Sunday, December 21, 2008

'Twas the week before Christmas, and in Streetsboro we are having an ice storm! This delayed some of our kids in Pennsylvania from getting home on Friday, but Lord willing they will make it safely on Saturday. I hope the storm has not caused problems for ones like the policeman in this story:

Gale-force winds and frigid temperatures had taken their toll. Snapped electric wires were sparking and snaking about the snowdrifts. As a foot patrolman, I was assigned to a desolate intersection to provide security at the scene of a downed wire.

It was 12:40 a.m. and -19 degrees when I relieved the initial guardian of this dangerous area. He pointed out the thin line swinging ferociously from the main electric circuit, as he entered the squad car for his return to warmth. I pulled my coat collar up to my earmuffs and took up my position to protect the public.

Finally, at 5:40 a.m., a utility truck arrived. The linemen checked the wires, then, laughing, descended toward me.

"Well, Officer," one of them said, "congratulations. You've successfully guarded a frozen kite string all night."

Speaking of kids and family, it was great to have Kurtis Biltz home this past Sunday following his graduation from boot camp with the Marines. It was a blessing to have the WHOLE Biltz family in our service, I know it was very special for Ron and Cindy.

This Sunday is a special one at Faith - it is our annual Christmas programs day. Remember that we are having only one service this Sunday morning which begins at 10:00 AM. There are NO classes or ABF's meeting at 9:30 AM, but all kids in the program need to be at church by 9:15 AM to prepare for the program at 10:00. Please read all this again carefully if you have kids in the program. This program is not real long, so we will continue after the program with some songs and a brief message. Please pray that those in attendance who may only come to church on this Sunday of the year will clearly understand the meaning of the songs and the message. I plan to speak from Matthew 3:1 -12 about "The Greatest Christmas Decoration of Them All."

Our Adult Festival Choir will present their cantata, "Tonight Heaven Touches Earth" on Sunday evening at 6:00 PM. You will enjoy the various musical styles presented, and you will appreciate the way the Christmas story is told through this cantata. Invite someone to attend this special time with you.

Parents, please remember the program rehearsal for your kids tomorrow (Saturday) from 9:00 AM to Noon. Don't be late. And remember all those in the Adult Choir Cantata that your dress rehearsal is tonight (Friday) at 7:00 PM.

And on Christmas Eve we will have our Annual Candlelight service beginning at 7:00 PM for the whole family. Readings, songs, and the special closing time will all take about an hour, making this a memorable addition to your family gathering - plan to attend together.

The week after Christmas is fairly quiet for many of us in regards to our regular schedules. On Sunday, December 28 we will have our regular Sunday school, ABF's, and Morning Service all at their normal times. We will not be having an evening service that Sunday as well as no evening service on January 4. There will be no midweek meetings on December 31, and we do not have any kind of New Year's Eve service. We encourage you to attend others you may know about. Our church office hours will be sporadic during the week between the holidays, but we will be in and out to check the answering machine, etc. I will be trying to spend as much time as possible with family during this week while they are in town. And Mary Horley, our secretary, will be getting ready to leave on December 29 for Arizona for three months.

Thank you for your strong giving in this last quarter of the year. Though it was worse earlier in the year, your recent giving has pulled our budget almost even. We are currently about $1,900 in the "red", but extra giving in the next two Sundays can go a long way to helping us end our fiscal year in the "black." Please consider helping.

We look forward to seeing you at our special services this Sunday. Please pray for health and safety of all involved in the programs.

Pastor Don Workman

http://www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org/

Sunday, December 14, 2008

With the Christmas season drawing near you are probably thinking about your holiday dinner plans. Here is a little pun about one of the more popular dinner options:

Mike: One of our pigs was sick so I gave him some sugar.
Ben: Sugar! What for?
Mike: Haven't you ever heard of sugar-cured ham?

Yeah, I know - corny! But you liked it!!

This Sunday has great potential for many blessings for you. Our classes for all ages at 9:30 AM are wonderful times to learn, grow, and belong. Fellowship is great and our dedicated teachers look forward to interacting with all children, teens, and adults in prayer and God's Word. We currently offer three ABF's for adults, come and give one a try.

At 10:45 AM our Worship service will feature a lot of traditional songs of the season as well as learning a new one, "Offering" by Paul Baloche. This song is a blessing to me and I am glad we will be able to sing it together. In fact, it is part of our upcoming Christmas Musical, so by coming this week you will have a head start on the program. I plan to share a message about "With God There Are NO Small Places - or People." We will look at various scriptures that speak about that "Little Town of Bethlehem" and the significance it has held throughout history. We will also see how God used it in His plan of redemption for us all.

In our 6:00 PM Family Hour we will continue the good fellowship of the day by gathering as adults to look at a few "Snapshots" of Christ, mainly through verses that use the word, "Behold." Obviously many of these are Christmas related, so it should add to our thoughts of the season. Teens will be studying from Matthew 16:13 - 23 in addition to their game time. And our AWANA kids will enjoy lessons, Bible memory, and the ever popular "Store Night" where they can spend their AWANA "shares" to buy gifts for Christmas giving. I think Beth and I still have many of those gifts from our kids somewhere. It all adds up to good fun with an eternal purpose.

Our Adult Choir has been practicing diligently each Sunday afternoon at 4:45 PM in preparation for the upcoming Cantata on Dec. 21st, and it will continue this Sunday. It always grieves me when some leave after the practice and don't attend the evening service time, so please consider staying - I think you will be glad you did.

