Greeters October Michael & Pam Robertson Larry & Linda Heaton. Nursery Workers October

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1 October 2012 Sunday 9:00 A.M. - Bible Study 10:00 A.M. - Morning Worship 6:00 P.M. - Evening Worship 6:00 P.M. Jr. & Sr. High Youth Wednesday 6:30 P.M. - Mid-Week Worship Service 6:30 P.M. - Jr. & Sr. High Youth East- West- Greeters October Michael & Pam Robertson Larry & Linda Heaton Nursery Workers October 7 Andy & Susan Neal 14 Lennon & Amy Lore 21 Lana & Kasie Heath 28 Debbie & Olivia Kendall First Baptist Church Linton, IN Phone: firstbaptistlinton@gmail.com Or visit us on the web at: firstbapistlinton.org October 2012 What I Love About Our Church It s easy to criticize. It doesn t take much effort at all. It costs nothing of the one doing the criticizing. It is free advice, and most often it is worth every penny. I have observed, both in myself and others, that criticizing the church comes easily, especially to the young. When I was younger, I was filled with a certain iconoclastic zeal (iconoclastic means, to cast down images, like Gideon did in Judges 6:25-32). I looked at the way churches were operating, and I was absolutely sure that if they d stop doing things their old dumb way, and just listen to me and do things my new smart way, why, the heavens would open, the church building would be filled, we d meet our budget, and the millenium would begin. Then I was called to pastor a church where they basically let me do whatever I wanted to do. I got to change almost anything I wanted, and enact any new program I thought best. So I did. And do you know what I found out? I found out I had as many good ideas that don t work as anybody else. Oh, I did have some good ideas, and we did make some healthy changes. (My good ideas were the ones that lined up the most closely with the Bible, by the way hint, hint.) But there were others that I inaugurated with great fanfare and enthusiasm, only to let them die an embarrassed, merciful and mostly unmentioned death a few months down the line. Now, my message is not: So never criticize, and never change anything in the church. If it was good enough for Grandma Moses, it oughta be good enough for us! If God wants us to change, He ll wake us up and tell us. That s not it at all. We have to be constantly looking at our church, and the Bible, and asking ourselves: How can we do church better? How can we line up more with the Scriptures? Is there anyplace where we re getting off-course? There s always someplace to make a course correction, like steering a bicicycle over an uneven road. But, can we talk? It is so easy to get into poison-pen mode, so easy to let every other comment that comes out of your mouth be a cut or a jibe, or a snide remark. It is so easy to make comments that tear down instead of build up, as the Bible tells us to do: Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29)

