Friday, November 21, 2008

Sunday, November 23, 2008

My friend, Steve in Florida sent me this a few weeks ago. It is humorous, yet so true:

THE LAWS OF ULTIMATE REALITY:

- Law of Mechanical Repair: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.
- Law of Gravity: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.
- Law of Probability: The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.
- Law of Random Numbers: If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal and someone always answers.
- Law of the Alibi: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire.
- Variation Law: If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now.
- Law of the Bath: When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.
- Law of Close Encounters: The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.
- Law of the Result: When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.
- Law of Bio-mechanics: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
- Law of the Theater: At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive last.
- The Starbucks Law: As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.
- Murphy's Law of Lockers: If there are only two people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.
- Law of Physical Surfaces: The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor covering are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet/rug.
- Law of Logical Argument: Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
- Brown's Law of Physical Appearance: If the shoe fits, it's ugly.
- Oliver's Law of Public Speaking: A closed mouth gathers no feet.
- Wilson's Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy: As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it.
- Doctors' Law: If you don't feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time you get there you'll feel better. Don't make an appointment and you'll stay sick.

I posted these pictures on my Facebook page, but for those who are not on it I will put them here. They were taken this morning looking out my back door. I still say that mid November is too early for 20 degrees and 11 inches of snow!

The forecast points toward this Sunday being one of the nicer days of the week, so we should plan to be together to worship and thank the Lord for His goodness. All our classes and ABF's continue at 9:30 AM, followed by our Worship service at 10:45. We have a great blend of some new songs like, "Arise, My Soul, Arise" "How Can I Keep From Singing" and "We Come To Worship You" with hymns "Rejoice Ye Pure In Heart" and "Give Thanks." I will speak from Luke 17:11 - 19 on "Grateful or For Granted - Which Describes YOU?" The story of the ten lepers encounter with Jesus is dramatic in their healing, but disconcerting in that only one returned to say "Thank You." There are a lot of similarities between us and those ten lepers, and sadly there are also similarities with us in how we sometimes treat Jesus for all His good done toward us. Be sure to come and set your mind and spirit on God's track as we look forward to the Thanksgiving holiday.

In our 6:00 PM time this Sunday our AWANA kids will learn and play, and don't forget to bring your favorite stuffed animal to show others. That should be fun and interesting. Our Teens will learn together from Matthew 14:22 - 33 in addition to worship, games, and food. And our Adults will hear from a dear brother, Pastor Igor Bagirov, who is doing a steady work for the Lord through the Beth - El Messianic Ministries and Congregation in Cleveland. We want to be an encouragement to him by our attendance and prayers, and we will also have opportunity to share financially through an offering for that ministry so please come prepared to give.

We will not have any of our regular mid week services or meetings this next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. I know that there are many other services around which would be great for you to attend. Many of you (us) will be traveling, so pray for all that God will give safety and good weather. Many of our college students and other family will be traveling. Beth, Leah, and me will go to Indiana to spend Thanksgiving with Sam, Sarah, and Nicolas in their newly purchased first home, it should be a nice time. The plan is to thank the Lord together, eat a nice dinner, then Papa and Nicholas will watch some TV until we both doze off for a nap, probably on one of the blow up mattresses. What fun! Here they are enjoying their new backyard by a fire (boys like fires!) and on their deck.

Be sure to see the bulletin board in the lobby for a list of proposed officers and the proposed budget for 2009. We will formally vote on both at our business meeting on Weds. Dec. 3 at 7:00 pm. All members need to be there to participate, and regular attenders / non members are welcome.

Get your tickets for this year's Adult Christmas Banquet to be held on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 6:00 pm. They are $14.50 each, same price as last year and include a great catered buffet by Dave Milligan, which is always wonderful. Bring a gift for the exchange (always fun) of no more than $10, maybe less. For questions or payment, see Jeff Sheldon. (Sorry Jeff and Robin, we need a more recent picture.)

I look forward to seeing many of you this Sunday. As preparation for Sunday and the Thanksgiving week coming up, let me close with these words from one of my favorite and regular devotional books, "The Valley of Vision - A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions" (page 216):

"Thy goodnes is boundless; all creatures wait on Thee, are supplied by Thee, are satisfied in Thee. How precious are the thoughts of Thy mercy and grace! How excellent Thy lovingkindness that draws men to Thee!"

