Hello Folks,
If you were not here this past Sunday p.m. you should have been. The church family met in the Family Life Center and had a wonderful Christmas dinner with each other. We had about 10 new folks who have started attending our congregation in the past year with us and over 200 of the rest of you. Those individuals who worked so hard to make it so successful deserve our thanks. David Dotson and his ministry team worked hard to set up, clean up, serve and do all the other things that had to be done. All of you who cooked and brought food did a wonderful job as well. Something that I noticed was the fact that many of you did all you could to get to know the newer folks to our congregation. Inspite of the cold and the snow we had a good turn out and for that I am very thankful.
Ruth and I will be going to visit our children and grandchildren in Indiana and Illinois next week and will miss being with you over next Sunday. I am thankful that you allow me the privilege of taking my vacation at this time of year so I can spend this holiday with my family. We look forward to being with them and watching them as they open gifts and enjoy the company of the entire family. I pray that you have the same opportunity this year. May you enjoy the company of those you love so dearly and may God make this Christmas season be filled with His grace in your life.
As we move toward the new year I ask you to pray that I will be able to give the leadership that is needed for our congregation. One of the great desires I have is to fulfill the will of God in my life individually and to be able to provide the direction that He wants for this congregation. I need you to pray for me so that I can hear the voice of God where this matter in particular is concerned. We must reach souls for Jesus Christ and we must develop people so they can be reproducing disciples in the Kingdom of God. The pastoral and adminstrative staff is working hard in an effort to figure out how we can best do that. The Stewards want to do the things that are needed for us to fulfill the call of God in all of our lives. We need your prayers.

May He Bless you all,

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,
This past week-end was very cold with some snow and our attendance showed it. Anytime East Tennessee gets just a little snow people will stay home and I have come to realize that. After having lived in Illinois for 21 years and being raised in Ohio I have been used to snow but folks around here just are not! Besides that some of the side roads around here are pretty narrow and have a lot of curves so that adds to the danger. We pastors hate to see a snowy week-end.
Sunday p.m. we had our True Love Waits ceremony where our youth who have completed about a 3 month series of training pledge themselves to sexual purity. We had about 15 youth who had never been through it and they committed themselves to being what God woud have them to be in their lives. They pledged in front of the congregation to wait until marriage to engage in sex. We always have a lot of visitors for that service and last Sunday p.m. was no exception. Anita Miller, our youth pastor, always does an excellent job in teaching the youth and in making that worship time special. Thanks to Anita for all her good work along with all of the other youth workers and counselors. What they do is of the utmost importance in the lives of those young people.
As part of the True Love Wait sermon we honored about 8 couples who were in attendance and who had been married over 50 years. We placed their wedding photo's on the screen and had them stand to be honored. I also read some of the information that we had about their lives. It was very insightful for me to look at those individuals and see how they have given their lives to each other and to the Lord through those years. God is really good and allowing us to have those kinds of role models is absolutely amazing.

May He Bless you today,

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,
What a wonderful week-end we had. The attendance was good and the worship was marvelous. You should have seen the decorations that were provided by Carolyn Hartman and her team. It was my priviledge to get to interact with them a little and to watch as they poured themselves into making our sanctuary so attractive. I am thankful for all of them and their sacrifice of time and effort to make our congregation so appealing for the holidays.
Many of you are probably not aware of it but our congregation is a place where we equip and prepare men and women for ministry to the larger church family. Junior and Lori Burchell have been called by the White Pines Church of God to be their pastor, Dorthy and Keith Hall have been called by the Campground Church of God to be their Associate Pastor and, finally, John and Heidi Deyton have been called the Tacoma Church of God to be their Interim Pastor. We do not know how far reaching their ministries will be but know this you have invested yourselves into the lives of these people and your ministry is reaching beyond our walls. I wonder who will be the next ones that God will give us to prepare for ministry both here and in other locations. Some of them may be the person that sits next to you and you should be invovled in helping them grow for Jesus.
Ruth and I ate 3 different Thanksgiving dinners and had a wonderful time at the homes of our church family. I appreciate you for enabling us to be part of your lives outside of this building. What a joy it is to walk with you and to enjoy your families. God is really good to Ruth and me.

