May 2026
Ladies Ministry Update
For 70 years, Mother's Memorial has been reaching at home and abroad. Thank you for giving sacrificially to the kingdom. This year, our goal is above $ 5,600,000.00. We believe with God's help, this is possible.
Section 1 Youth Update
All rallies start at 7:30pm
August 7 – District Back to School Rally
Speaker: Rev. Kyle Thayer, YM Promotional Director
Host Church: TBD by District Youth Team
October 2 – Youth & Children’s Holy Ghost Rally
Speaker: Youth: Rev. Luke Kyle (FL)
Children: TBD
Host Church: First Apostolic, DeFuniak Springs – Pastor King
May 1st and October 2nd will be joint Children’s & Youth Rallies
2026 District Dates
June 22 - 26: Junior High Camp
June 29 – July 3: Senior High Camp
Children’s Ministry Update
Children’s Ministry Summer Camp applications are LIVE! Please visit FLDistrictChildrensministry.com to register or for more information.
The Final Deadline for SOC offering is June 1st! Every gift still helps reach children with hope and truth!
SECTION 1 GOAL: 35K
If you have children who want to participate in the Toby’s Top Dog Program, please visit the Children’s Ministry website or go to this LINK for resources.
Be Strong and of Good Courage
Deuteronomy 31:7, 23
In my daily devotion I read the scripture where Moses encouraged Joshua by speaking strength that would empower him to take Israel into the Promised Land. This text spoke to my spirit because it finds us in a place where pain and praise meet. And if we are honest, many of us know exactly what that feels like.
There are seasons when God calls us to accept a new assignment and instead of feeling strong, we feel inadequate.
Fear and shame start talking. Old failures begin to erode our confidence and their voices seem much louder than the voice of God. You know the Lord is calling you and stretching you but you still wonder if you can do it and do it right.
That is why this passage means so much to me.
Joshua was not stepping into a small role. He was stepping into leadership after Moses. Think about that. He was following one of the greatest leaders in Scripture.
He was taking on responsibility in front of a people who could be difficult, fearful, and stubborn – moving into a future full of promise, but also full of pressure.
He was stepping into a calling that would require divine strength, obedience, and absolute dependence on God. And what did God say to him?
He said, “Be strong and of good courage.”
God will sometimes call you into something that requires more strength than you have. He will lead you into places where courage is not optional. But when He does, He never speaks that word without also offering His presence.
We know what it is to carry a calling and yet wrestle with shame, disappointment, old wounds, and internal anguish. There are seasons when fear does everything within its power to rob you of the courage needed to not only accept your assignment, but to fulfill it with excellence.
Shame tries to dominate your thinking.
The enemy starts whispering, reminding you of every failure, every weakness, and every moment you came up short. If you are not careful, you can begin to question what God has already spoken.
But remember this: the voice of God is greater than the voice of your fear.
When God told Joshua to be strong and of good courage, He was telling him that divine assignment always comes with divine empowerment.
If God calls you to it, He will walk with you through it.
Right now, some are at a crossroads in their ministry. Some are stepping into leadership. Some are facing assignments they did not ask for but know they cannot run from. Some are hearing God stir them to move, build, lead, speak, forgive, begin again, or trust Him at a deeper level. And yet underneath all of that, there may still be a private battle with fear and shame.
Understand that Joshua did not have to create courage by personality. He was strong because God was with him. He could be courageous because the Lord had already gone before him.
That is still true today.
I have learned this through the years: fear will always try to magnify the challenge, and shame will always try to diminish the call. Sometimes the greatest battle is not with the enemy around us, but with the accusations within us. Yet the Lord, in His mercy, keeps speaking.
For when Fear says, “You are not able.”
And when Shame says, “You are not worthy.”
The Word of the Lord says, “Be strong and of good courage.”
Why? Because the strength is not coming from you. Your source of courage is not from you.
The victory is not dependent on your sufficiency. It is dependent upon the presence of Almighty God.
That is why I love the way the Lord deals with His people. He does not wait until we feel strong to speak strength over us. He does not wait until we feel brave to call us forward. He speaks into our weakness.
He speaks into our trembling. He speaks into those hidden places where we have questioned ourselves.
And He says, “Now get up. I am with you. You can do what I have called you to do.”
I feel that strongly in my spirit.
There are some people who have been living under the weight of yesterday too long. You have allowed old pain, old regrets, and old struggles to talk louder than the promise of God. But this is not the hour to draw back. This is not the season to let insecurity rename what God has commissioned. This is not the time to sit down in fear when God has told you to arise in faith.
If God is moving you into something new, do not mistake your nervousness for disobedience. Do not interpret the battle in your emotions as proof that you missed God. Sometimes the presence of fear is evidence that what is in front of you matters. But fear does not get to write your future. Shame does not get to name your identity. God does.
And I believe the Lord is saying to some hearts right now:
I am breaking fear’s grip on you. I am removing the stain of shame from your thinking. I am not sending you forward alone. I am giving you strength for this present assignment. What is ahead of you will not crush you. It will reveal the faithfulness of God in you.
That is the word I want to hold onto.
I want to encourage you today: do not wait until every emotion lines up before you obey the voice of God.
If you wait until you feel no fear, you may never move. Courage is not the absence of fear; courage is the decision to obey God despite it. Strength is simply taking the next step when your flesh would rather retreat. So, take the step. Obey the Lord and trust His promises.
Remember, when your heart feels too heavy to accomplish the task and the next step feels that it will cost too much, hear the voice of the Lord again: Be strong and of good courage.
I am here to declare to you that God is with you. The same God who gives us the assignment is the God who supplies the grace. So do not draw back.
Stand up in the strength of the Lord and move forward. The One who called you is still with you. And that changes everything.
Yours for the Kingdom,
Pastor Kinsey
