At the Intersection of Jesus and Me

Transcription

1 November 2018 The idea of Advent is centered around celebrating of waiting. Most of the time, we jump from carving the turkey to decorating our homes with lights and trees and tinsel. Christmas comes in with an explosion of music and color. Rarely, do we ever celebrate and wait in anticipation. Our culture has lost the art of anticipation. Waiting is painful. The drive to grandparents house from the eyes of a 4 year old. How much longer? Chocolate chip cookies right from the oven that need to cool. Cubs fans longing for a World Series win for 108 years. All the official paperwork to get complete on the sale of your house. Major medical tests done on a Friday and results should be back next week. Waiting is hard. For 400 years, the promise of a Messiah was coming. How much longer? Waiting for Hope Waiting for Peace Waiting for Joy Waiting for Love And finally - Emmanuel arrives. God with us. A couple of years ago, we did a special Advent series on Sunday nights. It was very well received and many suggested we should do this on Sunday morning. After some prayerful thought, I believe this is a great year to do this. This year, we will celebrate the four weeks going into Christmas with four Advent services leading up to Christmas Eve and ultimately Christmas morning. Our services will look different this year and include congregational singing, some reading of Scripture, some personal stories, some videos, a devotional thought, and some fellowship to follow. I would like to feature some testimonies from BCC families that center around those four themes: December 2 - Hope December 9 - Peace December 16 - Joy December 23 - Love I am prayerfully asking for some personal family or individual testimonies (5-7 minutes) describing how God came near. How Emmanuel showed up in your story and brought (most likely some if all of them) some sort of Hope, Peace, Joy or Love. Do you have such a testimony that you would be willing to share in our services? If so, please reach out to me by (markbond@etczone.com) for more information. Advent Services will take place on Sunday mornings at both 8:30am and 11:00am. If you are willing to share, I would ask that week you attend both services of the morning to share with our whole church family. Clay in His Hands, Mark Bond

2 The Lead Pastor Search Team have been presented a slate of candidates from Vanderbloemen Search Group. Our Search Team was pleased with the recommended candidates. The team is currently in the process of interviewing them. Thank you for your continued prayers and support of this process. Ways to pray while we wait: Pray for wisdom and direction from God for the Search Team Pray for the minister and his family as they make decision about their future Pray for our church to continue to be a healthy, thriving family ready to accept a new member If you haven t registered yet for the ICOM conference, now is your chance!! The church has already paid the registration fee for our members. Contact the church office to receive our code or you can pick up an orange card in the Gathering Area that includes more details. BCC is arranging car pools to Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati for ICOM on Saturday, November 17th for adults and youth (Middle & High School). The Missions team is coordinating the adult carpool and Mark Jacobs will be chaperoning the youth group. Sign up in the Gathering Area for carpooling. Find out more at their website: for a complete schedule and more information. Saturday main speakers are Nate Bush and Jeff Vines.

3 At the Intersection of Jesus and Me Some of the craziest moments in our lives happen when we are stuck at an intersection, because the direction we are wanting to go is impeded by someone or something else. We ve all been there. We ve all been stuck because someone else is blocking our path. We ve all been stuck because of a detour that was poorly marked. (Kind of like our current situation with I-74 and the Batesville exit.) Some of these crazy intersections are more spiritual in nature, where we thought God was leading us on a certain path or maybe we are stuck because we really don t know where He is leading us. So, what should we do in those moments to be better prepared? Mark Jacobs, wife Jennifer, & family First, we need to understand that at the intersection of Jesus and our lives, that His will is supremely greater than our agendas. He can and will ask us to sometimes change directions. He does this because He always knows what s ahead, and that sometimes a change of course is necessary to protect us from our sometimes-misguided agendas, and to lead us to someone else that we can influence in His name. As abrupt and unannounced as these moments are, they are crucial for His redemption plan. Secondly, we need to understand that at the intersection of Jesus and our lives, Jesus doesn t expect perfection, but perfect faith. I think we all, myself included, want to be in control. We love to think we can manage our present circumstances, and that we are smart enough to know what lies ahead. We like security in every step that we make, so much so, that we often think that faith is always having everything figured out. Nothing could be further from the truth! Faith is about trusting in the person of Jesus Christ even when we don t know where Jesus is leading us or how He ll see us through, and to take a step forward trusting in Him. So, when your faith in Jesus leads you to an intersection that seems like an inconvenient detour or something that seems scary, remember His will is greater and that He promises to be with you every step of the way. -Mark Jacobs

