Today our church celebrated her tenth anniversary. Dr. Bob Smith was our guest preacher all day. He said, “This is a miracle church.” God has certainly poured out His grace on us over the years. Bro. Smith also said, “If God has allowed you to have this property and this group of people in the first ten years, I can’t imagine what He is going to do in the next ten!” We are excited about whatever God wants to do here at Lighthouse Baptist Church!

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God blessed us this morning with 133 in church and 4 saved. God has been so good to us over the years in letting us see people saved in church and out soulwinning – an average of 5 a week for 10 years. We have a great group of soulwinners and only heaven knows just how many have been saved that we do not know about.   (More below the slideshow)

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Tonight, I showed our church the stacks of decision cards that have been filled out over the last ten years of our church – people getting saved, baptized, joining the church, or surrendering to full-time service.  I said, “You are in here somewhere. Your children are in this stack somewhere.” Sometimes we need to be reminded just how God has used the church in our lives.

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After tonight’s service, we gave a commemorative lighthouse clock to each family. I also honored our remaining charter families and honorary charter families: Ron & Kelli Birkett, Tim & Marie Dart, Greg and Lisa Camp, and Cecil and Lee Davidson. These folks helped lay the foundation of our church, and I am forever grateful to them. Each of them was presented a beautiful New Testament.

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My family and I were flabbergasted by the outpouring of love from our church tonight. They presented us with a beautiful plaque, many notes and cards, love offerings, and gifts. I was especially blessed that they gave each of our children a wrapped present to open in front of the church. What a blessing! It is a joy to serve our church as pastor and family.

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Below are Ten Things I am thankful for on our Tenth Anniversary:

1. I am thankful for God’s wonderful grace, by which I was saved and called into the ministry, and which has sustained us and provided for us every day from the day I was saved as a teenager.
2. I am thankful for a wonderful wife. I thank God for giving me a prudent wife who loves the Lord, loves her husband, loves her children, and loves her church. I am thankful for a wife who has given 100% to everything we have done and has been a true “help meet” to her preacher husband.
3. I am thankful for wonderful children who take more after their mother than me. I am thankful for the opportunity to raise them in one church. I am thankful that they are obedient and good to each other. I am thankful that they get along as siblings should, and that they love God and love going to church. I am thankful that they are good encouragers.
4. I am thankful to my parents, who have been such strong supporters of our family and ministry. I am thankful that they are saved. I am thankful that they were here today for our anniversary Sunday.
   
5. I am thankful for the small group of people who have been here more than 7 years. Churches are not built by church hoppers who move every 3-4 years in search of “the perfect church,” or those who leave when adversity comes. They are built by people who stay and put down roots. Those are the ones who produce fruit that remains.
   
6. I am thankful for my pastor, Dr. Bob Smith, for his training, help and encouragement over the years.
7. I am thankful for those enemies who have lifted their hands against a God-sent pastor, for they have taught me so much about human behavior, and have helped me to understand the Bible better. In fact, I am now ready to teach a new course at the Bible College called Psycho Ceramics – how to deal with cracked pots!
   
8. I am thankful for my true friends, who have been such a source of encouragement and help.
9. I am thankful for several bankers who took a chance on a young preacher, which allowed us to purchase the property we enjoy.
10. I am thankful that despite adversity and adversaries, by God’s grace I am still married, still in the ministry, still winning souls, still moving forward, and still enjoying life!