2005 Is Almost Here!

My Dear Church Family and Church Friends: I trust that Christmas was a very happy time for you and your family, and sincerely desire that 2005 will be a great blessing for you! I still have a difficult time just realizing that it will be 2005. But it will come, and perhaps this will be the year that the Lord Jesus returns for us in the Rapture. But, we need to continue to serve Him in every way until the fullness of time occurs.
Our hearts are heavy these days, especially in view of the disaster in Asia, with the tsunami waves and the death toll of more that 70,000 people. Thank the Lord that we, the USA, can and will help in this terrible time. These are nations of Islam, and it could be that there will be an opportunity to witness for Jesus.
We cannot forget that we are still at war in Irag, and need to remember our troops over there each time we pray. The future looks mighty bleak in Iraq, but we all know that God is still in control.
Our church was iced in for a bit last Sunday, and we had to cancel all Sunday morning activities, with a special worship service held at 5 PM Sunday afternoon, and no night services. The ice storm was beautiful, and transformed the landscape in North into a beautiful Christmas card scene. We were all very thankful that very few lost electrical power, so we were not cold or hungry. Most just stayed home and enjoyed the family fellowship, along with the leftover Christmas cookies and treats.
Things are going well at North FBC, and we encourage you to pray for this church and the ministry that God has called it to do. Attend if you can, and pray always for God's will to be done.
Please don't hesitate to call or email me here at fbcnorth@tds.net if I can help you in any way, the pastor and staff are here to serve the members of this church.
Best wishes for 2005 for you...
Bro. Don

ANOTHER GREAT GRAND!!

Excuse this old great-grandpop while I share with you that Carolyn and I now have another great-granddaughter, born early this morning at 4 AM to Charles and Michelle Edgemon, and who is named Charley Paris Edgemon , after her father and my father. We are excited, and will tell you that she is a beautiful child!! Aren't they all! This gives us three children, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
We had a great choral presentation last evening, as our choir presented the musical program called "Color It Christmas." A large turnout was on hand, even though it was a very cold negative.
Our appreciation to all our choir and the children and youth who made this program a success.
Speaking of Sunday events, our men and boys met at 8 am for our monthly breakfast. The guest speaker was Rev. Benjamin Smoak, pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church. A large word of praise for our men who turn out so early on a cold Sunday morning, and especially thse me who did the cooking for us. It was a great breakfast meal, and a great program.
And while we are talking about eating, don't miss the Church Wide Covered Dish Fellowship Meal on Wednesday night, Dec 22nd, at 7 PM. Please come, and invite a friend to come along.

CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS

The following article taken from the latest issue of the Baptist Courier is reprinted here for our reading. Bro. Tony Beam is thinking along the same lines as are many of us as we see the secular world seeking very diligently to render Christmas null and void.

Christmas from a Christian worldview

By Tony Beam

Merry Christmas … and I mean Merry Christmas. Not "Seasons Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" or "Happy Hanukkah" or "Merry Kwanzaa." This is the Christmas season. It is the time of year when we celebrate the fact that God was born a man in a manger. We rejoice because, in the words of the heavenly host, "today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11, NASV).

I mean no disrespect, and I have no wish to conjure up images of the Grinch, but if you see me on the street and you greet me with anything less than "Merry Christmas" you will get an earful of what I think about the all-out assault that is being leveled against the real meaning of Christmas. It has been building for several years, but this year, in particular, it seems that many people are becoming equal-opportunity offenders of the rights of Christians to celebrate the birth of our Savior.According to a recent Newsweek poll, 67 percent of Americans believe in the virgin birth. But from New York to California and everywhere in between, Christmas is being systematically removed from the public square. If you think I am exaggerating, consider the following examples:

In South Orange, N.J., even musical scores that have anything to do with religion will not be allowed. That means not only are the lyrics of songs offensive to the politically-correct crowd, but also any music which might cause someone to think about the lyrics. (Can anybody say "thought police"?)

In Colorado, the Elbert County Charter School is being sued by the ACLU because the principal refuses to censor Christmas. The ACLU alleges, presumably with a straight face, that any reference to Christmas during the Christmas season amounts to anti-Semitism.

Kindergartners at a public school in Oregon were invited to bring cards to a Christmas party, but a teacher barred one student from distributing his holiday greeting because it mentioned the reason for the season — Jesus Christ.

