LaCrosse Baptist Church Newsletter January,

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1 LaCrosse Baptist Church Newsletter January, The Chest of Joash In the Bible there is the story of Joash who reigned as king in Jerusalem for 40 years. During that time he made it his mission to have the House of God repaired since it s maintenance had been neglected for so long. To collect the necessary funds to carry out the task we read in 2 Chronicles 24:8-11 And at the king s commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the Lord. 9 And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the Lord the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness. 10 And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. 11 Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king s office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king s scribe and the high priest s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. During the early part of November, Pastor Joey put a very nice chest at the front of the church and asked the congregation to pray and search their hearts to collect additional funds to help pay off the mortgage on The Lighthouse building. We are not far from paying off the debt and with some effort we can finish the task. It would be pleasing to the Lord to have our church finish this debt because it is a drag on the other efforts the church needs to address. That was the challenge of the Chest of Joash, and it was carried over until the first week in December. In the final count, a little over $3, was raised. Thank you to everyone who helped with this effort. It was a big step in helping to get LaCrosse Baptist Church out from under its debt. 1

2 Christmas Cantata 2

3 On December 15 th the Church Choir put on a Christmas Cantata. Several church members and Sunday School kids performed the Christmas story of Christ s birth at the same time. The story and the singing were all coordinated to match up and it was a very good performance. Pastor Joey opened up with a word of prayer and then Kelsey and Megan Stroud performed solo Christmas songs on the piano, under the direction of Carolyn Turlington. Dan Drum then came forward in the persona of Luke and delivered the narrative of the story from that Bible Book. Kelsey, Megan, Maddox and Gerrel performed some parts of the story as an angel, Mary, a shepherds and Joseph. Pastor Joey closed us with a short Christmas message and an invitation for everyone to join us for a wonderful meal after the service. As is usual for our church, an outstanding array of tasty food awaited everyone in the Fellowship Hall. It was a great night of singing, praising the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, celebrating the Christmas season, eating great food and Christian fellowship. A big thanks goes out to everyone who participated in putting on this wonderful event, Especially, Carolyn Turlington who put together the skit and played the piano, to Keith Pace who directed the choir, to all the choir participants who spent extra time each Wednesday night working on the songs and to all the actors who told the Christmas story as the choir sang. God bless each and every one of you for a job well done. New Years Eve On Tueseday night December 31 st the church had a fellowship gathering and, of course, a great meal. We started the evening digging into a beautiful selection of food and desserts. No one left hungry, that is for sure! Pastor Joey then started the evening fellowship with the question, What events this past year brought the love of Christ into clear view for you? (I m paraphrasing) Several people mentioned the change the church has gone through this past year and how much of a blessing Pastor Joey, Vicky and the children have been to us this year. It was a very difficult and trying time for the first few months of 2013 and emotions ran high, but God saw our church through difficult times and our church family came through stronger than ever. We all were just amazed at how God has worked a wondrous plan for our congregation and we can see the blessings He has bestowed upon us with our own eyes. Pastor Joey summarized it very well when he said he believes God has even greater plans for us in 2014 as we continue to move forward. Other people also mentioned how important it is to them just to have a church family that cares for them and knowing that they have people they can count on if needed. Maybe it is because we are a small church, but there is a closeness here that is sometimes difficult to find in big churches. But God is praised and glorified just as much at LaCrosse Baptist as in a mega church in Jacksonville or Orlando or Miami. The Lord loves us all and I pray that our church will always be in the love of Jesus and we worship him together this coming year. 3

4 Alley Horner For our 5 th Sunday Sing on December 29 th, we had Alley Horner from Jacksonville come visit us. She performed about five songs, several of which she wrote, and shared her testimony with us. It was very inspirational. She started with a song by Hillsong United called Oceans and then a song by Kari Jobe called O the Blood, both very good Christian songs with a strong message. Then Alley shared her testimony with us about her early life with music and singing and how she met her husband, Joshua. Looking back she knew God was involved in all the events that were shaping her life. As a teenager the doctors informed her she would not be able to have children and was surprised when she became pregnant. This first try resulted in a miscarriage but it gave her hope that it could happen again. Then came her second pregnancy, which was filled with many complications to the point where doctors were encouraging them to abort the baby. The doctors felt there were just to many negatives and they would have to raise a child with medical problems and Down syndrome. Alley and her husband would never consider an abortion and actually had to get angry with the doctors before they would leave them alone. When Lila May was finally born, the medical problems were minor and there was no Down syndrome. The doctors had been wrong but Alley and Joshua s faith in God had been stronger. And as you can see from the photo Lila May is a healthy, beautiful child. God then blessed this family with another daughter, Abby- Kate who is also a healthy beautiful vivacious child. We had a bit of a technical problem as we couldn t get the her computer to match up to our projector so she wasn t able perform her composition of You Knew Me with her daughter, but she bought her on stage and held her tight to show one of God s miracles. We do have a link to Alley s testimony and the song on our web page. Alley then performed one of her other compositions called How Do I Worship and sang while she played the piano. She closed out with How great thou Art and a song by Phillips, Craig & Dean, Great I Am. It was a truly a great, great and blessed morning. 4

5 WHAT S COMING UP: Church Council The next meeting will be January 5 th at 4:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Ladies Ministry Meeting January 6 th and 20 th at 7:00 in The Lighthouse. Finance Committee Meeting January 9 th at 7:00 in the Fellowship Hall Business Meeting January 12 th following the Morning Worship Services Brotherhood Meeting January 16 th at 7:00 in the Fellowship Hall. Church Choir/Singers Anyone interested in being a part of the Choir and or music specials is asked to attend practice following evening prayer service. For more information contact Carolyn Turlington. Prayer Teams We are in the process of building prayer teams within the Church body. The objective would be to have teams comprised of 2 or more persons meeting at the time and place appointed by each team with a focused prayer point. The focus of the prayers will be up to each team. My prayer is that you will have a desire to be a part of this important ministry. Please contact Pat Stroud or Brother Joey if you are willing to serve in this capacity. Spiritual Warfare We have been in this study for a while now and it has been extremely well received. You can still jump right in and join us as our discussion doesn t rely on previous weeks attendance. We meet right after the Sunday Evening Supper at 6:30 in the Sanctuary. Evil and tribulation abounds for Christians. It seems we are constantly battling against the devil or non- believers, and in some cases, other Christians. This study program will show you how to use the power of Christ to regain peace and tranquility. Jesus has already defeated Satan, so we need to learn to lean on Him. This study will help you do that and it s not too late to join us. COLLECTION COUNTERS JANUARY Tobie Turlington & Dan Drum FEBRUARY Beal Stroud & Carolyn Turlington MARCH Don Loftus & Kay Davis APRIL David Skelton & Pat Stroud MAY Tobie Turlington & Dan Drum JUNE Beal Stroud & Carolyn Turlington JULY Don Loftus & Kay Davis AUGUST David Skelton & Pat Stroud SEPTEMBER Tobie Turlington & Dan Drum Editor - Don Loftus donloftus@yahoo.com Please check the Collection Counters list to make sure you are open for that month. If there are conflicts, contact Don Loftus to make changes. 5