A Video from Steve's Peru Team and Church news

Hey folks – Good morning!

 

Click on the following link http://www.vimeo.com/645023/  to see a video of what Steve Wright’s Peru team is up to.  It’s really something!  He’s been primarily working with the kids (doing a VBS) and building a garden for the town.

 

Interestingly, we found out that the reason we couldn’t link up with him for church on Sunday was because the city turns off the power every Sunday from 6am – noon.  Wow.  If they did that here, it would be kinda hard getting ready to go to church!  Anyway – he’s planning on making a video greeting so we can watch it on a future Sunday.

 

Thanks to those who were able to participate in the service on Sunday.  We had a great time!  What an encouragement to see people respond in faith, obedience and commitment!  Also – the potluck dinner was great, the annual meeting was productive (who would have known Bill Bartenslager was such a poet?), and we elected some new folks to help us out in the ministry this coming year!  Welcome!

 

Now that the elections are completed, please pray for and encourage the following people serving this year:

 

Deacons – Doug McMullen, Jared Burkeen

Treasurer – Stacie McMullen

Clerk –Jean Gall

S.S. Superintendant – Jim Stewart

Asst. SS Superintendant – Marty Billau

SS Secretary – Irene Hawkins

Asst. SS Secretary - Sydne McMullen – Asst. SS Secretary

Head Usher - Marty Billau

Trustees - Dan Chamberlain, Jim Hawkins, Dave & Robin Heath, Sam McCarty, Ken Smith

Christian Education – Valerie Bartenslager, Diane Steman

Missions – Barb Bishop, Jean Chamberlain, Derek Cochrane, Byron Gall, Sam McCarty, Amy Smith

Communion Stewardess – Jo Fetters

Flower/Decorations – Jean Chamberlain

 

P.S.  Take a look at the church website www.brittonbethel.com to view the new church logo that was voted on by the membership.  Look around while you’re there!

 

God Bless!

Pastor Bob

Don't miss it!

Dear Folks – Wanted to update you about the special day we are having tomorrow… 

 

I’m most excited about the three baptisms I will be participating in!  There are some remarkable stories of faith, obedience and God’s grace – I hope you’ll be able to hear about them.

 

Additionally, we are trying to set up a live video update with Steve Wright from Peru during the first part of the morning service.  His team has been doing some fascinating ministry down there and he wants to share it with you.  Hopefully it will work -

 

Also, we will be having a church potluck after the morning service – please bring a main dish and side dish or dessert to pass.  The church will provide beverages, rolls and place settings.  

 

After the meal (around 1:15pm), we will head over to the auditorium for our annual business meeting.  We will be electing new officers and committee members as well as approving our 2008 budget.  We need your input on these things!  If you are a member, you need to be there!  We should be done around 2:30 – 3:00pm.  There will be no evening service.

 

Finally, there are some improvements to the ladies bathroom…hope you like them!

 

See you tomorrow.  God bless!

 

Pastor Bob

Church news & thoughts

Hey folks – thanks for praying for me this week as I was at my study break. Hope you enjoyed the missionary speaker yesterday! I’m looking forward to next Sunday morning – four people are getting baptized and joining the church! Each one has a neat story of faith to tell. I hope you can be a part of it. After the service, we will be having a church potluck. Make sure you bring a main dish and a side dish or dessert to pass. Church will supply the beverages, table service and rolls. After the potluck, we will be having our Annual business meeting. We will be deciding on our budget for 2008 and also electing our church officers and committee members. There will be no evening service. If you are a member and can make it – you need to be there!

As far a my Study Break goes, I was able to spend some time this week thinking about what we should study together as a church family and what some of our goals might be. Words like change, commitment, growth, fellowship and family came to mind. I think this is going to be an exciting (and possibly uncomfortable – but stretching is often uncomfortable) year for our church. We have several new people who have agreed to serve on our committees. That always makes things creative and innovative. Please be praying for our leadership as we develop this further.

I’m leaving this morning (Monday) to take my mom down to see my brother Bill in Florida (he has a serious infection). I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon. Please pray for him!

I ran across an article the other day (entitled stinkin’ thinkin’) and thought it was pretty good. While not overtly spiritual in nature, it’s interesting to see how often we engage our minds this way – to our detriment. The article is a little long – but if you have the time, read through it and see if you do any (or several) of these.

Click here to view Article

Have a great day!

