The. essenger. September-October Baby Sprinkle planned and you are invited

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1 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH 157 W. JACKSON ST. VIRDEN, IL REV. JOHN PARRISH PASTOR CHURCH PHONE: CELL PHONE: DEBBIE KERSHAW, EDITOR Baby Sprinkle planned and you are invited It s called a sprinkle instead of a shower when its not your first baby When Pastor John and Kelsey arrived in Virden they already had two beautiful little girls now they are expecting their third daughter to arrive on October 22. Since First Baptist did not get an opportunity to help welcome Peyton or Piper into the world with a baby shower, we want to do that for little Paisley. So, everyone is invited to attend the Baby Sprinkle on, September 14. After worship we ll celebrate with the Parrish family, and help them get ready for baby s arrival. There will be a light luncheon served. And, just like a traditional baby shower, we ll have games and prizes and of course gifts! Here are a few items that little Paisley could use: Diapers size 1 and up (any brand) Wipes (any brand) Bottles and nipples prefer Dr. Brown brand Burp cloths & Bibs Boppy pillow Bumbo seat Pacifiers prefer Nuk or Dr. Brown brand 0-6 month clothes including Gowns, Sleep and Plays, Onesies/Body Suits, socks You can find these and other items on the registry at Babies R Us. The North Mac Mom s group will begin a 7-week in home Bible Study on Monday evenings from 6:30- beginning on Monday, September 8. The first will be held at the home of Amanda & Ben Clark. Their house is located at 57 Celeste Court in Springfield. Stronger: Finding Hope in Fragile Places, by Angela Thomas, is the book we will be looking at. Through biblical teaching and practical daily application, Stronger will help you realize you do not have to live in weakness. God is stronger than every struggle you will ever face. Because of Jesus Christ, your life has been hidden in Him, made alive in Him, filled in Him, brought near to God in Him, and blessed with every spiritual blessing in Him. The cost of the book is $ But if you want to attend and don t feel that you can afford to purchase the book, please don t let that hold you back from being a part of this. We ll also be arranging some car pooling to and from the homes each Monday see Pam Hawkins to order a book or for any other information. A huge thank you goes out to all who joined us for Camp and to all who gave money and items throughout the summer to make it possible for us to send 20 plus kids to Lake Springfield Baptist. As was evidenced by the campers testimonies on Camp, your investment of time, talents, and money made a difference in the lives of each of them.

2 2 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Jim & Lynda Hotarek 7 Communion 14 Baby Sprinkle after worship for Parrish family 21 EAS collection 28 Faith in Action Begins at 9 AM followed by a meal at noon Ryan Burch 8 Study begins 6:30 - PM 7 PM Cottage Prayer at Gloria & Roger Smith s 15 6: :30- Tony Kershaw 29 6:30- Barb Taylor 9 Faith in Action Meeting 7 PM Betty Mullen 10 Club 6:00-7:00 Business Mtg 7:15 Cole Dixon Jennifer Brown Justin Dibler Mike Hawkins Jan Morony Church members requested Brianna Walters Fellowship Breakfast at the home of Janis & Mike Hawkins 8-10 AM Wednesday, September 10th at 7:15 PM is the semi-monthly business meeting. Once you have been accepted into membership at First Baptist, you are a voting member and are welcomed and encouraged to attend these meetings which are held on the first Wednesday after the first of each odd numbered month. An additional business meeting is held in December. It is the best way to help make sure you are a part of all of the important decisions facing our church. Plan to attend!

3 3 rd Annual Faith in Action planned 3 Faith in Action is September 28. Once again it is time to step out of our morning comfort zone and take our ministry to the city of Virden and even around the world! You can choose one of five special committees to put your own spiritual gift to work. The Hospitality and Prayer committee, headed up by Gloria Smith and Wanda Hein, will be multi-tasking. They will be packaging home made cookies that will be delivered by the youth later in the week to our police, fire department volunteers, and ambulance workers. Each person on this committee will take some time in the sanctuary to keep a constant stream of prayers lifted up for the other committees service project, our church, our community, and whatever else God lays upon their hearts. And finally, they will help prepare to serve the potluck meal that we will all share together after our committee projects are complete. Jill Wright will coordinate the Volunteer and Mission Outreach committee which will be preparing items that will be shipped around the world. The final project has not yet been determined, but this is a perfect committee for those who physically can t do much. You only need to sit, sort, or package. No strenuous activity simply creating something that can mean much to those in times of disaster, or in third world countries where something as simple as a hygiene kit can mean the difference between life and death. The God s Good Earth committee is in search of those in need, to share their Faith in Action ministry with. Contact Mike Hawkins if you know of someone and it does not necessarily have to be a church member that has a real need of help with yard work or light indoor or outdoor chores? It should be something that can be completed in a couple of hours. The members of this committee plan put their backs into it! And, depending on the number of people who volunteer, and the weather that morning, they will help as many folks as possible. An extension of this committee may also be working on a city project right here in Virden. The Kids Can Minster 2 committee needs help with the youngest members of our congregation as they travel to our two area nursing homes to present their own special church service and visitation for the residents there. If you have ever been at the nursing home when children arrive, you know the pure joy it brings for the residents. Now add singing, and hugs, and smiles and you have a perfect morning! Depending on the number of children we can wrangle, we ll need vehicles and drivers that can carry our precious cargo (and car seats) to and from the nursing homes in Virden and Girard. Janis Hawkins and Debbie Kershaw will chair this committee. So that s it! There is surely something for each and every one of us to do on, September 28. It is the job of the committee leader(s) to organize the tools and the plan to make their particular Faith in Action ministry successful. That means they may, if you sign up for their committee, ask for your help in the planning stages prior to September 28. CHURCH will begin that morning at 9:00 AM with everyone gathering together in the sanctuary for a very short prayer time and blessing. By 9:15 we will be headed to our respective mission fields to put our Faith in Action. Pastor John will travel from group to group with Alicia Hawkins to help record and photograph the morning activities. At 12:00 noon we will return to the church for a potluck meal that we will share together. The meat will be provided!! Now it is time for the 3 rd year in a row to take a step forward. Put your name on one of the sign up sheets at the front of the sanctuary, hanging around the baptistery. Make the commitment to not only be a part of this special day, but to pray for it s success. May God bless our efforts as we put our Faith in Action!

