Bartlett Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello 2012! And hello everyone, I hope your New Years was great! Well, I’m back on the road again, and this summit has been truly amazing. It’s been one of the busiest ones by far, but it has been great to get back into the swing of things! I actually left Atlanta and flew back up to Michigan to meet up with some of the team up there. Some of the team drove down in the bus and the truck while me and Senor Nathan drove another truck for some extra transportation. It has been great getting to know the people of Bartlett, Tenn. and to see God work in their lives. So let’s get started then!

The Church

Ellendale Baptist church has about 1000 members and has the unique story of being built building by building over the years to where now there are 7 independent structures for different ministries. Pastor Jerry really loves to get into the Word, and many of His people stood up throughout the summit and thanked him specifically for that. Bartlett is a really interesting town, they have almost one of everything: shops, stores, restaurants, etc. In addition, they also have a church on almost every street corner, so it’s really neat to see such a following from the community in Ellendale. And through slightly older congregation, God really broke through in the areas of church unity, pride, and just having things in our lives that take the place of God. These people were by far some of the nicest people I have met in any church. Whereas normally the team would have to walk up and start conversations, they church members were the ones who were initiating all the conversations with us! They have really blessed me, and I know they have blessed the rest of the team too!

The Ministry

This summit stretched our team in ways that no summit has before. A pastor’s conference called OneCry was taking place right down the road and they wanted us to play for it. What did that entail? Getting up earlier than our Sunday morning call time, working the conference all day, then driving back and doing a summit meeting that night. Needless to say, God was more than faithful. I wrote this little insert that night to explain a little of what happened that day.

Can I share with you what God to me today? It’s pretty amazing. Ok, so today, our team got to lead the ONECRY Pastor’s meeting in Memphis, Tenn at Faith Baptist Church. There were 150+ pastors and guests all coming to find out what Onecry was all about. So we had to get up early, like be at the church at 6:30 early. But lo and behold, Dustin (worship leader) bought us Mcd’s for breakfast, the day was off to a good start. After tons of little tiny difficulties, and God showing His power, the conference got under way, and men such a Bill Elliff and Michael Cait got up and shared their hearts, really crazy stuff. Now lunch, that was what blew my day away. I had asked if I could sit with the other pastors and after getting permission, me and another team member sat down at what appeared a regular table of guys. One of the 4 men was a gentlemen in all African attire by the name of Edmund and he had some incredible stories. He had trusted God to get him over to the US, and then after hearing about One Cry, God provided for the money to get him here. Another gentleman at the table had actually lived right around the area of Georgia that I used to live, almost within 20-30 minutes. The man to my left got into a conversation about sign language and how I learned it and got on the road. I found out that he was a worship leader and that he had a smaller congregation but he enjoyed a lot of the stuff I got to do. After lunch, I got up, truly blessed. One of my friends came up to me, and I just said “Man, lunch was great.” They answered, “Yeah, I can imagine, you had lunch with Clay Crosse.” Who? I know that was the worship leader, but who was he? Turns out, I was sitting right next to a 4 time Dove Award winner and never knew it. God truly blessed my socks off, and he saw it fit to even show me how much he blessed me.

Like I said, we were truly blessed. This summit, I got to stay with Justin Weeks, a happy heart city worker and one hilarious guy! We were able to stay with Stan and Pam Walls, two dear people that have really welcomed us into their home and, along with their dog Sam, into their hearts. We are going to miss them a lot. L

The Team

What can I say? It is so good to back with my second family. It was so cool to see our team meet back in a hotel lobby in Bartlett and just start talking and laughing just like we had never left. So far this summt, some of us have hit the mall, restaurants, we’re even going to play Tennis later today! I think that one of the two highlights for my team has been playing volleyball with the church’s college group, and also going to the Memphis zoo! The host families have been such a blessing, inviting the team over to just have fun, it’s a nice way to relax and just spend some time and laugh. After this summit, I’m really excited to see how God is going to use us this next half of the year!

My Life

Life has been going really good. Or more accurately, God has been really good to me. I have gotten to be in more and more skits for both Base Camp and Happy Heart City, and it’s an incredible blessing (even when the skits go wrong every once in a while J ) Signing is back with singing and it will never cease to amaze me just how God can use it. As I signed some of the nights, I would look out and see people of all ages from a young girl in Base Camp to an elderly gentleman trying to follow along and sign with me. It’s something that I honestly can’t explain in words, it’s one of those “You have to be there to experience it” kind of things. However, God chose to use something else to blow my mind this summit. On the second Sunday, there is a time for people to come back and talk about salvation. I got the honor of talking with a man named Chris, who was just confused about where he was. After about 10-15 minutes, I had no idea what else to say, and so I felt God just say “Don’t worry, just pray.” So we prayed and I asked him to read 1 John. Imagine my joy when he came up to me the next Sunday night to tell me that he had been saved that Wednesday! I could not believe it. God had chosen this man to come into his family, and I got to see it happen before my eyes. The acting is fun, and the signing is encouraging, but this story really does take the cake for my entire year on the road so far. J

Thanks to you all for your continued support. If you ever want to write me, please do! I love getting mail, email, and I WILL respond! (New Year’s Resolution…kind of ;) I pray that these letters really give you an idea of just how awesome our God truly is. Well, off the play some tennis! Love you all!

Josh