July 1, 2007

What a whirlwind of a week! In the past week Beth and I have traveled to Michigan (Laura's wedding) central Indiana (to see Nicholas and parents) back home to Ohio overnight, then left at 5:30 AM on Wednesday to travel to Lancaster, PA (arrived at 11:15 AM). We spent Weds. at the GARBC conference, had many good visits with friends from years past, and today (Thursday) Beth is judging in the national Talents for Christ competition which will take all day. I am attending meetings (as well as working on Sunday's sermon and this blog to you - don't tell the speaker in this session!) and will represent our church in the business meeting this afternoon. I don't know of any major issues to vote on this year, but it is always an interesting time. We plan to leave as soon as Beth is finished late this afternoon, and arrive back home hopefully by midnight. In total, we will have traveled about 1,500 miles in a week! Makes me feel like a missionary on deputation - God bless them!



For this Sunday, July 1st, we plan to have our regular Sunday School and Adult Bible Fellowships at 9:30 AM, these are always good opportunities not only to learn and grow, but to make connections with each other. Plan to be here early, our teachers prepare diligently and we don't want to disappoint them.



At 10:45 AM our Worship service will be led by Josh Workman, as Tom and Sandi Goodrich are still on vacation in Alaska. We plan to consider the important subject of Personal Holiness from 2 Corinthians 6 thru 7:1. 7:1 has been one of my life guiding verses over the years and I encourage you to make it one of yours.



This Sunday evening begins our new summer format for our 6:00 pm services. We have encouraged you to utilize this time constructively for the months of July and August by striving to make contacts for the Lord and our church; rest and reconnect with your families; and generally take a "break" from the routine. Jeff and Robin Sheldon will be at church to have a very informal Bible time with those who come, but many of us will be gone. This is something new for us, but we feel it will enhance the evening ministries when we re-convene in September. Beth and I will actually be hosting a leaders meeting for our "Sports 4 Life" ministry that will take place July 22 - August 19. I hope you will use this time for your personal benefit, or to organize and encourage others in ministries here in which you are involved.



Refer to our bulletin on Sunday for other updates. Remember to sign up to help serve at the Chapel's July 4th celebration this Wedsnesday - I hope to see you there. Pray for this, and all our ministries here at Faith, that God will not only bless, but move us to greater depth with Him. Pray that all our services this Sunday will honor Him!



Pastor Don Workman

http://www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org/



PS - thanks to those of you who left comments, we appreciate that. If some of you who understand what "RSS" is all about (as well as the "subscribe to posts: Atom" which is below) and can explain it briefly and clearly in a comment for us all, please help by doing so. Thanks.

Nicholas wearing his basketball shoes that Papa gave him. You can tell by his expression how he feels about them! He certainly is Papa's Boy!!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Last Sunday was Father's Day, and did I ever get a surprise! Guess who came to see me? If you guessed Nicholas, you are right! He also brought his mom and dad, and they spent a week of vacation with us. Beth did a great job of keeping it a surprise which is amazing - usually I can figure things out. We had fun all week mowing grass,

washing the car, and just being together. Thankfully babies do take several naps a day, and those times allowed Papa to go to church and get some work done. I also saw Lois Guy two times at University Hospital in Cleveland as she had a FIFTH surgery (covering many years) to replace her left hip. It went well, though she is in pain in the recuperation time. Please keep her in prayer.

This Sunday, June 24 will be a full day of regular services. Beth and I will be gone to attend and help perform Laura Sheldon's wedding in Michigan, and then we still will keep our plan to head south to stay with Sarah, Sam, and Nicholas for a few days so that we can attend their new church (http://www.oakbrookchurch.com/) and see them in action. We also plan to visit with their senior pastor and family who is a college friend of ours. In my place Pete Kendrick will minister in the 10:45 AM service, and Ron Sterner will minister in the 6:00 PM service. Also pray for Tom and Sandi Goodrich as they celebrate their 35th anniversary with an Alaskan cruise and then stop to see their son, Justin, in San Diego. Several other families from our church will be traveling then as well, so pray for us all.

Beth and I will return home long enough to re-pack and then leave very early on Wednesday morning to go to Lancaster, PA to attend a day of the GARBC annual conference. We are primarily going so that Beth will be able to judge the girls voice catagory in the Talents for Christ competition. We plan to be back home very late on Thursday. In my absence on Weds. evening, Bud Kean will be leading our prayer and Bible study time. I appreciate him as well as Pete and Ron being willing to stand in for me in our services. I know they will be a blessing to you, plan to pray for them and be present.

Our "Summer of Service" will be getting into high gear soon. Plan to help at the Chapel in Akron's "Freedom Celebration" on July 4th from 5:30 - about 9:00 PM. You need to be there earlier if volunteering to help, see me if you have questions. This will be a great way to show friendliness and give something back to a church that has given us much.

