Williamsonfbc.org

Saturday, February 13, 2010   4:30-7:00 p.m.
First Baptist Church of Williamson Fellowship Hall
Adults - $8.00          Children 10 and under - $4.00

 The First Baptist Church is raising funds for materials needed by our Dominican Republic Mission Team for their trip in April. Come out on February 13th and treat your valentine to a special night with friends!

Tickets are $8.00 in advance for adults and $4.00 for children 10 and under, limited to 100 dinners and you get a full plate of: Homemade Lasagna, Tossed Salad, Warm Garlic Bread, Chocolate Dessert, And Choice of Beverage

Call the church at (315) 589-2384 to reserve your ticket
or e-mail us at info@williamsonfbc.org.

For Takeouts please call the church. Hope to see you there!

Ever since the conference this past November with Dr. Jeff Johnson, I’ve been thinking about a word he used over and over, Intentionality. When I look through the pages of Acts and see the thousands of people coming to Christ, it makes me wonder why that doesn’t happen today. It seems that all these disciples had to do was preach and people would turn their lives over to Christ. The Great Commission was happening spontaneously as the Spirit led them.

Today though, the mission field is a little different and the Great Commission cannot be expected to just happen on its own. Yes there will be times that people step through our doors miraculously and become a part of Body of Christ, but more and more we are finding that the people outside the doors of the church do not think they need Christ in their lives. Also we are finding that there are less and less ways that we come in contact with people. Drive-thrus, ATM machines, self-checkout lines, pay at the pump have taken the place of face to face contact. Most people do not sit on their porches anymore and many use their back or side doors instead of the front ones. Computers and e-mail are replacing phone calls and visits and this trend is continuing to separate us further and further from each other and community.

What does this mean for us? No longer will evangelism happen on its own. We now need to be more intentional than ever in how we reach out and do things. We have to be more intentional in praying. We have to be more intentional in how we greet others and welcome them into our midst. We have to be more intentional in making personal contacts with others. We have to be more intentional in listening for needs and opportunities we can help.

These are just a few of ways we need to be more intentional but there are many others. This year I’m asking that we begin to change some of our habits. At board meetings we will tithe our time. This means that if we meet for two hours, 12 minutes of that time will be spent in prayer for our church, our community, our empty pews, etc… At each February board and committee meetings, I’m asking that they begin looking over their whole year of events and programs and begin praying about and asking these questions, What does God want us to stop doing? What does God want us to start doing? And what does God want us to strengthen?

Also as we begin to intentionally reach out to our community more, I’m asking that each of you do three things. First, take a moment to think of 6 people. 6 people that need to know Christ. 6 people that need the Lord in their lives and begin praying for them. Pray for the voice to speak to them and show them the love of Christ. Pray that they will be shown the love of Christ each day. Pray that they will see their need for the Lord. As we pray for others God will speak to us as well on how we can reach out to them. If you can’t think of 6 people, pray that God begins to show you who your 6 people are pray that he does that.
Secondly, begin seeing every person as a person who needs the Lord., as a person you could form a relationship with in some way. Make extra time in your schedules to visit with others and not rush from here to there. Make a connection and begin to build relationships.

Finally, I’m asking that you be involved in some training events that will be coming up in the near future. The first training event will be on hospitality and prayer and will teach us how to better welcome the visitor and be a stronger community together. The second training event will be in your style of evangelism which we will find out through a personality assessment. Most of us aren’t people who will go door to door for the Lord, but using our own personalities that God gave us, we can still reach others with the love of Christ.

As we focus more on evangelism and being intentional about it, I’m looking for a few people that feel God calling them to be part of an evangelism planning and visioning team. This team will revisit the vision of our church and then begin a process of discernment and prayer for where God is calling us further.

God has a lot in store for us as a church. He is not done with us yet and I encourage you to be part of this thrust and support the ministries and vision God is giving to us. Thank you church for your commitment and may we begin to see our community changed by the love of Christ.

The scripture this morning is a very near and dear scripture to me. Being 14 when I received my call into the ministry was in many ways tough. I heard and still hear today how young I am. It was ingrained in me in some way that because I was young that I did not know enough. That I just couldn’t do the things that other more mature people could do. My home church supported the things I wanted to do with the youth, but the adults did their own things. I became the youth representative on each board, but did not have a vote or a voice. It seemed that my youth kept me from advancing in my calling.

In college I suffered with taking initiative because as others had continued to tell me, I was only a child. I was too young. Seminary led me deeper into this feeling of inadequacy because 90 percent of the students were second career and much older than this 21 year old. I happened to be the youngest student enrolled in seminary, which many people picked up on and told me about. And even here this past year I was told that flannel shirts were older than me.

(more…)

Coming up on September 13th is your chance to

Be The Church!!!!

 On September 13th, morning worship will be canceled for you to be the church in our community. What does this mean? It means that your task for September 13th is to find a way of not just going to church, but being the church. Below you will find a list of groups that you can be involved in, or you can come up with your own, but this day will be dedicated to being the church to our community. Please sign-up for how you will be the church on September 13th.

