"Love is patient, caring. Love is Kind. Love is felt most when
it's genuine, but I had my share of love, abuse, manipulated
and it's strength misused, and I can't help but give you glory,
when I think about my story, and I know you favored me
because my enemies did try but couldn't triumph over me
Yes they did try but couldn't triumph over me.

Verse 3
They whispered, conspired, they told their lies (God favors me)
My character, my integrity, my faith in God (He favors me)
Will not fall, will not bend, won't compromise (God favors me)
I speak life and prosperity and I speak health (God favors me)"

I'm Back

Hello, I would like to apologize to those of you who were reading my blog, I have been so busy that I just forgot all about my blog, All I have to say is I'm Back.

On Sunday we had a spirit filled time in the Lord. I had been struggling with a few issues regarding the church and what direction we would be heading in regarding our space, building or moving, but GOD let me know to just sit still and he will show me the way.

I preached about Paul's Prayer in the book of Ephesians 3: 14 -21. Paul prayed for

• Supernatural Strength
• Divine Guidance
• Sincere Understanding

Everything that I was asking the Lord for was in the sermon I preached.

Letter from Pastor

Hello St. Luke,

I bring you Greetings in the Mighty Magnificient Name of the Lord.

We had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday the whole month was great. i would like to thank you for a few things you have done to make me proudly say that I am the Pastor of St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church.

First, for the wonderful job you done on the 19th of April for our associate minister Rev. Earl W. Drake Jr. at his ordination. It was truly a great service and it wouldn't have been possible without you.
Second, for coming out to a 8:00 PM service like it was 4:00 PM. I love the way you are showing up for our evening programs, you are definetely keeping up your part of the deal.
Third, the surprise i got last Sunday Morning when I got to church. Words can't express the way I felt when the blindfold came off. I love the way you support your Pastor and associate ministers.
Fourth, Thanks for all your condolances during the passing of Sis. Shalonda Drake, I'm sure I speak for the Lovelace family also. Thanks for showing up, It means a lot just to see your faces.
Fifth, tithes and offerings are getting better, let's keep up the good work and step out on faith a little more so we can acheive our vision. Remember "Vision to Victory". (Proverbs 29:18) Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Keep up the good work St. Luke, Just keep the faith, And never cease to pray; just walk upright, Call Him noon, day, or night. He'll be there. There's no need to worry, For God never fails!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Robert C. Drake Sr.

Welcome letter for 2009 Leadership Conference & Spring Revival

Greetings in the name of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ:

To our conference and revival attendes, as the pastor of St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church, I would like to welcome you to our "2009 Leadership Conference and Spring Revival". We believe we have brought you some of the very best lecturers and preachers in the city of Louisville (and in the nation) to teach and preach on how Effective Leadership enhances the overall "Christian Experience" for our churches.

I have attended various conferences all over the country and I do believe we have put together a very nice agenda for this conference and we are able to do it without charging. (II Timothy 2:15) states: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". I truly believe that if we keep seeking to rightly divide the "WORD" we will be more effective in seeking and saving those which are lost.

I believe the Lord is annointing this conference and we(the Lord and us) are going to build off of this conference and make it even better next year. So again I welcome you to St. Luke, we want you to Listen, Learn and Trust in the Lord with all your hearts and Lean not to your own understanding and In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct our paths. So let's do like David said in (Psalm 34:3) "O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together."

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Robert C. Drake Sr.

P.S. - To St. Luke(You know I love all of you) and all the Preachers and Teachers and Attendes who have made this happen, I would like to give you a very Hearty THANK YOU, for without every last one of you this wouldn't be possible. Thank You from the bottom of my heart.

Rev. Robert C. Drake Sr.

2009 revival poster

2009 revival poster.pdf

Daily Devotional - I'm Sorry

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 I'm Sorry
I've been wanting to write to you for some time now.
Seems like every time I would try, I never could find the right words to say. We pass each other every Sunday. Sometimes even during the middle of the week.
But for some reason, I just don't feel like we're as close as we once were.
I'm sure there are a number of reasons for that. We both probably share some of the blame.
But I felt like it was my time to apologize for a few things that may have driven us apart.
I'm Sorry.

