YOUTH SUNDAY
Many of the students of First Baptist Church will be sharing responsibilities as worship leaders and Sunday School teachers this month (April 26th). Please pray for them as they prepare for this exciting opportunity. We will also plan to have a S.N.A.C. (Sunday Night After Church) Youth Get Together @ Forrest Fiquett’s House. Please contact me soon if you would like to know more about how you can be involved with Youth Sunday.
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GRADUATE STUFF (Class of 2009)
Congratulations to the Class of 2009 @ Fort Payne High School. All o f your hard work and persistence has finally paid off. I know that God has some amazing ways to help you continue to grow up in your life and in your faith. Advice from the youth minister: (my fave verses in all of the Bible: Psalm 37:23-24) “If a people’s steps follow the Lord, God is pleased with them, though they stumble, they will not fall because the Lord holds their hand.”
Also to the graduating seniors: remember to turn in your scholarship applications, photos for graduate Sunday (May 17th), luncheon reservations, and parent letters to the church office as soon as possible so we can better recognize you on your special day.
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SPRING BREAK MISSIONS ADVENTURE REPORT: BATON ROUGE
Our adventures with Pastor Byron and Pastor Charlie at Crosspoint Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana were truly a blessing to all of our mission team participants. We helped rebulild and clean up hurricane damaged homes, we sorted clothes as an enourmous clothes closet in the city, and we helped served a hot meal to over 100 homeless people in partnership with a soup kitchen. The Bible points us to this idea… to become “all things to all people.” (1 Corinthians 9). We went thinking we were going to be a blessing, and I hope we were a blessing to many; however, I know for a fact that we were all blessed by the work that our new friends at Crosspoint Baptist Church helped us do.
In verse 23 of chapter 9, the New Living Translation says “I do everything to share the Gospel and share in its blessing.” We were truly able to share in the blessing of our Spring Break ‘09 mission trip.
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SPRING BREAK MISSIONS ADVENTURE REPORT: KILPATRICK
20 plus students and adults journeyed to the community of Kilpatrick, AL (near Crossville) to paint the new Hispanic Baptist Church during Spring Break. We had a wonderful day sharing laughter, painting duties, and subway sandwiches. We are currently praying about incorporating new youth ministry outreach tools: drama (led by Amber McPherson & Kim Collins) and puppets (led by Kim Poe) into our local missions and ministry partnerships across our county and beyond DeKalb’s borders as well.
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MFUGE 2009
We are currently getting permission slips together and gathering t shirt sizes. See Jeff if you are interested in going. I think only 3 spots remain!!! Also to our church youth dads. I am short a couple of male chaperones. Please consider this summer as a possibility for ministry partnership.
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Philippines ‘09
We will depart for the Philippines (about 8 students and 12 adults) soon – in June!!! The trip will last 12 days total. Please pray for us as we prepare for 2 important aspects of this trip: 1. medical 2. evangelistic (creative ministries, sports, etc…). Pray that we would serve the needs of the people and share the message of Christ with boldness, sensitivity, and love.
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NLT: NEW LIVING TRANSLATION
I recently purchased a new Bible… the NLT Study Bible for the purpose of sermon and youth talk prep. I haven’t spent a whole lot of time in it yet; however, what time i have spent reading, I must say I am impressed. Here are a few interesting notes regarding Psalm 93 through 100…
These are the chapters of Psalms that a few of our students examined with the crosspoint baptist church staff during our spring break mission trip in Baton Rouge, LA last month…
The Creator-King: The psalms portray Israel’s view of God as the Creator in chapters 93 through 100. God is the great King over the world of nature and nations. God created and established the world, and he rules over it. The whole of creation is his handiwork. The Creator governs and cares for all that he made.
Several psalms celebrate the manifestation of God’s glory in creation. Psalm 8 centers on God’s endowing human beings with splendor and vesting them as his rulers in creation. Psalm 19 encourages reflection on creation in oreder to cultivate wisdom. Psalm 29 reveals God’s power in the world and the stability of his creation. Psalm 33 exalts God’s governance, order, and wisdom in creation and fosters the importance of wisdom. Psalm 89 lays the foundation of God’s covenant with David on his commitment to creation.
Psalms 93-100 anticipate the worldwide dominion of God. When he comes into the world, he brings harmony and peace. The earth already belongs to him, and the Creator has deomnstrated his power in history. Psalm 104 is a creation hymn that reworks the six days of creation into a marvelous lyric in praise of God’s wisdom. The Psalms call upon all nations to acknowledge and praise God and to show their acceptance of his sovereign rule over all nations.
