Christmas Pageant

Never a more handsome and lovely Joseph and Mary.
The Happy Carolers :-)
Tim, Mason, Cameron, Bradey, and Sarah--the family sharing the Christmas story
Some angels :-)
Don't forget the shepherds because they were unforgettable :-P

First Children's Christmas Pageant at Messiah

"The Unopened Gift"

The children did a wonderful job!

November Baptism

Bryant was saved last year and came to our church this year. He realized he needed to obey the Lord in believer's baptism. It was a cool November day, but not as cold as it could have been!

November Baptisms

Jessie and Justin were baptized in November. They were saved in early summer.

Praise the Lord!

Latest Baptisms

Caleb S.
Kristy S.

It was a great blessing to see these two teenagers get baptized after their salvation! Praise the Lord.

Baptisms

Joe after his baptism

Flor reading her testimony of salvation

Flor after her baptism

Mark (Flor's husband) giving his testimony.
Part of the church listening before the baptisms.

Grace answering questions about her salvation before her baptism.
"Even a child is known by his doings"

"Suffer the little children to come unto ME and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
Joe reading his testimony of salvation.

Joe and his Dad.

God has been good to save souls and bring them into the body of MBC. Praise His name!

Following are Mark and Flor's testimonies:

Mark: At the age of fourteen I started drinking, smoking, and having sex. At the age of 17 I got into drugs (weed, acid, mushrooms, and cough syrup). I decided to join the Air Force to get away from the bad influences in my life, only to discover that they would follow me and get progressively worse. I was stationed at Fort Walton Beach Florida, and that is where I met Flor. I never stopped any of the addictive habits I had while I was in the Air Force; they only grew worse and more addictive. I never understood why she stayed with through those years, but now I know it was all God’s plan. After I got out of the Air Force, Flor went her way and I got a contract job overseas in Kosovo. I was 23 years old making anywhere between 7 to 10 thousand tax free dollars a month. Not good when you are an alcoholic and drug addict. I ended up working there for only 10 months out of a 12 month contract. I got fired for not showing up to work because I was out drinking the night before. When they came and woke me up the next morning they took me to get a breathalyzer, and I blew a .21 at 8 in the morning. I came back home to Michigan with about $35,000, and decided to move in with some buddies in Denver, Colorado. Having this much money I was introduced to some new drugs, Crack and Cocaine. In the beginning of February 2001 Flor came out to visit me and ended up getting pregnant with our son Nicholas. I then spent the next nine months agonizing over the reality if he was my child or not. I ended up blowing all $35,000 dollars on drugs and alcohol. By the time Nicholas was born in November, I was suicidal due to the amount of drugs and alcohol I put in my body, and I decided it was the best for me to move to New Jersey with Flor and try to raise Nicholas. In February of 2002 I got another contract job in Ecuador, South America. Not a real good location for a Coke head, being that Ecuador borders Columbia. After 6 months Nicholas got a bad stomach virus and Flor and him went back home to New Jersey. That very same day I spent the day snorting cocaine and drinking. At night I decide to get on a moped and go to the bar. I ended up crashing into a car and flying about 15 feet into a light pole. I woke up the next day in the hospital lying on my left side barely able to move. I had a 4 inch hematoma on the right side of my head, the right side of my face was paralyzed, and my right ear had a continuous flow of blood coming out of it. After about 2 weeks the doctors said they didn’t have the medical equipment I needed so I went home. The day after I got home my face was no longer paralyzed. Even after all that, I didn’t quit drinking and doing drugs. In March of 2003 I got a civil service job down in Valdosta, Georgia at Moody Air Force base. After about 8 months in November of 2003 I ran into Glenn Savell. Glenn had just come to our shift, and I had never really talked to him before. One day he ask me if I would consider myself to be a good person, then proceeds to use God’s law, the Ten Commandments on me. I really didn’t think much of it. A week later or so he asked me if I would be interested in joining him for a bible study on the book of Revelations. Being polite I said yes but never had any intention of doing it. A week after that he came into my room and asked me if I like to read, I said not really, but being polite again I accepted the book he was offering. It was the Left behind Book. I couldn’t put it down; I read it in 3 days or so. After that I was drilling him with questions and he was giving me answers. About this same time a friend that Flor worked with invited her to church. Flor in hope of getting me to quit drinking asked me if I would go. I polite fully said yes. That first Sunday I was sitting there for about forty five minutes twiddling my thumbs thinking about what I was going to eat, then all the sudden tears were rushing down my face and I had no idea what was going on. After the service, people were coming up to us and thanking us for coming and all I was thinking was for them to get away from me because I was very embarrassed; here was a grown man crying in church. About two weeks went by and I was back at church, twiddling my thumbs, getting excited to get out of there and go watch football, when all of the sudden, BOOM the same thing happened, and there I am crying like a little baby again. That Tuesday evening, January 27th 2004, I approached Glenn again with a question. He didn’t answer the question but instead asked me one. He said “Mark have you ever made Jesus lord of your life?” I said maybe back at vacation bible school once. He said no, you haven’t. Don’t you realize that if you died tonight you would go to hell? What are you waiting for? Before the words even came out of my mouth he said “you want to get high on last time, you want one more drunk. I said yep. He turned around and left. I was standing in the hallway with my jaw on the floor. I was like who does this guy think he is. I went into my bunkroom and just sat there. Five minutes later I was on my knees crying out to Jesus to forgive me and take my life, it was his. The next morning I went up to Glenn and told him I did it, he said did what; I said I gave my life to Jesus. I have never seen a bigger smile on someone’s face before. Those next couple of days whenever I would use God’s name in vein or cuss I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest. The Third day was when it really hit me that I have been changed. For the past year I was on 20mg of Lexapro and seeing a psychologist. When I went to take my medication, but I couldn’t raise my hand to my mouth, and I ended up throwing the depression medication away. The next day at home I felt like I needed to get rid of all my movies, music, downloaded songs, and all my alcohol. No one told me to do this, I just felt like I had to. About a week and a half later I got Scripturally Baptized at the First Baptist church in Valdosta, GA. I got a job offer here in Wichita Falls and since Flor and I were not married, I knew I had to come by my self until we did get married. Flor brought me to God to get me sober and instead he did a lot more and the change that he brought about freaked her out. One last quick note, when I got to my job at Sheppard, I had to get my yearly tuberculosis test done. It was discovered that I had Inactive TB. Before I got saved and was drinking, almost every morning after drinking I would always puke up blood and couldn’t figure out why. I was dying. Flor was also going to leave me on February 2nd; I got saved on January 27th. [Had God not rescued Mark at this time, Mark would not be alive today because the drinking and untreated TB would have killed him; and Flor would have left him. God is sovereign!] God is awesome. There is so much more that I can add that God has done and continues to do, but I guess this is good for now.