For that time one of my ushers told you that seat was reserved for our "special guests."

I'm Sorry.

For those times I said our evening services would end at 9pm, but ended at 10:30pm.
(I realize how difficult that can be with children that still have to get up early for school.)
I'm Sorry.

For that time you called one of my leaders for prayer and never received a call back.
I'm Sorry.

For sometimes being way too critical on how you choose to dress for service.
I'm Sorry.
For those times it seems like I'm always asking for some kind of financial assistance.
(I realize how you and others give so faithfully. I just wish there were more like you.)
I'm Sorry.

For the times I may have appeared more interested in gaining new members, than serving and being a disciple to those members (like you) who were already coming.
For that time your friend (the one you invited to come visit on last Sunday) got screamed at by one of my parking lot leaders for going the wrong way. She really didn't know.
I'm Sorry.

For those times you had questions about some of my messages and were afraid to ask.
And I'm (Really) Sorry....

For the times you've felt I place too much emphasis on the pastor. I admit sometimes I can get a bit carried away.
I can't imagine how many other things I may have done to make you feel the way you do. I never meant to disappoint you and want you to know how important you are to me.
If there is anything the last few years have taught me, is that I desperately need to make some changes. I realize I've picked up a pretty bad rap recently. So much so I thought about giving up.
But just when I was about to throw in the towel, I read in Ephesians 5:25 that Christ loves me, and even gave Himself up for me (despite my many shortcomings).
I figured if Christ could love me, with all that I've done in the past, there still may be hope for the two of us. Although I can't promise everything is going to be perfect, I know that together, we still can do some great and awesome things. I hope you will consider forgiving me and working alongside me.
We have so much to do.
Yours always,
The Church

2009 revival poster.pdf - Adobe Reader

 

Letter from the Pastor

"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it". (Psalm 118:24)

Greetings to all of the Saints of St. Luke. I greet you in the name of the Lord.

I would like to first like to Thank You for keeping up your end of the bargain on going out. If you remember we agreed that if we cut down on the eveving services you all would come out in big numbers, and come out you did. We had a marvelous time at Greater Faith. God was well pleased.

We have come a long way with our giving, we are doing extremely well, but we can do better, and as you know nothing on this earth is free so to reach our goal we have to dig a little deeper.
God has given me a vision for our building campaign we will be starting real soon called "From Vision to Victory". We are going to start off with the Vision and keep working till we get the Victory. I can see us now marching into our new sanctuary.

I can't end this letter without giving a shout out to the Youth of St. Luke. They are truly growing and they are doing a marvelous job(and they are tithing). I would like to thank the Saints who are working with them. God Bless You!

I would also like to thank God for our new converts we are Baptizing today. I want us as a Church to hold on to all the ones that are coming into the fold of St. Luke. Let's embrace them and show them LOVE.

Last but not least I would like to thank everyone who participated in the Member Orientation Month. If you missed it you really missed a treat.

Pray for the Men of St. Luke as we start our Saturday Men's Fellowship on next Saturday. We are hoping to have all the men, young & old to be present.

So Saints let's keep up the good work, keep on praying for each other and remember "We are soldiers in the Army, We have to fight although we have to cry, We have to hold up the bloodstained banner, We have to hold it up until we die.
Your Pastor,
Rev. Robert C. Drake Sr.

"Christian Tips for Critical Times"

"This is the Day That the Lord Has Made, Let's Rejoice and be Glad In It"

We had a wonderful "Worship Experience" yesterday, it was so good I don't know where to begin. The youth of our church were in charge of the whole service except for preaching and they did a wonderful job (they brought tears to my eyes). They sung and they did the announcements, they even did the devotion part of the service. I am really proud of them, and I have to give thanks to the ones who worked with them also.
We preached from the books of Hebrews 10:22-25; Psalm 19:14, "Christian Tips for Critical Times"

• Christian Tip #1: Draw near to God. Hebrews 10:22 says "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" This is no time to put your faith on hold.

