Closer to the Alabama line, we're stationed in Bainbridge, GA

back to Our Walk of Faith

Note: We are safe in the midst of this really bad weather here in South GA!! Praise God for His protection!

On Wednesday (of last week), Kim planned for us to speak at Thomas County Central High School before school at their FCA meeting...our first!! We met several of the coaches and quite a few of the students. Bill Wilhelm (pictured with Chris), the FCA Huddle Coach, is also the offensive line coach for the football team and the head wrestling coach. Coach Knight and Coach Johnson, the basketball coaches were also there. They sent Iesha to give us a t-shirt so that we could support the basketball teams. Nikki and "Minto," two girls who went to Girls' Black Mountain FCA camp were also at the meeting. It was great to see them again as well!! From there we went downtown to go to the library, but they weren't open yet. We ended up going to a coffee shop instead. While there, we met Ada (pictured with me) who wants to go to a Bible college, so that she can work in an orphanage or homeless shelter. We couldn't believe it, so we shared with her about Christ Central Institute in Wagener, SC. She was really excited and so were we!! We walked down and met Kim for lunch at Hawaiian Snow and Deli. We were able to meet Janet, the administrative assistant for FCA, and to eat with both of them. Then we went over to Brookwood, a private school in Thomasville. We spoke to their FCA during lunch, and we were excited to learn that they had gone to Mississippi to do Hurricane Katrina Relief last year as well! They hope to go down again over their Spring break this year. We had a great time talking to the students and their Huddle Coaches--Tony Rogers, Katie Cass, and Amy Stalvey. One of the other teachers also came in and gave us contact information for her family who lives in New Orleans. (Again we see that God is going before us!!)
On Wednesday night, we spoke to the youth at Gatlin Creek Baptist Church. We hung around after the service and got to talk to several of the students (from left to right) Cassie, Nastashia aka "Minto", Iesha, Zach, and Jordan. They are amazing leaders who are following hard after the Lord! They invited us to come to Chick-Fil-A on Thursday morning. It's a student lead devotional that meets before school every week. We couldn't believe it when we got there and about 35 kids from all different churches were gathered together to hear God's Word! Cassie was kind enough to get up early to pick us up and take us. She also dropped us off downtown on her way to school which made her a little late. You can imagine her teacher's shock at her explanation...well, I had to drop off these missionaries off who are walking to Peru, and that's why I'm late. Thankfully, Iesha and Nastashia were in her class so they could vouch for her. As we were walking around downtown, we kept noticing this AM radio station. We also saw that they had several different outreaches in Mexico. I was curious about what cities that they had work in, so we went in to inquire. The feeding program is in Monterrey...that was about the 5th time we heard about Monterrey. (maybe God is telling us something--ha, ha, ha!) We met Jimmy Bennett and Cindy Trulock who work there. They work for Lifeline Ministries. They shared about several trips into Mexico and about what the ministry is doing in Thomasville. They are hoping to bring a seminar to Thomasville, and they are opening a Christian coffee shop. So God gave us a few more contacts!! Thursday evening we went to see Facing the Giants with the Herndons, Nastashia and Iesha! It is an amazing movie!!! If you haven't seen it, you need to!!! It is a story about our God!! Nothing is impossible with Him!!!! We recommend it for EVERYONE to see!!! While we were at the movies, Jimmy called to tell us that there were two extra tickets to see David Crowder and Third Day in Tallahassee, FL. If we wanted to go, we were welcome to the tickets and we could even ride with him and his wife!! Amazing! Many of you don't know this, but the very first time Chris and I tried to do something together it was meeting up at a Third Day Concert. God was protecting both of us until the right time, so we never found each other at the concert. Well, we finally saw Third Day together!!
