As I recently preached on Hannah, the wife who prayed for a son and miraculously gave birth to a boy who would become the great Old Testament Prophet Samuel, I ran across an illustration I had never heard before.  E.V. (Ed) Hill, who pastored Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles for 42 years, tells the story of how the love and prayers of his adopted “Mama” changed his life. Mama believed in two things: Prayer and Ed.  She saw to it that he graduated from high school and even insisted that he go to college.  As he boarded the bus to leave for college, Mama said to him, “Remember, Mama is praying for you.” When he arrived at Prairie View College in his native Texas, he stood in the registration line and soon learned that the $1.90 he had left from his bus trip would not pay for his tuition, room and board. He started to get out of line, but then remembered his Mama’s words. She was praying for him. As it came his turn to register, Dr. J.M. Drew approached him and asked if he was Ed Hill from Sweet Home, Texas. Ed told him he was, then Dr. Drew said, “We have a four-year scholarship that will pay your room and board, your tuition, and give you thirty dollars a month to spend.” And Ed says he heard his Mama say, “I will be praying for you!” Indeed, there is great power in a mama’s prayers! July has been a good month with 314 in Bible Study.  I am so proud of you for meeting and exceeding our Annie Armstrong North American Missions Offering goal of $15,000 with a total of $15,4412.26. We also did well in the month of June and had, at month’s end, a total of $653,175.62 toward our new Student/Young Adult Building! As I write this, Vacation Bible School is taking place. Thanks to our Director, Rene Hubbard, and all who worked with her and Maria Brannen to make this one of the best V.B.S.’s we have ever had! We also look forward to our Youth Choir Dinner Theater on the evenings of July 27^th and 28^th.   August has some very special emphases:

August is going to be a great month!   COME EXPECTANTLY!

For Father’s Day this summer, I shared a message called “Proverbs for Fathers.” The Old Testament Book of Proverbs offers short, pithy statements of practical, godly wisdom. There is good, biblical advice on marriage, parenting, discipline, money management and a host of other areas of life. An alcoholic husband went to the doctor and was told that he had a serious drinking problem. He didn’t want to admit that to his wife so he told her the doctor had said he had “syncopation,” a word he thought he made up figuring his wife would just think it was a big medical word and not investigate it. But he was wrong. His wife looked up the word in a dictionary and it’s a word from the world of music that means “erratic wandering from bar to bar.” Yep, he had syncopation! Now, there is nothing that is more difficult for a child than to live in a community where one of his parents, especially his father, is held in disrespect because of some illegal or immoral act he has committed. The disrespect that the father has brought upon himself spills over into how other children treat his child.          But, thankfully, it also works the other way around. Proverbs 20:7 says, “The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.”  Don’t be put off by the word “blameless” in that verse. It doesn’t mean perfect. Rather, it refers to  a life lived with integrity, honesty and goodness.  When a father lives such a life, the whole community treats him and his family with respect. In other words, his family is blessed by his behavior! June has been a good month with 320 in Bible Study. We enjoyed Father’s Day on the 16^th with a couple of Baby Celebrations. We kicked off our Annie Armstrong North American Missions Offering on June 23^rd with an attractive envelope board created by Joe and Judy Andrews, along with an excellent video that explained its use by Cara Grobbelaar and Carrianna Simmons, all to help us reach our $15,000 goal.  We had a couple of Work Days at Hope Tree Food Bank on the 21^st and 22^nd.  We had a Family Movie Night on the 28^th and we’ll celebrate God & Country Day on the final Sunday, June 30^th. July has some very special emphases: