Tuesday Team Rocks

I cannot believe it. I just thought Monday night was going to be hard to duplicate. "O, ME of little faith." Here are the numbers hot off the report:

• 104 completed calls. (192 total)




• 57 households attended church. (119 total)




• 47 households did not attend church. (73 total)




• 7 households said "Yes" to our invitation. (8 total)




• 12 households said "Interested, send me more information." (19 total)




• 60 prayer requests were taken and prayed for immediately, four requiring follow-up. (115 total)

This is amazing, because in two nights, we have had households representing 32 people who say they WILL come and a whole lot more saying they might come. Now we know they all want make it, but Praise the Lord! Keep praying. God is blessing.

Already Loved

What a night! I've never seen such activity at church. All the phone lines lit up. People walking in circles to pick up prayer request after prayer request. Listening to bits and pieces of conversations: "Are you regularly attending church anywhere?" ""Our church is having a special event for those who are unchurched?" "Is there anything we can pray about for you?" There were a few other conversations about who was authorized to put numbers on the tally board. I was NOT one of them. I think they must have thought I would ministerially exaggerate the numbers, but I don't think I have to. Here's the breakdown of what we did last night:

• 88 completed calls
• 62 households attended church.
• 26 households did not attend church.
• 1 household said "Yes" to our invitation.
• 7 households said "Interested, send me more information."
• 55 prayer requests were taken and prayed for immediately. Sadly, one of the requests was for a grandmother who needed to tell her grandson that his half brother had died. Another was for a family whose son was killed while playing with a gun. A third was to pray for a father in ICU with brain damage.

And that was just one night. Pray for these families with us. Pray for our workers who are feeling anything but overwhelmed because God gave supernatural grace to deal with everything that happened. God is good!

What a Day!

Wow! I can't believe it's been a month since I have posted. Life has been a little crazy around the Hayes' household and Southside. But it's all been good. God is blessing in so many ways I couldn't begin to list them all. Well, okay, just a few: my wife, my children (and their husbands), my church family. I could go on and on, but I won't bore you too much more. However, there is one more blessing I have to mention. Yesterday! Easter Sunday! What a tremendous worship service. It started out with a great drama and song by our student ministry which was the conclusion to their great Good Friday service. Then the choir under the leadership of Peggy Baggett. That's right -- Peggy. If you missed it, you had better get the CD. I don' t know that I have ever heard them do three songs any better than yesterday. I'm sorry, Bro. Wayne, but I have to call it like I see it, but we still miss you and can't wait for you to get back. By the way, it was great to see Bro. Wayne sneak in after the service started -- that means he's getting better. Anyway, back to the blessings of yesterday. What a crowd! The people just kept coming in. Lots of families. Lots of guests. What a blessing.

This week begins another very important outreach program at our church. Already Loved begins tonight. For the next four weeks, we will be calling homes throughout Decatur offering to pray for their needs and inviting them to a special service on Sunday May 17. From this vantage point, it appears to be almost overwhelming, but I know once we get started, God is going to give us the strength and wisdom we need to get the job done. I'm grateful for the leadership we have in this campaign. They are keeping us headed in the right direction. I'm looking forward to the many opportunities of ministry this program is going to afford us in the days ahead. So if you read this, please pray for God's blessings. For more information on Already Loved, go to our webpage at http://www.southsidebaptist.net and check under the Ministries heading.

Just so that you know: God is good all the time.

Deeply Troubled

I am deeply troubled in my spirit today. I have been for the last several days. Maybe it's because I am tired -- I still haven't gotten that hour of sleep back from DST. Or maybe it's because of everything that is going on in the world. Death is everywhere. Senseless murders of a pastor in Illinois and people in Samson, Alabama and everywhere else. Predictions of economic collapse. Prophecies of cities burning from major ministries. The signing of the executive order reversing the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Approaching war. Freedom of Choice Act. Legalizing gambling in Alabama. Out of control spending in Washington -- led by our own Richard Shelby. We are in deep trouble as a nation and as the body of Christ. Christianity is on the decline in America. God cannot be happy. For the last several weeks, at least one of our visitation teams has been rudely rejected by someone we were trying to minister to. One person in the USA dies every 11 seconds. 75% of these are lost. Every hour, 300 people die and 225 of them go to hell. Can we be living in any time other than the last days? Can we not see that God's hand of judgment is about to fall on this country? How can we not be deeply troubled in our spirits? How can we be going about our business as usual? We desperately need for God to work, but it must begin in each one of us. We must fall on our faces and claim the truth of 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land." We can't count on the politicians to do it. We can't expect our schools to handle it. We must fall on our faces before Holy God and cry out to Him for mercy. We must get rid of the pride that fills us. We must get rid of the root of bitterness that separates us. We must get serious with God and beg Him to touch us and to fill us once again. "Lord, please forgive me and forgive your church for our prideful rebellion, our spiritual apathy, our overall indifference to You and to Your Word. Forgive us our sin, and guide us in Your way."

