jump to navigation

Chimney Top July 4, 2008

Today the Pierpont family makes their way back to the Downriver area from vacation in Kentucky. It’s been refreshing. Almost every day has been a day of ministry here in Lois’ home town. Yesterday we hiked up to Chimney Top and Princess Arch in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Last night we sang and testified on the street and enjoyed the fellowship and some mean BBQ Brisket and ribs, too. That always makes me feel all happy inside.

Down here, you will notice they still do old-fashioned haircuts for young men. The local barber has been at it for 50 years in Campton. He cut George Hatton’s hair (Lois’ Grandfather), Ralph Hatton’s (Lois’ dad), her brother Alvin’s hair, and now her sons Dan and Wes.

Pray for America

Today we celebrate our nation’s independence. All over America families will gather to watch parades, grill burgers, and enjoy our families in the mid-summer sun. When darkness falls the sky will explode with colorful light all over this wonderful land. I am glad to be an American today. In my life I know I will never get to see all I would like to see of our country.
(more…)

Trapped

This morning we were driving through Toledo during the morning rush hour. Suddenly the traffic on the interstate came to a complete stop. We expected construction or an accident but the problem was that somehow a dog had wandered across five lanes of traffic and a busy merging lane. He was trapped against a dividing wall and unable to cross back. He shifted his weight from foot to foot afraid of the traffic. Some drivers would try to let him cross, but others merging from another highway would not see him in time to stop and he couldn’t get across. There was nothing we could do for him without risking our own lives so we had to go on. He was trapped. I could not imagine a way for the poor dog to get to safety. (more…)

Mark 6:31 July 3, 2008

And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

First-born Kyle and his family are visiting “second-born-son” in Door County. Read his posts here.

Blog on the Mountain July 1, 2008

On the way to Iowa the other day we stopped to visit wee Kyle. He grabbed my cell-phone and jumped into his jumping balls. I think he is texting his girlfriend. Bright kid.

Dan, Wes and I aimed the Jeep for Kentucky early Monday morning. We had been apart from the girls for a month while they did their Kentucky music ministry. For a late lunch we wound through the mountains to a country store complete with a squeaky, slapping screen door. The friendly lady made me a home-made sandwich with real tomato—a real, red, juicy, vine-ripe tomato. Not the grainy, pink, hot-house variety, but a real, red tomato. No salmonella or anything. I washed it down with an Ale-Eight-One watching a hawk circle the valley.

We walked to a barber name Rudine who had been cutting hair here in Campton for fifty years. He knew Lois’ grandfather Hatton. He said, “The Hattons were all good people.” He gave the boys good old-fashioned 1950’s style haircut. Wes looks like Opie Taylor now with a vintage flat-top. Pude Oliver was there and a man from Jackson who made small talk about how they don’t tell stories anymore since they made it illegal to whittle on the front steps of the courthouse.

This morning there was mist in the mountains when I went for my morning coffee. It’s a beautifully cool morning. The music system was broken at the restaurant where I always start my days here in Campton. I was happy. Usually I listen to Fernando Ortega through my ear buds to drown out the country muzak they pipe in. The usual music at the restaurant is country music which is two parts God, home, and apple pie and one part fornication, drinking and general despair. (And yes, I would be glad for you to quote my description of country music).

Keep an eye on by blog www.kenpierpont.com while I’m here in the mountains. If I lived here I would call it “Blog on the Mountain…”

An Addiction that is Good for You June 27, 2008

This week we have been basking in the fellowship, feasting on the ministry of the word, and singing our hearts out here at the GARBC Annual Conference. It has been sweet. Dan and Wes are with me and I have been praying that God would do in their hearts what He did in my heart when I was their age. My deepest desire for them is that they would desire to devote themselves to life-long allegiance to Jesus Christ and pour themselves out in His service for the rest of their lives.

On a couple of occasions in my youth my parents made major sacrifices in order to expose our family to the fellowship and heritage of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. We tented our way to Kansas City one year. We stayed at a crowded camp ground. Every morning our family emerged from the tent—Scofield Bibles in hand, wearing dress clothes and we were off to the sessions. In the evening we hurried home and jumped in the pool. One day thunder storms knocked down our tent and soaked all of our possessions while we were away for the day at the conference. That was an adventure.

