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Every year about this time we make a much needed trip to Florida. Not the usual reason people go to Florida though (no going to the beach!). We attended the Pastor's Conference at FBC Jacksonville.
It is there Hubs (and me too) gets renewed by great preaching and worship services. We also hear the best singing this side of heaven!
We also go for the fellowship with two couples that went to seminary with us nearly 30 years ago now! We meet every year and enjoy catching up on our lives in the ministry and our families!
This is us with our friends,Terry and Pat from Georgia, on graduation day at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas in 1985.
Here we are with our friends, Randy and Debbie from Oklahoma who also graduated the same year and have always been good friends. This was made in 2005.
I snapped this picture of them this week going from the parking garage into the church!
We have a favorite seafood place we eat lunch at every year with the same waitress!
Are we creatures of habit or what??
We heard so many good sermons from a wide range of pastors. We heard from Tullian Tchividjian (Billy Graham's grandson); my favorite preacher (next to Hubs of course) Johnny Hunt from Woodstock FBC in Atlanta; young pastor J D Greear from Summit Church in North Carolina; Erwin Lutzer from Moody in Chicago; Mac Brunson, pastor at FBC Jacksonville; another young pastor who I just loved, Tony Merida; David Platt from The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama; Jim Cymbla from the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York; Junior Hill, evangelist and many others. One of the most interesting was Joel Rosenberg, noted author concerning end times.
I was so happy he was preaching when Newt Gingrich came to visit. He needed to hear Joel speaking about world affairs and how we as Christians need to support Israel. He has written many very interesting and timely books that are so relevant to our world today!
The music is another reason we love to attend the pastor's conference! It is beyond good!
The choir always presents a special musical ending to our conference.
All of their youth choirs join in the musical! It was breathtaking!
I was so delighted to meet a special young lady at the conference this year.
She came up to me and introduced herself to let me know she reads Kelly's blog and mine.
She thanked me for the encouragement we gave her. She is a young pastor's wife with two beautiful little girls. ( who ran off before I got a picture of them).
Emily, it was so very nice to meet you and I pray for all the young pastor's wives like yourself who are laboring along side of their husbands in the ministry. I believe it is a calling!
Thank you for all the nice things you said to me. I was blessed by meeting you!
Sunday afternoon after church we had the honor of meeting a sweet couple and their two sweet boys for lunch! I had read Mandi's blog for several years now and prayed for her and Howie as they adopted their two boys. The youngest "D" was having his birthday on Sunday. We ate lunch together and had a great visit!
Mandi, it was so sweet to finally meet you and your handsome fellows!
I admire you and Howie so much for the awesome parents you are!
You are a beautiful young woman, inside and out! Thanks for taking your time to have lunch with Hubs and me. It was one of the highlights of our trip!
Now, did I mention it was warm all week in Florida? It isn't always but we certainly enjoyed the sunshine! I can see why people move there when they retire!! Sort of!! har
19 comments:
i can't believe you didn't get a picture of tim tebow!!!!!
i am lovin' your dress from 1985 :)
sounds like a wonderful trip full of blessings!
What a wonderful list a speakers, it must have been such a blessing to hear from them.
glad yall had a great time!!
Iknow this has nothing to do with your post, but I need a favor. Can you say a prayer for a fellow blogger. I posted it in the comments on kellys prayers bc I couldn't get to leave one on the list. Can you pray for Emily and Brian over at "a peek into our journey" she's currently about 22 weeks pregnant with triplets and has been admitted. Lots of not good things going on. She needs two more weeks.....please pray. Thank you!
What a wonderful trip. Such a blessing to catch up with dear friends. Food, Fellowship and Friendship can't beat it hah
So glad you enjoyed your time in Florida. We are originally from right outside of Jacksonville and sweet Emily is our Pastors wife from Fla. We love their family. We moved to the dfw area alittle over a year ago now. We love Johnny Hunt also. He was my uncle and aunt's pastor for years and good friends. My uncle is a gospel singer. I always enjoy reading your blog and Kelly's. Such a sweet spirit family.
My Mom gets Joel Rosenberg's newsletter via e-mail. We went to Florida for the first time last February-early March 2011.
Blessings,
Amy
What a blessing to hear ALL those pastors, but Joel Rosenberg that is awesome. What a wonderful trip.
I'm not in the same denomination as you all, but reading this post made me so thankful to be in the family of God, and for my own Faith community. 30 years! that is so wonderful.
I'm glad your trip to Florida was a refreshing time with old friends. We were thrilled that you took time to have lunch with us! You are just what I imagined you to be...sweet as pie. :) So thankful I can stay connected with you through our blogs and facebook. Until next year...
sounds like a wonderful week!
What a neat trip! And, I love that you were able to meet Mandi - she is just the sweetest, as are you!
Sounds like a great trip! fun to look back at old pictures! my hubs would have been thrilled to hear Joel Rosenberg speak!! how exciting to meet bloggy friends too! have a blessed week!
So great that you have had the same friends all these years! Life long friends are great for the heart:)
Don't know what happened to my comment. Guess I sent it off into cyber space...again. Glad you enjoyed your trip to Jax. Used to live there and went to FBC. Have you ever been to Ridgecrest, NC? That is where the ministers and wives in my family went to a lot of conferences. Loved it.
My great aunt lives in Jacksonville & goes to FBC. All I remember about going there was parking in a parking deck to go to church (very foreign to my little country church in AR at 8 or 9) and how big the choir was! Glad you had a good time!
I love your SWBTS graduation picture from 1985. I recognized the building in the background - Travis Ave Baptist Church. My husband graduated from SWBTS in 1991 and we have a picture of us that is very similar. He was an intern at Travis Ave. Happy memories! I found your blog through Kelly's blog. Precious!
I was looking at the graduation picture and thinking,"I had a dress like that...wonder when that was?" I looked closer and realized where you were: my husband graduated from Southwestern at that same service in 1985! I had a 4 month old daughter with me for our pictures outside the church where the graduation was held. Small world
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