May He bless you all,

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,
If you were not here in our worship this past Sunday you should have been. The Lord spoke to hearts and our altars were literally filled with families. What an amazing moment it was as I saw fathers praying that they would be able to give leadership to their families as God would desire. I am thankful for the men in this congregation who have a heart to be the leader in their family that God desires them to be. I watched some fathers as they kissed their children and I saw a tenderness that moved my heart.
This week is Thanksgiving week and I pray that all of you have a wonderful time with your families. Ruth's brother is going to be visiting with us this week and we will get her mother out of the Care Facility that she is in and we will celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with a number of our friends. We will go to Gary and Kathy Collins at 11 a.m., then to Rosa Lee Jones in afternoon and about 5 p.m. we will go to Eric and Anita Millers home and celebrate with them. By the time we finish the day I will be stuffed! But I will also be thankful for all the people who love us and who I love. We was also invited to some others homes but we would have to extend Thanksgiving to Friday and Saturday to get them all in.
Ruth and I would love to be with out children but we realize that we are really blessed to have such a wonderful church family. I wonder what people do who are isolated due to their own desire or to their circumstances. I pray that I will be a little more caring toward others and hope that you will as well. May our Lord bless you as we go into this Christmas season.

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,
These past couple of weeks have been extremely busy. I spent 3 days out of town in a conference and meetings. That always throws me behind in taking care of the work that must be done.
You should have been with us on Nov. 7 for our concert of prayer. What a time of worship it was! Ther was a moving of God's Spirit in our time and people were really praying. We had a couple of songs but then we provided some direction on what to pray about and moved it from one issue to another. In that process God came and lives were changed for Him. I have had people say that they think we should have a concert of prayer on a regular basis. What I decided to do was to seek the heart of God on this and when He wants us to repeat it we will. Sometimes it becomes very easy to take something that God has blessed and turn it into the common. That is what we want to avoid so please pray that we hear the voice of God on this subject.
I know that Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away but I am already getting invitations for Christmas class parties. It seems like this year has sped by. Dale Gruver and I have been working on Advent sermons and attempting to utilize technology in what we are doing. Sean Knight has been working to help us to present these messages with a little different flare and I probably would not be able to do it without the help of these fellows. They are really working at helping me to do somethings in a different way. Pray for us in this.

May the Lord bless you all.

HGRudd

Hello Folks,
We are already in the month of November and it appears to me that this year has raced by at an exceptionally fast pace. The month of October was Pastor's Appreciation Month and I would like to thank all of you for your wonderful cards, gifts and your kind words. It is a pleasure for me to be the pastor of this congregation and I pray that God will enable us to move forward to build the kingdom of God and this local congregation for His glory. Last Sunday night after worship there was a celebration time for "Pastor's Appreciation" and I want to all of you who made it possible. Thank you David Dotson our Steward of Fellowship and your wonderful team that did so much work in making that come about. I really loved the baked potatoes and the time with all of you.
In the month of November I will be preaching about the family starting Nov 14 and if you would like to invite your friends to come during that time it is a wonderful opportunity for them to hear God's plan for the family. On Nov. 14 I will preach "The First Earthly Family" and look at what took place with that family and how we can learn from it. This is often a great time to invite people that you know to be part of our worship.
Starting Nov. 28 through Dec. 19 I will be preaching on The King. The sermons will be: Nov. 28 "The Family of the King"; Dec 5 "The Coming of the King"; Dec 12 "The Purpose of the King" and Dec. 19 "Relationship with the King". We will be providing invitations that I hope you will use and help us make this Advent a time of reaching people for the King.
Last Saturday the Choir had a get-together at Locust Springs and I really enjoyed the time of fellowship and celebration. Dale Gruver and those who worked so hard to make it a great time helped me enjoy our choir members and their families.

