Thursday, June 26, 2008

Sunday, June 29, 2008

I hope I can concentrate in writing this note as I listen at the same time to the NBA Draft on the internet. Please forgive me if a strange name pops up in the middle of a sentence - especially when it gets to pick number 19, which belongs to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and will most likely be a "strange name" that far down the line. I guess we will see (the draft is currently on the ninth pick.)

This past week has been a stormy one here in Streetsboro. Hopefully you suffered no damage through them. Once over, the rainbow we saw on Tuesday evening reminded us of God's promise. And the clearing skies to the west were absolutely beautiful! Praise God for His continued goodness to us all.

I think I saw that the forecast for Sunday is a good one to be in church! 9:30 AM promises to be helpful in your spiritual growth through our Adult Bible Fellowships and it is vital to your children's growth in Sunday School. Our ABF's offer studies in: "the Book of Daniel", "Words of Hope from John 3:16", and a new one, "Job - Integrity in the Midst of Suffering." Pick yours and plan to attend this Sunday.

Our Worship service at 10:45 AM this Sunday features our Commuion service, please come with your hearts prepared. A new song we will sing is an old hymn with tremendous words by Charles Wesley, "Arise, My Soul Arise" which is put to a more modern musical setting thanks to the abilities of Michael Smith and his Indelible Grace group. Leah Workman will give a brief report on her short term missions trip to Ireland this past March with the Chamber Singers of Baptist Bible College. And we will consider from Psalm 29, "How Do We Come to Worship God at Communion Time?" Psalm 29 gives us several helps as to how we are to approach God when we come to worship, especially at a time of Communion. I know this will be a help to us and an honor to God.

Remember that we are now in our "Summer Small Groups" on Sunday evenings for the summer. This Sunday will continue the group at Ron and Chris Sterner's home at 6:00 PM with food, fellowship, and studying "Signs of the Times." Here at our church at 6:00 PM Jeff and Robin Sheldon will lead the video study in Israel on the life of Peter, hosted by Michael Card. The group at Bill Mace's home is meeting every other Sunday evening, and that group will continue NEXT Sunday (July 6) at their home. I hope you will plan to attend one, maybe consider starting one at your place, and I hope many will strive to reach neighbors and friends around you.

You will be receiving a letter in this Sunday's bulletin from Dr. Gary Anderson, President of Baptist Mid Missions regarding their "World Relief" Fund which is basically depleted. It has been used heavily due to the earthquake in China, cyclone in Myranmar, and all the flooding in our own midwest. It only seems right for those of us whom God has blest that we would share with those in need. You can give with an offering envelope by marking it, "World Relief" and we will put it together in one gift from our church. Checks should be made out to our church, with the memo "World Relief." We will collect this offering for the next few weeks, thank you for your compassion to others.

Well, the CAVS just picked a guy from North Carolina State, J. J. Hickson, who just finished his freshman year and I have not heard a lot about him. 6' 9" and 242 lbs. Is suppose to be a "finisher at the basket." All I can say is that finishing at the basket in the ACC is a whole lot different that doing it in the NBA. And what really makes me nervous is that ESPN says one of his weaknesses is his "work ethic." Yikes!! Beth and I were hoping the CAVS would take Kostas Koufos from and local GlenOak High School in Stark County, Ohio, but Danny Ferry never called and asked us. Oh, well, I just hope LeBron is excited about J. J. (and maybe a trade for Koufos is in the works!)

Well, enough of that - let's all get our rest and minds in gear to worship the Lord this Sunday. May He continue to work in all our churches and hearts to move closer to Him.

Pastor Don Workman






Thursday, June 19, 2008

Sunday, June 22, 2008

(sorry if you received this unfinished previously - I hit a wrong button and it "published" it prematurely.)

I want to begin by wishing my wife, Beth, a "Happy Birthday" this coming Sunday! She sure doesn't look her age, does she? (I'm not telling you what her age is, but she is younger than me!) "Bella" is the cutest grandmother I know.

And I also want to wish my mother a "Happy Birthday" on Saturday. She doesn't look her age either (I mention that out of fairness!) It is hard to believe she is now a GREATgrandmother, but she enjoys it.

This Sunday we hope our summer will continue in a warm way. Our Sunday School for kids and Adult Bible Fellowships continue at 9:30 AM. The ABF studies are: The Bible books of Daniel and Ephesians, and next Sunday a third ABF will begin "Words of Hope: John 3:16" which sounds like it will be a blessing. Plan to attend one now.

