Common Ground Blog (Page 2)
The Common Ground Covid Connection – April 8, 2020
Greetings beloved family of Common Ground, As I’ve had the time to read, study and meditate upon Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” it becomes apparent that this sermon by Jesus couldn’t be any timelier in our virus-ridden age. People will be watching us as followers of Jesus Christ in how we respond in this pandemic time. And Jesus’ sermon tells us how. We get to prove we’re true followers of Christ in demonstrating not only to others but more importantly…
The Common Ground Connection – April 1, 2020
Greetings beloved family of Common Ground, We are doing our very best to stay connected with each one of you. I know this isn’t the norm, but it is temporarily the new normal. And our great and glorious God is still working all things out for the good to those who love God and are called according to His perfect purpose (Romans 8:28). Beloved, stay the course all for the glory of God! Our Elders will continually be calling you…
Live Stream & Online Giving
We are not able to gather together in person at this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so please join us online. We will be live streaming on YouTube on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCj5sMXMVguov_8oAC-HiSCA How can you give when we are not meeting in person? Sign up for online giving at www.tithe.ly/give. You may also mail a check to the church.
Haiti 2018 – Day 7 (final blog)
Greetings beloved family and friends, It’s Sunday morn and we are all preparing for the various churches that we will have the privilege of serving at. The two musicians, Justin and Tessa, along with yours truly went to a fairly large Baptist church farther down the mountain side. I’m guessing a crowd of 200-250 were present. The pastor said it was the fullest it’s been in a long time, I think due to the fact that it was Mother’s Day…
Haiti 2018 – Days 5 & 6
Greetings beloved family and friends, Yesterday (Friday) started with our usual rooster crowing 6 AM morning wakeup. Our musicians headed up to a school high in the mountains to play a few songs for the kids. I stayed back at the mission house preparing for our evening concert that I would preach the gospel at the end of it. We had our first heavy rain on Friday since we’ve arrived and afterwards everything smells so fresh and clean as it…
Haiti 2018 – Days 3 and 4
Hello beloved family and friends, Days 3 and 4 have been non-stop. 90 plus degrees, hot and humid, preparing, teaching, preaching, praying, singing and trying to learn a few words in Creole, and yes eating chicken and rice again! They have changed the Pastors conference from 4 days to 3 days timewise. Which means I ended up teaching for 2 ½ hours instead of an hour plus. The conference goes for around 5 hours without any real breaks in the…
Haiti 2018 – Day 2
Greetings beloved family and friends, It’s day two of our trip and day one of our pastors conference. Each year we come to do the conference it continues to grow. The first year we had 35 pastors, last year when I came we had 56 pastors and today we had a total of 84. God is so good! One thing you learn quickly in these situations is stay flexible. We were told by Haitian friends that the conference would go…
Haiti 2018 – Day 1
Greetings beloved church family and friends, Thanks again for all your support and prayers! Well, Monday morning started off quite early as I rose at 2:40 AM to load our vehicle and head to the airport for our flight to Miami and then on to Haiti. Landing in Port au Prince, Haiti around 5:30 PM. Oh I forget to tell you I got through all the airport check points without a single hitch, my new titanium hip didn’t even make…
Day Five
Greetings one and all, It was our last day of teaching at the conference and what a day it was. We started our day by walking about 2 miles down towards one of the main rivers in the area at about 6:30 AM to do some baptisms. What a special privilege and honor it was for us to participate in such a glorious event. I got to baptize two young Haitian women. The scenery was breathtaking. Next we started our…
The Haitian Bucket Bath
Because we have no showers or running water we have one large blue 50 gallon drum filled with cold water in the bathroom. As one prepares for the Haitian Bucket Bath (similar to the Liberian Bucket Bath), you first must prepare your mind for cold mountain rain water to be splashed across one’s fleshly elements. Like any good Haitian Bucket Bath there is a 3 step process. First you pour water from the big blue drum into a five gallon…