How I Learned about Christian Fellowship

While I had an inkling of the seriousness of Christian fellowship, I really learned its significance as a pastor in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, when I was in my early 20s.

Martha and I had moved to Louisiana and immediately I became pastor of First Baptist Church, Donaldsonville. Even by Louisiana standards, Donaldsonville is unique and very different. We were blessed by that variety and by the many different and unusual things we had the opportunity to do.

One of those occurred because two of our deacons worked at Shell Pipeline in St. James, Louisiana, which is close by Donaldsonville.

They came to church on Wednesday night and said, “Waylon, we have an invitation for you that we believe you must except.” That, of course, intrigued me.

They began to relate their story. They had been at work and interacting with a ship from Taiwan at the Port of St. James. After completing the necessary documentation, the captain asked them three specific questions.

He wanted to know, “Are you Christians?” He then wanted to know if they had a church. Finally, he asked, would you invite your pastor and come for dinner with me at the Captain’s table on board our ship?“

Our deacons were right. I didn’t think we could turn down that invitation. First of all, Martha and I wanted to experience something very different, and it was very different.

We ate squid for the first time. Frankly, we ate a lot of things for the first time. We immensely enjoyed the time on board with our brother in Christ.

The captain invited us because he was the only Christian on board, and he was longing for Christian fellowship. During that evening, he told us how he became a follower of Christ, and he wanted to know our testimonies as well.

As I’ve looked back over that experience, I think this is something of what we will experience in heaven as we tell how God‘s grace has flowed over us and how God called us to Himself. I believe we will experience amazing Christian fellowship.

That night was different than almost any other I’ve ever spent. It was a marvelous time in which we came to know one of the people that we will also know in heaven.

What’s the best news about that? It is that you get to do that every weekend at your church.

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3 Responses

  1. Dr. Bailey I appreciate your commitment to give daily insights to fellow believers. May God continue to bless you and your ministry. I know your ministry blesses countless people around the world everyday.

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