Our worship services at 10:45 AM have been a blessing to all. We will continue our series on "Worship" by finishing a study I started a couple of weeks ago, "Being A Worshipper That God Accepts." We saw from Romans 10:9 - 15 that One Who is Personally Related to God ("saved") is the first step. 1 John 2:12 - 14, Matthew 21:12 - 16, and Psalm 51 will be the main passages we consider this Sunday for the other two points. Pray that God will continue the work in our hearts that He has been doing for the past few months through His Word and the songs we offer.

Remember that this Sunday we begin our "Summer Small Groups" in lieu of our regular Sunday at 6:00 PM programs and service. Groups beginning this Sunday are:

5:00 PM Bill & Debbie Mace will begin their group with dinner, games for kids, and study/discussion on "Keys to Living as a Follower of Christ" (sermon on the mount passage.) Please sign up in the lobby so they can plan.

6:00 PM Ron & Chris Sterner will host at their home a group for fellowship and study on "Signs of the Times" and how they should affect us. Again, sign up in the lobby for this group.

Another group will begin June 29 and meet at the church. It will be hosted by Jeff and Robin Sheldon and feature a video series produced by Radio Bible Class with Michael Card in Israel about the life of the Apostle Peter.

I hope some will join me in utilizing some of these Sunday evenings for contacts and outreach to neighbors and friends, as well as nurturing relationships with those in our church family.

Please plan to attend a meeting this Tuesday at 7:00 PM for anyone interested in helping with our Vacation Bible School this summer. This is an organizational meeting for assigning ministry areas and getting things rolling for VBS July 20 - 24.

Don't forget the graduation Open House for Kurtis Biltz on Saturday, June 28 at their home. It is from 2:00 - 6:00 PM and all are invited.

Please continue to keep several folks in prayer: Joe Jordan is having a heart cath on Friday, June 20 (today) to continue the testing he has had on a weak ventricle. Also our daughter, Sarah in Indiana, had all four wisdom teeth removed yesterday (Thursday.) Sam's parents arrive from California tonight (Friday), so pray that she heals quickly. The McMichael family travels home from vacation out west on Friday. Tim Dular's sister is very severe with cancer, pray for her and the family. And Emily Mace has another surgery on her mouth this Wednesday, June 25. And of course, pray for those suffering from floods in the midwest, especially Iowa and Illinois - many sister churches and believers have been affected. Your prayers for these and others are appreciated.

We give special congratulations to Ron and Chris Sterner, who will celebrate 40 years of marriage next Thursday (also Chris' mother's birthday - Lois Sarver.) This is a special milestone for anyone, and we especially rejoice with them at this time.

And rejoice together in all that God is doing here at Faith. Several have come to Christ in recent months, and other decisions and steps have been taken by others. Baptisms will soon follow and we look forward to these folks joining our church officially. I have been encouraged by some personal contacts I have made in recent weeks which have helped some consider spiritual things more than before. I look forward to God's working in them or at least me being "the next step" in their spiritual journey. I pray the same for you.

May God bless us as we prepare for services and studies this Sunday in all our churches. Pray, plan, and do your part to bring Him glory this week.

Pastor Don Workman
http://www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org/

Friday, June 13, 2008

Sunday, June 15, 2008 - Father's Day

Thank you for all your prayers on behalf of our family as Joshua and Emily were married last Saturday. All went very well, it was a beautiful day and ceremony. Thank you to many who ventured up to Orchard Park, NY early in the morning (or some stayed Friday night) to be present. Remember that we are hosting a reception at our church this Sunday afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00 PM for all who could not make it to the wedding and still would like to take part in seeing them and the family - please come if you can. Here are a few pictures from their special day (I have tried for an hour to figure out how to post an "album / slideshow" in this blog, but finally gave up until I can get some help.)



We are grateful that my parents were able to be with us for a month, what a blessing as we shared in their first meeting with their great - grandson, Nicholas. It gave us an opportunity to get a "Four Generation" picture: They got back to Florida safely, but after getting resettled at home my father suffered a severe injury playing "pickleball" (a combination of tennis/raquetball) with one of their granddaughters. He stumbled and fell into the net, bruising his chin and nose, and broke two fingers on his left hand which required emergency surgery to repair the damage. He is quite swollen and sore all over, and his hand will take at least 5 - 6 weeks to heal before he can get back to golfing. He was scheduled for carpel tunnel hand surgery on his other hand next week, but I believe all that is on hold for now. Please keep him in your prayers.

