Pastor Mike Returns! - January 12, 2012

Two hundred Tri-City Baptist Church members showed up at Sky Harbor International Airport to welcome Pastor Mike home from serving as a chaplain at two Air Force bases in southwest Asia for three months. His safe arrival home was eagerly anticipated by his church family; over 700 people came to his first church service.

October 2 was Pastor Mike's last Sunday with us. Brother Dave Barba and his wife, Claudia, spent the duration of Pastor Mike's deployment with us. They have a ministry helping church plants reach out into the surrounding neighborhoods through "The Phone's for You!" a program that we used when we first moved into our new building. On Sunday evening, we had a reception to thank the Barbas for their ministry during Pastor Mike's absence.

In honor of his service to our country, the congregation sang the national anthem and the brass band performed a patriotic medley. For his first sermon back at Tri-City, Pastor Mike preached from Luke 2:41-52 on "What a Pastor Learned While Deployed as a Chaplain in a War Zone" and told stories from his deployment. As the only chaplain on base, Pastor Mike had kept busy preaching and counseling 12 hours a day 6 days a week. It was worth the long hours, since he saw 35 people come to know the Lord during the three months!

There are some exciting events coming up: Will Galkin and his evangelistic team will be here February 5–10; the annual Picnic in the Park will be February 26, and on March 1 and 2, join us for International Baptist College's community theatre production Charley's Aunt.

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