Elijah Versus Baal With A Dash of VBS

Part of the music team from VBS started off our service with a couple of very active songs that involved jumping and motions which I could not join in on----I had to manage my camera!  So, I tried to get to get a shot of them jumping and I think that I accomplished that reasonably well considering the space limitations imposed by the podium. After that we heard a few words from our Children's Minister about the can drive competition between the girls and boys which helps stock our church pantry which offers food assistance to those in need of a little help in our community. We also collected cash donations for an organization which will provide a farm with some livestock for a family overseas for $588, which was also a competition between the boys and the girls.  We collected enough funds for two farms plus some extras.  The girls won both competitions.....just sayin'.....but the real winners were the charities and those who will benefit from them.  After that last bit of Bible School, the congregational worship and praise was led by Daniel and Mark and Julie Chambers and our various very talented accompanists.  Then, Pastor Wes took us to 1 Kings 18 to find out how things were going after three years of drought---no rain or dew had left the land a little crunchy and crackly----a lot like what we have been experiencing in Central Texas----but they had no relief for three whole years!  God told Elijah that it was time to end the drought in a most dramatic way that would show Baal for the fraud he was.  So Elijah met King Ahab and his 800+ prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, giving Baal and all his prophets the home court advantage and Elijah did exactly what God told him to do.  Would you like to know how it all came out and why it is good for us to know about it and how we can apply its truths to our own lives?  Then, I urge you to watch the podcast as Pastor Wes explains it far better than I can.......Oh, and Pastor Wes mentioned an earthquake coming in next week's sermon.....I'd prefer not to have personal experience in that area!....