Children's Camp Planned for August

I have been asked to help conduct a children's camp in August for New Oak Grove Baptist Church in Alachua, Florida. The camp begins on a Sunday night and ends on Wednesday night and is held at Camp Kalaqua in High Springs, Florida. I'll be teaching the children during morning & evening chapel services. I did this camp last year for the church and we had a great time of fellowship & worship.

Please be in prayer for the church's preparations for this camp and for me as I prepare a series of lessons for the camp.

Ghana Mission Team Fellowship

Curtis Richards was one of the 2004 Ghana Mission Team members that attended a fellowship dinner tonight in Lake City, Florida. Pictured with Curtis is his wife Malinda. It was a night of good food and good fellowship at the Porterhouse Grill. This is the second time the team has gotten together since our trip in October.

Athens Baptist on Sunday

I will be preaching at Athens Baptist Church on CR240 in Columbia City (south of Lake City, FL) this Sunday at 11am & 6pm. Pastor Mike Divine and his wife will be away visiting with relatives for a few days.

Please be in prayer for these services and for safe travel for Brother Mike & his wife.

First Baptist Lake Butler on Wednesday

I will be filling in for my pastor, Rusty Womack, at First Baptist Church of Lake Butler, Florida this Wednesday night at 6:30pm. Brother Rusty will be away conducting a wedding.

Please pray for this service as well as the wedding service and safe travel for Brother Rusty and his family.

Orange Heights Services Completed

I ended my supply work at Orange Heights Baptist Church tonight. We had some great services today with one man getting saved in the second morning service! I have really enjoyed my time with the folks at Orange Heights. Pastor Lonnie Broome will return to the pulpit next Sunday.

I also was able to preach a service at North Florida Rehabilitation & Specialty Care Center today in Gainesville. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and ministry with the residents. It was also exciting to have Ken Crenshaw playing the piano for the service. Ken is a musician for Shiloh Baptist Church in Ft. White, Florida and was a member of our 2004 Ghana Mission Construction Team.

Merry Christmas!!!!

I hope that all of you have a wonderful, Christ centered Christmas!!!

Remember, without Jesus Christ there would be no Christ-mas!

Last Services at Orange Heights

This Sunday, December 26th will be my last scheduled services at Orange Heights Baptist Church in Orange Heights, Florida. Pastor Lonnie Broome is scheduled to return to the pulpit at the first of the new year. I will be preaching at 8:30am, 11am & 6pm.

I will also be conducting a service for the residents at North Florida Rehabilitation & Specialty Care Center in Gainesville this Sunday at 3pm.

Please be in prayer for all of these services.

High Springs Herald has Ghana Story

The High Springs Herald has a front page story about our 2004 Ghana Mission Trip today. The newspaper is located in High Springs, Florida where Ken Crenshaw resides. Ken was a member of the construction team and also is a musician at Shiloh Baptist Church in Ft. White, Florida.

You can view the story at: http://www.highspringsherald.com/articles/2004/12/28/news/news05.txt.

Preaching at Shiloh Baptist Sunday

I will be preaching this Sunday at Shiloh Baptist Church in Ft. White, Florida. Pastor Mark Driskell will be on vacation and I will minister during the 11am & 7pm services. Please be in prayer for these services as well as a safe, fun & relaxing time away for Brother Mark and his family.

Float Wins Again!

The Christmas float for New River Solid Waste Association took second place honors in the annual Starke Christmas Parade this morning. The parade is sponsored by the North Florida Regional Chamber of Commerce.

This is the second award this float has won this month. On Friday, December 3rd it won First Place in the Commercial Division during the Lake Butler Christmas Parade (see earlier post for details). The float was also entered in the annual Macclenny Christmas Parade on December 4th.

Preaching at Orange Heights Baptist Sunday

I will be preaching both morning services at Orange Heights Baptist Church in Orange Heights, Florida this Sunday. The services begin at 8:30am & 11am. Please be in prayer for these services.

Video Interviews Completed

I completed my interview for our video about the 2004 Ghana Mission Trip tonight. Now the real work begins... choosing which photos and video clips to include in the project. Our prayer is to have the video completed after the first of the year.