May the Lord Bless you all,

Pastor HGRudd

Hello Folks,
The past two weeks have been filled with the blessings of God. In the last two weeks we had two people come to the Lord for salvation in our worship, both of them probably in their 30's, and we had at least one person recommit their life to Jesus. What a blessing that has been and I give praise to our Savior for all His wonderful blessings.
Ruth came home last night after 9 days visiting our children and grandchildren. It is a possibility that our daughter and her husband may have a job transfer to Houston, Tx. Ruth and I are not that thrilled about it but we understand that these things take place. We will probably know by Christmas whether this will come about. If they do go they will have to live there at least 3 years before they could go back to Illinois. Yet if our son-in-law is to move up the ladder where his work is concerned this may have to take place or it could slow him down for a number of years. Pray that God's will be done in this! Since He is in charge I am very happy to allow Him to work it out for our good.
You know that sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the problems of life and to miss out on the good things that God gives. As I look at my life I realize that God has been far better to me than I could ever deserve and I give praise to Him. He has allowed me to pastor this congregation and even though there have been, and will be, difficult moments I find that He is always providing direction and help. I am sure that you would find this to be true as well if you were to look closely.

Yours In Christ,

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,
If you were not with us Sunday Oct.17 at Locust Springs you should have been. What a wonderful afternoon and evening it was. We had a wonderful dinner, thanks for the donation of meat, and all the work that went into setting things up by the David Dotson and the Fellowship Team. Also thank you for all who made food and brought it out, especially the corn! After we ate we had a worship time with the singing of hymns, a special by Teresa Hensley and a sermon. As I looked at the children playing and the people of all ages that sat there it brought to my heart the fact that we have great opportunities and challenges in front of us. Of course that is true at any time. But I wondered out loud if we were willing to "suffer the little children" and help them to hear the great message of Jesus. Then I talked about how there is a great change in our time, almost seismic in nature, and that if we were not willing to "suffer" some of the things that we do not like to enable the next generation to see these great truths that we would miss our time. In a couple of weeks I will be preaching a sermon titled "Our Challenge" and will attempt to bring some of these thoughts to you as well.
In our Sunday a.m. worship we had a woman saved and I ask you to pray for Carla Bailey. I preach on the subject that "God Has A Church" and she saw her need of salvation and came to the Savior! What a glorious moment that was and I am praying for more moments like that and ask you to do the same.
I have been blessed to be part of this congregation for over nine years and pray that God will use me to fulfill His will among us. Please pray that I do exactly that.

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,
I have been reading two books that have really stimulated my mind. One of them is "Who Stole My Church" by Gordan MacDonald and it was really insightful into the problems that exist in our society today as congregations either attempt to shift to speak to the generations that are to come or if they will refuse to address those issues. If you want to have an easy, but extremely insightful, read I would recommend that you get this book. I happen to believe that most of Christians really do want to reach our world but that most of us want to do so without it costing us anything.
The other book that I have just began is titled, "Serious Times" by James Emery White and as the title implies it is of a more serious nature. This deals with the cultural and intellectual mindset that is taking over our society. While I am only 50 pages into this book it is something that is causing me to think as I consider the educational climate in the institutions of higher learning and, even, in our primary and secondary levels. It would appear to me that the viewpoint that religion is something that shoudl not be dealt with in public is common, if not the dominating viewpoint. Christianity is seen as one religion among many and that all of them are of the same value. While we have had many religions for centuries the viewpoint that they are all on equal footing is somewhat new but even more that none of them, including Christianity, has the truth is becoming the common understanding.
While these two books are different they actually are dealing with the same issue. What will the church of God do? How will we face this great challenge of our day? Will we roll over and play dead or will we stand up and fight the battle? Fighting the battle means that we must proclaim truth but do it in a manner that will be listened to by our generation and the next one as well.
These are some of things that are on my mind. I hope this stimulates you into thinking about this rather than just living another day.