Baptist Mid Missions still needs volunteers to help with their annual conference at CVCA in Cuyahoga falls July 9 - 13. See the table in the lobby for areas of need and numbers to call.

And then on July 22 we plan to begin our "Sports 4 Life" ministry to our neighborhood children grades 3 - 7 on five consecutive Sunday evenings from 6:00 - 7:30 PM. Our leaders will plan to have a meeting on July 1 and then will contact all volunteers for various ministry areas. If you can help (you don't have to even like sports) please sign up.

Beginning July 1 our evening services and ministries for the summer will be altered and different. See the explanatory sheet on the lobby table near the yellow sign up poster for details.

Due to this change for the summer we will be having our July Communion service in the Morning service of July 8. It will be different from our regular communion services, but still special. And in the morning service of July 29 we plan to have a team of missionary appointees from Baptist Mid Missions as we have in years past. This is always a blessed time for them and us.

Well, as you can see, July will be a fairly full month in many ways. And in other ways it will be a time to "catch our breath" and restore our spirits. I hope you will be involved where you can and continue to support our church in prayer, giving, and attendance - especially during these summer months.

Prepare for Sunday now, pray for Pete, Ron, and Bud as they minister this coming Sunday and Wednesday. Pray for many of us who are traveling. And pray for yourself to be open to God's leading in your life through His Word and by His Spirit on this Sunday, His Day!

Pastor Don Workman

http://www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org/

Sunday, June 17, 2007 - "Father's Day"

You found it! Welcome to the new "Looking Toward Sunday" format. I have been wanting to try this for some time now, hopefully it will work for you. Part of my desire is that this will be more interactive for you, as you can leave comments, questions, etc. with each "post" we put up. We welcome your comments, see the link at the bottom to leave yours. I think there is also a way for you to subscribe to this blog so that whenever a new post is up, you can be notified by email. I don't understand all that, maybe one more knowledgable can leave a comment for the rest to know how that works. I also hope this will help me be able to write to it anywhere I may be (home, Starbucks, out of town, etc.) That will really help me stay in touch with you.

This Sunday is Father's Day and we will begin the day with a breakfast for all fathers at 8:30 am. If you know any fathers who don't attend here, please feel free to invite them. We will follow this with our classes and ABF's at 9:30 am. Our current ABF studies include: "A Harmony of the Life of Paul" "Watercooler Topics" "The Joyful Life" (Philippians) and "On the Road with Paul." Our Single on Sunday ladies only ABF will take a break for the summer - stay tuned later on for a return with a new format after the summer.


In our 10:30 am Worship service we will sing some great songs of faith, please pray for our worship band and all the techology to blend smoothly. I will continue our series in 2 Corinthians, this time from 5:11 - 21 on the great subject, "Being Ambassadors for Christ." Please read it over from now til then and prepare your heart for what God teaches us to do and be.

Because it is Father's Day there will be NO 6:00 pm service or programs this Sunday only.


Here are a couple of jokes related to fathers and their experiences as they age:

Yesterday I went to the optician's, walked up to the counter and said to the guy on duty, "I think my eyes are going."
He said, "They've gone, mate - this is Burger King."


"When you're over 50 you can still do all the things you did when you were 17 if you don't mind making an idiot of yourself." ( I think my kids think this of me )


Please consider signing up on the yellow poster in the lobby regarding our Summer of Service. We need more to volunteer on July 4th to help with The Chapel in Akron as they host a "Freedom Celebration" which will be a fun way to serve for the whole family. Plus you can enjoy the service, games, refreshments, and fireworks, too.


We also need more help with our Summer Evening "Sports 4 Life" ministry / outreach to our surrounding neighborhoods that will be on Sunday evenings, July 22 - August 19. After a great planning meeting last Sunday afternoon we are excited by it's potential. We will have a follow up meeting on July 1st at 4:00 pm, plan to attend.

A few of you have mentioned that you are not able to get the pictures (usually of Nicholas) that I often include. In working this out with a couple of you, I have found that it seems to be due to the fact that you are using a Mac, and I am not :-( It also may have something to do with some of you using AOL as your email, but that may not be in every case. When they tried a different email address (non - AOL, and changed something in the Mac) then the pictures showed up fine. Most of you have had no problems. I hope that this "blog" format may solve these issues for everyone.

Speaking of Nicholas, he is growing strong. He just went yesterday to get a different car with his parents, one with working air conditioning (no more riding around on hot days sweating in just a diaper) and even has more interior room for them. Here is a picture of him with his Aunt Hannah last month, he doesn't see her as often as they wish:

We rejoice with Hannah and Jon as they celebrated thier 2nd wedding anniverary this past Monday, June 11. And Sarah and Sam celebrate their 4th anniversary today, June 14. All of them are true blessings to Beth and me.

Thank you for reading these weekly notes and interacting with me about them. I hope you will be better prepared to worship God this Sunday and in return receive His blessings. Pray for God's Word and Spirit to have free course in our lives.

Pastor Don Workman