July 3, 2026, 7:00 PM
Greetings in Christ!
I pray you had a great week and are enjoying a great 4th of July weekend!
This week has been one that has brought many emotions.
Emotion #1 - SERENITY: I began this week on vacation with my family in Florida. I missed the first few days of the vacation as I stayed in Lexington to be with my father who was dying. My family got a plane ticket for me and I flew down to Florida to join the family on vacation on Friday, June 26th.
Everything went well. I am glad I got to go down to Florida. It was good to get away!
Emotions #2 & #3 - GRIEF & GRATITUDE: My family and I came back from Florida on Wednesday, July 1st and, yesterday, Thursday, July 2nd, we had a graveside service for my father in his hometown of Jamestown, KY.
It is never easy saying "goodbye" to our loved ones, but having a good service sure helps with some peace and closure.
We had a good service for Dad! It was hotter than blue blazes, but we were able to have the service under a shelter out of the sun. I spoke, my oldest daughter Autumn Boes did a prayer and FCC Associate Minister Rafaelito Fraden led the attendees in singing "Amazing Grace" to close the service. FCC was well represented as Bill Eckhdal and Tim Barnes joined Rafaelito in attendance. The service lasted about 25 minutes total with somewhere between 35-40 people in attendance.
In addition, Elder Bob Clark did an AMAZING job with the flower arrangement for my parents' cemetery headstone!
First Christian Church came through for me and my family in a BIG TIME way. From the bottom of my heart -- THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU !!!
While I'm discussing the emotion of GRATITUDE, allow me say a big THANKS again to Brother Wally Rendel for preaching at First Christian Church for me last Sunday (06.28.26). As usual, he did a great job!
Emotion #4 - EXCITEMENT: While on vacation, I worshipped in Venice, FL, at the CenterPointe Christian Church on Sunday, June 28th.
I chose to visit there because (1) I really like the town of Venice, FL, the shark tooth capital of the world! and (2) an old acquaintance of mine preaches at a Christian Church there.
My old colleague in Venice is Mitch Todd who serves as the Lead Pastor at the CenterPointe Christian Church.
He's originally from Lexington/Richmond, KY. Mitch was youth minister at Hill-n-Dale Christian Church here in Lexington back in the 1990s. He left there to preach at Williamstown Christian Church in northern KY. Mitch has been preaching in Florida for the past 25-30 years.
A mutual friend (John Hampton) suggested I visit Mitch when finding out I was vacationing near Venice, FL. John told me Mitch had come over from a church in Orlando to preach at a smaller, dying Disciples of Christ (DOC) Church known as the First Christian Church of Venice.
I expected to find an older, dying church, but was pleasantly surprised.
In fact, the church was in serious decline when Mitch arrived on the scene 5 years ago. There were about 80 in attendance on Sunday mornings, but they were open to what God could and can do!
I went to the church website (https://centerpointe.cc/) to find the physical address only to discover they had a new name (CenterPointe Christian Church) and THREE services! And on most Sundays now, the three services combined have around 1,000 people EVERY Sunday for worship!
I had a fantastic time worshiping there. I am also encouraged and excited to hear what God can do when His people are willing and obedient to Him. It has me asking, "Why can't God do something like what's happening in Venice, FL, at FCC in Lexington, KY?"
Emotion #5 - PRIDE: I am not talking about the negative type of pride. The good kind of pride comes from praise, and a fulfilled feeling of belonging. As we celebrate 250 years of the forming of America, I am very proud to be an American and feel very blessed by living here in the USA!
It's at times like the 4th of July, that we are reminded of our blessings of freedom and liberty and we should pause and thank God for provision and protection. There is nothing wrong with Patriotism. However, in times of great Patriotism, it's easy to lose sight of the truth. We can easily forget where is it we are really from.
As Christians, we should be model citizens and extremely grateful for our homeland of the United States, but we are to realize that our home country is not our true "Home."
In fact, 1 Peter 2:11 tells us that we are "aliens" and "strangers" in this current world. We are to be like Abraham was described in Hebrews 11, "he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."
This coming Sunday (07.05.26), I will be preaching about this very subject!
I pray we will see you at FCC this coming Sunday. If not then, Lord willing, I'll see you again soon. May God bless!
In Him,
Greg Herriford
