BEFORE I BEGIN – PLEASE REMEMBER – ALL YOUNG PEOPLE IN YAZOO AND SURROUNDING COUNTIES NEED TO ATTEND – Fields of Faith – Wednesday Night – October 10 – A National FCA event to strengthen and encourage our middle and high school students. Student pastors, plan now! Worship begins at 6:30 p.m. and there is a rain venue. I look forward to seeing you on the Benton Academy football field!!
How may I serve you? No, really! It should be the question that resonates from the lips of believers to those around them on a regular basis, and legitimately, it is my question to you as we enter the month of October, headed toward a holiday season this generally filled with gestures of giving and serving.
In truth, a genuine servant’s heart, followed by actions in faith should be year-round, not just a seasonal gesture. So again, I simply ask, as a pastor, a fellow Yazoo Countian, and a member of the same priesthood of believers, “How may I serve you?”
In John 13:16 Christ reminded His disciples that the servant is never greater than his Master, and that those who are sent are never greater than the one sending. . .
I recall three years before we moved Lucedale, hearing God speak at a Relay for Life event in that city, telling me that I would come there to minister to more people than could fill the local football stadium where the event was being held. When I shared the revelation with my wife, she laughed and simply said, “I will NEVER move back to that little town!” A year-and-a-half later we learned that my father-in-law was ill, and immediately my wife’s heart changed. All I heard was, “We gotta go home ...”
In May of 2003 we watched the moving vans unload at our new Lucedale address, and three years, to-the-week, after God had revealed, He moved us. That same week, at another Relay event, God again spoke profoundly and reiterated the original message. This time He made it clear that my travel calendar was about to end. (Until this time, the first ten year of my ministry calling was in evangelism – traveling for camps, crusades, stadium events, and revivals.)
Over the next 12 years God opened endless doors for His Kingdom to advance. We took leadership of a Habitat affiliate that was being reclaimed by the national organization. Seven years later when I stepped off the board, the affiliate had over two million dollars in assets, and over 50 families who had never known decent living conditions had a new home.
God allowed me to co-found a little music festival known as Praise in the Park, and grew that exponentially. To this day, some 10,000 people show up at the Lucedale City Park every third Saturday of October for groups like Casting Crowns, David Crowder, and more. Shortly after Katrina a friend and I were blessed to get a 65,000-sf abandoned factory donated to the ministry, and after putting nearly two million dollars into repairs and renovations, the building became a new Salvation Army thrift store, new offices for Habitat, a crisis pregnancy and counseling resource center, an AA meeting location, an indoor skateboard park, and more. During that 12 years, by relationship, our ministry stepped into the George, Greene, and Jackson county court systems, helping young people and adults in crisis with programmatic and life-skills education as a part of probationary work. (YES! I’m the preacher who was putting GPS monitors and alcohol bracelets on folks while trying to love them to Jesus! HA!)
Oh, the list goes on, and on, including writing for the George County Times, the local newspaper there, as I do for The Herald. Sure, this may sound like some form of self-aggrandizement or an attempt at vainglory, but it’s not. Look back at the scripture I shared. The point is that THE MASTER called, and HE produced a 12-year work that was, down to the last detail, everything HE intended it to be. We were just vessels through which He chose to advance the Kingdom.
So, what does that have to do with the fact that God has now called me to Yazoo and a pastorate at Satartia? IT IS as I began, an acknowledgement that I am here to serve.
What about you!? I tell my congregation all the time that I still do not know WHY I’m in Yazoo, I just know I was called here. (God has not yet revealed so clearly as He did when we were in George County.) The one thing I do know is that His call is clear – we are to be His servants in the lives of others, wherever, however, and by whatever means are appropriate and available. He sets, the course. We just are commanded to follow.
Down at the little church in Satartia, we’re just seeking new ways to serve and advance the Kingdom. IF you are looking for a fellowship where you too can serve, in advancement of the Fame, Glory, and Renown of the person of Jesus Christ, “WELCOME HOME!”
IF you have a church home, PLEASE put your hand to the proverbial plow and serve others in Jesus name like your eternal destiny depends on it – IT DOES! We at Satartia, and I as the pastor look forward to serving, as best we are able, not only during a traditional season of giving and sharing, but all year long.
Brother Royce is Senior Pastor at Satartia FBC. He may be reached by email at broroyce1@gmail.com