• Christain Tip #2: Hold Fast! Hebrews 23 tells us not to let our faith waver. If we put down our shield of faith, the darts and arrows of misfortune will soon plunge their way into our heart. Keep the hope that is found in Jesus.

• Christian Tip #3: Stick Together! Hebrews 24 and 25 reminds us to pay attention to each other and stay close together. The truth is, we need each other.

What we need to do is let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in His sight and say Oh Lord because He is our STRENGTH and He is our REDEEMER and He is a rewarder to those who diligently seek him. I challenge you to keep on seeking Him, even in these critical times keep on seeking Him.

Last Sunday

We really had some church at St. Luke all day last Sunday. The spirit was high and Sis. Gaston took ill during altar prayer and the way the church responded was just fabulous. We kept her together until EMS got there. God just took over and everybody started praying and praying and praying later that evening she went home from the hospital. You can't tell me God ain't good (Oh taste and see that the Lord is good) I preached about "A "Strategy for Burden Management"Gal. 6: 2,5 ;1 Peter 5: 7 ;
Psalm 55: 22a.

Sunday evening we went to Greater Faith Church for Rev. Streeter's Anniversary. The St. Luke Choir really did their thing, I was very proud to be the pastor of St. Luke. The membership of St. Luke showed up also. I preached about "A Pastor Who Walks by Faith" Hebrews 11:6. We really had chuch (LOL). This was the church where I was baptized as a child. The Lord took me back to where I first believed.

Pushin" Your Product (Mark 1: 14-15)

Yesterday was both the first day and the first Sunday of March, 2009. Can you believe it? This year is really flying by. It has been good so far and I know God will only make it gooder gooder and gooder (I know it's not a word but I am going to use it anyway). I am sorry it has been over a month since I have written in my blog, but I am still getting use to pastoring.

We started our Member Orientation classes yesterday and I have to say it went well. I was a little uneasy about it at first but the more I studied it I realized it couldn"t do nothing but help our members grow spiritually. When I first started trying to do this it was going to be for the New Members only but then they would know more than the so-called seasoned members so God guided me to do it for the whole church and it is going to help the whole church (Mind, Body and Soul).

Yesterday was a great day we had a great service brought two more into the kingdom. God is truly blessing St. Luke. We spoke on the subject of "Pushing Your Product". In the book of Mark John was going around telling everybody to Repent, The Kingdom of God is at hand, in other words He's Coming and he was saying it with urgency. My idea is if we would push our product like that what a difference we would make in this sin sick world. Our product is the "Good News -The Gospel" If we would push our product like these infomercials we would get into the minds of the people.

We also had a business meeting yesterday we introduced all the officers to the church and took care of all the church business and reports. The meeting went very well we had an agenda and we stuck to it. I would like to thank my assistant for making up my agenda for the meeting it made it go very well.

MLK Oratory winner: Gerra Gistand

Gerra Gistand of MacGregor elementary won first place during the 13th Annual Gardere MLK Jr. Oratory. Finalists gave original five-minute speeches on the topic: If Dr. King were alive today, what do you think he would say about current events?

Faith of Barak

Sunday was a great day. The Bible says that "This is the day that the Lord has made, let's rejoice and be glad in it". And that was what we did at "The Luke" yesterday. It was a great day all day yesterday. We spoke on the Faith of Barak (Judges 5: 1). It was about how Barak believed in God and exerecised his faith. God talked directly to Deborah and she told Barak what God's plan was and Barak believed because he had faith. Our Choir sang beautifully yesterday. We owe thanks to Mr. Antonio Jones for having faith and patience in our choir. Oh Lord you have brought us from a mighty long way. And last but not least at all TWO (2) souls were saved.

Sunday Evening we were at Marrs Memorial for their Brotherhood Anniversary. Marrs and Pastor & 1st Lady Smith hold a special place in my heart. They are very instrunental in my ministry and a couple that do I look up to. Their brotherhood sang beautifully. This I have to tell you because it was really funny. I was motioning to my sister Barbara about giving a response to the welcome, well my other sister Betty was sitting behind her watching and thinking I was talking to her. Well Betty got up to give the response and Barbara and I both were shocked.

