Contact us

950 Self StreetFranklinton, LA 70438

Phone: (985) 839-3427Fax: (985) 839-3572

Prayer Line: (985) 839-3337

Office E-mail:fbc.natasha@gmail.com

Prayer E-mail:fbcfranklinton.prayer@gmail.com

Website:www.fbcfranklinton.org

The Bridge February 2015Monthly Newsletter of First Baptist Church Franklinton

Paul Watts, Pastorfbc.paulwatts@gmail.com

A Cup with Pastor Paul http://acupwiththepastor.blogspot.com

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Celebrate recovery....I generally do not dedicate my newsletter article to a single event or program, but we are about to begin a new ministry that has the potential to make a great impact for the King-dom! Celebrate Recovery is a ministry that seeks to show people how to be delivered from sin and sin addictions that have long held them in bondage. God’s Word tells us: All those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adop-tion, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him, Romans 8:14-17, HCSB. We want to see people led to Christ, experience deliverance from their sins and deliverance from sin’s domin-ion in their lives.

Celebrate recovery will meet on Tuesday nights. It will be a power filled time of worship, prayer, encouragement, small group sharing and fellowship. It will take quite a few commit-ted volunteers/leaders. We need two things from the church family here at FBC: Prayers and People. Every member knows someone who could benefit from this ministry. Most we would identify (maybe even ourselves) have tried to overcome their issues in their own strength. Some have even sought help in other avenues. They need the power only Christ offers to a person who is totally surrendered to Him. We need to be praying for the Lord’s anointing on this ministry and those it touches. We also need to pray for laborers who will be willing to step forward into this harvest. Each of us needs to pray and ask the Lord whether this is an area where we need to be serving. If this ministry is God’s will, He has already prepared those He desires to use.

Below you will see some upcoming dates of note. If you are interested or think God might be burdening your heart for helping in some capacity, show up! There are needs for vol-unteers that range from greeters to worship leaders. There will be a place for you if the Lord is moving on your heart.

February 3-March 31, Tuesday Nights @ 6:30 p.m.: Leader-ship training meetings will be held in the Senior Adult Center at FBC Franklinton. These meetings will focus on training, role playing and planning for organization and positions of service.

April 14, 6:30 pm: LAUNCH—Celebrate Recovery meetings will begin to meet weekly.

Celebrate Recovery-Celebrate Recovery is a biblical and bal-anced program that helps us overcome our hurts, hang-ups, and habits. It is based on the actual words of Jesus rather than psychological theory. 20 years ago, Saddleback Church launched Celebrate Recovery with 43 people. It was designed as a program to help those struggling with hurts, habits and hang-ups by showing them the loving power of Jesus Christ through a recovery process. Celebrate Recovery has helped more than 17,000 people at Saddleback, attracting over 70% of its members from outside the church. Eighty-five percent of the people who go through the program stay with the church and nearly half serve as church volunteers. Celebrate Recov-ery is now in over 20,000 churches worldwide! (Taken from Celebrate recovery website, www.celebraterecovery.com)

This year on Sunday, March 22,

we will be engaging in a BE THE CHURCH SUNDAY.

We will be encouraging the entire church to look for ways

they can engage our community with the love of Christ.

We will not have our regularly scheduled worship activities. We

will worship our Savior by sharing His love. In order for this to truly be a church wide effort, we need

your help!

Dale Parker,Minister to Senior

Adults& Discipleship Training

fbc.daleparker@gmail.com

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In Psalm 139 King David posed a very interesting question. He said, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.” This is not so much a question of complaint; David wasn’t trying to get away from God. It’s more of a theological statement of fact. God is omni-present, and David was express-ing his awe and wonder of the sovereign God of the universe. In the verse preceding these he said, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.” That word “omnipres-ent” means that God is every-where. There is no place that He is not present. Sometimes we erroneously use the verse where Jesus said, “Where two or more are gathered in My name, I am there,” as if God suddenly shows up when we gather for church or a prayer meeting. But He is already there. For believers, God is always present through the Holy Spirit living in us. There’s no place where He is not. David was a man after God’s own heart. He spent hours contemplating the wonder and awe and majesty of God. God was the centerpiece of his life. Later, when he took his eye

