FINAL POST AT THIS ADDRESS

This blog is moving. The new address is www.timeintheword.org.

~pw

Transitions

We are in the middle of several transitions around here. First we are still getting used to the idea that it is already 2008, and almost March at that. Next week my wife and I are stepping past our 14th wedding anniversary. Fourteen years going on a life time. What a gift from God!! And then there is the ministry. After pastoring several churches across Texas for 17 years I am transitioning out of the pastorate and back into the field of evangelism/revivalism. This is where I started in the ministry, and after I surrendered to the call to preach I went on to train in school to be an evangelist. While I did take church leadership courses and studied the pastoral ministry, my major was evangelism and that is where my heart has always been. There is no doubt that God called me to the churches I have served, so I have no problem being identified as a pastor and a church planter, but now we believe that He is moving us in a new direction. It is funny now to remember that godly people in every church we have served have said to me at one time or another, "You should be an evangelist!" I just thought they wanted to get rid of me. (hehe) But they saw God's grace and gifting in my life and encouraged me to use what He has given me to the fullest of my ability for His glory, for the saving of sinners, and the sanctification of the saints.

I have served most recently as the pastor of Maranatha Community Church (later renamed Providence Reformed Baptist Church) since we planted the church in 1997. In October of last year we reflected on 10 years in that position of service. Now a new door has been opened and I will be pursuing the Lord and asking Him to open even more doors for me to preach and teach specifically in the areas of evangelism, revivalism (different than evangelistic preaching, think Leonard Ravenhill and George Whitefield), and discipleship. I hope to write more online and I have a few books in the works. And I am planning to go back to school to finish my Master's Degree (finally).

Part of the transition now is to consolidate several ministries/websites into one. In order to do that I am going to be moving the material from this blog over to a new site which will combine devotionals, sermons, articles, and the like into one area under the umbrella of our evangelistic ministry. As a arm of my ministry I started TIME in the Word Ministries in college and have had it as part of what I do to serve the Body of Christ at large ever since. Now that will be my primary vehicle of ministry, so I am building a new site on a Wordpress blog format that I hope will help clarify our ministry identity.

The site is up and in the weeks to come the material from here will be moved there and I will begin work on some new material as well. Pray for us during the transition - and UPDATE your WEB LINKS please.

So the NEW LINK is
http://www.timeintheword.org
and the ministry name is
TIME in the Word Ministries.

I will leave this site up for archives because so many people end up here as the result of internet searches, but anything new from this point on will be posted at the new site.

As always, thank you for reading. I do hope what I write is an encouragement to the Body. I know you all are an encouragement to me.

My personal theme and meditation for this year seems a good place to intitiate this transition. In all we think, do, and say may we

"give unto the Lord the glory due His name." (Psa 29:2)

See you at the new site!

Yours and His,
Phillip