Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 80

41 Years Ago Today!

Red Jeep Journal

August 11, 2017

41 YEARS AGO TODAY

This morning as I prepared for the day it occurred to me that it was 41 years ago today, at the age of 17, that I was licensed to preach the gospel by Pleasant Ridge Bible Church in Fort Recovery, Ohio. I started preaching when I was 14 so I have been preaching for 44 years, but I started pastoring at 17 over 40 years ago.

SUMMER CAMPS END TODAY

Today I will preach twice at Lincoln Lake and then head home to sleep in my own bed. I will preach in Deckerville this Lord’s Day and head to Canada next weekend, but my summer camp preaching has come to an end.

A couple nights ago I sat overlooking the lake as the sun set. I watched the colors of afterglow on the lake and in the sky and my heart was warmed at the faithfulness of God. He gave me favor with many camp directors and church leaders to fill may calendar every week and every weekend all spring and all summer long. It was a holy moment and I poured out my thanksgiving to God for his great faithfulness. It as fifty years ago this summer I first attended camp and it was in this very place. (If you have not read them, there are a number of Red Jeep Journal post that are not sent via e-mail. You can only read them on-line at kenpierpont.com

When I drive away from the Men’s Retreat Pleasant Valley Bible Camp on the 10th of September I will, by the grace of God, have preached 116 times this spring and fall. I have been to Michigan, Indiana, New York, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio–oh and Canada, eh? I will have preached in in five states and two countries this spring and summer.

GOD’S PROVSION – GOD’S PEOPLE

When I began in April there were to questions on my heart: 1. Will I have places to preach? and 2. Will I be able to pay the bills? Well the answer was yes and yes, thanks be unto God and those He has moved to help us. Not only have we peached almost every day, often twice a day, but we have been able to pay every bill. We have been very careful in our spending, and God’s people have been generous to help us. Thank you to those of you who help us. This has been our full-time work.

BIG NEWS THIS FALL

We have some very exciting plans this fall. Keep an eye on the kenpierpont.com web site. We will have a very special announcement to make very soon about our ministry this fall. You will not want to miss it.

We especially appreciate those of you who pray for our ministry and help us with financial support. If you are interested in our itinerary you can see it by clicking the ministry tab at the Ken Pierpont web site.

Please 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

Lincoln Lake Camp

Gowen, MI

Meet Grenfell (Sir Wilfred)

Red Jeep Journal

August 8, 2017

This is Grenfell. George, the Red Jeep is still in the family and doing well, but God provided an opportunity for us the have a very late-model and efficient car for our ministry. I have missed George on some of our trips but our new car, Grenfell, named after the great missionary to Labrador, Sir. Wilfred Grenfell, has been a great blessing in our travels.

I will be heading up into the “Thumb” a couple more times in August for a “Summer Bible Conference” of Sundays at Deckerville Bible Church. I will return to Canada to a family camp up towards Georgian Bay for a weekend in mid-August, then we will be heading up to Camp Barakel for Family Camp on Labor Day Weekend. I am scheduled to do Men’s Retreat at Pleasant Valley Bible Camp the weekend of September 8-10. I think there are still openings at Pleasant Valley if you would like to join us.

The ministry this spring and summer has been more fruitful and fulfilling than anything I could have imagined, but this Fall our schedule is even more exciting and full. You can find where I will be preaching this fall by keeping your eyes on this web site. All the details will be on the “Ministry” page when the time is right.

Until then, thank you for all you have done to keep me on the road preaching the Word every day all spring and summer long.

Pastor Ken Pierpont

Lincoln Lake Camp

August 8, 2017

50 Years Ago

Red Jeep Journal

August 6, 2017

What were you doing 50 years ago? I remember distinctly what I was going. It was my very first summer camp experience. I was a camper for the first time at Lincoln Lake.

I remember the chapel, which at the time was in a WWII-style Quonset hut building.

I remember the choruses we sang; “With Christ in the Vessel” and “I Know Who Holds the Future.” (I sang with all my little heart and I still love both those songs).

I remember my counselor who was a pastor.

I remember the burning question that I asked him about assurance of salvation.

I remember some trouble I had (It’s personal) and…

I remember the nice nurse lady who helped me.

I remember swimming in the lake and playing “find your counselor.” (He hid under a row boat– nimble fellow).

This week when the campers gather in their chapel at Lincoln Lake I will be their chapel speaker. I hope they have happy memories of swimming in the lake and sleeping in the cabin or Yurt with their buddies. I hope they have a good counselor. I hope the camp songs still ring in their hearts after five decades have passed. I hope they cherish the sweet story of the Cross over the years like I do. I hope are each of them are soundly and securely and sincerely saved and that fifty years from now Lincoln Lake will be a happy memory for them, too.

