Tag Archives: Weekly Newsletter

Deco04

Chase

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Agape newsletter, December 4, 2009. Special “Let it Snow” edition!

Hello everybody and welcome in to a very cold Agape newsletter. Well, it’s cold outside, but hopefully it’s warm in here for all of you. I doubt we’ll see much snow tonight (maybe?) but I believe we will see three major (for us) snow events this Winter. Of course, I also thought Alabama would beat Auburn pretty badly last week, so I am not the greatest prognosticator that has ever lived.

So - what’s going on at Agape this week, I hear you asking. I’m glad you asked, because this is an exciting month for us! Here’s what’s happening:

This Sunday, December 6: We will have a great time in worship, hear a detailed update and a call to arms on the Live Nativity, and also hear about how we are going to be helping send gifts and love to our soldiers in Iraq for this Christmas. In addition, we will begin to look at what led to the coming of Jesus into the world. Why did He come?

Next Saturday, December 12, we will be reaching out to our community with our Food pantry ministry. This will be a very important food pantry, as this will be our greatest chance to invite many people in the community to our Christmas Feast and celebration on December 20th. Be sure and come help, if possible, and help us get the word out into the community about the Christmas Feast and celebration of the birth of Jesus!

Speaking of the Live Nativity - let me fill you in a little about our plans. The live Nativity will take place two nights in December - Thursday, December 17 and Friday December 18 (with a practice and set up on Wednesday December 16). Each night, we will be presenting the good news of the coming of Jesus to many who turn in to see the Nativity up close, as well as the thousands who are likely to drive by and catch a glimpse of what we are doing. Our focus is to proclaim the coming of Jesus, and to invite people to come celebrate with us on Sunday, December 20th.  We  have some needs that many of you can help with. First and foremost, we need people. We estimate that slightly over thirty people will be needed each night, and fifty or more would be ideal. Everybody will have a part to play, from singing in the choir, to serving hot cocoa and cider, to helping with greeting and parking, and even driving for our planned hayride. We also need some materials - can you help us with any of these things:

1. Live Animals - we don’t want to spend a whole lot of money, but if somebody out there in Agape land has access to some farm animals (even a few) that would be FANTASTIC - and a terrific “draw”.

2. Trailers - our plan at the moment is to use trailers, and have our live nativity function as a hayride (more on this Sunday), but in order to do this, we will need at least two, and preferably three largish trailers. Can anybody help us with this!?

3. We need some bails of hay (or pine straw, even) who can help with this?

4. Plywood - we need some plywood to build the stage - do you have any that you could let us use?

5. We will need some hot cocoa and apple cider. Do you have a great recipe for hot cocoa? Several gallons of apple cider lying around? We will put them all to good use!

More details will be coming this Sunday, as well as an exciting explanation of our complete vision for the live nativity. We have the potential to reach hundreds, maybe thousands with the message of the coming of Jesus. To do this, WE WILL NEED ALL OF US TO PITCH IN AND HELP!!!! This will be the ultimate group effort by Agape - so be sure and let us know if you will help. especially if you haven’t signed up yet!!!

Finally, Brian Perkins sent this heartwarming story to me earlier, and I now share it with you:


” A very old man lay dying in his bed. In death’s doorway, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookie wafting up the stairs.

He gathered his remaining strength and lifted himself from the bed.  Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort forced himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands.

With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing into the kitchen.  Were it not for death’s agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven.

There, spread out on newspapers on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.

Was it heaven?  Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?

Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table.  The aged and withered hand, shaking, made its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when he was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.

“Stay out of those,” she said. “They’re for the funeral.”


I love you all, and look forward to seeing you Sunday!


