What An Amazing Day!

When we arrived at Eastpoint Fellowship this morning for worship and LifeGroup, we were already expecting a special day, because we knew that a video of the man for whom our son is named was going to be shown in the worship time.  Steven Craig Stamper, better known simply as Craig, was the Assistant Pastor / Music and Evangelism at Parkway Baptist Church for 15 years before he died in a car crash on September 12, 2001.  He was a mentor and friend, performed my wedding, was part of my ordination service, and so much more.  It was a “no-brainer” for Stacy and I to name our son after this great man.  Our son also goes by his middle name, just like Craig Stamper.   This morning, when we got to Eastpoint, Craig Stamper’s parents, Bob and Peggy Stamper, were there for this special day.  I was almost instantly brought to tears when I saw them.  They have always shown me such amazing love throughout the years, and even allowed me the privilege of adding many of Craig’s books to my personal library.  And, it was wonderful for them to see our Craig for only the third time in his life.  So, we are about 30 minutes into the worship time this morning, and Pastor Danny started the video.  It was of Craig Stamper singing on the stage of the First Baptist Church of Orlando many years ago with Danny sitting right behind him.  What a blessing it was to again hear the beautiful voice one of the men who God used to bless my life so incredibly.  After this, we all shared in the Lord’s Supper.  Whenever I have had the privilege of leading God’s people in the Lord’s Supper, I have always modeled what I do after the way Pastor Danny leads it.  It is such an awesome visual when he is talking about how it pleased God to crush Jesus Christ so that we would have a way to salvation.  Pastor Danny takes crackers in his hands and crushes them and lets them fall into a plate on the pulpit.  As simple as it may seem, when you experience it, it is a powerful display that helps us to understand a little better what Jesus went through during his tortue and crucifixion.  So, as I said, the whole service was just amazing.

Then, we met with our LifeGroup, which turned out to be another tremendous time of fellowship and remembering our friend, Craig Stamper.  I’m so thankful to have been able to know Craig for the 10 years that I did.

Just when I figured the day couldn’t get any more powerful, I had the privilege of attending the ordination service for our Worship and College Pastor at Eastpoint.  I was almost 9 years ago that Pastor Danny ordained me at Parkway Baptist Church.  While attending that service this evening, God used all the parts of the service to really impress upon me once again that he has called me to be a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Now, I do believe that at this time, I am to be working in a non-church job full-time, but that God wants me to serve Him however I can as a member and volunteer at Eastpoint.  But, back to Ken’s ordination.  When it came time for all the ordained men to lay hands on Ken and pray with he and his wife, the emotion of the moment just about get the better of me.  I consider it such an incredible honor to have been able to be one of the men to lay hands on, encourage and pray with Ken this evening.  He is a great young pastor, who is already being used in great ways by God at Eastpoint.

Well, that’s about it for today.  I promise to be ALOT more regular in my blog posting.  This was a truly amazing day that I just had to share with all of you.  I pray that all of you who read this post and everything else that I write here on “Living the Sun Life,” will be blessed by God in all that you do.

Craig Stamper singing at Parkway Baptist Church.

~ by Steve on February 22, 2009.