Weekend Roundup :)

This past Saturday morning we went to Poarch Chapel Missionary Methodist Church for a youth rally. My goodness!!! What a time we had!!! We started everything off with a congregational hymn, then a puppet show! That was probably the cutest puppet show I've ever seen! It was about forgivness. Then some of the young people performed a skit to the song "Everything." At the beginning there was a technical difficulty with the soundtrack, but it was only the devil trying to rob people of a blessing. When the track began to work, and the teens began to act out their part, the presence of the Holy Spirit filled the church. As the song continued, Courtney and I began to tear up; then about two-thirds of the way thru the song, Court and I completely lost it! We were crying, shouting, praising the Lord, it was awesome! The idea for the skit came from a video on GodTube. You can watch this video on my personal blog, A Note From Jacob. I'll have to say that although the GodTube video is incredible, it does not compare to the teens acting it out before our very eyes. We are planning a singing at PCMMC in January and we will hopefully get the teens to act it out again. :) After their AWESOME performance, Blood Bought went to sing. The altars began filling up practically on our first song, and the presence of the Lord continued to sweep thru the church. It was absolutely awesome!!

After that, we headed down to Greenville, SC, to the First Wesleyan Church. We got to Greenville around 7 that evening. The church was SO beautiful!!! And I could feel the presence of the Lord when I came into the parking lot.

This service was very special. The baby grand piano in the church had recently been bought and paid for by an older couple in the church, so the pastor asked us to do the special music, and for me to play in a "piano dedication service." I had a conversation with the man and woman who bought the piano. He told me that it all started 18 years ago!! A man came up to him and asked him if he would buy a piece of land. At first, Mr. Whittid declined the offer; a month later, the same man made the offer again. This time, Mr. Whittid told him that he would give him what the land was worth, not what he was asking for. The man agreed. For 18 years, the land was Mr. Whittid's until a lady came up and asked if she could purchase the land from him. He said no at first, but she came back... a month later... and made a nice offer on the land. He accepted. A few weeks later, the pastor told him that the church was wanting a new piano. Mr. Whittid used the money he received from the land to purchase the piano. The Lord works in mysterious ways. I played several piano solos, the group sang, and when we took our break, the pastor presented a plaque to Mr. and Mrs. Whittid and dedicated the piano to the church. It was such a sweet moment. Mrs. Whittid is 84 years old and had just been diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer. Please pray for a special touch for her. She is a precious lady. After the service, we had not refreshments; not a meal; but a FEAST! There were tables lined up in the fellowship hall with all kinds of hams, vegetables, fruits, you name it and it was there!! It was absolutely delicious!!! I shared this comment with Pastor Steve, "Some restaurants serve wonderful food, but there is nothing like a home-cooked meal cooked by God-fearing women in the church!" It was fantastic!

Well, I think that about wraps up the weekend! :)

Please say a prayer for Brittney and her family. Her grandpa went home to be with Jesus this week. Please pray for comfort during this time.

We love you all!

God's blessings to you,

-Jacob
Pro. 3:9

CD

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that our CD is available to purchase at the Cornerstone Christian Bookstore in Lenoir, NC. My two solo piano CD's are also available there. You can also purchase them online at our website. (www.bloodboughttrio.com)

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Love,
Jacob
Pro. 3:9

Jamil Temple

Hey everyone!

I hope that everyone has had a good weekend. :)

Well, this sure was an exciting weekend for BBT! We left Friday evening to go to Columbia, SC, for the Southern Gathering Gospel Concert, hosted by The Shireys (formerly Unity). On Saturday morning, we got up and headed to Jamil Temple to do a soundcheck before the talent show. Boy, did we have fun!! The soundman (well, woman, lol) was awesome!! It was my good friend Victoria Shirey. ;) The talent show started at 12:00 with some awesome soloists. Everyone of them had a great voice. After the soloists sang, it was time for the groups. We sang 2nd; there were 4 groups. After all the groups and soloists sang, it was time for the judges to cast their votes... And... We won FIRST PLACE!!! :D :D Praise the Lord!!! Our good friend, Tommy Graham, won First Place in the soloist division!!! Congratulations Tommy!! After the talent show ended, we had a quick lunch and then got ready for the showcase stage. Once again, there were some incredibly talented groups that sang!! Providence Qt. won First Place in the group division for the showcase stage and, wow!!! what talent these guys have!! Check out their website at www.providencequartet.com. When the showcase stage ended, we had some McDonalds, then I played the prelude music before the mainstage began on a beautiful Yamaha GRAND PIANO! :D The stage started off with a skit to the song "You Are Worthy." WOW!! I loved that. When the skit was over, The Shireys started off the concert. I accompanied them while they ministered through song. We had church!!! Then BBT got to sing 2 songs on stage. We had so much fun, and met some new friends. It was great!!

