Newport Messenger. My Church Family,

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1 Newport Baptist Church September/October 2018 Newport Messenger My Church Family, As I write this (Tuesday, August 14) I m looking forward to being back in the Sanctuary for worship this Sunday. New carpet is on the floors! New paint is on the walls! It looks WONDERFUL! If you have not yet given toward this, let me encourage you to do so. If you have been giving, thank you so much! In the process of preparing for our return to the Sanctuary a tremendous amount of cleaning has taken place and you wouldn t believe the stuff that was found: candy wrappers, melted sticky candy, straw wrappers, even gum stuck under the pews. Come on people, let s treat God s house better than this! If YOU bring it in, YOU take it out. Nuff said? We will soon be beginning the process of church revitalization. And it is a lengthy process it won t happen overnight. You ll be hearing more about this in the coming weeks and months. One of the best things we can do to prepare is to pray. Pray that we would love one another Pray that we would love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Pray that God would be glorified in His church. INSIDE THIS ISSUE OK, one more thing and I m done. In addition to your regular devotional reading, I ve been encouraging the church to be reading the book of Galatians during August, and taking note of a few things: Were there any reoccurring themes? What did you read that encouraged you the most? What did you read that convicted you the most? What were your favorite verses and why? We re going to do the same thing with Ephesians in September, Philippians in October, Colossians in November and Luke in December. Read some every day. Take your time this is not a race. Just Scripture no commentaries! Revitalization...2 Building Fund...2 Jeremiah...3 Deacon s Corner...3 Community News...4 Missions...4 Youth Stuff...5 VBS Calendars 6&7 Fellowship Meals..8 Thankful to be serving with you, Pastor Gary 1

2 REVITALIZATION IN OUR CHURCH (A First Step) Let me begin by telling you something you already know: our church is in decline, and we need revitalization. Revitalization is a process God has used in churches throughout the nation to bring renewed life to those Bodies of Christ in situations like ours. Pastor Gary contacted the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC) for guidance in beginning the revitalization process. He has been in touch with Eddie Thompson, who serves as the Senior Consultant for the Pastoral Ministries Team. During an initial conference call between Eddie, Gary and me, we discussed the current situation here at Newport Baptist. We also met with Eddie for several hours last month. Building Fund By the time you receive this newsletter the carpet and painting inside the sanctuary will have been completed. Both contractors have done an outstanding job. As soon as the weather breaks, the front of the church up to the top of the steeple (wood part) will be painted. We are approximately $10,000 short. Please continue to give. A member will be loaning the money needed at no interest and we need to repay them as soon as possible. Sherrill Garner Chairman of Stewardship Committee 2 After a lot of information sharing, Eddie recommended that we first go through a study called The Peace Maker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict. He firmly believes that unless a church can properly resolve conflict, there is little chance of success in revitalization. Gary and I agree that our church family would benefit from churchwide participation in the Peacemaker process. The first major step in the process will be to train pastors, deacons and Sunday School teachers to lead the process. The training will take place on Saturday, September 22 nd. Eventually, this will involve the entire church, but it s very important that the pastors, deacons and teachers take part in the initial training. Please plan to be present on that day. I am greatly encouraged by the prospect of partnering with our Lord as He uses us to bring a culture of peace to His church at Newport. Please be praying toward that end. Matthew 5:9(NASB) 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons (and daughters) of God. Jack Bowen Associate Pastor 2

3 JEREMIAH JEREMIAH JEREMIAH On September 9, 2016 the Tuesday morning Bible Study Group began its study with an introduction to the Book of Jeremiah. The Old Testament Book of Jeremiah is considered the work of the canon s ( canon here means the book of the Bible officially accepted as genuine) major prophets and is named after its author, Jerimiah. By word count, Jeremiah is actually the longest book of the Bible. Jeremiah s prophecy was written over 2500 years ago. Think about a time capsule s being found and opened over 2500 years from now. Will people be able to read or understand what was saved? Or it could be lost or destroyed. But what Jerimiah said IS GOD S WORD and God protected His Word. Not only did what Jerimiah predict come true, we have his words in out own language today! The Bible, the Word of God, is itself a miracle, preserved through the ages and kept safe to teach us how to be saved, how to love and serve God. We would like to extend a HUGE thank you to Joe Hendrickson for serving as the past Chairman of the Deacons. Joe has since served his commitment, and is taking a break this coming year. The new Chairman of Deacons is Steve Blizzard, the Vice Chairman of Deacons is Ross Gould, and the Secretary of Deacons is Marti Skinner. You should be receiving the letter from your family deacon soon, if you haven t already. We thank you for your prayers for the deacons, and for your support. Please let your family deacon know if you need anything. Don McKee For Jerimiah, God was ultimate. He was ever conscious of his call from the Lord. Jeremiah believed the Lord to be Creator of all that exists, all powerful and everywhere present. He ascribed the most elevated attributes to the God whom he served, viewing Him as Lord of all. We will resume our study of this prophetic book on Tuesday, September 4, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. in the church fellowship hall. Plan to join us as we open our Bibles to Chapter

