Hello Folks,
The weather has been really nice here in East Tennessee and I for one have been enjoying it. Of course, I would be happy if the tempature never got below 60 degrees. The cold tempatures here have effected everyone by doubling and, in some cases, tripling our heat bills. That has been difficult for many folks and this warm weather has been a big help.
Our worship in both the a.m. and p.m. this past Sunday was really good, at least from my perspective. We had a number of new folks here and the Spirit moved in hearts. I wonder sometimes how to measure whether we were "successful" with what takes place. Most of the time it is a matter of whether anyone comes to the altar and how I "feel" about what happened. Could it be that much more takes place in the pew without anyone ever moving out of their seat? Could it be that I "feel" good but that no one else does? Those are some of the questions that I have. Maybe it is more an age issue for me. I am 59 and getting older so could it be that I am wondering if I have invested my life correctly? Let me simply say that spending over 30 years a pastor has been something I would not change even though I have had times when I did not get it done right. It has been my privilege to see people have life changing encounters with the Savior and that has been amazing.
This past Sunday I had a man come to me and say that he wanted to grow in Jesus and wanted his family to do better at it than he had done. This had a profound impact upon me! How do I help people like that to grow in Jesus. I told him that I would contact him about working together to learn what it meant to grow in Christ. I have that to do this week. Others came to me for other issues Sunday but that man's desire moved my heart! Pray that God use me to help that individual to grow in Christ.

H. G. Rudd