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Jano07

Chase

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Agape Newsletter, November 21, 2008: Special Innapropriate Reference to Moonshine Edition. ;)

Hello friends and family,

Welcome in to another action packed edition of the Agape newsletter. This week is a big week, so let’s jump right in:
Ultra-quick summary of this week at Agape:

1. Sermon this week: The Great Romance Part 3 - The Great Romance played out in the world.
1A - Coming December 7 and 14 - Agape’s Vision for 2009…Please be praying!
2. Agape Thanksgiving meal this Sunday after church.
3. Crossroads Sunday night at 5:00 pm - Focus: One Life, One Shot.

4. Crossroads: Christmas party and December schedule (see below).
5. Traci Jones surgery….meals for the Jones family.
6. Cornbread and Cranberry Sauce needed.

What an exciting week we have ahead of us! In the Thompson family we love Thanksgiving week. It means great food and fellowship, and a time of thanksgiving, of course - but also - it means Christmas music! We look forward every year to the day after Thanksgiving as the time that marks the beginning of Advent, and the breaking out of Christmas worship music that will be played throughout the day. “What is Advent?”, I hear some of you ask? “Are you Catholic?” I hear others ask. Advent, put simply, consists of the weeks leading up to the celebration of the birth of Jesus. In our family, beginning after Thanksgiving, we gather nightly for a candle lit devotion, responsive reading, and singing. Then we place an Advent ornament on the Christmas tree. By speaking of the birth of Jesus every night leading up to Christmas, I believe it really communicates to our entire family what this season is all about. Next Sunday, I believe I’ll be sharing more with you about Advent and family worship, so stay tuned. Also, we are not Catholic, though we have caught Abbey sneaking around with a nun’s wimple lately. (I kid…)
Speaking of Sunday’s - this Sunday we will be concluding our series on The Great Romance. Two weeks ago we looked at the amazing fact that God loves us not just as a Father, but also as a Husband - indeed we are to be the Bride of Christ. Last week, we looked at the implications of that Romance - He loves us, so we are to especially love each other in the church. Sunday, we will take The Great Romance a step further and look at how the Love of Christ compels us to go into the world and invite others to the wedding feast.
After worship and word, we will all join together to celebrate Thanksgiving. You are encouraged to bring 2 dishes - either 2 side dishes, or 1 side dish and 1 dessert. The church will be providing the meat, rolls, drinks and moonshine*.


Also Sunday, our missions team asks that you bring corn bread and cranberry sauce for the food pantry. During last week’s food pantry, we had the largest line I have ever seen here - and even this week (when no food pantry was scheduled), we had people lining up outside the doors. Help us feed the hungry!
Please be in prayer for Traci Jones, who had back surgery this week. We would like to bless her family with meals as she recovers from surgery, so please email me if you’d like to provide a meal for the Jones family!
Finally, David sends this information about Crossroads in December: December 14th after Crossroads service we are going to have a Christmas fellowship dinner at Mary and David Ledbetter’s house in Pinson. Everyone is welcome. Mary and David ask that everyone who comes bring some kind of a dish, that way we have plenty of food. We are going to have Crossroads on Dec 7th, and the 14th. The 14th will kind of be our end of the year service so to speak. We will take the 21st and the 28th off and come back on Jan 4th.

This Week’s Schedule:  (This month’s schedule online at: http://agapepinson.com/calendar_of_events.htm)
Saturday, November 22: Angel Food pick up. If you’ve ordered Angel Food for this month, then it needs to be picked up at 9:30am Saturday.

Sunday, November 23, 9:15 am - Please remember that we’ve changed corporate prayer time from 8:30 to 9:15am
Sunday 9:45 - Small groups
Sunday 10:45 - Corporate worship, prayer and word. This Sunday: The Great Romance, part 3 - Into The World…

Sunday night: 5 pm Sunday night at Crossroads, David will be teaching on: :: One Life…One Shot

Jonathan Edwards once said that he was resolved to live his life the way that he would wish he had lived it when he came to die. All around us we are surrounded by the worldly ideals of what will make us a success in life. But in light of the gospel we have experienced, what will a successful life look like when we stand before Christ? Join us on November 23rd as we look at what scripture says it means to make life count for all of eternity.


Tuesday Night, November 25th: The Nest - church volunteers leave Agape at 6:30.


Wednesday night, November 26th - We will not be having Wednesday night Bible Study, but the Food Pantry will be open - from 6 to 8 pm, and I’m sure the mission’s team would appreciate your help!


Next Sunday, November 23 (right after worship: Thanksgiving fellowship meal and celebration.

This Week’s Links:

*****    In San Francisco, a group of 13 young adults with the San Francisco Justice House of Prayer, were physically and sexually assaulted by 200-500 homosexuals who were angered by the passage of proposition 8. The response of the 13 is a great example of love under fire. http://www.jhopsf.org/


*****    Serbian doctor who performed almost 50,000 abortions, becomes a pro-life activist. A must read!: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08111304.html
*****    Let the shaking begin! http://www.crosswalk.com/spirituallife/worship/11584250/

*****    Tragedy in India: Hindu extremist groups are offering rewards of food, money, and alcohol to those who kill Christians and burn their homes: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5186703.ece


*****     For you artsy folks, the Bible in sand (a video): http://www.crosswalk.com/spirituallife/worship/11584250/

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday! 

Chase

*moonshine not available at all churches. Including ours. Why, the very thought of moonshine at a church - shame on you!  ;)

Jano07

Chase

0

Agape Newsletter - 10-10-2008. Yard Sale, Movie Night + more

Hello again everybody, and allow me to welcome you to another edition of the Agape newsletter - now available in print edition (when I remember to print it out)!