Pastor Don Workman

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Sunday, November 16, 2008

I just finished being involved in my first "webinar" and it was an interesting experience. My good friend, Dr. Jim Vogel hosted it from the home office of the GARBC near Chicago. Jim is the Associate National Representative and in that capacity much of his work involves interfacing with pastors and the churches they serve. This "webinar" was on the subject of "Situational Management" as it relates to leadership in the local church. I was glad to be one of about a dozen pastors from all over the northeast and midwest parts of the country. We kind of served as "guinea pigs" for the home office to try this format for the first time, and it worked well (once some of us solved some technical issues with our microphones.) I hope to be involved in things like this in the future. But don't expect me to do church this way - too convenient!
Congratulations to our own Bethany Cobb who was recently inducted into the Streetsboro High School branch of the National Honor Society. This is a high achievment involving good character, good grades, leadership qualities, and other positive virtues. We are rejoice with Bethany and her family and are glad she is a part of our Family at Faith.
This past Thursday evening I attended the Streetsboro school board meeting along with Tom and Sandi Goodrich as the board wanted to officially recognize and thank our church for our involvement with the school by giving out stuffed animals to welcome each child at Wait Primary School at the beginning of the year, and we plan to do it again in about a month before they leave for Christmas break. We have also done some other things to bridge over to our local school, and we hope to do more things in the future. It has been nice to form a good relationship with Principal John Natko and some of the staff and teachers there. And I know this also brings encouragement to some of our own members who go to or work in the school system. Please pray for these acts of friendship that they will foster good will between us and hopefully lead to further ministry to families in Streetsboro.
Speaking of ministry in Streetsboro, that is what we offer on Sundays. This Sunday is no different as we begin with all our classes and ABF's at 9:30 AM. These are great times to learn and get to know one another. We offer four Adult Bible Fellowships in addition to classes for all ages.
In our 10:45 AM Worship service we have some great songs of worship that honor God. Remember that when the kids are dismissed midway through, they will go to practice their Christmas program (which will be done on December 21 in the AM, so plan ahead.) Parents, it is vital that you have your kids here for that time if you expect them to be involved in the program this year. "We who are alive and remain" in the service will be caught up with rapture in the study of God's Word. Since we have finished our study in dispensationalism (and sorry that there is no recording or podcast of this service as the computer program recording it crashed mid way through) we will consider some thoughts on Thanksgiving, but in reverse order - this Sunday we will look at "Thanks-GIVING - Why Do We Give?" It will be geared around motives for tithing with appropriate Scriptures, not just one passage. It will also challenge us to think about our personal involvement in our Faith Promise Giving for Missions program, (click on it for explanation) which we usually do at this time of year. If you have not been involved in this before, I hope you will join on as part of our missions "team." And if you do give to it, would you please consider increasing your giving to it, even in the midst of an national economic downturn? In this way you will really know what FAITH Promise giving is about.
In our 6:00 PM evening activities, our AWANA kids will be collecting food for the local Christian Cupboard one more night - if you have anything to give, bring it then. Our teens will meet and study from Luke 5:1 -11 in addition to games and food. And in our service with Adults, we will be blest by observing the baptism of about eight people, thereby completing their membership process. We will also look at Matthew 6:14 - 18 as we finish up our study in this passage where Jesus warns us to not live hypocritcal lives, but rather transparent spiritual lives.
Remember our Prayer and Bible study time on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM and Thursday at 11:00 AM - come to whichever fits your schedule. We will also have a brief Missions Commission meeting next Weds about 7:30 PM. Our church board will have their bi-monthly meeting next Thursday at 5:30 PM (not sure what we are doing for supper yet), please pray for us as we seek God's will in leading our church, especially at this budget setting time of year. And don't forget our Annual Adult Christmas Banquet here in Hammond Hall on Saturday evening, December 6. Once we get the final menu from the caterer we can then give you a set price for tickets, but plan on them being similar to last year. This is always a fun time together, especially the gift exchange - why not plan to invite someone with you who does not attend here? This is a great way to informally introduce them to our church - and hopefully the Lord Jesus.
In preparation for the Christmas season, don't forget that Doug Carr would like you to give him a CD (or similar) of one of your favorite Christmas songs (spiritual ones, not "Rudolph...") He will compile them into one CD and play them before our services in December - but he needs us to get them to him by November 30th.
A lot is going on in the next month here and in many churches around us. Pray that in all the activity that we don't miss the focus on Jesus Christ and why He came. May we who are in programs or services do our best for the Lord, because this is one of the two times of year that many who don't attend church regularly will come. Pray and plan now to ask some in your sphere of influence to attend church with you this holiday season. Beginning with this Sunday. And we will all look forward to God doing some great things in lives that were formerly apart from Him.
Thanks for your prayers for me and all pastors you know.
Pastor Don Workman
Here are some pictures of Nicholas' recent first ever trip to the dentist: he was not too sure about them wearing masks but once he understood that part, he was OK and cooperated like a good little boy. Sarah did say that he was quite interested in how all their "tools" worked as he kept looking at all of them. Wonder what kind of instincts that implies??



Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Sunday, November 9, 2008

We had a great day of ministry this past Tuesday during the national General Election process. The photos show the various people involved from our church who worked the polls, gave out food and snacks, and some of us ended up working the parking lot to keep traffic moving smoothly. The weather was wonderful, and by the end of the day there were a lot of tired folks, but it was all very rewarding. Thank you to all who volunteered to help that day.

Last Sunday evening was a blessing as we participated in the ordinance of Communion and welcomed seven new members into our church. There are a few other new members who could not be there, but we hope to add them this week. Some need to be baptized by immersion, so I will be holding that class this Sunday at 4:00 pm with the actual baptism service taking place the following Sunday evening, November 16. This service should really be a blessing, don't miss it.

This Sunday we continue with all our services, including four Adult classes at 9:30 AM. In addition to our other ABF's, the Discipleship ABF with Lila started well last Sunday. It is not too late to join if you would like to give it a try. All our Sunday school classes for kids and teens will meet as usual.

At 10:45 AM we have some great worship songs that will help lift our hearts to God. I will continue and hopefully conclude our study about "How God Has and Does Deal with Us" (dispensations and covenants of God.) We will look at the times of the Tribulation and Kingdom and see how the Davidic, Palestinian, and New Covenants fit with these. Several passages in the book of Revelation will be considered along with 2 Samuel 7, Deuteronomy 30, and Jeremiah 31 which all relate to the covenants. As we see how God will deal with mankind during this time, we will be challenged with what we need to be doing in our lives NOW because we are responsible to God during this time in which we live.

In our evening ministries at 6:00 PM our AWANA kids will be having "Military Appreciation Night" so don't forget to bring items for "encouragement packages" to Kurtis and Justin from our church, both in the Marines. Also, the AWANA kids recently kicked off their annual Food Drive for the local food pantry in town, please help by bringing non perishable items and place the on the lobby table. Our teens will begin a new study about the life of Peter, "A Fragile Stone", which is the video series our adults viewed earlier this fall. This will be a good preparation for those planning to minister on the short term missions trip to Japan next summer. And our Adults will gather for fellowship and a continued study from Matthew 6:1 - 18 where we will continue to check our spiritual attitudes to be sure they are in line with Jesus' desires for us.

This Monday is our Women's Ministry Craft Night meeting at 7:00 PM here at church. This special event will cost $5.00 for supplies, but promises to be a fun time together. There is a sign up sheet to plan, so please use it this Sunday.

For our Senior Adults there will be the monthly OASIS (Older Adults Sharing In Streetsboro) meeting, this time at Rosemary Scott's home. It will meet on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 11:00 AM to about 1:00 PM.

We plan to have a list of proposed officers and budget for 2009 posted soon on the bulletin board in preparation for the Annual Business meeting here on Wednesday, December 3 at 7:00 PM. Please look there for it and plan to attend this important meeting. There are many other opportunities for concerts, seminars, and other items for your spiritual growth and encouragement posted on the board, please take a look and attend what you can.

The past couple of weeks have been a roller coaster weatherwise! I hope you have been able to enjoy the recent warm weather and get your outdoor "wrap up" work done. Some in our family enjoyed great days for "pumpkin hunting" out in Oregon (Jon and Hannah) and trick or treating to friend's homes as "Boots", who is Dora the Explorer's friend (Nicholas, mommy, and daddy.) I understand our Joshua has been doing some side work on a buffalo farm in PA (interesting) and Leah has been busy at college planning and executing a Community Service day which took place this past week. She has also been fairly busy texting with her phone, which is reflected in our recent bill. How are things going with YOUR family during this season? Send me an email or comment below.

I believe our podcasts are getting up to date, check them out in the box below at the bottom of this page. I need to add some descriptions to them, then post them, so keep checking back. You can also subscribe to them as well as updates to this page through the links below.

Pray for all our ministries this Sunday. We appreciate God's work in and through our church in recent weeks, and I hope everyone reading this has been experiencing the same. May this Sunday be a blessing and bring glory to God in all we do!

Pastor Don Workman
www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org