Flor: I was born & raised in Peru and then came to the USA, I was raised catholic. I was 18 when I came to the USA and I discovered that in USA you can do whatever you want since you’re an adult. I considered myself to be a good person, responsible, friendly, everybody liked me. I had it all together so I thought. I moved to FL with my brother and I pretty much lived la Vida Loca, I was dating Mark (my husband now) on and off for 2 years then I moved to NJ and he went to Kosovo. After a year ½ he came back and on a crazy night I went to visit him. I had a good time but I realized he was a loser so when I went back to NJ I was going to start a new life…but 2 weeks later I discovered I was pregnant!! I was 30 and I decided that my life was going to change and I visited the priest and confessed my sins and he was really nice and I was good to go. Mark moved to live with me, he wanted to be the father of his son and try out the family thing. We had 2 years of horrible relationship. We moved here and there, argued, he wanted to keep partying and our lives together just wasn’t good anymore.
I decided to leave him on Feb 2nd of 2003 he didn’t know I had it all planned with my family, but on Jan 27 he got saved, and he did a 360 on me. I thought he was going crazy when he talked about being a Christian. I thought I was the religious one, so I accepted Christ & I got baptized just so he would leave me alone. I really didn’t get it, we still had problems but this time because he was crazy and I wasn’t a true Christian according to him, I moved to NJ and he moved to W F. While I was in NJ my whole family was talking to me about being a catholic and I said I was a catholic. I just wanted to know more about this, and I wanted to know if Mark was getting into a cult. I talked to a pastor from a Baptist church and he was talking to me, and I guess he was watering the seed and then I helped my parents move to FL. While I was there I visited a Baptist church and a lady invited me to a Beth Moore woman’s bible study. While I was there, on the 3rd visit, I finally got it. I cried, realized that I was a selfish, self centered, spoiled brat, a sinner, and a horrible person. I repented and gave my life to God. The ladies ministered to me and I came to WF. We got married and we are a family that loves God. Although there is so much that I need to change, I’m glad that I am learning and that God is calling me his child…