A Hero's Reward

In a day when there are very few real heroes, I heard a story about one. His name is John Cook, and he has gone home to his eternal reward. Ever since I have been in Decatur, I have heard about this godly man, about all the things he does for people and organizations -- how he prays with his employees and ministers constantly. But what impressed me most was a story I heard about Mr. Cook on Wednesday. Literally, he was on his death bed, knowing he would soon leave this life but not aware that he had only a matter of days. A dear friend walked into his room and saw Mr. Cook holding the hand of his nurse. Not knowing what was happening, he quietly exited the room to come back later. When he did, he found them still sitting there, holding hands, with tears in their eyes. Mr. Cook looked at his friend and then said to the nurse, "Why don't you tell him what just happened to you?" The nurse looked at this man and said, "Mr. Cook just led me to Jesus." On his death bed, John Cook was concerned about the spiritual well-being of a woman he didn't even know. What a hero!

I know that I may not have all the details of the story correct; it may not have happened exactly like I have written it. Tales like this sometimes take on a life of their own, but everything I know about John Cook leads me to believe that even if the details aren't correct, the story is true. As I reflected on this story, all I could do was pray and ask God to make me a soul-winner like John Cook. I know that he wouldn't want people to consider him a hero, but in my mind, he is.

February is Romance Month

Well, what more can I say. The month of February is filled with hearts and love and Valentines. So why shouldn't it be about the second most important relationship in our lives: our spouses. Last week we focused on becoming best friends with our spouses. Isn't it funny how we sometimes get married and then prefer to spend time with other people? I guess funny isn't the right word for it. It really is sad, at least to me. I can't imagine not spending my time with Sonya. That doesn't mean she has to watch science fiction movies with me all the time, but she does watch them a lot. Just like I watch HGTV with her. We do spend a lot of time together, but we also are comfortable doing things alone or with other people, too.

Today we focused on communication. As important as it is to be best friends, it is just as important to communicate with our best friend. When we first meet, it's like we don't have enough time to say everything that's on our minds. But after we've been married for any length of time, we don't have enough things to say to fill up all our time. So we read the newspaper or watch television or find other things to occupy our times. It is okay, in fact it's good, to get to the point where you are comfortable with the silences as long as the silent moments don't become the norm.

Some people may wonder why I am spending so much time on this topic when we have a church full of senior adults. It's because we have couples in our church, young and old, who are having problems in their marriages. It's because we have youth who need to hear what it takes to have a godly marriage before they get married. It's because no matter how good your marriage is, there is always room for improvement. I am hoping that the couples in our church will take seriously their role as mentors to couples in need. And don't forget, if you missed the messages, you can listen to them online at www.southsidebaptist.net . Go to audio sermons and scroll down to "Making Good Marriages Great."

We will conclude this series with a special event on Sunday morning, March 1 and then a special viewing of the movie "Fireproof" on Sunday night. You don't want to miss it.

Belize--Final Report

We made it home -- finally. It was a long day yesterday as we waited in the Belize airport and then we waited in the Houston airport. We were a little worried in Belize when one of our team members was pulled out of the line and searched. I know this is a common occurrence, but we were worried because there was a slight situation in which she misappropriated some muffins from the Mennonites. We feared that they had her on video and had sent her picture ahead to the airport to stop her. But all was well. You are probably waiting for the name, but I promised Nikki I wouldn't put it in the blog, so I am going to keep this one anonymous. Oops!

Mark found a friend in the duty free section of the Belize airport, but I think it was because he wanted Mark's watch. Can you believe Mark wouldn't give it to him? Even though there was one Mark could buy for only $4000 U.S. The flights were good, but we had a long layover in Houston. The only problem there was that we couldn't keep Bro. Berry out of the bar. I probably should say that was the closest place he could find to watch the Super Bowl. Gorman pretty much behaved himself, but I think it was because he was tired. He did get some fishing tips from the flight steward during the wait on the tarmac in Houston. We had to wait because of some bad weather, and apparently we had to fly very high to get over and around them.

And when we landed, it was great to see family and friends who came to pick us up. It was an amazing week, but I am so thankful for home. See you all soon.

For more information on the Belize Vo-Tech School, go to http://www.belizevotech.com/ .