A Winning Float

The City of Lake Butler Christmas Parade was held last night and the agency that I work for, New River Solid Waste Association, won First Place in the commercial division. I am the Assistant Director of Recycling & Education, so I get to do a lot of public relations events. The Christmas parades are a lot of fun and they give us an opportunity to remind the public about recycling too.

The theme of the parade was "A Storybook Christmas", so our float featured a recycling igloo in a rocking chair reading a book to little igloos. Of course the book was the Bible which contains the REAL Christmas story. Everything on the float is made from recycled materials.

A special "thank you" goes to my staff that spent quite a few hours building the float: David McKinney, Donnie King, Paul Johnson, Bartow Lee & Darrell Williams.

We will have the float in the Macclenny Christmas Parade tonight and in the Starke Christmas Parade next Saturday morning.

I think that my "day" job is very closely related to my ministry in that God expects Christians to be good stewards of His creation and recycling is one way to do that. I often say that I am a "total environmentalist" because my secular job is to see that your environment on Earth is the best it can be and my ministry is to see that your "environment" in eternity is the best it can be.

Orange Heights Baptist Sunday Morning

I'll be preaching the two morning worship services at Orange Heights Baptist Church tomorrow (Dec. 5th) and next Sunday (Dec. 12th). The services begin at 8:30am & 11am. I'll also be preaching the morning & evening (6pm) services the Sunday after Christmas (Dec. 26th). Orange Heights Baptist Church is located at 16700 NE SR 26 in Orange Heights, FL.

Video Interviews

Kristie Fletcher adjusts the lighting prior to Ken Crenshaw's video interview on Thursday night. Crenshaw and fellow 2004 Ghana Construction Team member Curtis Richards were interviewed for the 2004 Ghana Mission Video. All of the team members have now been interviewed except for me. I'll add my narration of the trip next week. Kristie is the wife of photojournalist Jon Fletcher who has made the trip to Ghana with our team for the past two years. Kristie will be producing this years' video as she did last year.

Completion of the video is expected by the end of this year.

New River Baptist

I'm preaching the 11am & 6pm worship services today at New River Baptist Church, 16703 SW 144th Ave., Brooker, FL. Pastor Jason Reid is away for a holiday rest.

Video Moving Forward

Our 2004 Ghana mission trip video is making progress! We held an interview session with four of the team members last Friday night. The session took about 5 hours but went very well. We will conduct more interviews tonight and hopefully we will complete them in the next two weeks. We will then be able to proceed with the rest of the project. I'm still praying that we will have a completed product by the first of the year even though the holiday season will slow things up.

Another article about the trip appeared in last Saturday's (November 20th) edition of the Lake City Reporter; however, the story is not in their online version.

New Stuff Comin'

It has been a while since I've made a post on this site. It has been a busy time for me working on some new & cool stuff for the website.

• I have began adding photos from the 2004 Ghana mission trip to my website www.jamescroft.org. I have only begun and there will be many more over the next week or two.
• I've also been working on adding audio and video clips to the site.
• Kristie Fletcher has started watching our Africa videos and we will soon begin production of our presentation video.
• A story on our mission trip should appear this week in an edition of the Lake City Reporter.

I'll update this site as all of these things are updated.

Raiford Road Revival Services

Revival Services at Raiford Road Church in Macclenny begin Sunday and continue through Wednesday night.

Ghana Story in Local Newspapers

The Bradford County Telegraph has a story about our 2004 Ghana Mission Trip. Here is a link to the online version of the story: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13286107&BRD=2150&PAG=461&dept_id=411073&rfi=6.

The Baker County Standard also carried the story and the online version is here http://www.bcstandard.com/news/2004/1104/Front_Page/003.html.

The Baker County Press also carried three photos with a caption but it is not available online.

Praise God for Democracy

I praise the Lord that I live in a country where citizens have a voice. I praise the Lord for the citizens that took their responsibility seriously and voted in our general election. I praise the Lord that I live in a country where this process takes place without military force, mass revolts or loss of life.

Now that the election is over we must all come together and pray for our president. We should also pray not only for all of the winners in the election, but also for those who gave their all in their race even though they were not successfull. I personally know how it feels to win an election and how badly it hurts to lose an election, so please pray for all of the candidates and their families. Let's also make a daily effort to pray for our leaders to have wisdom, compassion, and humility as they make decisions that impact US citizens and the rest of the world. Let's also pray that if they do not know Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior that the Holy Spirit will convict them of that need. Let's pray for God's perfect will for our country and leaders!