Patch Program and Start to Truth Trackers

The children sang for our Sunday Service and recited Psalm 19:1-7 and 10. It is wonderful to see the young ones hiding God's Word in their hearts. Truth Trackers (grades 1-6) and Tiny Trackers (age 3 1/2 to K5) began. This program is a systematic approach to Scripture memory, daily devotions, and weekly teaching. You can read more about Truth Trackers at www.truthtrackers.org. Please pray for us as we help parents disciple the children of MBC.

Tic Tac Challenge

MEAN GREEN vs. BLACK ATTACK

Pillow Fights, Egg on the Face, Tug of War, Relays Galore, Opera Contest--all these and more marked our awesome church family activity. Laughter doeth good like a medicine!

Truth Trackers Program

Here's a shot of Mr. Tim and his Truth Trackers in the closing program in May. Truth Trackers starts up again September 12. Be there or be square! The program involves Scripture memory focusing on doctrines of the Bible. The children memorize in answer to a question, such as, "Is Jesus Christ God?" Their answer is "John 1:1, 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.'" It is thrilling to see kids becoming wise in the Word and applying it, too. A devotional program is also built into Truth Trackers. We hope that a lifelong habit of spending time with God will develop through Truth Trackers.

Our Tiny Trackers are the cutest in the world. They learn one verse a week. The three to the right are sporting a special medal for memorizing all the verses. The other girls came in later in the year, but they memorized faithfully while in the club. These little ones put many of us adults to shame! We look forward to a big group starting September 12!

Missionary Visit

Missionary Ed and Cindee Richards of the Windward Islands visited with us two Sundays ago. The church enjoyed meeting them for the first time.

Catching up on Church Events

Valentine's Banquet 2007

As you can see, we had a fantastic time!

Chelsea and Kasey--two new believer testimonies

Chelsea giving her testimony of salvation
Kasey giving her salvation testimony



Chelsea:

My story is not amazing or heroic. I didn't have a near death experience. I was not unaware of the saving grace of salvation through Christ. One day I simply saw the light, repented my sins, and accepted Jesus. Although therewas not much outward fanfare, it effected a tremendous change in the way I view and live my life. As a child I was introduced to the idea of Jesus frequently. I was baptized at a young age and regularly attended church. However, it never really clicked for me until age 12 or so. Even then, although I had the knowledge and understanding, I still did not truly accept it into my heart. I continued to attend church, but it never really affected me. I always had the thought-I will live that way later. Maybe tomorrow or next week. But tomorrow never came. I was a pretty well behaved kid, but that had more to do with man's rules than God's law. I strayed farther even from the rules of man my senior year of high school. I made a mistake that cost me my "fun" years of college. ButI gained a lot more. I gained a loving man who I am marrying tomorrow and a beautiful little boy, Aiden. Then, Josh brought us to Messiah BaptistChurch. It was the last piece of the puzzle. I realized that I was not truly a Christian and that I needed to accept Him into my heart. The changes He has made in me already are awesome. I want to know God's position on any subject and to follow it over my own. I want to read theBible and take his teachings to heart. I can say with confidence for the first time that I will go to heaven. I just feel a warmth inside whenever I pray or think about Him. I could go on and on, but I will try to sum it all up in this verse: Psalm 57:11 In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.

Kasey:


