Guatemala Trip off to a great start

This afternoon I drove down to Atlanta to spend the night with my in-laws and catch an early morning flight from Atlanta to Guatemala. While down here, I knew I wanted to check out some of the great churches in Atlanta. I settled on visiting First Baptist Woodstock which is a large church about 45 minutes from my in-laws. What made it even better is that I found out last week that my preaching hero, Dr. Jerry Vines, would be there.

When I FINALLY arrived at First Baptist Woodstock I couldn't believe how big the place was. First Baptist Woodstock is a great missions minded church and is the church where our current SBC President, Johnny Hunt, pastors. When I went inside I met up with Dr. Vines son, Jon. Jon and I had several e-mail conversations but had never met. We talked about the church, Dr. Vines, and of course, Alabama Football!

I made my way to the sanctuary and greeted Dr.Vines. He proceeded to tell me that his 94 year old mother passed away this morning. I was shocked to see him even there, much less able to function. I knew that the music was going to be a blessing, but it was an unexpected suprise. The Senior Adult choir sang tonight- all 60 of them. There were canes, walkers, and portable scooters everywhere on stage, but those people blew the roof off the place. It was such a blessing to see people in the "fourth quarter" of life serving the Lord.

Dr.Vines preached on the Wonderful Word of God. It was a typical Jerry Vines message-AMAZING! The amazing part was to see him so focused after losing his mother. I'm sure I couldn't have done it.

After the service I helped Jon at the CD/Book table Dr. Vines had set-up. It was neat to get to serve alongside Jon. He said something about me coming back in early November to work a conference they were hosting, but I told him I probably couldn't make it.

If tonight is any indication of the rest of this week, it will be amazing to see what God has in store.

P.S. If Mark preached longer than 30 minutes, don't blame me.