Here is an interesting website about praying for our president and leaders: http://www.presidentialprayerteam.org/.

Election Day

This is the day that United States voters will elect the man that will serve as President for the next four years. I hope that every eligible citizen will take this responsibility seriously and let their voice be heard by voting. I pray that the result will reflect God’s perfect will for our nation.

Athens Revival Services

Revival services continue through Wednesday night.

Youth Service Went Well

The youth service at Orange Heights Baptist Church went very well tonight. A good crowd of teens and young adults were on hand for the event which featured games, food, music and the Word. The Saturday service begins at 6pm. Please be in prayer for this service.

Youth Services Tonight & Tomorrow

I was contacted late yesterday afternoon by the pastor of Orange Heights Baptist Church to conduct a youth revival tonight & tomorrow night. Pastor Lonnie Broome said they had a last minute cancellation and needed a speaker. The services begin each night at 6pm. Orange Heights Baptist is located on SR26 just off of US301 in Orange Heights, FL (south of Starke & Waldo on US301).

Please be in prayer for these two services as well as the revival that begins at Athens Baptist in Columbia City on Sunday.

Home Safely

The 2004 Ghana Mission Team returned safely yesterday (Monday).

We had several challenges during this trip, but God richly blessed the effort. The crusade drew approximately 800 people the first night and over 2000 each night thereafter. Friday night over 2700 people came to the grounds. We showed “The Passion of the Christ” movie on Saturday night on the large screen and 4,892 people were in attendance. The construction team was able to complete their task and now Zion Evangelistic Ministry has a meeting place for their organization and a community center for local youth. Please continue to pray for the Lord to bless Evangelist Ralph and the members of this organization as they continue to minister in Teshie and surrounding areas.

The greatest blessing of all: 593 souls were added to God’s Kingdom during the crusade!!! Over 600 were saved when you add in decisions made in local churches where I preached. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!!!

I want to sincerely thank all who prayerfully and financially supported this trip. May God richly bless you for your investment in His Kingdom.

Photos from the trip will be added to www.jamescroft.org in about 2 weeks and video preparation will begin soon. I will post notices as details become available.

Athens Baptist Revival Services

Athens Baptist Church revival services begin on Sunday.

Thank You

Orlando Airport

Passion Night With Ralph

Passion Night Report

Friday Crusade Wrap-up

Sonja Reports From Crusade

Thursday Crusade Wrap-up With Curtis & Joe

Nsawam Report

Enroute to Nsawam Village

Wednesday Wrap-up

Tuesday Crusade Wrap-up continued

Tuesday Crusade Wrap-up

Monday Crusade

Sunday Report with Jon

Joseph's Wedding with Sonja & Angela

Ministry Team Arrives

Construction Site with Mark

Zion Construction Update with Curtis & Ralph

Baggage Found - Posters Missing

Hand Miracle with Mark & Sewing Machine with Ken

First Post From Ghana

Made It To Amsterdam

We have arrived in Amsterdam safely. After our "interesting" experience just trying to check luggage an uneventful flight was actually nice. I think we may have all slept a few hours on the flight. We begin boarding for Accra in about 35 minutes or so.

I talked to Ralph last night and they are all excited and so are we. I'll try to post a new audio tonight or tomorrow night.

Keep praying!!!

Orlando Airport - Departure

Ghana Trip Preview & Audio Test

Ghana Dates Needing Prayer

Here's an updated list of dates for you to pray for:

Saturday, October 9th: Construction Team and I depart for Ghana.
Sunday, October 10th: Construction Team and I arrive in Ghana.
Monday-Friday, October 11-15th: Construction begins on building for Zion Evangelistic Ministry.
Thursday, October 14th: Ministry Team departs for Ghana.
Friday, October 15th: Church Leader's Conference.
Friday, October 15th: Ministry Team arrives in Ghana.
Saturday, October 16th: I will be preaching during a Ghanaian wedding.
Sunday, October 17th: Ministering in Deliverance Evangelistic Ministry Church.
Tuesday, October 19th: Vacation Bible School at Teshie Orphanage Centre.
Wednesday, October 20th: Vacation Bible Schools at Teshie Orphanage Centre and two local schools.
Friday, October 22nd: Vacation bible Schools at two local schools.
Monday-Friday, October 18-22nd: Gathering of the Clouds Crusade.
Saturday, October 23rd: Showing of the movie "Passion of the Christ".
Sunday, October 24th: Ministering in local church, dedication service for new building and both teams depart Ghana.
Monday, October 25th: Mission teams arrive in Florida.

