Spring has arrived with our Preaching Conference,
graduation, and weddings. The first major event of our
spring is the Preaching Conference. We had 171 graduates
gather for our annual alumni luncheon. How encouraging it
was to hear of God’s blessing upon their families and
ministries! Pastors also came here from California to
Maine, and how hungry some of them were to fellowship and be
encouraged with like-minded men. Of course, laymen were
also in attendance from as far away as Alaska, Zambia, and
Switzerland. The music was uplifting again this year;
however, the main event, the preaching, was so powerful that
it overshadowed all else.
It is always exciting to see our seniors walk across the
platform to receive their diplomas and go out to serve the
Lord. They are not only the fruit of our labors but the
future of old-fashioned Baptists. Especially gratifying is
seeing young people who were born here and went through 13
or 17 years of our schools reach this milestone in their
lives. Most of these have gone through battles in their
lives when it looked like the devil might win. We had to
fight with some to stay right, but now they are on the path
to victory. Our friend, Dr. Wayne Williams, preached a
wonderful challenge to the graduates.
Then came the weddings. What could be more heartening than
to see two young adults, having gone through the conflicts
and temptations of youth, come together in holy matrimony
determined to live for God and serve Him the rest of their
lives. We are privileged to have dozens of young couples
such as these raising their children for God here at
Fairhaven along with a similar number all over the world.
Finals are in full swing, projects are being completed, and
the end is in sight. Wednesday, May 12, the college filled
two buses and spent the entire day in Springfield, Illinois,
the center of activity for Abraham Lincoln, the 16th
President of the United States. We left at 5:15 a.m. and
traveled about four hours to begin at the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library & Museum. The tour continued to the
home of the Lincolns, Abraham Lincoln's burial site, and
then to New Salem, a historic settlement where this
influential president spent six years of his life. It was a
long day, but a nice break to rest from preparing for
finals.
The last week of April, our annual Preaching Conference, at
Fairhaven Baptist Church and College provides us with a
tremendous time of preaching and fellowship. Weeks ahead of
time we begin praying that God will work in our hearts and
that we can draw closer to Him. This year we were blessed to
have people from across the nation, especially many of our
alumni, come and join us in this special week.
We have had a wonderful, busy spring. The annual Preaching
Conference was a great challenge with many, many good
results. I think we saw a good number of life-changing
decisions. My counseling has been enjoyable. Please put
the dates of April 26-29 aside for next year's meetings. We
have asked Dr. Don Green from Lansing, Michigan; Dr. Wilbert
Unger from Ontario, Canada; Dr. R. B. Ouellette from
Bridgeport, Michigan; and Dr. Rodger Bottrell from Lyons,
New York, to preach in 2010.
Like most of the country we have had a very cold, snowy
winter. On Christmas Sunday we experienced a serious
snowstorm with the temperature not reaching 0°, and wind
chills of -40°, yet we saw over 200 visitors in our
auditorium to hear the plain story of Christ's birth. I
praise God for a hard-working congregation, and God blessing
their efforts.
