Where to begin?, part 2

Now I will continue the story from yesterday about the events of the weekend and this past Sunday. Here is the reason why Merilyn and our friends from Springdale cooked up this surprise visit to Ennis. The church here has been planning to have a "Meet Our New Preacher Day" on November 8 for the past few months. We set a goal to have 200 in our morning worship and worked toward it with mailings, newspaper ads and personal contacts. As I wrote yesterday, on my visit to Arkansas two weeks ago, I mentioned this to the folks at my Thursday night Bible study group and that is when their plan began to be hatched. They told me that part of the reason they wanted to come was to help in reaching the goal to have 200 in our morning worship. They definitely did help with that. We had 208!
It was a great day for the church in Ennis. Many of our guests were former members who left during the difficult times the church went through last year. Many others were friends, neighbors, and family members of our members. Others were folks from the community who were on our mailing list or who saw the ads in the newspaper. There was an atmosphere of great joy and excitement throughout the auditorium. Our singing was wonderful. Folks tell me the preaching was pretty decent that day. Afterward we had a "Thanksgiving Feast" fellowship meal. One of our elders and his wife prepared 6 turkeys and several large pans of dressing. Everyone else in the congregation pitched in to help in making the excellent side dishes. I had made a half-joking appeal for lots of pies. Boy, did the ladies ever come through! It was good that the members made such an excellent effort with the meal. Of the 208 people who were in our morning worship, I believe 200 of them stayed for lunch! It was great! We had to scramble to put out extra tables and chairs in the fellowship area. After the meal, there were not too many leftovers.
Several of our members told me that they heard many positive comments from those who were visiting with us. God truly blessed our efforts. It was an excellent day all the way around. It was certainly made better for me because my wife and friends from Springdale were here to enjoy it, too.
There is more to tell, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Have a great day!

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall exult in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the Earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations. (Isaiah 61:10-11)