Greetings to those who may read this. We were blessed to have Bishop E. C. McKinley to come and visit with the folks here at Huntingdon in last nights service. There were several who came out and it was good to see some who ordinarily don't come on Wednesday evening. Brother McKinley shared some things with the church. Many were made to understand that had not understood before. Before the service and after the service was over people were weeping and telling each other how much they loved and needed each other. Some who had become discouraged and were uplifted and others who were confused and misguided about some things were given clarification. The meeting, in this Pastor's opinion, was a success. We are continuing to pray for the growth and progress of the church here.
My day started at about 6:30 am with a 40 minute brisk walk. Then I did some research and reading until 8:45. From 8:50 - 9:55 I was in private devotion, prayer and worship.
Karen and I clipped our little Maltese Dog's fur off after that. He seemed to be very happy since it has been so hot and now he just has his bare skin. Sister Karen and I are going to be visiting some tonight and I will continue in my studies in the Doctorate of Ministry program.
There are many who need the Lord. If you are one of those, let me say God loves you and wants you to know His son in a very personal way.
If you need someone to share eternal life with you. Just leave me a post. God bless and thank you for stopping by.

Since my last post God has continued to bless in the ministry here at Huntingdon. Yesterday was a great day as the Lord blessed in our morning and evening services. The Holy Spirit was very present in both services as people worshipped and rejoiced with God's presence flowing in the midst. The Word went forth in both services. The text for Sunday morning's message was from Matthew 17:8 "And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only." and was entitled "God's Manifested Glory." God blessed greatly as I encouraged the people to keep their focus and affections on the One who died, rose again and is sitting at the right hand of His Father. God is great and greatly to be praised. The texts for Sunday evening's message were taken from Ephesians 6:11, 12 and Luke 12:24-26 and was entitled "The War of Wars". The Holy Ghost moved powerfully among the people as a message and interpretation was given, "the battle is raging in the heavenlies and I AM sending my angel to fight for you, he will bring victory, he will bring victory, he will bring victory." We give God praise, adoration and glory for He is great and His works are awesome.

I began my day at 6:00 am with a 2 mile walk in Veterans Park one mile from the parsonage. My devotion time was (6:45-7:45 am) especially blessed this morning as God dealt with me about some areas in my life that need more of His grace and power. God is awesome!

Today, tomorrow and Wednesday, I am continuing in my studies in the DMin. degree and will be visiting some. Bishop E. C. McKinley, Tennessee Church of God of Propehcy State Presiding Bishop, will be visiting the church here during the Wednesday evening service at 7 pm. We look forward to his visit and will be praying for a mighty move of the presence and manifestation of the Holy Ghost. Thank you for visiting my BLOG and God bless you is my prayer.

Greetings to one and all. Since my last post, I have been continuing in study and prayer on Tuesday and part of today. Working on the Doctorate in Ministry is giving me some great material and inspiration for the ministry here at Huntingdon. I have been incorporating some of my studies with future leadership training and vision casting here at the local church.

Reading the Book, "Servant Evangelism" by Steve Sjogren has reinforced what I have believed for some time about some of the high pressure evangelism programs that Christians have been involved in. Kindness done with no motive except to be kind goes a long way to impact lives for Jesus Christ. Of course we want them to know Him, but we do not want to anger them in the process. Steve shares his experience as he began his Christian life. He tells of the time he was a "shark" evangelist. Then he was the "carp" evangelist. Then he tells about the "dolphin" evangelist - a balanced combination of the "shark" and "carp." This book is good reading for anyone in Christian ministry.

Wednesday evening was Family night here at the church. The Eaton Family was the honored family of the month. It was interesting to see the pictures of Ronnie and Debbie Eaton's family and to see how times have changed them. Ryan and Jason were very small in the 1980's and we enjoyed seeing some of their childhood pictures. Now they are both grown and have jobs of their own. Ronnie and Debbie looked like teenagers when they married and by the way they were - 19 & 18. Ronnie is the Minister of Music here at Huntingdon and Debbie is Heritage Ministries Director. We are thankful for the Eaton's and their voluntary leadership at the local church. They are a great blessing.
Today Sister Karen and I visited the nursing home here in Huntingdon. Sister Bonnie Crossno Curtis was very receptive as always and we had a great time of prayer with her. We also prayed with her roommate who is bedfast from a stroke. She responded by moving her had to try to reach ours. We felt the Spirit in a great measure as we prayed with her and Sister Bonnie. We visited with Ronnie and Debbie this evening to pray with them about some needs in their family. The Holy Ghost was there in a mighty way as we wept and prayed together. TGBTG!