off of God and looked around at the world, he sinned. I wonder how often we really contemplate the omnipres-ence of God, not just give Him a passing, “Hmm, I wonder...”, but search for Him, seek His face, and desire to know Him biblically. How would our wor-ship, evangelism, discipleship, and giving be? What kinds of programs would we watch on TV? How would we look at the hurting people of the world? How would we see the world around us? Would our lives change at all? I believe they would. It’s sad, but I think that some people base their idea of who God is to whatever oth-ers say about Him. Some may see Him as a benevolent grand-fatherly kind of person who chuckles at sin and says, “That’s all right. Just so long as you’re happy.” However, if we truly do consider all of who God is we will find that we may not know Him as well as we like to think we do. This year I want to en-courage all of us to seek after God, and here’s a good exercise to help us do that. Grab a Bible with a good concordance and look up all of the places where God says, “I, or I am, or I will”. Read those verses and write them down. Study them, and then be amazed like David at the awesome majesty of God. Brother Dale

Honduras Team meeting February 8th at 5:00 PM in the Fireside Room.

Senior Fest 2015Living, Learning & All That Jazz!The cost is $35 per person by February 5th. If anyone wants to go Brother Dale needs to know by February 4th so he can register them. If we get enough people going we can take the bus!

Memory Verses for the Month of February

Feb. 1 - “All Scripture is given by inspira-tion of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Feb. 8 - “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is writ-ten in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8 Feb. 15 - “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7 Feb. 22 - “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle-ness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” Philippians 4:6-7

Cody Thomas, Student Pastor

fbc.codythomas@gmail.com

REACHING In & REACHING Out Reaching In . . . . . Reaching Out

Student Ministry Events

Biblical PurityWednesday,

February 11that 6:00 p.m.

REACH Your Community

Saturday, February 21st

at 9:00 a.m.(Wear work clothes)

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“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” These words written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome thousands of years ago are still to this very day difficult to comprehend. We might understand the mean-ing of the text or the overall message the Apostle Paul is giving to the church, but in reality we cannot wrap our minds around the concept of God’s love. Before the creation of the world, God loved us. While we were still sinners, God loved us. God demonstrates His love for us through His sacrifice on the cross. How can we wrap our human minds around that kind of love? My own personal un-derstanding of love has been growing lately. All of my life, I’ve had people in my life who cared for me and loved me. My parents loved me while I was still in the womb. No matter what mis-takes I made, my parents did not withhold their love, but rather unleashed discipline in love. In my mind, the love a person gets from family is expected. Not once in my life did I ever have to ques-tion my family’s love for me; I always knew it was there. The past two years though,

I have experienced a differ-ent kind of love. This type of love is not expected but rather cultivated. This type of love is not connected by blood but rather is connect-ed by a covenant. This type of love is meant to mirror an even greater love between Christ and the church. Love within a marriage covenant is different than a family love because marriage seems to be a learned love. Marriage seems to be a type of love that grows through experi-ences and circumstances. Be-fore marriage I had a diffi-cult time wrapping my mind around that type of love. Even though we can-not fully wrap our minds around God’s love, we can experience it daily. We first experience God’s love when we confess Him as Lord. We are able to come to God and make Him Lord because He demonstrated His love for us on the cross. Once Christ is our Lord, we have the great opportunity to continually experience His love daily if we would simply live for Him and not ourselves. God loves us and wants us to know Him and experience His love. We experience the greatest type of love this world will ever know when we surrender and allow Christ to reign in all of our circumstances. Let us continually learn to love God through spending time with Him in prayer and His word, giving up of self and allowing His love to reign in us and through us.

