A SUCCESSFUL MEETING

Our gospel meeting with Allen Webster concluded Wednesday evening. I hope you enjoyed this meeting and profited from it as much as I did. As I look back on these four days, I believe we can call it a success for several reasons.

The fellowship enjoyed. Most of us have never met Allen or his family before. We have read his writings, perhaps seen his picture, but what a pleasure it was to meet him face to face. It was a great joy to get to know him, Melissa and three of their children. We also had an opportunity to eat a meal together. As the fellowship groups prepared meals each night, we were able to visit with one another as well as with the Websters. Finally, there was the opportunity to fellowship with the visitors to our services. We had some visit from the community, and a good number of visitors from other congregations. What a joy to share such great fellowship with one another.

The attendance. We had wonderful attendance with over 80 for each service and a high of 126 Sunday morning. As stated earlier, we had visitors from the community and area congregations. However, the greatest number was from our own members. I have been associated with meetings where the visitors outnumbered the members. You are to be commended for your faithful attendance as many were here for every service.

The participation. Our song leaders did a wonderful job, but so did the followers. The singing was excellent and perhaps a preview of what we will enjoy in heaven. The worship was offered to God in sprit and truth. You could tell people were listening to the lesson by the rustling pages as you turned to various passages of scripture. For effective communication, and preaching is communication, to take place, there must be a speaker. However, there must also be someone receiving the message and you were doing that very well.

The preaching. Allen did an excellent job in proclaiming the word of God and reminding us why evangelism is so important. I told some Wednesday evening that the way he was preaching I would rather listen to him too. Every lesson was well prepared and presented. I believe we will see the benefits of the lessons well into the future.

The response. There were four public responses asking for the prayers of the church, for which we are thankful. I do not believe those were the only responses. I believe many of us responded within ourselves to be better Christians and better evangelists. Some who are not yet Christians may have responded by a private commitment to study and see what they need to do. God says, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). The word of God was preached; therefore, we know some good was accomplished.

Thank you for your part in making our meeting a success.
--Lamar