Inside this issue: Letters from Laura. Potluck 3. Prayers& Birthdays. Baptism & Adults Bible Study. The Tomb of Jesus History

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1 B C 123 T. K, April 2018 Our Pastor s Paragraphs Inside this issue: Letters from Laura 2 Potluck 3 Prayers& Birthdays Baptism & Adults Bible Study The Tomb of Jesus History Hannah Circle Garage Sale Youth Pastor Report Calendar Financial Report 4 5 6& Remember You Don t Have to Suffer Alone April is National Mental Health month. As I think about the needs with our community I am struck with the increasing stress that people are experiencing. According to the latest number from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 2006 to 2016 the rate of suicide jumped 70 percent among white kids ages 10 to 17 and up 77 percent among black kids in the same age group. As I write this article I sit at the shop getting an oil change for my car. A little girl named Stella age three is sitting beside me offering me a gummy worm. That little girl reminds me of the safety that children can experience in a loving family environment. And I believe that the triumvirate of faith family, and community can offer the safe environments we need as people to grow and thrive. There are many reasons for various levels of mental illness but I believe we all can contribute in a very small way to the kind of safe environment people need. You may not know what to do but I saw a poster this week that offered seven very basic suggestions to help a friend with mental illness. 1. Calmness comfort your friend in a time of need. 2. Honesty encourages your friend to trust. 3. Non-judgmental attitude help to create a safe space for your friend. 4. Empathy show that you care. 5. Resourcefulness show your friend resources where they could get help. 6. Reassuring make your friend feel like everything will be okay. 7. Encouraging direct your friend get help and support. Blaine Conzatti, a columnist and research fellow at the Family Policy Institute of Washington believes From the Desk of Senior Pastor Jon Vincent "Many young adults are turning to suicide as an escape from the pressures of life. Conzatti doesn't agree with secular experts who cite increased economic hardship and inadequate mental health services for the recent rise in suicide. He noted that "life on earth has never been better" and that there has been an increase in mental health funding over recent decades. He instead pointed to cultural shifts as important reasons why suicide has been on the rise. "Young Americans have increasingly disconnected Continued on page 3...

2 The Baptist Visitor The Baptist Visitor Page 11 Page 2 Le ers from Laura Greetings from beautiful Ecuador! Although I m presently in Ecuador, I ve been traveling recently. In February, Lynell Smith, Melissa Nieves and I facilitated Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship as one of three workshop options for the attendees at the Latin American Pro-Life conference in Lima, Peru. Our 43 students interacted enthusiastically with the teaching. One participant told me, After class, my two teenage daughters told me, Mom, we want to disciple people too! From Lima, we went to Trujillo, Peru, where Tim & Virgie Farley partnered with Lynell and me to facilitate Moving Beyond Lecture. We had over 100 students from several area churches! Farleys returned to Iquitos, Peru, to start this year s classes in the Bible Institute there, and Lynell and I facilitated Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship, also to 100 students. Afterward, one of them told me she was putting this into practice in her high school classroom and she sent a photo to prove it! In March, colleague Mark Rubin, Lynell and I facilitated Moving Beyond Lecture in ABWE s Bible in Santiago, Chile. It was great to have 40 such sharp and enthusiastic students! On Thursday of that week, one man came up to me and said, Last night I put some of this into practice with my Jr. High youth group, and they said that I was a great teacher! Another told me after the class was over, I m really much more comfortable with lecture, but I decided to continue coming to the class anyway. I ve learned a lot, and in the end, it s not about me. It s about how people learn best. Thank the Lord with me that He has truly given me the desire of my heart during these last three years, in granting me the privilege of two significant ministries: leading ladies discipleship groups and