Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Good morning. Waking up thankful for God's protection from the storms. I personally know of 2 families who lost everything but praise God because they were not harmed. I am going to try and be super quick today and quickly mention what the kids have going on.

For the next 2 Wed. nights we will have a quick lesson & then practice our Mother's Day song. We will also practice this coming Sunday during Children's church. The children will perform it during the service on Sunday, May 11. Reminder to send kids upstairs for our meetings & please come pick up your child so I know they are with an adult.  Last Wed. night Katie discussed with the kids about us raising money for the Rainbow Middle School Food project. Remember, they have students who were going with little or no food on the weekends and now they are sending food home with the students. They are going to feed those students all summer which will take money. We challenged the children to raise $100 by the end of May & them we would have an ice cream party, I then upped it to $200 & we would have ice cream, pizza & a movie. So if you feel led please send in some money with your child for this project. This would be a great opportunity to discuss with them to importance of cheerfully giving. This would also be a great chance to discuss tithing and explain that they could take a portion of their allowance or gifted money & use it for God's work. Feel free to still bring in boxed items like Poptarts, cereal bars, individual snack items, spaghetti, ravioli & juice boxes. We have a huge red tub upstairs that needs to be filled so we can help out with food needs for the month of May. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Please still be in prayer that there is a few parents who would like to step forward and teach another children's church class on Sunday mornings. I believe our 4 & 5 year old children could benefit from a smaller class geared towards their age group.

Thank you to all who participated in the painting class Sunday. We had a great time painting crosses!

Go ahead and put VBS on your calendar for July 21-25!!!!

I pray that you have a safe afternoon since we are suppose to receive more storms. I hope to see your family at church tomorrow night!

Monday, April 21, 2014

I sent Joey a text this morning asking if he could remember how many years he has been at WBBC now. He figured 17. I was reflecting back thinking on how the church use to be. We started seriously visiting the church while I was pregnant with the boys so we have probably been members for about 14 years. I have told so many of y'all how the church was back then. I sat on the front pew yesterday in amazement & awe at how packed the church was. If you had told me 15 years ago that our little church would ever be been half full again, I would have said you were crazy. But year after year, I have seen God steadily grow our 
church. I have seen him place faithful prayers, 
worshipers & workers at our church. I have seen 
him grow Joey as a preacher, grow leaders, grow teachers & volunteers. I have seen him allow us to remodel thanks to leaking pipes, build a gym, build a parking lot, go a little more high tech with computers & screens in the sanctuary, buy a van & now a remodeled children's area. I have seen VBS 
go from a half day event to a full throttle non stop 
full week of VBS. I have seen many church family pass on to heaven and I have seen God heal. I have seen people walk thru the doors I doubted ever 
would. I know there are many like me. You seen God work hard too. Still, I wasn't prepared for yesterday. I sat on the front pew fighting back 
tears. I was scared to really turn around a get a 
good look at how many worshippers were in our 
church . Never in my life would I have imagined God would have taken this little old church from 15 years ago with maybe 20 people & fill it up with over 350 people, taken maybe 5 children & turned them into over 40, taken a tiny choir and packed it out with the most beautiful voices. But 
this is God and he fed thousands with a little bit of bread & fish!! Now I know it was Easter and many people might not be back Sunday but they came thru our doors yesterday, felt our welcome, heard our music & heard the message about our risen Saviour. It is just crazy awesome & only possible because of God!! Yesterday just pumped 
me up & encouraged me. I want to see us packed out every Sunday. I want to see the choir walls busted out. I want to see the youth outgrow the gym & the kids outgrow the new area! Yesterday, should set a fire under us to get out & spread God's word! I hope you left church not only excited but encouraged too! 

I am so thankful for those parents who volunteer with the children's dept. I am sure everyone could see my face as children kept coming out of the sanctuary yesterday. In my mind, I was thinking there must be 70 kids going up to children's church & it's me & 2 youth. What am I going to do???!!!! I was so excited & blessed to get upstairs and have Ashley, Paula & several youth 
waiting to help! There was over 40 children so y'all that know me, know how exciting that is to me!! Let me throw this out here.. If you ever have thought about volunteering with the children, step up and do it. Volunteering does not mean teaching. Extra eyes just watching the children is a blessing. You might like to craft.  I don't! I can't sing, but 
Ashley can. If you have a heart to work with children, then we want you & we need you! My vision is to see children's church divided ,  a younger & older class that way we could teach more age appropriately. Teachers are needed for this to happen. Be in prayer about how you can help! Know that if God is urging you to step out & you obey Him, he will bless you! Bless you more 
than you can ever imagine!

