I have had the gift of Evangelism for as long as I can remember. It is a gift. I did nothing to deserve it-God gave it to me. I can remember leading people to Christ in middle school. It followed me all through out my vocational ministry. I often wondered if you could lose a gift. For the last few years, our ministry was dry. I saw the fewest decisions for Christ I had ever seen. I saw a church that was falling apart. I was the last of 7 full-time pastors on a staff hired and the last one remaining as of last June. I began to wonder had God removed my gift. But, I think God left us in Mobile to transition for the new pastor. He is a good man and I believe he is good for the church. He gets to establish his team. After my leaving my assistant Brad Campbell (Soupie) was named interim. Soupie is a great guy and was my biggest supporter. He and I built a youth center called the "attik" and it is cool. Check out the website here. We scheduled a D-Now for Jan. Of course I resigned before the D-Now occured but it went on because of Soupie! Soupie sent me the following message after the D-Now.

Youth Service when great!! ... 6 Salvations, and 4 re-dedications presented to the church last nite. And the youth flooded the altar at invitation for prayer. It was a good ending to a great weekend....everyone of them mentioned you in their testimony!! Just thought I'd let you know.

Then Neil Elmore one of my interns has been leading people to Christ on a weekly basis! I get excited about seeing young people I trained leading people to Christ. I wondered why God allowed us to plant a church that eventually folded. Then I received this note from Gary Lamb who is meeting in the same movie theater that we met at in Canton, GA. Gary's church is doing awesome and I praise God for that. Gary said:

...if it were not for the Bridge laying groundwork here in what a modern churchcould look like, we would not be here. You guys fought a lot of battles especially with the association that made it where I didn't have too. I have never shared that with you before but I should have.

Personally, God has restored the gift he gave me-not that it ever went away. I never stopped sharing my faith, it is just now he bringing people to Himself again. The dryness I felt for the last 3+ years has gone. It makes me appreciate God's Grace. I am grateful He never left me. I am more excited than ever to reach Charlotte, NC for Christ. I know I will go through more valleys--Maybe this will encourage others to continue serving Him eventhough you feel His hand has left you.