Friday morning, Joey gave us a ride to Thomas County Middle School for an FCA meeting. There were close to 200 students gathered in the gym before school to worship the Lord. The Huddle Coaches--Kevin & Kristi Keve another husband and wife team--quieted the students down, but that was it. They handed the meeting over the leadership team, and the students led! It was wonderful to see them all so excited about the Lord!! After the meeting we chatted a bit with the Keves and some of the 8th grade girls. What a great group!! We ate lunch with Nick that day…tons o’ fun…it’s been quite some time since I ate cafeteria lunch :-) Then we were able to meet Doug Scott, an area director for FCA. Chris was very intrigued with all of his sports memorabilia. His kind heart and love for students shines through. After that, we went to WJEP AM 1020 to do an interview with Henry Miller. He has an amazing testimony of restoration as well! He’s another recovered alcoholic and addict who ministers in the prisons. One story that he shared was really funny! One of the inmates who had accepted Christ during one of his sermons wanted to do something for Henry when he got out. He told Henry almost weekly that he had a recording studio and that he was going to record a CD for Henry as soon as he could get out and get it running again. Henry wasn’t totally convinced that he would do it. But sure enough just a couple of months after he was released, he called Henry and they recorded an album! Pretty amazing isn’t it! From the station, Jimmy took us home to meet his wife, Deb, and then on to meet the rest of the group. About 16 of us went to Chili’s to eat and then to the concert. Two of the couples who went with us are from Spence, GA a tiny community far out in the country. Jimmy & Renee Humphries and Lee & Kim Stewart love Jesus and are passionate about helping ALL of the kids in their community know Jesus. Although there was a little opposition, they have started a program at their church on Wednesday nights that offers a free meal and a lesson from God’s Word to about 50 impoverished children—Black, White, Hispanic—it doesn’t matter…they are all welcome to the table and to the family. We so enjoyed talking to them!! Jimmy and Lee both tell stories of a transforming God… We also met Tommy and Sabrina Williams…they are actually the ones who had the 2 extra tickets in their skybox!! We couldn’t believe where our seats were! Tommy has been miraculously healed by God’s grace both physically and spiritually. His story is another amazing one…we plan to share it later!! (in a new testimonies section on the blog…watch for it so that you can add your own testimony) We have seen the scripture in Luke 7:47 proven true over and over again!! Jesus said “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." People who have realized the magnitude of their sin and accepted God’s forgiveness…oh, they are so on fire for Him. Maybe those of us who aren’t haven’t realized yet what God truly did for us!!!!
After such an amazing, fun-filled day on Friday, we were thankful to rest a bit on Saturday. Pastor Randy gave us the theme for our talk on Sunday…it turned out to be the very thing we were praying about that morning. The rest of the day Chris spent time with Joey and Nick. While Frances and I did a little running around. Kim came over for dinner, and afterwards we played a few games together. On Sunday we had a wonderful morning worshipping our Lord with “The No Name Church” that Randy & Lindy are starting. (The Herndons are working with them as well. Since they have only been meeting about 5 weeks, they still don’t have a name yet.) He spoke of the time that God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son. We learned about achieving God’s purpose—how to please Him…we must be available which only comes through having a relationship with Him, be obedient because of our faith in His sovereignty, be confident in the power that comes through His promises. Pastor Randy let us share during the obedience through faith portion of his sermon. Pretty amazing that God arranged for us to be there the very Sunday he was preaching that message…That’s the kind of God we serve though!! Sunday night we were able to go back to Gatlin Creek to help feed the youth and to do the devotion. (So we got to see Nastashia and Iesha a couple more times before we had to leave!!) On Monday we made a scavenger hunt for Nick that ended at Rayann’s the Christian bookstore in Thomasville. The owner, Greg, amazed us with his generosity. From Rayann’s we met up with Cindy at the radio station. She told us that she took Highway 84 home every day and she wanted to give us a ride to Bainbridge. Derrick Cox, the volunteer FCA area director for Decatur County wanted us to come to his house and to speak at the area schools and his church. Kayla (his daughter) came to pick us up because Derrick just had knee replacement surgery 3 weeks ago. (We’ve learned that Kayla is a true servant…she even gave up her room for us while we are visiting!!) Derrick & Amy, Kayla and Jordan, John & Denise and Ashley, and Chris & I all went out to eat together. We