2 I ve been here a long time. I know where the cracks are, and the creaks, and where the ground is uneven. (And, I know where the flaws in the buildings are, too!) But let me do something different than simply uttering more criticism: let me tell you what I love about our church. With apologies to David Letterman, let me give you The Top Ten Things I Love About Our Church : 10) I love our sanctuary. I love the beautiful simplicity of it. I love the wood, and I love the windows. Our stained glass windows are not too ornate or busy: they use bigger pieces of glass and such vibrant colors to illustrate the very foundations of our faith, the basis of our belief. I love the way the sunlight illuminates the windows, and fills the sanctuary with warmth and color at certain times of the day. Our sanctuary is a great place to sit and pray. I love that. 9) More than the building, I love the people. The building is great, but the people are the church. Yes, there are some that I d like to pinch their heads off and tell the Lord that they died. But most of our people are encouraging, and supportive, and hospitable, and so happy that you re there! The first time we walked into the building, my wife and I felt so intimidated until some of you came up beside us, took us by the arm, and smiled encouragement into our souls. (God bless Virginia Franklin: she was the first!) 8) I love how hungry our congregation is to hear God s Word. You are easy to preach to, and easy to teach. Most of the time, if the sermon doesn t come off well, I know it s my fault, not yours. You love the Bible, and you want to hear it s truths proclaimed. You re easy to preach to, but a little intimidating, too: when I saw how many of you were using the same commentaries I was using, in your Sunday School classes and in your own personal study, I thought: I gotta get new resources! 7) I love how our church welcomed us into the church family and into the community, even when it took us more than two years to get completely moved down. Hey, you re commuting! Great! Hey, you re renting an apartment! Great! Hey, you re buying a house! Mow your grass! 6) I love how our congregation has come around my family and I and sustained us through some very hard times. We have felt your love, support and unconditional acceptance just when we needed it most, just when we have felt the most cast down. 5) I love the holidays with our church. I don t think I ve ever seen a prettier church sanctuary than ours at Christmas. I love the glad sense of anticipation as we gather to rehearse the Good News of Jesus birth, and then disperse to our homes to continue the celebration with our families. I especially love Easter. To me, Easter Sunday is the high holy day of the church calendar. There is a quiet, hushed awe in our sunrise service, as we imagine together what it was like to find the stone rolled away from Jesus tomb. And there is an almost electric sense of excitement as we come together in the main service to consider again the evidence that a Man really did get up again from the dead. I love the music; I love how everybody looks (some of you clean up pretty good!); and I love it when we baptize on Easter, just like the ancient church. 4) I love that our church has broadcast our morning services live on the radio (and now over the internet) for nearly 50 years! The live broadcast intimidated me at first (I did my best not to even think about it!); but I have had so many people tell me, I listen to your church services on the radio! Even some of my unconverted friends in other towns, that I never would ve dreamed would listen, have told me, I listen to you on the radio sometimes! That s just so cool! 3) I love the solid core of genuinely spiritual people who comprise the leadership and are the influencers in our church. I love that I can call them and ask for their advice, and know that they love Jesus, love the Bible, and love me enough to tell me the truth. I love knowing that I can ask you to pray about something with me; I love knowing how some of you pray for me regularly. I feel unworthy of it, and I pray all the time that God will help me be faithful and not mess things up. The last thing I want is to ever let you down. 2) I love that I get to play music with other musicians in our worship services. I love it that you have welcomed my guitar, as well as me. (Believe me, when I was a teenager, my mother could never have imagined that I d be playing my guitar every week in church!) I love it that the two things I love the most, the Bible and music, are brought together every week in the service of the Gospel of Jesus. For me, my two passions are symbolized by a guitar leaning against a pulpit! 1) And the number one thing I love about our church is: the moment I get to stand up in front of you, behind the pulpit, and before God (2 Timothy 4:1, 2) and open the Bible and preach to you. My experience every week is nearly the same: battling to spend enough time in preparation; wrestling with the text; praying that God would help me understand the meaning; frantically reading as many commentaries as I can for help; writing out my notes; telling God this is the best I can do this week; looking at my notes on Sunday morning and saying, Oh, God, help! How can I go to the pulpit with this? ; feeling a sense of dread and weight as the morning worship time draws near and on the best of weeks, feeling a sense of disconnect, of being a spectator myself, as the message pours forth. It doesn t always flow ; sometimes it feels like wading through peanut butter. But when it does flow, there is the feeling that we all, preacher and congregation alike, have heard from God. I love that. And I love experiencing that with you.

3 This is what I love about our church. I could list more things. I bet you could make up your own lists of what you love about our church. In fact, I challenge you to do so. Yes, we still need to hold ourselves accountable and critique ourselves in the light of Scripture. But let s ask God to deliver us from poison tongues, and be more purposeful about saying things that build up, rather than tear down. Soli Deo Gloria! Pastor David We re on the web! Come visit us at: Where you can check upcoming events, download archived sermons, or listen live over our streaming webcast Sunday morning! You can also learn more about our AWANA program and our dedicated youth ministry! God plus one is always a majority!..if God be for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:3