I did not grow up in a religious home. As a child my experiences with church were definitely not positive ones. I really didn't give God much thought until I had Hunter. I remember holding him in the hospital, and I began to pray that God would keep him safe, happy and healthy. It was impossible for me to look down at my brand new baby and ignore God. We moved here when Hunter was 2 months old and began going to a large church here in town. Though it was nice, I failed to grow in my spiritual life. On March12th, 2005 as I was preparing for Hunter's 1st birthday party, two ladies knocked on my door, those 2 ladies were Liesl and Bonnie. I began taking walkswith them and after several months decided to go visit their church. Our family felt welcome from the 1st moment we walked into Messiah Baptist, I knew if ever there was a time in my life to come to know God it would happen with the help of this church. On Easter Sunday 2006, after the service, I met with Sarah Shine. As we talked I knew that this was an important day. I prayed to God. I asked Him to forgive me of my sins and to come in to my heart. An immediate since of peace and joy came over me. I had asked to be saved. Two weeks later I received news that the baby I was pregnant with had a 1 in 200 chance of having Down syndrome. I thought that maybe this was a test of my faith. I prayed like I had never before. I prayed for this baby and I prayed that she did not have Down syndrome. After additional testing the doctors assured us that our baby girl was healthy and did not have Down syndrome. Wow, I thought, God listened, my baby was fine, my prayers were answered. Ella Grace was born six weeks early and with Down syndrome. I was devastated. How could God have done this to her, didn't he know that I could not handle this? Well meaning people would say things like "God only gives special babies to special moms," and "God doesn't give you more than you can handle." I just knew that God made a mistake. I wanted my old life back. The baby girl I dreamed of having was gone, and I wanted to die. I had closed my heart to God. Even though we continued to come to church, I was angrywith God. Though I fell madly in love with our new baby girl and the anger lessened, I couldn't help but think maybe I was being punished. About two months ago the fog that had covered my life began to lift. I realized just how incredibly blessed I am. This is what my life was meant to be. As I look back over the last 18 months I now am able to see how God was with me. It is like the poem footprints "....I noticed that it was at the lowest and saddest times in my life. I asked, 'Lord, you said that once I decided to follow You, You would walk with me all the way. But during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why you left my side when I needed you most.' The Lord said, 'My precious child, I never left you during your time of trial. Where you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you." Even though I had closed my heart off to the Lord, he never left me, never gave up on me. I began though to worry that if I could lose my trust in the Lord maybe I hadn't really been saved. I met with Pastor and Liesl to discuss whether or not I had really been saved because it was weighing heavily on my heart. Pastor showed me several examples in the Bible. Onewas Romans 8: 37-39 NLT No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced thatnothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, ourworries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep Gods' love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in thedeepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate usfrom the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. After reading through this verse, and other that day, I left Pastor's home with the same feeling I had the day I was saved, there was peace in my mind and joy in my heart. What a wonderful and forgiving God he is to stay with us through our darkest days. I stand here today and can say with confidence that I have been saved. Though I know that I will have worries and fears in the future, I know that I will have God with me through it all and that His plan forme will prevail. I would like to close with Phillipians 4: 11-13 I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstance may be. I know now how to live when things are difficultand I know how to when things are prosperous. In general and in particular I have learned the secret of....facing either plenty or poverty, I am ready for anything through the strength of the one who lives within me.

Letter from an airman's mom

"Pastor Counterman, I'd like to say thank you to your church for the terrific outreach they did for our son Matthew H. Matt was stationed at Sheppard the last several months and your church family was a huge help to him. As a young airman in an unfamiliar part of the country you provided a sense of home and belonging. We had many phone calls where he was excited about church activites that he had been too. We've seen in him a huge step to maturity both spiritually and emotionally. He's now at his base in Florida and I'm sure he'll be looking for a church to attend. Again, thank you for being there not just for our son but for all other young people you're reaching for. Holley H."

Latest Baptisms, part 2

Sometimes we baptize in a pool (even a small pool works!) Here is Chris following the Lord in Believer's Baptism.

Sonya.
Elijah!
Rosie :-)
Chelsie.

This was a great, great time, seeing new believers identifying publicly with their Savior. Pray for our new believers to grow and become strong disciples of Christ!

More than a building...our people...latest baptisms

Eric giving public testimony of salvation.

Sometimes we baptize in a local pond.
It feels very "New Testament" here.
Matt being baptized.
Eric being baptized.

We praise the Lord for two young men who obeyed the Lord in believer's baptism!

Messiah Baptist Church. Wichita Falls, Texas

76 windows, now unmasked and painted. Cathing the glimmer of the Texas sun.
Cleaning up the "alley" side.
View from Travis and 8th Street.
Fine Brick Cross done by Harry from a missions team from Maryland, Anchor Baptist Church.
So much has happened here in the past two and half years! God has blessed with money and workers (our own members included) to clean up, paint, demolish and remodel this buiding in the downtown of Wichita Falls. Thank you, Lord.