Blog

It is good to be back at work. I am grateful for these three weeks off (four Sundays of preaching). It allowed me to attend to some household needs that I have neglected. (I am almost caught up on those!) And it also allowed me to have the space to address some spiritual needs. One of the resources that has been guiding me is Sinclair Ferguson's book Devoted to God. It h...

I wanted to announce to you that the elders have granted me a mini-sabbatical. It will begin this week. We have been tremendously blessed at Providence over this past year. We have had unprecedented numerical growth. And I confess this has brought many challenges to me. There have been a host of counseling appointments and meetings that have invaded my personal time. I ...

Begg, Alistair. Made For His Pleasure: Ten Benchmarks of a Vital Faith. Moody Publishers:Chicago, 2018. In this short volume, Alistair Begg (pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland, OH) outlines the basics of Christian growth. While this book is essentially about sanctification, it's not so much what one has to do as much as it is a description of what the Christian expe...

Tomorrow night we will begin gathering as a church body to pray. We do this now for two reasons. First, the time is excellent to meet as a body when our small group ministry is on break for the summer. We know how hard it is to maintain attendance when there is frequent travel. Therefore, this is an excellent time for the body to join together in fellowship. But second, ...

A Great Way to Serve! Would you like to serve your church family by participating in our worship service? We need your help. We are looking for people to read scripture during the worship service. Many of our older members remember when this was a common practice at our services. There are only three requirements to participate: You must be a member in good standing at...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, It was beautiful to gather as a body in order to worship our risen Savior this past Sunday. We wanted to provide you with concise information on your options with how we will be moving forward beginning this week as the governor has lifted the 'Safer at Home' order in Alabama. First, our COVID protocols will continue to be in observance ONLY ...

What Pastor Blair Has Been Reading(from January 2021 through March 2021) Alcorn, Randy. Heaven. Tyndale: Carol Stream, IL, 2004. I have never read this book cover to cover until now. Prior to this I read the abbreviated 50 day devotional and consulted the larger work as a reference. I am glad that I did this now. In 2021 I have been re-evaluating my eschatology (the do...

Adult Teaching Ministry Team Protocols are in response to the Providence Baptist Church Protocols published on the Providence Baptist Church website. Adult Teaching Ministry Team will implement transition protocols for the 2nd Quarter of 2021 that begins 11 April 2021. Protocols will be re-evaluated before the start of the 3rd Quarter. Mixed Class Social Distancing T...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, We are eagerly looking forward to our first unified corporate worship service in over a year. The last time we met all together for an entire service was March 15, 2020. And even though we might be separated by a simulcast in different rooms, the vast majority of us will be under one roof. While this is a small step moving forward, we long for t...

Dear Church Family, As we mentioned at the quarterly update, the elders have accepted a plan to begin lifting some of our COVID protocols and to begin incrementally returning to our ultimate goal of a single church worshipping at a single service. We ask that you carefully read the full content of this letter so you are aware of details of the process. The first question...