He and I…

Thank you and may God bless you for your interest in this blog! I hope that if you\\\’re a Christian, you will find things here that will bless you in your own Christian walk, and if you do not know Jesus Christ, that you may see something here that would touch your heart and cause you to seek Him as your Savior. Our FFWB Blogosphere is full of reflection and testimony to how Christ has changed our lives, and how He can guide us through the storms in life without losing the joy He has planted in our hearts! It is all a part of desiring to reach out to the world to souls that need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ! While you\\\’re here, be sure to visit the FFWB main site, where you can access archives of free audio sermons, praise music, classes and sermon outlines, as well as daily and weekly devotions. By the Glory of God, we are reaching tens of thousands monthly, around the world, with the messages from God’s Word and interacting with many of these. mobile casino games,download casino games,casino gamesgiochi blackjackgiochi casino pcgioco roulette gratisgioco video pokereuro casinovideo poker machine,video poker,professional video pokergiochi jack blackcasino per pcbaccarat gratisbonus dei casinocasino online in italiacasinos gamesvideo poker online gratiscasino italia gratisgiocare casino onlinecasino en lineagambling casinogioco video poker gratisroulette game downloadcasino paypalcasino bonus benvenutogiochi keno gratisamerican roulettevideo poker on line gratisaprire casino onlinegioco baccarat in lineacasino online mobileroulette on line gratisplay free baccarat onlinecasino on line consistemi roulettegiocare gratuitamente ai giochi di casino on net dovete utilizzare,enquete casino on net,casino on netmetodi roulettevideo poker jack or betterslots onlinevideo poker da bar gratis,video poker gratis,video poker per pc gratisroulette game download,roulette game,casinoeuro com it trygamepage jsp game roulette flashcasino on line legaligiochi casino online gratiscasino games progioco della roulettekeno in lineacasino poker gratisgioco crapsgioco casino gratisvideo poker machinesroulette casinòwww casino online comwin roulette Pastor Vic Redding and Associate Pastor Chris Anderson, as well as all of us at Faith Free Will Baptist

Church welcome you! I pray that you’ll be blessed as you make your way around this journal, and please feel free to comment.

Sense
Of
Urgency for
Lost
Souls,

Steve Forcum

Wow! It’s been forever since I last posted! Actually, I’ve been doing a lot of posting, but on our new website at faithfreewill.org! Drop by, there’s lots there that’ll bless you. Praise God, we’ve had an addition to our membership in Newfoundland, Canada! It’s amazing how God works, even through what we perceive as insurmountable distance. Our “sister church” there has been attending services in a home, where they have a widescreen TV mounted. They actually “attend” services with us by playing DVDs of our recorded services that we mail them. We keep in touch with dialog from Pastor Vic Redding here and Brother Weldon Dearing there in Newfoundland. They have joined Faith Free Will Baptist Church as non-resident members, and there are plans for a number of our brothers and sisters to fly down in June and be baptized here and fellowship with us! Anything is possible through Jesus! There have been many souls saved there, and we constantly pray for more.

This Monday night, 4-21-08, we’re doing something special on our segment on FFWB Prayer Warriors on Blog Talk Radio. Josh Jennings is a brave 18 year old Christian soldier, to whom we have become close as a brother, friend and fellow worshipper at FFWBC. Josh is not only a talented musician and soundman, but also serves his country as a soldier in the US Army. He is returning here from Boot Camp and Special Ops training on the 18th. We’ll get to see him Monday evening, and he asked if we could all meet at Wings-to-Go here in Greesboro, NC, where he worked prior to leaving for boot camp.

Josh will remain here for about a month, and then he’ll be deployed to Iraq. We will have a live webcast on BTR from Wings-to-Go as we fellowship with Josh. We’d love for everyone to join us and call in to edify Josh as he enjoys the R&R in preparation for his deployment. While in training, we kept in touch and he requested prayer that he not only remain in Christ and seek Him in all that he did there, but that he also share the Gospel with his fellow soldiers-in-training. Pray for Josh and, if possible, call in Monday and speak with him!

Now that we’ve got the FFWBC site redesigned and going well, I’ll be blogging here more regularly!

Sense
Of
Urgency for
Lost
Souls,

Steve Forcum

Marlo, of The Joyful Christian Wife, tagged me for a meme on her blog. I never knew such a thing existed, but it looks like fun AND a good way to get to know people all over!

Here are the rules for this meme:

(1) Link to the person that tagged you. (2) Post the rules on your blog. (3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

1) At 50, I’m having strange memory problems. I often call my youngest two of three sons by each other’s name. For some reason, I often call my oldest son by my brother’s name and vice-versa! (Praise the Lord I always remember my wife’s name!)

2) I played very loud music during a large portion of my life, and suffered the loss of the ability to hear certain frequencies correctly, however, I have run the sound board at our church for the last two years. (Does this explain many in the congregation often turning and staring at me in pain, or are they just checking on me?)

3) I love to cook (Crystal says I do well) and have yet to find a food that I don’t love to eat, yet I somehow maintain an average weight for my height.

