Carole Mitchell: Greene Publishing, Inc.
Honey Lake Church’s Sunday, Jan. 8 service began with the congregation being led in a chorus of “Your Grace is Enough.” At the song’s conclusion, Pastor Kenny Munds asked for visitors to raise their hands. Munds welcomed visitors with kind words, a caring smile and copies of a book titled, “The Bible’s Promise.”
Munds, who is the singing pastor at Greenville’s Honey Lake Church, welcomed Jim Harris, Fly Right Ministries, to speak his truths about how God led him to the ministry. Harris illustrated his own tales of addictions and how the consequences of sin almost ended his life.
Before sharing the history that led him to the ministry, Harris used his remote control to show how he used motorized flying objects as an exciting, crowd pleasing visual while his words described the glory of God’s promises.
Harris shared with the congregation his former life of addiction that included his introduction to drugs. “Marijuana was not the gateway drug that led me to using stronger, more powerful toxic substances. The people who sell drugs and the places they hang out were the actual gateways that often included the people who were pushing the harder, more harmful drugs,” explained Harris. He talked about the various visits to rehab and psychiatric facilities as his parents tried to “fix” him.
An overdose that resulted in both a heart attack and a seizure, was one of the life changing events that altered his life and led him to seek God’s redemption. “I should have been found dead as punishment for the crimes I committed to get drugs. God had other plans for me,” shared Harris. In 1995, Harris was an inmate in a Texas jail, facing 20 years to life for cocaine possession. He was sentenced to two years in jail. He spent his incarceration learning God’s word by reading the Bible. He served a year, married his girlfriend while in jail and joined a church as soon as he was paroled.
“God gets you through things, one event at a time, if you continue to seek Him and His righteousness,” explained Harris. He spoke emotionally about the blessings he receives every time he meets a person who has been impacted by his words and has turned their lives over to God. Harris has visited over 1000 prisons throughout the country during the 20 years he has committed his life to ministering to others. Often, people will stop him to share that hearing his words, within the confines of prison, provided a light that destroyed the clouds of their punishment.
As the Spanish moss serenely billowed on the trees above the lake behind the Honey Lake Church sanctuary, Harris concluded with a statement and a question to the congregation, “A lost sheep is what I was. God used me. Will you let God use you?”
Services concluded with Munds playing a guitar and leading the congregation in singing “Amazing Grace.” Paul Moore accompanied Munds on the piano while Paul Bass sang along with Munds. The congregation, Munds and Harris enjoyed a delicious buffet meal at the Honey Lake Resort after the morning service.
Munds and the Honey Lake Church invite the community to join them for Sunday services. Bible study is at 9:30 a.m. and worship services begin at 11 a.m. Honey Lake Church is located at 1445 Honey Lake Road in Greenville. For additional information on church activities, upcoming guest speakers and events, visit www.honeylakechurch.com. Honey Lake Church can be reached at (850) 253-3714. Jim Harris and Fly Right Ministries can be reached via their website at www.flyright.org.
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in a due season, we shall reap, if we faint not, Galatians 6:9.