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,
Here we are with a new month upon us. Sometimes I wonder how it is that time moves along so quickly. This month I saw my 59th birthday come upon me and still feel like I am much younger--how much I am not sure but much younger. Things here at the church continue to be challenging. As most of you probably know the finances are very tight and we have been working to make sure that we are doing all we can to be good stewards of the resources that God gives to us. Of course it would be much better if we could get everyone in the life of the church to follow the biblical principle of tithing but we have what we have and we will do what we must do to ensure that we pay our bills. Noah's Ark is doing ok at this point even though we are still not out of the woods completely. The actions that have already been taken are of great help but we must be very careful with what we do. The current economic climate certainly is making us revisit some of the ways we do ministry.
The pastoral staff has been working on developing what we are calling The Institute of Christian Living or ICL. It will consist of a number of classes offered at multiple times and as a person finishes all five levels they would receive a star for each level. We are working on the class curiculuum but do not anticipate being able to have it start before September of 2011. I ask you to pray with us as we attempt to find new and better ways of moving people from entrance into our congregation to being a full participant in the life of kingdom ministry here.
I pray that the Lord bless you all.

Yours In Christ,

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,
I have been reading a book called "Who Stole My Church" by Gordon MacDonald and it has been very insightful and challenging for me. I am only 55 pages into it but I just read a chapter that has caused me to think. By the way if you get the chance to read this book do so and see if it impacts you like it is impacting me.
Due to this book I want to see if you would help me on a project that I am trying to formulate in my mind. If you can would you send me suggestions on how we could better use technology in the life of the church. This means in sermons, music, communication and anything else that you might come up with. Please be as detailed as possible since I am really behind the curve on this issue. This is important to me because I have watched as our young people go into college and it seems that we lose them to the life of the church. I want to find something that will work without giving up the biblical message. Help me out here--I need your input. If you could make any changes that you wanted what would they be.
Phyllis Newby is with us this week. We will have a special service on Saturday Sept 25 at 7 p.m. with video about Haiti, Phyllis telling us about the ministry, Dr. Mark the surgeon, and Rick Coffey the fellow that is giving over sight to the building issues. These inidividuals will be with us and and I pray you can come. On Sunday p.m. Phyllis will preach in our p.m. worship. This should be a wonderful time for you to learn more about what is taking place in Haiti and how the dollars you have given will be used.
Have a great day.

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,
I was reading the paper last night and saw where Baileyton had a celebration day and that in that celebration they had a parade (Someone here at the congreagtion had already told me about it but when I saw it in the paper I was very pleased as well). As I continued reading I saw where Locust Springs had entered a float in the parade and won first place. Congratulations to all of those who worked so hard to make it something that honors the Lord and presents Locust Springs Retreat Center in a good light to the community. Locust Springs is a gift to our congregation and allows us to impact untold lives in a manner that we would not be able to if it were not for that great ministry.
This past Saturday was 9/11/10 and our nation remembered that it was nine years ago that we were attacked by radical Muslims who succeeded in murdering almost 3000 people. I ask you to pray for those families who lost loved ones and to pray for our enemies as well. But do not forget that that same strain of radical hatred for the United States and for non-Muslim people is still present. Be ever vigiliant as a child of God to serve our Lord Jesus Christ and be very much aware that there are people who hate us for our Savior's sake.
It also just so happened that I celebrated nine complete years as the senior pastor of this congregation. It has been my privilege to serve you and to provide leadership for this congregation. I have undoubtedly made mistakes so I ask you to pray that my heart and mind would have the will of God poured into them. It is my desire to continue serving you in the years to come if the Lord is willing.
One other reminder is that Jed Jones is currently serving in Afhganastan and that Tyler Aiken is to be deployed there soon. Heath Smith is also serving our nation and us here in the U.S. and I ask you to pray for all of these young men as they provide security for us and fight for the principle of freedom for our world.