Our room is nearing completion & I know I have rambled but I have to tell tall how God worked today. I needed a huge magnetic white board for the room. I went to office max not positive on what kind of price I would find. $650.00!!!! I left 
down & out because I knew I needed the board but  I also feel like God's money, especially at church, should be spent wisely. I called Ashley asking if she had any ideas. She mentioned Observer Office Supply. I happened to be 2 streets over from them. Walked in, the lady showed me the boards. I asked a price. She said around $500! Well it was a little cheaper but hold on, wait, listen to this......... Then she proceeds to say,"we are getting ready for inventory & I'll sell it to you for $135, no make it 
$65.00!!!!!!!!! She even agreed to hold it until I could get Jami to pick it up tomorrow. God was all over that!! I told that woman she was part of a blessing!

This Wednesday night the children will meet upstairs for children's church. There is still room for children to come to Sundays painting class. 
Parents are welcome too. The cost is $15 and we will be painting a cross on canvas. Some of the youth might be interested too. Just let me know. 

Reminder that we are continuously collecting food for the students at RMS. Items like pop tarts, cereal bars, single serve spaghetti, ravioli, 
individual snacks packs & juice boxes are needed. If you can, grab an item or 2 when you are grocery shopping.

Let me end tonight with saying I just had a great conversation. Sometimes we need to be reminded that we need to put aside our worldly views, our opinions, our so & so did this and just show love. Pure and simple.. Show love to people no matter what! I hope we all think about this & strive to show love in every situation. I hope you have a wonderfully blessed week!!



Monday, April 14, 2014

Welcome to Holy Week! Have y'all noticed the crowd at church the past 2 weeks? I can't imagine what Easter Sunday will be like! God just continues to bless us with new faces! It is so exciting to me!

God provided us with beautiful weather at the egg hunt Saturday. He also provided us with lots of visitors! There was many faces I didn't know & I plan on making contact with them this week. Huge thank you to those who helped make the hunt a success!
Let me update you on the children's room remodel. Please do not judge the colors yet! There is more painting to do & some detailed artwork for the entry & and the red wall.  As we speak guys are working. They have reshipped the lost furniture so hopefully it will be here this week. I am anxious to get up there & clean out the old stuff.

This Wednesday night the children will meet in the fellowship hall from 6-7. We will be discussing Holy Week & cooking!! The children, with the help of adults, will be making a delicious treat called an empty tomb. This will be fun!

I had said in the last blog that we would not have children's church Easter but I have changed my mind, so we will be dismissed after the music as normal.

I need to remind everyone if your child wants to attend the painting class March 27 from 3-5, I need to know by Sunday. The cost is $15. Your child will leave church with a great painting that would be a perfect gift for Mother's Day.

Reminder that we are still collecting food for the RMS students. When you are shopping grab an extra box of pop tarts, juice boxes, cereal bars or single serve snacks. If we all grab 1 extra item, we will be able to make a difference.

The past few weeks have been crazy with mom being sick( thankfully doing well now), trying to run
back & forth meeting workers for the remodel, Jack being sick, me being sick & just general life stuff, so I still haven't gotten a price on Disney. It is on my list for this week. If you have written a check for your deposit & it hasn't cleared your bank.. I still have it. June is handling those deposits & she has been out of town & had lots of deposits yesterday so I'll give them to her next Sunday.

Please keep Candace Hardwoods' mom & the family in your prayers. We need to remember Lewis Ozgatharp as he recovers from surgery. Pray that the visitors from the egg hunt receive my contact with an open heart. It was great to see Josh McBurnett back at church yesterday. Continue prayers for his healing, Dru & Macy Fortenberry's great grandmothers healing & Martha Williams. I hope y'all have a fabulous Holy Week and really take time to focus on the love that Jesus has for us!

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Wasn't Sunday at. WBBC just wonderful? I love that in our church we have the freedom just to speak up or to change up the service. I have to tell y'all a little story about mom since she was at church Sunday. Friday late afternoon, I stopped by the church to check out the upstairs work. Mom called me while I was there & told me her nurse had called and told her not to expect to physically be like she was before. At this point she was barely getting around the house, breathing was not great, no appetite & really down & out. She had not drover herself anywhere in about a month. I hung up with mom quickly because I could feel tears coming up. I called Joey. We had already had a similar conversation because what the nurse had told mom we had already decided on our on. We also knew that if she got depressed over this then we felt like she would not follow her dr's orders and things would go downhill quickly. So Sat. night, Joey, the twins & I went to Anniston to hear "In Like Ben". On our way home we stopped at the Waffle House & Joey told the boys they needed to talk to Nana & tell her to take care of herself, that they wanted her to be around for yrs. As with most grandparents who live for their grand kids, my mom is no different & Joey thought the encouragement from the twins might help. It was late when we got home so they did not talk to Nana that night. I called mom to check on her on the way to church Sunday morning. She sounded better & said she was going to try and come to church. Not only was I surprised she was at church, that she had no trouble getting there, she looked better than she had in months. How amazing that she was able to walk to the alter & rededicate her life to Jesus. She even went to Winn Dixie & bought groceries. Now I am not crazy, I know she still has issues but it seems she might have gotten her 2nd wind & I am so thankful to God for that! I was so glad to see Wendy back at church too! We welcomed a new member Stormy, to the church family & then we saw all those students stand up without embarrassment  or hesitation and be recognized for being saved! What a great day in God's house!

