Trust in a Teacup. Pastor Jay

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1 Trust in a Teacup Hope comes from God; it s very nearly a one-way street. It emanates from him, when we come into his presence; and the hope that comes from God can be quite overwhelming. All we have to do is get close. Trust isn t that easy! God is certainly trustworthy; but trust doesn t occur until we extend our trust to him. God is absolutely trustworthy, but we don t experience the bond that s possible until we respond to his invitation: Trust in the Lord with all your heart... Trust is not an option in the living of our lives. Trust is a bond that s shared between two persons and is the necessary and basic ingredient for every healthy relationship. When trust is present, it encourages us to give of ourselves, and then it blossoms almost effortlessly into love: for God and his people, for our church and its members, for our pastor and other church leaders. Unfortunately, when disappointment occurs, trust is easily broken. Like a teacup dropped to the floor, it s difficult to repair. What s worse, our disappointment gets transferred beyond its original source. The young woman who s been betrayed finds that she no longer trusts men at all. The disappointed church member may despair: I don t trust anyone down at that church! If it s a pastor who has disappointed, those scars may be so deep, that the person never extends trust to the next pastor, or even the next. With one teacup shattered on the floor, we give up on teacups altogether, and decide to just drink from a paper cup from now on. That way, no more teacups at risk! We experience trust when our hearts are outstretched and open to risk not just to receive, but to return the trust that s being given. A beautiful teacup is hard to repair. But the teacup, once repaired, is often stronger than it was before, especially in the places where the glue was applied. Perhaps not as ornamental as it once was, but far more useful. Grace and peace, Pastor Jay

2 2016 Homecoming It was a great week of revival with Dr. Brian Hughes and wonderful music each night. Thanks to everyone s faithful support, we received $30,632 toward our Homecoming Goal of $30,000. It will be applied directly to the principle of our mortgage. What did you think of having it in the fall vs. the summer? If you feel strongly one way or the other, let the staff know. Your Homecoming Committee Did You Know?.. The Bible tells us over and over about false prophets. There are many in this world today and a lot of them show up at our front door from time to time. Most of us feel uncomfortable when this happens, and that s because the Holy Spirit that abides in us recognizes the false spirit. In God s Word the book of 1 John Chapter 4: 1 The Lord tells us Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. And what is that test? It s found in verse 2 & 3 By this you know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God: and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God: this is the spirit of the antichrist. When the false prophets show up on your door step, they have practiced what they are going to say and their goal is to get you to doubt who you believe in! I ve founded it handy to have my answer ahead of time, so that I can be prepared to share the true gospel with them. This is from God s word and they are easy to copy and have ready or even to mark in your Bible. 1. We are separated from the true and living God by our sins. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23 2. We cannot save ourselves. "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." Titus 3:5 3. Jesus Christ is God's remedy for our sin problem. "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." 1 Peter 3:18a. 4. We must personally receive Jesus Christ by faith to have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9 These false prophets will try and tell you that by works you are saved and as you can see from the words above, only Jesus Christ blood can make us free from sin. You can learn a lot about the spiritual battles we must fight by attending Church and Sunday School! Answer to last month's question; How was Elijah taken to heaven? 2 Kings 2: 1 And it came about when the Lord was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind. This month s question: How did Elisha recover an axe head from the river Jordan? God bless each of you and I'll see you at church! MJ