4 OCTOBER ANNIVERSARIES 3 Larry & Linda Heaton 18 Bill & Jo Haun 23 Don & Pat Rhodes 24 Bob & Margo Good 28 Jack & Teresa Greenwood 31 Jack & Margaret Jones OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS 1 Shaunacee Sloan Marge Frayser 3 Mark Wolfe Deloris Lechien 4 Brent Burger Lydia Place Matthew Hensley 7 Christopher Taylor Brian Irwin Christy Knapp 9 Marylin Clayton 10 Shirley Malone 11 Aaron Davis Cara Michelle Vancil 13 Charlene Dornick Jarrett Rose 15 Jack Wall Jeannie Lopez 17 Joshua Wolfe Bob Good Natalie Walker 25 Linda Hert Bill Malone Frank Gravemier 27 Ryan Greenwood 28 Robin Rose 29 Dedra Carr 30 Lewis Laymon NOVEMBER ANNIVERSARIES 8 Don & Marylin Clayton 14 Jim & Rhonda Davis 25 Terry & Dianna Burch NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS 1 Mary Shepherd 2 Suzie Babcock 3 Bill Haun 4 Evan Herndon 5 Jon Hensley Whitney Rhodes 8 Donald Clayton 9 Claudia Hensley Shaye Place 17 Caleb Shelton 18 Gordon Dornick 19 Ben Baker 20 Kristyn Bridges Joshua L.C. Liechty Kurtis Cox 29 Rob Kendall Cindy Miller

5 Pastor Appreciation Prayer (with blessing) Almighty and ever-gracious God, we give you thanks for our pastors. You have appointed them to be our shepherd; to minister to our spiritual needs, to reach the lost souls in our community and to prayerfully guide and tend to our church/fellowship. We realize that the tasks of a pastor are demanding. His job is never done. He listens, cares, and prays for us, encourages and teaches us and reaches out to those in need of help and salvation. We give you thanks, o Lord, for our pastors. On this day we pray that you would strengthen and empower them. We pray that you would bless them and their families, and that you would keep them out of harm s way. May you keep them from temptations and negativity. Amen Scripture Verses concerning appreciating pastors and leaders: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 1 Corinthians 9:14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. Hebrews 13:17 Obey you leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Thank You Dear church family, We want to say thank you so much for being a great comfort to us when Michael s mom went to be with the Lord. Just last year, Michael s daughter got to lead her gramma, age 85, to the Lord. That was a huge blessing to us (so keep on praying for your unsaved family members). Thanks to all of you who sent cards, gave gifts and gave Bibles in her memory. Thank you pastor David and Pastor Aaron. You were such a comfort to Michael. That s just part of the blessings of being in a wonderful church family. Thank you. In His love, Pam & Michael Robertson In Sympathy... Pastor Tyra and the Linton First Baptist Church wish to extend our love and prayers to the families of Chuck Heath, Lucinda Baldwin and Mary Lou Davis.

6 What s Happening at 1BC. October 7-CRAZY hair night (have crazy hair) October 14-That s my Baby night (bring a baby picture to club) October 21-Double Dog Dare ya night (double points night) October 28-Trunk or trick night Upcoming Youth Events! October 12, Guys only cold camping trip October 13, Girls only movie/makeover night at Knapp s house October 31, Harvest party Beth Moore Bible study every Thursday this month on Daniel, 12:30-2:30 pm in the library. (Evening sessions pending) October 1-Sarah Mission Circle will meet at 1:00 pm in the library. October 3-Special called business meeting concerning our roof. October 7- Pastor Appreciation dinner in the fellowship hall immediately following the morning service. Please bring a covered dish and fellowship with our pastors and one another. October 7-Our church will have the service at Glenburn, 3:00 pm. If God Had Voice Mail We have al learned to live with voice mail as a necessary part of modern life. But you may have wondered, What if God decided to install voice mail? Imagine praying and hearing this Thank you for calling My Father s House. Please select one of the following options: Press 1 for request Press 2 for thanksgiving Press 3 for complaints Press 4 for all other inquiries What if God used the familiar excuse, All the angels are helping other customers right now. Please stay on the line. Your call will be answered in the order it was received. Can you imagine getting these kinds of response as you call on God in prayer? If you would like to speak to Gabriel, press 1 now If you would like to speak to Michael, press 2 now For a directory of other angels, press 3 now If you would like to hear King David sing a Psalm while you re holding, press 4 now To find out if a loved one has been assigned to heaven, enter his or her social security number now. For reservations to My Father s House, press the letters J-O-H-N and then For answers on nagging questions about the age of earth and where Noah s Ark is, please wait until you arrive here. Our computers show that you have already called once today. Please hang up and try again tomorrow. This office is closed for the weekend. Please call again on Monday after 9:00 a.m.