OurJesusJourney goes to Gulfport and Pass Christian, MS

April 2018

Later that night, after being blessed to pray for Maegan in Louisiana, we arrived in Gulfport, MS at West Gulfport Baptist Church. There we met Pastor Grady Ross. His church has a wonderful set-up to house us (and many more, if need be). They had multiple rooms with bunk and full-size beds, 3 showers and a WASHER AND DRYER, which is something miraculous for us!

While there, Matt was blessed to preach on Easter Sunday. We also got to help with the food pantry that week, as well as to organize all of the donated clothes they had for a give-away they were planning for the community. We got out into the near neighborhood to invite the community to the services for Easter. Calling that neighborhood “rough” would be a mild understatement, but we knew with full confidence that God wanted us out there talking to those who live there. One that walk through the neighborhood, we came across (and spoke with) someone who was smoking weed in their vehicle, someone who was sitting outside their home that was a witch, and another man walking who revealed to us that he had a gun. It was interesting, but never fearful. We knew we had the hand of God over us all the way and they knew we were there with no ill-intentions, only wanting to share Christ with them.

The pastor’s son, Josh joined us in that neighborhood, as well as in another area of the church to pass out many more flyers. We met and came across many others there, too.

Josh also took us fishing in the Gulf a couple of times, which was awesome! As you can see in the pictures, we DID catch some fish, Matt’s being the largest. It tasted GREAT!

When our time was done at West Gulfport, we moved down to Cornerstone Church, which is right up the road from WGBC. There we met Pastor Don Bearden, who was very gracious to us in letting us stay in their church, as well. Matt was given to opportunity to preach there on a Sunday night. On the day we left, Pastor Bearden told us that the men in the church had voted to “sponsor” Matt in him getting licensed as a preacher, which can help him along in the eyes of fellow men, legitimizing him in what we do. Some people struggle with our ministry, in that it does not “look” they way they think it should, as we do not go through a church or organization for our calling. This licensing can help the way he is viewed, although we know that our calling is ultimately from God. We are so grateful for Pastor Bearden doing this for us!

Matt and the boys got out and did a deep clean pressure washing on the front end of their church, and the pictures show how much of a difference it made to their beautiful property. We also did some community service for one of the local elementary schools, landscaping their front property.

We were so blessed in Mississippi by those God led us to! We enjoyed our time there and hope to go back on day! Thank you West Gulfport Baptist Church and Cornerstone Church for your hospitality!