learned that John, Denise, and Ashley are just part of the Coxes “Family” that we would meet while in Bainbridge. Tuesday morning, we went to Bainbridge High School (where Kayla goes to school) to speak to their FCA. Then we went to Live 101.9 to meet Kevin and Chris the morning show hosts who are also close friends of Derrick. (Kevin is the owner of this one and one other radio station.) They are a secular radio station, but they are sharing the Gospel and even playing several Christian songs each hour. Many people have come to know Christ during the 2 years that they’ve been on the air. It’s a great outreach to the community!! From the station, we went over to Derrick’s physical therapist’s office. We had a great time sharing with the ladies in the office—left to right in front: Jill, Mandy, Sherrita & Allison; in back: Malee, Laura (the director so we didn’t get in trouble for chatting instead of working—ha, ha, ha), Michelle & Laura. They were excited to hear about our journey and we were interested to hear about their work with Camp Joy, a summer project helping disabled children. I think that a lot of them are also coming to church with us tonight! Derrick is a well-loved member of this community because we couldn’t go anywhere without finding people who knew him and wanted to talk to him. He was excited to be able to get out and about and to see some friends. We went to the Courtyard Café for lunch and found that Derrick know the owners. We were able to meet Carolyn and talk with her about the restaurant and our journey. She and her husband are Messianic Jews, so she shared with us about their group that has been meeting together. It was such a cute place!! We also met her daughters, Abby and Tory, before we left. Jordan had a basketball game in the afternoon, so we all loaded up to see the team’s big win over a charter school in Florida. Chris kept all of Jordan’s stats and shared them with him after the game…I’m amazed again at my husband. He sees plays in a game and can anticipate what’s going to happen…I’ve never seen anything like it. Anyway, we left the game and finally met the rest of “The Family.” Everyone came over to John & Denise’s house for supper. (I’ll be adding a few of those recipes to the collection!!) “The Family” includes the Coxes; John, Denise, & Amy; Steve, Suzy, Kaycee, & Kevin; and Carl & Pam. None of the families are related, they are just brothers and sisters in Christ. All of their extended family lives an hour or more away, so they rely on one another. It’s amazing. If I didn’t know better, I’d think they were family!! (One of Kayla’s friends, Kayla Hawkins also came over for the fun!) We had such a good time!!! They all go to church and work with the youth and take missions trips together. After supper, John pulled out his guitar and played while we sang praise song after praise song! Oh, it was AMAZING! They even harmonize like a family! We didn’t want the time of praise to end, but it was getting late and everyone had to go to work and school in the morning. Chris and I went to speak at Hutto Middle School this morning to speak to their FCA. We were so excited when we went in and there were shoeboxes piled up!! They have collect 50 shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse!! They were a great audience, and their huddle coaches, Greta Conner and Chip Arial, let the students lead! While we were at McDonald’s for breakfast, Jody came up to Chris and asked if we were on the radio yesterday. It turns out that he was listening to us talk and he had seen us going into the middle school where his son attends. He wanted to help us along on our journey!! I’m often overwhelmed at how big our God is!!! But that’s not all that happened today! Derrick also wanted us to meet an eye doctor, so we stopped by his office. Dr. Aldridge and his optometrist, Mike, gave us a new little bottle of solution and a few extra contact to help tide us over on the trip!! Another man who heard us on the radio yesterday offered to take us to Dothan, AL whenever it was time for us to move on. I’m telling you, God’s provision is amazing!! Someone pointed out this verse to us last week, and I think it’s an appropriate place to end…”And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”—Philippians 4:19 He’s been doing it for us…surrender to Him and let me provide for you!! (Now that we’ve worked out our technical problems, we should be a little more regular in posting?!) God bless you and keep you! Let us hear from you! We love you!


The Herdon Family-Joey, Frances & Nick












Amy and Kayla let me play with the three kittens...we've missed having pets, but God has provided opportunities to enjoy other people's pets along the way!!