1 Thessalonians 1-5: This passage always makes me thankful for each church Les and I have had the privilege to serve.
1 Thessalonians 1:2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, without ceasing mentioning you in our prayers, 3remembering before ur God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Even now I can’t help but smile as I remember our first church when we had a high attendance day and if we reached our goal Les got a pie in the face. That was the sweetest pie! The church grew and people were added to our number. I think about the cold baptistry when Les was baptizing a young man and he allowed a word to slip our when stepping into the frigid water. We are giggled and Les said, I will need to hold this one under a little longer. I remember Bible schools and teaching your children who are now adults themselves. I remember standing over cradles and caskets with tears in our eyes. I remember the night we saw angels as we sang God with Us. I remember Life Action revivals that pierced the heart and challenged us to be whole heart followers with a passion for God’s word. I remember women’s retreats and special events that yielded eternal rewards. The one common denominator in all of these were the people we love that God sent us to through the years.
If you have ever been a part of a church body that we served please know that we still pray for you. We still love you and consider you family. We cherish the days we have had together to as Paul writes later in Thessalonians you are our crown that we will one day present to the Father. We love you all and look forward to making more memories and leading others to heaven along with us. To God be the glory great things He has done!