Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” -Ephesians 3:20-21
Sunday Morning Services Begin: For much of March, we were in great anticipation of our Sunday Morning Worship Service Launch on April 2nd. We had seen God bless the Sunday Evening Bible study mightily, but a new schedule also brings new challenges. Nevertheless, we prayed, worked hard, and trusted that God would bless. Well, on our first Sunday morning service, we sang out to the Lord, saw good attention to the message, and had sweet fellowship afterward. That morning I preached out of Revelation 4-5 on “Jesus will win!” At the invitation, it was wonderful to see most of the church on their knees worshiping, praying, and praising the Lord. In total, we had 20 people in that first service. Wow, what a day! It’s gotten only better since then!
Easter/Resurrection Sunday Report: Our Easter service was also a highly anticipated day. The service was simple as we sang, “Praise Him! Praise Him!”, “He Lives”, and “Christ Arose.” We read a Psalm (as is our custom each service) and the message was on John 20. My message title was pretty original – “He is Risen!” We had a total of 39 people in our service that day with many first-time visitors. God is good.
The Sunday After: The Sunday after Easter can sometimes be a letdown, at least numerically. But we were determined to just do our best for God’s glory and watch Him work. The music service highlighted God’s love as everyone lifted their voices. The message was the first message in a series in the book of Ruth and there was great attention to the message. After the service, we all had a special prayer time together (I will tell more about this in the next section). In total, we had 30 people in our service this past Sunday (19 adults, 10 kids, and 1 teen).To God be all the glory!
Asking, Seeking, Knocking: Keene Baptist Church is focused on prayer. We are convicted that prayer should not be a gimmick or a checkbox of things that we do. We need God’s help! We desperately need Him in all areas of our lives. Furthermore, Keene Baptist Church has a special unspoken prayer request that our church is fervently praying for. We ask that you consider praying with us for this prayer request.
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for the special unspoken prayer request of Keene Baptist Church mentioned just above.
- Pray that God will continue to bless our outreach efforts.
- Pray for Xavier, a young man that I am meeting with this week. He is lost and has a lot of questions. But God is clearly working in his heart.
In Christ and for His glory, The Shives Family