Butch Reviere Minister of

Musicfbc.butch@gmail.com

Note from Brother ButchSing a New Song

Psalm 33:3a – “Sing to Him a new song”Psalm 40:3 – “He has put a new song in my mouth-Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.” Psalm 144:9a – “I will sing a new song to You, O God” Revelation 5:9,10 – “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘”You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”’ Don’t panic! You are not about to read a treatise on how we should ditch the old songs and embrace only the new ones; you know me better than that. In fact, my belief concerning the songs we sing in worship is as follows: if a song was ever “good” and appropriate for use in our corporate or private worship, then it still is; and conversely, any song offered by today’s song writers that helps us express our love and devotion to the Lord in worship is worthy of inclusion in our list of worship songs.So, what exactly is the point of this rambling? It seems to me that all these references to “a new song” in the Bible have more to do with what is going on in our hearts than the particular song that we may be sing-ing. Look up Romans 6:4 in your copy of God’s word. You’ll find this phrase: “we also should walk in newness of life.” While you’ve got The Book open, look up II Corin-thians 5:17. This verse, which we should be able to quote from mem-ory, reminds us that in Christ, we are “a new creation.” Now we broaden our thinking beyond the songs we sing to the realization that, when we come to Christ in salvation, all things…our worldview, our prefer-ences, our understanding of life as God intended it to be, our attention to every aspect of this life we have discovered in Jesus…all things are now new.The question then arises: what makes a song “new”? Contempo-rary worship songs are certainly new because they have recently been

written. While many of them do enhance our worship, what about “Amazing Grace” or “When We All Get To Heaven”, both of which were written over a hundred years ago. Can they be new? YES!! How?Here’s where I struggle to com-municate my own experience of growing in the Spirit. Salvation brings newness to our lives, but it is just the beginning of a process that should be active deep within us until we breathe our last. The old hymns mean much more to me now than they did when I was saved as a teenager. In that sense, they are new. We grow from “glory to glory” according to II Corinthians 3:18. As we grow, as we are changed by the Spirit, as we go deeper in our knowledge of God and what He has done through Christ, we…ma-ture. And so does our worship, here at the church house, as well as in our private devotions.Think with me for a moment. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound” takes me back to the rev-elation that God loves me and gave His Son to pay for my sin. “That saved a wretch like me” reminds me that even good boys who grew up in church need a Savior because “goodness” won’t get you to Heav-en or lead you to the knowledge of God. “I once was lost but now am found” makes me want to shout, though if I did, it would scare you and me since we aren’t accustomed to such expressions in our corporate worship (though maybe we ought to welcome them???). “Was blind but now I see” causes me to rejoice that the God who created the universe is revealed…and is revealing…Him-self to even me! That’s how a song, whether writ-ten today or a hundred years ago, becomes new. When we internal-ize those lyrics and make them very personal, the song bursts forth from deep within us. Did you know that you actually can have these thoughts even while you’re singing? I chal-lenge you to try it. Make the lyrics your own and cry out to Jesus with humble gratitude for what He is do-ing deep inside you. And if there isn’t much happening in your heart and your worship has become stale and ritualistic, then….that is a dis-cussion for another time. So, sing unto the Lord a “new” song!

On February 4th, our adult choir rehearsal will move to 6:00 p.m. each Wednesday evening…

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Kelly McElveen Director of Preschool/ Children’s Ministriesfbc.playschool@gmail.com

Happy Birthday!

Andrew Crain - 6thBrooke Walle - 9thCora Burris - 14thKnox Allen - 23rd

Belated Birthday Wishes to

Bradlee Davidson - Jan. 15th

Are you in 6th grade or below? Let me know so I can add

you to my list!

Happy February! As I was reflecting on what I needed to say this month, I couldn’t help but realize that it is Valentine’s Day this month! It’s hard not to think of Valentine’s Day without thinking of 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.”

I am so thankful that I have a Heavenly Father who can love me like that! As a mom, however, I’m not batting 1000 in some of those areas. What areas should I work on most? I’ll start with patient and kind. Those can be hard to remember and do on the mornings when we’re running late and someone forgets something and I really, really need to leave. We have an unwrit-ten (but often said!) rule and ongoing joke in my house that only one person gets to be grouchy in the morning, and I have called “dibs” on it forever. Patient and kind are not two words that pop into my mind in the mornings. But I want to develop those traits in my children, so I need them to see them in me and see areas God has demonstrated patience and kindness to myself and to them. For some time, I’ve been praying for more patience and kindness, especially in the mornings (I’m fine af-ter about 7:30!). I really thought God was just telling me that it was okay to be grouchy before 7:30 a.m., and then I realized that He was just providing me with more opportunities to be patient and kind! So, that’s why the right clothes didn’t ever get put in the washer and the alarm clock was turned down and that school report was due today! Instead of being upset in my morning routine, it was God whispering, “Here’s a great oppor-tunity for you to be patient at 7:00 a.m.” or “Didn’t you want to practice 6:30 a.m. kindness?” I’ll let you know how it continues to go! I’m sticking with just the first two “Love is...” for now and being so grateful that God knows just what I need and how to bring those qualities out in me!