4 My Mom is a fantastic cook and can make a pie to rival Martha Stewart. She was a fantastic PTO mom when it was needed. She can grow plants and bring near-dead ones back to life. Her sewing skills amaze me as she has made wardrobes of clothes and costumes. Even though I grew up watching her cook, bake, sew, garden and more I can not do any of those things well. It reminds me of our Christian walk. Even if I have a fantastic Bible study and prayer time, it doesn t transfer to my children. They have to make their own Christian walk themselves. This starts when they are young by teaching, modeling and beginning to equip them. We have a piano in our house. Obviously, our children have seen their dad play the piano beautifully. None of our kids can actually play the piano. Not because they lacked the opportunity but because we didn t make it a priority to teach them. If we leave the Christian discipleship to the church, we as parents are missing a fantastic opportunity to lead our children to Christ. What a great privilege and responsibility. 3 John 1:4, I have no greater joy than to hear my children are walking in the truth. I love seeing my children acknowledge Jesus in their lives or hearing them sing praises to God. We aren t perfect (by far) but we are trying to instill Bible study skills, show them serving is fun and teach them that there is no greater joy than knowing and sharing Jesus. I want to partner with you parents in showing your children how to walk in that truth. If you have any questions, I d love to talk with you. Serving and growing with you, Rachel Bond Special thanks to Bonnie Robbins for coming to share about her experience taking care of goats. We learned how she knows them each by name, how she takes care of them and related various portions of Psalm 23 to her story.

5 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35 When we consciously choose to surrender our lives to Christ s care and control, we choose to trust Him, follow Him and follow His plan. He has given us His Word to tell us what He is like, what He wants from us, and how we can be more like Him. It s not hard to show love because everyone around us needs it! We just need to ask God to help us open up to those we see around us. We honor God when we see someone as God sees them. NEWS: October was a busy month for Celebrate Recovery. Here s a few things that took place: BCC held a CR Leadership Training and Sponsorship Workshop on October 6th. We had representatives from Seymour, Greensburg, Rushville, Cleves, Columbus, Scottsburg and Indianapolis attending. We recognized three men who completed a Step Study. The step studies are Bible studies which are more in-depth than the regular lessons and last eight months. Congratulations! Celebrate Recovery was represented at Batesville Area Resource Center (BARC) Trunk & Treat Night on October 24th. We passed out candy, pencils and 500 business cards. The Women s Step Study completed on November 1st. Coming Soon: * Celebrate Recovery Leadership Meeting on Sunday November 4th at 9:30am at BCC BCC Variety Show Sunday, December 9th at 6pm This will be a fun way to enjoy time together making memories and watching the various talents God has blessed our church family with while remembering the true meaning of Christmas. According to our church bylaws, The Elders will act as the nominating committee for all Church offices. Members of the congregation desiring to make recommendations for the office of Elder, Deacon or Treasurer may submit the name in writing to the Elders, no later than one month before the annual meeting, for their consideration. Our annual Congregational Meeting will be held at 9:45am on Sunday, January 20, 2019 in the Worship Center.

6 1294 Columbus Avenue Batesville, IN (812) ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED Thanksgiving Hours The church office will be closed on Thursday, November 22nd and Friday, November 23rd in honor of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Important Dates to Remember November 1 Celebrate Recovery November 8 Celebrate Recovery November 11 Middle & High School 6pm November 15 Celebrate Recovery November 17 ICOM November 22 Thanksgiving; Office Closed; No CR November 23 Office Closed November 29 Celebrate Recovery December 9 BCC Variety Show OCTOBER ATTENDANCE ATTENDANCE 7th 14th 21st 28th Total Attendance Church in Worship the park Church in the park Children s Ministry OCTOBER GIVING OFFERING Month YTD Budget General $34,552 $404,265 92% Missions (10%) $3,839 $44,917 93% Frosting $650