4) I have a great fear of flying, even after taking some flight school in my early twenties. I used to even get extremely uncomfortable on a ladder more than my head’s height. Now, I’ve either forgotten that fear, or simply know that Jesus is there to catch me, even if I hit the ground.

5) I am basically an extremely shy person, with a deep-rooted fear of being noticed or sharing what I have to offer. However, since I was young those around me have thought the opposite about me. I do know that I could comfortably sit in front of thousands and share my testimony.

6) I speak like a bumpkin. I didn’t realize how backwoods country my voice sounded until I heard it on recordings at church. Why didn’t you guys tell me before I talked so much?

I have tagged these wonderful people:

Tony Thompson at Thoughts in Christ

Lance at Lance’s Soul Searching

Chris at Inside the Mind of a Worship Drummer

Robert, aka Mulled Vine

Darryl at Learning Life’s Lessons

Christian Homekeeper at Christian Homekeeper

Last Sunday, our pastor delivered a message and spoke about how a couple, backing out of the driveway to a vacation destination, were going through a checklist to make sure that they hadn’t forgotten anything. They noted the usual - toiletries, clothing, an iron and even went through the list of everything they were supposed to cut off, like the stove and the curling iron. A little ways down the road, the woman suddenly shrieked in horror and cried to her husband in aching realization, “We forgot the baby!”

Pastor Vic went on to explain that this is essentially what the world has done, as far as Christmas is concerned. We have forgotten the very reason that we celebrate this season - THE Baby! THE Savior, Jesus Christ!

It’s in this spirit that I offer a video. We had our Christmas Cantata last Sunday, December 16, 2007, and our Children’s Choir opened the evening with this song - “Happy Birthday, Jesus”. Its message is the very essence of the real meaning of Christmas. A note - the soloist is Cassidy Thompson. I realize the video is too small to see detail. but if you’ll notice a man seated at the top left of the video. That is Cassidy’s dad, Tony, who is weeping with love, as he watches his daughter sing. Cassidy’s mother, Cindy, is weeping in the front row to her right (our left).

I slept late this morning. I had some thoughts about Thanksgiving, but as I said in my last post, that’s every day. I’m getting ready to go enjoy the fellowship and love of my family, as I pray you are, also. Remember those who are away from their families today and those who might be all that’s left of their worldly families. Let them know that in Christ, we’re all a family.

Here’s a wonderful homemade video of a well known song:

Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day!

Sense
Of
Urgency for
Lost
Souls,

Steve Forcum

I heard Pastor Vic say the other day that for him, every day is Christmas. He meant it in that Christ and His birth and life and Gospel were in his thoughts and his very existence every day. In that way, we as Christians are so blessed. We don’t have to await a certain day on the calendar to celebrate Jesus Christ. It’s the same with Thanksgiving. We should be giving thanks, not only every day, but quite continuously during each day.

I couldn’t possibly sit here and list everything for which I’m thankful, because my typing could not possibly keep up with each breath I take, or each beat of my heart - and for each of these I am thankful. Then I’d also have to list each breath and each heartbeat of all those I know and love. Now everything I would have listed at this point would certainly have followed that Jesus Christ had suffered and sacrificed His own life (each beat of His own heart and each breath He took) so that I could have eternal life with Him in Heaven, even though I do not deserve as much.

It’s also prominent in my thoughts about how thankful I am for another sacrifice made on my behalf. That is the constant sacrifice that our troops make in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world. It’s a sacrifice that assures me the freedom to express my thoughts in this very blog without fear that I would be discovered and thrown in prison - or worse. These are the same men and women who would throw themselves over a live grenade in order to save their fellow troops. Honestly, this is pretty much what they have done for me. I don’t deserve what these brave souls have given me, either, but the very least I can do is thank God for them daily.

Grace is something that comes from someone who loves me enough to cover me, even though I do not deserve it. I thank God for His Amazing Grace.

Sense
Of
Urgency for
Lost
Souls,

Steve Forcum

I’m looking forward to tomorrow (Saturday). My church has sponsored me to attend an “Advantage Unlimited AudioSeminar” at Crossroads Fellowship in Raleigh, NC. It’s called a Hands-On seminar, which trains the largely untrained sound engineers (many are running the sound in a surprisingly large number of churches) to have a greater understanding of just how all those knobs, buttons and sliders enhance (or UNenhace) the sound in our sanctuaries. The point is to present the best sound possible to those to whom we touch with our audio and internet ministries, as we spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.

Three weeks ago, on Sunday, October 7, 2007, we honored our Pastor Vic and his wife, Ann on Pastor Appreciation Sunday. At one point, I spoke about them and how important they have been to both my spiritual and my personal lives and in a couple of instances I lovingly “roasted” them. I related how Jesus had caused the blind to see and the lame to walk, and then quipped about how Pastor Vic had asked a deaf man to run the sound (that would be me). Now, upon first hearing this seemingly ”distasteful” reference to miracles, one might want to also see my ability to speak taken. But to know the truth behind how God has worked in our audio ministry (as well as many other areas), is to truly witness His works in our lives and in our ministries of the Gospel.