And in mentioning the Christmas programs on Sunday, December 21st let me give you a few more details: Our Children's program will be in the morning, and our adult cantata in the evening. We will have a special morning time that day where we will not be holding our regular Sunday school or ABF's, but rather begin at 10:00 AM with the kids program and continue into some time for songs, offering, and look into God's Word. We plan to be all finished about 11:30 AM or around that time. All Teachers, please note this change in Sunday School. I hope that telling you this now will assist everyone in their plans to attend.

Our Adult Christmas Banquet last Saturday evening was a great time. We had about 50 who attended, many for the first time. The food was great and the fellowship wonderful, and as always, the gift exchange was fun. Don't miss it next year, it is always around the first Saturday evening of December. A big "THANK YOU" to Jeff Sheldon and all the social team for all their work, it was very appreciated.

Several have asked about our "Gifts for Christ" offering this year, and my answer right now is that the board has not yet determined a place for this offering to go. It's intent is to be sent away to a ministry that "doesn't touch us." But once in a great while we need to utilize it in some way here in our church. The only problem with that is that it takes away from the "Gift" part of it. We are very close to ending our year in the black, and maybe even with a positive balance. And though it is not always exciting to give something like this to the General Fund, it is rewarding to know that we pulled together to make it happen. If you have suggestions for the use of this offering, please let us know (note, email, call to office - all are fine.)

Continue to pray for good health for all, especially those who are part of our various Christmas programs. Pray that fevers will leave, coughing will subside, and that the flu going around will go away! And pray and prepare your heart for a good day in God's place with God's people this Sunday - I look forward to seeing you.

Pastor Don Workman

http://www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org/

(also on Facebook - join the fun and join our group)

Fun with Nicholas at Chuck E. Cheese - I haven't been there in over 20 years!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving holiday last week. I was out of town at Sarah and Sam's in Indiana, along with Beth and Leah. We all had a good time together for a few days. The Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful, thanks to Sarah doing most of the cooking this time. And here you can see Nicholas is thrilled with so much food on his plate: Here are a few others from the day:

I slept through the "Black Friday" early morning sales, but Beth, Sarah, and Leah were out there in the midst of it all. I don't know if you were out as well, and experienced long lines in which to wait. If you did, I hope your response wasn't like this guy I read about at a bank:

With only two tellers working at the bank, the line I was standing in was moving very slowly. As I waited, I began to fill in my withdrawal slip. Not sure of the date, I turned and asked the woman behind me.
"It's the fifth," she replied.
A man from the back of the line advised, "Don't write it in yet!"

This Sunday we will have our regular line up of services beginning with Adult Bible Fellowships and Sunday School at 9:30 AM. This is a great time of learning for all, and a special place to gain that sense of "belonging" in church that everyone desires. We can help you find "your place" if you have not been to an ABF before or for awhile.

In our 10:45 AM service worship is the key and purpose for which we gather. Good songs, a time to give, and exhortation from God's Word make for a great time of worship to God together. I plan to share some things God has recently impressed on my heart from Psalm 41 and approach it from the standpoint of "Beating the Holiday 'Blues' Before They Start." Often these "blue" feelings come during and after holiday times, but we don't have to give in to them. In this Psalm of David we are given several several steps to take to avoid these down times. Verse 11 was key to me, because I often pray for and desire that I am living a life pleasing to God. As I considered this verse and the others around it, they gave me a sense of how God evaluates me and shows His pleasure in me. I hope this will be a help to all who come to hear.

Our evening service and ministries are at 6:00 PM with AWANA for kids, our Student Ministries, and our service for Adults. These are fun and informal times together, and the adult group that gathers truly learns, interacts, and enjoys the fellowship with one another. We will look at Hebrews 2:14 - 18 as we consider the importance of Jesus coming to earth as "one of us." This is what Christmas is all about and I hope this time will form a basis for our thoughts this month.

Before all this happens, remember that tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 6) we will be enjoying our Annual Adult Christmas Banquet together at 6:00 PM. From a quick glance at the list, it looked like we had somewhere between 45 - 60 signed up to attend. And if at the last minute you find that you can attend, but didn't sign up, give Jeff Sheldon a call - I think it will be OK (you can eat my food.) The cost is $14.50 per person, and don't forget a cheap, but meaningful gift for the fun exchange.

This Monday from 6:00 to 8:00 PM we begin our Upward basketball evaluations for kids age 4 - grade 6 who are going to play in this program this year. We will have a duplicate evaluation time on Thursday as well if you can't make it on Monday. Be sure to fill out and bring with you the registration form on the lobby table display.

Also on Monday at 7:00 PM our Ladies Ministry is meeting to make and prepare Christmas cookies to distribute to our local businesses. We have done this for at least two years now, and each time we are welcomed and thanked greatly. This is just one of those special things we do for our neighbors in the name of Jesus, so please pray that we will have a good effect for Christ in their lives.

And don't forget that we offer a time of sharing, prayer, and brief Bible study on Weds. at 7:00 PM and Thursday at 11:00 AM. I call these times "intimate" because we share as much as we feel comfortable sharing for prayer and then pray with friends in small groups. Give this a try if you haven't lately, I think you will be blest for the effort you make to attend.

Put our Christmas programs on your calendar for December 21. The Kids' program will be in the morning, and the Adult presentation in the evening at 6:00 PM. More on this next time.

It was the Greek Philosopher, Plato, (by the way, he didn't invent the store chain) who said, "Mankind will never see an end of trouble until... lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power... become lovers of wisdom." (from "The Republic") In our current troublesome times these days, may we all turn Plato's words into our own prayer to the Lord.

God bless you, I look forward to having you join our blessings this Sunday!

Pastor Don Workman

www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org