Also, please be in prayer for all of the preparations and finances for this trip along with family members that will be waiting at home.

The crusade itinerary will be updated as info becomes available at this site: http://www.jamescroft.org/Ghana%20Crusade%20Itenerary.htm.

Information about financial contributions for the Ghana mission trip is available at: http://www.jamescroft.org/Ghana%20Crusade%20Contributions.htm.

Great Services At Riverside Baptist

God really blessed our revival services at Riverside Baptist Church in Gilchrist County, FL this week. The meetings ended tonight, but decisions that were made will last for eternity. I pray that the Lord will bless Pastor Alwin Pflueger and the congregation as they minister in the community for Jesus.

Riverside Baptist Revival Services

Revival services begin today at Riverside Baptist Church south of Fort White. Please pray that God will move mightily in the hearts of His people during these services and that those who do not know Him will be convicted and will respond to the Holy Spirit.

Orphanage Dates Set

Two days have been set for our mission team to minister at the Teshie Orphanage Centre during our upcoming Ghana, West Africa trip.  We will present two sessions of the “Far Out Far East Rickshaw Rally” Vacation Bible School to the children at the orphanage.  The dates for this ministry will be Tuesday & Wednesday, October 19^th & 20^th at 2:30pm GMT.  Please pray for these opportunities and for the children of Teshie.

Dinkins leaves after 10 years as county agent

A dear friend of mine has moved on to a new job. David Dinkins has left Bradford County as County Extension Director to assume the same position in St. John's County. I had the honor of being a part of a reception in his honor recently. You can read about some of the accomplishments of this devoted agent in this article in the Bradford County Telegraph http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12978292&BRD=2150&PAG=461&dept_id=377017&rfi=6.

Bradford County's loss is certainly St. John's County's gain. God bless you David!

Ghana Draws Near

Visa applications have been submitted to the Embassy of Ghana in Washington, D.C.  Please pray that this process goes well and the documents return with time to spare.  Almost 1,000 posters were also shipped out today to Zion Evangelistic Ministry.  These will be used to promote the upcoming crusade.  The construction team will be meeting on Thursday to discuss the building process and tools needed.

 

Please be in prayer for all of these preparations.  October 9^th is the departure date for the construction team and October 14^th is the departure date for the ministry team.

Powered Up Again

Praise the Lord!!! Power was restored in Olustee around 8pm tonight.

Temporarily Powerless

Thanks to Hurricane Jeanne I, along with many, many others, am temporarily without electricity at home. The power went off around 5pm Sunday afternoon. It is interesting that it went off at about the same time two weeks ago with Hurricane Frances and on a Sunday too!

I tried to post an audio blog last night with my cell phone out on the front porch with all of the wind blowing and stuff like that, you know for that real reporter sound; however, when I checked it today only about half of it was understandable. I guess the wind was creating problems for the cell signals too.

The New River Solid Waste Association landfill was closed today as is a lot of other agencies. A day off is good, but without electricity there isn't a whole lot you can do. I'm able to post this thanks to having a full battery charge on my laptop and the telephone service still works.

The last time the power was out with Hurricane Frances it did not come back on for five days. I certainly hope that is not the case this time.

Ghana Dates to Remember

Please be in prayer for the upcoming 2004 Gathering of the Clouds Crusade dates:

Saturday, October 9th: Construction Team and I depart for Ghana.
Sunday, October 10th: Construction Team and I arrive in Ghana.
Monday-Friday, October 11-15th: Construction begins on building for Zion Evangelistic Ministry.
Thursday, October 14th: Ministry Team departs for Ghana.
Friday, October 15th: Ministry Team arrives in Ghana.
Saturday, October 16th: I will be preaching during a Ghanaian wedding.
Sunday, October 17: Ministering in local church.
Monday-Friday, October 18-22nd: Gathering of the Clouds Crusade.
Saturday, October 23rd: Showing of the movie "Passion of the Christ".
Sunday, October 24th: Ministering in local church and both teams depart Ghana.
Monday, October 25th: Mission teams arrive in Florida.