October looks like a very active month for us, so let’s get straight away into our weekly schedule and announcements, shall we?

This Week’s Schedule:
Sunday, October 12 - 8:30 - Corporate prayer. If you haven’t yet joined us for corporate prayer - why not come and and seek God with your faith family? We meet at 8:30am in the back right of the sanctuary.
Sunday 9:45 - Small groups
Sunday 10:45 - Morning worship and word. This week we’ll finish up our series on leadership, and examine God’s plan for Elders, Deacons and Pastors in the church. Come join us, and bring a friend!
Sunday night: 5 pm - Crossroads. Sunday night David is going to tackle a very serious issue - How can a good God send people to Hell? If you missed last week’s message, then you missed a powerful explanation of how a good God who is all powerful can allow evil and suffering in the world. Here’s a link to download it: http://agapepinson.com/sermons_online.htm
Here’s a summary from David of what’s coming up this week at Crossroads: Whether in public or private conversation, more than one Christian has been challenged to respond to why they believe a loving God would punish sin and send people to hell. In light of our rebellion, perhaps we should ask how a Holy God can allow sinners into Heaven. To answer these questions, we must search scripture to understand the character and glory of God. Join us October 12th at 5pm as we continue our study of The Gospel.

Wednesday night, October 15, we’ll be having a fellowship meal together, along with some various and sundry fun and games. The meal begins at 5:45, so come join us for some quality food and hang out time!


This Week’s Announcements:
Attention: parents: Please help us keep children off of the stage in the sanctuary. There is much expensive and sensitive equipment on the stage, and recently we have had issues with children getting on the stage and moving or knocking over equipment. Let’s all join together and remind the kids to stay off of the stage when we see them there!
Angel Food orders are due by October 11 (Saturday) at 9:00 am. Cindy and the missions team will be at Agape to collect these, as it is food pantry Saturday. For an online menu, as well as more information on Angel Food, go to our site: http://agapepinson.com/angel_food_ministries.htm

Also here are some more announcements from Cindy and the Missions Team:

1. Movie/game night Oct. 24th starts at 6:30pm
2.Missions yard sale Oct 18th see Sue Taylor if you have items to donate
3. October. is world hunger month.  we will be collecting food/money specifically for food pantry at our church for the entire month of October.  See Cin for any questions.
4. Need personal care items for The Nest  on Oct. 28th.

Just in case you’re not on Sue Taylor’s email address list, here’s her email with more information about the Missions Yard Sale:


Hey guys!  This is just a reminder about Agape’s Benevolence Yard Sale which is NEXT Saturday, October the 18th.  PLEASE, if you have donations that you have not already taken to the church, plan to take them to Agape this Saturday morning before noon.  We will be there working with the donations!  We’ll even help you unload your vehicle!!! If you have donations but can’t get them there by then, please have them at Agape by the evening of the 17th.
Don’t forget, the more the merrier.  Come and visit and SHOP our yardsale.  (This would be a great time for the husbands to buy their stuff back!)  All proceeds further our benevolence work atAgape!

Love you all,
Sue

A personal note:
One other thing before I give you some external links to check out: Sadly, our dog, Kara (a stray who was dropped off at the parsonage a few weeks ago), was run over by a car and killed early this morning. She had a bad habit of crossing the street and going to the bank from time to time, and though it has gotten better lately, she apparently still would go over to the bank early in the morning to greet the bank tellers when they arrived. She was such a personable and sweet dog, and we’re very sad to see this happen - the kids in particular. After I told the kids about it this afternoon, they wanted to see Kara one last time, so I walked them down to the woods where I had moved her for them to say goodbye. On the way back up to the parsonage, Chloe looked at me and asked, “Why does God let bad things like that happen?” Answering that question on a level that a child (or even an adult) can understand is quite challenging, but David did an excellent job of doing just that last Sunday at Crossroads (see the link above to download the message).
Maybe you have somebody like Kara in your life. Not a dog, of course, but a friend or family member who is engaging in dangerous/risky behavior. All evening, I’ve been asking myself if I could have done anything different to prevent what happened this morning. If you have a friend or family member that is in a similar position, don’t wait until catastrophe strikes to help out or intervene in some way - otherwise you’ll be like me, wondering what you could have done differently, but knowing that it might be too late.
Finally, some links to sites and articles worth checking out:

*****    Adrian Warnock is one of my favorite Christian bloggers. Here, he has a video of Billy Graham preaching in 1958: http://adrianwarnock.com/2008/10/video-billy-graham-preaching-in-1958.html
Also on his site this week is an article from Charles Spurgeon (the Baptist “Prince of Preachers”) that states that conviction of sin is necessary for salvation: http://adrianwarnock.com/2008/10/spurgeon-conviction-of-sin-essential.html

*****     Here’s a thought provoking article that I don’t entirely agree with, but definitely find some merit in. What the Church should learn from Google: http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/2008/09/17/what-the-church-should-learn-from-google-1-of-many/
*****     From ThinkChristian (quoting the pope): Our financial systems are built on sand. Boy, has that been evident this week! http://www.thinkchristian.net/index.php/2008/10/07/financial-systems-built-on-sand/
*****     Were you aware that the Christians in Orissa, India are currently undergoing major persecution? Please pray for them! http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/november/3.15.html
More information and a video from Gospel for Asia: http://gfa.org/orissa-video  - The speaker in this video is K.P. Yohannan a very trustworthy and Godly man, whom I have enormous respect for. Keep in mind that there may well be more Christians in India than in America. I am almost certain that there are more Christians in China than in America. Food for thought.
That’s it for this week! If you have questions, comments, prayer requests or announcements, please let me know by replying to this email!
Grace and Peace,

Chase