4 Newport Community Festival September 8, :00 am- 2:00 pm Featuring: Performances by the band 4Ever All and Magician Bryan Sanders. Face Painting by Independent Airbrush. Touch A Truck, Mini Food Truck Rodeo, Hands on Demonstrations, Performing Arts, Crafts and Living History Demonstrations, Bounce Houses, Police Department and Fire Department Displays. Don t miss out on the all the fun!! Free Admission! MISSIONS We would like to thank everyone for all of the help you have provided in helping us minister to our church and community. We have been working on several ministries recently like the Backpack Ministry, which is being wonderfully lead by Lindy Carroll and Stephen Horlick, who were graciously kind enough to volunteer to take charge of this ministry. They are still in need of some items for the backpacks like combs, hair clips, hair bands, ribbons, ponytail holders, and school supplies items. There is a master list of what is needed by the church office on the bulletin board. The drop off is across from the church office in the red bin. You can also donate money for the ministry if you are not able to bring in items. We will be having a Backpack Stuffin Party on September 5 th at 6:30pm. Both of the men and women s missions groups will meet together in the fellowship hall to stuff the backpacks and fellowship and pray over the backpacks before we take them to the mission field. The backpacks will be taken to West Virginia in the coal mining region by a group from the Atlantic Baptist Association. Some of our church members will also be part of the mission group that will be delivering the backpacks and ministering to the families there and their trip will take place in December. Please continue to pray for the health of the mission workers, and the success and safety of this upcoming mission. We are also looking for some volunteers for the Angel Tree Ministry. During the Christmas Season, there is a group in Carteret County called Project Christmas Cheer that helps families with children under 18 years old who may not have the opportunity to have gifts for their children for Christmas. We have families sign up, and we buy them gifts so that they may have a nice Christmas with their families. Newport Baptist Church is the ONLY collection, adoption and distribution center on this side of Carteret County. This gives our church family the great opportunity to draw people into a church they might not otherwise visit. People come to our church to adopt angels, and minister to our wonderful community. While they are visiting our church, we can share the love of Jesus with them, and show them how much our church cares about them. We are in need of 6 volunteers, in teams of 2, who would like to sit in the office during the weekdays and participate in this year s Angel Tree Ministry. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the church office and let them know. We do need to have a quick training course for those would like to help, so that we can go over how the paperwork is completed. We will have people in the office for 4 hours in the morning starting in November, and until halfway through December. We would have a schedule so that no one would be there every single day of the volunteer season. We do have 3 volunteers already signed up, and we will need 3 more to guarantee a start. Without the guaranteed 6 volunteers, we cannot support this ministry. Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and support for our Church s mission groups! 4 By Don and Grace McKee 4