teaching adults how to disciple and teach others! I thank each one of you who have trained me, encouraged me and have given me these opportunities! And thank all of you so much for your faithful prayers! May you rejoice in Jesus on Resurrection Sunday! Laura March Sun. Worship Sun. School C F R F M General Off - $11, Mission Tithing - $1, Total Offering - $12, Approx. Expenses: $15, Sunday School - $ Fellowship off. - $ Dividends - $10.71 Designated Ministry - $1, Funeral Fund - $10.00 Boss Center - $ Special Programs Fund- $0.00 Special Interest Fund - $0.00 4th th th th Youth Fund - $0.00 Fund - $0.00 C F FINANCIAL REPORT Year-To-Date Total 2018 Budget $287, Income General Offering $47, Initial Offering $ Gas for Vehicle $0.00 Now Acct Interest $ /2 Merritt Dividend $10.71 Use of Building $ Boss Comm. Center $1, Total Income $49, Expenses Mission Tithe $3, Payroll $45, Payroll Benefits $9, Trustee Board $15, Deacon & Deaconess Bd. $2, Mission Board $0.00 Music Committee $1, Decoration Committee $0.00 Social Committee $0.00 Dues $35.00 Boss Comm. Center $4, Total Expenses $82, *Mission Tithing Checks are sent quarterly

3 Page 10 P Page 3 1. Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat HAPPY EASTER! *Communion Sunday 2. Hannah Circle Meeting 6:30pm 3. Choir 4. Choir 5. Girl Scouts Group We will be having a quarterly pot luck on April 15th, 2018 at 11:30 a.m. All are welcome and encouraged to attend! We will hear a report from each of our chairpersons and our Pastor Jon Vincent. It is a great way for everyone to be involved and informed. For further details on what dish you can bring to pass please contact our church moderator Mr. Jim Blucker. Thank you and hope to see you there! 8. VBS 11:30am Deacon Meeting 4:30pm Trustee 5:00pm Mission 5:30pm Deaconess YG - Advisory - 6: Baptism Service 9:00am 22. Quarterly Potluck 11:30am YG - Youth Group 29. God s Riches Spring Concert 9:00am & Choir Choir Choir 11. Choir Choir - Kitchen Meeting 4:45pm 25. Choir 12. Girls Scouts Group 19. Girls Scouts Group 26. Girl Scouts 13. Women s Center Mobile 11:00 am - 4:00 pm Ladies Team PMS Friday 20. Hannah Circle Vendor Show Set Up 6:00-8:00 pm 27. WCM 11:00- Women s Painting Class 14. Funeral Luncheon per James Detoye for Sharon El Jamal 11:30 am 21. Hannah Circle Vendor Show 9:00 am- 2:00 pm 28. God s Riches Spring Concert Pastor s Paragraphs Continued... from religious institutions over the last few decades, choosing instead to live according to their own 'personalized spirituality' or rejecting religion entirely," he pointed out, citing "decreased religiosity." He referred to Pew Research Center statistics from 2015 that showed that only 28 percent of millennials born between 1981 and 1996 attend religious services weekly; with younger millennials also less likely to believe in God, and only 38 percent considering religion to be an important part of their lives. "Unfortunately, by eschewing involvement in religious communities, millennials sacrifice the kinship and solidarity those communities provide. Religion helps provide meaning to life, and religious communities equip individuals with the relationships and support necessary to withstand life's treacherous seas," Conzatti said. As we enter this month remember hope is available in the person of Jesus and so please make yourself available and be that messenger of hope and love. And if you are struggling please remember we at the church love you and want to help. We are always available to support and provide help. -Pastor Jon Vincent

4 Remember In Prayer Margaret Donaldson, Peggy Schmelzer, Susannah Talbot, Millie Cagle, Linda Roller, Buck Fleming, Sherry Flack Penny Millslagle April 1st - Lynn Schmelzer April 5th - Cash Raes April 9th - Leah Arnold April 10th - Bruce Lang April 11th - Gwen Walker April 12th - Rich Hathaway & Jeremy Sollenberger April 13th - Becca Carrasca - Dorothy Hotchkiss, Rollie Omanson, Tom Pease, Evelyn Basham Gene & Romona Carlson B April 15th - Schae Finney & Ginny Pratt April 16th - Victor Robleto April 19th - Janet Roesner April 25th - Laura Spiegel April 27th - Rachel Smyth & Terry Young April 30th - Jake Parks Page 4 L Senior Pastor Jon, Youth Pastor Luke Kockler, Pastor Dan, and Church Staff, FBC Boards and Committees, Sunday School A baptism service is scheduled for April 15th, if the lord is speaking to your heart and you would like to be baptized in his name please see pastor jon. P R Page 9 It has been an exciting and busy month. I