Seeing Old and New Friends in Texas

Pastor Louis Horton and Dr. Bob Ross

We went to Decatur, Texas to Immanual Baptist Church this last Wednesday night. This church is led by Pastor Louis Horton who has been in this church since 1975, and has been the pastor since 2003. Pastor Horton really had the crowds coming out for the Wednesday evening service. My wife and I saw several old friends there starting with Dr. Bob Ross who drove over to hear me present and preach. I was truly honored by this and glad to see Dr. Ross as he has become a very good friend of mine. Also, a young lady by the name of Libby came and spoke to my wife, she just recently moved out here from Madison Baptist Church in Madison, Alabama to attend a linguistics school in the area. We originally met her when we ate dinner with her and her parents while we were at the missions conference there. It was a blessing for my wife to see and talk to her. I was able to present our video and preach the evening message and the folks seemed stirred as several came forward at the invitation time. God is blessing this church and Pastor Horton is doing a great job!

During the week we went to go see Jerrse in Haltom City who we met back in July in Kent, Washington. He and his wife were staying in the room across the hallway from us in the hotel we were staying at back in July. I gave them a tract, but didn't have time to sit down and present the Gospel to them. They are from Thailand, in fact his wife is still currently living in Chiang Mai, and was just here for a visit. When we went to the address in Haltom City that he gave us, his wife was not there, but was visiting someone else. However, we were able to present the Gospel to him. After I finished, he actually gave me a good testimony of salvation. Praise the Lord that he has already trusted Christ as his Saviour. We are hoping to send some missionaries in Thailand by to see his wife when she returns in October so they can witness to her and make sure that she is saved.

Pastor Mansfield singing (behind pulpit)

On Sunday we were with Victory Baptist Church in Commerce, Texas. This church was started in 2016 by Pastor James Mansfield. On Saturday evening there was a men's activity at the pastor's house. There were about nine men that came out for it, which I thought was a pretty good attendance. On Sunday, I taught the adult Sunday school class, it was a blessing. In the morning service I preached, I presented our ministry and then preached the morning service. There was a good crowd of folks filling up the auditorium. It is obvious that God is blessing this new church.

Preaching Sunday morning

Sunday afternoon we headed to the Paradise, Texas area for a meeting at First Baptist Church of Cottondale. This church has been led by Pastor Charles Pugh since 1997. The pastor is doing a fantastic job as they had a good group of people show up clear out in the middle of nowhere. This is a out in the country church! They are currently in the process of remodeling their church auditorium. It is going to be beautiful when they finish it up in the next few weeks.

Pastor Charles Pugh

While there we had a chance to visit with Brother Phil Erickson Junior who is the assistant pastor at this church. His dad was a very good friend of mine from all the way back to my bible college days. In fact I was with Pastor Phil Erickson Senior at Jersey Shore Baptist Church back in 2018, at that time Brother Erickson Junior was there in New Jersey with his dad. It was a blessing to see him and his family again as he has just been working here about three months.

Brother Phil Erickson Junior

During the service time Brother Erickson Junior and his family sang the special. Then I presented the ministry to the folks and preached the evening message. Many seemed to enjoy the message and we had several come and speak to us about Thailand and the great need there. Please pray for them as they finish up their remodel and their church continues to go forward reaching this area for Christ. Also, pray for us as we will be having several meetings in Nevada.

Brother Erickson Junior and family