Pastor Bob

prayer

Folks – please pray for Jim Stewart who went into the hospital yesterday.  He was having severe pain in his chest.  They are doing tests to determine what is causing the problem.  It may be an old ulcer acting up, it may be pancreatitis, or it may be something else.  When they were doing an X-Ray they also found a bulging Aortic vein in his abdomen – which could be very serious.  So they are trying to get hold of everything.  He is also getting over shingles, which is a very painful condition all on its own!  He is in Bixby hospital.

 

Also, David Cochrane is having surgery this morning at Herrick Hospital on his adenoids/sinuses.  He was injured this summer playing baseball when a ball hit his nose (ouch!).  Anyway, they expect him to do well, but it’s always hard to have your first surgery!

 

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday at church!  Please bring your family to Sunday school @ 9:45am so you can get the full benefit of the day.  We are learning the proper methods in studying prophecy in Scripture during the Adult Sunday School – how exciting!  Haven’t you always wanted to know more about that?

 

Anyway – hope your day is going well.

 

A thought:

“When you speak of heaven, let your face light up... When you speak of hell – well then, your everyday face will do”.
                - As said by Charles Haddon Spurgeon to his seminary students.

Steve's World Race Update

Folks – thought you might like to know that Steve arrived in Peru okay.  I just found out that the Director of the Mission himself (Seth Barnes) is part of the team!  Apparently he has long had a dream to make a ‘reality show’ out of the World Race so that others could see what they do, and chose this team to make it happen.  A former TV anchor from ESPN is the leader of the team and they will be documenting the work that Steve and his team will be doing over the next year – how exciting!  They have a camera crew along and will be making some kind of program. 

 

His first ministry is working in an earthquake disaster zone.  A severe 8.0 earthquake devastated an area south of Lima (Chichua) in August, and not much has been done to help the people.  Steve’s team will be heading down there this morning as I write this email.

 

I came across a journal entry from a current World Racer that’s been on serving for the last several months.  I thought you might like to hear a little bit of what Steve is in for…

“I'm sweating/freezing, tired, cramped, bored/too busy to see straight, eating poorly, showering seldomly, sleeping sporadically, suppressed in worship/not allowed to worship the Lord at all, surrounded by beggars and children with no clothes or mothers, living amongst a population that is 94% Buddhist/100% non-religious/etc, stared at (gawked at, actually), talked about, honked at, pointed at, ripped off, completely ignored, followed for crying out loud, sometimes lost (yes, only sometimes), allowed ~$8 a day to live on, communicating poorly in half a dozen different languages, slammed sardine-style into a train bunk for 30 hours, living in constant and disturbing proximity to lice, ticks, and mosquitoes, traveling without the comfort and security of my friends or family (save the WRs, of course), often living in a tent and cooking over a wood fire, carving down everything I own to under 45 pounds, and loving nearly every minute of it.

Why do I love it? What is this? This is the World Race.

This is me getting over myself; getting my walls and biases crushed. This is me getting my perspectives wrecked and my worldview eviscerated. This is me being obedient to the Father who sometimes forces His way into my soul and grabs my heart with His hands to balance perfect love and peace with the notion that you've got to be really left of center. This is me being totally transparent because it's pretty hard to lie to 25 accountability partners, but what I manage to sneak by them will come to light the next time I go to the secret and quiet place with my Dad.

All this so that I can spread a scandalous idea about Life and the Afterlife; to bring light to darkness, order to chaos, sight to the blind, hope to the lost, truth to all, a purpose to those seeking, and glory to an embarrassingly extravagant God. What a notion(!) that there is a Christ, a Savior, that breaks all chains and religion and governments; that restores hope and sheds grace and mercy to all who ask.”

Thanks for praying!

Pastor Bob

P.S. Keep up with Steve at www.stevewright.theworldrace.org

 

church stuff

Dear Folks – Hope your day is going well!

 

We got our son Steve off to his Missions trip with the World Race this morning (his plane left at 6:30am).  He will arrive in Ft Lauderdale at 12:30pm, meet up with his teammates and then leave on another plane at 4:30pm bound to Peru to help with earthquake relief (I think) and evangelism.  He’ll be there for the month.  He has raised about $8,000 so far and needs to raise about $6,000 more over the next 11 months.  He’s pretty excited!  His backpack weighed in at a little under 50 lbs (he had to pack everything he’ll need for the next year in there – including a tent, sleeping bag, supplies, clothes, coat, shoes, etc).  I’m not sure how he did it!  

