Wednesday Writing by Shelly and Scott Keith....God Is On The Move......5/31/17



GOD IS ON THE MOVE

Last week I wrote an introduction to this series which will appear on Wednesdays. It is the story of the travels of Shelly and Scott Keith as they explore the northwest to choose a place for their new home. On the way they will share thoughts and help in a Godly way to the people they meet and every Sunday attend a different church along their route. I have three more weeks to share, and what I am reading gives evidence that our churches and many people in this nation  are giving evidence that they are acting as the hands, feet, and heart of  God.

I am putting the link here for you if you want to go back to last Wednesday to read the introduction of this feature.

http://womensfocusministries.blogspot.com/2017/05/wednesday-writinggod-is-on-move.html




Sunday May 7, 2017

A small church maybe 40-60  Pastor is Ken Ferry

Why did we choose this church?  It is my cousin's church, she and her husband have been attending for several years.

(This is not the actual church that is written about here, but I think it could be a reasonable guess of what this country church could have looked like.)

A happy welcoming church, we were handed a program and a current events calendar for the month of May. It was filled with a Women's retreat, a men's breakfast, a weekly woman's bible study, a weekly home prayer meeting, a column for Happy Birthdays and Anniversaries and the pastor's vision for the church which is GO Matt. 28:18, LOVE Matt. 22:35-40 and BE EMPOWERED Acts 1:8  Then there was a section for people to give and help with the needs of widows, children, the Food Bank and of course the WIFI code.  :-)

There was a small group of singers just 4--- everyone really sounded great.  They belted out the Lauren Daigle song "Dry Bones, Come Alive"  and of course everyone was dancing and singing.  There was lots of praise, we sang several songs and the church was opened up to praise and prayer and struggles the past week---what they wanted to share and what they needed prayer for.  One woman sitting in front of us asked for prayer for her teen-age children who were battling depression regarding this new video game that is called "Blue Whale" which is a game that incites suicide and also a series video game called "13 ways to Die" she cried and asked that the game be banned and that we pray for all the young people who have already died and those toying with these thoughts. I must say I was shocked, I had not heard of such a thing, have you?  Some people were having operations and suffering from cancer and more.

We took a 10 minute break, there were freshly baked cookies and coffee.  We then all settled in for the message.

The pastor preached for about 20 minutes about 1 Timothy chapter 4. The pastor shared that the state of Washington is one of the most UNGODLY states in the US.  According to the Pew Research Center;

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/29/how-religious-is-your-state/?state=Alabama

Of all the 50 states Washington is #44.  (FYI California is #35) He commented that some people will fall away from the faith; they know it but they don't live it anymore. They also fall prey to false teachings and deceiving spirits and flat out lies.  They choose churches that make them feel good or they don't attend at all.  He cautioned everyone about walking on that narrow line of godliness and worldliness and how we become like children and teasingly step over the line into the world and then jump quickly back into the safety of the truth. 

He also shared that all of the churches in the county were going to swap preachers for the next couple of months.  For example: he was going to preach at the bigger church "Christ the King" and their pastor was going to come over here.  He talked about the division within our churches and communities and is everyone preaching the same truth?  "We all have the same God, we are all believers" he said,  why all the segregation?  He reminded us that we come to church to hear the message not the preacher.   I thought about that and wondered if Cornerstone would be open to that?  Crossroads comes to Cornerstone, Sunset goes to Cornerstone and vice versa? Interesting thought wouldn't you say? Would the message be the same? Would it be the TRUTH?

The service wrapped up and we prayed some more and wrote out some prayer requests and put our offering in the box on the wall. We shook the hand of Pastor Ken and thanked him for the message. As we left,  there was sign above the door that read...

 "You are now entering the Mission Field"

Thanks for letting us share - more to come 

          On the Road

                with Scott and Shelly 

I would like to ask the readers to pray for Scott and Shelly for safe travels and for blessings in their work of trying to make a difference for people they meet as they travel.





This is such an eye opening series. Most of us do not have the opportunity to visit a different church every weekend as we travel the backroads of America. So we can travel vicariously with Scott and Shelly, and benefit with increased hope in a country whose news media seems to always report the bad things that happen instead of the good and hopeful things.

God bless

Scott, Shelly, & Corinne