The first gospel meeting I remember attending was when I was about six or seven years old and W.R. Jones came to Kleinwood for a week. I sat on the front row every night with my tape recorder and tried to scribble down all of his overhead charts. One night, I decided to draw a picture of him baptizing someone really important—the Incredible Hulk—and I proudly handed it to him after services. Brother Jones didn’t laugh at me or shove me aside as if he didn’t have time for me; he just smiled and said, “Well, the gospel is for all.”

Our meeting with Dennis Abernathy begins today. The elders have invited him to come and labor with us for four days and to challenge us with back to the Bible preaching. We ought to look forward to the occasion to be together but at the same time consider our individual responsibilities that come with such an endeavor.

Our meeting should glorify His name. That’s what we’re all about. Our greatest good, our most important objective is to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” ().

Our meeting should strengthen our hands. While we will probably have brethren from other places in attendance as well as visitors from the community and abroad, the primary purpose of the meeting is for the edification and rejuvenation of the members of the Southside church. We need this—all of us. We can get too comfortable with where we are and get discouraged when things aren’t going the way we had planned them. We need to stir up what has become stagnant (). As the old saying goes, all visitors are welcome and all members are expected.

Our meeting should provide an opportunity to reach the lost. Jesus told His disciples, “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest” (). Take a good look at the world around you; do you not see those in desperate need of a Savior? We can exercise the same compassion that Jesus showed for the sheep without a Shepherd and gently bring them into our Master’s fold. Remember, the gospel is for all.

You will get no more out of this gospel meeting than what you put into it. Meetings can give you memories that will last a lifetime. Make some this week.