I had an incredible visit this weekend with my Uncle Vernon and Aunt Carolyn Ables and their son Greg. Last year, not long after Father's Day, God gave me an idea for this year's June message series: A series called Legacy that would include my Father's Day message. The whole idea revolved around bringing my uncle and cousin in to present our church with an example of Spiritual Legacy. You see, both my Uncle and my cousin are pastors. My Uncle Vernon pastors a great church in Searcy, Arkansas outside of Little Rock and my cousin Greg pastors a wonderful church in the greater Tulsa area in Oklahoma. Most of you know my dad was a pastor and I followed in his footsteps, just like Greg followed in his father's footsteps. My dad and my Uncle Vernon have another brother, my Uncle Tracy who is a pastor as well and he has sons who have followed him into ministry!
So many people in our church are first generation Christ followers. Meaning, their parents and grandparents didn't serve Christ - They are the first in their families to make that decision. I wanted to provide them with an example of multi-generational Christianity so they will have the faith to believe God to help them begin their own legacy of faith!
What a great weekend it was! Greg and Uncle Vernon preached an incredible message and Greg even surprised me with an old film strip of our Great, Great Grandfather from 1935 who was a pastor and church planter. (I'll post more about him in a blog entry soon including the afore mentioned film strip!) Both my uncle and my cousin commented this weekend on the impact my dad had on their lives and I realized that all of us have been effected by the legacy my dad left behind. Along with the joy of having my family in services with us this weekend, we also had some awesome time to hang out with them along with my sister Holane and her family, laughing and talking about all the great times gone by. Today was the first Father's Day Greg was able to spend with his dad since 1994! I'm glad we were able to arrange that! It was a great opportunity to visit with legacy!
