Sunday, March 1, 2009

The following is a little long, but very amusing:

Handy Engineering Conversions:
- Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter: Eskimo Pi
- 2000 pounds of Chinese soup: Won ton
- 1 millionth of a mouthwash: 1 microscope
- Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement: 1 bananosecond
- Weight an evangelist carries with God: 1 billigram
- Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour: Knot-furlong
- 16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone: 1 Rod Serling
- Half of a large intestine: 1 semicolon
- 1000 aches: 1 megahurtz
- Basic unit of laryngitis: 1 hoarsepower
- Shortest distance between two jokes: A straight line (think about it for a moment)
- 453.6 graham crackers: 1 pound cake
- 1 million-million microphones: 1 megaphone
- 1 million bicycles: 2 megacycles
- 365.25 days: 1 unicycle
- 2000 mockingbirds: 2 kilomockingbirds
- 10 cards: 1 decacards
- 1 kilogram of falling figs: 1 Fig Newton
- 1000 grams of wet socks: 1 literhosen
- 1 millionth of a fish: 1 microfiche
- 1 trillion pins: 1 terrapin
- 10 rations: 1 decoration
- 100 rations: 1 C-ration
- 2 monograms: 1 diagram
- 8 nickels: 2 paradigms
- 2.4 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at Yale University Hospital: 1 I.V. League
- 100 Senators: Not 1 decision

Maybe it will help if you read it again!

We are in that time of year where it is somewhat warm one day, and bitter cold the next. Great weather for getting sap for maple syrup, but bad for our health! Be careful and take precautions like washing hands frequently. It has been warm midweek, but will be colder again on Sunday, but don't allow that to keep you away. Here is what is going on this Sunday:

This is our "Tract Sunday" and we will participate with many other churches across our country by putting a tract in each bulletin for you to give out in the coming week. If only 5,000 churches nationwide would distribute 200 tracts, we would help in giving out one million tracts explaining God's way of salvation! It is great to take part in this endeavor, be thinking of how you can give your tract away next week.

9:30 AM - Adult Bible Fellowships and Sunday School for all ages. Great opportunities for growth, belonging, learning.

10:45 AM - Worship of God in song and His Word. We will continue to look at Ezra 5 (and relate it to Haggai and Zechariah) in part two of "Shaking Out of Spiritual Apathy and Lethargy." After setting the groundwork last Sunday we will turn toward further life applications of the principles of this passage. We all face apathetic and lethargic times in life, so prepare ahead to battle through them by applying these prinicples to your life.

6:00 PM - This will be our monthly Communion Service where we together remember Christ's sacrifice for us through song, testimony, God's Word, and the elements. Our Student Ministry will meet in the auditorium with the adults during this time. Hopefully some of them will be able to share testimony about the impact of the Winter Retreat they experienced this weekend at Skyview Ranch. Remember to bring your Benevolent Fund offering which is much needed by some during these tough times.

Also meeting on Sunday at 6:00 PM is our AWANA program which features "Crazy Hat Night" this week. Don't forget to wear yours, along with your uniform (double "shares" for wearing your uniform.) Parents, please remember to have your kids turn in their "dues" money each week.

We look forward to having Dan Kieta arrive home safely on Saturday from his work trip to China. Keep him in prayer regarding safety and health.

For teens going to the Retreat this Friday through Sunday, be sure to be on time and bring all necessary items. If you have questions give Dennis and Barb a call.

Our Upward basketball program continues this Saturday with games held at First Baptist in Aurora. This has been a positive experience for all involved and we thank the Lord for this opportunity.

Our Women's Ministry meeting will be this Monday, March 9 at 7:00 PM here at the church. I don't recall what is going on for it, but check with Debbie Mace on Sunday so that you can prepare.

For your advanced notice we will be hosting the "Chamber Singers" of Baptist Bible College, PA on Saturday, March 21 at 7:00 PM for a concert of worship. We are always blest greatly by their ministry, please come and invite other to come with you. On that day at 5:00 PM we will be enjoying our annual "Chili / Soup / Bread" supper social. Since this is the time of year we have this, we thought it would be extra fun to have it when the Chamber Singers are here to enjoy it with us. It will afford all of us an opportunity to get to know the kids in the group better, and it will be a nice "homecoming" event for our own Leah Workman. Let me know if you are able and willing to house any of the students overnight on that night. And they will only be with us in concert on Saturday night, not Sunday morning, so be sure not to miss it!

