I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
John 8:12
The Lamplighter
September 2007
Embrace the Call
The
2007 Offering for MD/DE Missions
Then I
heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send?
And who will go for us?
And I said, Here am I.
Send me!—Isaiah 6:8
Week of Prayer—September 9-16
Church Offering Goal: $777
A letter from Dr. David Lee
“Let’s
‘embrace God’s Call’”
I
believe that every believer receives multiple calls from God. The
journey begins with a call to a changed life, a call to salvation. This
call
comes to every person. It is God’s desire that all come to eternal life.
The cross stands as a beacon calling all people to a new life made
possible by
the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The call to service accompanies the call to a new life. Much
of the New Testament addresses how we, as disciples of Jesus Christ, are
to serve God by serving others. The foundation for that service is love
—love for God and love for people. That call to service will manifest
itself in many ways depending upon the spiritual gifts given to
individual believers.
I also believe that God gives specific calls to us to do
specific tasks in specific places at specific times. It is a unique call
designed just for
you. You and I have the privilege of serving our Lord in the most
strategic region in our world. We are all called to share the gospel. We
are all called to touch people’s lives with the love of Christ. We are
all called to bring hope and help to the hurting. We share that call,
but we must also be obedient when God delivers a specific assignment to
us.
As Maryland/Delaware Baptists we have a wonderful opportunity
to embrace God’s call and partner with him to make a kingdom difference
in this multi-state region. Please pray. To accomplish the task before
us, we need
divine power. Please give. Through our cooperative giving effort we can
resource the vision God has given to us as a convention of believers.
Please get involved. Personally go "on-mission." Discover the joy of
touching a
person's life in the name of Jesus.
Let this be the year that we truly "embrace God's call."
David
Lee
Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware
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Archie McGHEE
—a great soul winner is home
Our
church has lost one of our great soul winners and prayer warriors.
Our beloved brother Rev. Archie McGhee passed away June 30, 2007.
Heaven has gained a faithful servant. Archie’s home.
He
served as a Sunday School teacher, deacon of
First Baptist Church of North East and Chaplain of the
*Chaplain McGhee organized about 20 churches and 80 volunteers to serve
in this ministry. Records
show that over 50,000 attended services and 1,852 trusted Christ as
their Savior during those 8 years.
There is a slogan emblazoned on the pulpit that Chaplain Archie
said was his motto, “Everybody’s somebody 'cause God don’t make no
junk!”
Archie’s wife, Jenny, has stood by him all their years of marriage and
she helped in many ways with his ministry at The Detention Center.
Jenny was Archie’s faithful caregiver for his last years of
declining health.
*Credit: 50th Anniversary
History Booklet
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Fall Festival—GEAR up for some family fun
It
never seems to fail. For
the past four years, right about this time, I write up something to put
into The Lamplighter asking everyone to start thinking “fall.”
And just about this time every year, we have the hottest days of
the summer. Now I’m not
sure; but, maybe this has worked both for the good and the not so good.
With temperatures hitting 100 degrees as I’m writing this in
August, fall may be the furthermost thing from everyone’s mind.
Then again, trying to stay cool how ever possible, thinking about
cooler days and even cooler nights, whooo, I can’t wait!
Either way, October will be here before we know it and the cooler
temps as well. For me, I’d
like it to be the latter because here I go again.
The Harvest Festival is just around the corner and its time to
start thinking fall!!!
Yes,
our 5th Harvest Time Car Show and Family Fall Festival is
being held Saturday, October 6th, 2007,
and as I just said, it will be here before we know it.
Planning has been in the works, well, since last year’s ended.
And last year’s saw some of the largest number of visitors that
we have had. Rain forced us
to cancel our set date, the first time we moved it to the following
Saturday. All went on
without a problem, due to the Lord’s blessing—well, almost without a
problem. We put the games
and ministry tables out in the field because it was still too soft for
the show cars. What I
didn’t take into consideration was with 500 plus people walking up and
down the same small area, the ground would turn to mush.
And that it did. So,
I made a promise to Patricia Culver, who heads up our Children’s Worship
table, that I would never put the tables in the field again.
I mean, we had folks losing their shoes, it became so mushy.
This year we have a rain date planned for the following Saturday,
October 13th.
For
those who have been involved with The Festival before, you will see very
little change. The Lord has
given us a formula that works.
All we do is carry it out.
One thing that will be different this year will be our set up
time. By this I mean the
time it takes to set things up and not the time we need to be at the
church the day of The Festival.
We still need EYERYONE at the church NO LATER than 8 a.m.!
For the last four years, Phil and I have taken the Friday
before The Festival off from work to build the gazebos that cover our
games and ministry tables.
And, let me tell you, it was never fun.
Thanks to the donations that came in from last year’s Festival,
we have been able to purchase new “Quick Shades” to use this year.
Praise the Lord!
There’ll be no more 1,001 separate pipes to put together.
For those who are not familiar with the Quick Shade covers, they
are super fast to set up.
Pull them out of the bag, set them on the ground, pull them open, and
raise them up. Quick shade!
And when you see
As of
this writing, we are hoping to bring back the band Emptiless.
This contemporary Christian trio, kicked off our very first
Festival. These guys
brought a spirit with them that I still feel to this day. Now, I’m not
sure if it was the fact that we kept the band at our home for the few
days when they were here (sort of like housing the Marx Brothers) or
their playing at the Sunday morning service following The Festival. They
had everyone on their feet with hands in the air. Pray that they will be
able to be here and that the Lord will move through them once again.
So,
with just 34 days, 8 hours and 49 minutes left to go (at this writing)
we are now down to the wire.
If you have not been involved with The Festival
and would like to be, see me as soon as possible.
Just ask anyone who has been involved (there are many); and, they
will tell you how much of a blessing it can be.
IT IS a lot of work and takes even more time to put together;
but, the end result has always been worth it.
The one thing that everyone can do is pray.
Pray that the Lord will do things that we can only imagine.
We have been given an amazing outreach with The Festival.
So many people can be reached that may never come to a church for
any other reason. If just
one life can be changed by this event, then it will be worth all the
time in the world.
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Team work brings SUCCESS to VBS
PTL!
6 professions of faith
Our
2007
With
lots of prayer and a great group of volunteers, God took “willing”
spirits and did a “great work.”
Even after a late start and limited supplies God kept blessing
us. Thanks to some
faithful, energetic, people and a few phone calls, we had more than
enough literature as well as decorations that filled the sanctuary,
halls, rooms, etc.
The
first night we had 32 boys and girls and over 30 helpers.
Tuesday we saw 50 boys and girls and 34 helpers.
Each night we kept growing not only in numbers but in volume.
Did you hear them at your house?
We finished up our VBS week with a loud, exciting Pep Rally that
everyone got involved with.
We had 61 boys and girls enrolled.
We want
to thank all the parents, especially the Jesus Loves Me Childcare
Center’s parents, for allowing their boys and girls to take part.
We saw a lot of new faces this year that we hope to incorporate
into our church program.
Ralph
Veasey and Esther Porch worked with recreation, and Ralph also presented
the ABC salvation to the boys and girls.
We had 6 professions of faith.
Thank you Ralph for filling in.
Judy
Veasey, Elizabeth Johnson, and Abby Bare were our classroom coaches.
Each of them had a helper.
Nancy Hudler and Sharon Hodanics took care of crafts while
Lee-Ellen Van Voorhis, Betty Jackson, and Carolyn Yonts kept the snacks
coming as well as delicious meals for the teachers.
Edna Hamilton and Kate Galyen kept enrollment with a fantastic
team of youth helpers that were here every night.
Dorothy
Hudler and Ruby Perry kept our offering counted.
We took in $224 from VBS children/staff and $163 on
family/parents night. The
money will be used by Hosanna’s Faith Comes By Hearing organization
(translates the Bible in native languages)
to
purchase MP3 players and audio Bibles on CDs for missionaries to give to
people all around the world so they can hear the gospel in their own
language. AWESOME!.
We were honored to have a part.
John
Cavanagh faithfully drove the van each night.
The van ministry would be a great ministry for someone. (We need
a driver for alternate Sundays.)
