Ken

Red Jeep Journal
August 11, 2017

41 YEARS AGO TODAY

This morning as I prepared for the day it occurred to me that it was 41 years ago today, at the age of 17, that I was licensed to preach the gospel by Pleasant Ridge Bible Church in Fort Recovery, Ohio. I started preaching when I was 14 so I have been preaching for 44 years, but I started pastoring at 17 over 40 years ago.

SUMMER CAMPS END TODAY

Today I will preach twice at Lincoln Lake and then head home to sleep in my own bed. I will preach in Deckerville this Lord’s Day and head to Canada next weekend, but my summer camp preaching has come to an end.

A couple nights ago I sat overlooking the lake as the sun set. I watched the colors of afterglow on the lake and in the sky and my heart was warmed at the faithfulness of God. He gave me favor with many camp directors and church leaders to fill may calendar every week and every weekend all spring and all summer long. It was a holy moment and I poured out my thanksgiving to God for his great faithfulness. It as fifty years ago this summer I first attended camp and it was in this very place. (If you have not read them, there are a number of Red Jeep Journal post that are not sent via e-mail. You can only read them on-line at kenpierpont.com

When I drive away from the Men’s Retreat Pleasant Valley Bible Camp on the 10th of September I will, by the grace of God, have preached 116 times this spring and fall. I have been to Michigan, Indiana, New York, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio–oh and Canada, eh? I will have preached in in five states and two countries this spring and summer.

GOD’S PROVSION – GOD’S PEOPLE

When I began in April there were to questions on my heart: 1. Will I have places to preach? and 2. Will I be able to pay the bills? Well the answer was yes and yes, thanks be unto God and those He has moved to help us. Not only have we peached almost every day, often twice a day, but we have been able to pay every bill. We have been very careful in our spending, and God’s people have been generous to help us. Thank you to those of you who help us. This has been our full-time work.

BIG NEWS THIS FALL

We have some very exciting plans this fall. Keep an eye on the kenpierpont.com web site. We will have a very special announcement to make very soon about our ministry this fall. You will not want to miss it.

We especially appreciate those of you who pray for our ministry and help us with financial support. If you are interested in our itinerary you can see it by clicking the ministry tab at the Ken Pierpont web site.

Please Follow this link to give tax deductible gifts to our ministry. We are especially grateful for those who are able to help us.

Ken Pierpont
Lincoln Lake Camp
Gowen, MI

UPDATE July 25, 2018:In the last year I moved my library and all my personal belongings… Today my eyes fell on the envelope that held my ordination certificate and my license to the ministry and some other important documents. I opened it up and discovered, to my surprise, that I had been licensed to the gospel ministry in April of 1977 not in August, as I had thought. Somehow August 11th stuck in my mind, but on the license itself it says plainly: April 3rd, 1977. I think I was called to the church at Pleasant Ridge on August 11, 1976 and I left for Moody in August of 1977. My license must have been issued by the church in April because I needed to conduct a funeral or apply for jail visitation or get my official card from the hospital chaplain or file my taxes… So it was in August of 1976 on the 11th I began which means I have been in the ministry for 42 years in a few days.

Red Jeep Journal
August 8, 2017

This is Grenfell. George, the Red Jeep is still in the family and doing well, but God provided an opportunity for us the have a very late-model and efficient car for our ministry. I have missed George on some of our trips but our new car, Grenfell, named after the great missionary to Labrador, Sir. Wilfred Grenfell, has been a great blessing in our travels.

I will be heading up into the “Thumb” a couple more times in August for a “Summer Bible Conference” of Sundays at Deckerville Bible Church. I will return to Canada to a family camp up towards Georgian Bay for a weekend in mid-August, then we will be heading up to Camp Barakel for Family Camp on Labor Day Weekend. I am scheduled to do Men’s Retreat at Pleasant Valley Bible Camp the weekend of September 8-10. I think there are still openings at Pleasant Valley if you would like to join us.

The ministry this spring and summer has been more fruitful and fulfilling than anything I could have imagined, but this Fall our schedule is even more exciting and full. You can find where I will be preaching this fall by keeping your eyes on this web site. All the details will be on the “Ministry” page when the time is right.

Until then, thank you for all you have done to keep me on the road preaching the Word every day all spring and summer long.

Pastor Ken Pierpont
Lincoln Lake Camp
August 8, 2017

Red Jeep Journal
August 6, 2017

What were you doing 50 years ago? I remember distinctly what I was going. It was my very first summer camp experience. I was a camper for the first time at Lincoln Lake.

I remember the chapel, which at the time was in a WWII-style Quonset hut building.
I remember the choruses we sang; “With Christ in the Vessel” and “I Know Who Holds the Future.” (I sang with all my little heart and I still love both those songs).
I remember my counselor who was a pastor.
I remember the burning question that I asked him about assurance of salvation.
I remember some trouble I had (It’s personal) and…
I remember the nice nurse lady who helped me.
I remember swimming in the lake and playing “find your counselor.” (He hid under a row boat– nimble fellow).

This week when the campers gather in their chapel at Lincoln Lake I will be their chapel speaker. I hope they have happy memories of swimming in the lake and sleeping in the cabin or Yurt with their buddies. I hope they have a good counselor. I hope the camp songs still ring in their hearts after five decades have passed. I hope they cherish the sweet story of the Cross over the years like I do. I hope are each of them are soundly and securely and sincerely saved and that fifty years from now Lincoln Lake will be a happy memory for them, too.

Ken Pierpont
Deckerville, Michigan
August 6, 2017

Red Jeep Journal
August 4, 2017

Radio on the Road

They build camps in remote, beautiful places. I’ve been on the road a lot this summer driving to some beautiful places to speak at camps. On the road I often drive along in silence with my prayers and thoughts. I love to listen to a good podcast on the road.

When I was a boy I loved radio, still do. Now we have “radio-on-demand”–podcasts. A good podcast is great company for a road-trip. I still aspire to build a good podcast. In the last few years I have been experimenting with my own.

Adventure Deficit

Our son, Kyle has a friend named Drew DeVries who has created a fine podcast called Adventure Deficit. You may have noticed that there will never be a time short of the New Heaven and the New Earth to take all the adventures we would like to take, but you can read about them and you can watch them on TV and, especially when you are on the road, you can listen to adventures on podcasts.

One of the podcasts was about the North Country Tail, another was about a father-son cross-country motorbike adventure along the Rio Grande from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. They celebrated by fishing for shark in the Gulf of Mexico in baiting them in Kayaks. That episode was full of interesting stories.

Speaking of Father-Son Adventures

While we are talking about father’s, sons, and families, you might enjoy the Family Man podcast. It’s a realistic look at family and a reminder to cultivate strong family relationships. Check it out here.