Also, please be in prayer for all of the preparations and finances for this trip along with family members that will be waiting at home.

The crusade itinerary will be updated as info becomes available at this site: http://www.jamescroft.org/Ghana%20Crusade%20Itenerary.htm.

Information about financial contributions for the Ghana mission trip is available at: http://www.jamescroft.org/Ghana%20Crusade%20Contributions.htm.

Here We Go Again...

Florida is once again in the direct path of a hurricane. This has become an all too familiar drill for Floridians. This time our area of the state is expected to have some severe weather conditions Sunday, Sunday night and Monday morning in the form of 40-45mph sustained winds, 70mph wind gusts, threats of tornados and rain sufficient to cause flooding. Please be in prayer for all who have been and will be affected by this hurricane.

Great Services at Sardis

We completed revival services at Sardis Baptist Church in Worthington Springs tonight. The services were well attended and there was a sweet spirit in the church. I would like to thank Pastor Paul O'Steen for allowing me the opportunity to minister to his congregation.

It was also great to minister with OPT (Olustee Praise Team) during these services. This fine group lead the worship in each service. Kevin, Sonja & Cheryl have been singing together for several years and it certainly shows.

I now have a week to prepare for the next revival meeting which will be at Riverside Baptist Church near Branford.

Prayer Request

Mark Lowery, 2004 Ghana Construction Team Leader and officer with the Baker County Sheriff's Department, will leave today for Pensacola to assist law enforcement officers in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan.

Team member Sonja St. John, also a member of OPT (Olustee Praise Team), and I will begin revival services at Sardis Baptist Church in Worthington Springs this morning and continue through Thursday night. OPT will be leading the worship in each service. If you have never heard them minister in song you have missed a blessing!

Please continue to be in prayer for these and other 2004 Ghana Mission Team members as we move into the last few weeks of preparation for our trip.

Projection Preparation

Planning for using a digital projector during the 2004 Gathering of the Clouds Crusade was in full swing late Friday night. David McKinney and I met with Jon Fletcher at his home to discuss how the screen should be constructed for the crusade in Ghana, West Africa next month.

A video camera will be used to capture the activity taking place on stage and in the music area during the crusade. This will then be projected live onto a large 20' x 25' screen near the stage for the crowd to see. This will help everyone present have a good view of the music and preaching service.

On Saturday night the plans are to show the hit Mel Gibson film "The Passion of the Christ" on the giant screen. There is no admission charge to the movie or the crusade.

Pictured above discussing the test image projected on a much smaller version of the screen are (left to right) James Croft, David McKinney and Jon Fletcher.

More information about the Ghana Crusade can be viewed at http://www.jamescroft.org/Ghana%20Crusade.htm.

Feeling "Stuck" Up?

Three members of the 2004 Ghana Mission Construction Team received their immunizations for international travel on Friday at the Alachua County Health Department in Gainesville, FL. Mark Lowery, Ken Crenshaw & Curtis Richards sat through a required presentation by an International Health Nurse before receiving several shots. These immunizations included Yellow Fever, Tetanus, Hepatitis A and Typhoid Fever. They were also given prescriptions for Malaria pills.

The government of Ghana requires the immunization for Yellow Fever and the others are recommendations from the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

When I spoke with Curtis this afternoon he said he was feeling "stuck up".

2004 Ghana Crusade Poster

This is the poster for the 2004 Ghana Crusade in October. It was designed by Jon Fletcher.

One Ends Another Begins

Revival services ended last night in Mayo, FL at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. We had a wonderful week of services in spite of rain and the threat of Hurricane Ivan. There was a sweet spirit among the congregation. I pray that the Lord greatly blesses the church, each member and visitor. A special thanks to Pastor Ted Rushing and the congregation for the wonderful fellowship and hospitality.

