Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 164

A Poignant Reminder

This evening Wes was cleaning the garage and getting some boxes ready for the Goodwill. I noticed this shirt and immediately got misty-eyed. It belonged to our Heidi Grace–Now Heidi Handcock. It was her favorite sweatshirt. It was pretty with her blue eyes and blonde hair. I rescued it and saved it for Hope America. It's just her size. It will warm her on cold Michigan nights like it did her sister Heidi when she was smaller. And it will remind me that my time with her at home will be gone very fast.

Loaves and Fishes

I recently noticed that I had been published in the magazine Loves and Fishes. Loaves and Fishes is a free magazine for prisoners. I'm grateful to tell the story there of Pastor Chen.

I first heard the story in the chapel service of Mount Vernon Nazarene College in the nineties. I did some research and allowed the magazine to use the story. You can read it here.

What it Means to Be A Man

Message: What it Means to Be a Man

Text: Selected Scriptures

Date: Father's Day 2008 (June 15, 2008)

Place: Evangel Baptist Church–Taylor, Michgian

Speaker: Pastor Ken Pierpont

Sam Judd

It's common to hear people complain about the lack of young men who have resolved to live for God. There is not a day of my life that passes that I am not grieved by the same. That's why it is a special delight to be able to introduce you to Sam Judd and his music.

I've always admired people who can stand to their feet and with a simple guitar and their voice hold the attention, capture the imagination, and access the hearts of people for an evening.

Sam can blend storytelling and music to do just that. He's a creative young man and he is the real deal. He has an obvious love for God and people and a humble sincerity about him. We first met when Sam was travelling with Michael Card. You can tell he has been profoundly influenced by that time. His lastest recording was done at Michael Card's Mole End Studio.

I invited Sam to sing at Evangel. It was a beautiful, memorable evening of stories and songs. Our people loved his music and his stories. Sam is from Kentucky and lives just a couple mountains away from where my wife Lois was born. He serves with Kentucky Mountain Mission.

Today I received Sam's new recording Holy is He. It is a delightful collection of fully-instrumented acoustic music and creative lyrics.

You can "friend" Sam on Facebook here.

You can check out the new recording here at Sam Judd's web site. You will recognize some very well-known, godly, gifted musicians that have joined Sam on Holy is He.

When you invite Sam to your church remind him to bring some Ale-8 along with him. He has to go through Winchester to get anywhere.

Lighthouse Gospel Church-Ontario, Canada

Last weekend (Thursday night through Saturday morning) I spoke in Canada to 200 men from the Lighthouse Gospel Church in Port Burwell, Ontario. The meeting was at a campground on the north shore of Lake Erie near Blenheim. It was a perfect weekend for a campout. These men were hungry for the things of God and they have a great appetite for the Word. They insisted on me preaching a minimum of an hour in each session.

Pastor Henry Wiebe is the pastor there and has been there for about twelve years. The church is flourishing. I was stirred and helped by the men who seemed to have a great desire to talk about the things of the Lord continually.

Missionary on Mackinac Island

Re-posted from September 2005.

Last week Lois and I took our girls to Mackinac Island for a mini-vacation. They had never been on the island before and I promised them that someday I would take them. Tuesday was "someday." It was perfect weather to enjoy the island.

From the balcony of the Inn where we stayed a big waning moon rose over the harbor. Hope and I took a moon-walk, the most beautiful I have ever taken. We walked out to the eastern shore of the Island and stood and looked at the silvery light of the moon on the water. The harbor bell clanged out on the lake and the water lapped on the shore and Hope and I held hands and talked. We must have walked for miles. When we got home we slept well.

Wednesday was officially the last day of summer. I watched the sun rise and strolled to my favorite little coffee shop on Mackinac. Horses clopped by and people on bikes peddled along the street. No automobiles are allowed on the Island.

The coffee shop is a cheery yellow building about the size of a garage with white-trimmed windows all around that open to let in the cool lake breeze. It sits right on the harbor. I took my Bible and a cup of coffee to a chair by the fireplace for a while. Later I moved to a table by the window and looked out on the little lighthouse in the harbor and down into the clear water.

As I wrote in my journal I thought about the workers on the Island. Most of them are from other countries. One of the things I wrote was this, "I wonder if it would be fruitful to do some ministry among the seasonal workers here." I thought about how the workers could be reached. I wondered what time of the day or what time of the week they could assemble. I thought a little about what means would be effective and I wondered what kind of Christian ministry existed.

I overheard the owner of the shop engaging customers in lively, friendly conversation. At one point she said something that surprised and delighted me. She said, "I have three daughters and they have each accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, so I feel like I have been successful."

God has at least one joyful witness on the Island. She was winsome and conversational about the way she brought the name of Christ into play. The way she turned the conversation toward Christ reminded me of the way Jan Karon writes. In Jan Karon's stories of Mitford spiritual truths are always there, woven very tactfully into the storyline.

When I left I handed her my card with a note of encouragement on it. Later I came back with Lois and the girls. We introduced ourselves to the owners and talked. Their names are Diana and Bruce Rochawiak. They winter in Lansing but during the summer they sell coffee and stuff to go with it at the J. L. Beanery Coffee House on Michigan's Mackinac Island. They charge a fair price for good coffee and they keep some tasteful Christian devotional books on-hand for their customers.

Diana introduced me to her pastor and gave me a copy of a book he had written, then she showed me a piece of paper with an original poem written on it. It was a beautiful poem about the State of Michgian. Diana said it was written right there in her little coffee shop. It was signed by the author, Gloria Gaither.

Lois got a picture of Bruce and Diana, missionaries on lovely Mackinac Island, Michigan. God has his people scattered everywhere. Some are men and some are women. Some are in factories and some in schools. He has witnesses in Washington and in downtown Flint, Michigan. Some are on mountains and some are on islands. Some are in pulpits and come are in coffee shops.

Ken Pierpont

Riverfront Character Inn

Flint, Michigan

September 25, 2005

Beautiful Music

Here is a beautiful, quiet piece I discovered this morning. It is the soundtrack from The Mission.

Serious Celebration

Message: Serious Celebration

Church: Evangel Baptist Church–Taylor, Michigan

Date: July 3, 2011 AM

Speaker: Pastor Ken Pierpont

Stories from Licking County Farm

Lately I have been wearing a "costume" sometimes when I tell stories of my grandfather Pierpont's farm. I'm working on publishing a collection of these stories soon. It may be an eBook. Grandpa, who died in October of 1980 would never have believed the stories of his humble farm would be told all over the country and published "electronically."

The coat belonged to Kenneth Dale Pierpont d. 1980

New from Fernando Ortega

I don't know when I have looked forward to a recording more. Other than the Christmas music, if has been five years since Fernando's last recording.

On July 12th I will be spending an holy hour with this album in a quiet place.