Love you folks,
HGRudd

Dear Church Family,
This past week-end Ruth and I were able to be with all our children and grandchildren at a Retreat center in Ohio. We arrived Friday night and left Monday a.m. What a joyful time we had as we spent time together. On Sunday morning we decided to attend Peebles Church of God which was about 20 minutes from where we were staying and they asked me to preach. Of course, I agreed and we had a great time.
During this time there was something that happened that made me think about the way our lives intersect with others. The pastors wife talked to us and told us that she had been in Martha, Ky at the church of God when I preached in 1978. She had been a young person and remembered that Sunday morning so many years ago. I wonder how many people will say to us at some point in our lives that they remember when we did such and such a thing. Our lives impact others in ways we may never know but there I was 32 years later as this Pat Keaton told me about our intersection of life in a little church in Martha, Ky. It is amazing how God uses us in our lives.
While on our 4 day vacation I watched the people in the camp ground and was reminded that there are all kinds of people in this world. We took our grand daughters to the lake that was there and as we sat there we heard all kinds of talk and saw people from all kinds of backgrounds. But the one thing that was obvious to me was the need that men and women have for Jesus. When we left the camp ground to go to church there did not appear to be others who were doing the same thing. Due to the size of the camp ground there were probably a few others that I did not see but there were not very many. I wonder how many Christian people were there and chose not to go to corporate worship? It would appear to me that the Christian witness of being part of Sunday worship is of great importance but that there are others who see it as of secondary importance. Who will be effected by their choices? Just a question.

Pastor H. G. Rudd

I pray you are all doing well in this new week. This past Sunday was a wonderful day at least for me. On Sunday a.m. I believe that the Spirit of God moved and we were able to worship in a marvelous manner. Dale, our worship pastor, was at a wedding in Pennsyvania and the youth choir and worship team led and it was really good. God spoke through them and then it just seemed to me, maybe I am prejudiced, that the sermon was well received, we had some at the altar, and hearts were moved. Then as part of the p.m. service we had a baptism with 13 people being baptized. They invited friends and family and we had 327 in the p.m. worship. Once again I believe God spoke to people and what will happen with that will only be known in eternity.
It seems to me that God has been moving in my heart and I am waiting to see what He will do in that. As I sat in worship Sunday my heart was moved and I just knew that He wanted to do something special in our congregation not just in that service but in our ministry here. I ask you to pray that I will be open and be able to hear His voice as He would direct. This coming Saturday I meet with the pastoral staff to work on some direction on how to reach people for Christ, how to help them learn, and how to help them become involved in ministry. We must get folks who come to become part of what takes place for God here. I ask you to pray with me about this.
May He bless you all.

Yours In Christ,

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,
This past week has been very busy as usual. Ruth and I took our 2 granddaughters to meet their father in Florence, Ky on Monday . They had stayed with us for about 3 weeks and we had a great time with them. I am thankful that they got to be with us. The oldest, Bailey, went to Wednesday night youth two times and enjoyed it greatly. She told us that she wished that she had a "church" like this to attend where she lived. Breanne enjoyed the children's church, Sunday p.m. and Wednesday night ministries for her age. I asked her and in her brief way she said that she liked it. I want to thank the congregation here for giving so much of themselves to make people like Bailey and Breanne to feel at home. It is that kind of atmosphere that attracts folks here.
Most of you probably know by now that we have had to make major changes in Noah's Ark. Due to the state of Tennessee providing pre-k at tax payer expenses and the ecomony our census had gone from about 75 this time last year to 46. We had to implement cost cutting measures to keep it alive. The congregation could not supplement their needs without endangering the rest of our ministries. As a cost cutting measure we released our Director, Sandy Gammon and 3 teachers. We also had to increase cost to parents by $5 a week per child and a couple other painful steps where employees are concerned. I regret that this took place but if we were to keep Noah's Ark we had to do those very things. We had no other options that we thought would be successful for us. I ask you to pray for the teachers and interim director, Barbara Ziliox, as we work to make Noah's Ark a ministry that is sustainable in our community.
Tonight we will be having our Annual Business meeting and attempting to give all the information I can about the state of the congregation. If you would like to read some of the reports they will be on our website and I hope they will be helpful to you. If you have any questions just let me know and I will do my best to answer them for you.

