March 23 2026

Monday March 23

I Am Thankful for You

Philippians 1:3

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.”

Today we are continuing to look verse by verse through the book of Philippians. We talked about verse three yesterday, where the Apostle Paul wrote, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” We talked about how Paul was a grateful man, thankful for the church at Philippi—for all that they meant to him and for all that they had supported him with in their friendship. It made me think about how thankful I am upon every remembrance of you.

First, let me say to my Facebook and media friends, thank you. Thank you for your support over these past five years as we have been in a state of retirement from more than 50 years as a senior pastor. I just wanted to give you a special shout-out. You have been such a blessing and such an encouragement. Your prayers and your support have helped me through difficult times and inspired me to keep on keeping on as we serve the Lord here in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina.

Thank you for your prayers during our times of illness, and even recently with the sciatic nerve pain that you helped pray us through. I wanted you to know that I have been so blessed, because of your prayers, that the pain has subsided. But we found out that the MRI definitely shows that I will need surgery. I met with a surgeon this past week, and we will be scheduling surgery probably the first of May. It is noninvasive surgery—they will put me to sleep in a clinic and perform the procedure. It is in and out. Hopefully, that problem around L2/ L3, will be taken care of. I am thankful for all your prayers and your continued prayers for the upcoming surgery. At the same time, they did an MRI on my right shoulder that has be very painful for several years, and we found out that there are so many tears in the muscles there, they are talking about total reverse shoulder replacement. We will be praying about having that done later on this year. But thank you. You have always been there to pray for us.

I was thinking back over the 50 years of being a senior pastor and the churches we had the privilege of pastoring. I thank God for the very first church in Winchester VA, Shenandoah Valley Baptist Church, where I spent 15 years. The first two years was as an associate while we were still in school at Lynchburg Baptist College. I think of the many friends and the wonderful things the Lord did there. I thank the Lord for my associates, Bob Quinn, Eric Farel, and Ron Combs, who were always there beside me, and the deacons of the fellowship. There were difficult times, no doubt, but you prayed for me. You were there with me. You stood with me in the tough times. Thank you. Upon every remembrance of you, I thank God for you.

Then we went to Holland, Michigan, for eight years at Calvary Baptist Church. There we had a very wonderful and exciting ministry with the church and the school. Again, I think of the deacons, the leadership of the church, and the friendships that developed there. I think of how Rick Flowers came alongside us for six of those years—a young man who gave his heart to the Lord at Shenandoah, went into the ministry, and is still a dear friend. So many people stood with us, beside us, encouraging us and helping us. I will not name all the names, but thank you. Upon every remembrance of you, I thank God.

Then in 1996 we moved to Troutville, Virginia, to Rainbow Forest Baptist Church where we were for 25 years, from 1996 until 2021. My friend, how blessed we were there. I often feel like I am the most blessed man in the world for the churches we had the privilege of pastoring—the leadership of those churches, the deacons, the staff members who worked alongside us, encouraged us, prayed for us, and helped us through the tough times. The very last church we had the privilege of pastoring was Burgaw Friendly Community Church here in North Carolina, for two years. Wow—how greatly I was blessed to meet so many wonderful believers, to see people baptized, and to see lives changed. Then even in my own neighborhood, meeting people who are encouraging me and blessing me.

Of course, I am so thankful for a wife and children who have stood with us, and been such a blessing and encouragement. Upon every remembrance of my family, my friends, and all who have been a part of our ministry and our lives over these past 54 years as a Christian, I thank God for you. I have been so blessed. I just want to encourage you to take time to remember those who have blessed you.

Upon every remembrance of all of you, I thank God. I am so blessed. I just wanted to take time to do that today.

God bless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day.