Ken Pierpont

Deckerville, Michigan

August 6, 2017

Adventure Podcast

Red Jeep Journal

August 4, 2017

Radio on the Road

They build camps in remote, beautiful places. I’ve been on the road a lot this summer driving to some beautiful places to speak at camps. On the road I often drive along in silence with my prayers and thoughts. I love to listen to a good podcast on the road.

When I was a boy I loved radio, still do. Now we have “radio-on-demand”–podcasts. A good podcast is great company for a road-trip. I still aspire to build a good podcast. In the last few years I have been experimenting with my own.

Adventure Deficit

Our son, Kyle has a friend named Drew DeVries who has created a fine podcast called Adventure Deficit. You may have noticed that there will never be a time short of the New Heaven and the New Earth to take all the adventures we would like to take, but you can read about them and you can watch them on TV and, especially when you are on the road, you can listen to adventures on podcasts.

One of the podcasts was about the North Country Tail, another was about a father-son cross-country motorbike adventure along the Rio Grande from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. They celebrated by fishing for shark in the Gulf of Mexico in baiting them in Kayaks. That episode was full of interesting stories.

Speaking of Father-Son Adventures

While we are talking about father’s, sons, and families, you might enjoy the Family Man podcast. It’s a realistic look at family and a reminder to cultivate strong family relationships. Check it out here.

Peaceful Holmes County

Red Jeep Journal

August 3, 2017

Hope and I are in Millersburg, Ohio. I am preaching to teens at Skyview Ranch. Skyview is in the heart of the Ohio Amish Country. I have always loved this area. It has a wholesome feel to it.

The house where we are staying this week has a wide, shady porch and Hope has spent hours there reading. We have had time for some drives in the Ohio countryside to see tidy Amish farms among the hills and sample the local food and baked goods. It would not be good for me to come here often.

The weather as been perfect this week. We had a few showers yesterday but I was taking a nap when they came. It may have rained in the night once, but the campers have enjoyed a picture-perfect week. I have been teaching Romans to the teens. It is a delight to have a week to teach a book of the Bible to young people and watch drink in the truth.

Heartsong

This week a group of students from Cedarville University has been leading worship in chapel. They are outstanding young men and women and they have made preaching a joy. Their band is called Heartsong. They connect with the students and lead worship that is meaningful and powerfully Christ-exalting.

A Delightful Surprise

Years ago we started a church not far from here. One day I called on a young man in the hospital who had rolled a cement truck. His name was Lewis. I led Lewis to Christ that night. His wife was there and when I left she took the tract I left and went to the hospital chapel and prayed to follow Christ. The next day Lewis died. They had a little boy named Wes who was four at the time. Wes manages a restaurant not far from here so he and his mother and a friend came to chapel to hear me preach last night. There is no joy like the joy of following Christ and making Him known. Only God knows what will happen when we are faithful at that.

Big News This Fall

We have some very exciting plans this fall. Keep an eye on the kenpierpont.com web site. We will have a very special announcement to make very soon about our ministry this fall. You will not want to miss it.

We especially appreciate those of you who pray for our ministry and help us with financial support. You can follow this link to give.

If you are interested in our itinerary you can see it by clicking the ministry tab above.

Ken Pierpont

Skyview Ranch

Millersburg, Ohio

Headed to Ohio!

Red Jeep Journal

July 31, 2017

Hope and I will head to Ohio today to spend the week in the heart of the Ohio Amish Country. I will be speaking to teens at Skyview Ranch this week.

Next Sunday I will head up into the Michigan “Thumb” to preach at Deckerville Bible Church…

Pray for us, that campers would be saved and blessed and that I will not be tempted beyond that which I can bear by all the Amish baked goods within a short drive.

A Tale of Drunken Hogs

Red Jeep Journal

July 25, 2017

So after a session yesterday a cluster of mountain pastors were standing around swapping well-told stories. One of them was telling of a fella’ in his family who was good at woodworking.

Someone asked; “Did your dad teach you woodworking?”

“No”

“Well, where did you learn it?”

“I learned it in the pen.”

“Why were you in the pen?”

“The Feds found my moonshine still.”

“How did they find your still?”

“Well the hogs got lose and found it first and they got drunk, then the Feds followed the hogs they found my still and then I learned woodworking in the Pen.”

I chuckled and thought to myself. Now, that will make a great sermon illustration some day. I’m not sure what it illustrates, but I promise, it will make a good sermon illustration some day.

At lunch I ate with two mountain pastors. One of them had been in the ministry for 50 years. He and his wife drove the mountain road down to Oneida to hear me. His wife said; “I’m looking forward to hearing you preach. You’re handsome.” She may have had failing eyesight, but she had a good, sharp wit.

Another pastored one church for over 30 years. It was humbling to stand before them. They are kind people who love the Lord and the church and the ministry of the word. They listened and responded with great interest and kindness. I found myself asking God for many more years of fruitful ministry if it would please Him to allow it.