Yours In Christ,

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,
This has been a very busy week for me. I had a niece and her family, 6 of them, have a vehicle break down and they came to stay with us during the repair time. They were with us for three nights and it was a pleasure having them there. But we also have had 2 of our grand daughters with us so that made for a full house. Fortunately, the girls are around the same ages and they did really good together. I then took them to get their vehicle on Tuesday and now they are safely back in Lousiana.
This week I received an e-mail from someone who has attended this congregation but had to move our of the area due to work. I want to share the e-mail with you so you can hear her words and know the importance of what she is talking about.
"I never knew that moving would be this hard. I am not homesick for Greeneville, I am not homesick for my house. I do miss my parents but I am HOMESICK for my Church. It took us years to find a Church we loved and when I got this job, I prayed and I feel God led me. I have cried so many times because I am homesick for my church. I have not went out and found a new one. I have two "excuses" for that, one is things have been so crazy since moving and two is the dread of not finding the right one and starting the "process" all over again.

I did not write this for a pity party, I am writing this to let you know how each of you and your congregation touch others' lives. When my neighbor came over to tell me about their daughter I immediately starting calling people with the First Church of God in Greeneville TN.
I knew they would stop what they were doing and start praying for this family. I got an email from Carolyn Hartman telling me about how the church came to their knees for a family they had never met. You all are so amazing and I love each of you more than you will ever know. I have made friendships within this church that will stay with me wherever I go. Please let the congregation know to keep up the good work, as new visitors come in it is imperative to go make them feel welcome and be there when they need them. So many times I have walked in a church and no one has come up and made us feel welcome. First Church is wonderful at this and I hope everyone realizes what an impact they can make in lives by doing this.

Please continue to keep the Beckett family in your prayers. They are an awesome family and even during the loss of their daughter stopped to invite me and the spouse to a study group at their house starting in September so we are going to try this Church. So please continue to remember my family as we would love to find another Church that accepts, loves and leads us in the right direction."

It is vital that we love people and help to make them part of this congregation if they are going to say with us. A lot of their decision about making this their church home will depend on our decisions on how we are going to open up to them.

Well, have a great day--May our Savior bless you.

Yours In Christ,

HGRudd

Well this pastor week has been very exciting. We been in the East Tennessee Camp meeting here in Greeneville but many of you were in attendance. Let me simply say that our choir was very much in attendance and provided help in the worship services. Pastor Dale help by playing keyboard and leading the choir two nights. Our Youth were a very ample presence in the Youth Choir on Wednesday night which Thomas Erwin led. What a wonderful group of people we have at this congregation! God has blessed us immensely.
Then this past Sunday we had one man saved that we have been praying for for some time. Chris Gosnell made a commitment to Christ and now we need to pray for him that he will start the growth process in Jesus. One of the great responsibilities that we have is to help men and women to grow up in Jesus.
On a personal note my son, Bob, visited with us for 6 nights and then left his two daughters, Bailey and Breanne with us until Aug. 16. What a joy it was to have time with my son and to have him leave his wonderful daughters with us. They always bring us great joy. Then this past Saturday my sister and her crew of 20 came in to stay at Locust Springs until Thursday monring. Clis and Gary will then come and stay with Ruth and I for two more nights but their children and grandchildren will go back to Ohio and Indiana. We had a great time with them and I enjoyed the talk and fun times with my family. I am also thankful for Locust Springs and Connie and Tad McBride for providing such a marvelous location and facitilies for them to stay in---there is no way they could have all stayed with me.
Well, I pray that you all will have a great time in the Lord over this week. It is just a matter of days before many of our young people will be back in school. Young people I pray that God bless you and enable you to adjust to a new school year.

