The Feeding Of The 100

This week was a first for me. I preached revival services at four different locations. The Alachua County (Florida) Youth Revival took place in Alachua, Newberry, Lacrosse and Gainesville. We had a wonderful time (in spite of the preaching).

The very first night drew a larger than expected crowd. Minister of Youth Mark Spradley of Forest Grove Baptist Church said the crowd numbered exactly 200 people. The interesting part is that the church had prepared enough food for 80. Not all of the 200 stayed for the fellowship, but he said they actually served about 100 people with enough food for 80! Now, to make it more interesting, my sermon that evening was from John 6:1-14 where Jesus fed at least 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish! I just think that it is cool how the Lord tied the service and the fellowship together with a common theme! It reminded me of a situation at another church two years ago involving putting "compassion" into action.

All of the services featured great music, coordinated by Matt Simmons, Minister of Youth at Oak Park Baptist Church, and skits by the youth of Antioch Baptist Church and Forest Grove Baptist Church. Each service saw a number of youth (and adults too) coming to the altar for prayer during the Invitation or, as I call it, the Time of Decision. We also had one young lady to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior. Praise the Lord! These services and the fellowship were a real blessing to me.

If you live in the area or are passing through and would like to visit one of these churches, here are their locations:

• Forest Grove Baptist Church: 22575 NW 94th Ave., Alachua, Florida
• Antioch Baptist Church: 3612 NW 177th Ave., Lacrosse, Florida
• Oak Park Baptist Church: 4610 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, Florida