It All Started...

Well, It all started back in October of 2004.  You may ask, "what started in 2004?"  The answer is the journey of the Madaris family moving to HGBC in GCS.  It was during the Fall of 04 that I was asked to submit my resume to the pastor search committee.  It took a while for the Lord to get everything just the way he wanted it, but Melissa and I moved here with our baby daughter Morgan on October 31, 2005.  We began our ministry here the first Sunday in November of 2005.  This past Sunday I began my sixth year as lead pastor of the church. We have seen our Heavenly Father do some amazing things and be so faithful to his children and his church.  I am so grateful to God for allowing me to pastor his church in this place.  I am so thankful for the things he has taught me since I came.  I am also looking forward to what our Heavenly Father has in store for us in the future.  The sky's the limit.

I just returned from the Florida Baptist Convention in Brandon, Florida.  While I was there, the messengers of the convention voted overwhelmingly to adopt the six recommendations of the Imagine If Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.  I'm pumped to know that as Southern Baptists, we are refocusing on our Lord's command to make disciples to the ends of earth til the end of time.  These recommendations came on the heels of the SBC doing the same thing in Orlando back in June during the annual meeting.  I pray that Florida Baptists everywhere will allow the Holy Spirit to teach them and guide them into a proper understanding of what the Great Commission is all about.  I pray that Florida Baptists will faithfully lead their churches to increase CP giving so that we might send more missionaries into the field considering there are over 1.6 BILLION people who have never heard the name of Jesus redemptively.  It is a sad but motivating fact that there are over 6,400 people groups with no gospel witness.  We Florida Baptists and children of the most high God must take his message and his son to the nations.

With that in mind, I ask you to pray for me as I leave for Vietnam Friday.  I will be gone until the 23rd.  Pray for my family as we are apart.  Pray that our Heavenly Father will give me an effective time of study and ministry while I am there.  And pray that the Lord Jesus will give me an opportunity to begin the disciple making process with my brothers and sisters in Christ in Vietnam.  Thank you for your support and prayers.

Serving Him,
Mike