Many of you know that our Nicholas is looking forward to his baby brother arriving in about a month. He does ask Sarah almost daily "is baby brother coming out TODAY?" Here is the result of one of the times where Sarah tried to explain it to him: He looks like he is sympathizing with mommy! Please keep Sarah and the baby in prayer as she is due March 27. Beth and I will be making our plans to go, we are praying it all goes as well as the arrival of Nicholas did. And there is no name as of yet for the new baby that we know of, though much has been suggested as to how to combine the grandfathers' names for it ("Ray" and "Don" - that combo doesn't work.)

Well, I am off to visit Lila in the hospital - she had cataract surgery on Tuesday which went well, but is having some other eye problems not related to that surgery. Please keep her in prayer. Also pray for Ron Biltz' recovery from MCL knee surgery this past Tuesday. It went well and he is home. George Riefler is out of the hospital and home, and some decisions regarding his health care need to be made, so keep Kathy and the family in prayer.

Some have asked about how Beth is doing with her voice progress, and the therapy / lessons have really helped - she is doing great! In fact, she will be taking part in a recital on Sunday, March 8 at 2:00 PM for her teacher's voice students. It will be held on the campus of the Cleveland Music Settlement School - click on the name for information. If you are interested and able to attend and rejoice with us in God's goodness and healing, you are most welcome to attend.

And I hope you will attend services here (or at your own church) this Sunday as we have planned for an encouraging time in the Lord. He is good and we honor Him for this by giving our time, effort, and finances for His glory. I look forward to seeing you this Sunday!

Pastor Don Workman

http://www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org/

Sunday, February 22, 2009

This is Thursday and we just finished with the OASIS group meeting for prayer, Bible study, and lunch. And I did it again - ate too much! Sloppy joes, potato salads, jello salads, ice cream cake - now you know why I am not too hungry when I go home after these meetings. I wish every pastor had a great group of saints who look after him as I do with these wonderful friends! If you are able to join on Thursdays at 11:00 AM, please do so - you will be blest!

I would like to hope that this current "snow situation" we are going through is our last for the winter, but I won't get my hopes up too high. But Spring will be coming soon with all the chores that go along with springtime such as the one from this little story:

A prisoner in jail received a letter from his wife: "I have decided to plant some vegetables in the back garden. When is the best time to plant them?"
The prisoner, knowing that the prison guards read all mail, replied in a letter: "Dear wife, whatever you do, do not touch the back garden. That is where I hid all the money."

A week or so later, he received another letter from his wife: "You won't believe what happened. Some men came with shovels to the house and dug up all the back garden."

The prisoner wrote another letter: "Dear wife, now is the best time to plant the vegetables."

Makes you wonder how such a smart guy ended up in prison in the first place!

Here is the lineup for our services this Sunday for your planning:

9:30 AM - all classes and ABF's for all ages, including nursery.

10:45 AM - Worship service with some great music and corporate focus on God through His Word and Spirit in our lives together. I will be speaking from Ezra 5 and touching on the books of Haggai and Zechariah (which fit into the historical context here) on the subject of "Shaking Out of Spiritual Apathy and Lethargy." The nation of Israel continues the quest of building the second temple for acceptable worship of Jehovah after a hiatus due to opposition. During that time (15 - 18 years) all they saw was the foundation and nothing more. This led to much apathy and lethargy spiritually, something with which we all can identify in our day. As God shook the Israelites out of this condition, God can also do that for us today as we work with Him. If your reaction to all this is "whatever!" then you REALLY need to be here this Sunday AM.

6:00 PM - AWANA kids remember this is the final night to bring your missionary offering, don't forget. Student ministries will study from Acts 10:1 - 36 about "The Reluctant Reconciler" in the Apostle Peter's life. Adults will gather to sing and share in fellowship as we continue the study in "God Our Father" by dispelling any resemblence of our heavenly Father with a dysfunctional earthly father and ending with a look at Luke 15.

Remember that all Upward basketball games are at OUR CHURCH this Saturday, Feb. 21. Again, if anyone is willing to supply chili for hotdogs, please call Cricket Kean or Tim Cobb - these went over BIG last time! And stop in to see some of the games between 8:00 AM and Noon, they are fun to watch.

This Monday at 7:00 pm is a Men's Ministry meeting here at Faith. As we try to rejuvinate this ministry bring your ideas and willingness to work together.

I hope you had a good Valentine's Day last week. Here is how Nicholas celebrated the day with his mommy and daddy - by wearing his great - grandmother's glasses that she wore as an elementary teacher for every Valentine's Day for almost 40 years!

And Beth celebrated by coming across the "sale of the year" at her favorite store (clothing store, NOT Aldi's this time.) She used all the Christmas gift cards to it that we all gave her at Christmas, and she did very well! She is a happy shopper.

Thank the Lord for His goodness to us in all kind of ways. We show our thanks by our obedience, and that continues by attending services this Sunday. I look forward to seeing you then, or hearing about your services if you attend outside our area.

