Pastor s Perspective. Memorial Service for Eric Lott. Newsletter of Fruitland Baptist Church JANUARY 2018 FRUITLAND BAPTIST CHURCH

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1 JANUARY 2018 FRUITLAND BAPTIST CHURCH Craig Stepp, Senior Pastor William C. Hardin, Associate Pastor Newsletter of Fruitland Baptist Church Pastor s Perspective Happy New Year, Fruitland Family! I m writing to you with the new year just beginning. With each new beginning, it s important for us to take time to look at what got us to this point is in Pastor Craig Stepp the past and 2018 is in front of us, full of expectation, opportunity, and excitement. After reading this short note of encouragement, I pray that it gives you a perspective that will not be forgotten throughout the new year. As I began to do my own spiritual inventory, it led me to think of ways to help you with your journey. It made me realize that it can be a tough thing to do. Taking inventory helps us to find what we are missing. So, together, let s put in place our missing pieces. Before we get started finding the missing pieces, it s important that you approach this challenge from a biblical perspective. Many of us set goals, resolutions as individuals and for our families. This challenge I hope is different, in that this goal, resolution will not be easily broken. There are three steps I would like to ask you to take to get started on the right foot: 1. Stop! At some point, we need to take time and prioritize what is going to be first in the year Look around! In order for us to move forward in the new year, we have to review our past to see what has prevented us from growing in our walk with Christ. 3. Look up! Once we take steps 1 and 2, then it s important for us not to be motivated but to be To know Christ and to Make Christ known disciplined in correcting our mistakes from the previous year. Some examples include disciplined Bible study, prayer life, walking humbly, and serving our community. It is never my goal to make people feel bad about their spiritual status. Instead, I hope to challenge, support, and encourage you as you embark on your spiritual new year s endeavor. I am looking forward to working with this family of believers in the upcoming year to grow God s kingdom both locally and abroad. There are many ministry opportunities that have already been put on the church calendar which is available at The calendar will be updated as new ministry opportunities arise. It s my hope that we as a church fulfill each opportunity with love and obedience. Fruitland, thank you for allowing me to be a part of and hopefully influence your journey with Jesus. Looking forward to entering 2018 with my church family! In love, Pastor Craig Memorial Service for Eric Lott There will be a Memorial Service for Eric Lott on Saturday, January 6th at 3:00 PM at Fruitland Baptist Church. Visitation will occur before the service at 2:00 PM. A reception will follow after the service in the Fellowship Hall.!1

2 JANUARY 2018 FRUITLAND BAPTIST CHURCH Youth Winter Retreat January Cost is $95.00 which includes t-shirt, lodging (two nights), five meals and transportation. Visit our to see the information form and applications. If you have more questions please see William Hardin or Linda Bradley. If you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late to text Linda Bradley at to sign up or call the Church Office at We must have your application and $20.00 deposit by Wednesday, January 3rd to make room arrangements. You don't want to miss out on this awesome weekend! Hope for Kids We will kick off our 12 week training for students in grades 3-8 on Wednesday, January 10th. This is a fun interactive way to learn scripture and a clear and easy way to share the good news of Jesus with others. Candi Mains will be leading the training and there are 5 other team leaders that will be ready to support and help students as they start this amazing adventure. There will be lots of games, skits, cadences, and crafts each week. This is a training that will change you for life. It will give you the skills to lead others to Christ. Ladies Sharing Life There will be no Ladies Sharing Life in January. We will resume meeting in February. JOY Club Soup & Sandwich Luncheon Saturday, January 27th at 11:30 AM in the Fellowship Hall. Prayer for the New Year By Billy Graham This prayer from Billy Graham, written for The Saturday Evening Post in 2008, is just as relevant this year. Our Father and our God, as we stand at the beginning of this new year we confess our need of Your presence and Your guidance as we face the future. We each have our hopes and expectations for the year that is ahead of us but You alone know what it holds for us, and only You can give us the strength and the wisdom we will need to meet its challenges. So help us to humbly put our hands into Your hand, and to trust You and to seek Your will for our lives during this coming year. In the midst of life s uncertainties in the days ahead, assure us of the certainty of Your unchanging love. In the midst of life s inevitable disappointments and heartaches, help us to turn to You for the stability and comfort we will need. In the midst of life s temptations and the pull of our stubborn self-will, help us not to lose our way but to have the courage to do what is right in Your sight, regardless of the cost. And in the midst of our daily preoccupations and pursuits, open our eyes to the sorrows and injustices of our hurting world, and help us to respond with compassion and sacrifice to those who are friendless and in need. May our constant prayer be that of the ancient Psalmist: Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end (Psalm 119:33). We pray for our nation and its leaders during these difficult times, and for all those who are seeking to bring peace and justice to our dangerous and troubled world. We pray especially for Your protection on all those who serve in our armed forces, and we thank You for their commitment to defend our freedoms, even at the cost of their own lives. Be with their families also, and assure them of Your love and concern for them. Bring our divided nation together, and give us a greater vision of what You would have us to be. Your Word reminds us that Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord (Psalm 33:12). As we look back over this past year we thank You for Your goodness to us far beyond what we have deserved. May we never presume on Your past goodness or forget all Your mercies to us, but may they instead lead us to repentance, and to a new commitment to make You the foundation and center of our lives this year. And so, our Father, we thank You for the promise and hope of this new year, and we look forward to it with expectancy and faith. This I ask in the name of our Lord and Savior, who by His death and resurrection has given us hope both for this world and the world to come. Amen To know Christ and to Make Christ known!2