I begin leading revival services on Sunday at Sardis Baptist Church in Worthington Springs, FL. This will be my first time preaching at this church. I'm also excited about OPT (Olustee Praise Team) leading the worship in each service. I hope you will be in prayer for these services.

Prayer Requests

Please be in prayer for Sonja St. John, a member of OPT (Olustee Praise Team) and a member of our 2004 Ghana Mission Team. Sonja's grandmother Edna Gates passed away Monday night after an illness. Sister Gates was a very dear Christian lady. Her funeral will be on Thursday morning in Lake City. Remember all of her family during this time.

I would also like everyone to be in prayer for the revival services that I am preaching in Mayo, FL this week. We began on Sunday morning and are scheduled to continue through tomorrow night (Wednesday). However, the final service may be cancelled depending on the projected impact of Hurricane Ivan. I pray that God will receive glory either way. I also praise the Lord for the services that we've had thus far.

New Audio Feature

This is a new audio feature for my blog. When you see the icon above all you have to do is click the arrow. You will then be asked if you want to open or save the file. This is your choice. If you save it will be downloaded to your computer, if you choose to open it will download and then begin playing through Windows Media Player or whatever program you have installed that will play MP3's. You will then hear the post that I have recorded. The files can be as large as 600kb so it may take a couple of minutes on a dial-up connection for it to download.

This will be a great tool for me to post to the blog on the move with any telephone - even my cellphone! This will also allow me to post more frequently and have more up-to-date info on the blog for your review. I think it will be a great tool for updating you from Ghana, West Africa in October!

Let me know what you think about this new feature.

Praise the Lord for power!

The electricity to my home and some others in Olustee was restored around 10am today.  Praise the Lord!

 

We all still need to be in prayer for those that are still without power and those that have lost homes, property, etc. due to the storm.  We also need to be in prayer for the state of Florida as Hurricane Ivan now approaches our shore.

 

Even in the storms God is still in control!!!

Huntsville Conference Cancelled

I just learned that the weekend conference that had been planned for Huntsville Baptist in Lake City on September 17 & 18^th has been cancelled.  It may be rescheduled at another time.

Mercer Baptist Meeting

I traveled to Quitman, Georgia last night to preach during a meeting of the Mercer Baptist Association at Evergreen Baptist Church. There was a great spirit during the service and a great time of fellowship afterward.

It was great to see some friends that I haven't seen in a while, i.e. David Cook the Director of Missions, Charlie Scarborough the Interim Pastor at Barney Baptist and Jerry Sapp from Morven Baptist. Of course, it is always good to make new friends too.

The trip went very smoothly in spite of all of the west bound traffic on I-10 and US 90. Apparently I-10 is under water in a few locations between Lake City and Jacksonville and traffic was being detoured onto US 90. I have never seen so much traffic on US 90 coming through my hometown of Olustee! It took a considerable amount of time to cross US 90 in Olustee, something that we are not accustomed to.

Electricity has been restored to some parts of Olustee, but NOT the part where I live. You would think as small as our town is that one switch would cover everyone. 8-)

Riding Out the Storm

Maybe a little wet and windblown, but still riding out the storm.

A lot of us in Florida lost power on Sunday due to the impact of Hurricane Frances. Thank the Lord that no one around me has suffered any major damages. I did venture over to my office in Raiford at New River Solid Waste Association this morning. Power is on at our building and that is where I've held up for a while even though our operation is closed until tomorrow (Tuesday).

We can all be thankful that the storm has not been as bad as it could have been and we can especially be thankful that God is in control even in the storm!!! Who knows, I may just have the message for the Mercer Baptist Association meeting on Tuesday night in Quitman, Georgia. 8-)

Projection Project

Jon Fletcher and I met on Friday night to work on posters & information handouts for the upcoming Ghana mission trip. Jon also designed a beautiful new poster that can be used for upcoming revival dates, etc. It looks much better than the one I was using. He is a very talented man. I pray that God richly blesses his efforts.

On Saturday night we met again to test out possible materials to use for a projection screen while in Ghana. Our plans are to have a 25' wide x 20' tall screen to project on to with a digital projector. We will use a video camera to feed to the projector so we can show events on the stage and music area on the large screen. This will tremendously help visibility during the crusade and may draw even more people too. We will also use the screen to show a movie to the crowd one night. This should be very exciting.

