Ministry date in Gobles, Mi.

This past Sunday was Father's Day, and I think that it was one of the best meeting that Josh and I have ever done. We went down to a little town called Gobles, Mi. To give you an idea of how small this town was, think back to the last time you saw the Andy Griffith Show. Remember how they always talked about how small,and quiet Mayberry, NC was? Well, Gobles would make Mayberry look like Dodge City on Saturday night!
We went to a little Baptist church called Calvary Baptist Church. We had met the pastor through two of his Daughters, whom we had become friends with at Midwestern Baptist College, and he invited us to come out to his church for Sunday school and the morning and evening services. They were gearing up for their Vacation Bible School (with a western cowboy/Indian theme) and had half of the church decorated for the coming week. Since this meeting was about three hours away, we asked the pastor to arrange for a place for us to stay the night so that we could come down there on Saturday afternoon and set up, instead of getting up before a sensible rooster would dare to attempt and drive down there VERY early to set up for three services. He agreed, and arranged a place for us to stay.
All was well until Saturday morning when we ran into a slight hitch: a tornado swept through the town the night before and knocked out power in most of the town, including in the church and the cabin that we were supposed to stay at! The Pastor's wife called me and said that they had made new arrangements for us to stay in a motel that had power, and we could still come down to set up our stuff and do a sound check the next day when the power came back on. We did.... but the power did not come back on the next morning! Fortunately, a church member there loaned us his generator to restore enough power for lights and sound (but unfortunately, not enough for A/C) and we did the Sunday school and morning service. Power finally was restored that afternoon, and the evening service went very well.
The people were wonderful. They seemed to appreciate everything that we did. We did our kid's show with magic, puppets, clowns, etc. for Sunday school, and everyone was totally into it, including the adults! The other services went just as well. We did music and comedy for the morning service and I preached. For the evening service, we did more music and Josh presented a message through a sort-of object lesson. The people responded well to it all, bought CDs, and were very encouraging. The Pastor's wife and girls cooked exceptional meals for us on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, and they went out of their way to treat us like royalty.
Sometimes it seems like the small meetings are better than the large ones (which can be pretty seldom with us, sometimes). I feel this way because in smaller settings, we get a better chance to be personable with the people, and they can do the same with us. It also seems like smaller churches are often more appreciative of our service to them and the Lord.
Whatever the case may have been, I just want to say thanks to Pastor Doug Yoder and family for making our stay pleasurable, they meals delectable, the services spiritual and comfortable, and our whole experience together memorable!


-Stephen

Recent ministry date in Beulah, Mi.

On June 14th, Josh and I did the morning service for Homestead Community Church in Beulah, Mi. Since the booking was about three and a half hours away, I asked the pastor if he could arrange for a stay in an inexpensive hotel room for the night. He agreed, and much to my surprise, the room was actually quite nice! Most hotel rooms have terribly hard beds and pillows, but this place was quite comfortable.
It was, however, VERY small! It was so small that when I put the key into the doorknob, it went through the window!.....So small that even the mice were hunch-backed!.....So small that the bathroom had a folding toilet!....So small that there was no room for a complaint!.....So small that the bathroom could fit inside a porta-potty!
OK, It wasn't quite that small, and it was actually very comfortable. We had a great service, sold some CDs, I preached, and we had an all around good day.


-Stephen

Quartet reunion in a torrential rainstorm!

Well gang, here's some great news about what's been happening in our ministry.

On June 8th, Josh and I got to reunite with our fellow quartet members to go sing for a camp meeting at Highland Hills Baptist Church in Highland, Mi. It was kind of an unusual meeting, because it actually served a couple of different purposes. The Pastor of this church is actually a graduate of the college that we have been attending, and he even taught one of our classes! His church hosted a tent meeting that was partly a revival and partly an alumni meeting for the college. We got there early to goof off a little with our buddies and get in some practice before the meeting. Our singing went pretty well, but the rest of the meeting did not. The reason for this was because when the visiting pastor got up to speak, a horrible rainstorm broke out early into his message! The sound inside the tent would remind one of a tornado, and at one point I was not certain that the tent was going to going to stay on the ground, and the poor man could barely be heard! The sound system that they had was not particularly good, and there was very little that could be done.
But despite the Devil's attacks on the evening, the preacher was able to say enough that the alter was packed at the invitation. Tears were in the eyes of some people, and it would seem that God still did a great work that night.


-Stephen

Run! Chinese Food Will Kill You!

I was working with my dad in his heating and air business today and we happened to be at a Chinese restaurant. While we were there (working outside), I noticed that there was an EMS truck parked outside the restaurant.....oh, how I wish I could have been inside the Chinese restaurant when two guys in EMS suits came walking in! "SPIT YOUR FOOD OUT AND RUN!!! SOMEBODY GOT POISONED!!! Oh well...I guess I missed a good opportunity to fall down and gag in the middle of a busy restaurant.

Anyway, you can check out our website at www.foresterministries.com and see our schedule.

-Joshua

New CDs... No, Not Yet...

Hopefully my brother and I will be coming up with new CDs soon. I have a few new comedy bits that I'm in the process of perfecting on stage, and Stephen is working on some new songs for a CD that should be pretty good. I won't spill anything on the details, but it's an idea that I think most people will enjoy. I, on the other hand, am waiting for crazy, stupid things to happen to me. Making up a bit is a little harder than having a real-life experience that's just genuinely wacky! I'm still working on new material, but I kind of wish that somebody would just cover my car in peanut butter. (No, not really.....I know who you are.... the one actually thinking about it.)

Anyway, be sure to stop by our website and check out our new schedule. The setup is a little bit different, but it's still just as easy to get to. Just click the "Schedule" icon and it'll take you straight to the new schedule. Be sure to check out the website at www.foresterministries.com to see what we're doing.

-Joshua

At Last!

Well, everybody, I have some great news: we are now able to update our schedule page on our own! The page has been rebuilt and will be published shortly. It is actually an extension of blogger.com. We have created a new blog that will replace our old schedule page. When you are on our web page and click "Schedule", it will send you straight to the new page. I have already posted most of our bookings (old and new) on this page so that when it is officially attached to our website, they will already be there. I will post the rest of them very soon. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused those who would have come to some of the concerts that have already passed and were not put on the website. The good news is that this should never happen again because I can now post them whenever I want to!
Hopefully, in the near future we will be able to rebuild our website so that we will have total control of it and be able to change and update everything on our own. Eventually we hope to be able to update the whole website with pictures, blogs, news on our ministry in our lives and other great things to give people a reason to come back to our website.
This probably won't happen for a little while yet. For now, we are just happy to have our schedule problem fixed.
By the way, I'm hoping to get into the studio very soon to start cutting songs for my new CD. I am very excited about this and hope to get it out ASAP.
Look for the new schedule page. It should be uploaded any day now.


-Stephen