Chase

Jano16

Chase

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Agape Baptist Newsletter….Special we now have a blog edition! (Also: Holiness, a call to prayer, and Julio Jones)

Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Agape newsletter - now available online as well as via email! Yes, that’s right - we have now entered the twenty first century with a blog! Rejoice! I’ve already posted all of the past Agape newsletters online, so you can relive them should you have a need to. More on the blog in a moment, but first let’s get to our super fast summary: 

1. Sunday message: The wonderful/terrible fire of God’s holiness. 
2. A CALL TO PRAYER (Sunday morning at 9:15) 
3. A special baby shower…
4. More on the blog Pinsonchurch.com/blog 
5. Wednesday night fellowship dinner
6. The Nest, January 27th

This Sunday (January 18) at Agape, I will be bringing a message that concerns God’s call to His church: “Be Holy as I am Holy”. The Holiness of God is both a wonderful and terrible thing, and His call to the modern American church to be Holy is often either ignored or phariseeized by us. Sunday, as God gives grace, I hope to bring a message out of the unchanging word of God that will call us to challenge our ways, our habits and our words, while at the same time avoiding any sort of ungodly, liberty killing response. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty” vs. “Be Holy as I am Holy.” Both are scripture, yet the church tends towards one or the other “extreme”, though we are called to both liberty and holiness. I hope you join us Sunday to find out how we can be both free and holy! 

God is calling us at Agape to make prayer a priority like never before. I believe that to be true with all of my heart. After last week’s 9:15 am prayer time, David challenged us to move prayer from a side section of the sanctuary to front and center. We heard his challenge, and believe it to be from God, so beginning this Sunday, the entire sanctuary will be devoted to prayer from roughly 9:15am up until small groups begin. The Bridge (our coffee and cookies hospitality center) will be moved to the foyer, and also function as a welcome center for guests. I implore and challenge you to come and pray with us at the front of the sanctuary this Sunday, beginning at 9:15. 

This Sunday, we will be having a surprise baby shower for Tameka, one of the Olivia’s house ladies, that has been joining us for worship lately. The shower will take place during Ann Talley’s small group (upstairs, near the sound room), and I encourage all of us to bring items that would be fit for a mom with a newborn. Let’s wrap our arms around Tameka and show her the love of Jesus!

As noted above, we now have a blog. All of these newsletters will be posted there, as well as other thoughts and musings, videos and random things. When you see something interesting there, please forward the link to your friends! The blog can be found at http://www.pinsonchurch.com/blog . It is not currently hosted on Agapepinson.com due to that server not being able to support blogging software. Late last week, while I was setting up the blog, I got a call from my mom, who had been at the hospital with my aunt for her knee replacement surgery. It turned out that Alabama receiver Julio Jones had surgery the same day that my aunt had surgery, and Julio’s room was right next door! My mom spent quite a bit of time talking with Julio and his mom, she told me about it, and I wrote a blog post about it on our new site. One week later, that blog post has been linked to by at least 15 websites, and our site has been visited by almost 2000 people from 8 different countries (including Djibouti and Kuwait). How funny is that? 

 

A more pertinent blog post however is one I posted earlier today that includes a great theology by email discussion that I had with David, Greg, John Talley, Michael Fargarson, Sam Knowles and others. You should read it (though it is very long!) Click here to read it…Theology by email.

This Wednesday night (January 21), beginning at 6:00pm we will be having a family dinner and worship night. Come, and bring your friends and appetites - we should have lots of fun! 

Finally, don’t forget about The Nest homeless outreach which will be happening Tuesday, January 27th. Also, pray for Hal - founder of The Nest. I received a text message from Cindy today that said he was in the hospital. 

I close with some interesting links for those of you that are into that sort of thing:  

*****     Sam sent me this article by John Piper on John 15 (Abiding in Jesus) and scripture memory. It seems quite appropriate given last Sunday’s message. (CLICK HERE)  

*****     Ten Shekels and A Shirt - One of the most powerful messages ever preached. (CLICK HERE) 

*****     Prosperity gospel is suffering with the economy. (CLICK HERE) 

*****     How to have a Family worship time (CLICK HERE)  

*****     Tim Tebow on his faith. (CLICK HERE)  

*****     Could Jack the Ripper have been a Jill? (CLICK HERE)  

*****     Practical tips on saving money: (CLICK HERE)  

*****     Interesting facts on Global Warming and the climate: (CLICK HERE) 

Well, that should be enough for now. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing you Sunday! 

Chase