Our Portland fall special meetings began Friday evening, October 2, and continued through Sunday evening, October 4. To begin our special services, Jaewon Yune and Ty Mom played a violin duet of “Be Still My Soul” and “Since I Have Been Redeemed.” The choir rejoiced with the song, “It’s Real” to begin our testimony service. Before the message, Shelby Warberg sang “I Surrender All.” John Baros, pastor in Medford, Oregon, was the guest minister for the weekend. He used Nehemiah 1:3-4 as his text, bringing out that Nehemiah had a love and a burden for souls. He had a desire to love God and serve Him. Brother John urged the congregation to pray to have this same kind of heart.

On Sunday morning, the orchestra opened the service with “Amazing Grace,” and “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.” The choir then sang “Revive Us, Oh Lord,” with accompaniment orchestra. Later, a men’s trio sang “I’ve Never Been this Homesick Before.” For the Scripture reading, Dave Lambert read Luke 14:25-33. Before the sermon, the choir sang of Jesus’ invitation: “Come to Me,” accompanied by the orchestra. John Baros preached from Luke 9:23, explaining hat to be followers of Christ, people must do three things: deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Christ. Brother John said, “Jesus is referring to a crisis moment of repentance, surrender, and faith. He is also referring to an ongoing process of surrender, consecration, and obedience.”

Sunday evening, the orchestra played “People Need the Lord” and “We’re Marching to Zion,” then a vocal trio sang “Come, Now Is the Time to Worship.” Before the testimony service, the choir sang “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” with “Are You Washed in the Blood?” For the last special, the choir sang “He Looked Beyond My Fault (and Saw My Need)”. John Baros took his text from Mark 5:15, expounding on what God can and will do with a surrendered heart. He encouraged, “Jesus sees the potential in you and me. He sees potential in us when others don’t see it. He also sees potential in us when we don’t see it. Whether we feel insignificant, whether we feel like the situation doesn’t have much promise, no situation is beyond God’s ability to transform.”

Each of the services concluded with many tarrying in prayer as they sought to draw closer to the Lord. May each one have a renewed purpose to serve Him faithfully until He comes.