Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 79
September 26, 2017
Bethel Sermon Video and Audio
Most of you know that I am now the Lead Pastor at Bethel Church–Jackson, Michigan. Our messages are available in live or archived video or in audio podcast form. I hope the messages from Bethel Church are a blessing and help to many.
Our service can be seen live at this link.
Our sermon video archive can be seen here.
Our sermon audio podcast can be heard here (RSS) or here (iTunes for Apple players)
There is nothing quite like being with God’s people, sharing, smiling, singing, loving one-another. The best experience is to gather with us and let us get to know you, but if you live far away or there is a reason you can’t come you have these tools.
Here is a link to the Bethel Church website:
September 15, 2017
Buy Granville Cottage
Granville Cottage is for sale…
September 13, 2017
September 10, 2017
Mission Accomplished!
Red Jeep Journal
September 10, 2017
The Chapel at Pleasant Valley Bible Camp
My Itinerant Ministry is Complete
This weekend I am preaching at Pleasant Valley Bible Camp near the northern mouth of Grand Traverse Bay. It’s a beautiful place. The weekend has been fall-like. The weather has been perfect. My quarters are comfortable. The furnace kicked on each night and I think it may have frosted last night. The sky is clear and my heart is joyful in God. Jason Cross came with me this weekend and we have enjoyed rich fellowship. In a little over an hour I will preach my last message here and my last message of the summer–message #116 this summer.
Grand Traverse Bay
On to Bethel
Next Sunday will be my first Sunday at Bethel Church in Jackson where I have been called to serve as their Lead Pastor. I will bring the Red Jeep Journals and the Red Jeep Journeys to a close. I still have George, the Red Jeep and he is running like a top… He’s been faithful to me. Since my New York trip I have used Grenfell more, because he gets 37 miles to the gallon on the road.
Sir Wilfred Grenfell
Thank You!
Thank you to all of you who have been so faithful in helping us have a delightful summer of ministry all over the mid-west and into beautiful Canada. Our hearts are full and joyful and our faith is stronger than ever in our lives.
What is Next?
Since we will no longer be doing the Red Jeep Journal we have a few other projects that we will be working on as a ministry and a gift to each of you. Our messages will be lived-streamed and archived from Bethel soon–so you can watch them if you like and share them with others. I have some ideas for a video podcast and some other ideas for writing and creating encouraging content to edify and encourage you.
Camp Lessons
Tomorrow morning I will begin releasing short videos that I call “Camp Lessons.” I will post the videos once a week for the next 50 weeks–50 Lessons from Camp. In the videos I will share truths that I have shared with campers and retreat participants this summer in a brief video form. You can share them easily with other on social media. I hope they will remind campers of things they learned this summer and spread truth to others who were unable to attend camp.
Ken Pierpont
Pleasant Valley Bible Camp
East Jordon, Michigan
September 10, 2017
September 6, 2017
Two More Trips-Pleasant Valley and Bethel
Red Jeep Journal
September 6, 2017
Labor Day Weekend Family Camp
On Labor Day weekend Lois and I took Hope and headed up to Barakel for the weekend. I spoke for the Family Camp this year. It was a beautiful weekend–cool and sunny. In a month Hope America (our baby) will leave for Bible school in Cannon Beach, Oregon and our nest will be empty–except for Hazard, the Wonder-Yorkie.
Pleasant Valley Bible Camp Men’s Retreat.
This weekend I will head north of Torch Lake and Traverse City to Pleasant Valley Bible Camp in East Jordon, Michigan for a men’s retreat. On Sunday, September 10th I will drive home completing the sweetest summer of my life–a summer of unbroken ministry and travel to beautiful places of ministry–mountains and lakes and forests, camps and churches large and small. I met many hundreds of wonderful people and will have preached over 116 times. God met every single need.
Granville Cottage is for Sale!
For the last ten years Granville Cottage has been our home (It was named after the Old Granville Place on It’s a Wonderful Life). Now we will sell it and buy a home near Bethel Church. Please pray for the quick sale of our home and purchase of a new home and our move if you think of us.
As autumn approaches there are a couple things I need to communicate to you who have been so faithful to help us in the Fellowship of the Red Jeep:
We begin our ministry at Bethel on September 17th and our first pay is at the end of September. After September 29th we will no longer need financial support. Before September 29th we do especially need financial support as we bring the Fellowship of the Red Jeep to a close, help establish Heidi and the children in their own household, and get Hope established in Oregon.
In a little over 10 days we will assume our full-time ministry with Bethel Church. We are amazed, and grateful for all of you who have so faithfully helped us. Our souls are filled with joy and our faith is strengthened. We will never forget the Spring and Summer of 2017.
Please consider a final gift to help us bring the ministry of the Red Jeep to a close. Follow this link to give tax deductible gifts to our ministry. We are especially grateful for those who are able to help us.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
September 6, 2017
Barakel Family Camp Pics (Labor Day Weekend 2017)
Red Jeep Journal
Labor Day Weekend 2017
Most of the summer I travelled alone. Hope was with me a couple weeks. A couple of our Grand-buddies (Kyle and Oliver) attended one week of camp. But this weekend Lois was with me at Barakel and took a few photos. I wish she could have taken photos every beautiful place I went this summer in the Summer of the Red Jeep.