It is now 9:45 pm and I am going to study some more and try to get my first lesson module ready to send in for the DMin. God's blessings. . . Thanks for stopping by and come again. . .

What an awesome State Convention. Bishop E. C. McKinley moderated a great time of campmeeting and the Holy Ghost blessed throughout. Sister Gordon, my son Jason, my daughter Sarah and my little granddaughter were there. It was a very powerful time of seeing God move in awesome ways. The singing, the worship, the preaching the drama and the reports were all blessed of God. We praise God for this great time of spiritual feasting and growing in the good things of God.

As pastor, I am anticipating with great joy and expectation the continued work here at Huntingdon. Souls are out there needing their only hope for eternity. One of the great emphases in the State Convention was "GO". By God's grace and surrender to Him daily we must GO here at Huntingdon. It is my prayer that all our people here will get the GO spirit. Jesus has promised "power for service" and that is what we expect and believe.

Today, I am continuing to pray for the work here and will be visiting some, studying some and doing some planning for the work here. I will also be in meditation and solitude part of the day. There is a harvest out there. Laborers are needed! I am one of those laborers. I must GO! I must GO! I must GO! I am Looking Upward to God. . .I am Looking Inward to the great lack that must be filled daily in my spiritual life. . . .and I am Looking Outward to the great harvest where people are dying without Him. . . Let me reach that one who is closest to eternity!

Since Monday of this week I have been visiting with my daughter, Sarah and her husband Chris Holman. Of course being with their little daughter and son has been a special treat for my wife Karen and I. Grandchildren are just that grand. Today we will be visiting with our daughter Heather and husband Sammy Hall and grandchildren Courtney and Caleb. Then going to see my daughter Danita. Shane, her husband, has a birthday today but we won't see him since he is in Florida with his father, Tommy Queener and his mother Yvonne. We did send him a card. We believe in family and pray for our family every day. Jason, our son, is with us and he is going to the State Convention with us this week and will be playing keyboard in children church and helping along with my wife and daughter Sarah.

State Convention. . .that brings great thoughts of great campmeeting type services with the presence of the Lord moving in a great way and our State Overseer encourging and leading the way into the worship of God. We anticipate a great move of the Holy Ghost as we worship God and fellowship with the saints.

I will be anticipating with great enthusiasm of going back to our home church at Huntingdon and continuing with the great ministry there. Our vision is enlarging and becoming more dynamic as we continue to join with Jesus and the Holy Spirit daily.

Thank you for coming by and reading my BLOG and God bless you.

JULY 10, 2005

Greetings to those who read my blog. Yesterday (7/9/05) was a day of prayer, study and prepartion for church services. Sister Karen and I did visit one member who is 80 plus years old. We had a great time of prayer with Sister Jennie Sanders and we also enjoyed the blackberries next to her house as we picked them and ate them right off the vine.

Today the Lord met with us in a great way in our services. The message this morning was Three Necessary Elements of Biblical Unity. God blessed mightily. I challenged the members to work together, pray together, and love each other. We went to the new church property after the morning service and joined hands in a circle of prayer asking God to have his way and give direction as we continue to seek His will for a new building. Everyone was very pleased with the look of the property and how Brother Moore has landscaped it and made it look even more beautiful. Brothe J. C. Palmer said, "this is my first time to see it and it (the property) goes beyond my greatest expectations." Everyone enjoyed the time of going to the property and praying together. This was our first time, since I have been pastor, that we have gone to the property and prayed together.

This evening was our monthly singing night. There were songs of worship, praise and testimonies. One Brother, Leon Reynolds, testified that his daughter has recently accepted the Lord as her savior. She is 41 years old. We give God the glory! The singers tonight were a great blessing. Thank God for Brother Ronnie Eaton the Music Minister. Thank God for Sister Delilah, Sister Lori, Sister Cathy, Brother Jason and all who joined in to make the singing a great time of worship and praise. Also thank God for two little angels, Mariah and England, who sang some very sweet songs. We are looking for great things here at Huntingdon Church of God of Prophecy as we love and serve God.

