My Grandfather, Hilary Jarvis Pegram, at the grand age of 89 years old, went to be with the Lord this morning, April 8, 2010. He was at one time a mighty warrior both for the kingdom of men and the Kingdom of God. During World War II, he served with the Big Red One, the 1^st Infantry Division, fighting the German oppressors all over the European continent and due to his heroism and bravery, had a very impressive military career winning countless medals, as well as being promoted up through the ranks very quickly.

As a man of God, my Grandfather walked with God in a way that very few understood. He was a Bible scholar who could debate you on any subject imaginable concerning the Scriptures. Ad when he was through, most of the time all you could do was to stand there dumbfounded. But even more than that, he would leave you hungry to learn more about God's Word!

As a husband, father, grandfather, etc, he was the ultimate role model in every way! His devotion to his wife, my Grandmother, Evelyn Pegram, who passed away several years ago, was a marvel to watch. He loved my Grandmother more than life itself, and would have very easily have given his life for her if it should have came to that. As a father, he was a father that his children could admire, respect, look up to, and know that he was not just a father in word only, but more importantly, in love! My Grandfather loved his children! As a Grandfather, he went above and beyond any conceivable words that could ever be written! He loved his grandchildren with love that was contagious. Well do I remember spending a great portion of my youth either at his and Granny's house, or going off with them on vacations. One thing is for certain! It didn't matter whether you were wife, son, daughter, or grandchild, he loved us all and he did it in a way that was absolutely amazing and respectable to look at.

Thank you Grandpa for your love and friendship through the years. I may not be able to thank you for it any longer here on earth, but thanks to the price that Jesus paid on Calvary, I KNOW that I will be able to see you and Granny again one day soon in heaven, where we will spend the rest of eternity loving on each other, as well as loving on our God!

I Love Your PawPaw!
Steve

--------------------------------------------------

Are you wondering out loud right about now, "What
in the world is a FIDO?" Or how about, "I wonder what the word FIDO means?" Then you are not
alone! It is our guess that many people will want to find out what in the world a FIDO is. Well, if you want to find out, then read Kathy's brand new
column - FIDO!

--------------------------------------------------

Dear Friends, the FUTURE is upon us! It is almost mind boggling to think that we, the people of Earth, are now living in the futuristic time of the year 2010! Aren't we supposed to be all dead by now? Aren't we all supposed to be driving flying cars, zipping around like mini spaceships all over this planet? Aren't we supposed to be living in colonies on Mars and other distant planets by now? At leastwise, isn't that what so many authors of books and producers of movies tried to make us all believe 10, 20, 30 or even 40 years ago?

Well, I know something that they all do not! I happen to know that books and movies and other fanciful tales do not dictate to me what my future will be. Only the Lord God Almighty and His powerful Word can do that!

So, as this New Year of 2010 is now upon us, instead of believing in fairy tales and fictional movies to guide our lives, whether for the positive or the negative, Kathy and I have chosen to develop a brand new attitude. An attitude that has been cultivated and matured by the Mind of Christ itself! An attitude of NEW THINGS rather than relying upon old methods, old styles, old memories, and anything else that has been stored in old wineskins!

So, get ready! Everything is about to change! New things are coming! Old things are getting ready to be blown away like dust on the winds of change! I would tell you more, but all I am permitted to say right now is simply, "It's 2010, and We're Gonna Start A New Trend!" (By the way, that phrase right there was created by my beloved wife Kathy two days ago on January 1, 2010)

GET READY!
Steve

--------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that each of you was blessed beyond measure. You know, it is always amazing to watch God perform miracles. Take for instance, our family. This Christmas was the first Christmas in 25 years that we did not have any money to buy presents, much less pay our
bills. But some how, some way, God provided! We
don't have any idea how to even begin to figure up where it all came from, because it's just too mind blowing to even think about it! But instead of trying
to understand it all, and figure up where and how it
made its way to us, I think I'll just choose to praise Him instead! Thank You God for your unfailing love! Thank You God for Your faithfulness that knows no bounds! Thank You God for loving me!!!

Your Humble Servant,
Steve

--------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------

Everyone, I know that many of you have prayed for our family and myself for many years now, but I just wanted to take this opportunity to ask all of you to please keep praying! My health is still very bad off, with most days now finding myself hardly able to even function. Sadly, this has caused a horrible ripple effect on our family's finances, and our ability to make ends meet each month. So, please keep praying for my healing, our family's well being and finally our finances. I pray that God richly blesses all of you that has prayed for us and that continues to pray for us.

God Bless!
Bishop Steve

--------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------

The above three lines of text are the opening words to a song that the musical group The Beatles did many years ago about needing help from others. I have never been a fan of The Beatles but this particular song is real catchy and the words sort of stick with you once you listen to it a couple of times.

Late last night, as I was praying about our needs, I got thinking about how guilty it makes me feel to ask others for help. As I did so, it just so happened that I had my Bible open for my daily Bible reading. The Bible was lying open on my lap and I looked down and Matthew 7:7-8 was highlighted (sometime by me many years ago). I started reading them and the words just leapt off the page at me! "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

Now I know that these particular verses are talking about us (mankind) asking God for our needs. But when you take into full perspective all the verses within the Bible that teach us that we (God's children) should help each other and stand together, I believe that these verses also teach us a valuable lesson about not letting pride keep us from asking for help from others.

