Lebanon Road Report: January 18

It was another uplifting day at Lebanon Road. Our singing was very good and all who led our worship did a tremendous job. Beyond our worship services, it was great day, too.

Before we get to Sunday, though, we have to mention the new addition. If you scroll down to the previous post, you can see a picture of Cleo Cofer, born Saturday morning to Shea and Mandy Cofer. What a cutie! Mandy was baptized into Jesus Christ just a few weeks ago, meaning that Cleo was born into a Christian home. What a blessing for this precious little one! Everyone is doing well, and should be able to go home today if all continues to progress well.

Yesterday morning our attendance was down a bit. We had 318 in worship, with 9 more away at Evangelism University in Savannah, Tennessee. (Lebanon Road folks who are reading this, we need to put forth some effort here!) Those who went to EU learned a lot and I was told they had a great weekend. This really is a good program for young people, as it teaches them lessons, but also gives them specific ways to practice teaching the Gospel. What a great way to spend a weekend!

I preached the last “Christianity 101” lesson yesterday morning. All told, there were 15 lessons in this First Principles set of lessons, and we stretched them out over several months. There are a few more Bible basics to talk about in the future, but we didn’t want this to last too long. I really hope these lessons have been of some help to us all.

We continue to be very excited about our attendance in Bible school and on Sunday evenings. Yesterday, there were 288 who stayed for one of our Bible classes (plus the 9 at EU), and 284 were in attendance last night! While we need to continue to push for more at all services, it is rare to have that type of “return attendance” on Sunday night. It is very exciting.

After our morning services, the young adults had lunch together. We meet once each month for a meal, and it is a great way to enjoy the company of these great people. We are blessed with an active and loving group of young adults at Lebanon Road (with some really active children!).

Then, at 5:00, I met with our VBS planning committee. While the school is still several months away, we wanted to lay the groundwork for a fabulous VBS in 2009. I think we did. Many good ideas were put out, and we finalized a theme and the lessons for each night. But more on that later.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I hope God blesses you with a great week. If you are in or around Nashville next weekend, come by and see us. You’ll be glad you did!