August 25, 2017
God Knows What You Need
Red Jeep Journal
August 25, 2017
It was chilly on my walk this morning at dawn. The Lions play tonight and it almost feels like fall. We are about 30-40% packed and getting Granville Cottage ready to be listed and officially offered for sale. Today a member of the “Fellowship of the Red Jeep”, Arlene Champnella, wrote and said she had set aside some boxes for our move. I jumped in George the Red Jeep and drove over to fill it up with boxes. Every gift, every prayer, every encouraging word, every text, e-mail and visit have played a part in the wonderful spring and summer of ministry that we are about to complete.
Arlene came out into the drive and said; “There it is. There is the Red Jeep.” We stood in Arlene’s driveway and went over some of the stories of what happened this summer that will likely never be written down. One story of kindness and opportunity and provision and ministry tumbled into another. We have had so many who have blessed us, believed in us, helped us, gifted us, hosted us, prayed for us, visited us on the road, written us. It’s been overwhelming. People that we least expected have given generous gifts and every bill has been paid. How thankful we are.
Now it is time to move to our new place of ministry, Bethel Church in Jackson. We have had offers to help move (that is how you know who your friends really are).
Hope America will head to Cannon Beach, Oregon in October for Bible College. She is our baby. We are thrilled for her, but that is going to be an adjustment. Hazard is not going to know what to do with himself. Lois will be without her little buddy. I will cry. I cry a lot. It’s how I roll. I will cry that happy cry that means you have someone in your life you deeply love. Only deep love can make you cry like that. It’s a bittersweet kind of thing.
Hope America is 18 now. When she turned 16 her mother wrote a tribute to her that was beautiful. This evening Hope and her mother are out on an errand. I thought you might like to read it.
“When I realized I was pregnant in 1998, I already had 7 kids at home and the youngest was about 3, I had my hands full & running over. Ken & I had already decided years before, to allow the Lord to give us as many kids as He wanted us to have so I was a little fearful, I was getting older, I was going to be 40 years old. But I knew God had given us another baby and He knew what was best for us, He knew the future and what we needed.
Today as I write this I can’t imagine what life would be like without our little Hope America, she is a delight to our souls, when she was born the other kids adored her, always playing with her so much so that she walked at 8 months. Now that the kids are all married or moved away for work, she is my little shopping buddy, she is my photography partner, let’s-get-a-bite-of-lunch-buddy, craft store buddy, my sit-in-church-with-me-buddy, I can’t imagine life without her, I love her so much.
I know I can trust God, even when I am being selfish and think I have too much on my plate, and I can’t possibly take one more thing, God is the one who see’s the future and knows what I need in my life. Children are a blessing just as God told us in Psalm 127:3-5
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
Thanks for being a part of the Red Jeep Team… If you would like to help us as we close out this chapter of our lives, now would be a very good time… We will have a few more posts and I have a couple brand new projects to replace the Red Jeep Journal when September comes.
Under the Mercy;
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
August 25, 2017
August 23, 2017
Summer of 2017
Red Jeep Journal
August 23, 2017
The Summer of 2017
The sweet summer of ’17 is coming to an end and I will never forget it. It really started on the 11th of April when I drove into the mountains of Kentucky to preach. The dogwoods and redbuds were just opening in the mountains. When I conclude my Red Jeep Adventure on September 10th and drive away from Pleasant Valley Bible Camp fall will be in the air and the trees will begin to blush with the first touch of autumn. I will have preached 116 times this spring and summer and safely travelled thousands of miles.
26 More Days-An Important Appeal
Last night I stepped out onto the street in the evening. It was cool and breezy. My good neighbor Brad was walking his dog and called out “Feels kinda” like fall.” It does.
As autumn approaches there are a couple things I need to communicate to you who have been so faithful to help us in the Fellowship of the Red Jeep: 1. After September 17th we will no longer need financial support. 2. Before September 17th we do especially need financial support as we bring the Fellowship of the Red Jeep to a close. In 26 days we will assume our full-time ministry with Bethel Church. Until then we have three more promises to keep and eleven more messages to preach up-state as autumn comes.
God has faithfully answered our prayers, provided the finances we need to pay our bills, and given us somewhere to preach almost every single day all spring and summer. Please consider a final gift to help us bring the ministry of the Red Jeep to a close. Follow this link to give tax deductible gifts to our ministry. We are especially grateful for those who are able to help us.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
August 23, 2017
August 15, 2017
Video for Bethel Church
In a few weeks we will begin a whole new phase of our lives with the people of Bethel Church in Jackson, Michigan. Here is a video I made for them today.
August 14, 2017
Bethel Church
Lois, Hope and I spent the last weekend in July with the fine people of Bethel Church in Jackson, Michigan. They were in a search for a Lead Pastor. We were seeking the direction of the Lord for our future ministry. For the last few months we have been exploring the possibility of ministry together.
Sunday evening, July 30 I accepted a call to serve as their Lead Pastor. I will serve along side Patrick Kelly (Worship Arts) and Nate York (Family Ministries) and a fine team of devoted elders. Their current interim pastor is Jim Lacy. We are grateful and humbled to have been chosen for this ministry. We will begin our ministry on Sunday, September 17th.
We are deeply grateful for those who have prayed for us and supported us during our itinerant preaching ministry. We will never forget your kindness, prayers, generosity, and the trust you placed in us during the spring and summer of ’17.
Click here to read the latest Bethel Church newsletter.
We will have preached 116 times this spring and summer before we start as Lead Pastor at Bethel.
Under the Mercy;
Ken and Lois Pierpont
We’re going to Jackson! 