And as I thought on that, I had to admit something to myself. I had to admit that I had let my personal pride stand in the way on several occasions when my family needed help. And by doing so I caused us more harm than good. And let me tell you something, it hurt to think about that! I would love to be able to say that I had always made the right decisions, but that just isn't the truth. But as I thought on these things, I finally came to grip with a powerful truth. It is simply this - if I let my pride get in the way of receiving help for my family, then I am doing them no good at all.

I have a question to ask each of you reading this right now. Does any of this that I have written sound like anything you have ever faced? If so, you need to also learn the truth that I had to learn. For if we do not, and we keep letting our pride get in the way, we will never learn to totally let go and let God be in control. All throughout the Word of God it teaches us to ask God for help. It shows us that it is okay to show our vulnerable side sometimes. And this does not just apply to God either! This also applies to our fellow man. Put it this way, if it was important enough for God Himself to make sure that the truth about asking and receiving was placed within the Bible as many times as it is, it must be very important! Don't you think?

So, with all that being said, I turn back to that Beatles song I was talking about earlier in this post. And I want you to read the words of the final ending chorus of the song........

As I bring this to a close, I am guessing that there can't be much pride left within me. So for me, there isn't any looking back after this. I must allow God's principles to work within my life every time. Not just when I want them to. Not just when it is convenient for me to do so. I must allow them to work within my life all of the time so that pride can decrease so that He (God) can increase.

So in closing, here is what all of this boils down to: Every one of us has our own issues, our own battles, and our own struggles with how to deal with our needs and the needs of our families. Sometimes we make the right choices and sometimes we make horrible choices. But the one thing that we all must learn to do more than ever, is simply this - we must learn to say no to our pride and yes to God's principles and laws that are established within His Word. Because if we don't, and we continue to let pride stop us from asking for help, we are only hurting those we love.

Thanks & God Bless Each Of You!
Steve

Rev. Steve & Kathy Pegram
4289 Castle Gate Drive
Snellville, Georgia 30039

--------------------------------------------------

Everyone, after 5 weeks of recovery Steve is finally both doing better and feeling better after his nasal and sinus surgery. We would like to thank everyone for their prayers. And finally some additional good news - Steve's smell has returned to him and he can now smell all of the beautiful fragrances from God's wonderful creation, but alas, he can also smell all the terrible smells from mankind's creations too! LOL!

--------------------------------------------------

Everyone, please be in prayer for Steve, as he has just went through surgery. They had to operate on three of his sinus cavities on the right side of his face, plus do some extensive interior surgical work on the inside of his right nostril as well.

So far the healing process has been going okay. The only things that have been going on are just some headaches every day since the surgery, plus some heavy swelling and extreme tenderness and rawness. They had to put a stint and heavy surgical packing up into the right nostril that has caused a lot of pain as well. Just be in prayer for Steve as the healing continues. This coming week we have to go back to have the stint removed and have the surgeons check on the healing process of all the different areas that were operated on. We believe that everything will be well and we will get a good report. If you would, please agree with us and pray for the same thing.

It has just been brought to our attention that a letter is circulating around the Internet talking about my health condition and our financial situation. Although we appreciate the concern of our friends and certainly appreciate the concern of whoever wrote this letter, we also want it to be known that we feel a little embarrassed by this. While it is true that we have gone through a lot over the past few years, we want it known that we know that there are plenty of others out there suffering financially and physically as well. And many of them are way worse off than we are. Thus, this is the reason for our feeling embarrassed by this and truthfully a little overwhelmed. While we can only guess that the intention of such a letter was to help us, we don't want to be looked upon as a charity case. God has always came through for us each and every time, and we know that He will this time as well. As we have had to live through this ordeal through the past several years, we have watched month after month God come through with a wide variety of methods and different people. So, if this is the way God is moving this month to help us, we can only be humbled by His loving care.

But, at the same time, we want everyone reading this to know that we are still believing for a miracle of total healing for my body so that one day soon we can get back to doing what God called us to do - to preach His glorious Gospel. I will tell you this much though, when I am healed and get to start preaching again, I will never ever approach preaching or ministry the same way again! If nothing else comes out of all this suffering we have gone through, the one thing that I know for sure that has happened for my good is that God has taught me that ministry is not about myself! It is about the hurting people whom God sends you to minister unto! And because of that, there is one thing I know for sure. I want to help others who have suffered. I want to let others know that they are not alone. If I can do that, then all my suffering these past few years will be worth it all.

Thanks for reading the ramblings of a hurting man. Your friendship and love is appreciated more than you can ever know. Kathy and myself have met so many wonderful people through our travels over the years. And we can only hope and believe that some of them are reading this right now. And if you are - thank you!

Your Friends In Ministry,
Steve & Kathy Pegram

While we here in America enjoying our expensive holidays and extravagant holiday parties with family and friends, let us not forget that the reason we get to do so is because some warrior in our past fought
for the freedoms that we enjoy today.

This poem was written by an United States Marine. It speaks volumes to the sacrifices that our modern warriors are willing to make in order that the next generation gets to enjoy the same freedoms that we have!