3 Fruitland Baptist Church Calendar of Events January 2018 To Know Christ and To Make Christ Known Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday B DAY: KEELEN SMITH 1 B DAY: BUD CHANDLER 2 B DAY: CHRISTOPHER GLASPY 3 B DAYS: BOB GILBERT 4 B DAY: LILLY BASTING 5 6 -MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR ERIC LOTT 2:00 VISITATION NEW YEAR S DAY 3:00 MEMORIAL SERVICE -6:00PM CIA TO REST HOME -6:30PM PRESCHOOL / STUDENT MINISTRY / B DAYS: BRAYDEN CHILDRESS / JAN HOWARD / MICHAEL SAURO / AMY SINGLETARY / CRAIG STEPP -BREAKFAST 8:30AM -DEACON MTG 4:00PM 7 B DAY: SHERMAN BLYTHE 8 B DAYS: ROBIN CASTO / WAYNE HOWARD -MEN S 7:00AM AT FBBC -LIBRARY WORK DAY 2:00PM 9 10 B DAYS: GORDON CORN / TERESA HEATHERLY CHURCH PRAYER & BUSINESS MTG HOUR PRAYER DAY B DAY: DANIEL SULLINS 12 -YOUTH WINTER RETREAT AT RIDGECREST 13 -MCT MTG 3:00PM 14 -YOUTH WINTER RETREAT AT RIDGECREST B DAYS: KRISTI KICKLIGHTER / DAVE MAINS -YOUTH WINTER RETREAT AT RIDGECREST 15 B DAYS: STACEY GRESOCK / SALLY GROSS 16 B DAY: SCOTT GROSS 17 B DAY: FRANK SPADA B DAY: CASSIE CASTO B DAY: GRIFFIN MASTERSON B DAY: RUTHIE BRITTAN -MEN S 7:00AM AT FBBC -LIBRARY WORK DAY 2:00PM B DAY: BRACKLEY KICKLIGHTER B DAYS: JENNIFER PRESSLEY / ROBERT WHITESIDE -GLASSES FOR FIRST BAPTIST / LOVE S KITCHEN 10:30AM- 1:00PM 26 B DAY: LEAH COOK B DAYS: JAY VAN ARSDALL / NATHANIEL WHITE B DAY: BRYANNA PENDLEY 30 B DAYS: MARK HOWARD / KENNETH MANEY / TOMMY SHOEMAKER B DAY: RANDY MELLEN 31 WORSHIP AND OPPORTUNITIES SUNDAY: Sunday School Fellowship 9:30am; Bible Study 9:45am Morning Worship 11:00am; Evening Worship 6:00pm WEDNESDAY: Young Adult Bible Study / Fellowship 6:00pm; CIA & Mission Friends 6:30pm; Prayer / Bible Study 6:30pm; Adult Choir Practice 7:40pm View Church calendar on our

4 Fruitland Baptist Church 150 College Street Hendersonville, NC NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID HENDERSONVILLE, NC PERMIT NO. 10 January 2018 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED We Need Your Updated Information This month we are making an effort to update our Church membership information. If you have had a change of address or telephone number (including switching from land line to cell phone only), we would ask that you please turn these or any other changes into the Church Office, Attention - Anne Gilbert our Church Clerk. We would also love to have your address if you would like to share. Thank you for your help!