3 Community Fall Festival Recap The Children s Ministry Team would like to thank everyone who helped the Community Fall Festival at Spencer s Store on 9/10/16 10 to 2 pm be a great success! It was a beautiful, HOT day the Lord gave us for our fall kickoff of our church ministries and 9/18 Homecoming and Revival. There was great teamwork with the planning, preparing, arranging and manning all the various areas. We would like to thank our Outreach Team for all the advertisement with posters, flyers, and Banner that were placed in various area stores. Also info in the Chesterfield Observer. Mr. Ronnie Bryant provided many and arranged for 12 antique cars to be available. They were a big draw for passersby. WMU started early with a yard sale at 8 am with a # of WMU ladies making the sales. The $ goes for missions. Mercy Mall joined them with yard sale items. We had 4 vendors present with their wares- from beautiful decorative birdhouses to handmade women s clothing, from beautiful quilted items to art items. Our own clown- Gizmo, was on hand to make all smile. Puppets were seen running around the grounds. Corn hole, hula hoops, and Pumpkin Toss were available. The Kona Ice Truck was there with free ice cones for everyone. Rascals Pizza came and sold delicious pizza by the slice. There was an eye-catching quilt made by SBBC God s Patch Workers donated for a free drawing. One of our members won the drawing- Sheryl Mc Donald. She was thrilled. Everyone received a bag with information about SBBC and all our ministries and upcoming events. Also included, a H2O bottle with SBBC label. The Village News even attended and did a write up in their 9/14/16 edition. It s posted on bulletin board. Our own Steve Wrenn was around taking candid shots of the event. We also thank Mr. Earle Spencer for the use of the grounds behind the store. It was a great effort on everyone s part. Thanks again to all involved. The Children s Ministry Team Carol Taylor Wendy Hughes Jennifer Jones Joe Vanarsdall Evelyn Webb Barbara Allen Kelly Harris Martha Flory October Music Notes Fall has started, kids are back in school, Homecoming/Revival services are over, many church activities have begun, and Christmas is just around the corner. Yes, Christmas is less than 3 months away. The Sanctuary Choir has started looking at our Christmas Musical Come Let Us Adore, which will be presented on December 11 at 6:30 PM. If you would like to sing with the choir at Christmas, now is the time to join us. We meet every Wednesday night at 6:30 PM. There is a drama with this musical, so if you are interested in a speaking part, please contact me. We need a narrator during the music, a young adult woman who is the babysitter (big part), an elementary-aged child (big part), a delivery man (small part), a middle-aged woman who plays the child s mother, and a handyman. I would like to say a personal Thank you to all who performed and helped with revival services last month. Our own praise team performed a new song, Rain by Noel Robinson every night for you. Hope you were able to worship through this song and feel the refreshing rain of the Lord s presence. Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. Psalm 55:22 Stephanie Gilmer, Director of Music Ministries

4 Christmas Craft Day October 8, am - 2pm Second Branch Baptist Church It s FREE! Come and Craft with us. (Light Lunch will be served) Sign up by October 2nd at the Welcome Center, in your SS Class, call the office, or at secondbranch.org Questions: See Martha Flory Sponsored by Women s Ministry of SBBC Young Seniors Rev. Melissa Fallen, Director of Admissions and Recruitment at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, is our guest speaker for October. She will share with us her work and also her trip to the Holy Land. The Luncheon is Thursday, October 20th at 10:30 in the Fellowship Hall. This is a covered dish luncheon. Don't forget to bring items for our ongoing mission at Gateway. After learning more about Gateway at our September luncheon, we need to be more supportive of the people they are ministering to here in Chesterfield. Also, the Young Seniors are planning a trip to the apple orchard on Tuesday, October 25th. If you are interested in going, please contact Annis Davis( ) or Reda Compton ( ).

5 Join our Children s Ministry for our annual Trunk-or-Treat on Monday, October 31 st from 5:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. This year promises to be the best ever! There will be lots of trunks, fun fall games, snacks, a Black-light show by the "Hearts and Hands Puppet Ministry Team", and MORE! It promises to be a night of fun for children of all ages in a safe environment. To make this happen, the Children s Ministry Team needs YOUR help! We need MANY volunteers willing to decorate their vehicles trunk to make this a successful event for our church family and our community. There are so many great ideas online, and we know we have an incredibly creative church family. We simply ask that your theme be child-friendly and something that will not frighten. We also need volunteers to distribute flyers, to monitor games, to assist in parking, to greet our guests and more. We want to shine the light of Jesus for all who come, and be a beacon to our community! We are also asking for donations of candy to be distributed to the children. There will be a box located in the foyer starting October 2nd in which you can place your donations. Also on October 2nd, there will be a sign-up sheet for trunks and volunteers at the Welcome Center desk. For more information, please contact Jennifer or Barbara We thank you in advance for your support of Children s Ministry, and look forward to how God will use this event for His Kingdom!

