Weekly Email Article plus some

2014 is flying by; it’s hard to believe February has come and gone, but it has. March is at the door, and we have some great things on the calendar for March. The first is our spring revival. It starts on Sunday morning March 9 with Dr. Bailey Smith preaching in the morning service. We have altered the morning schedule and will have Life Groups at 9 AM, and one morning worship service at 10 AM. Please note the change and help us spread the word. Dr. Greg Batchelor will be preaching Sunday night through Wednesday night. Sunday night will begin at 6 PM and Monday through Wednesday service times will be at 7 PM nightly.

I have known Dr. Bailey Smith for over twenty years. He is an evangelist the Lord has used to reach people across the nation and around the world. He preaches anywhere the Lord opens the door. One of the things Bro Bailey is known for is his annual Real Evangelism Conferences. I have been attending this conference for years. He will be hosting the Real Evangelism Conference at First Baptist Church Indian Trail next week March 5-7. If you would like to go with me to the conference Thursday or Friday please let me know. You will be greatly blessed.

I met Dr. Greg Batchelor when I entered the doctoral program at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a godly man, a great husband and father, a shepherd to his congregation, and a friend to me. I know you will be blessed to sit under his preaching.

I pray you are thinking about and inviting friends and family, especially lost friends and family, to come to one of these special services. I believe the Lord Jesus wants to save the lost, and encourage the Christians during these days. Make every effort to attend. Don’t miss a service. With that being said, if you are comfortable talking with people about Christ and sharing the gospel, I need you to be a decision time counselor during our revival services specifically, and also a counselor during our invitations each week. If you will do this please let me know ASAP. And Thank You in advance for serving the Lord Jesus in this way.

We have one other guest speaker who will be preaching in March. On March 23, Dr. Mark Harris will be at Highland preaching in both the 8:30 and 11 AM services. Dr. Harris is currently the pastor at First Baptist Church Charlotte, but he is seeking election as US Senator from NC. It is a privilege to host Dr. Harris. I encourage you to pray for him as he continues to seek the path the Lord Jesus is leading him to follow at this time. (The end of the email article)

I am also excited to tell you about the new format for our monthly leadership meeting, formerly called the Strategic Leadership Team meeting). Beginning March 16 at 6 PM, we will have our monthly Family FOCUS night. Each month on the 3rd Sunday night of the month we will gather together for a time of information, discussion, presentations of ministries, vision casting and direction along with a time of fun, food, and fellowship. I hope you will make plans to be present each Family FOCUS night, that you will bring some delicious goodies to snack on, and a heart and mind open to what God is doing and wants to do at Highland Baptist Church. On the 16th we will hear reports from our finance team, REACH leaders, PLACE leaders, and the JOY club will have a chunk of time to share what's going on in their ministry. I can't wait. This time should last about 40-45 minutes, immediately followed by food and fun in the FLC.

One last thing I want to share with you is a new way I am trying to communicate with the church. Of coarse I use this blog, Facebook, and Twitter. The church uses Facebook, emails, the phone tree, and other means. But Matt showed me something not long ago that he has been using to communicate with parents and students via text messages. So, I decided to give it a try. Many Highland folks have received either an email or text invitation from me to join the Highland group. This isn't spam or a scam, it was really from me. If you want to receive these texts from me periodically you can just follow the instructions from the text or email I sent or/and I will post the instructions here.  Send a text message to 704-322-4951 and put @highlandbc in the message of the text. If you do that you begin receiving messages from me as I send them out. That's it.