5 the Fruitland Friends Flyer f Fruitland Baptist Church Children s Ministry Newsletter Issue No. 4 - Jan. & eb Mark Your Calendar! Community Caroling Was a Blast! Wednesday Jan. 21st Children s Team Meeting at 4:00 pm THANK YOU to everyone who came out to carol with us in the Shuey Knolls Community. We had an awesome turn out and it was so much fun! We met some new friends and spread lots of Christmas cheer. We are already looking forward to next year! If the Lord provides natural snow before Feb. 3rd, we will have a Snow Day at the Pittillo Hill. If not... Happy Birthday! January Lilly Basting - 5th Brayden Childress- 7th Robin Casto - 9th * February Debbie Ludwig - 2nd * Emilia Dalton - 15th Trinity Parise - 18th Zoe Howard - 28th Linda Bradley - 29th * * = Teacher Saturday Feb. 3rd Family trip to Black Bear Snow Tubing 3737 Kerr Road Hendersonville, * If we have a group of 20 people the cost will be $20/ person, We will kick off our 12 Week training for Students in grades 3rd otherwise it will be $25/ person. 8th on Wednesday January 10th. This a a fun interactive way to This includes 2 hours of tubing fun. learn scripture and a clear and easy way to share the good Tube rental and lift fee is included. news of Jesus with others. Candi Mains will be leading the trainno children under 4 are ing and there are 5 other team leaders that will be ready to allowed on the slope. support and help students as they start this amazing adventure. Children 4-6 years of age must There will be lots of games, skits, cadences, and crafts each be accompanied by an adult at all week. This is a training that will change you for life. It will give times. All tubers must ride solo in you the skills to lead others to Christ. tubes (this includes children). Children under 45 lbs are too small But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, to safely tube. There is a 300 lb goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. - Galatians 5:22 limit on both the tugger and tubes. Adopt a Grand Parent! Children will be adopting a grandparent for Valentine s Day. There will be a form near the kidcheck check in station in mid to late January for children to adopt a grandparent for the month of Feb. You can make them cards, bake them goodies, give them hugs, and develop a relationship! Once you fill out your form, you will be given a person s name with some information about them.

6 A Fruitland Friendship 2008 to ! Nicolas and Wes met each other at the Fruitland Baptist Church VBS in the summer of 2008 when they were 2 years old, and quickly became friends. They are now in the 5th grade and have made 10 years worth of wonderful memories together at Fruitland. As they look ahead into 2018 and prepare to move up to the Youth Group, we asked them what one word they want to live by this year and why... My word would be BRIGHTER. I want to make 2018 bright by being a better person and making better decisions. - Nicolas The one word that I want to live by in 2018 is AWESOME.I think it would be awesome to make straight A s, meet some new people (no girls though), and discover some interesting new foods, like chicken wings - I tried them today and they weren t bad! - Wes Camp Mundo Vista * Summer 2018 More about Mundo Vista... Owned and operated by the Women s Missionary Union of NC, Mundo Vista Camp and Retreat Center sits atop 154 acres in the beautiful Uwaharrie Mountains. They are centrally located just north of Asheboro - home of the North Carolina Zoo! Their summer camp program is for children from 1st - 6th grade, and teen girls. June Children (GA, RA, CA - Grades 1-6) & Teen Girls (Grades 7-12) At camp Mundo Vista, children will be engaged in worship, Bible study, and fun camp activities! They ll experience time with missionaries, participate in mission projects, sing around a camp fire, and much more! Most importantly, they ll meet Christ in the company of friends. July 8-13 Children (GA, RA, CA - Grades 1-6) & Teen Girls (Grades 7-12) To register, or for more information... Visit Call (336) or mundovista@wmunc.org June 24-27, Mother/Daughter Mini Camps July 15-18, Mother/Daughter Mini Camps July Girls/Leaders Mini Camp Thank you to everyone who participated & helped with the Pre-School & Children s Choir Christmas Program. It was wonderful! We are so proud of you for praising Jesus with your beautiful voices! Love, Ranee & Amy Parent s Corner... Another year is in the books and we have a fresh clean year to live. We get to choose the memories that we make and the values we impress upon our children in Will we start strong and fizzle out like a lot of people do with New Year Resolutions or keep running the race that God has challenged us to run? Last year instead of making a resolution I choose a word to live by. My 2017 word was present. I really tried to live in the present and not just go through the day checking off my to do list. Did I succeed... some days yes and others not so much. By choosing my word I was more conscious of what was going on around me and was able to stick with it all year. I encourage you to pray and ask God to put a word on your heart that you can live by this year. I am so excited about the upcoming Hope For Kids Training that is starting on Wednesday January 10th. This is going to equip your child with skills that they can use to make an eternal difference in others lives. Ephesians 5:8 says For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light. This 12 week class will give your child the tools to clearly be His light in this dark world. As Scott Love said, real light is not like Star Wars where there is a dark side and a light side. In real life darkness flees from the light. Light always casts out darkness. Fruitland wants to be part of sharing His light with others! In His Love, Candi