4 4 Friends, Last Saturday night, I had the privilege of being a part of a Back to School event on the square for students 6 th grade to 12 th grade. This event was created in the minds of our local police chief Mark Bridges, fellow Pastor Jimmy Hammond of Grace Southern Baptist church and me. After getting rained out of our initial date in June, we couldn t find a good reschedule date until the first weekend after the first week of the new school year. This event saw 50 plus kids coming together despite denominational differences. It saw many kids from our church, several from Grace, several from the school s FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) chapter and others who received word via word of mouth or flyer. I was inspired by a young man there that night. His name was Arlin, (I hope I didn t butcher the spelling) and he is a soccer player at North Mac High School. You see after a few hours of eating and games with friends, he was asked to get on stage in front of his peers and others, some he didn t know at all and share his faith. The young man got up there with little to no nerves and he proclaimed gospel truths in that we all as believers need to work together as a cohesive team so that others can come to know Christ by our actions as individuals yes, but more importantly as a whole body. You see what this young man did was, put up his faith and let it go into action that night. He took any reservations he may have had, any doubt or fear and he chucked it out of the way, so that his faith in Jesus Christ would be the thing that shone the brightest. He then encouraged all of us young or old to be a team player so others will see our faith and come to believe for themselves. What a motivational message it was for me to hear. You see as a church in just a few weeks we once again will have the opportunity to worship by serving others as a body of believers in our Faith in Action. We will once again have the opportunities to serve others and put our faith into action by serving in one of several ministry opportunities. We will have small labor projects such as painting, minor landscaping etc., we will have our kids ministry go into the nursing homes to sing songs and mingle with the residents. We will have Mission Outreach as we separate and gather supplies to send to other countries in need. And we will have a prayer and hospitality group that will pray for our event, our prayer list, and prepare our celebration meal for the day. While it may seem minor, this is truly our chance to put our faith into action! This is our chance to be the hands and feet of Jesus so that others may come to know His love by our service. I pray these projects as well as any ministry we are apart of are done to bring glory to Jesus, and done for only Him. You see church, like Arlan I want my faith to be one that is always in action. One that is ready to shine when the opportunity is given to me. One that in everything I say and do shows the light of Jesus to others. Will you join with me and other believers of this church as we allow God to use us in a powerful way, as we live out Acts 1:8 together? But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Right here, right now church, the North Mac community is our mission field! Will you step up and put your Faith In Action?

5 5 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Stacy Moughan Communion Jaylie Clark Gabriel Horne Food Pantry Sue Langley 26 All Church Bonfire/cookout At home of Mike & Debbie Liles 6:00 PM 6 6: :30-20 Final 6:30-27 David & Kaye Liles 7 David Liles Jim & Pat Smith Mike & Debbie Liles Josh Horne Peg Vidakovich 29 Tim & Katie Marshall Halloween Party 6:00- PM Joshua Snodgrass David Dibler Katie Marshall We are still in need of people to help run audio/visual desk during worship. If you are willing to learn and help out with this ministry please see Kelsey Parrish, Joey Langley, or Steve Kershaw. The ABWM (American Baptist Women s Missions) has a large quota to fill this year and is requesting help from church members. Some of what they need are 10 pair of men s underwear-any size; 3 infant quilts; 3 dolls; 1 block set. If you could bring those items to the church by October 1, the ABWM will prepare them for shipment to the mission field. Our active little group of ABWM members have already purchased 10 coloring books and crayons, 3 water color paint sets, 10 water color pads, and 5 each of paint brushes, modeling clay, and children s books. See Wanda Hein or Helen Burris today, and let them know how you will help.

6 6 Halloween Costume Party for all on Wednesday night! This year s Halloween party is going to feature another fun hay ride! The party begins in Pitman Hall at 6 PM on Wednesday, October 29 with a kid s AND grown-up s costume parade and some group games. Be sure to bring your warm clothes so that we can all snuggle up in the straw later in the evening for a hay ride! There won t be a full meal the night of the party, just special Halloween treats for all. Don t forget that the Virden Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a Halloween on the Square event on Halloween night, it will begin immediately following the American Legion s annual Halloween parade around the square at 6 PM. If you look at the world, you ll be distressed. If you look within, you ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you ll be at rest. Corrie ten Boom Church Bonfire/cookout planned You are invited to attend an all-church cookout at the home of Mike and Debbie Liles on, October 26 th at 6:00 PM. There will be hot dogs and fixings provided, but you can bring a pot-luck dish to share! Snuggle round the campfire as we fellowship together! Mike and Debbie live on Post Road in Virden. The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why Mark Twain The First Baptist Church 157 W. Jackson St. Virden, IL RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED