Coming soon to Agape:

I am so going to do this in church one day. And if I can’t figure it out, we’ll just have to have Dr. Shine come in for a guest appearance! 

A fantastic video that you must watch: (warning: not for pharisees)

Agape Newsletter: Celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus!

Hello everybody and a happy Good Friday to you!  This is the week that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ - the most significant event in the history of planet earth, in my opinion. We have a lot going on this week, so let’s get started with an ultra quick summary: 

Also: Keep praying for Lynn Fischer!! I will send out another update when I know one. 

Here’s what’s up: Tonight at 7, Agape presents, The Weight of the Cross - a musical and dramatic celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Join our worship team, narrators and dancers, and our children as they lead us in a celebration and worship experience together. We’ve invited many people in the community, and we’re asking our Agape family to come Friday night and Sunday morning to be ready to welcome any visitors. Also, on Sunday morning, we will be meeting at 10:00am for a covered dish breakfast, followed by The Weight of Glory resurrection celebration. Come join us, bring some food, and bring a friend! 

Romania missions trip: As you might have heard in our announcements recently, we are planning on taking a trip to Romania towards the end of the year. We have a sister church in Romania (that was planted with Agape Baptist help several years ago), as well as an orphanage we support. For us to get a discounted ticket price for the flight over, we need 10 people to go. Unfortunately, 2 people on our ten person team had to drop out this week, so we have an opening for 2 people (or more) that would like to go and spread the gospel in Romania. Interested? Check with me or Cindy Friday - we need to know as soon as possible if you would be able to go! (You can also email us to let us know). 

Speaking of missions, This Saturday we have food pantry from 9am to 11am. We usually need help passing out food, and building relationships with those who come to the pantry, so come help if you can. (try to arrive a little before 9 if possible). Also, as I wrote above, if you are interested in ordering Angel Food, the orders are due by Sunday morning - see Cindy Underwood. 

Finally, we are in need of 2 more teachers to join our 3-5 year old class rotation. This class of about 10 kids meets during the adult message on Sunday morning (they sometimes stay in “big church” for the worship time). Currently we have 2 people signed onto teach in a rotation, and we need 2-3 more. Once we have those 2-3, everybody will only be needed to teach the class one time a month, so you will be able to disciple and lead a small class of great kids, but you’ll also be able to participate in morning worship and word regularly. 

Here’s some interesting links for you this week: 

*****     Okay - you’ve got to see this video. Less than 4 minutes long. Watch it!! CLICK HERE

*****     John Piper on the intensity of Christ’s love and the intentionality of His death: CLICK HERE 

*****     N.T. Wright on Easter, unedited: CLICK HERE 

*****     Best way to de-stress? Reading, as it turns out: CLICK HERE 

*****     Did you know that a new Lord of the Rings movie is coming out in May? Yeah, neither did I. Check out the trailer: CLICK HERE 

See you Sunday! (And Friday too, I hope) 

Chase

An update on Lynn Fischer + Easter celebration Friday and Sunday night news

Hi everybody, 

I just returned from visiting with Lynn and Marc at UAB hospital, and wanted to share an update with you all. Lynn has had a rough day today, and is in a lot of pain (headache) and has really struggled with nausea and vomiting. Other things are looking better, however. You might have heard last night at church that her primary injury was her leg, but that was before the results of the CAT scan came back. Here’s what’s going on with Lynn, and what we need to pray about. (FYI, I asked Marc what he wanted me to share and what to not share, and he said share everything so we could be praying about everything). From my understanding, Lynn has a small brain bleed. This is something the doctors believe will heal on its own, but it is still important to pray about. In addition, she has several lacerations on her spleen. Right now, it looks like the spleen might heal on its own, but if not, they will have to remove it - pray that it heals! In addition, she has a bilateral pulmonary contusion - a medical way of saying that her lungs are significantly bruised on both sides. Pray for healing here, and against pneumonia forming. Finally, there are various scrapes and bruises, and a possibly injured knee to pray about. PLEASE KEEP PRAYING FOR LYNN! I will send along more updates as I find them out. If you would like to visit, or help the family out - contact me, or one of Lynn’s sisters (Ann Talley or Sue Taylor). 

