COOKIES!

On December 15th the ladies of the church held their annual cookie exchange here at the home of the Pond family. We always have fun and end up with lots of yummy goodies to enjoy throughout the holidays.

This year we were blessed to have our Pastor Counterman's mother in town for the event, and she graciously consented to share her heart with us that night. Her challenge to us was to slow down and remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas. It is always so easy to get caught up in everything that the world has added to Christmas, but it's vital that we don't lose sight of God's gift to us and what the birth of Jesus really means.

Our pastor's wife, Liesl, and her mother-in-law, Jo Ellen.

Jo Ellen challenging hearts.

After the devotion and snacks, some of the ladies participated in a little craft project that we had planned for the evening. We made a photo calendar for the new year. It was a fun project and I think everyone enjoyed it...at least I hope they did.

The finished product

All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening. It was warm inside in spite of the freezing (literally) cold outside. The food was wonderful, the devotion challenging, and the fellowship was oh so sweet!

Christmas 2008

We had a rich Christmas Eve service at Messiah Baptist Church. Families and members of the congregation volunteered to sing, read, play, and two very young brothers gave us a memorized flannel graph presentation of the Christmas Story.

And what Christmas Eve service could be complete without a candlelight singing of Silent Night?

Glory to God in the highest!

Christie, Susan, and Bethany Stevens

Christie and Caleb Stevens in trio with Corbin Matamoros

"Away in a Manger" to melt your heart with Papa, Elijah, Cana and Eden Counterman

Brady and Mason Shine tell the Christmas Story

Holy Cow!

Hmmm...November 11th was the last post. Let's catch up on things. We'll kind of work this back to front. Unlike one heifer who worked things front to back.

In rural Texas, you don't want bored bovine. What are they going to do? Nibble some more grass? Find some different flavored water? One night, one such critter grew tired of his boundaries and found an escape. It saw some pals in the pasture across the way and began a-mosey'n. Across the highway. In the dark of night. Cloaked in black outerwear.

At that time, our intrepid warriors, Pastor and his bride with the children secured in their car seats, came out of the darkness. They had been to the site of their new home build and with hearts light and filled with joy, headed toward home. The beast came into the headlights far too late for any Hollywood avoidance maneuver. Car, meet cow. Cow, meet car.

This is the front end the day after the introduction.

And this is how the cow looked.


Quite honestly, neither one looks very good. Neither was driveable.

Praising God that none of the Counterman's were hurt. Apparently the heifer took to flight after meeting up with the bumper and glancing off the windshield. No doubt God's good hand kept the beast from coming through the windshield. It could have been catastrophic. But it wasn't.

The Counterman's now drive a Suburban and keep constant vigil for the lost...farm critters.

(Pastor looks kind of like Hemingway kneeling over a bull elephant on the Serengeti, doesn't he?)

Slipped discs

Last Sunday after church, the men went out and tried their hand at disc golf. These aren't the frisbees you chucked at the beach. No, these babies are made for distance. The accuracy, well, that depends on the tosser. As you'll see below, accuracy was sometimes lacking.

For some of our men, disc golf was better than pneumonia.

The muster at the first tee

Tyler, ready to pull a muscle.
Kidding aside, he won closest to the pin!

Pastor and Jerry figuring out how their going
to get through the trees...or their discussing eschatology,
I don't remember which.

Austin, out from under the tree, had the longest, most accurate drive.
Not bad, the thirteen year old beating all the men.

Jerry from amidst the blue spruce

Drew from the red spruce

Josh looks a ways away, but he took the low overall score. Semper Fi!

Is that pastor?!?

Finally, a wide open fairway!

The grill master, Jeremiah Smith

Are those BRATS???

We had a great time even beyond the disc golf and grilling. Pastor challenged the men to "man up" in the church and fulfill their God-given duties. Each one has been uniquely gifted, and the Body of Christ depends upon the men to exercise their gifts within the church.

We at MBC are blessed to have men who will stand up for the truth of God's word and for Christ, and who are willing to shoulder their God-ordained load.

Paintball, anyone?

Election 2008: How do we respond?

Tonight, Pastor Counterman poured out his soul to the saints regarding our nation's election.

Take the time to invest 25 minutes and 7 seconds to hear what God's word says and how a man of God feels about what went down on November 4th, 2008.

You can listen here.

"Come and see"

As our missionary, Segundo Rodriguez, challenged us a few months back, the simplest and often best witness we can be follows the example of the earliest disciples in John's gospel. No in depth theology. No bridges, roads, or EE to memorize. No tracts required.

"Come and see!"

Three simple words to encourage folks to meet the Man, to meet the God, who changed our lives.

Pastor Lukus inflated his sails into the wind of that simplicity and rode it into MBC's first "Come and See" Sunday. The purpose was simple. It focused on Christ and what He had done in the lives of our church's membership (like Mark DeBoe at right).

We had nine new visitors who clearly heard the gospel presentation. There were no professions of faith yesterday, but ground was tilled, seed was sown, and water was applied.

In an amazing way, too, the church was encouraged. Our souls were stirred and God was glorified as believers shared what Jesus had done in their lives through a simple cardboard testimony. On one side of the piece of cardboard, they had written what they were before Jesus' work, and on the other side, they had written what they have become because of His work (you can see most of them in the picture above). What an awesome testimony!

If you didn't get a chance to hear Pastor Lukus' simple and powerful gospel message, you can listen here.

"And such we once were"...ah, but no longer! Praise God!

Photos: Top right - Mark DeBoe tells of Christ's transforming power; center - cardboard testimonies (from l-r, Mark Deboe, Jerry Stevens, Susan Stevens, Caleb Stevens, Keith Pond, Mary Taylor (hidden behind Keith), Scott Eidson, Hannah Paul, Brian Moix, Jeremiah Smith, Randy York, Jay Brunt, Tracy Pond, and Sue Wagner going away); bottom left - A simple sermon: "God calls us to change: It's needed, it's available, and it must be His way!"

To Wichita Falls, the U.S, and the uttermost parts of the Earth.

Sunday we had our beloved missionary from Peru, Segundo Rodriguez, in for a visit. It has been almost 2 years since we started supporting Segundo, after he first visited our church at the request of Pastor Counterman. Pastor knew Segundo from a previous mission trip to Peru and through their mutual friend Tim Chapman.

Segundo spoke during our Sunday School hour, our morning service, and our evening service on Sunday. During Sunday School Segundo gave the church a report on his activities in Peru. It was a blessing to see God working through him, from the institute he is a part of to the remote mountains and forests he travels to.

During Sunday worship, Segundo encouraged us on toward evangelism in a unique way. He called it the "Basic Approach." He walked us through examples of people coming to Jesus in the early chapters of John's gospel. These people that came were all the result of other people saying, "Come and see." Segundo said that this is the most persuasive method we can use in presenting the message of Christ. We are changed people. If we live that change and when people see it, all we have to do is share that change with them. "They can't ignore that, " Pastor Rodriguez shared.

Sunday evening, he came with the Great Commission and its relevance to us. Segundo related Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth to Wichita Falls, United States, Canada/Mexico etc, and, well, the uttermost parts of the earth. He spent time on each region, expressing the need and offering methods for reaching each. It was a time well spent.

Segundo is a man blessed with the gift of handling God's word. His attitude of submission and servanthood is visible to all. We just say, "Praise God for such men!" Our prayers and thanks go with him and his work.

Also a big thanks to Arnoldo Matamoros for translating Segundo's message. He did an awesome job!

(Photos: Top - Segundo (right) and Arnoldo Matamoros, Middle - Pastor Lukus with Segundo, Bottom - MBC hears the word preached and translated).