On the way back to Indiana, Sam, Sarah, and Nicholas had a very close encounter with a tornado in western Ohio. They took some extreme measures (ie: entering an unoccupied home for refuge - long, strange story) until the worst part of it blew over, then continued on their way. Nicholas was basically unaware of it all as he continued coloring in his carseat. We are thankful for God's protection of them through this.

Jon arrived safely in Oregon after getting "bumped" in San Francisco on the last leg of his flight - resulting in a free ticket for the future. Hannah rearranged her arrangements, and stayed another week, going home next Tuesday. Thanks for your prayers for them.

Joshua and Emily will be here Saturday, fresh from their honeymoon. We have not heard a thing from them all week - I can't imagine there is not an email connection in Cancun, Mexico! They left no contact information with me as to where they were staying - he knows better than to do that! Hmmm....

As for this Sunday, Father's Day, we anticipate many blessings as fathers are honored in special ways and our Heavenly Father is offered worship that is pleasing and acceptable to Him. In our 10:45 AM service we will consider "A Father's Worship" and see how it is illustrated in the life of Abraham from a familiar story in Genesis 22:1 - 19. It can be summed up in this quote by Dr. Allan Ross from his commentary on Genesis (p. 402): The one who fears God, that is, the faithful worshipper, will obediently surrender to God whatever He asks, trusting in God's promises of provision and blessing.

We will see how this applies to fathers, as well as all, as we continue to be worshippers that God accepts.

Our Sunday school and Adult Bible Fellowships continue at 9:30 AM with opportunities for learning and fellowship for all. Three ABF's are available from which to choose, all studying Bible books.

Please remember that there will be NO evening service or activities at 6:00 PM. And this Sunday begins our "Summer Hiatus" of our regular Sunday evening services until September14. There will be several Small Group meetings through the summer, though, both in homes and at church - see the Sunday bulletin for details. We want to see if the Small Group format will enhance our learning, fellowship, and assimilation of our church family - please give one a try.

A few of our families are on vacation and there will be more to come. Please pray for safety and blessing as this season is upon us.

Thank you for continued prayer for Beth's vocal chord situation. She finally saw her surgeon this past Thursday, and we are moving closer to her surgery to remove this lesion that seems to be the problem. Dr. Michael Benninger, chairman of the Head and Neck Institute of the Cleveland Clinic, is world-renown for his techniques and instruments that he has developed for such delicate surgery. He assured us that this is a fairly simple procedure for him (not for everyone!) It is still amazing to me as I watched him "stick" the same fingers in Beth's mouth that were used to help and fix similar problems for Luciano Pavarotti, Celine Dion, Madonna, Wayne Newton, and a host of others. We will let you know when her surgery will take place, hopefully in the next few weeks.

Though our summer schedule slows a bit, remember the graduation open house for Kurtis Biltz (June 28) and the wedding of Nikki Carroll / Bobby Childs on July 19. Then on to VBS July 20 - 24, and we host some of the Baptist Mid Missions Candidates on Sunday AM, July 29 - always a blessing! Our annual "Dinner on the Grounds" day will be on September 7, but more on that another time.

It was our blessing and privilege to see Christine put her faith in Christ last Sunday. She followed two more Lysiak girls who accepted Jesus the week before. Both their families are now "complete in Christ" and we look forward to their baptisms very soon. As we pray and honor God, He has been pleased to bless our church in the most important way - bringing more to faith in Him through our ministry. Praise God, pray and prepare to worship together this Sunday, and anticipate many others to come to Him as we do our part. I can hardly wait to see what God will do next here at Faith!

Katie Klumpp's photography is beautiful! We recommend her to anyone.








Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Sunday, June 8, 2008

This past Monday evening I was the Graduation speaker for the school where Beth teaches, Northfield Baptist Christian School. They graduated their Kindergarten and Sixth grade classes, and our church was privileged to have three of the graduates: Benjamin Gentile (Kdg.) and Elizabeth Beuoy and Kevin McMicael (both from 6th gr.) This signaled the end of the school year this week for most kids in all our churches - kids say "yay!" and some parents don't! But summer activities are upon us, and soon the following story will be familiar to a lot of families:

The coach for the little league team had not yet learned the names of all the players, so he called them by the numbers on their uniforms. He yelled, "Number 5, your time to bat," and Jeff came to the plate to hit. He yelled, "Number 7," and Steve jumped up. Then he yelled, "Number 1," but no one got up.
Again he called out, "Number 1." Still no one emerged from the dugout. The umpire was getting annoyed at the delay, so the coach yelled out, "Who's number 1?"
The entire team responded, "We are, coach. We are!"