5 YOUTH STUFF Y'all did such a good job at VBS. Some of y'all helped with decorations, some served the snacks with a smile and some helped Pastor Gary in the sanctuary and other gophering that was invaluable to him that week. All together you helped the children learn about God's great love for them. Thank y'all sooooo much for your prayers for those kids and your service to the Lord! FYI, most of the kids who came to VBS had no affiliation with our church and listed either churches outside of Newport or no church at all. One was even visiting from Florida. God sent the kids and y'all were faithful. Way to go! September 26 is See You at The Pole. This is the annual, worldwide prayer event for students. Check around school and see if there are special events planned to go with it or just meet at your school's flagpole about 30 mins before the bell and pray for your school, teachers and leaders. It is also a great opportunity to meet others who are trusting in Jesus! This year's verse is Ephesians 3:14: For this reason, I kneel before the Father. Start praying now and get ready for a great new school year in the Lord. We are already praying for you. Our Halloween Out Reach will be Wednesday, Oct 31, at Pastor Gary's house. Be there at 6:06 ready to eat and give out candy bags. We will stuff the bags with candy and a kid s gospel tract the Wed night before during our regular meeting. You can begin praying for the kids and their families now that God will give them and open heart for the gospel. We need to know by Sunday, Oct 29, who is coming so we will have enough food you and your friends. Pastor Gary will send a message that you can respond to. Be watching for it. Don't forget our regular meetings for Sunday School at 9:45 and Youth Stuff on Wed nights at 6:30. See y'all there! Romans 12:11 (NKJV) 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; A VBS Director is needed for 2019 VBS. This is a job that requires training and a lot of prior planning. According to Tammy, she normally started planning in September for the next year. If you are interested please contact Kelly Bowman at or newportbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Thank you! 5 5

6 September 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat September Birthdays 3rd Effie Smith 4th Stephen Horlick 7th Lavonne Fleming 9th Randy Talton 11th Curtis Williams 13th Marti Skinner 14th Sam Pollard 15th Joe Hendrickson 17th Barbara Horlick 18th Sara Fredricks and Nora Shook 21st Billy Skinner 25th Kelly Bowman 29th Haleigh Leach Important Dates to Remember September 2 nd Wear your work clothes to Church 3 rd Labor Day Office Closed 4th Tuesday Morning Bible Study, Prayer and Fellowship returns 5 th Missions Night Back Pack Packing! 10th Sewsister s Starts Back 11th Women s Bible Study 12 th Church Council Meeting 16 th Shoe Box kick off 19 th Fellowship Meal & Deacon Meeting 22 nd Revitalization Workshop Train the trainer for SS Teachers and Deacons 23 rd Business Meeting 6

7 October 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat October Birthdays 3rd Nancy Minatel 10th Tori Leach & Dwight Bowman 11th Keith Garner 15th Gladys Garner 16th Woody Woodard 17th Bob Harden 19th Lanie Gray 20th Grace Blizzard 24th Gary Carroll 25th Carolyn Brown 28th Sherrill Garner 30th Sam Carroll Important Dates to Remember October 3 rd Missions Night 7 th Lord s Super 10 th Church Council Meeting 14 th Pastor Appreciation Luncheon 17 th Fellowship Meal & Deacon Meeting 28 th Business Meeting 7

8 LOOKING AHEAD! November Dates 4 th - Daylight Savings 7 th - Missions Night & Church Council Meeting 14 th - Church Thanksgiving Meal & Deacon Meeting 18 th - Business Meeting 21 st - No Service 22nd and 23rd Office Closed For November and December, The Church Council will meet on the FIRST Wednesday, Deacons the SECOND and the Business Meeting on the THIRD. December 8 th Lottie Moon Banquet FELLOWSHIP MEALS ARE BACK!! We took the summer off,but we are back! The Kitchen Committee which consists of Kelly Bowman as Chairman, Dianne Bowen, Teresa Garner and Marti Skinner, met and has selected the Fellowship Meals to be moved back on Wednesday evening. We will have a dinner at 5:30 with prayer meeting immediately following on the third Wednesday of the month. The Deacons will then can serve their shut-ins or others that may be in need a meal. They will just need to let the office know a count, prior to the cut-off date of the meal. The Committee will be cooking for the months of September and October. November and December are the Pot-Luck celebrations of Thanksgiving and Christmas. For Thanksgiving the kitchen committee will provide turkey and for Christmas, beef. During pot-lucks we are asking a few things to be initiated, 1. After everyone has been served, we leave the items on the table until togo meals have been prepared for the shut-ins, (the kitchen committee can deliver these after the meal because the Deacons will be in their monthly meeting), 2. We sign-up for the pot-lucks same as we do for the fellowship meals, just for a head count. This will help us prepare for meat purchase, 3. We are trying to be good stewards of the church s resources, if you plan on taking items from the meals home please bring your own containers to do so. September s Meal will be Spaghetti, Salad and dessert October s Meal will be Goulash, Salad and dessert Newport Baptist Church P.O. Box 1330 Newport, NC Newportbaptistchurch@gmail.com PLEASE PLACE STAMP HERE Newport Baptist Church exists to bring glory to God and Bring others to Jesus Christ 8