There has been a real concern for much needed rain in the Southeastern region of the United States. One man working in a yard this week called out to me as I walked and asked me to pray for rain! We did that Sunday at church and will continue to ask for the clouds to gather.  

There is another dryness that concerns me. That is the lack of tears among God’s people in intercession. Dry eyes and dry souls often cause us to remain unmoved for the things of God. Paul had tears in his ministry. In the 20th chapter of Acts we find the great apostle crying. In 20:19 we see his service tears. He spoke of the work he had done with humility and many tears. As you serve you will often weep for souls and renewal. Then in 20:31 he spoke of preaching tears. He reminded the Ephesians he had warned them for three years night and day with tears. As he taught and proclaimed he did so with a broken heart full of tears. Then in 20:37 he spoke of farewell tears. As he was set out to leave the people, he loved they all wept bitterly and kissed one another. Those tears of fellowship and memory were joyous, yet bittersweet.   

 As you pray and work do not be afraid of tears. Some say real men don’t cry. Paul certainly took exception to that thought. When you go forth sowing the precious seed of tears you will indeed come again rejoicing. 

Pastor Ted Traylor    

Upon my return from Kazakhstan I have been asked the normal question several times a day, “How was your trip?” As I look back and reflect I have come away with several things. However, one stands out in my mind. The key to victorious Christian living anywhere around the globe is prayer. And I do not do enough of that. Nor do I believe our church at Olive has come to maturity in this discipline. We have much to learn and experience in prayer.   

 As we met for the three-day conference the KGB showed up to ask for a list of names of all who would be in attendance. The Central Asian leaders told them they would not surrender the names and appealed to the rights they have to assemble freely. They invited the police officers to join us in the meetings if they wanted to know what was going on. They did not accept the invitation. The 700 participants began to pray for protection and wisdom. One hour before each session began the pastors met on their knees to cry out to the Father. It was holy ground!    

As I returned home I have come with several renewed commitments. I will work to be a better preacher, soul winner and pastor. But at the top of the list is my prayer life. I realize I must go deeper and learn greater intimacy with the Heavenly Father so as to have the power of God on my life and the ministry of our church. I invite you to join me at the throne of grace on a daily basis. We must pray in the Spirit without ceasing.  

 We have true friends in the Gospel who partner with us in Central Asia. They do not have much in the way of material goods. The church houses, they call them prayer houses, are often small and far from elaborate. Yet they meet with God and see lives changed. These Christians have planted 400 churches in the past three years. God is at work. If we could ever come to God with total abandonment in Pensacola we would see a mighty move of grace. God had favored us with material goods. Now may He breathe life into all of it. I exhort you to pray fervently.   

 Pastor Ted Traylor     

As you read this on Tuesday, I will be in the air on the way home from Central Asia. It is now just about 4 a.m. We catch the plane at 7 a.m. It will be a long day and I ask you to pray for comfort and safety during our travel time.
 
The days in this region have been very fruitful. Our job was to encourage the saints that are preaching Jesus, making disciples and planting new churches. I heard so many stories of God’s power in the lives of many believers. I have been the encouraged rather than the encourager. During our final fellowship and meal last night, there were tears and laughter all around. These people that love Jesus live in a region that is less than 1% Christian. They face many struggles but they are seeing victories on many occasions. They have joy in the journey. I will have many stories to share with you in weeks to come.
 
Last night I taped two 20-minute segments of teaching from 2 Peter for the churches to use in their small groups. I taught on the Eight Callings of God. They have asked us for more of these. They will voice-over the language and send these all over this region. They had a makeshift recording studio in one of the churches. It is not Olive but it works! I was reminded once again of how blessed we are to have all the resources we have. Your dedicated giving makes that possible. This is one more way we will touch the world from the corner of Olive and Davis. God is good! 
 
Dennis and I will be home on Tuesday evening. I should be at church on Wednesday night. I will have jet lag hanging on me but the joy of Jesus will be in me. Thank you for allowing your pastor to travel from time to time and to be the recipient of  blessings around the world.
 
Pastor Ted Traylor

Dennis and I are doing fine. We just finished the Bible/Missions Conference. There were some incredible stories about the work of God around the world. I look forward to sharing many of them with you and showing pictures of new friends.

This weekend I will be teaching young students in a Bible institute and participating in a home group on Friday evening. On Sunday, we will dedicate the Prayer House/Church that Olive members built last year. Monday we will meet with leaders here about future work and discuss the impact Olive can make to expand further our global focus on evangelism. Then on Tuesday, we make the trip home! Continue to pray for us.

I am in route to Kazakhstan to preach at a pastor’s conference. I ask you to pray for Dennis Wilson and me as we minister and encourage our friends.

I am writing from the Amsterdam airport where we are waiting on our plane to Almaty. After breakfast, I walked into the airport meditation room to have my quiet time. I met a devoted chaplain who works in the airport ministry. He provided a Bible and told me of his work. Six Muslims kneeling in prayer were also occupying  the small prayer room. I opened the Bible and had my devotional – praying that we might learn better how to touch the world in Jesus’ name.

As I sit in this world-class airport, it seems as if I am watching the world pass by. It is truly a picture of all the nations of the world and a reminder that we must endeavor to reach our world with the Gospel.

I will have much to report after I return. I ask you to pray for me daily that I might be bold and loving toward those with whom I come in contact. I am praying the same for all of you.

Last week I shared the 2020 Vision Report with the church. You can read more about it on the church website at www.olivebaptist.org. In that report, I spoke about the University of West Florida and the need for ministry on the campus. Our church teams up with other churches as well as Baptist Campus Ministries to reach out to UWF students. It is essential that we make an impact on the generation that will soon make an impact on Pensacola. Pray for this work and volunteer as you sense the need.  

