Wednesday, December 27, 2006
2007: A Year of New (and exciting) Things!!!
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I hope that you and your family had a wonderful Christmas season! What a great 2006 we had at First Baptist. We have seen many new faces come to be a part of our fellowship and many people come to know Christ as their personal Savior. I believe that we also saw an incredible amount of Spiritual growth within our body over the past year. Now it is time to experience an even greater year with several new things coming!
The first and perhaps most anticipated event I want to tell you about is going to be Sunday night, January 21st. That is the night our Remodeling Committee will be making its presentation on the plans for our Sanctuary. If you have not already done so, I would like to encourage you to stop by the “Remodeling Room” (2nd room across from the Fellowship Hall) to take a virtual tour of the plans this committee has worked so hard on over the past year and a half. Many of you have expressed it is time for this project to come to fruition and I believe it is now the Lord’s timing for this happen. From a financial standpoint a major commitment on the part of our church will need to be made but I know that God will provide. I ask for you to be in prayer about this matter and be seeking what part the Lord would have you to play in the project’s financing. I remember three years ago we made the decision to purchase our bus and was amazed at how quickly we were able to pay the loan off. My prayer is we will do the same with the amount we finance to remodel the Sanctuary.
Perhaps you have heard how everyone who files a tax return this year is going to receive a refund from the abolition of a tax that was levied to pay for the Spanish-American War in 1898. Each family will receive between $30 and $60 on your IRS return next year. I want to encourage everyone to use the refund money, that you didn’t even know you had, in a great way! Would you commit to give it to the remodeling fund? It will add up quickly and is just one simple contribution possibility.
I truly hope you will make a point to be here on the 21st as we embark on this exciting time in the life of our church!
Also new in 2007 will be our new format on Sunday evenings. We just concluded our Jesus Focus Ministry class in the fall and it was a huge success. With that in mind we are going to focus our attention on class settings during our Sunday evening time together. We will be offering four classes: The Five Love Languages, A Case for Christ, Financial Peace University, and Jesus Focused Ministry. I hope you will take advantage of one of these classes as we seek as a church to better ourselves in several areas of the Christian faith. Sign-ups are now available on the bulletin board across from the choir room.
Furthermore I am excited about a pastor’s class I will teaching on Sunday morning’s during Sunday School time. The four week class will consist of topics such as: Baptist doctrine, financial aspects of our church, opportunities of service in our congregation, and personal growth: bible study and application. Each month the class will be limited to approximately 12 people and will end with a covered dish meal on the last Sunday of the month. What a good opportunity it should be to become acquainted with someone you may not know well and as well as a chance to learn something new about the church.
The anticipation of what God has in store for FBC in the year 2007 is definitely exciting. I hope you will make a fresh commitment to be a part of Bible Study and worship as we begin a new year! ¶ 5:25 PM
I hope that you and your family had a wonderful Christmas season! What a great 2006 we had at First Baptist. We have seen many new faces come to be a part of our fellowship and many people come to know Christ as their personal Savior. I believe that we also saw an incredible amount of Spiritual growth within our body over the past year. Now it is time to experience an even greater year with several new things coming!
The first and perhaps most anticipated event I want to tell you about is going to be Sunday night, January 21st. That is the night our Remodeling Committee will be making its presentation on the plans for our Sanctuary. If you have not already done so, I would like to encourage you to stop by the “Remodeling Room” (2nd room across from the Fellowship Hall) to take a virtual tour of the plans this committee has worked so hard on over the past year and a half. Many of you have expressed it is time for this project to come to fruition and I believe it is now the Lord’s timing for this happen. From a financial standpoint a major commitment on the part of our church will need to be made but I know that God will provide. I ask for you to be in prayer about this matter and be seeking what part the Lord would have you to play in the project’s financing. I remember three years ago we made the decision to purchase our bus and was amazed at how quickly we were able to pay the loan off. My prayer is we will do the same with the amount we finance to remodel the Sanctuary.
Perhaps you have heard how everyone who files a tax return this year is going to receive a refund from the abolition of a tax that was levied to pay for the Spanish-American War in 1898. Each family will receive between $30 and $60 on your IRS return next year. I want to encourage everyone to use the refund money, that you didn’t even know you had, in a great way! Would you commit to give it to the remodeling fund? It will add up quickly and is just one simple contribution possibility.
I truly hope you will make a point to be here on the 21st as we embark on this exciting time in the life of our church!
Also new in 2007 will be our new format on Sunday evenings. We just concluded our Jesus Focus Ministry class in the fall and it was a huge success. With that in mind we are going to focus our attention on class settings during our Sunday evening time together. We will be offering four classes: The Five Love Languages, A Case for Christ, Financial Peace University, and Jesus Focused Ministry. I hope you will take advantage of one of these classes as we seek as a church to better ourselves in several areas of the Christian faith. Sign-ups are now available on the bulletin board across from the choir room.
Furthermore I am excited about a pastor’s class I will teaching on Sunday morning’s during Sunday School time. The four week class will consist of topics such as: Baptist doctrine, financial aspects of our church, opportunities of service in our congregation, and personal growth: bible study and application. Each month the class will be limited to approximately 12 people and will end with a covered dish meal on the last Sunday of the month. What a good opportunity it should be to become acquainted with someone you may not know well and as well as a chance to learn something new about the church.
The anticipation of what God has in store for FBC in the year 2007 is definitely exciting. I hope you will make a fresh commitment to be a part of Bible Study and worship as we begin a new year! ¶ 5:25 PM
