Evangelist Craig Cobb: church

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

TWO DIFFERENT CHURCHES this past Sunday

This past Sunday we had the privilege of being in two different churches...

Sunday morning - SEAL COVE BAPTIST CHURCH - Mount Desert Island, Maine
I have known Pastor Chuck Barnes for many years. He was the pastor at Second Baptist Church in Palermo, Maine for over 23 years before turning the work over and starting a church-planting ministry in the state of Maine. His latest work involved re-opening the Seal Cove Baptist Church. Originally started in 1816 as the Tremont Baptist Church and later becoming Seal Cove, the church eventually disbanded about 16 years ago. A lady in the church refused to let the building fall to decay and assumed the role of caretaker while praying God would send a man to start the church back up. God led Bro. Barnes to be that man and they held their first service in August of last year. There was a total of 17 in attendance yesterday morning!

Mount Desert Island is the most famous tourist attraction in the entire state of Maine with Bar Harbor on the north end. There are only 10,000 year-round residents but over 2.5 million tourists visit annually. Some of the wealthiest people in the entire world have homes on the Island including the Rockefellers as well as the descendents of the Vanderbilts and the Astors. It is definitely one of the prettiest places in the country.

Pastor Barnes has a desire for the church to grow and eventually turn this work over to a man and then plant another church as God leads. It was good to meet these folks for the first time and the Lord gave us good services for Sunday School and the morning worship hour. We appreciate very much the invitation to come.

Seal Cove Baptist Church on Mount Desert Island, Maine

Smile and wave, boys!

Pastor Chuck Barnes and Evangelist Craig Cobb

Beautiful scene on Mount Desert Island, Maine

Mount Desert Island, Maine

Sunday evening - BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH - Bangor, Maine
We had a great time being back at Bible Baptist Church in Bangor for their evening service. Pastor Artie Dean, his family and several others in the church had just returned from a meeting in New Jersey and so he asked me to preach Sunday night. Their young people always do a GREAT job with the special music and the Lord was pleased with them again and we have always found a sweet spirit in every service we have been here. There was a very good response during the invitation and the Lord seemed to move in peoples hearts. Stacie and I enjoyed a time of fellowship and a meal with the Deans after the service.

Please be in prayer for this church as they are looking to start the actual construction on their new building within the next few weeks, Lord willing. God has done some miraculous things throughout the whole process over the last year and a half and He is bringing it all together now. The goal is to have their first service sometime in December if everything falls in place. I can not wait to see that once-vacant lot in Orono become the new home of Bible Baptist Church - praise the Lord!!!

My humble apologies to Pastor Dean and the church - our camera's battery died while on Mount Desert Island!

Monday, August 3, 2015

CAMP MEETING - New Life Baptist Church - Dover Foxcroft, Maine

Last week (July 26th-30th) was the third annual camp meeting at New Life Baptist Church in Dover Foxcroft, Maine. It has been Pastor David Ireland's vision and heart's desire for many years to have an old fashioned, Holy Ghost, refreshing-drink-of-water Camp Meeting in Maine where God's people can come and just get refreshed and recharged to keep going for the Lord. This meeting very obviously was exactly that this year. God has grown and blessed this meeting over the last three years and it is a blessing to see His hand on it. People were in attendance from: Maine, New Hampshire, Nova Scotia, Indiana, New York, Texas, North Carolina and Missouri. The gospel was preached, saints were edified and most importantly Christa was magnified.

In a meeting like this the services are only half of what makes it a great meeting. The other half is the times of fellowship before and after the services enjoyed in the sanctuary, the fellowship hall and all over the grounds where people can get just as much help from a casual conversation as they can a church service. The morning services were a great time of teaching and preaching and worship. The evening services were filled with preaching and worship as well. God moved in a big way the final service on Thursday night. He took our little plan and threw it out the window - I like it when that happens!

Literally EVERY member at New Life Baptist Church has been working very hard all year to prepare and they worked tirelessly (and many were sleep deprived for sure!) during the meeting to make sure all of us guests were well fed and taken care of. Their sacrifice was surely noticed by all who were there and they are to be commended for a job well done.

THE DATES FOR NEXT YEAR: July 24-28, 2016. The "rule" for this meeting is that it starts the FOURTH Sunday in July.

I have posted some pictures from the meeting below and I will be posting a separate photo gallery with many more pictures...