A lot of the preaching opportunities I have had have been coupled with seminars for pastors. The above picture was taken at the First United Methodist Church in Griffin, Georgia. I was there for three days in the local church. The District Superintendent, Dr. Mike Cash, arranged for seminars with pastors on Monday and Tuesday of that week.

I have been to all size churches. The above picture is of Julius Ketsenburg who is the pastor in Bellgrade, Missouri. The church was very small, but they had a big dream and a big ministry in that rural community. I met a couple of folks in that little community who do business with people here in Montgomery, Alabama. I was reminded that ministry occurs in large and small churches.

Rev. Tom Hollis is part of Barry Carpenter’s Incubator at Frazer. He is the pastor of the St. Francis United Methodist Church in Cary, North Carolina. His associate was Michael Precht from Montgomery. Michael is married to Jennifer (Poole), Linda Poole’s daughter. I spent a weekend at that church. The above picture was a seminar with the lay leadership on a Saturday.

I really enjoy doing seminars for both pastors and lay people. I feel greatly encouraged after these teaching sessions.

I have been doing so much driving lately. I have been putting about 3,000 miles a month on the car. I wanted you to meet one of my special friends. Actually, I didn’t meet him under business conditions. I stopped at a Chick-fil-A in Birmingham to get a bite to eat and he came over and spoke to me because he had been a part of the Television Ministry. You don’t know how good it makes me feel when I meet highway patrolmen in such positive situations!

I have preached in the Hartselle, Alabama Campmeeting. The tabernacle is located just outside the city of Hartselle. As in most campmeetings, a lot of people sit on the outside. I wrote an earlier blog about the songwriter who came to Hartselle years ago and wrote the hymn Leaning On the Everlasting Arms. That blog can be found in the archives of my website.

One of the unexpected joys of going to different places to speak is meeting folks who attend that you never expected to get to meet. The picture here is the famous Southern Baptist Evangelist Junior Hill. As I got ready to preach I looked up and saw him. He had preached at Frazer when we allowed the Southern Baptists to use our facility for their State Convention. He still remembered that.

Also attending was Phil Waldrep. He is a special friend of mine. He has a great ministry in offering celebration events for senior citizens. He does several of these in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Branson. I love to be around him because he always makes me think bigger.

The above picture was taken at the Shingleroof Campmeeting. I have written a blog about that. Shingleroof is located in McDonough, Georgia. It was a unique experience. I have preached there six different times.

Tabernacles at the campmeetings are a unique experience. It is exciting to see how many people attend. Generally there are different choirs that come in and sing at night. I was so impressed because the Shingleroof Campmeeting had some 50+ young people at the worship services.