Equal Opportunity Saviour

The Lord worked at least two miracles during the revival meeting at Hope Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida this week. The miracle of salvation is always exciting for a church and for an evangelist too. The two that received Jesus Christ as their Saviour were males aged 18 and 74 and one was black and the other white. I mention the age and race of these men not for any negative reason, but to show that our Lord is an equal opportunity Saviour. He is willing to save anyone that believes in Him, no matter the age, color or gender (John 3:16, Romans 10:13).

Each service saw the altar filled with people taking up business with God. We also had at least one to rededicate their life to Christ!

The congregation of Hope Baptist was a blessing to me in that it includes various ages and races. It was wonderful seeing the diversity in the congregation and the oneness in worship, everyone coming together in one accord, to exalt the name of Jesus! I met so many nice folks during the meeting and they all made me feel right at home. I want to especially thank Pastor Tim Nelson for giving me the opportunity to minister at the church. He and Associate Pastor Mark Juen have a real heart for the work at this church and they have many unique ministry opportunities in this part of Jacksonville. Pictured above (left to right) are Pastor Tim Nelson, Pastor Abraham Lincoln Nelson of Home Garden Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Associate Pastor Mark Juen and "yours truly".

I also met someone that I used to listen to on the radio many years ago, "Big Jim" Godbold. Jim (pictured with me at right) was once a DJ with Jacksonville radio station WQIK and he attends Hope Baptist. We had a mutual friend in Frank Thies, who also worked at WQIK for years. Frank also served as the General Manager of radio station WBKF (now WJXR) in Macclenny, Florida. Frank gave me my first job in radio after I graduated from Lake City Community College in 1978. Frank is the one that dubbed me "James the Giant", a name that has stuck with me ever since. Frank Thies died a few years ago, but I still have a lot of fond memories of my time working for him. Jim and I had a lot of fun remembering old times and talking shop.

If you live in the Jacksonville area and don't have a home church, I hope you'll visit Hope Baptist Church. The church is located at 826 Reynolds Lane right next to Commonwealth Avenue. For directions or more information call (904) 387-5336.