Philippians 3:13-14    “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

It doesn’t seem possible that another year has come and gone!  However, there’s nothing left of 2010 but the tail lights.  So, as we launch into 2011, we want to take a moment to thank the Lord for the many blessings and great things we’ve witnessed in 2010. 

This has been a year in which we’ve observed a great “awakening” to God in America and throughout many places in the world.   While we do realize that the world is facing uncertain times, our faith is not in Washington, D.C. nor the Babylonian Financial System for our peace and wholeness (shalom).  Like never before in our life time, the world is watching the definition of it’s success staggering and swaying.  However, it’s all part of a “master plan” and the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who said, “I came to give you an abundant life,” is ringing the dinner bell.

Record numbers of people are coming to be saved.  In our services, we’ve witnessed blind eyes being opened and perfect vision restored.  God opened the ear of an usher that had been deaf for 14 years.  A pastor’s wife that was completely deaf in one ear and 80% in the other was made whole.  A precious lady with Stage IV brain cancer was instantly healed and has received a clean bill of health from her oncologist. 

In a fashion that can only be compared to the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), the Holy Ghost has been flooding our services with hundreds being filled with the Spirit.  The pastor of a denominational church that doesn’t typically agree that the Spirit baptism with the evidence of speaking in other tongues is for today invited us to hold a Holy Ghost service at his church.  More than 100 people received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in one service alone.

In 2010, we saw bondages broken as demonic spirits were cast out.  Marriages were healed.  Precious friendships and family relationships were restored.  Ministries have been raised from the ruins and reinstated this year.    

It was a year of great prosperity as God multiplied the increase and the windows of heaven were opened as He’d promised in Malachi 3:10.  He’s always faithful to His Word!  However, in 2010, He proved Himself beyond measure or any possible expectation!

In September of  2010, we were blessed with our first grandchild.  Eiley Lin Oaks is healthy, beautiful, and a joy to her parents (Cody and Aubrey Oaks), grandparents (George/Terri Pearson and Tom/Shelli Baggett), and great grandparents (Billye Brim and Kenneth/Gloria Copeland).

It’s simply impossible to name all of the many blessings of 2010.  However, we do want to thank God for you, our friends.  We value you greatly!  We are thankful for every invitation and opportunity to minister we received in 2010, for every pastor and saint of God that pulled the plow along side of us, for every soul that sat in our services, those that tuned in by way of television, radio, or Internet.  We thank you for your love, prayer, and ongoing support.

Finally, adding to the words of the Apostle Paul, we say, “As great a year as 2010 was, we haven’t apprehended yet what we know is the final goal.  So, now, we reach forward toward the mark of the high calling of God…knowing that in Christ Jesus even greater things are in store for 2011.”  We invite you to join us!!!

Joyfully in His Service,

Tom and Shelli Baggett

It’s simply a great season in our lives. It’s a time of tremendous blessing, profound revelation, and, at times, one of shocking discovery!

With much joy and thankfulness, Shelli and I recently celebrated our 1st year of marriage. In this short time, the Lord has enriched our love and respect for one another beyond our comprehension or greatest expectation. We recognize the anointing that God has placed upon our marriage and ministry and have quickly learned to be sensitive and yield to His leading.

Although both of us have been students and ministers of God’s Word for most of our lives, over the last year, the Lord has opened our understanding of the scriptures in a fresh way. It’s been literally like waking up daily to manna.

If you’ve read Shelli’s previous post, you may have noticed that she referred to my grandfather as an “Irish” preacher. At the time of her comment, January 16, 2010, from all my family “hand-me-down” information, we believed that to be the case.

However, immediately following, in a coincidental meeting at a conference in Fort Worth, TX, a minister from South Africa insisted that my family was not of Irish descent, but Jewish. “Jewish?” I said in disbelief.

After a couple of days of wrestling with the possibility that this gentleman’s claim may actually have some merit, I turned to the Internet. For this 56 year old, it was a Shocking Discovery!

There was no shortage of detailed regarding the “Baggett Family History.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagod) They had lived in Ireland and Scotland as I’d been told, but the original family name had been changed in about 1,100 A.D. from Bagod to Baggett.

Oddly enough, at the time of this discovery, I was only 5 weeks away from my very first trip to the Holy Land. Of course, Shelli has been to Israel many times and was leading a Christians United For Israel (CUFI) tour for Living Word Christian Center (Brooklyn Park, MN). I’d been blessed with an invitation to accompany her and was looking forward to seeing the land and people that I’d been taught my whole life to love. Although still in a bit of shock, I was going to see things from a new perspective!

Israel truly is remarkable. I’ve often heard people say that you only have to visit but once to understand that Israel, the land and the people, belong to God. I can attest to this truth! And, despite the fact that the tour was simply AWESOME, the temptation to talk about it here will have to wait. More importantly for this article, we were there with CUFI to support and show our love for Israel.

The numerous tour buses eventually converged for a Night To Honor Israel in Jerusalem. Be it only a guess, it seemed that about 1,500 people were there that evening. The singing beautiful songs in Hebrew and English were fabulous, as were the address of speakers such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Yet, still hovering in my mind that evening was another “coincidence.”

