Donalsonville, GA April 9-12, 2017

​Southern Georgia is a completely different world from the Chicago area I grew up in.  From city streets to country roads.  From suburbs to farm fields.  From pizza and pasta to delicious fried food.  From hurriedness to warm southern hospitality.  One of the things I love to see is when a pastor is so uniquely shaped by God to minister in a particular area.  Pastor Scott and Cile Messer were born and raised in this far southwestern corner of Georgia and now pastor the Donalsonville Church of the Nazarene, where I was invited to be for revival services April 9-12.  I was deeply moved by the sweet welcome that I received from this church --- especially toward someone who obviously had a very different accent (though Trina and I have lived in Tennessee for most of our married lives)!

The Holy Spirit moved powerfully from the very first service as evidenced by the kind of response that we do not always see in churches -- with many, many of the people coming forward to respond to Jesus at the conclusion of that service.  We saw this same kind of response again in the Tuesday evening service.  There was the obvious sense among those present that God was at work in these times, and several people testified to this.  What an encouraging thing it is to us when there is the sense that Jesus has touched the people of the church and has helped the church as a whole in some way.  That definitely seemed to be so here in Donalsonville. 

I was further blessed just to fellowship with Pastor Scott and have some time with him.  I loved to hear about his heart and vision for their community.  I was especially blessed to see the way he is when he is out among people: truly a pastor to the entire town, loving every person, always having a minute for any person that passed by.  It reminded me again of that simple admonition I received as a ministerial student so many years ago: preach the Word and love the people.  I want to do that more as we continue,
 
Running together in Christ,
 
John