Being the Church Groups:

1. Laundromat Lenders - This group will spend the morning at the Laundromat on Main Street meeting the people there, handing out water and quarters, and building relationships as much as possible with the people that wander in. (3-4 People)
2. Legion Team - This group will travel to the Legion to wash the cars of all the veterans, clean their building, and possibly be involved in repair work at the Legion or at the homes of one of our veterans. (8-12 People)
3. Ice Cream Socialers - This group will travel to Orchard Estates, set up a tent and then give out as much ice cream, water, and popsicles as possible to whoever is there. (4-8 People)
4. Gift Basket Deliverers - This team will put together gift baskets for the Legion, Fire Departments, Police Department, and Ambulance Service and the deliver the goods to them. (4-5 People and 2 Drivers)
5. Casserole Cookers - This team will plan to put 8 casseroles together to freeze for Pines of Peace and then make salads for our free lunch. Sign-up at sign-up Central for the ingredients you can bring. (5-6 People)

The above groups also will need some prep help.
Appreciation Baskets - We will need many items for the baskets, see below:

• candy bars or other individual servings of candy
• individual bags of potato chips, pretzels, etc.
• cans of nuts
• individually wrapped packages of homemade cookies or candy (please bring fresh on Sunday, Sept.13)
• gum
• bananas, apples or other fresh fruit (please bring fresh on Sept. 13)
• gift certificates from local restaurants

Quarters - Do you have a spare change bucket around? We need to collect quarters for the Laundromat Lenders as we take some burden off people and provide free laundry service.

Coolers - Do you have an extra cooler we could use for the day to keep our ice cream cold? Bring it in on Sept. 13th

Sign-ups can be found at Sign-Up Central and in the Fellowship Hall. Please sign-up as soon as possible for this great event and let’s be the hands and feet of Christ in our Community!

ALL ITEMS MAY BE BROUGHT TO THE FELLOWSHIP HALL BOX PRIOR TO SEPT. 13 UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.

DON’T FORGET TO WEAR YOUR YELLOW T-SHIRTS!!!

If going door to door, preaching on a street corner, distributing tracts, and standing up before a large crowd is what you think of when you think of evangelism and such thoughts make you feel bad about sharing the Good News, then this engaging and exciting event is for you!

Coming…

Friday and Saturday,

November 20-21, 2009

First Baptist Church of Macedon
58 Main Street, Macedon, NY 14502
Host Pastor: Rev. Carol Holtz-Marten

Simply Put, Got Style®:

• Relieves guilt and apprehension about evangelism
• Helps people overcome feelings of inadequacy and incapacity and promotes confidence and competence
• Leads people from Maintenance-mode to missional thinking and working
• Seeks to involve the whole church body
• Allows the Holy Spirit to work in our lives in normal, natural, non-threatening ways

Dr. Jeffrey A. Johnson will share what evangelism IS and what it ISN’T. You will discover your own style of evangelism and that of others present from your church. This will be a time of inspiration, instruction, and interaction. You will leave with a knowledge of how to assess and empower yourself to do evangelism and outreach that builds meaningful relationships and flows naturally out of the way you are wired by God. You will leave this training event with things you can use right here and right now, even as soon as you walk out the door. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to grow closer to the Lord and as a church.

Schedule of the Training Event:

• Friday, 7-9:30pm - A session that is designed for pastors and leaders of your church.
• Saturday, 9am-12pm - A session designed for your whole congregation
• Saturday 12:30pm - Lunch will be provided by the First Baptist Church of Macedon at a suggested donation of $7.

Dr. Jeffrey A. Johnson serves as National Director of Evangelism for the American Baptist Churches USA under the auspices of the Board of National Ministries.

As National Director, Jeff collaborates with American Baptist national and regional staff committed to the denominational NEW LIFE 2010 goal to make 1,000,010 new disciples for Christ by the year 2010. Part of his responsibility is to assist our 33 regions and 3 geographic areas in developing strategic evangelism plans and programs. In order to accomplish such, he travels extensively, since coming on board in 2001, to speak, teach, equip, consult, and interact on local, associational, regional, and national levels. His strong Christ centered emphasis on personal evangelism is rooted in the Word of God. He believes, as does our denomination that each of our 6000 local congregations are individually the fundamental units of ministry, not the least of which is where the most effective evangelism occurs.

Dr. Johnson holds a Ph.D. in Theology from Tyndale Seminary, an M.A. in Ministry from Carolina University, and a B.A. in Philosophy from California State University.

Jeff is married to Karen Kinney, his wife of nineteen years. They have two children, an eighth grade, 13 year old daughter, Jonae, and a second grade, 7 year old son, Judson Adoniram. They make their home outside Charleston, West Virginia.

Your support of United Missions and American For Christ allows Dr. Johnson and other national as well as regional staff to assist our local congregations to impact their communities for Jesus Christ. Thank you!