Yours In Christ,

Pastor H. G. Rudd

It was my privilege this July 19-25 to preach the Camargo, Ky camp meeting. It was extremely hot but that did not dampen the spirit of those who were there. As a young man I attended Camargo a couple of time in the 1970’s but had been unable to give the time to it since then. It was a real pleasure for me as I preached 8 times and led 4 conferences as well as attending 5 other worship services. While I was there I preached on the truths that God has blessed our Movement with and found the people to be very receptive. I want to thank you for enabling me to do this.
The life of our congregation is filled with all kinds of events and investments of time and money. On July 19 our youth returned from a trip to Florida where they went to our International Youth Convention. Anita Miller, our youth pastor, took a total of 53 youth and counselors with her and they were able to have a marvelous time in the Lord. Thank you Anita along with all your counselors and the parents who made this happen.
Our Faith Promise Campaign will be on August 15 with Dr. and Carolyn Sirker being our guest speakers. For those of you who do not know the Sirkers they work at our Missions Compound in Nicaragua. I have had the privilege of meeting them and seeing their work first hand and you will not regret getting to hear about the lives that are being helped and changed through the efforts of this congregation there as well as their leadership. I ask you to pray about the part you play in missions and ask God to guide you on what you would promise. Remember Faith Promise is not taking money from anything you currently do or receive! But it is believing that God will give you money from an unexpected place and you will be the conduit through whom He sends it to missions work. Our missions steward, Kim Trantham, and her team have been working hard to make sure we are ready for this time will you pray that we see the will of God done in it all?

Well this past week has gone fast and it has been filled with all kinds of things that are common in the life of the church. We see people who are in the hospitals, visit people in the nursing homes and in their own homes. Death, birth and everything in between are the common things that take place here.
One of the difficult pieces that come to play in the life of our congregation is the attempt to figure out what should be done to enable us to move forward as a local body of believers. I have been reading a book, "Taking Your Church to the Next Level" and the subtitle is What got you here won't get you there" by Gary L. McIntosh. Therein lies the problem--I find that I know how to get to where we are at but it is a struggle learnign what must take place for us to move foward. I ask you to pray with me on this issue because I believe that God wants us to win souls, grow disciples and honor Him in all that we do. I cannot reconcile not moving forward with the mission of the church or the Person of our God. Pray that the local congregation, the pastoral staff, the administrative staff, and other leadership will be able to see what our God desires.
I will be in Camargo, Ky preaching the campmeeting there next week. Pray that God will be present and that we will hear from Him. Have a great week.

HGRudd

This past Sunday was July 4 as you all know. But we really had a marvelous Sunday here at Greeneville First Church of God. Our worship was filled with the presence of God and I was thankful to be back from Haiti and with the church family here. Then we went out to Locust Springs Retreat Center for the evening worship. We started with just some play time for families and their kids then we had dinner at 5 p.m. The folks who put it together did a great job. There was fried chicken and you know that any preacher loves that. Thank you David Dotson and your team with special thanks to Gordon and Betty Aldridge. At 6 p.m. we had a worship service with the youth worship team leading. Once again they did an excellent job and I think that God was pleased with what they did. At 7 p.m. we had a dedication service for the new Chapel and it was packed full. Those individuals who made it a possiblity should be given thanks but there are too many to mention here. I would just say to the Locust Springs governing board that you are doing a wonderful job and to those who did the physical labor and gave financially I want to thank you for providing such a wonderful additon to Locust Springs. At dark the youth provided fireworks, thanks Anita, and many stayed out to see them--of course, some of us older ones left before that took place. What a wonderful Independence Day we had. We should obvious give thanks for those who have paid such high prices to make that day possible and we should also give thanks to God who is the ultimate Provider for all of us.

