Agape News: Baptism this Sunday plus 1st Timothy Series, Upcoming events and more.

Hello all,

Welcome in to another Agape newsletter. This Sunday should be a very good one, as Shaunee (Shae) Smith, a young lady who has been through enormous trials in her life, came to Jesus last Sunday, and we are scheduled to celebrate her Baptism this Sunday! In addition, we will be continuing through 1st Timothy, and looking at two important things Sunday: What is false teaching all about (and why it is so dangerous) plus what role does the Old Testament Law play in the life of a Christian now? In other words, why does the Bible warn so strongly against false teaching, and do all of those Old Testament rules (like call a priest when you have mold in your house, and grow the edges of your beard long, etc) still apply to us? In addition, we will begin to promote and talk about the upcoming relaunch of our Wednesday night meetings, which is scheduled to take place in March.

As always, we start at 10am with a time of breakfast/fellowship, followed shortly after by worship, and then the message. Come join us early, stay late, and get to know each other!

See you Sunday,

Chase.

Upcoming Events:

Sunday, February 6: 1st Timothy series part 2. (Note: Superbowl gathering cancelled…get together with your Agape family and watch the game!)
All of February: No Adult Bible Study or Kids ReVive@ Agape (see below for relaunch in March). EPIC youth is STILL MEETING as normal. Details Sunday.
Sunday, February 20: Joint Service part 2 - Agape to join Living Word church - I will be preaching there, and their worship team will be leading worship
Sunday, February 27: Awakening: Worship and Prayer, led by Shawn Lombard - Sunday night @6:30pm.
Wednesday, March 2: Wednesday Night ReLaunch. NEW! IMPROVED! Shiny! Cleans and polishes! (Real details to come very soon)
Coming in March: 1st Timothy series within a series: How to minister as the Body of Christ.
March 26 (tentative date): Man Gathering: Featuring fellowship, large chunks of meat, and other primal things.
Coming in April: Cleanup Day @Agape.

Finally - watch out for the new Bermuda Triangle of Productivity!

Agape Newsletter: New series in 1st Timothy! + Food Pantry HELP NEEDED THIS Sunday + outreach, story of God’s provision and more. (+Baby dedication of Isaiah Ware)

Hello all,

This Sunday we will be launching a new message series in 1st Timothy. 1st Timothy was a letter originally written by Paul to a young man in order to prepare him to minister and lead people while staying true to the truths of the Bible and passionate for God. I believe that God is “sending” us this letter right now for the same reasons. This series will give us an excellent foundation of truth to stand on, while urging us to minister effectively to each other and to those that God is calling us to. This will be a foundational series for Agape, and will be much more than another message series - we believe, as we listen to God’s Word, that He will call us to conform and adapt our ways to His ways. Therefore, this isn’t just another sermon series, but a blueprint for what God is calling us at Agape to in 2011. In addition to this, we will also be dedicating Isaiah Ware to God. Isaiah is Charish’s son, the young lady who was baptized @Agape on December 19th.

This Sunday is also our food pantry. Read closely: WE NEED HELP!! Can some of you come early this Sunday (at 8:30am) to help put together baskets? That would be fantastic. If you could also bring some extra canned food to give away, that would also be nice. Why am I asking for extra food? Good question - allow me to share a crisis with you that developed this week, and that God totally took care of in an amazing way! We are pretty much out of food in our food pantry. I thought we had a food pick up scheduled at United Way for this Wednesday (which I announced Sunday), but there was some confusion on the dates, and they actually have us scheduled for next Tuesday. That leaves us facing the feeding of a whole bunch of people this Sunday with barely any food in the food pantry. I stressed about this a bit during the week. Yesterday, I went to Flower’s Bakery in Trussville to buy some bread to give away. I filled up two carts with loaves of bread, when Janet called and asked me where I was. I told her I was picking up food for the food pantry to give away, and then got off the phone. Somehow, the ladies that manage the bakery overheard me and asked about the food pantry. I told them all about it, and they told me that they would like to give me some bread, instead of me buying it. One lady took my carts and restocked them, while another lady had me pull around to the warehouse bay. At that point, she helped me load up HUNDREDS of loaves of bread, of cookies, rolls, bagels, buns, etc. Some were cheaper kinds of bread - some were quite nice. I ended up filling every nook and cranny of my car (and trunk) with literally hundreds of packs of bread. How incredible is that?! In addition, they encouraged me to come back before every food pantry and get more bread. I didn’t even have to ask!!! Now we have more than enough food to give away - I am just asking for cans of food to balance all of the bread that we have. What an amazing gift of God. Please drop by and thank Flower’s for their kindness.

Coming soon: Big improvements to Wednesday nights @Agape!

Sunday, January 23: Beginning of new series (16-20 week) on 1st Timothy. Also: Food Pantry Outreach: Pray for souls to come to Jesus!
Tuesday, January 25: Food pick up at United Way (10am) - We need your help here! NOTE DATE CHANGE!
Sunday, January 30: 1st Timothy Series Part 2.
Sunday, February 6: Super Bowl party and food pantry drive (bring food to be given to the food pantry)
Sunday, February 20: Joint Service part 2 - Agape to join Living Word church - I will be preaching there, and their worship team will be leading worship
Coming in March: 1st Timothy series within a series: How to minister as the Body of Christ.

