I am personally very "turned on" with everything that is happening in the Work right now; very thrilling to once again be doing what I feel I do best: the live, daily, half-hour radio programs, and knowing as I do them I can be heard by literally MILLIONS (if they were all to tune in at the same time) in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Tucson, plus other millions up and down the Pacific Coast within the same 24-hour period!
I will be administering the Passover in Big Sandy this year, then attending in Akron for the first day of Unleavened Bread; Montgomery, Alabama for the last day, and doing radio programs in between.
Personally, I am always very deeply sobered, made contemplative and introspective at this time of the year. I don't approach the Passover with a "professional" attitude only: as one who must perform a somber ceremony — but also in a deep, personal sense, looking to Jesus Christ our Lord as my personal Saviour, my personal High Priest to whom I can go in the deepest personal conversations, pouring out my deepest needs, heartfelt feelings, and asking His grace, mercy, and forgiveness! Being absorbed in the Gospels for so long; nearing completion on my second book about the daily life of Christ, I suppose I can't help but feel very deeply about this: about the time of the "Lord's Supper" that is approaching, recalling the moment-by-moment events of that night so many years ago.
I hope all of you, without exception, will be spending MUCH MORE TIME IN PRAYER this season: especially calling out to God to fire you up with ZEAL, with LOVE and COMPASSION on the people: asking God to give you the earnestness, the sincerity, and the fire in your sermons that will move, inspire, and thrill God's people! FEED those people during these coming days: LIFT them with your own personal example of love, service, and dedication!
Let's use this season as the "kick off" period for our new emphasis on church growth! Let's really concentrate on being a LIGHT; on emphasizing the role and mission of the church of God; of inspiring our people to realize their own individual potential to influence and inspire others to look into the same truths which made them the kind of warm, enthusiastic people they are! Let your people know they're welcome to invite their close friends and neighbors; their relatives who might be interested, or curious. Make your sermons so inspiring you feel they are the best you've ever done! Let's not just repeat the tired old statements as mere "routine" about "putting sin out of our lives"; let's really encourage our members to do God's Work: let's SHOUT that message, let's MEAN it; let's DO it!
I hope you, too, have a deeply moving and personally rewarding Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread — I give thanks to God for all of you, my brothers in Christ — for all YOU do; for your work, your sacrifice, your talents and energies, your very lives! Please remember my father to all your congregations, and to God in your prayers. Our prayers are with you all, and with your families and congregations during this coming Holy season!