Well, I returned from Haiti last night after being gone for one week. During that time I was privledged to preach 7 sermons and to teach one lesson. I also attended a baptism service that began at 4:30 a.m. and went until 7 p.m. We had to walk about 2 miles to get to the sea where they baptized about 20 people. I was also able to attend a wedding ceremony that had 3 couples being married. On Thurs-Sat worship morning services began at 7:30 a.m. and went until 10:00 a.m. During the evenings they began at 5:30 p.m. and went until at least 8 p.m. They would sing for 2-3 hours and then I would preach. There were 7 people who gave their hearts to Jesus during those worship services.
We participated in a water and clothing handout at a local congregation. You could not imagine what that was like unless you were there. The people were pushing and shoving and attempting to get all that they could. I guess I might be like that if I lived in their conditions. Some of the homes since the earthquake are nothing more than tents and tarps. There were literally thousands of those. Others had concrete homes or mud thatch homes that had dirt floors and where numerous family members shared the same bed. The living conditions are horrible and the countryside is filthy with trash everywhere.
The roads were horrendous. Even the good one was dangerous to travel on as there are no lane markings and people drive as fast as they can and there is no one to attempt to enforce any traffic laws even if they had them. Buses traveling at 70 miles an hour, small pick up trucks loaded to where bumpers were almost touching the ground, people everywhere standing around, or attempting to make a living by selling trinkets. The mass of people pushing and shoving is absolutely amazing.
Phyllis Newby is recovering from malaria and typhoid. The compound where we stayed houses about 70 orphans, has a hospital that is serviced by local doctors and nurses and, of course, houses missions work camps. We slept on the third floor where there were about 40 beds but there were only 7 of us who were there at the time. There are no walls on that level only a tin roof. It was miserable hot but up there we did have a breeze. The rest rooms were about 200 feet away and there was only cold water. It made for interesting showers as you were attempting to get your breathe after the cold water hit you. Jerlee Ottinger did much of the cooking and caring for folks. What an amazing woman she is who at 80 years of age is still making that trek to serve the people she has fallen in love with.
My daugher, Debby, went with us and I was blessed to have her share this adventure with me. Of course, she attempted to take her mothers place by telling me what to do all the time. We went together to St. Marks, a large town, the streets are still more dirt and rock than anything else and the amount of people who are at every point is amazing. Again there are no traffic laws so vehicles were turning everywhere and coming from every direction.
I am wonderously blessed by being able to go there and by being part of a congregation that is filled with people who believe that they are called to be part of the ministry all around the world. Thank you all for your wonderful love and support and for just being you.

Pastor H. G. Rudd

Hello Folks,

There has been a lot of things that have taken place over the past few days. Camp Greene hosted the Junior Camp with 92 total in attendance and 13 of those were young folks from our congregation. The week after that (last week) Teen Camp took place with 40 plus youth there. In addition to that Amy Luttrell was there both weeks leading those camps. Nice going Amy.

There was also a Nursery workers thank you dinner two Sundays ago with 100 workers present led by Anita Ricker. Then last Friday and Saturday David Gefellers led a Father/Son camp out at Locust Springs. I went and the food and fellowship was great but I did not spend the night. You should have seen those young folks, and a few dads, go down the water slide it looked like fun but I refrained from doing it as I did not want to bruise this old body.

On Wed. Jun 23 I will be leaving for Haiti to preach a series of meetings for our brothers and sisters there. My daughter, Debby, will go with me and we will be staying at Saintard where Phyliss Newby is director of the Missionary Compound. I ask you to pray that the sermons will be what God desires and that this preacher with his funny accent can relate to the people of Haiti. We will be there for one week and I look forward to what God is going to do.

Remember that on July 4 we will have our p.m. worship at Locust Springs. We will have a cookout and worship then a brief dedication service for the new Chapel. You really need to be there for the worship and fellowship but also to see how marvelous Locust Springs is. You may not know but Connie and Tad McBride are the caretakers and they are doing a great job taking care of the facilities. Raymond Shelton and many others gave of their time and efforts to help build the new Chapel and I pray that you will come and celebrate that time with us. It is also my understanding that youth will be sponsoring a fireworks display once it gets dark. So come and enjoy our time together.

May the Lord bless you all.

June newsletter

Dear Church Family,

Here we are with my very first attempt at a blog. I wanted to simply say to each one of you that it is a joy to be able to be involved in ministry with you. I pray that this week will bring joy to you and the wonders of God for your life.