Pastor Don Workman

www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org

February 15, 2009

Today is Friday of Valentine's Day Weekend - fair warning, guys (as I write that I speak to myself!) But I woke up not feeling so great today. I have been around a lot of people with that "flu" that has been going around, but side - stepped it so far. I don't think I have it, but I do hope to feel better soon. All this talk goes right along with this little story with which many of us can identify:

The following notes from parents excusing their children from attending school have been around a while but if you haven't seen them, I'm sure you will get a kick out of them:

"Please excuse Freddie from being away yesterday because he had the fuel."
"Please accuse Michael from being absent on January 30 because he was aleing."
"George was absent yesterday because of a sore trout."
"Please excuse Betsey from being absent. She was sick and I had her shot."
"Joseph has been absent becuz he had two teeth taken off his face."
"My son is under doctor's care and should not take fisical education. Please execute him."
"Please excuse Ralph from school on Friday. He had very loose vowels."

We have a lot of kids around our church, and I can hear many of them saying things like this - not to be dishonest, but you should hear some of the things I hear - FUNNY!

As I reported last Sunday in our bulletin insert, we are rejoicing in how well God is blessing us through our attendances and through your faithful, consistent, and sufficient giving. I am grateful that almost all of us still have our jobs (though a couple are looking.) Our Faith Promise for Missions giving, which is above our regular giving to the general fund, has been strong and on target. That has allowed us to run on the "plus" side in our general fund, and that is how the whole thing is suppose to work. All this is evidence of God's goodness and grace to us as a church, and we thank Him for that. Please continue to attend and give, you are really the one who will benefit most from it. Our ministries are going well because of this, and we are able to consider stretching in other ministries, too.

As I mention jobs and economy, pray for some of our people who travel distances at times for their work. Todd Miller was in Florida for work related duties this past week, and was to arrive back home yesterday. Just as Todd came home, Dan Kieta left yesterday for China until Feb. 28 for his work (software security) for Sherwin Williams. Pray for these families when dad is away, and pray for all of us who travel many local miles for work. Whether to China, Florida, Cleveland, or local - all deserve regular prayer.

This Sunday we are glad to have all of our Sunday School and ABF classes meeting at 9:30 AM. This is a great time of learning and fellowship. Some ABF's are continuing their studies in the books of Daniel and Luke; another just began a new study in "Apologetics: Knowing What You Believe and Why." All are worth getting up and ready for early.

In our 10:45 AM worship service we will be encouraged together as we sing, share, and study from God's Word. This Sunday we will continue our study through the book of Ezra, in chapter 4 where we will be encouraged: "Don't Let Adversity Hinder You From Doing God's Work." If you read this chapter over, you will probably say to yourself, "this sounds a lot like situations in some churches." That is too bad, but often too true. Pretense, lying, tattling, outright opposition - all too familiar in some churches today. And note that this has always beset the people of God. It is sad when we bring it on ourselves; but if we haven't, then our defense is through God. Come and be encouraged this Sunday.

This Sunday morning we will have a visiting missionary family with us so that you can get to know them. Jason and Adele Rice and family are aiming to minister in Slovakia - they will have a display and you will be briefly introduced to them. They are going to be in our area (they are from Meadville, PA) and took me up on the offer to stop by. I will introduce them and you will hear from them for a few minutes in our service. Beth and I will not be able to host them in the early afternoon, so if anyone would like to have or take them to Sunday dinner (I think they have two or three small kids) please call me soon.

At 6:00 PM our AWANA kids will learn, memorize Scripture, play games together, and will be wearing their clothes inside out! Don't forget. Our Teens will enjoy their fellowship and learning time together by looking at John 21:1 - 19 as they continue their study in the life of the Apostle Peter. This passage shows how we can have New Hope, even if we have miserably failed Jesus. Our Adults will sing and share together, and we will hear from Pete Kendrick as he talks about the "Seven I AM's and Seven Names of Jesus." That should be interesting, and Pete is always well prepared.

Our Upward basketball ministry continues tomorrow (Saturday) up at First Baptist in Aurora. Stop by if you can anytime from 8:00 AM to noon - the games are exciting and all have a great time together.

Remember that ALL TEACHERS need to attend the Christian Education meeting this Tuesday at 7:00 PM. Our new coordinator, Sandi Goodrich, would like a meeting to organize, touch base, and go over any needs you may have. Please make this meeting a priority.

Our OASIS group ("Older Adults Sharing In Streetsboro") will meet next Thursday, Feb. 19 at 11:00 AM for their monthly prayer, Bible study, and luncheon. This is a great time, and those of us in the office that day are always grateful that they include us!! I usually go home in the evening and tell Beth, "Oh, I'm not too hungry tonight." She always says, "Have you been hanging out with that OASIS group again?" If you can, come and find out what it is all about.