We’re doing it again on May 16th!! From 1- 3pm on May 16th FBC will be giving out 300 FREE HOT DOGS! Don’t miss out! Stop by the church and get a hot dog and drink during Apple Blossom!

I came across a quote recently by Helen Keller that I wanted to share and reflect upon.

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. Faith alone defends.”

It would be wonderful if we never faced danger or never had to leave our comfort zones, but daily we are forced by others and by our situations to do things we may have never wanted to do and there are two ways to approach them. We can preserve ourselves and be grudgingly face the world being dragged along kicking and screaming or we can walk boldly with faith knowing that the only security in this world, the only things we can hold onto is our faith in God. We can face the world worried about what is next or face it courageously trusting that God knows what is ahead and has already prepared us for it.

I hope I can be a Christian that steps out boldly like many of the prophets of old to change the world. I hope I never fall into the fallacy that I can’t make a difference, because God made all of us to be his hands and feet. He chose all of us to be children of the king. He chose all of us to go into the world and change. So face the world different today. Face it trusting God and just see what God can do through you!!

On March 7th, 2009 from 9am-3pm, Rev. Tom Beers will present “Life Cycle and Stages of Congregational Development” at the United Marion Church.

Jumpstart Your Future Church!

Have you ever wondered what the next step for your church should be? This seminar helps you assess where your church is on the life-cycle of congregational development and begins the discussion of what steps you need to take to cross over the gap of the downward spiral to the growth side of development. It is designed for pastors and leaders of the church and it will benefit your church the most to have both there.

Life-Cycle and Stages of Congregational Development:

The Life-Cycle Model for understanding congregational development, developed by George Bullard, is one of the most powerful and enlightening explanatory tools available to help address questions of change and renewal in your congregation! Understanding what the life cycle looks like for congregations is crucial for knowing how to effect change, and work toward renewing vitality.

Included in this workshop:

• Presentation of the life-cycle model
• How to use the model to assess the current state of your congregation
• The implications of the life-cycle for the shape of your change-path to future vitality
• Ideas on where to go from here

The United Church of Marion
3848 North Main Street
Marion, NY  14505
315.926.5501
pastordave333@gmail.com

Pre-Registration by Feb. 23rd - $15

Registration at the Door - $20

Includes refreshments and lunch.

For Registration Form Click Here. For Flyer Click Here.

Rev. Tom Beers is the Coordinator for the Nehemiah Leadership Network, a Pastoral training institute equipping Pastors to lead change. In addition, Tom works as a congregational consultant, leading the Empowered process, which helps congregations to articulate their future-story, and create an effective plan to live into this story. Prior to serving with the Nehemiah Leadership Network, Tom served for five years on staff with the Philadelphia Baptist Association (the ABCUSA regional body for the greater Philadelphia area), leading the regional ministries of  congregational transformation, evangelism, and church-planting. Before serving with the PBA Tom served for ten years as a Pastor in Suburban Philadelphia. And, before entering the ministry Tom taught Philosophy and Theology at Eastern College and Villanova University for 12 years.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:24

Two weeks ago I attended a conference for the Nehemiah Leadership Network on Systems Theory, the Life Cycle of the Church, Multicultural Ministry, among other teaching. One of the greatest things I came back with, was the title of this article. The Super Bowl is coming up and the question is, do you want to be on a team that going to give their all to win or try to not lose.

A winning team will put everything it has into play. Each person’s strengths are utilized and pushed beyond their limits to win. A winning team is focused ahead, pushing and striving to be better all the time. It is exciting to be part of a winning team, because there is energy and enthusiasm. On a winning team, the whole team works together for one goal, one vision.

Every so often a winning team becomes a team that strives not to lose. They hold people back. They try and save themselves. They are focused inward on what they have and trying to keep that. They are a team trying to preserve everything instead of giving their all. They don’t strive to win, they strive to keep things the same. There is no energy on a not losing team. People do not step forward to give their all or use their gifts. It is about maintaining more than winning.

In the verse above, Paul calls us not to be a team that focuses on not losing, but a team that focuses on running the race so that we will win. A team pushing and doing everything we can to be the first one at the finish line. A team in which all people use their talents and treasure and time together for the purpose of the Will of God.

We have taken some pretty hard hits this past week and lost some very dear loved ones, but we can’t now begin to pull back and preserve ourselves. We have to keep moving forward, keeping pressing on, keeping trudging to the goal with all that we are. We have to keep our focus on the prize of our vision and mission. We have to keep stepping out on faith, giving our all, getting out of our comfort zones.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?” Let’s be the church that wins the prize. Let’s be the church that goes the extra mile to love our neighbors and our enemies. Let’s be the church that gives our all to reach out to a hurting and broken community. Let’s be the church that at the end of the day can say, “I ran to win.”

Everyday we have the choice to take a not losing mentality, or to trust God and run with all that we are. My prayer is that we will follow in Jesus’ footsteps and give everything we have.