See you Sunday!

Chase

Agape Newsletter: Special Church Growth Sunday + Prayer Seminar moved to THIS Sunday night

Hello all,

The leadership at Agape has developed a fantastic new church growth program that we will be rolling out this Sunday, and this Sunday only. We expect that it will immediately double (or more) our attendance. Once that happens, we will sell it to other churches, and then each retire to our own island. Our only obstacle will be coming up with a suitable name. (The Agape double your church in a week program?)

Okay, okay - I am kidding. In actuality, we are expecting a big crowd this Sunday, and that is because our friends at the Living Word Church in Pinson will be joining us for a day of worship, word, and fellowship. Though there will be no full breakfast this week, we are asking Agape folks to bring some fruit to share during our fellowship time. Everything starts at 10am, and worship itself will kick off around 10:15, so be sure and come early! Pastor Bo Johnson will be preaching, and the Agape worship team will be leading worship. In February, we will ourselves go and visit Living Word for a service that I will preach at, and the Living Word worship team will lead us in. Why are we doing this? See Jesus’ great prayer in John 17!

Also - we have rescheduled the special prayer seminar (which was iced out this past Wednesday) to THIS SUNDAY NIGHT at 6pm. This will be held in conjunction with our normal Genesis meeting, and here’s how that’s going to work. We will meet at the Agape sanctuary at 6pm, and enjoy some food and fellowship together. (This means everybody should bring some food!) Shortly after that, the prayer seminar will start, and Craig Huggart will be leading. Like I told you earlier this week, Craig is using some excellent material (from IHOP), and I expect that this will be a fantastic event. Youth, parents, children and everybody is invited to attend! There is, of course, no cost to attend, and everybody that does come will enjoy some great food, teaching and fellowship, and will also have some useful handout material on prayer to take home.

One other thing: We need some help picking up food for the food pantry this next Wednesday, leaving Agape at 10am. Can anybody with a pick up truck help? Please let me know if so!

Upcoming Events:

Sunday, January 16: Joint Sunday morning service with Living Word Church @Agape - Our worship team leading, Bo Johnson preaching. Beginning time approximately 10:20 or so. Light fruit and coffee for breakfast.
Wednesday, January 19: Food pick up at United Way (10am) - We need your help here!
Sunday, January 23: Beginning of new series (16-20 week) on 1st Timothy. Also: Food Pantry Outreach: Pray for souls to come to Jesus!
Sunday, January 30: 1st Timothy Series Part 2.
Sunday, February 6: Super Bowl party and food pantry drive (bring food to be given to the food pantry)
Sunday, February 20: Joint Service part 2 - Agape to join Living Word church - I will be preaching there, and their worship team will be leading worship

See you Sunday!

Chase

Wednesday Night Services Cancelled! :(

Hello all,

After much deliberation, we decided that it would be wisest to cancel our gathering for tomorrow night. It was one of those decisions that was difficult to make, because we felt that there was a good (but not 100 percent) chance the roads would clear up by tomorrow night. We cancelled for the following four reasons:

1. After having traveled around Pinson a good bit today, there is still a good bit of ice on some streets, and some back roads are still dangerous. (On the ABC 33/40 ice/travel map, Pinson is still listed in the white, as a place where significant road icing still exists.)

2. The high temp tomorrow will only be freezing, or slightly higher and the low tonight will be in the teens. That means all water left on the roads tonight will freeze, and some will not thaw tomorrow.

3. Two of our leaders got their cars stuck in ice this afternoon/evening, and had to walk to their destination. This indicates that there is still significant icing in and around our area.

4. I think Craig’s seminar on prayer (which was scheduled for tomorrow night) is quite important, and I know with the cold and the roads being somewhat icy, that there are several folks who would want to come and learn about prayer, but would hesitate to do so given the road conditions. Therefore it seemed best to reschedule so that the maximum amount of people would be able to come. David was also a little concerned about teenagers driving on ice.

That said, none of us wanted to cancel, but, again, it seemed like the wisest course of action. I will let you know ASAP when the prayer seminar is rescheduled for.

More Agape news to come in our Friday newsletter. Don’t forget that Living Word Church is joining us Sunday morning. No full breakfast (bring some fruit to share) and keep in mind that worship starts shortly after 10!

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Agape Church News: Special I Thought We Lived in Alabama, not Alaska Edition! Also: Memorial Service Report.

Hello everybody,

What a weekend this is shaping up to be! A historic snow storm appears to be on its way, and James Spann is calling for 4-8 inches of the white stuff in our neck of the woods. Will this interrupt our Sunday church plans? Almost certainly not, so that is good news! Here’s what is going on this Sunday: As normal, we begin at 10:00AM with a full breakfast, followed by worship and then the message.

David McConnell will be bringing the message, and his focus will be on God’s vision for Agape, part 2. He will be talking about God’s heart for orphans, for helping to end child slavery and trafficking, as well as share the Biblical plan for church leadership and church government. Last week’s message and this week’s message will combine to give you a clear picture of what we believe to be God’s specific direction for us as a faith family for this year. I will endeavor to make sure that these messages are posted on our website (www.Pinsonchurch.com) and that we have a written summary for you as well.