had the opportunity to visit the campus of Bradley University for a four day residency. The residency started Sunday the 18 th and ended Wednesday the 21 st. Each day lasted at least eight hours and was packed full of learning and events. Although I was exhausted after my residency I was able to experience neurofeedback treatment, a real fmri scanner at OSF Hospital, and learn about integrating neuroscience into counseling. The big take away was that the average brain contains 100 billion neurons, weighs about 3 pounds, and measures around 2.5 square feet if all of its wrinkles were smoothed out. I also learned that the adolescent brain is undeveloped and is the main cause for irrational decision-making of young people. The brain is fully matured by the mid to late twenties. Everyone s brains are either under aroused, over aroused, or unstable. This means that the brain needsto be trained to achieve allostasis, or self-regulation. Everyone should learn different methods that can help the brain function at it optimal rate (low-beta; 12-15Hz). One neurocounseling method I can apply to our youth at FBCK is called skin-temperature control. Our skin temperature determines the state our brain is currently functioning in. The hotter the skin is, the more aroused the brain is. The cooler the skin is the less aroused the brain becomes. Therefore, a good technique to bring the brain to allostasis is through closing the eyes, imagining you are in a safe place, and performing diaphragmatic breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing, if done successfully, involves breathing deeply and slowly through the nostrils and letting the breath out slowly through the mouth. This process should reduce skin temperature and allow the brain to calm itself. Try it out daily for yourself! I am very excited for Passion Week this month. Passion Week allows us to focus our hearts on the reality that took place two thousand years ago leading up to Jesus death and resurrection. We don t come to church to just go with the flow. Church is an exercise of the mind, heart, and soul. Just as the brain needs a healthy diet, exercise, and healthy lifestyle, our spirits need to be trained and disciplined. The youth group is going to experience the Winterjam in Peoria. Winterjam is an annual Christian worship concert with famous Christian artists, including Skillet, KB, Kari Jobe, and Building 429. In preparation for Passion Week, the youth group washed each other s feet as each person laid hands and prayed for one another. God is doing amazing things, and has yet to do greater things here in this city. -Youth Pastor Luke Kockler

5 The Baptist Visitor Page 8 The Baptist Visitor Page 5 C G S B We expect to have 7 baptized this month and please pray for each one as they share with us their story of faith in Jesus and how they desire to walk with him in full obedience. It is our joy to journey together in with them in faith and holiness bring friends and family out to witness this great event as a means to say Amen to their obedience in Christ. -Pastor Jon B S Spring is coming, time to clean out those closets, the Hannah Circle garage sale awaits! The dates this year are June 8th & 9th. We will be accepting items beginning May 1st. Please no car seats, t.v. s or computers. All electronics must be in working condition. Thank you! - Hannah Circle Through the month of April beginning March 28th we will be looking into the Distinctives" that mark us out not only as Christians but particularly as people who attend a Baptist Church. Many, if not most of us, could not articulate why we are a Baptists all we know is that this is where we attend. This simple study will give you a basic understanding of why we are Baptists and why attending a Baptist Church can be viewed as more significant than we realize. I, as your Pastor, am a Baptist by conviction and after this study you will have a deeper understanding why I say that with confidence. Denominationalism is given a bad rap today I never believed that such ideas were bad but I rather believe they show the greatness of the church (diverse but unified, expressing differences of opinion but cooperative in the great work of the gospel). I hope you will come out to this study. Bring a friend. I will try to make it fun and enlightening all at the same time. -Pastor Jon

