I know, I know I have failed to faithfully maintain my blog. I can tell you that since my last blog entry (which was on foundations, because we had just poured the foundation of our new church building) I have finally completed my PhD and the we have gone from pouring the foundation on our new educational wing, to having completed the project. It has been an exciting few months to say the least.
I'm motivated to blog today to seek your thoughts and prayers over the next month or so. God has granted me several opportunities to serve Him over the next month and my greatest desire is that He would move in great and mighty ways. Please remember the following during your prayer time:
October 15th, 2009, Revival in Lasker-I will be preaching one night for Scott White and the church plant he is serving in Lasker, NC. The service will be held at the Community Building there in Lasker at 7pm. I look forward to spending time with Scott and Tisha and I am so proud of what God is doing in and through their lives. Pray for a great service Thursday night.
October 18th, 2009-New Building Dedication-Come join us for our normal services on Sunday morning and stay for a covered-dish luncheon. Then at 1:30 pm we will have a dedication/ribbon cutting ceremony. This is a special day in the life of Center Grove and a great testimony to God's provision and blessing upon His church. We will have a good number of guests Sunday, so pray God would touch lives, and save souls during the service.
October 18th-21st Revival at Open Arms in Ahoskie-Sunday through Wednesday night I will be in revival services with Open Arms Church and their pastor Joe Lassiter. Pray that God would speak to the hearts of the members of this church, and draw others to the services as well. Also be in prayer that it would be a time of encouragement for Joe and his family.
October 25th-28th Revival at Temple Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC-This will probably be one of the busiest weeks our family has ever had, but I'm really looking forward to it. Sunday through Wednesday night my family and I will spend the week together there in Raleigh. I hope to get over to Southeastern for chapel one day and just enjoy some quality time with my family and then the great honor of preaching the word of God each evening. The theme of the week is "Rise Up O Church of God". I know 2 of the messages I plan to preach already, but pray God would confirm in my heart the messages for the rest of the week. Brian Jennings is the Associate Pastor of Temple, who currently do not have a pastor. Pray for Brian and his family as they labor for Christ and this sister church.
October 29th-November 3rd Mission Trip to Arizona-We get back from Raleigh late Wednesday night, and then leave for the airport Thursday, around 9am. We are going to spend 5 days in Buckeye, Arizona serving with our church planter friends Dennis and Cindy Conner, and Mike and Michelle Bailey. We have 20 people going from Center Grove to do whatever we can to help with the events of the weekend. Crosspointe Church is hosting a bike ride and a family fun night/fall festival and are expecting hundreds of folks to come and we are going to assist them.
I am really looking forward to continued time with Carol Ann, Karis and Caleb (It is Karis and Caleb's first time flying so pray for traveling grace) and also quality time with the crew from Center Grove, and with the folks at Crosspointe. Pray that God would work wonders in our hearts as we serve Him in Arizona. Yes, we are going to see the "big ditch".
November 8th-11th, North Carolina Baptist State Convention-We all need to pray for the leaders of our convention and decisions that will be made at this meeting. May God have His will and may we truly see great things for His glory in our state!
November 14th, Pregnancy Care Center of Ahoskie-I will be speaking at their annual fund-raising banquet, pray that God would use me to both inspire support for this ministry, but even more importantly to speak the truth and life-saving message of His gospel.
November 16th-17th, Revival at St. Johns Baptist Church in Ahoskie-One of our sister churches in the West Chowan Baptist Association. I know many fine people who attend this church and pray our two nights together would be an encouragement to them and that God would be greatly exalted. Pray for the pastor Brian Hall and his family as they strive to lead God's people at St. Johns in obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, as you can see it is a busy season, but I am so excited to embark on it. My greatest prayer is that come the end of November I will able to look back and see how God was glorified and lives where changed in so many ways. I'll do my best to keep you updated here on the blog over the next few weeks. Please help me cover all of these opportunities in prayer and join me in asking God for His presence and power in the weeks and months ahead. Thank you!
Sincerely His,
Tommy Kiker
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Solid Foundation
We are in the process of building a new educational wing here at Center Grove. The men are out laying the block and brick for the foundation. We all know that if the foundation is not right, you are going to have all kinds of problems with the rest of the building.
It is true with the foundation of our lives as well. We must build our life on the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 7:24-29 describes the importance of building our life on Christ:
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Notice the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on both houses. Becoming a genuine Christ-follower does not negate life from happening. It does, however, seal your security in Christ and the ability to rejoice in the storms.
Does your life have a firm foundation? Is it founded on the rock?
I'm going go work on the church building's foundation a little bit (shoveling some dirt), but I pray your spiritual foundation is Christ!
It is true with the foundation of our lives as well. We must build our life on the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 7:24-29 describes the importance of building our life on Christ:
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Notice the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on both houses. Becoming a genuine Christ-follower does not negate life from happening. It does, however, seal your security in Christ and the ability to rejoice in the storms.
Does your life have a firm foundation? Is it founded on the rock?