 The role of ministry to singles also surfaced in our discussion time last Sunday evening. A few questions have come my way about the future of the singles ministry at Olive. One person called to say they understood I was doing away with this ministry. While I am not always the best communicator in the world, one would have needed to be smoking something mighty strong to believe I implied that our singles ministry was going away at Olive. Our guest records indicate that 40-50% of our visitors are single adults.

I want to make it clear our ministry to singles is not going away. In fact, if we reach into the apartments as I have called for, we will find a high number of single adults in these dwellings. Therefore, the singles ministry will need to expand if we do our job. My word was that there is more than one way to reach single adults. They are not all excited about going into a singles-only environment. Some like to be with other adults both married and single. We will need great creativity to make an impact on our local single population with the Gospel.    

As we head into the weekend Mother’s Day is coming. On Sunday evening, I will be headed to Kazakhstan to speak in a Pastor’s Conference and to dedicate a church built by one of our missions teams months ago. Pray for Dennis Wilson and me as we travel and minister to new friends in a distant land. I will endeavor to e-mail a report to you next week. 

Pastor Ted Traylor 

Homecoming at Olive was a great day. People were saved, old members came home, and many guests joined us to celebrate God’s goodness. Thanks are due to many who labored to pull off the event. On Monday, I watched many of the Olive staff dragging into work. A few left early looking like they needed a nap. In short, we had an exhausted team. What a great group they are. They teamed up with a host of volunteers to make all the logistics of a big day come off with little trouble. Feeding over 3,000 Baptists is never easy!  

 As I walked under the tents during the second wave of lunch, I was excited at what I encountered. One deacon asked me, “Who are all these people?” He normally attends the early service and he was making new friends of church members he did not know. One staff member reported enlisting volunteers during lunch. The fellowship was sweet and God moved among His people.    

Sunday evening I shared the 2020 Vision Report. On Sunday morning we placed a copy of this report in each person’s hand. We went over it in detail on Sunday night. You can find a copy on the church website. Several questions surfaced in the Q&A time. Each one of them will help us with implementation. It is not enough to have a vision. ACTION must follow the dream to make it a reality. Now we enter the hard part – going to work. In the coming days a committee to oversee the ministry village will be selected. Plans for the outdoor recreational facility will begin to take shape. Be praying as the details come together.   

As you read this I am at the North American Mission Board meeting in Atlanta. Part of the 2020 Vision is a partnership with NAMB in planting churches throughout America. Pray for Dr. Geoff Hammond as he takes the lead as our new president. We have much to do as we team up with him in reaching America. 

Pastor Ted Traylor 

Yesterday was the National Day of Prayer. My day started as I prayed for America. Then at noon, I joined others at the St. Luke United Methodist Church for a prayer meeting. My Thursday was finished as I spoke at the Okaloosa County Prayer Rally in Ft. Walton Beach.

Once again I was reminded of the power of prayer to unite the body of Christ. Praying with others does make a difference. This is a huge weekend at Olive. It is Bring a Friend Sunday and Homecoming with Dinner on the Grounds. Rain has been taken out of the Sunday forecast. But you never know along the Gulf Coast! I want to remind you of a few things for the big day:   

1. Dress is casual.  

 2. If you can walk, park AWAY from the building. Buses will be available to give you a ride.   

3. Invite a friend. This weekend give them a second invitation as a follow up reminder.  

4. Come back Sunday evening for the 2020 Vision Report.   

5. Lunch will be provided under the big tents in the front parking lot.   

The first church I pastored was New Lebanon Baptist in Odenville, Alabama. Each year in May we had Homecoming, Dinner on the Grounds and decoration of the cemetery next door. Food would be spread out on the concrete tables under the large oak trees. Some years we would feed over 100. The main thrust of the day was the fellowship and talk of what God had done in past years. 

That is my prayer for Sunday. We cannot do a covered dish anymore. Feeding over 3,000 is a daunting task, but our team will pull it off. Yet the fellowship can be rich and rewarding. God has been good to Olive for 113 years. Join me Sunday as we celebrate.  

 Pastor Ted Traylor 

When May arrives we are not far from the National Day of Prayer. This year it falls on Thursday, May 3. I encourage you to participate. Go somewhere and pray for America. The chapel at Olive will be open all day if you would like to drop by and pray. Special services are being held in the Pensacola area. Find one of those and go and pray.

On Sunday C-SPAN broadcast live the LA Times Book Review and discussion of culture and religion. This was an amazing event. In the segment I watched, Bible Christianity took a beating. One man could not believe we still lived in a country where more believe in the coming rapture of the church than adhere to evolution. It seemed to him that educated America would not follow the Bible, but science. What a country we live in. On May 3 we need to pray for revival.

Statistical reports are in for the Southern Baptist Convention. Numbers are up in several areas including the number of churches and money given. For this and other items, we rejoice. However, for the second straight year we have baptized less than we did the year before. On May 3 pray for revival in the American churches.

The war in Iraq crawls onward. We have been there longer than we fought in WWII. Victory came and then we stayed for years in that clean up. It seems we have years to go in Iraq. On May 3 pray for our brave men and woman on the front lines of war wherever they may be. Pray for the President and the Congress to get together on a plan. We need God to intervene and wise leaders need to put aside partisan politics. Pray for peace on the National Day of Prayer.

Visit www.ndptf.org. to learn more about this important day.

Pastor Ted Traylor