Hey Friends,

Well, we are headed home after a long and rewarding week of ministry.  From North Carolina to West Virginia, God has blessed along the way. 

We are grateful for what God did at Crosspointe Church in Nashville, NC.  Every service the Lord poured out on us.  He challenged us all to a deeper relationship with Christ. Thanks to Mitch and Nancy Miles for your generous hospitality.  We also had great fellowship with Raphael, Adrianna, Stuart, Melvin and the gang….We love you all…. 

We had the opportunity to do the chapel service at Community Christian School while in the Rocky Mount area.  We were supposed to have a 45 minute service.  Well, it lasted 2 hours.  God sat down in that building and moved in a mighty way.  25 students came to know Jesus in a personal way.  The rest of us were challenged through the word to be more bold and leave a legacy of Christianity for others to follow. 

We had the opportunity to stop by Greensboro, NC and visit with two of my Executive Board members.  We did a lot of thinking, dreaming and praying for Vision Productions, Inc. and LampLight Theatre.  We know that God has great things on the horizon as we open our hearts and minds to his leading. 

We traveled on through to the mountains of West Virginia to Anstead to Lighthouse Worship Center.  There, we had a wonderful time in concert and got to reconnect with some wonderful friends.  We are grateful to Dwayne and Mandy Isaacs and their family for making us feel welcome.  What a blessing they have been over the years.  It was also good to see David and Lindsey Wray.  Pray for David as he continues his studies to be a doctor.  David is one of my heroes.  He is a cancer survivor and has traveled with me on several occasions playing bass guitar.  They traveled to Anstead to see us as did some of you.  Thanks for your support.  It was great reconnecting.  God did a great work that night.  

From Anstead, we traveled to Shinnston, WV to the Lighthouse (different Lighthouse than Anstead) and First Baptist Shinnston.  We hung out with several students from their ministry on Saturday night.  We had pizza and went bowling.  Needless to say, Jacob and I did okay.  Neither of us will go pro, but our skills will not be too quickly forgotten.  We topped the evening off with a chocolate dipped cone from Dairy Queen.  Our goal was to establish some relationships with the students (especially the unchurched ones).  God honored us with that and allowed us to love on them. 

Sunday morning, I took a break from preaching.  My friend, Kevin Nuzum, is now senior pastor there.  He had been the youth director there for several years.  He did a fine job. We all have to grow up someday and Kevin is taking on his role with great vision.  We had the opportunity to stay with Kevin and his wife, Bethany.  They have a son named Grant who is incredibly gifted.  They were very unselfish with their home and showed us great hospitality (beautiful home).

Sunday night’s concert at the Lighthouse was good.  God answered our prayers.  The students that we hoped would come from the night before showed up.  4 of the students were saved and God poured out on the invitation.  It was a great time of encouragement and ministry.  Please be in prayer for the youth team at the Lighthouse as they continue reaching out to the students in Shinnston. They care for a lot of hurting students there and need encouragement.

This morning, we were at the Clarksburg Mission.  I preached and Jacob and I sang.  They were very kind and receptive.  God not only ministered to them, He ministered to us as well.  They made us feel so welcome and were very grateful for our visit.  4 people accepted Christ and God challenged each of us to step up in our walk of faith by not using our past as an excuse for not living for him.  We prayed with some who were facing great difficulties including addiction and bitterness.  We were blessed to be there.  We look forward to another visit at some point.

Now, we are headed home to reorganize to leave back out at the end of the week. I am the speaker for a commencement service in Henderson, NC on Friday at Crossroad Christian School.  I will be back in Kingsport, TN on Sunday at Preaching Christ Church to speak at a bus ministry dedication.  This is a passion of my heart.  I know that God is going to use this new ministry to reach a lot of hurting people.

That just about wraps it up.  Keep Jacob and me in your prayers.  Pray for Carmen (Jacob’s wife) as she finishes teaching this year and their transition to the ministry full-time.  Also, remember Ridge as he seeks God’s direction for his life.  I know God has great plans for him. We are trusting the Lord to do a mighty work through him.  This is a very difficult time for him, but God will see him through. 

Don’t forget about the Cast Call for our Patriotic Show on Monday, May 31^st at 6:00 at LampLight Theatre.  We would love for you to join us in ministry.

Persevering,
Billy Wayne