This coming week is the Tennessee State Convention. We had special prayer tonight for State Overseer, E. C. McKinley and the state convention. I will not be logging anything in until after the convention (July 18 or later). I will catch up then. Thanks for stopping by and God bless.

Greetings. Yesterday, 7/7/05, I went with my wife to support her as she interviewed (10:30 am & 1:30 pm) at two schools for a teaching position in the Paris, TN area. She said the interviews went well and she hopes to hear from one of her interviews. She has had several interviews in the area. After the interviews Sister Gordon and I stopped by to see one of the members, Debbie Eaton, at her office for a few minutes. We enjoyed the visit with her. Then we went to the McKenzie Nursing Home facility and visited with another member Sister Lenne Mae Crossno. She expressed her gratitude that we came by. We encouraged her and prayed with her. Then we came home for a time of rest and had a meal.

Around 4:30 pm Deacon J. E. Moore called. He was over working on the new property that the church purchased a couple years ago. He is using his and his son's equipment to landscape the property. The property is beginning to look great. We have plans of building a new multi-purpose building, a pavilion, and classrooms. While there I helped pick up loose stumps and sticks and threw them in a fire. I left there and came back home.

I continued in my studies in the Doctorate of Ministry program from Trinity Seminary for an hour or so and then got ready to go the church league softball game at 8:30 pm. We have about 20 adult persons participating in this. The games are for fun and fellowship. It is a co-ed league and equal males and females have to play. We played the McKenzie Church of Christ. They played very well and won by 22 to 13. That makes our record 2 wins and 2 losses. After the game my wife and I talked with some of the church members for about an hour.

We got home at about 10:45 pm and I studied and meditated again for about an hour. I retired around 12 midnight remember drifting off to sleep around 1230 am.

At 6 am today I began with writing a letter that I needed to get done and working on some church business. I am continuing in the doctorate studies and also preparing for this coming Sunday Services. God is awesome! Thanks for stopping by and stop again.

This is my first time to post here. So I am learning. I have chosen the name Eagle Flight. I believe that is what a growing Christian experiences as s/he grows daily in relationship with Jesus Christ.

I am Bishop Milton Gordon, Senior Pastor of the Church of God of Prophecy, Huntingdon, Tennessee. I have been here since August 1, 2004 and just about to complete my first year here. There are 45 members of the church here and about half that many who attend who are not membes. Our extended congregation is approximately 125-150 people. The church here purchased about 7.6 acres of land a couple years ago and it is almost paid for. The church is planning to build in the near future. My wife Karen is a faithful companion who has served withme for over 23 years. She is a licensed minister and a licensed school teacher in Tennessee. We have four children and four grandchildren. I am a graduate of East Tennessee State University with a BS in History and hold an MA from Church of God Theological Seminary in counseling and ministry. I am currently in the DMin. program at Trinity Seminary, Newburgh, Indiana.

I will be posting here 3-4 times a week. Tonight was prayer and worship at our church. The text was from Romans 8:28. During the service one sister received a cell phone call from her granddaughter. This frustrated the sister at first but when she went to the front of the building to answer the phone a young homeless man was there who was hitch-hiking to Texas from Massachutses (sp?). He would not come in because he said he has tourettes and would distract from the service. I went out and spoke with the young man who asked if the church could help him with a little money to help buy food. He was very kind and respectful. I asked him to come in. He finally did as the singers were continuing to worship. I asked if we could pray for him and motioned him to come forward. He came forward with his head down and we prayed for him. He said, "thank you pastor" and walked back to his seat. The church then received a $120.00 offering for him. I asked him how his trip has been. He said, "well I have had some good rides and I only hitch-hike off the interstate because it is against the law to hitch-hike on the interstate." He then went on his way again.

The sister then realized that the cell phone call was what got her to the outside of the building and there she saw and spoke to this young man - so she could let us know he was there. Yes, "we know that all things work together for good to them who love the Lord, to them who are the called according to his purpose." We were allowed to give to "one of the least of these. . ." To God we give praise!

Join us again the next time and thank you for reading my BLOG.