My first weekend back was incredible! If you were away visiting last weekend, you missed an awesome set of worship services. God was, to be sure, present in this place! At the Connection Remix, for example, we welcomed, with much spiritual fan-fare, several new members to the EBC/Christian family via the rites of baptism and right hand of fellowship. Equally important, Elder Jason Nelson, the Music Ministry, and members of Greater Bethlehem Temple (GBT) of Baltimore worshipped with us. Elder Nelson blessed us twice: he sang and preached. He did both, I might add, with excellence. Furthermore, he evidenced grace, mercy, and patience with me when I pressed him into singing a duet with me at the invitational, a touching fraternal moment for the two of us and a piece of comedic fodder for a few members of EBC. Before they left, Elder Nelson and his people expressed appreciation for the generosity and hospitality of EBC. More importantly, Elder Nelson, subsequent to his stay, invited us to continue the fellowship at the same time next year, but in Baltimore at GBT.

Saturday was great, but so was Sunday. Pastors Monro and Smith-Wright, who preached at the early and later services, respectively, did a great job of proclaiming the word, with authority and authenticity. Both sermons were very thoughtful and practical, personally and socially relevant. Moreover, the musical and dramatic presentations complemented fittingly the sermonic theme. In summary, God used all of the previously mentioned elements to generate a climate conducive to leading several persons to make the decision to become disciples and/or continue their Christian walk at EBC.

This weekend, Pastor Newton and I will begin a new preaching-teaching series which will explore selected promises of God from both testaments. Through “Living Off of the Lord’s Promises,” I hope you will discover how well God has resourced us to wrestle with and prevail in our daily struggles. More importantly, I pray you will begin to grow further in your relationship with God by 1) memorizing, 2) verbalizing (say it to yourself and others), 3) internalizing (make it a part of you), and 4) actualizing (find appropriate ways of applying) the promise(s) for the week. Over the summer, I look forward to hearing your progress reports. I am expectant and excited, and hope you are, too.

Until next week, peace!
Rev. Anthony L. Trufant, Senior Pastor