I hope you will join with me in praying that all of the technical equipment arrives safely and works as it should. We certainly want God to receive full honor & glory with every thing we do to enhance these upcoming ministry opportunities.

2004 Ghana Mission Team

Members of the 2004 Ghana Mission Team for James Croft Evangelistic Association are: (left to right): Curtis Richards; Sonja St. John; Ken Crenshaw; James Croft (Evangelist/Team Leader); David McKinney; Jon Fletcher; Angela Lowery; and Mark Lowery (Construction Team Leader).

For more information about the 2004 Ghana mission trip visit http://www.jamescroft.org/Ghana%20Crusade.htm.

Photo by Jon Fletcher.

Services Cancelled

Many churches are cancelling worship services for tomorrow (Sunday). I received word this afternoon that Parkview Baptist Church in Lake City will be cancelling all services tomorrow. I was scheduled to fill in as teacher for the Sanctuary Class for Bobby Clark.

The services at my home church First Baptist Church of Lake Butler (http://www.afn.org/~fbcoflb/) have also been cancelled.

I'm just thankful to the Lord that Hurricane Frances has weakened. Let's all be in prayer for those that have been affected and for those that are still in its' path.

Ghana Mission Construction Team

2004 Ghana Mission Construction Team:
(left to right) Curtis Richards (Lake Butler, FL Church of God), David McKinney (Full Gospel Assemby of Starke, FL), Mark Lowery (Mt. Zion New Congregational Methodist Church, Macclenny, FL) & Ken Crenshaw (Shiloh Baptist Church, Ft. White, FL).

Photo by Jon M. Fletcher.

Ministry Newsletter

The following is a link to my Ministry Newsletter for August 2004.

http://www.jamescroft.org/Ministry%20Newsletter.htm

Please feel free to share it with anyone you think may be interested.

First Team Meeting

The 2004 Ghana mission team met for the first time tonight for photos, a meal and a meeting. Everyone was present: Sonja St. John and her husband and two girls; Angela Lowery; Ken Crenshaw; David McKinney and his wife; Jon Fletcher and his wife and two children; Curtis Richards and his wife; and myself. Mark Lowery was unable to make this meeting due to his work schedule with the Baker County Sheriff's Department.

Jon took group and individual photos for the posters, web and promotional materials. We had a great time of fellowship as well as going over details for the trip. Mrs. Linda Taylor of Taylor'd Bar-B-Que allowed us to use her restaurant for our meeting and served some really great food.

I really believe that God has put together an awesome team to do His work in Ghana this year.

Stepping Out On Faith

I'm really trusting the Lord today. I just wrote a check for a little over $9,000 for airline tickets for our 2004 Ghana mission trip and sent it overnight to the travel agent. The airline we are using charges an extra 4% to pay by credit card, so I opted to save approximately $362.00 of the Lord's money. The interesting part is that we have only collected just over $5,000 for this trip. I'm certainly trusting God to meet the financial need in His time. Two years ago God gave us the final $40 we needed for the trip just one and a half hours before we left for the airport.

I know God is in this trip and I'm totally trusting Him.

Mt. Zion Service

Tonight I preached the final night of a three day revival series at Mt. Zion New Congregational Methodist Church in Macclenny, Florida. The Spirit in the service was really good. Pastor Bobby Griffin and the congregation are really nice people. It was good to share with them.

Busy Sunday

The Lord's Day has been a busy day!

I preached the morning & evening worship services at Shiloh Baptist in Ft. White, FL for Pastor Mark Driskell. The services went very well and I enjoyed the fellowship.

The construction team for our Ghana mission trip was completed tonight when Curtis Richards of Lake Butler let me know that God has led him to make the trip with us. Curtis will join other construction team members Mark Lowery (construction leader) of Macclenny, David McKinney of Starke and Ken Crenshaw of Ft. White. I truly believe that God has put together the right team for this job.

More info about the Ghana trip will be posted on my website, http://www.jamescroft.org, as it becomes available.

Brand New Feature

This is a brand new feature I'm trying on my website. It is my first attempt at creating a Blog (web log). I'll be adding new posts from time to time so check back often and let me know what you think.