We praise God for the way that He has taken a group of faithful people and handed them tools, that at first we didn’t understand, but through much prayer and, therefore, increased understanding, have become willing vessels in an ever-growing audio and internet ministry that now touches 120,000 a month. It began with Pastor Vic’s ear tuned to God’s will.

Brother Tony Thompson and I were speaking last night about how God had gifted so many in our church with talents and abilities that can be used of Him to further the Gospel of Christ. Sister Kaye Maness has brought a Christmas Cantata to us that is not only beautiful in its musical and artistic praise and worship, but will cause us to go step out musically beyond what we have in the past. Brother David Lawson has recently given a message about how, like with our bodies, we must exercise our faith, and this cantata will cause us to do just that. Just to see how much work sister Kaye has obviously put into this Christmas message already, is a testimony to how God is working here.

I’m looking forward tomorrow to an increased understanding in an area in which God has asked me to work and also to bring this back to others in the church. I’m also looking forward to the fellowship with like-minded followers of Christ from other areas, whom I’ll meet tomorrow. I pray that God will touch us here.

Sense
Of
Urgency for
Lost
Souls,

Steve Forcum

I simply wanted to embed this beautiful video. Refer to Marcus’ post from Oct. 27, 2007:

There have been people saved after viewing this video! God uses so many things and so many people to lead others to the Lord. Praise him!

Steve

So much praying to do, and so little time!  Now’s a good time to stop worrying so much about the annunciation of the words my prayer and strive instead to just get it all in. God knows what’s on my mind, anyway and He knows if my prayer is in earnest.

I love to talk with God. Tony and I sang one of my favorite songs last Sunday morning, “In the Garden”. To me it represents that special alone time that I need, when it’s just God and myself and we can just talk outside the concept of time or worldly stimuli. He has blessed us so that I feel the need to praise Him without the restraints of time and to allow that also for supplication.

I include Pastor Vic in my prayers. Since before last March, Pastor Vic has had to deal with a great deal of stress while continuing to minister to a growing family in Christ. God has blessed us all through him for so long and we would ask that you remember him in your prayers. He’ll be taking a much-needed vacation soon and I pray that he gets some good rest.

Among many other things, I also pray for the condition of the world as well as the condition of the hearts of souls all over that world. I’ve said it often lately, and been misunderstood in the process, but even within those that this world considers our enemies are souls who need Christ in the same way we do, whose sins are no worse than our own.

Sense
Of
Urgency for
Lost
Souls,

Steve Forcum

What a perfect and precious picture it was! Little Amber, laying on the chest of her grandfather, Tim Matthews, so comfortable and innocent as she slept. It was during the services Sunday morning, and Tony Thompson and I decided we needed to get a picture of the two of them for the world to see on the church website. We didn’t have a digital camera, so we decided to swing the video camera that Tony was operating around to capture this picture of pure love and sweetness. I was operating the soundboard and Tony was operating the video, because it was Tim, who normally operates the video, who had little Amber asleep on his chest. Tony swung the camera toward Tim and Amber and we got a shot that I could later convert to a still and put up on the website. So we thought! I had earlier reached up and “paused’ the camera for Tony during a break in the services, and had not resumed recording after that break. It was a missed opportunity, with all the best of intentions.

Have we ever been sitting on the pew during services and the Holy Spirit moves us to stand and testify, or even to shout the name of Jesus Christ in praise - and yet, for one reason or the other (be it shyness or maybe a little lack of faith that it is indeed the Spirit) we don’t yield and instead stay planted and silent in the pew? This is a missed opportunity. If the Holy Spirit had moved on us to testify, it was probably to bless someone there. or even to touch the heart of someone who needed to see the unspeakable joy of Christ in our heart that day.

This is tract month at Faith Free Will Baptist Church. Every day should be tract day or “share your testimony” day, but designating a month raises the awareness in us and reintroduces to us the availability of tools that God gives us to share His Word. I can’t count the times already this month that I could have handed a server a tract with a tip, or handed a tract folded into money to someone on the street corner, who was asking for a hand out. But I did not have one in my pocket to give. This is a missed opportunity, as well.

How many times have we comforted someone during a tragedy, or held a hand during a storm in someone’s life and not shared with that person that in Christ, God will not allow us to go through anything that we cannot endure.

I believe that we have little time left here to share the Gospel with as many as we meet who need Jesus Christ. I also believe that we must not fail to seize any opportunity to show a lost soul the one path to life eternal with our Lord in Heaven. I’ve noticed a theme in the recent messages since Billy Keith preached at FFWBC a few weeks ago, up to the latest messages delivered by our Pastors Vic Redding and Chris Anderson. The theme has been “yielding to the call and the will of God.” I believe He is speaking to us now, and the fact that Pastor Vic has yielded to God’s will so frequently lately and changed his message as he approached the pulpit underlines the theme.

Sense
Of
Urgency for
Lost
Souls,

Steve Forcum