And finally, in Sacramento, Calif., teachers are being told that they are not allowed to say the word Christmas or to mention anything in relation to the Christmas season. One of the teachers said, "I don’t know if I want to go on teaching. People need to stand up to all these wackos." I couldn’t have said it any better. A lot of "somebodies" who understand that Christmas does not exist apart from Christ need to raise their voices against this anti-Christian madness. A distinctly Christian worldview demands that we refuse to join the innkeeper in Bethlehem who relegated the King of kings to a cave. We must keep Christ in Christmas so the world will know what Christmas is really all about.

Beam is director of the Christian Worldview Center at North Greenville College.

To read other interesting articles and Christian news, click on the Baptist Courier link in the right hand column.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

There is a movement across the land to remove Christmas from the Christmas season! Did you ever notice in the newspapers that Merry Christmas is seldom mentioned, but Happy Holidays and some such is replacing it? A few years ago, we all complained that XMas was leaving Christ out of Christmas, but what is our society doing now, but changing totally the Christmas season. No longer do we have Christmas trees, Christmas joy, Christmas presents, Christmas programs; no, now we have rules and regulations that limit the Christ in Christmas, and we Christians are supposed to calmly agree because after all, it might offend someone if we say Merry Christmas to them. Well, let's make a promise to say Merry Christmas as often as we can during this Christmas Season, when we celebrate the birth of Christ our Savior, and enjoy Christmas activities, parties, dinners, programs, presents, and all normal expressions of Christmas! So here I say: MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! We thank God for CHRISTmas!!
We are still in the process of seeking a minister of music and youth, and have several good resumes which our personnel committee is evaluating. Of course, we are dealing with them one at a time, and will have as a guest in January a young man from Kentucky who will come and share with the committee and the church family. He will arrive on January 7 and spend the weekend with us. His name is Stephen W. Sims, and he is coming from Bardstown, KY. So please pray for our church as we seek God's man for our church. Stephen is single, and a graduate of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and is experienced in music and youth/children ministries.
Our schedule for this week includes the monthly men and boys breakfast on Sunday, Dec. 19 at 8:00 AM. Rev. Benjamin Smoak, the co-pastor of Calvary Baptist Church will be the guest speaker. All our men and boys are urged to attend.
On Sunday night, our Adult Choir will present the Christmas Music Program to the church family and friends. Program will start at 7:00 PM.
And, next Wednesday night, Dec. 22, at 7:00 PM, we will have our Christmas Covered Dish Supper for the church family and friends. Church families are urged to bring well filled covered dishes which we might share around the tables. Christmas is a time of good eats, and diets go by the board. We can always start back on our diet after the first of January, 2005, can't we? That's about it for this time, don't forget to do at least two things:

1. Say Merry Christmas as often as you can.
2. Always pray in the name of Jesus.

Love you all, IN Christ.... drr

Christmas Season of Joy and Blessing!

Here it is December 9th already and Christmas activities are beginning to peak. Even though we know when Christmas is due, it still seems to sneak up on many of us. We are busy around the church and community, what with Christmas parades and parties. The children seem to get more excited each day, and are anxiously awaiting the big day.
We are planning a special Christmas Covered Dishes Supper at the church on Wednesday night, December 22nd at 7 PM. This will be a great time of fellowship and fun and food, of course. We Baptists know that we cannot have a church fellowship meeting without plenty of food!
We are still in the process of searching for a full-time minister of music and youth. Several promising resumes have been received, and the Personnel committee is busy evaluating and praying for the right person.
You are asked to pray for us in this matter, that our Lord is even now preparing the right person for this important staff position.

I am sorry to have to announce that brother Ray Gunter, faithful member of our church and a friend to all, has died and gone home to the Lord. Ray was a terrific man, a dear friend to me, and will be sorely missed. He was 78 years old. We have lost several dear friends in the past few months, and mourn their loss, even knowing that as born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are now with the Lord. But we do miss them very much. Please pray for their family in these difficult days of bereavement.

Some one has reported on TV that there is a movement to get people to stop saying Merry Christmas and say something like Happy Holidays or such. Don't do it. Do not ever feel embarrassed to say Merry Christmas to all! Just who do they think they are, those who would set themselves up to tell us not to mention the name of Christ at Christmas. And I trust that when you pray, you always pray in the name of Jesus, after all, it is not a prayer unless it is in His Name. One person can get offended by the name of Jesus, and our government then tells us that we must stop using His name. Can you imagine? Are we not truly in the last days just prior to the Rapture of the body of Christ? I believe we are. So let us keep on looking for that blessed hope, the return of our Lord.

God Bless One and All, Remember who loves you.....