Looking ahead to the summer, I’ll be beginning to outline our “I w Tuesdays” for 2015 during the month of February. I’m very in-terested in suggestions! If you have a great idea for a Tues-day outing for our children preschool-6th grade, please let me know! We already have 3 of the summer weeks taken with VBS, Tall Timbers Camp and CentriKid, but I will need about six other activities. Last year we went bowling, to the zoo, to Sten-nis Space Center, swimming, etc. I love new ideas! Ideally we like for the activity to be low or no cost and appropriate for both small preschoolers through about age 12. And, although I swim, I prefer for water activities to be in clear water for safety reasons. So if you have an activity from the past that you want to see back, or if you have a great idea for something new, let me know!

*ALERT: Rapidly approaching CentriKid deadline! February 1st deadline has been extended to February 10th. On February 11th I will be dropping any unreserved spots to avoid paying a penalty. If your child is currently in 3rd-6th grade and would like to attend CentriKid with us at Timber Creek Campground from July 27-31, I need to know by midnight on February 10th. Total cost is $302, but we will be having an early March meeting to discuss fundraising ideas. We will not be having a cake auction this year.

Wishing you a February filled

with patience and kindness,

Kelly McElveen

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PlaySchool NewsDuring the months of February and March, PlaySchool registration for the 2015-2016 school year will begin. If you know of any children that may be interested in attend-ing or may not know about our PlaySchool ministry, please let us know! To be eligible, children must turn 3 by December 31st, 2015. Our school year will begin in Sep-tember on the day after Labor Day. We are always interested in having new families join our PlaySchool program!

Also, we have had several people ask us lately what PlaySchool may be in need of. We go through lots and lots of Lysol and glue sticks and those are two of the items that our reserve supply is growing low on. So, if you are out and about and can pick some up for us, we would greatly appreciate it! But don’t feel like it is only things that have to be purchased. We can always use newspaper for our painting projects! If you have a stack of newspapers at your house, we would love to put them to good use!

Most importantly, please continue to pray for our ministry. Our teachers, our Play-Schoolers and their families all need your prayers! Please pray for specifically that God would use us to show Jesus to these children and that all that we do reflects His love for them. Please pray specifically that the unchurched families that attend PlaySchool would feel God’s hand lead-ing them to Him. Please pray specifically for the PlaySchool families that are hurt-ing would know that God loves them very much. Thank you in advance for all of your prayers! We can always feel them!

Now Accepting Applications for the 2015-2016 School Year for 3 & 4 year olds

Offering three different programs from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

For more information, call the church office at 839-3427 or check out our website at

www.fbcfranklinton.org/Ministries/PreschoolChildrens/PlaySchool.aspx

Leslie Westmoreland WINGS Coordinator

lwestmoreland.ees@wpsb.org

WINGS Ministry

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Save The Date:Pine FBC Women’s Conference

February 27th & 28th, 2015 Speaker: Julie Woodruff

Worship Leader: Lara Landon

Casserole Ministry:

How does it work? Church members make and bring casseroles and put them in the church freezer all during the year.

Containers need to be wrapped well or put in a freezer bag. A copy of the recipe and how to cook the casserole should also be taped to the casserole.

When you bring a casserole, sign it in on the sheet located on the front of the freezer. When someone is sick, having a difficult time, or in need of a meal, any church member can pick up a casserole and deliver it to someone. Please sign it out so we can keep track of where it was sent.

Magazine Ministry:

How does it work? Church members bring magazines and put them in the box under the WINGS board. This is only done a few times a year! Keep them with you, and we will let you know when we are collecting them.

The magazines you drop off get labeled and put out at hospitals, doctor offices, dentist offices, etc.

If you would like to help with this ministry in any way, please contact Leslie Westmoreland.