I remember those days! And it only got busier as they got older. Eventually things tone down a bit as our kids grow and get married, which as you know will happen in our family this Saturday to Joshua. Please keep our family in prayer for travel safety and good health. It has been a blessing to have my parents here for a month; Leah and Joshua got home this past Saturday from singing at a friends' wedding; and Sarah, Sam, and Nicholas came in this past Monday. What a blessing to introduce them to Nicholas, their great grandson they never met before. They have had fun together, and we look forward to a nice, four generation picture at the wedding in our fancy clothes. Jon and Hannah arrive this Thursday evening in Pittsburgh at 11:00 PM (8:00 PM their time), then back home to leave early Friday for the festivities.

We plan to be back on Saturday evening to prepare for our services on Sunday. The early time for our children at 9:00 AM with Mrs. Cobb was a big hit in its first time last Sunday. She had 15 kids, plus some helpers - more than I expected, but she said it was great! That time leads into their Sunday school time at 9:30 AM that also includes our ABF's, each class being a great time to grow in the Word and fellowship. Again, this is an important means of "fitting in" to our church for adults, don't miss it.

At our 10:45 AM service I plan to continue our Worship Series by speaking about our "Being a Worshipper That God Accepts." Has it ever occured to you that God does not accept every kind of worship offered to Him? He has given us some guidelines in His Word to help be the kind of worshippers that He seeks, and the checkpoints we discuss will help you see how you stack up in this important area. Some passages we will consider are from: Romans 8:15-16 and 10:9 - 13 / 1 John 2:12 -14 / Matthew 21:12 - 16 / Psalm 51:10 - 17. Though it looks like a lot, we will only read and apply the principles to our lives. I hope this will help us give to God the Father the kind of worship He seeks.

In our 6:00 PM hour we will sing together and share around the Lord's Table (Communion) through the Word and Testimony. Be thinking of how Christ has worked in your life in the past, how God continues to do so in the present, and then testify as to how we anticipate His continued work in us in the future. At specific times in our service you will be able to address each area. We will also receive our Benevolent Fund which we customarily do at these services. This service is always a highlight spiritually for us all, don't miss it.

Last week our AWANA Awards time was a special blessing to share in the accomplishment of our kids for their hard work all year long. We especially congratulate Kevin McMichael who achieved the "Timothy Award" which is the highest award given by AWANA at this age. Great job by all the kids and special thanks to all our TEACHERS and LEADERS:

We also recognized our high school and college graduates and learned how to pray for them more effectively after hearing from them in my little "chat" time with each of them. I must apologize that I mistakenly had Bethany Cobb graduating (she is a junior, not a senior) instead of Kurtis Biltz who has graduated from both Crestwood High School and Maplewood, a vocational school, in mechanics. Kurtis plans to join the U. S. Marines this September and his specialty will be working on military vehicles. Pray for him and Amy Carroll (Amy is behind her tuba) who both move on to the next step in their lives. One of the next steps for both will be to host open houses (or is it open homes?) - Amy's is this Saturday from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM at her home, and Kurtis' is on Saturday, June 28 from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM at his home.

Next Sunday, June 15 is Father's Day - don't forget! My family did not forget, and in fact gave me my gift early since there is so much going on this week. It is a very nice watch, something I have not had for probably 12 years at least. Beth wanted me to have it for the wedding, so that is why I got it early. We plan to honor all fathers in our service and will consider how we can honor God our Father in Worship. Remember that we will NOT have a service or other ministries at 6:00 PM that evening.

Don't forget that our Vacation Bible School in coming on the evenings of July 20 - 24. I think the theme is "Dino Detectives - Digging for God's Truth" and should be a lot of fun and good learning. For all helpers and leadres it is a fun time as well, please let us know if you can help.

Thank you to many for your encouraging comments from my sermon to you last week about "Our Body Language of Worship." We discussed some delicate areas, especially that of lifting our hands in worship, but as we let the Bible speak, clarity on the issue came. Fidelity to the Bible and permission (never coercion) from all is the key. I could tell their was relief and joy for many of you who spoke to me regarding this important subject. Continue to pray as we all live and worship the Lord in Biblical balance.

Continue to pray for God to work in all hearts. I rejoice with one of our families who just last Sunday had two of their children accept Christ into their hearts. Pray that others will come to the same choice in their lives, and that all will walk more closely to the Lord by attendance in His services at all our churches this week.

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