Be sure to check out the "Pictures" link on the right-hand side of the blog, and keep checkin' back for updates on our services!

Humbly serving,

Jacob

Pro. 3:9

A Word From Courtney :)

Hi everyone!
I'm so excited to tell you about our last service at Ebenezer Christian Children's Home!! I had never gotten the opportunity to visit Ebenezer, but I had heard only fantastic things about it. I also was very excited that my whole family could come with me, includiing my dad who usually doesn't get to travel with us a lot! When we arrived at Ebenezer I immediately saw the huge area that they had!! The homes were absolutely beautiful, and I could feel the presence of the Lord as soon as I stepped out of the car. The first place I got to see at Ebenezer was their beautiful chapel. I stepped inside and it was simply amazing to look at. It was beautifully decorated, and I could tell that this was a wonderful place for the children to have church! One of the workers at Ebenezer told me that John Wishon held a "radiothon" on his radio station to help raise money for the chapel to be built. In just two days, enough money had been donated to pay for not only the church, but the beautiful lights and decorations in the church. Someone even called in and offered to put in all of the stained glass (which is absolutely beautiful). After I had toured the chapel my family and I, along with Jacob's family and Brittney's headed to a picnic area to have some hamburgers and hotdogs with the children! As we sat down we saw about 6 or 7 kids along with John Whison's mother and a Ebenezer house mother stringing beans! The kids looked like they were having a really good time which made me smile. I can remember helping my grandmother do that when I was younger. By the way, my grandmother came with me to Ebenezer and instantly started helping the kids string the beans and started telling them stories of her childhood. I was really excited when some of the kids started coming out of their houses and making their way towards the picnic area. I had heard that most of the kids love to give you hugs and instantly want to make a connection with you. I wasn't at all dissapointed, but a little surprised to see that the cuttest little boy didn't run up to me with his arms stretched out wanting a hug, but instantly ran to my mother. We got our food and Corey who is "4 and 1/2 on Feburary 9th" ran to sit with my mom. I could tell that my mom and dad instantly fell in love with him. After the food (which was wonderful) Corey told my mom, "I'm full! All the way down to my feet" . HA! After our sound check Mrs. Jean Davis took BBT and our families to tour one of the newest houses called Hope House which is 4200 sf, with 7 bedrooms!! THATS HUGE! Mrs. Jean started out the tour by telling us a different story about each of the 7 rooms which was each decorated by a different church who sponsered the room. We walked downstairs to the basement and there were 2 huge rooms for the children to play in with a pool table and air hockey table. Again Mrs. Jean told us the heart felt stories behind the rooms which brought us all nearly to tears. Everything in the house had been donated which is absolutely amazing because the home is SO BEAUTIFUL!! It seemed as if the house just went on and on and on. :) It was truely amazing to see how blessed Ebenezer is, and how amazing it is for the kids to have such a loving environment to live in. All of the kids at Ebenezer all come from different backgrounds and have various ages. But all of them feel safe and loved at Ebenezer.
Finally it came time for the service, and Jake, Britt, and I were pumped! The kids all seemed to really like the music and had a fun time clapping their hands along to Jake's crazy piano playing. One of the kids at Ebenezer has MD (muscular dystrophy) and he sang You Raise Me Up! It was so amazing, and made everyone cry. Towards the end 3 older girls that live at Ebenezer wanted to sing us a song! I was so excited. It was so beautiful and they were all so talented!! And then more kids started singing, It was a real treat!!! I've always had a huge interest in human services and children's homes, and Mrs. Jean even talked to me about maybe coming to work at Ebenezer next summer! It would be so amazing to be incorporated into that loving environment. I know that all of the kids there are being taught about the Lord Jesus Christ which is most important! It was a true blessing and such an eye opening experience to be there. It's truely the best place I think that I have ever been!!

Please keep Ebenezer Chirstian Children's Home in your prayers daily. And also Mrs. Jean Davis who does so much work for the home! She is truely a godly woman, who I personally look up to.

Until next time...
God Bless and keep on keepin on
Love Courtney Cooke

The First Post

Hi friends and prayer warriors,

We are going to be updating you on our services from time to time, and will also be posting some pictures of both our services, and of us hangin' out. Our blog is set up to where you can leave a comment without having a blogger account, but we ask that you would please leave your name so we know who you are! ;)

Enjoy reading about the many experiences of Blood Bought Trio!

God bless you,
~Blood Bought Trio