There are a lot of children out there, just ask John.
After
the noise calmed down and the building was quiet, all was locked and
secured
thanks
to
Until
next year,
Patricia Culver,
VBS
Director 2007
P.S.
Jenny
Hokuf got her on the job training for next year’s VBS.
I pray I’ve been a help and encouragement to her and to a
fantastic staff/church family.
It would have never happened without “ALL OF YOU.”
Your
prayers worked!!!
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“Coffee cup” ladies’ class is born
When I
was little, it was a common sight about mid-morning in our home to see
my mom sitting at the table with our next-door neighbor Pauline, just
having a cup of coffee and chatting.
Pretty soon, one of them would say, “Well, I guess I’d better get
back to that laundry.” And
the other one would say, “Me too” and off they’d go their separate ways.
It was just a little break from the day—a chance to have a little
girl-talk. I told that
story to
It
doesn’t seem like we get to do things like that these days.
Maybe it’s because we don’t know our neighbors very well.
It’s probably because we’re so busy that it seems decadent to sit
over a cup of coffee and not accomplish anything!
So that’s how our Sunday School class was born—a chance to gather
around the coffee pot and build some relationships with our Christian
sisters.
We’ve
struggled to find a good name for our group.
We’re not the “moms group”—not every one of us is a mom.
We’re not the “wives group”—not every one of us is married.
(Mr.
Carol Singleton’s cup
- burgundy mug in the shape of a flower pot to remind Carol to bloom
where you’re planted.
Lee-Ellen Van Voorhis’s cup –always a last-minute hunt for
a Styrofoam cup.
As you
can see—our class is made up of all different kinds of ladies.
We would love to have you join us Sunday mornings at 9:45!
We’re downstairs in the kitchen—just follow Mr. Phil as he sneaks
down to mooch a cup of coffee (in his Santa mug!).
Don’t worry—we don’t let him stay.
This is ladies only!
Lee-Ellen Van Voorhis
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D. James Kennedy
—“
Author,
minister, and scholar D. James Kennedy hosts this groundbreaking inquiry
into Darwin’s chilling social impact—and the mounting evidence that
Darwin had it wrong on the origin of life.
Experts interviewed include Ann Coulter, columnist and author of
Godless: The Church of
Liberalism; Lee Strobel, author of The Case for a Creator;
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research
Institute; Dr. Jonathan Wells, author of Icons of Evolution;
Phillip Johnson, author of Darwin on Trial and others.
“We
have had nearly 150 years of the theory of Darwinian evolution.
And what has it brought us—whether
—D.
James Kennedy, Ph. D.
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July
14-21, 2007
Job well done even with the challenges
Youth &
Craig Hudler highly praised
Our small team was all packed and ready for our two hour drive to
We had the opportunity this year to meet a wonderful group of
high school and college summer missionaries.
We were divided into two teams.
Craig Hudler (leader) took one group, Chrissy and Jimmy Hall to
Craig’s team missionary, Stephanie, was a bubbly young lady.
They had a very small group of boys and girls the first few days
but ended up with 19 on Thursday.
You all
would have been very proud of our young team.
They did all their assignments without complaint.
They all worked so well with the children and received lots of
hugs. My team also was
assigned a young lady, Christina, from The Naval Academy in
After we finished day camp (9-11am) we had afternoon ministries.
For the lifeguard ministry we delivered water from
On Saturday we said our early goodbye to the summer missionaries
and Mrs. Lynn Davis, Coordinator of CALM (Central Atlantic Leisure
Ministry). We’d hoped to
get ahead of the incoming beach traffic; but, little did we know that
the short two hour drive would take over four long hours stuck in Route
1 traffic because of a serious traffic accident.
I must admit,
everyone handled it well; but, we were a hot, tired and hungry team when
we returned.
I want to thank Craig Hudler for giving up a week of vacation to
work with the youth team.
He did a SUPER job and was a great help to me.
To each youth, thank you for your willingness to go and serve.
I was proud to be your leader.
And, thank you church family for your prayers and financial help
that made this mission a success.