Also - don’t forget our Resurrection/Easter celebration THIS FRIDAY NIGHT at 7:00pm and Sunday morning at 10:45 (beginning with a covered dish breakfast at 10:00). We ask you all, if at all possible, to come to BOTH meetings. We had our dress rehearsal Monday night, and things went very well - I believe you are going to be blessed and enjoy celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Friday night and Sunday morning. Here’s a couple of things we need to do as a church body leading up to Friday/Sunday: 

1. INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY! Our focus for this year is to reach new people, and that is why we are having a Friday night Easter celebration as well as a Sunday morning one. Please get the word out and invite folks to come join us. 

2. We need nursery help for both Friday night and Sunday morning. We are expecting a larger than normal crowd Sunday morning, and a significant crowd Friday night. Perhaps you can help with the nursery for one celebration, and join everybody else for the other. Time is short, so if you can help - please respond to this email AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! You are needed - and your service will help us reach the community in a better way! 

3. Please remember to look for guests and people you don’t know Friday/Sunday night. Make sure to help them feel very welcome. 

That’s all for now, be on the lookout for the newsletter tomorrow! 

Grace and Peace, 

Agape Baptist Newsletter Special Shroud of Turin edition

Hello everybody and welcome to yet another Agape newsletter. As I’m writing this, the sun is shining into my office area, and I am getting Spring fever, so I’d better finish fast so I can go outside and play! (unfortunately, by play I mean cut the grass and take the garbage to the dumpster) 

Quick summary of this week @ Agape: 

This Sunday, we will take a brief break from our Spiritual gifts series to talk about the most important event in human history - the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! Let me ask you a question: How do you know that Jesus rose from the dead? Most Christians would answer “because the Bible tell us that He did”. For most skeptics, this isn’t an adequate answer, but did you know that you can present much evidence that Jesus did, in fact, come back from the dead? I’ll be talking about that this Sunday - how we know that Jesus rose from the dead - the historical and spiritual evidence. I’ll also be addressing some interesting things from the Shroud of Turin, to the recent Jesus Tomb documentary. This would be a great Sunday to invite a skeptical friend or relative, because I believe they will find the evidence presented both interesting and compelling! Also this Sunday we will be ordaining our three new deacons, Mark Trimm, Monte Owen and John Talley. 

This Sunday, we’re starting two new small groups, so don’t forget to come a little before 9:45 to get some coffee and be in your group on time.The young couples/couples with young kids led by David McConnell and Michael Fargarson, and the slightly less young couples with slightly older kids led by Greg Cusimano and Monte Owen. We’ll have a preview of both small groups tomorrow during our main gathering, so I hope you can joins us and see what’s coming! Both of these small groups will be meeting in the fellowship hall (separated by the divider). 

NEXT SUNDAY: Resurrection Day: In celebrating Easter, or  Resurrection Day this year, we are going to have a Friday night gathering and a Sunday morning gathering. Greg and the worship team will be leading us in a musical celebration of the most important event in the history of mankind: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We’re going to ask you all, if at all possible, to come to BOTH meetings. Why would we do such a thing? We’re adding the Friday night gathering in order to reach people who might be hesitant or unable to come Sunday morning - we’re going to be focused on evangelism for Resurrection Day this year. We will need our families to come to both meetings in order to make our guests feel welcome and at home.In addition, we will be having a covered dish food fellowship Sunday morning during our normal small group time, so be thinking about some wonderful dishes to make and share with your church family! 

Also for next Sunday and Friday night, we will need some help in the nursery to take care of our babies, and the babies of guests who will be coming to visit with us. We need volunteers to work the nursery both Friday night and Sunday morning. PLEASE let me or Alyson McConnell know if you can help ASAP. We still need a couple of workers as well for our 4-5 year old class that meets during Sunday worship. We have a rotation now, so anybody interested in volunteering would be teaching only once a month. Let me know if you’d like to teach. 

Finally, don’t forget about corporate prayer Sunday morning - meet us at 9:15 in the front of the sanctuary. 

Here are a couple of links worth checking out: 

*****     Evidence for the resurrection: CLICK HERE 

*****     Pastor James Macdonald tackles a thorny issue: Should we publicly rebuke false teachers in the church (like Brian McLaren) CLICK HERE  Oh and by the way, do you see Brian McLaren as a false teacher? 

*****     Which should come first, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, or the Magician’s Nephew: CLICK HERE 

More next week - See you Sunday! 

Chase