Time to Quit!

Greetings to all who read this blog. I trust that you are having a great late summer and now that we are into football season, that cooler weather will make us all feel a lot better,until it gets really cold!
As the title of this post indicates, it is time for me to quit my position at the church as minister of education and administration. For some time, as you know if you have been reading these blogs, I have been having all sorts of problems with my health, and just recently spent 4 days in the Richland Hospital in Columbia with a pulmonary embolism, or blood clot in my lungs. I am happy to say that a subsequent CT scan has indicated that the clot is gone, apparently broken up by my immune system. I am still having a lot of trouble with headaches and shortness of breath. It really takes all my breath to go from one room to the other at home. Doctors don't know what might be causing it, but I am going to have to stop working for a while and just take it easy until we can find what is causing this. At the moment that are looking at my sleep apnea and thinking that the CPAP machine which I use at night might be giving me the problems. I did turn in my resignation to the church last week, and will be vacating my position as of Sunday, September 25th. My son Donny, who is our Minister of Youth and Children, will probably pick up a lot of what I have been doing. As for me, I will be just a regular member of the church, and will continue to lead my Discipleship Training Class each Sunday night. Other than that, I will do what I can as a volunteer member of the church. As for this blog, I probably will continue sharing with you as time permits, and letting you know what is happening around the old North Church!
So until the next time, may God bless you in many ways...sincerely, in Christ...Bro. Don

North UPdate

We are having some October weather this week in North, and does it feel good! I just wanted to give you an update on some of the church activities for North FBC. First of all, we have Ms. Hannah Nelson, TV personality coming on Friday night at 7:00 PM to speak at our covered dish supper. There was some doubt if Hannah would be able to come due to the Katrina hurricane. Hannah's family is in Mississippi, and she spent several days in Mississippi with them during the terrible devastation along the gulf coast. But she was on TV this morning from WIS-TV in Columbia, so I am assuming she is back on schedule. We are so happy to have her come and share with us.

Another big emphasis is our On-Missions Celebration which we will have October 1-5. We will have a number of visiting missionaries who will rotate among our churches and share with us. Each church will host one missionary, and provide them a place to stay and food to eat, and transportation to the different churches. Our missionary will be the Reverend Joe Flowers, who is an associational missionary and church planter from Kokomo, Indiana. We are still in the process of finding him a place to stay. We have been talking about putting furniture in the Min.of Youth house, and allowing him to stay there. When the Celebration is over, then Adam and Ashley Stich can use the house when they come on Sunday to work with the choirs and lead the worship. We also need drivers to carry Joe Flowers around to the churches he will be speaking in each night. These are Norway, Neeses, Calvary, and Salem.

The church family will be electing six new deacons next Sunday, and if you are able, please come and vote your choices. In addition, the Church Budget proposal for the coming church year will be presented, and the report of the Nominating Committee will be received. Necessary church business as we start a new church year October 1.

A New Church Year

Yep, it is September and a new church year is beginning in our church. We are busy with the report of the nominating committee, and will be voting on the officers on Sunday, September 11. Also, our Budget will be presented, and our church will nominate and elect 6 deacons to serve for the next two years. And, our USC Gamecocks won their first football game last night, but it was more of a struggle than anyone had anticipated. Now if the Clemson Tigers can just get off to a good start!
I thought it would be a shot of cold air if I added a picture of our church when it was covered with snow! In a rare snow storm several years ago, Brenda Shull took this picture, and it really does stand out in our different publications. We have used it as a picture for the cover of our church directory, plus in the bulletin from time to time. Perhaps we will get another snow fall this winter!
In more serious matters, we are all praying for the trials and tribulations which our Gulf Coast states are facing as a result of hurricane Katrina roaring in and leaving the area in a great devastation. We are encouraging our church family to help in any way that they can. And our Southern Baptist Convention has help already in the area and are asking for additional funds to help these distressed friends and loved ones.

A REMINDER TO OUR DEACONS:
The regular meeting of the active deacons will not be held on Sunday morning coming, but will meet on Wednesday night after the Bible study and prayer time. Tell all the deacons you see about this change.

FRIDAY NIGHT: September 9th at 7:00 PM is our Covered Dish fellowship meal, with our guest speaker Ms. Hannah Nelson coming to share with us. Please tell all the church family to come and bring covered dishes and enjoy the meal and fellowship.