Until
next year,
Patricia Culver
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Do you
recall our Women on
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On line learning
—LOG ON
www.bcmd.e-quip.net—This
is free and on-time training for the self-motivated leaders.
Their online learning community features Christian training from
a variety of partners; all contributing unique skills base resources in
a compelling, online format!
Some
of the classes are as follows:
I Want
What She’s Having
Burn
Out and Stress
Dealing with Disappointment
Polishing Your PowerPoint Presentations
Vocal
Ensembles
Another
web site for online learning is:
www.lifeway.com/learning
.
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Children’s Worship
KIDS have a Wild West
adventure
Children’s
worship has spent the summer at the Avalanche Ranch (a.k.a. Children’s
Worship room) learning about Bible truths.
We started our Wild West adventure in May, focusing on Joshua 2
and the story of Rahab and the Israelite spies.
In June, we crossed the Jordan River (Joshua 3-4) and learned
that God is with us, wherever we go (Joshua 1:9).
We learned that God is strong while studying Joshua 6 during the
month of July. We even
starred in our very own DVD reenacting the story of the Jericho walls
tumbling down. We hope you
were in the worship service on July 29th to see our
performance! This month we
are studying Mark 15-16; Jesus’ death and resurrection.
We are learning that God is AWESOME!
We will finish up our wild ride in September when we will focus
on John 14:15 and the story of Naaman (2 Kings 5) and his healing.
Several
children’s worship kids will be moving up to 6th grade and to
the youth department. They
will be missed; however, youth helpers are always welcome in Children’s
Worship. The team would
like to thank Ryan Perry for his years of service in children’s worship
as a youth helper.
Children’s worship would also like to welcome our new members as new
first graders join the group on August 26.
Kathy
Glace
Children’s Worship Leader
NOTE: Children’s worship is
looking for adult teachers to join the rotating team.
Please contact a children’s worship leader for details.
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Mouse
tale
Children write to veterans
General
G.I. Joe Mouse from
KAT, The
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Mouse
tale
Kids are a promise
I
recently scampered over a magazine lying around the church that said the
children should be the number one focus of the church ministries.
H-m-m-m! What do you think about that?
The
children around our church have been very busy.
There’s been
The
Center’s kids performed for their parents on Monday night, August 13,
2007. Their parents/family
must have been very pleased with their performance and very happy with
the teaching program at The Center.
I heard applause, applause, applause . . .
Mrs.
Jackson hid some goodies in her file cabinet and while I was helping
myself I came across some vital statistics you should know.
The Center has 47 children this summer.
This fall there’ll be 53.
WOW! It sure is
tough being a church mouse with so many kids around; BUT, I really don’t
mind.
Brother Mouse
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Drawing
contest
Sept. 2
DEADLINE
What does Kat & Brother Mouse Look Like?
We’re
having a drawing contest to find out what Kat, The Resident Church Mouse
and Brother Mouse look like.
The contest is open to any age contestant/artist.
Just submit a drawing/s of your idea/s of what the mice look
like.
Contest
rules are available @ the church.
The winning drawings will be featured in the October 2007
Lamplighter.
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Sun., Aug. 26, 2007_____________________________________________
Sunday School
Promotion Day
Open
assembly for Preschool through Grade 8 Sunday School classes begins @
9:45am & concludes @ 10am.
Fri. & Sat., Sept. 15____________________________________________
Women of Faith Conference
We have 2 tickets available—$45 ea.
Sat., Sept. 22__________________________________________________
*Life Line Screening will be @ our church on Saturday.
Pre-registration is required.
Call 1 800-324-1851.
Life Line provides non-invasive, completely painless screenings using
Doppler ultrasound technology.
Cost for 4 screenings: $129.00. Church family members may take
advantage of this offer.
Flyers @ the church have more details.
*
Sun., Sept. 23__________________________________________________
3pm-dark (picnic @ 5pm)
PICNIC
&
Informal Worship
Games,
horseshoes, volleyball, fellowship, food & worship—Please bring plenty
of food & drink to share.
Church supplies cutlery & paper products.
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DON’T FORGET TO CLICK ON “CALENDAR” on our Home Page.
There is a choice of views for the calendar.
Our current events/activities are posted.
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