We are excited about our Student Ministry going again this summer to Japan to minister with our missionaries there, Bill and Becky Petite. They will give us more information about this trip this Sunday, please pray for them and be considering how you can help financially in the next few months.

It dawned on me this past Tuesday that last Sunday was the "anniversary sunday" for Beth, me, and our family here at Faith. We have now begun our 18th year with you, amazing when we look back at the pictures (sorry I don't have any right now in the computer to share - maybe later.) It is even more amazing and humbling when we think back over the years, through tears and trials, through joys and blessings, of all God has done here. We are thankful to be involved and praise the Lord for all He has accomplished in us together as pastor and people. We are in a wonderful time right now, and we anticipate further blessings as we remain loyal and faithful to Him in all ways. Rejoice with us!

Pastor Don Workman

http://www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org/

Sunday February 8, 2009

When I peruse church websites I often like to look at who is the pastor there. On a lot of these sites they will give a psuedo "interview" so you can get to know him through answers to random questions like: "who is your favorite team?" "what kind of pizza/ice cream/etc. do you like best?" and one of my favorites, "what is playing right now on your iPod?" Shows their "coolness." Well, if you sense my jealousy you are right, because if I even HAD an iPod, the song playing on it regularly would be this one (click on the video link): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f34F7e3d0_Y&feature=related If you ever wondered what I use in addition to the Bible and that prayer book, "The Valley of Vision" in my own spiritual walk, it is songs like this that make me think about God and my relationship to Him. Maybe the music isn't your style, but I have found I can worship God personally through things like this in addition to good hymns and often sacred classical music. I hope you find what "works for you" and use it regularly in your time with God.

While on that site I also found a link to a song that we will be learning and singing here at Faith in the next few weeks. You can get to know it ahead of time by clicking on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yVAYuK7YE0&feature=related Of course our version is different from the one recorded, but in "making it our own" you will find it to be a blessing. Practice it now.

In mentioning music and worship, I want to thank Pastor Tom for leading and putting together our music for all our services. We will sing some good ones this Sunday at 10:45 AM as we lift our hearts to God in worship of Him and His greatness. We will then continue our study in the book of Ezra this week looking at chapter 3 to see how "Your Perspective Shapes Your Perception of Things." In this chapter we will share in the excitement of the ancient Israelites as they begin in earnest to reestablish their system of worship in their land after several generations in exile to Babylon. But there is a surprise ending to the chapter that makes us go, "hmmmmm . . . " A lot of room for application to us today, come ready to interact with God's Word and His Spirit.

Don't forget that our day begins at 9:30 AM with our classes and fellowships for learning and interaction with one another in God's Word. There is a class for all ages and several for adults from which to choose.

All our regular ministries for the family continue at 6:00 PM, don't miss this time. For kids in AWANA don't forget your "Valentine for Jesus" as well as your special offering for our AWANA missionaries which we are collecting all month long. Our teens will enjoy fellowship and games together as well as a study in Mark 12:27-42 and 66-72 about Peter's denials of Christ - study these passages ahead to prepare. And our Adults will continue their study of "God Our Father" by answering some objections by some of this view of God, and then see what this relationship implies.

Ladies, this Monday is the Heart Sister Banquet at 6:30 PM. Please pay your $5 to Debbie Mace this Sunday and don't forget the items you are to bring with you (batteries, tissues, etc.) This is always a special time annually for our ladies, we encourage you to be involved in this important ministry that lasts all year.

For Teens, the Skyview Winter Blast retreat will be coming at the end of the month - see Dennis if you plan to go. This is always a "blast" and is not to be missed. There is also a Team Meeting for kids and their parents who are part of the missions trip to Japan this summer right after our morning service, please don't forget as this is an important meeting. And one of the training meetings will be on Monday, Feb. 16 from 4:00 - 7:00 PM, be sure to put that on your calendar.

This Sunday you will receive an insert in the bulletin regarding financial updates. To give you a peek, our General Fund giving is healthy and ahead of budget so far, but our Faith Promise for Missions giving is a little bit behind. Please continue to give strongly to both, it is encouraging to see where we are in the midst of the cold winter months.

As you prepare for Sunday, be sure to review our memory verse from Proverbs 16:9 in the NASB. Pray for our Upward basketball games tomorrow (Saturday) and as I speak for a few minutes to the kids and parents at halftime from Luke 9:25. I will do this 5 times for 5 different groups tomorrow, so I am excited.

I hope you are excited in the Lord as well. It will be "warm" this Sunday (around 50 degrees) so hopefully nothing will hold you back. See you then.

Pastor Don Workman

www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org