One year my dad and I drove to Winona Lake, Indiana for a day of the conference in our powder-blue VW bug. Dad and I spent the day enjoying the historic conference grounds, the fellowship, the book store, the music and the preaching. I remember Roger Mill’s message that night from 1 Peter on love. I remember what the group from BBC sang that night. There was another teen in the service that night named Ken Pyne. We would not meet for years. The meeting was in the old Billy Sunday Tabernacle with a sawdust floor. Darkness came quietly in during the meeting. We all spilled out onto the lawns in the cool night breeze blowing in off the lake. Dad and I drove home talking all the way about the ministry and the things of the Lord.

My parents were and still are devoted to the ministry of Christ over every other thing. They didn’t spend much money but when they did it was always investing in things of eternal significance. Like the household of Stephanus, they “addicted themselves to the ministry…” (1 Cor. 16:15 KJV)

I am happy in the service of the King!

Pastor Ken Pierpont
Ankeny, Iowa—Attending the GARBC Annual Conference
June 27, 2008

Lois Gail June 26, 2008

I do have a wife. This is a picture of her and our youngest daughter.

Wes, A Regular Baptist

Daddy’s Little Angel

When Hannah was less than five years old she got a hold of one of my Bibles and made marks in it that looked like scribbling. I said, “Hannah, why did you scribble in my Bible?”

She said, “I didn’t scribble, I drew an angel, Daddy.”

I was not pleased at the time. But she did see me write in the Bible all the time. It was perfectly natural for her to write in it too. After looking at it I realized it was an angel, just a little one. That little angel has grown on me over time. An angel really is a good thing to draw in a Bible.

Years have swiftly passed and Hannah has grown into a young woman. This year Hannah graduated from the Stonebridge Academy (our home school). She is eighteen. She doesn’t make messes or scribble in expensive Bibles anymore. I would love to enjoy her little years over again, but life doesn’t work like that.

She likes to drive. She wants the keys. She is eager to make her way in the world and do exciting things. I don’t blame her. She is a beautiful girl inside and out with a very promising future.

She draws angels wherever she goes. She has made marks all over all of our lives. She has marked my life and my heart and those marks will never go away. I never want them to.

Whenever I have seen her little angel in that Bible I use it reminds me to thank God for her and ask the blessing of God on her wherever life takes her. He takes our scribbles and even our mistakes and makes masterpieces of them.

In his book, How To Be Born Again, Billy Graham wrote: “There is a well-known story of some men in Scotland who had spent the day fishing. That evening they were having tea in a little inn. One of the fishermen, in a characteristic gesture to describe the size of the fish that got away, slung out his hands just as the little waitress was getting ready to set the cup of tea at his place. The hand and the teacup collided, dashing the tea against the whitewashed walls. Immediately an ugly brown stain began to spread over the wall. The man who did it was very embarrassed and apologized profusely, but one of the other guests jumped up and said, ‘Never mind.’ Pulling a pen from his pocket, he began to sketch around the ugly brown stain. Soon there emerged a picture of a magnificent royal stag with his antlers spread. That artist was Sir Edwin Landseer, England’s foremost painter of animals.”

Ken Pierpont
In Ankeny, Iowa
June 26, 2008

Conference Dispatches June 25, 2008

We are attending the annual conference of our fellowship of churches, the General Association of Regular Baptists on the campus of Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa. Last night Dan and Wes were a part of the teen sessions.

John Greening and Ken Floyd immediately inquired about our girls Kentucky Tour when they saw us, even though they were busy with preparations for the conference. There was a warm spirit of fellowship on the campus of Faith Baptist Bible College last night.

I sat with pastor and Mrs. Pyne, and Joe and Nancy Miller. After a sweet time of worship in prayer and music, John Greening, the National Representative of the GARBC preached a powerful message on the cross from Hebrews 2:10-18. To me, this was the highlight of his message:

“We are floating facedown in the cesspool of our own sin. The life is gone from us. Jesus, in his humanity, wades into the cesspool of our depravity and sacrifices himself to rescue us. He pulls us to shore, puts his mouth on our lips and breathes his life into our dead spirit. Then he begins the process of washing us from our sin.” -John Greening

-Pastor Kenneth L. Pierpont
Attending the GARBC Annual Conference at Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa

older posts »