Down At the River!

Good morning! I got up at 5 am this morning as I normally do and went to the kitchen. The rain had already started. It looks like it will be a rainy day and hopefully the weather will not turn ugly this afternoon. Just please stay safe and well. Keep smiling that Jesus smile even if you can only smile to those in your home. We will all get through this together.

So this past Sunday morning Peggy and I arrived to get ready for the live stream at about 9 am. We unlocked the door and began preparing for the worship service. Peggy played some songs on the piano while I turned on the sound system and got the camera and lap top running. As I turned on the lap top and it booted up I realized we had no internet. My first twinge of panic rose. If we have no internet then we have no live stream. I checked my phone to see if it had connected to the Wi-Fi and it had not. I hurried upstairs and checked my computer in the office. No direct connection to the internet. I then went into the room where all of the modems and connections for the internet is located. I did what I have always been taught to do first. I unplugged all of the equipment that relates to the internet. I unplugged the modem, the router, and the two boxes that split the signal and send it to the different computers. I waited about 3 minutes and then plugged them all back in in the order that the signal comes from the modem. After they were plugged in I waited another minute or two to allow them to come on line. I checked my phone and saw that the Wi-Fi had connected. I then scurried down stairs and checked my lap top. Success, I had internet connection.

Believing that all my earlier fears were subsided I connected to Facebook and pulled up the Reedy River Baptist Church Page. I hit “Live” button and watched as the screen changed and I saw on the lap top the picture that the camera was taking. I then settled in to wait until everyone was in place and 10:30 am came around.

Richard, Josh, Chance and Patricia came in and we all got to our places. Peggy and Patricia practiced a little before we began. I gave Chance an announcement that I wanted him to say. We did a sound check and made sure everyone and the piano was showing up on the sound meter in the camera. Everything was primed to begin. We still had about 30 minutes before we were to start. We talked about our weekend and some of the things we had done. At about 10:15 we stopped and prayed together. The time slipped away and finally it was time to begin.

I hit “Go Live” on the screen. The screen takes about 20 seconds to start and then I pointed at Mrs. Patricia to begin playing. She hadn’t played very long when all of a sudden the camera feed on my lap top went black. It said video temporarily lost. Now I understood that if you were watching you heard the next part. I shouted out, “Stop we have lost picture.” Then all of a sudden Chance showed me on his phone it was still working. I pulled it up on my phone and because there was a delay I still thought it was not working. I motioned to Peggy to stop, but she continued and then I realized it was still working. I stayed quiet and the worship service continue. I never regained the picture on my lap top.

When Josh finished and stepped away from the podium I hit the button that says, “End Live Stream.” Normally another information block comes up that says “Are you sure you want to end this session?” I always hit “yes.” But this time it didn’t appear. What appeared was do you want to leave this screen. I hit “yes.” We all thought that we were off the air. We began talking and we were congratulating Josh on a very good sermon. Then all of a sudden Peggy says, “We are still live.” I quickly went back to the computer. The screen was off and Facebook was shut down. How could it be on. I turned the camera and the computer off and Peggy finally said we were off line. Whew!

So if you heard talking after Josh finished last week that was the reason.

To tell the truth from getting to church and having to find the internet and then with the problem on my lap top the whole process of live streaming the worship service had me in a tizzy. I hate it when something goes wrong. We are trying to produce a good product that glorifies God and allows us a platform to worship. And there always seems to be a hitch or problem.

Speaking of all of the problems and glitches while producing a live stream has got me to Just Thinking! Have you ever noticed when you are trying to do something good for God that often you run into a problem here and there. You have an idea on how to make a difference in someone’s life and someone hears about it and criticizes you for not doing more. You make a friendly move and try to bring joy to someone’s life and another person tells you that you said the wrong thing and made them mad. You try to perform a kindness and the person says don’t bother. It just seems like whenever we feel we want to do something good for God that there are obstacles along the way.

I am convinced that when we put our mind to sharing Jesus in a substantial way that Satan is doing all he can to thwart our plans. He will try to make you discouraged and cause you to give up. He wants you to say it doesn’t matter and to have a pity party with words like, “No one ever notices what I do.” Let’s face it Satan is adverse to any good deed done in the name of Jesus.

Yet, I am a person who does not give up. I want to see it through until the end. I will go to any means to try and make sure the plan comes together. I’m still not completely satisfied with the sound on Facebook live and am working to get it better every week. I have reached out to others for help and am not willing to just be satisfied. I believe when we are doing something for God we need to do it to our very best. We never need to compromise when it comes to sharing the gospel and worshipping Jesus.

I am reminded of Paul’s words to the church at Colossae. He said, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord…” So thanks for understanding if you hear my voice during a live stream. I am just trying to get the picture and the sound to be the best it can be. Thanks for understanding if things are not perfect, because we are all doing our best to share worship with all of you. Remember the goal is to worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And by the way, I am open to any and all suggestions on how to make it better. Just send me an email. We love and appreciate you all!!

Dear Lord, help us to never compromise when it comes to worshipping and sharing the gospel. We ask that you keep Satan out of the picture and do not allow him to have a stronghold in our services. We pray that you will keep him from interrupting the spreading of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Help us to present you in the best of lights so that you will illuminate people and they may come to know you for the first time or that they will come to know you better. We want our presentation to be the best it can be for you. Thanks for all you have done and all you are going to do. We love you. In Jesus name, Amen.