Children’s Church

Month of FebruaryChristina Watts & Lori Schilling

for ages 3 to

Kindergarten

We will be meeting in Mrs. Cindy’s Kindergarten Sunday school room in the

Preschool Department

Sunday Night Supper

2/1Barber, Cowart, Cruce, McDaniel, Thomas, Varnado, and Westmoreland

2/8 Bell, Lebo, McElveen, Schilling, Thomas, Varanado and Watts

2/15Bankston, Burris, Galloway, McElveen, Sandifer, Schilling and Waskom

2/22Cooke, Creel, Mobley, Morgan, Owen, and Sylvest

2/1 Tommy Wood & Richard McElveen

2/8 Richard Knight & Matt Westmoreland

2/15 Howard Gibson & Mike Hikman

2/22Dennis Wager & George Cowart

Sound Schedule(Please note schedule changes)

2/1 Matt Westmoreland

2/8Stephen McElveen

2/15 Darren Schilling

2/22Johnny Burris

Wednesday Night Supper

2/4Group E - Chicken Rotel

2/11 Group A - Pulled Pork

2/18Group B - Fried Chicken

2/25Group C - Meatballs & Spaghetti

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Our February VOLUNTEERS

Nursery Schedule

2/1 Lacy Burris & Nicole Wager

2/8 Rob Crain & Kristi Crain

2/15 Sara Robins & Marsha Newman

2/22Lori Schilling & Betty Gill

Announcements

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FEATURED SPEAKERDr. Fred Luter

Pastor, Franklin Avenue Baptist ChurchFormer President, SBC

Registration Deadline:February 5 - $35 per personLate Registration Deadline:February 12 - $38 per personRegister online www.nobts.edu/Publications/SeniorFest.htmlFor hotel reservations, contact Providence Guest House (504) 816-8178.For more Senior Fest information, call (504) 816-8106 or email seniorfest@nobts.edu.

REGISTRATION

Friday, February 27, 20158:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Living, Learning, & All That Jazz!

InspirationalBible

Teaching

InsightfulEducational

Seminars

ClosingSession

Hymn Sing

INSIGHTFUL SEMINARSNOBTS faculty and friends will share in their areas of expertise and passion with topics to enrich your season of life.

NEW THIS YEARIn response to your requests, the schedule has been fine-tuned to include three Breakout Sessions to learn from the experts!

Presented by the Social Work Department in theDivision of Church and Community Ministries

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary3939 Gentilly Blvd. New Orleans, LA 70126

The cost is $35 per person by February 5th. If anyone wants to go Brother Dale needs to know by February 4th so he can register them. If we get enough people going we can take the bus.

       

Operation Christmas Child

Yes, it’s already time to begin collecting for our November packing party.

Each month we will list items would like you to bring in during that month.

February - Toothbrushes & Toothpaste

Last year First Baptist Church donated 783 boxes to

Operation Christmas Child. Our goal this year in 870 boxes.

Thank you again for your commitment to this ministry which spreads Jesus Christ’s love to needy children around the world.

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Chris Merrick

WelcomE Our New Members

        With high school graduation fast approaching, FBC would like to remind seniors of the scholarship opportunity available through the church. FBC is the financial manager and distributor of the Charles and Jan Montgomery Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship has been in existence since 1985 and has helped numerous students over the years with their college expenses. Applications and guidelines for eligibility can be obtained through the church office or through the schools. If you are looking for a meaningful honorarium or memorial gift, please keep in mind a donation to the scholarship fund. You will not only be helping perpetuate the scholarship, but also helping a wor-thy student with their college expenses.

Scholarship funds Available

Madysen Varnado

Be The Church WeekMarch 22-27, 2015

This year on Sunday, March 22, we will be engaging in a BE THE CHURCH SUNDAY. We will be encouraging the entire church to look for ways they can engage our community with the love of Christ. We will not have our regularly scheduled worship activities. We will worship our Savior by sharing His love. In order for this to truly be a church wide effort, we need your help!

We are asking Sunday school classes to…

Pray weekly for Be the Church Sunday. Worship is the #1 purpose of the church. We want this Sunday to be a worshipful time. This will be true if all we do focusses on Jesus and brings glory to Him.

Plan and prepare projects of love/ministry/outreach that would fit your particular Sunday school class. This may be construction, benevolence, evangelistic, or ministry oriented depending on the make-up of your class.

Keep an open mind and heart. Allow the Lord to help you give yourself away in service to Him for His glory.

PRSRT STDNONPROFIT

ORGANIZATIONUS POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT NO. 27

February 2015

950 Self StreetFranklinton, LA 70438www.fbcfranklinton.org

First Baptist Church Franklinton