Sharing an Abundant Life!
In our community in Waco, Texas, we are in the midst of a busy and intense season. We are preparing for our 38th annual Homestead Fair, where we hope to greet and encourage thousands of visitors with hope and the message that an abundant life is possible.
This week we received twenty-one new brothers and sisters into the church through baptism in the name of Jesus. A few days later our entire church partook of communion, as we remembered the Lord’s sacrifice and celebrated our participation in the Body of Christ.
At the baptism service held in our Heritage Center, Brother Asi preached from 1 Peter 3. He emphasized that, in this passage, Noah’s ark symbolized the church, the corporate Body of Christ wherein believers find salvation.
One of those baptized, Seifu Ambissa, a 74-year-old Ethiopian grandfather, shared his heart in the Amharic language. His words were translated by his oldest son, whose son, Sammy, was also baptized the same evening. Others baptized included Seth and Ashvani Vivek, a couple from India, Jesse Bruton, a seminary graduate who served in diverse Christian circles for decades, ten young people who are part of our community’s third generation, and several others whose search for deeper relationship with God led them to our fellowship.
If you stop by the fairgrounds at any time of the day or night during this season, you’ll find people preparing food booths, practicing music, making crafts, cleaning and remodeling, setting up picnic areas, testing the sound system, building displays, and myriads of other projects—all with joy and anticipation of our many guests.
Many of the areas that were once supervised by our first and second generation are now being passed to the vigorous third generation. Music is one example: Sister Marcia, now in her seventies, who has faithfully led the 6-9-year-old choir for decades, has begun this year to turn her responsibility over to David Wheeler.
Our community youth choir and orchestra is the largest in Texas, and our 10-21 year olds are busy preparing two fantastic concerts, one for the fair and one for Christmas. Stephen Wheeler leads the choir, and Tim Lancaster leads the orchestra.
The youth choir recorded an outdoor video that has been exploding over social media. Check it out here:
Please pray for the Waco community that God will continue to grace us with His presence, strength, and wisdom as we labor and prepare to share a message of hope for all who seek an abundant life.