6 Page 6 T J H C... Page 7 The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem (Matthew 27:60) The Tomb of Jesus It was normal Jewish practice to take down the bodies of those who had been crucified and to bury them before sunset (see Deuteronomy 21:23). Jesus s dead body was placed in a tomb cut into solid rock with a stone rolled across the entrance to prevent jackals and thieves getting in. At burial, a corpse was usually washed and anointed with spices such as aloes and myrrh. Aloes are known to have come from India or China (though Numbers 24:6 suggests they may also have been grown in the Jordan Valley). Myrrh is a resin extracted from trees grown in Arabia and North Africa. Joseph, with the help of Nicodemus (another member of the Jewish council see John 19:39), took Jesus s body and wrapped it in a linen cloth even though this activity would have made both of them ritually unclean for seven days (see Numbers 19:11). They then placed the body on a stone ledge (a loculus ) inside the tomb. The exact location of Golgotha (where Jesus was crucified) and Jesus s tomb is not certain. However, the traditional sites now located close together inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were so revered by Christians during the first century that the Emperor Hadrian attempted to obliterate any memory of the site of Jesus s resurrection when he re-built Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina in 135AD. He infilled the old quarry, levelled the site and built his Capitoline Temple in honour of Venus the goddess of love over what was then believed to be the site of Jesus s tomb. This location was identified by Macarius, the Bishop of Jerusalem, who attended the ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325AD. He asked the emperor, Constantine, to excavate Christ s tomb. Consequently, the pagan temple was demolished, the infil removed, and a church built on the site of Calvary and Christ s tomb in 326AD. The site of the present Crusader church, begun in 1012AD, would have been just outside the walls of Jerusalem in Jesus s day, as the dead were always buried outside the city walls (see Map 13). In 1849, General Gordon (a British army general) identified a rocky outcrop to the north of the Old City resembling a skull with two eye sockets and a nose as another possible site of Jesus s crucifixion. The site of Gordon s Calvary is located close to the Damascus Gate, near to the Garden Tomb a rock tomb situated in a peaceful garden. This tomb contains a loculus (a stone ledge for the body) and an adjacent weeping chamber where professional mourners led the lamentations (weeping and wailing) for the dead. The tomb has features similar to those constructed around the time of Christ, though it is thought to date from the 7 th or 8 th century BC. Map 14 Jesus's resurrection appearances Mark 16:1-8 The three women who bring spices to anoint Jesus s body on the morning after the Sabbath find the tomb is empty. An angel tells them that Jesus has risen from the dead. Mark 16:9-11 Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene outside the tomb near Golgotha early on the Sunday morning before sunrise. John 20:1-9 Mary runs back into the city to tell Peter and another disciple (probably John), both of whom then visit the empty tomb. All they find are the strips of linen and the burial cloths that had been placed around Jesus face (see John 11:44). Matt. 28:1-10 Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus (and of James), on the road near the tomb. Luke. 24:13-35 Jesus appears to Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus, a village about 7 miles / 11 km west of Jerusalem (see 1 on Map 14). They rush back to Jerusalem to tell Jesus's close circle of eleven followers that they've seen the risen Lord (see 2 on Map 14). Mark 16:14-18 Jesus appears to the remaining eleven disciples as they are eating in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem. Luke. 24:36-49 The disciples in the upper room think they are seeing a ghost, so Jesus invites them to touch his body, and he also eats a piece of fish to show that he is alive. John 20:19-23 On the Sunday evening, Jesus appears to the disciples behind locked doors in the upper room. Jn 20:24-29 Thomas, who wasn t present, doesn t believe that Jesus has risen from the dead. A week later, the disciples are in the upper room again, behind locked doors, when Jesus stands among them. He invites Thomas to feel his wounds. Thomas worships Jesus and declares, My Lord and my God! (John 20:28). An empty tomb, showing the vacant 'loculus' (Mark 16:6)