A Rich Full Day: Part 1

This past Saturday was very full and wonderful day for me. There were two major events so I’m going to write about the first one in this post and the second in my next post. This long but eventful day began at a small church about 20 miles from my house.

Several members of my church and I were part of a team sponsored by our local church association’s missions outreach department. We helped provide a day of special events for the children of Iva Baptist Church.

The church has a very small congregation. Their youth group only has 6 teenagers in it right now. There are several trailer parks with lots of children and families within a close geographical area of the church so it has great potential for evangelism and growth.

I met the pastor, the youth pastor and his wife. They were all very proud of their little country church and anxious to see its members grow spiritually as well as reach out to the community with the gospel.

When you walk into the front door of the church you are immediately inside the sanctuary. There are about 8 pews on each side of the aisle, a small platform with a pulpit and a baptistery behind the platform. I told the pastor that I liked his baptistery because it was at floor level and with a piece of material draped over the front could be used as a puppet stage. That’s me always thinking “puppets.”

The event started at 9AM. The pastor from my church, Tim, led the group in a “get to know you” game and a couple of songs with motions including the exhausting “Father Abraham.”

At 9:30 the girls went to a classroom for a presentation on a missions ministry for One the ministry teachers from our church, Betty, and some of the girls she teaches explained the ministry.

The boys went outside for some recreation supervised by about ½ dozen teenagers from a youth group of another church in our association. In addition I sat on the front porch of the church and showed some of the boys how to make swords, hats and dogs by twisting balloons. My friend, Jeremy, helped me. There was also face painting done by Jeremy’s wife, Lisa.

Ten o’clock was I presented a ventriloquist sketch with my friend, Calvin in the sanctuary. The program centered around the fact that Calvin had a prideful attitude when it came to his knowledge about the Bible. Through a series of questions, wrong answers, and popped balloons Calvin, and all the other children, learn a very valuable spiritual lesson.

After my part of the program it was the boys turn to go to the classroom to learn about the missions ministry for boys. Gary, a good friend of mine and the ministry leader at our church, led the meeting. The girls went outside for game time and I made them balloon animals.

At 11 o’clock it was back into the sanctuary again for Bible study. told everyone the Bible story about the paralyzed man who was healed by Jesus after his friends lowered him down through the roof.

The morning of ministry ended with a simple but delicious lunch of hot dogs, chips, and cookies prepared and served by a couple of deacons and deacon’s wives from our church.

I sat around and ate lunch with a few different people to try and get to know them. I also made a few more balloon hats, dogs, and swords for those children whose first ones had popped.

Our denominational associations’ missions outreach director, Jeff, asked if he could “take advantage of my talents in the future” (his words not mine). I told him any where, any time, any place, for anyone. I am open to ministering to everyone I can.

After lunch it was time to pack up and head for the house. Judging from the smiles on the faces of the children and adults alike the ministry we had provided was a blessing to Iva Baptist Church.

Perhaps the most memorable of the day came right after my ventriloquist performance. As I was straightening up the platform and putting my props away a little girl named Beth came up to me. She had participated in my show by popping a balloon when I asked her to. As everyone else was leaving the sanctuary and Beth came up to me and offered me a bag of chocolate candies. She asked me to give them to Calvin for her. I smiled told her I would and that Calvin would be grateful to get the candy.

The candies (pictured on the right) were a generic version of M&Ms from the Dollar Store. They were part of a gift bag she received earlier in the day. Although they didn’t cost much money she chose to give them away to my friend, Calvin. Her gesture told me that my ministry and message had touched her heart and she wanted to show here appreciation. That my friend is what the morning at Iva Baptist Church was all about. I thank God that he has given me the talent, ability and heart for ministry so I can reach children like Beth with His gospel message.

After I left the church and came home my day was only half over. The second memorable event of my “Rich Full Day” was yet to come. More about that in the next post.