Let’s read the Bible together:

Thursday – Judges 17-18; Acts 25; Proverbs 23

Friday – Judges 19-21; Acts 26; Proverbs 24

Saturday – Ruth 1-2; Acts 27; Proverbs 25

Sunday – Ruth 3-4; Acts 28; Proverbs 26

Monday – 1 Samuel 1-2; Romans 1; Proverbs 27

Tuesday – 1 Samuel 3-4; Romans 2; Proverbs 28

Wednesday – 1 Samuel 5-6; Romans 3; Proverbs 29

This week at the river:

Praying you will stay safe and well this weekend. I know that there are more stores open now, but please be careful if you venture out. Remember to practice good hygiene and protect yourself. We are praying for you all.

Hopefully this next week on the website, reedyriverbc.org, we will have some more information for you. We will be updating the Home page periodically with information that you will need to know. As you scroll down the home page you will see this information. Below this information Pastor Josh and I will be doing a daily devotion. We invite you to log on to the website every day and read the devotion. Also, we would love to have feedback from you on the website and the devotions. Also, for parents with children we have a new Bible Story under the Children’s Corner tab. Mrs. Rebecca was kind enough to record a story just for children. We will have a new story every week. The first one is up now on that page. A special thank you to Rachel Bass for all of her hard work helping to set up and creating our website.

Sunday’s Worship Information:

“Devoted to Jesus!”

Luke 22:31-34; John 21:15-18

Pastor Josh Slatten

Join us at 10:30 am for this worship service on Facebook live.

Please be in prayer for your deacons and pastors as they meet on Tuesday evening to discuss the reopening of worship services. We want to keep everyone safe and follow the correct guidelines. I know there is much division on whether we need to get back to normal or continue to quarantine. So please pray as we meet and discuss these possibilities. We want to get back together as soon as possible, but we want to provide a safe place to be able to do so. Thanks for your prayers.

Remember we are here Monday through Thursday 9 am until 4 pm. You can call or come by if you need something. We also want to thank you for your faithfulness in mailing, dropping off, or giving online your tithes and offerings. We are holding strong and it is all because of your commitment to our church and the Kingdom of God. Also, do not forget that you can email any of here at the office:

David – davids@rrbaptist.net

Josh – wjs@rrbaptist.net

Michelle – michellep@rrbaptist.net

Birthdays for the week of April 23rd – April 29th:

Vicki Collins – Saturday

Anniversaries for the week of April 23rd – April 29th:

None on our calendar

Praise & Prayer:

Praising God for a giving committed church. Praising God for sound Biblical messages from Pastor Josh. Praising God for caring for us each and every day. Praising God for His numerous blessings in spite of the storm.

Please pray for the following:

Chris Bass – health issues

Roger Bennett – surgery postponed again.

John DiNatale – received a good report on Wednesday. His lungs are clear, no fluid. Pray for continued recovery.

Mae Edwards - health

Connie Joyner –home and recovering in Salisbury, NC,

Bill Keown – struggling with Sciatica in his leg, in a great deal of pain, at home

Mary Micke – successful back surgery yesterday. Will probably come home tomorrow.

Betty Owens – taking chemo every Friday, at home

Joe Patterson – began IV antibiotics for several weeks, the antibiotics seemed to be working this time

Margaret Patterson – health

Candy Poindexter – now taking chemo pills, doing well so far – home

Betty Banks – health – sister-in-law of Preston and Ann Golightly

Kathy Evans – health – cousin of Preston and Ann Golightly

Roger Chandler – struggling with cancer – Tommy Chandler’s nephew

Bennie Durham – doing better – Bennie is a chaplain with the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and a good friend

Nora Fiske – home recovering from congestive heart failure – Elizabeth Slatten’s grandmother

Landon Hartman – good numbers this past week – 8 year old with cancer

Kenny Keown – esophageal cancer – Bill Kewon’s brother in Texas

Rose Raines – hospice called in – Larry Simmons sister in Morganton, NC

Lilly Philips – at hospice with multiple health problems – Birdie Harmon and Frankie Hightower’s sister-in-law

Georgia Vance – hospice called in – Nena Vance’s Mom

Jerry Whaley – liver cancer – friend of Tommy Chandler

John Wooten – prostate cancer, taking radiation – Tammy Davidson’s uncle

Lin & LeeAnna Bradley & boys – Lin is finished at Fort Jackson. He and the family are going to travel to Fort Bragg and then be shipped out overseas.

All Missions and Ministries

Dear Jesus, we want to say thanks for all of your many blessings. Thank you for looking after us and keeping us safe. Help us to remember that you want what is best for us. Help us to focus on you every day and spend some time with you every day. Thank you for our church and the faithfulness of our members and friends. We pray that you will drive this virus away so we can join together soon as one body and worship you. We ask all of this in your holy and precious name, Amen.

Have a great weekend and stay safe and well. We love you and are praying for each of you. God Bless,

Love God! Love People!!

David M. Simmons

864-293-2391

Job 13:15

Psalm 100:3

Proverbs 3:5-7

John 10:10