Powerful 300th Service!

We had a very powerful service marking the 300th anniversary of the First Baptist Church of Cape May Courthouse. God moved and the people were heavily encouraged. Praise God for how He can break through despite the shortcomings of the preacher. Please pray for this church. They have been looking for a pastor for over 3 years.

PastorMatthewJones' photostream

PastorMatthewJones' photostream on Flickr.

Pictures from my trip to visit the churches that my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Nathaniel Jenkins preached at. This will include First Baptist Church of Cape May Courthouse, NJ where they are celebrating 300 years.

We Will!

We will be having a service at the old East Bethel Meetinghouse on Sunday June 24 at 2pm. This is a facility that was used only one time last year for a service. Will the Lord prosper this meeting? I do not want to limit "the Holy One of Israel" (Psalm 78:41) We will approach this trusting God and saying "He can". Praise God for the advancement of the Gospel!

North Paris Baptist Church

As it looked in 1904 and now today. The church now exists as the North Paris Federated Church. This is another part of our local Baptist history.

Will we.....

These two meeinghouses are both on the Intervale Road in Bethel. The one with the steeple is the Middle Intervale meetinghouse, built in 1816. The other is the East Bethel meetinghouse, built in 1830. They are both Baptist meetinghouses and they are both in great condition and they are both sitting empty. I have contacted the Bethel Historical Society about possibly holding religious meetings in one of these meetinghouses. Pray that God's will be done.

Baptist History Tour 2012

All I can say is Wow! What a week. I had the opportunity to meet many new friends, fellow laborers for the cause of Christ. I had the opportunity to learn more about the Baptist history in the state of Maine than I ever thought possible. I had the opportunity to have my soul stirred. Here are the thoughts that are currently running through my head (in no specific order) If Isaac Case would walk from Massachusets to Maine in January (cold enough to cross the Kennebec river on the ice)just to follow the leading of the Lord, what am I doing? I mean what am I truly doing? I have this blog, I have email, twitter, facebook, cars, planes, trains...... what am I doing? Elder Case is credited with helping plant over 300 churches in our region of the world, back in the days where you walked or rode a horse through the woods. What kind of devotion is that which would spur a man to such lengths to see the lost saved? Why am I not doing more? If Daniel Merrill were willing to literally lose everything which he had worked for, (the biggest church in Maine, the love and adoration of his town, the security of his family), simply for doctrine, why am I sometimes hesitant to speak up when these issues are brought up? Elder Merrill studied the Scriptures and found that he must be a Baptist, for that is what the Bible teaches. Did he keep his new-found knowledge to himself? Not hardly. He preached a seven message series on Scriptural Baptism and, himself submitted to believers immersion, as the Scriptures command. For his bravery, the Lord allowed 65 others to follow, constituting the First Baptist Church of Sedgewick, Maine in 1805. His risk was for doctrine.... Where is that devotion to docrine today? Why is it that there is an increasingly bigger crowd advising to stretch grace to it's limits and decide "what doctrines we can live without"? If George Dana Boardman was willing to say goodbye to his family until they would meet again in heaven, to see the people of Burma receive the gospel, why are we sometimes unwilling to simply spend a few hours knockng on doors in our own community? If Adoniram Judson was willing to stay committed to the Lord's work in Burma despite burying two wives and six children on that foreign shore, why do we experience some minor financial setback and act like it's the end of the world? These men all endured afflictions as good soldiers of Christ. We have no idea what kind of suffering these men went through to proclaim the gospel of Christ. I must ask myself, as well as all others in the service of the Lord, is there a price that is too high to pay to serve the same God that gave us eternal life? This week has challenged me in ways I thought not possible. Servants of God, Baptist brethren, we must carry on with all we have. Will there be trials, yes. Will there be difficulties, yes. Serve God! Serve God! Serve God! With all we have! I cannot begin to list the great people I had opportunity to fellowship with this week! I laughed, I cried, I shouted! Now it's time to get to work...

What a week!

What a week at Bryant Pond Baptist Church! We had our revival services April 22-25 with Dr. Ron Caudill preaching. Sunday School we were challenged on the captve mind. We are to bring our minds into captivity to the Lord. On Sunday morning Dr Caudill preached from Joshua 20 on the cities of refuge. How wonderful it is that we have a city of refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ! Sunday night we were challenged on our day to day development. Monday night we learned about why Daniel was a "man greatly beloved". Tuesday night we learned about a Godly conscience. Wednesday night we were challenged about what makes great faith. I will tell you that the Lord moved in each service and I know that hearts were touched. The Holy Spirit had free reign in these meetings. Praise God! Now we are looking forward to the Lord's day when we will have our special 4pm youth service. So far we have 2 testimonies, 13 music presentations and 4 young men preachng. I believe that we will have the old meetinghouse packed out! Don't miss it!