 

I know he will appreciate your prayers and support.  He has a website specifically for the trip.  It’s www.stevewright.theworldrace.org.  You can keep up with his travels through pictures and videos, leave a message for him or make a tax-deductible donation if you want.  You can even sign up to be alerted when he posts something new on his page!  It’s interesting to see who else is on the team with him.  Pretty amazing people!

 

Also, I wanted to remind you that we are having a hot breakfast tomorrow morning at 9:30am at church.  Biscuits and Sausage Gravy and Hash browns! Yum!  Please come out for a time of fellowship! 

 

Also, we will be hearing from Andy and Ruth Bishop, our missionaries to Italy.  They will give an update of their ministry during Sunday School and then Andy will be sharing from the Word in the Morning service.  They are leaving for Italy shortly after the service.  I want them to be encouraged by your attendance and attention!  I also want to receive a special offering for them as they leave.  The Missions Committee decided to give them a gift of $500 from our Faith Promise Fund (thanks!), but it would be really nice to send them off with a special goodbye gift, too!

 

See you tomorrow at church (come for breakfast – if I can get up early to cook it, you can get up early to enjoy it J).

 

Pastor Bob

 

 

 

 

Church stuff

Hey folks – Hope you were able to enjoy the New Year with your family.  We had a good time with ours.  I wanted to give you a heads up on a couple of things.

 

First of all – even though Awana is cancelled for tonight (Wednesday), we WILL be having our Adult Bible Study.  We’re studying the book from Max Lucado – Facing Your Giants.  It’s a fascinating study on the life of David.  We are currently in Chapter 9  - “Plopping Points” – a great chapter about how to deal with the times when we feel ready to quit and just can’t go on.  If you’re currently involved in Awana as a worker, I’d love to have you join us at 6:00pm (a half-hour earlier than usual)!  We’ll also take time to pray for our church and the ministry here.  Please come!

 

Second – I wanted to THANK YOU for helping us to finish the year financially strong!  Because of some generous year-end gifts, we were able to finish $3,500 above our needed budget (that’s quite something considering we were almost $5,000 behind)!  Several local churches are struggling financially because of the weak Michigan economy.  Because of our faithful God and your generosity, we were able to meet all of our obligations and even have some money in reserve. 

 

Third – Our Nomination Committee has finalized the list of those who have agreed to serve (if elected) on our various committees and offices.  I wanted to include that list in this email (it is also posted on the bulletin board in the foyer).  Please pray for these individuals and consider who you would like to see serve in these positions.  At our Annual meeting on Jan 27^th, we will vote for those who will serve.  Thanks to those who have agreed to serve the Lord in this way!

 

2008 Nomination Committee Information

 

Church Officers:                                                                                                      Nominated for 2008

                Deacon                                                                                                                 Jared Burkeen

                                                                                                                                             *Doug McMullen

                Treasurer (Elect 1 for 1 year)                                                                    *Stacie McMullen

                Clerk (Elect 1 for 1 year)                                                                             *Jean Gall

                SS Superintendent (Elect 1 for 3 years)                                                  Derek Cochrane

                                                                                                                                                Jim Stewart

Other Officers:

                Asst. SS Supt. (Elect 1 for 1 year)                                                               Marty Billau

                SS Secretary (Elect 1 for 1 year)                                                              *Irene Hawkins

                Asst. SS. Secretary (Elect 1 for 1 year)                                                     Sydne McMullen

                                                                                                                                                Kevin Shrouf

                Head Usher (Elect 1 for 1 year)                                                               *Jim Hawkins

              *Marty Billau

Committees:

                Trustee & Finance (Elect 4 for 2 years)                                                    David Heath

                                                                                                                                                Robin Heath

                                                                                                                                                Ken Smith

                                                                                                                                                Dan Chamberlin

                CE Committee (Elect 1 for 2 years)                                                        *Jean Gall

Diane Stemen

                Missions Committee (Elect 3 for 2 years)                                            *Derek C.

                                                                                                                                                Jean Chamberlin

                                                                                                                                                Amy Smith

                Communion Stewardess (Elect 1 for 1 year)                                     *Jo Fetters

                                                                                                                                                Irene Hawkins

                Flower Chairperson (Elect 1 for 1 year)                                                *Jean Chamberlain

 

*Term is expiring

 

Well, that’s all for now.  Thanks for indulging me!  Hope to see you tonight at church!

 

Pastor Bob