A Sunday to remember at the Collins congregation...

Four of our youth, Taylon, Shelby, Kendall, and Tyler were baptized. They chose to be baptized this Sunday so that their grandfather—“Pa”, as they call him—a strong Christian influence on their life, who lives and works in Detroit, could be present to administer the ceremony.

In addition, we celebrated the 64th anniversary of Delbert and Carlene Hargis, Charity’s grandparents. Their commitment to one another is only matched by their commitment to the Lord and to the church. We invited about everyone in the family to celebrate with us after church, for a “dinner on the ground” (southern for potluck). Between our guests for the baptisms and the guests for the anniversary, we tripled our regular attendance.

We had a tearful grandfather thanking everyone he could think of, a songleader so choked up by the faith decision of his nieces and nephews that he had difficulty finishing the worship service, people in the audience requesting songs, and a football game for the youth, affectionately dubbed “baptism bowl”.

In moments like this, we can envision some of what God desires to accomplish through us and in us. We celebrate new commitments while we follow in the footsteps of those before us. And as “Pa” reminded us, all the credit goes to Christ, and all the glory goes to God.

Family Retreat

Our mission team just enjoyed the weekend in Arkansas in the foothills of the Ozarks. We wanted the opportunity to bring our parents together to meet the other members of our team, and spend some time with some former missionaries to Africa.

The highlights included:

1. Time spent with our teammates. We are spread across the country, and are so encouraged to be around each other. It is a foretaste of what we will enjoy in Mwanza!

2. Monte and Beth Cox, and Oneal Tankersley sharing their experiences as missionaries in Africa with us and our families, and Beth's parents sharing what it is like sending your kids and grandkids overseas.

3. Touring the HUT missionary training village, where the team will gather in May to participate in a two week intensive course to help us grapple with issues of poverty and development in the third-world.



(note: the picture is from the Harding webpage; we don't know who the people are, but it is Monte teaching!)

4. The blessing offered by our parents as they surrounded us in prayer and affirmation.

5. The African worship service on Sunday morning (Bwana Asifiwe!)


We are so grateful for the help of Monte and Beth Cox and Oneal Tankersley, as well as their assistants Bobby and Candice. We were richly blessed!