The music is being led by a giant of a man who’s name is Jason Stewart, but everyone calls him “Buba.” He used to drive Dr. Al Mohler, the president of Southern Seminary. He would make a great body guard. He towers over me at six foot seven and he is a big man, but he’s not really a bodyguard, he is a musician—a worship-leader and a very good one. He’s doing a great job, and if he wasn’t I would never tell him so.

I’m sleeping well and eating well and enjoying my time in the mountains this week. The only thing wrong with this picture is that my little hillbilly wife is not in it this week. I will return with her and we will dance at Hoedown Island and eat up at Natural Bridge and hold hands a little and drink some Ale8 in cold, green glass bottles.

Ken Pierpont

Oneida, Kentucky

On the Banks of Laurel Creek

Red Jeep Journal

July 24, 2017

I’m deep in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, a region I have come to love. I’ve been traveling into these mountains every year for the last 39 years. I’ve come to love the people and the countryside here.

Sunday I preached at New Prospect Baptist. The church is pastored by my friend Dr. David Price. Sam Judd is his associate there. The church is out a road that is carved from a mountain and it rests on the bank of a tree-lined, meandering body of water called Laurel Creek.

There are bird songs here I have never heard before. It’s good for a fellow’s soul to quiet his heart and listen to bird songs and take long, winding drives in the mountains and go to church on the banks of a creek. You should try it some time.

I am encouraging pastors this week at a mountain pastors conference. I am speaking in the chapel you can see from this pic taken from the lodge where I am staying.

I’ll post some things on kenpierpont.com this week. I’ll tell you an interested story I mined out of the hills of Kentucky a little later this week.

Please Follow this link to give tax deductible gifts to our ministry. We are especially grateful for those who are able to help us. This is our full-time ministry.

710 Miles of Unbroken Worship

Red Jeep Journal

July 22, 2017

Journal Dictation in Pennsylvania

The first-draft of this Red Jeep Journal entry was dictated while I sped down the highway in Pennsylvania.

I’m driving 710 miles today from New York through Pennsylvania, West Virginia and eastern Kentucky, along the old Hillbilly Highway and into Hazard and deeper into the mountain to Oneida today.

Right now I’m in the beautiful Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania. I just passed Happy Valley where Penn State plays football. It put a smile on my face on this mid-summer morning to think about cool autumn afternoons and Big 10 football. West of Happy Valley the highway cuts through fold upon fold of beautiful blue-green mountains. The mountains are all crowned with white mist this early morning.

It’s hard to describe how peaceful and compelling this landscape is. It deserves more time and attention then I have to give it today. I’m on a mission.

I just drove through a town called Shiloh and it reminded me of a ballad by Andrew Peterson so I looked it up on Spotify and now I’m listening to all the songs on Spotify named Shiloh. Some of them are Christian songs some of them are Civil War ballads.

I’m alone with my thoughts today and so my thoughts are about the last time I’ve visited Pennsylvania to preach. My friend Tom Harmon recommended me to a group of Brethren churches who brought me in for a united service as a preaching storyteller. I brought Holly, Heidi and Hannah with me to do children’s work, sing and keep me company. They put us up in a beautiful bed-and-breakfast called the McLean House run by fascinating literate Christian woman who made a delicious hazelnut-vanilla coffee and never let my cup get empty.

The bed-and-breakfast was beautifully decorated with antiques. The only thing out of place with a life-size cut-out of “Joe Pa” in the kitchen that would give you a start early in the morning when you came down tracing out the smell of coffee.

I get that familiar lump in my throat when I think back about that time with the girls. It ended up being a very happy memory for all of us and we look back upon it with fondness. It was a simple assignment but a cherished memory.

As always when I travel and preach I’m not sure what good I did but I do know that the seed was good and I planted it well and the rest belongs to God.

Tomorrow I preach to the good folk of New Prospect Baptist. Now I need to get to Oneida in time to prepare my soul with a thoughtful evening walk along the South Fork Kentucky River. I’ll take a picture of two for you to enjoy in my next Red Jeep Journal.

Arrived in Hazard

I’m in Kentucky now and today there was not a single stretch of 100 yards that was not a beautiful mountain scene. 710 miles of unbroken scenic beauty. 710 miles of unbroken worship.

I miss Lois when I’m in Kentucky especially. We talked on the phone a bit and remembered an evening together up on Natural Bridge at the restaurant overlooking the park. We ate Kentucky Brown and blackberry cobbler and coffee with ice cream for dessert. I vow to return with her one day, God helping me, and repeat the quiet evening together.

Ken Pierpont

Hazard, Kentucky

Jerry’s Story

When I was about 19 years old I had a lot more hair than I had sense. I had so much to learn–still do. One night, in an up-stairs bedroom of an old farmhouse in Kansas, God taught me a very powerful lesson. It’s something I have never forgotten. Maybe it will help you. I tell the story in this video.