An encouraging start to 2019

This little guy tugged on my shirt after an awesome service at The Harbor last Saturday
night and said, "I want to be saved." Jesus says we must come to Him like a child. Amen!

This year is off to a fast start. I can't believe we are over halfway through February. It's been pretty much non-stop, but it's been a year that's brought much encouragement as we share Jesus with our homeless friends and our friends who live in poverty here in Dothan.

The most exciting and encouraging part is seeing people come to Jesus, and so far 12 have made decisions for Jesus at Love In Action this year. Praise God! That's why we do this ministry. Providing food and clothes is great, but giving people Jesus is the greatest thing we can do for anyone.

The ministry continues to expand, especially the food ministry. We are now serving 400-plus plates of food each week to our friends, and that will only increase as we expand our mobile kitchen outreaches.

To accommodate, we are upgrading our kitchen. Thanks to local businesses, we are able to expand our food ministry. We have added two more commercial ovens, thanks to Cracker Barrel donating two ovens to us. We just have to do a little work on them and they will be ready to cook. We've added three stainless steel tables in the kitchen thanks to Bill Dorminy and Goldfingers. That helps make our serving of food and preparing plates for the mobile kitchen much more efficient. CAE USA of Dothan has doubled the amount of food they cook for us daily to 80 plates.

Talk about encouraging. To have local businesses involved in helping the "least of these" in our community is awesome. We truly live in the most caring city in the world.

More encouragement comes from our friends we serve. They have commented over and over how much they enjoy the coffee house where we serve all of the meals now. There is more room and more of a relaxing feel. It also gives us better opportunities to sit down and talk with our friends and pray with them.

Those we serve with the mobile kitchen are encouraging. For example, last Friday a homeless man we had never met before got a plate of food from our mobile kitchen. He then walked over to me and said, "I love you, man," as he hugged me. That was genuine appreciation.

The unity between ministries is very encouraging. We are doing more and more with The Ark and The Harbor. The more we do together, the more souls are saved and more needs are met.

We have only had to open the warming shelter once this year,  but when we did a man made a decision for Jesus. That was ministry collaboration between First Baptist Church (host of the warming shelter) and The Harbor and Love In Action.

This past Saturday, I was invited to preach at The Harbor's Saturday night service. It was an awesome night as we all ministered together. The result? An altar overflowing with people responding to Jesus. I saw 10-12 come to altar, and then the flood gates opened and many more came forward. Some needed to give their lives to Jesus. Others needed prayer to be set free from different things, and some wanted more of Jesus in their lives.

After an extended time of worship, a little boy, who had been patiently waiting to talk to me, walked over and tugged on my shirt. He looked at me and said, "I want to be saved." Wow! How awesome is that? Jesus tells us we must come to Him like a child. I asked him questions while explaining salvation to make sure he understood, and he did. I pray God works through him to reach is whole family and his friends.

I believe this is only the beginning of what God wants to do in Dothan. The more we show people Jesus, and the more we, as the Body of Christ, show unity in reaching others, we will see greater things happen.

Encouraging? You better believe it. I am encouraged and excited about everything God has planned for the rest of 2019.