Bro Fain Jordan
We were able to go hear Bro. Fain Jordan preach last Tuesday night. He preached a tremendous message titled "God Made the Winter Also." His text verse was Psalm 74:17 which says "thou hast made summer and winter." He preached about the cold times in a Christian's life. We all like to pretend that things are always warm and sunny in our lives, but that is not always the case. He spoke of Job 37:10 which says "By the breath of God frost is given." Understanding that even the low times are from God will help you in the winter seasons of your life. During the winter, a lot of the vines and pests that would harm you are killed by the cold. So it is in our life. During the winter we shed a lot of useless things in our life that would choke out our desire for God. Job said, "Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?" During your winter moments, seek the treasures God has for you.

Bro Gary Hill
On January 22, we were priviliged to have the Gary Hill family, church planting missionaries to the Hispanics in America,in our service. Bro. Hill's family did a great job singing and then he did a great job preaching. There is a great need for doctrinally sound Spanish speaking churches in the United States. We thoroughly enjoyed hearing about this great work. We have photos from this meeting in our photo gallery.

New Church Sign
It has definitely been a busy month for us here at Messiah Baptist Church. We finally got our new sign installed. We are thankful for this.

Bro. Craig Ogle
Bro. Craig Ogle and his family were with us in ourSunday morning services. He is my brother-in-law who pastors Faith Baptist Church of Sylacauga, Alabama. They arrived in town on Friday night.We had a great time together around Athens on Saturday. As he always does, Bro. Ogle preached a powerful message on Sunday morning. I will try to have the audio message and photos uploaded soon. Bro. Craig's son Brad was diagnosed with a brain tumor several months ago. He underwent chemo and radiation and now has a clean bill of health. When they returned home on Monday, Brad had an an appointment in Birmingham to get the results of a MRI done Friday. Praise the Lord, the tumor is gone and there is no sign it was ever there!

My sister said that the tumor turned out to be a blessing. Brad is an excellent kid. He sings in church and plays the guitar. She said that it has been a very long time since they have even had to correct him. He's as fine a young man as you'll ever meet, yet seeing how he responded during this trial demonstrated his true personal relationship with God. During the chemo and radiation, Brad never once complained. He never used his sickness as an excuse to slack up or turn bitter toward God. Instead, he began to weep as he sang and testified about God's goodness. As Bro. Jordan preached, God made this winter also. It looks like summertime is almost here!