pleasure to visit with the church. In just a few minutes, Debra and I are leaving to attend the wedding of Erica McCaleb (daughter of our Robert's Tabernacle church pastor) in Cleveland. Because I will be ministering at Lawrence Chapel in the morning, we will need to leave immediately after the wedding and return home. Thanks for your prayers as we continue to travel throughout the beautiful State of Tennessee and enjoy the...

This morning, Debra and I were blessed to be with the folks at the Lewisburg church. We are so thankful to Pastor Bill Mathis for the warm and cordial welcome. The folks at the Lewisburg church are really special and it was a good thing to share the Word with them.

Yesterday was the official launch of the 2006 Summer Youth Camps at Camp Hickory Hills, near Dickson, Tennessee. The Encounter camp has traditionally been the first of the camps, and is for those 18 years old, plus. We are trusting that each pastor (or local booster) is now working on registering our young folks for the camps this summer. Please also join us in prayer for a great camping season. God bless.

Today, Debra and I attended the funeral services of Chester Hall, the son of Don Hall, our pastor at Sullivan's Ridge church in Nashville. He died suddenly after a brief illness. Brother L.E.Butler and Donnie McGuire officiated the funeral services, and Reba Rambo sang at the end. I was thrilled to see so many of our Nashville area pastors,our new pastor in Dickson Empowered Church and our District Presbyter, Bishop F. Leon Graves in attendance. It is such a wonderful thing when our folks gather around to support each other. I also thank all of you for praying for Brother Don Hall during this difficult time. My prayer today is that God will bless and keep each of you.