While I am praising God let me tell you how He worked last week for "In Like Ben". They had this date down for several months to play a youth rally. Everyone knew the date, everyone agreed to take
off work, or whatever was needed to get to the location. The people in this band are big on honoring their commitments & did not want to agree to something they could not follow thru on. So Monday of the week they are playing Friday & Saturday, the bass guitarists sent Jami a text that she forgot to ask off of work and she had so much going on that she couldn't play that weekend.  Needless to say, Jami was let down and worried about what they were going to do. God tells us in Matthew 6:25 do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.. God supplied their need of a new guitarist within that night. Jami sent me a text from practice Tuesday night saying the new guy was an awesome player!! He did great Saturday when we heard the Sat. night too. Isn't it awesome that God supplies whatever we need? I mean come on .. A guitarist! God has bigger issues, the sick, the hungry, the abused, the lost but He still supplied what a band needed. We serve a mighty
God!

If you had a youth, you probably stayed for the lunch. Jamey and Alisa did a great job putting our
meal together & I think Jamey did a great job delivering his vision for not just the students but us parents too.

Ok enough of my stories. Let's get to the kids! This Wednesday night Teresa Coley will be teaching the children & Courtney will be teaching the younger children, upstairs. I am hoping, for some volunteers to stuff eggs & sort thru the prizes for the Easter egg hunt. Reminder that the egg hunt will be this coming Saturday, 2 pm. Sam the balloon man will deliver a message to the kids & make them a balloon. We will have 2 hunts separated by grades. Children 1st grade & younger will hunt beside the gym in the large field. Children 2nd-5th will hunt in Wayne & Karon Fortenberry's front yard. You might be asking,"how can I help?" You can help by volunteering to stuff eggs at church tomorrow night, by coming early Sat & helping Katie set up the prize table by volunteering to help
Lindsay with the sign in table Sat or by volunteering to help Ashley redeem tickets for prizes. There
is plenty to do so please volunteer! I'll have a flyer at church tomorrow night. Grab some and pass
them out at the ball field, school or dance class. Invite others! Don't forget the bake sale. Come buy
a dessert for Easter dinner, freeze it & save yourself some time the next week!

Sorry we missed children's church this past Sunday. Joey said we only had about 10 mins before church was suppose to be over & did we just want to stay in. I agreed. I should have known his 10 mins was going to 40. Lol The spirit was working & it is good for children to see that so I am glad we stayed it.  This Sunday we will discuss Easter in children's church & next Wed night we will be in the fellowship hall cooking empty tombs. There will be no children's church on Easter.

Scripts on Bisque will be at church Sunday April 27 from 3-5. This is for the children ages 5 and up & I am going to welcome any youth students or adults too.  The cost is $15 and that is for your child to paint a cross ons canvas. I thought this would be a great Mother's Day gift or grandmother's gift.
Spots are limited so let me know if your child or anyone else is interested.

Plans are for our new children's room to be finished by Easter. Pray that happens. We have 40 plus
chairs lost somewhere.

This is the last item. Saturday night , May 3, 6 pm we will have a young adult supper. We use to do these every few months years back & have gotten away from it. We have so many new faces & this will be a chance to get to know each other better. If you are wondering if you are a young adult let me answer that. If you have a high schooler or younger child then you are still considered a young adult. Having Jack much later in life, I'll get to consider myself a young adult until I am about 55!!! Works for me! Lol We will eat steak or chicken kabobs, baked pot, salad, roll, dessert & drink for $15 per person. They nursery will be available for children 3 & younger. For those with older children needing childcare, it has been discussed to let the youth going on the camping trip watch those children upstairs & the parents needing childcare make a donation which would be split among those
youth working. I need to know by April 20 who plans to attend. Men, women, married, single.. All are welcome!

Continue to pray for those at church who are sick, those dealing the pain, martial struggles, heart hearts, struggling with job situations,  for the lost & for the newly saved! I hope to see you and your family at church this week!