I'm going go work on the church building's foundation a little bit (shoveling some dirt), but I pray your spiritual foundation is Christ!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Carpet Stains
I noticed something when I was leaving the church fellowship hall Tuesday night after another great deacon's meeting. We really do have a great group of deacons that serve Jesus and Center Grove, but I noticed that a long time ago. What I noticed on the way out of the fellowship hall is all the stains on the carpet.
I was walking beside one of the great leaders of our church, who also cleans those carpets, and we noticed the stains had come back out. See, when he cleans the carpets they look great for a few weeks, but the carpet has gotten older and is so worn that the stains quickly come back. There really is nothing you can do to keep them clean for very long. He said he could clean them again, and I told him to wait until right before the next special occasion.
Why am I bringing this up? Well you know there are a few ways you can take how these stains look. You could respond and say wow, look at those stains they look bad, but you know you can strategically place tables and chairs and you hardly notice them. Some might say, all these children running around here are making a mess of the carpet, and there have been a lot more spills than they used to be. However I must admit a couple of the spills in the last eight years have been made by me or our children. OOPS! Or you could look at it from a different perspective . . .
I realized Wednesday night with nearly 100 people in the fellowship hall eating supper, talking, and enjoying each other's company I did not think about those stains the first time. I just had a wonderful time being with my family, God's family, at HIS church. It was just a wonderful night with people I love being around. You know what? There were children all over the place and it was loud and it was crowded, and I LOVED IT. I really think everybody else did too.
So you know what I will think about the next time I see the stains on the carpet in the fellowship hall? First, I'll be grateful for one who diligently cleans them before major events, but I'll also be grateful for the fact that the stains are there. That the fellowship hall is being used every Sunday to teach adults the word of God in Sunday School (because we need the space), that it is being used every Sunday during worship to teach children about Jesus in a way they understand so their parents can be more attentive (hopefully) in the worship service. That it is used every Monday night so a group of women can study the word of God (book of James right now). It is used every Wednesday for crafts, games, snacks and bible study for youth and children learning about Jesus. I will rejoice that the carpet is getting so much use, wear and tear and accidental spills. Why rejoice? Because God is doing something at His church!
Praise the Lord for the stains on the carpet!
By the way we do plan on changing the flooring in the fellowship hall to something easier to keep clean. Something that can easily be mopped up when something is spilled. Then we will praise the Lord for all that He is doing and for worn out mops!
I was walking beside one of the great leaders of our church, who also cleans those carpets, and we noticed the stains had come back out. See, when he cleans the carpets they look great for a few weeks, but the carpet has gotten older and is so worn that the stains quickly come back. There really is nothing you can do to keep them clean for very long. He said he could clean them again, and I told him to wait until right before the next special occasion.
Why am I bringing this up? Well you know there are a few ways you can take how these stains look. You could respond and say wow, look at those stains they look bad, but you know you can strategically place tables and chairs and you hardly notice them. Some might say, all these children running around here are making a mess of the carpet, and there have been a lot more spills than they used to be. However I must admit a couple of the spills in the last eight years have been made by me or our children. OOPS! Or you could look at it from a different perspective . . .
I realized Wednesday night with nearly 100 people in the fellowship hall eating supper, talking, and enjoying each other's company I did not think about those stains the first time. I just had a wonderful time being with my family, God's family, at HIS church. It was just a wonderful night with people I love being around. You know what? There were children all over the place and it was loud and it was crowded, and I LOVED IT. I really think everybody else did too.
So you know what I will think about the next time I see the stains on the carpet in the fellowship hall? First, I'll be grateful for one who diligently cleans them before major events, but I'll also be grateful for the fact that the stains are there. That the fellowship hall is being used every Sunday to teach adults the word of God in Sunday School (because we need the space), that it is being used every Sunday during worship to teach children about Jesus in a way they understand so their parents can be more attentive (hopefully) in the worship service. That it is used every Monday night so a group of women can study the word of God (book of James right now). It is used every Wednesday for crafts, games, snacks and bible study for youth and children learning about Jesus. I will rejoice that the carpet is getting so much use, wear and tear and accidental spills. Why rejoice? Because God is doing something at His church!
Praise the Lord for the stains on the carpet!
By the way we do plan on changing the flooring in the fellowship hall to something easier to keep clean. Something that can easily be mopped up when something is spilled. Then we will praise the Lord for all that He is doing and for worn out mops!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
It's About Time
Well, I promised that I would not blog again until my dissertation was complete. It is turned in and my defense is scheduled for March 19th. For those of you not familiar with the PhD process, basically what has happened is I have written about a 220 page paper on Samuel J. Mills and the Influence of the Second Great Awakening on Missions and Evangelism. It has gone through revisions with my major professor, and corrections from my incredible wife proofing it. Now what will happen is Dr. Reid, Dr. James, and an outside reader (someone from another university) will read it and tell me all the weaknesses and whether or not I pass or fail. It has been about 8 months of great focus on this project and it is such a relief to be nearing the end.
Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement through this whole process. If you hear somebody shouting on March 19th you will know they passed my dissertation! Thanks again.
Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement through this whole process. If you hear somebody shouting on March 19th you will know they passed my dissertation! Thanks again.
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