Thank you to all who helped out with the memorial for Kevin Box last night! Well over one hundred people came to the memorial, and many of our Agape families, even though they didn’t know Kevin, came out in force, provided food, served food, and blessed a family of strangers in order to proclaim the love of Jesus. It was a gut wrenching memorial, but the outpouring of love there was encouraging to the family in a great way. Thank you for sacrificing your time to serve this precious family! After the memorial last night, Tim Taylor and Lynn Fischer had the privilege of praying with, and seeing a precious woman at the funeral come into a first time relationship with Jesus, so there are things to rejoice about, even in the midst of grief!

I know it will be cold this Sunday, and that we will be a bit concerned about the weather. If there is a good, solid reason to postpone our gathering, then we will do so, and we will be watching the weather like a hawk. If it is safe to meet, however - allow me to URGE you to come join us, as this will be a very, very important and foundational Sunday for us. The vision message is hugely important, and - as well, we will be celebrating yet another baptism, as we baptize Lyndsey Turner (who gave his life to Jesus last week), and we will be dedicating his children to God!

If there is any need to make any changes for Sunday - we will email and post on our website ASAP.

All for now - I look forward to seeing you Sunday!

Chase

Other Upcoming Events:

Sunday, January 9: Message: Vision 2011 Part 2. Family Meeting and 2011 Budget voting. .
Wednesday, January 12: Craig Huggart teaching Wednesday night @Agape - Special prayer workshop.
Sunday, January 16: Joint Sunday morning service with Living Word Church @Agape - Our worship team leading, Bo Johnson preaching. Beginning time approximately 10:20 or so. Light fruit and coffee for breakfast.
Sunday, January 23: Beginning of new series (16-20 week) on 1st Timothy.
Sunday, January 30: Food Pantry Outreach: Pray for souls to come to Jesus!
Sunday, February 6: Super Bowl party and food pantry drive
Sunday, February 20: Joint Service part 2 - Agape to join Living Word church - I will be preaching there, and their worship team will be leading worship

Agape Midweek newsletter Wednesday Night Bible Study + Thursday Night Memorial Service @Agape + More

Hello all,

I hope this morning finds you well and truly blessed! Tonight at Agape, beginning at 7pm, we will be looking at the subject of Heaven - the eternal city in our main sanctuary Bible Study. What do we really know about Heaven? What does the Bible teach? Does Heaven have any current impact on our life now? What will the perfect Shalom (peace/well being) of heaven be like? Come join us as we have a small group, highly discussion oriented examination of the City of God. If you’d like to come a few minutes early, we’ll have some hot coffee and fellowship waiting on you.

Also - do you recall this Sunday when I was speaking about the devastating suicide of a young man from our area with four children? Some of our Agape family (Lynn, Ann, John) have reached out to the surviving family during their time of grief. This Thursday night, as part of our reaching out, we will be having a memorial service at Agape with the family and children coming to it. This will be an opportunity for the Agape family to surround this family with our love and care. Could you come to the memorial service? Could you bring some food? I know that most of you don’t know this family, and neither do I, but this is a wonderful opportunity for us to shine the love of Christ, and be a haven of hope, a City on A Hill to this family, and to these precious little children. The memorial service begins at 6pm, and it would be nice to bring food a bit early. If you can’t make it Thursday night, perhaps you could drop off some food tonight at Agape, to be used for tomorrow. Either way, please pray for this family!

A couple of more upcoming things to know about:

This Sunday, after our worship and word time, we will be having a called family meeting to vote on the 2011 budget. Please make plans to stay a little bit later for the discussion of the budget, and for voting on it.

Also, coming up next Sunday, January 16, our friends at Living Word Church in Pinson will be joining us for worship and word! Rather than having a full breakfast that day, we will be enjoying coffee, and perhaps some finger food. If you all will bring the finger food - that would be great! We will begin at 10:00AM, as normal, but worship itself will kick off at 10:15 - quite a bit earlier than normal. Pastor Bo Johnson will be preaching, and I believe we are going to have a wonderful time seeking God together. In February, we will be returning the favor by visiting Living Word, so that will be fun, too!

Hope to see you tonight!

Chase

Other Upcoming Events:

Sunday, January 9: Message: Vision 2011 Part 2. Family Meeting and 2011 Budget voting. .
Wednesday, January 12: Craig Huggart teaching Wednesday night @Agape - Special prayer workshop.
Sunday, January 16: Joint Sunday morning service with Living Word Church @Agape - Our worship team leading, Bo Johnson preaching. Beginning time approximately 10:20 or so. Light fruit and coffee for breakfast.
Sunday, January 23: Beginning of new series (16-20 week) on 1st Timothy.
Sunday, January 30: Food Pantry Outreach: Pray for souls to come to Jesus!
Sunday, February 6: Super Bowl party and food pantry drive
Sunday, February 20: Joint Service part 2 - Agape to join Living Word church - I will be preaching there, and their worship team will be leading worship