While standing in the long line that evening awaiting securities approval to enter the building, a gentleman had spoken to me in somewhat of a comical fashion and had drawn me into a conversation. Having read my name badge, he said, “Please don’t tell my mother than you’re a doctor. She wanted me to become a doctor….but, I became a rabbi instead!!!” I replied, “That’s funny. Up until recently, my mother thought I was Irish. Now, she’s found out that I’m Jewish!!!”

As we laughed and exchanged friendly gestures, my new acquaintance, Rabbi Moshe Rothchild suddenly stated, “I can show you your last name in the Bible!” As the rabbi turned to the appropriate scripture, I suddenly recognized that God had ordered our steps and conversation.

After the excitement of finding my family name to be “Gad,” the line began to move and I quickly handed him a business card and we parted company. However, in the few seconds that elapsed, God established what has become a most incredible friendship.

The day following, about 1,000 of us marched down Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem waving Israeli and American flags and cheering to the crowds standing in amazement. It was a time of great celebration with Jews and Christians from all over the globe singing and dancing in the streets together. At times, I found myself searching the faces of those in the crowd, wondering if I’d again see this interesting fellow again.

Although I didn’t see Moshe among those who marched, we soon began regular correspondence by email and telephone. With his permission, I’m sharing a portion of his first email to us. With little doubt or comment needed, it should speak volumes to every Christian, as it has to Shelli and me.

It read, “I was so moved by that evening in Israel that I cannot stop thinking about it. It was really an extraordinary experience for me. I was on such a high that whole evening that when I got home I could not sleep for hours. What hit me the most was that as a Jew and a rabbi I have always felt very alone in this world. I always thought that the only people that “get” what the Jewish people are doing in Israel are other Jewish people. As a Jew, life is always an uphill battle trying to explain Israel to people, fight anti-semitism and ignorance, tending to the needy-both physically and spiritually. At the end of the day I never felt that the world really helped much or even respected what we are doing here in Israel or in our Jewish communities in the diaspora. At the CUFI conference that changed. I was moved to tears of joy listening and watching the entire evening and feeling a tremendous sense of pride and relief knowing that we are not alone–that we have good friends who are doing great work and appreciate what we are doing. Especially now as a Jew living in the settlements (the ancient Judaea) it is so important to have friends.”

Rabbi Rothchild is now working with us to help build the bond of unity between Christians and Jews. A bond of love. Here on this website, you will find a direct link to Rabbi Moshe Rothchild’s articles. He encourages your comments and will attempt to reply as time permits. Particularly, I encourage you to read, “Coincidence? I Think Not!” http://rabbimosherothchildmygodplace2.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/

Of course, that’s been my point all along. Nothing happens by “coincidence.” David said, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” And, that means yours are, too! So, I encourage you today to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, be thankful in all things, and do all that’s within you to bless Israel!

Dr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Baggett, III

I have so many wonderful friends!!! After losing my husband of 27 years in May 2007, you were there with such tremendous love and support. Your care and encouragement has been so appreciated. Now, it’s time to update you on what the Lord has done and is doing in my life. With great joy, I declare that I am tremendously blessed!

Since last being with many of you, God has given me a wonderful new husband. Tom is not only a dentist, but has been in the ministry for 22 years. The Lord has miraculously called our lives and ministries together and we are so excited about the new direction He’s taking us!

Tom’s grandfather was a Irish, Holy Ghost preacher who served as the Executive Elder for the Pentecostal organization that formed soon after the Azusa Street Outpouring, Los Angeles in the early 1900’s. He preached brush arbor and tent revivals in Louisiana and Texas during those years and founded more than a dozen churches that are still going strong today. And, his father, who was also a dentist, pastored for 45 years. Tom became an evangelist in the late 1980’s, pastored from 1993-2001, and then returned to the evangelistic ministry.

So, today, the Lord’s writing a new chapter in both of our lives. Even before our marriage in April 2009, but especially during the last Prayer Mountain Conference in Branson (October 2009), numerous prophesies from well respected men and women of God, both privately and from the platform, specifically called us out and stated that our ministry was to “no longer continue in the direction of the past“… but, a “new thing” has been done and that we were now to “minister together“…and, by doing so, we would see a greater harvest and be of greater service in the Kingdom than either of us had been in our previous ministries.

It’s a story for another time, but, in fact, when I was 13 years old, my mother wrote out a prophesy that God had given her for me the very night that I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. In it, she stated that I would “go through the land…hand-in-hand…with THE MAN…and his name is Tom.” He was very specific and detailed in this Word. After almost 40 years, God had never forgotten what He’d told Billye Brim!!!

Not knowing exactly how to do so, or what to expect, we vowed to be obedient to these profound prophetic words. Now, we’re experiencing a greater anointing and an a deeper move of God in our lives than I can possibly express here. As well, it’s strengthened the bond of our new marriage and God’s opening our eyes to a vision and plan for the future. To say the least, we are both tremendously humbled and literally living a life of daily excitement as revelations of His plan for us unfold!

This year, 2010, we have booked a number of meetings and will be “flowing in the river” as we travel “the land….hand-in-hand…preaching together” the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ! Again, I love all of you and thank you for loving Tom and me!

May God’s richest blessings be yours in 2010!

Shelli Brim Baggett