6 Would you be interested in participating in a Book Club? As promotion of the SBBC Library, Gail Stath is interested in beginning a book club for adults (not just women). We would read a book, pick a night and time to meet and talk about the book. We would meet once or twice a month. If you would be interested, please contact Gail Stath at gailstath@gmail.com, call or text at (804) or drop by the library. STEW Will be available for pickup Sat. Oct. 1st at 3 p.m. There will be extra - if you didn t sign up, come on by and pick up a quart or two or contact David Harris at davidjrharris@aol.com. $8 per Quart. Feeding Richmond Friends of the Homeless! August 29th we fed more at Broomfield Church than previously. We actually ran out of meat for the last few people. We are increasing our quanities and need your help. We will be preparing 50 lbs. of taco meat for our October 31st visit. You have been very generous with supplying the funds for me to purchase the meat at Sam's club in the past and I am confident your generousity will continue. Monetary donations can be given to Joe Abell or Donna Lythgoe. You can be a part of this ministry by providing the following items: 5 cans of corn (an increase of 2 cans) 35 pkgs. of fajita size soft flour tortillas, ( 10 to a pkg.) or 40 packages of 8 to a bag. 20 donations of 8c. size bags of shredded cheddar or mexican cheese for a total of 160 cups 4 ( 32 oz.) tubs of sour cream (please do not send frozen sour cream- it curdles) 4 cans of black olives ( new item - they like) 5 heads of iceberg lettuce 6 large containers of MILD salsa Please bring all items by Sunday morning, October 30th so we have time to purchase items we are missing prior to Monday morning. A couple in our church supplies all the paper products we need as well. Everyone who travels with us to Broomfield Church always leaves feeling truly blessed as a result of the joy we bring to those eating. They are so appreciative and LOVE Taco Day. While we can only manage about 6 workers in the facility that day, please see if someone will let you take their place if you really want to go with us. Jesus instructs us to feed the hungry in numerous passages of scripture. I reflect today on Matt :" The king will reply, ' I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me'. Let s show our faith through our actions as we feed the hungry in Jesus name.

7 WMU (Women s Mission Group) Virginia State WMU Gateway is November 4,5,6. Pat Eggleston has volunteered to lead one of the breakout sessions this year. If you would like to attend, please go to WMUV.org for registration. September 27th - October 9th, we will focus on the Alma Hunt offering with a goal of $5000. October - WMUV is sponsoring a shoe drive called Shoes 4 Hope. We will be collecting any type, style or size of used shoes through October 30th. Proceeds from the shoes will be used to provide food, housing, and education to orphans in the city of GMA Congo. Look for drop off locations throughout the church. Shoes4Hope.org October - November will be Samaritan Purse collection. October 30th - November 13th Middle District Christmas Store. Look for flyers in Sunday School and for our Christmas tree in the foyer to support needy children in Chesterfield County. Hosted by Bellwood Baptist Church. November will be a collection time for Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Please check the foyer for flyers on what is needed for our mission opportunities and how you can give to support the Lord s work in these areas. Join us at our next meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, October 10th. For more information, please contact Rita Boykin, rita-boykin@me.com or or Brenda Kyle, brendagkyle@msn.com or Admin Notes Bulletin Deadline: Wednesday Noon The Branch Deadline: 20th of the month Make sure you let your church council team member know of any scheduled events as early as possible. Office Hours: 8:00 am - 1:00 pm If you didn t get this newsletter in your , sign up at SecondBranch.org. If your address, phone or has changed, please send any changes to secretary@secondbranch.org.

8 SBBC October Happenings Regular SUNDAY Activities Men s Breakfast (1st Sun. Sept. May) Prayer Warriors Media Library Open Sunday School W.O.W. - Worship Our Way (Children s Church) Worship Service Hearts & Hands Puppet Ministry (Sept.- June) Deacons Meeting (2nd Sun.) Transition Team (1st &3rd Sun.) Crossing Boundaries Youth Building Open (7th-12 Grades) RA s & GA s (Sept. - Jun.) Bells of the Branch B.A.S.I.C. Youth Bible Study (7th 12th Grades) Starts Oct 25th Regular MONDAY Activities Women on Mission/WMU (2nd Mon. Sept.- May) Church Council Meeting (4th Monday of each month) Stewardship Meeting (1st Monday of each Month) Regular TUESDAY Activities Alzheimer s Support Group (1st Tues. each month) The King s Daughters (2nd & 4th Tues.) Regular WEDNESDAY Activities Sanctuary Choir (Adult) Prayer Meeting Regular THURSDAY Activities Men s Biblical Study Young Seniors of SBBC (3rd Thurs. Sept.- May) Regular FRIDAY Activites God s Patchworkers (1st Friday each month) 8:30 a.m. 9:15 a.m. 9:10 a.m. 9:45 a.m. 11:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. 4:30 p.m. 5:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. 5:32 p.m. 6:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m. 6:18 p.m. 6:30 p.m. 7:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. 10:30 a.m. 6:15 p.m. 6:30 p.m. 6:45 p.m. 6:00 a.m. 10:30 a.m. 10:00 a.m Second Branch Road Chesterfield, VA (804) Rev. Jay Butcher Intentional Interim Pastor jay@secondbranch.org Rev. Brian S. Jones Minister to Youth/Associate Pastor brian@secondbranch.org Stephanie Gilmer Music Director stephanie@secondbranch.org Belinda Isbell Interim Secretary secretary@secondbranch.org facebook.com/secondbranch A monthly publication of Second Branch Baptist Church. Stay Connected by subscribing at