We spoke about Barak's faith again but we used a different text this time we came from Mark 9: 23, 24. We used the title "Yes We Can". Yes we can if we truly believe the man didn't really realize who he was talking to when asked Jesus if he was able. Jesus' ableness was not in question. "He is able to do abundantly above all that we can ask or even think". All we have to do is believe. The father was worried about his son he had went to everybody else but not to Jesus. He even went to the disciples and they couldn't help. 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” If we believe, We Can. We can shout out like O'bama "Yes We Can".

It was a beautiful day, and our choir was beside theirselves again yesterday evening. I had really been worried about our attendance at our evening services, so I made a pact(agreement) with our members that if we don't go as much will you come more, they said yes and they held up their part of the bargain yesterday. They really made me proud to be the pastor of St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church.

I would like for everyone to pray for our new president as he is inheriting a lot of problems, but all things are possible with Christ. Also let's pray for safe passage for everyone traveling to and from Washington D.C. and that they have a good and respectful time.

My Letter from the Pastor

Happy New Year!

I greet you in the name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Well, St Luke 2008 was a prosperous year for our church. We have grown spiritually and we have learned a lot more about being like Christ and we have gotten quite a few things accomplished. As I have said before, we have started doing the work of the church instead of church work.
With God’s guidance we have added over twenty new souls into the kingdom. Some by letter and some by Christian experience and the ones that really make me smile are the ones by Baptism. Now, that’s really doing the work of the church.
I would like to personally thank you for the increase in our giving. I am so glad that we are learning how to tithe and how much it means to God that we do tithe. Some of us have caught on and some of us have not. So, let’s pray for the ones who have not and keep on praying for those who have. Let’s continue to pray for God to take our giving to new heights. Also, let’s not forget about our pledges we can boost our finances with them. Remember that it is in giving that we receive!
As of this day, any new members that come to us whether by Letter, Christian Experience, or Baptism will be attending our New Members Class. They will learn their responsibility to the church and the church’s responsibility to them. If we hold members accountable, the members must also hold the church accountable.
I know everybody wants to know about the building project we are trying to start. I will be talking with Mr. Paul Mastrolia and a few different builders real soon and finding out where we stand on our mission of building our new sanctuary. We all know that what God has for us, is for us. All we have to do is keep the faith and don’t give up. Believe me, “God has a blessing with St. Luke’s name on it”.
I am truly enjoying my pastorate here at St. Luke! I am learning and growing at the same time. Let's pray that we will grow stronger in the Lord together. Hold on to GOD's unchanging hand and let our souls say YES, YES, to his will. YES to his way; come what may, let our souls still say YES!

And don’t not forget to check out our website: www.stlukeonline.net
or our
Pastor’s Blog: http://revrcdrake.blogspot.com


Your Pastor,
Rev. Robert C. Drake Sr.

Three things God knows about you that you don't know!

We had a beautiful First Sunday of the year. I was overjoyed at all that took place today. I spoke from the 139th division of Psalm. We(Me & God) talked about:

"Three Things that God knows about you that you don't know"

1. God know your POSSIBILITIES. He knows what you can do even when you don't think you can do it.Remember we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. The key words are Christ who strengthens us.

2. God knows your LIMITATIONS. The song writer said that "He never puts more on you than you can bear". He won't give you something to do that you can't do. He knows your limitations! If he tells you that you can do something, then YOU CAN DO IT. Remember he knows your possibilities and your limitations.

3. God knows your NEEDS. But my God will supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus(Phil. 4.19). Now if he can supply all your needs why do we worry. We have gotten spoiled and now we just know that our needs are automatically supplied. Now we think all we have to worry about is our wants. But God only supplies all our needs if we follow Him.

It was a wonderful day. We brought two converts in. One by letter and one by baptism. God is really blessing St. Luke and we have to get ready for our blessing. Remember God's got a blessing with our name on it.

We suffered a great loss this week. Sis. Ella Ballinger the wife of our former pastor Rev. W.W. Ballinger has gone home to be with GOD. We offer our deepest sympathy to her family. Please keep her family in your prayers.

stlukeonline.net

Just wanted to let you know about our website. Check it Out!