Comedian Tim Hawkins at Emmanuel

Christian comedian, Tim Hawkins www.timhawkins.net came to EBC last night. Tim was one of the easiest performers that we have ever brought into EBC. He was gracious and didn't ask for anything "unreasonable." I would highly recommend your church hosting an event with Tim. I also want to thank our Student Ministries Pastor, Justin, for the upfront work that he put into hosting Tim. All of Justin's work could be why this event seemed so easy to me. (God has blessed our church with a great team of pastors!)

We had two full shows (4:00 & 7:00pm) and a "meet & greet" supper in between. Chick-fil-A on Irby Street in Florence were a great help in providing the meal. Thank you Mark, Kim, and servers! A special thanks also to WMHK 89.7FM for their partnership, promotion, and presence at the event. Thank you Jeff and Michelle!

It was good to see so many people at EBC just laughing and enjoying themselves. We had people drive all the way from Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, Georgetown, Mount Pleasant, Lexington, and more! As Christians, it is good to be able to laugh and have fun... even in the middle of our struggles. Life is tough and the recession has pummeled some families; but God used Tim Hawkins to bring some relief. Thanks to the MANY volunteers who worked to make this such a success!

Sunday Summary - 3.11.12 (ECS Day)

Today was our annual service in which we highlight Emmanuel Christian School. ECS Day is a BIG event, since ECS is the largest ministry of EBC. Many of our church members don't realize that on any given day there are approximately 1,000 people on our campus just via the school events. These people include: students, parents, grandparents, teachers, athletes, coaches, vendors, etc. We are proud that ECS has been "Teaching the minds... and training the hearts" of students in Darlington County for 48 years!

During this ECS Day service, our EXCEL music students provide the prelude music, the elementary students serve as our choir, high school students serve as ushers and greeters, students make up our band, and faculty members serve as our praise team. In addition, our EXCEL art students set up an art gallery to display their work and for our members to enjoy. This year, we added a new twist as we showed several TV commercials that included personal testimonies from ECS parents and students.

I continued the sermon series "Thy Kingdom Come" with a message about Kingdom Love. Using Mary's act of breaking her alabaster box and anointing Jesus with costly perfume, I challenged our congregation to lavish their love on Christ, to hold nothing back, and to express their worship with disregard for what anyone else might say. Karen sang a beautiful song that tied it all together. God blessed our efforts with Edna joining our church family; and Tiffany, Josh, and Billy being baptized. Billy shared his testimony of being "religious, but lost." He ended his wrestling match with God and accepted Christ as his Savior on the last night of Team Impact.

Sunday Summary - Team Impact - 3.4.12

Yesterday was the climax to a GREAT evangelism event at Emmanuel Baptist Church. We had Team Impact www.team-impact.com at EBC last week, Feb. 29 - March 4. Team Impact uses feats of strength to draw crowds, then they share a very clear presentation of the gospel. TI conducted assemblies in seven area schools, at Coker College, and at the Hartsville Boys' & Girls' Club. TI preached at our Sunday afternoon basketball church and saw three men make decisions for Christ. Approximately 2,200 people attended the evening events with 160+ making decisions for salvation, assurance, rededication, and prayer needs.

During our morning service, God's Spirit moved and we had an amazing morning! I've been working with a man in his 20's who was saved yesterday! I got the privilege of baptizing my daughter and another young man who were saved several weeks ago. We also added nine new members to our church family! Last night, a man who has been active in our church and sings in our choir, realized his need for salvation. He stated that he had a head-knowledge of Christ, but he needed to surrender his heart to the Lord. Praise God!

I want to extend my thanks to all of our EBC volunteers who helped to make this event a huge success. Our church family has caught the vision for reaching beyond our walls, reaching our community, and impacting eternity! Thank God for people who are willing to serve the Lord in whatever way is needed! I also want to thank David, our EBC Children's Pastor, for the work he did in organizing this event. God has blessed us with a great ministry team!

VBS "On-the-Go"

Vacation Bible School brings back many wonderful memories of games, crafts, fun, and especially the snacks! Funny to me how VBSseems to have changed through the years, as churches began using standardized curriculum and parents began using VBS as free childcare by putting their kids in a different VBS each week. Have we somehow lost the true meaning of VBS? Has it in effect become simply a CBS, or "Children's Babysitting Service?"

I am so proud of our Children's Pastor, who last year had a vision to take VBS to the children who might never get to go. Rather than inviting parents to bring their children to one more church, we took VBS to the children whose parents may be working, others whose parents would not bring them, and some whose parents could not bring them. We took VBS into various apartment complexes, and even the local Boys & Girls Club. We saw over 30 children accept Christ!

This concept of VBS was not only good for the children, but also GREAT for our adult and teen workers, as well as, our church's children who also attended in this setting. It took our people out of their comfort zone, exposed them to things they were not familiar with, and allowed them to hear stories that broke their hearts and gave them a small glimpse into the lives of these children.

Within the church, we too often use attendance numbers as our measure of success; but with this style VBS success was measured by souls saved, tears shed, hugs distributed, and lives changed... mostly the lives of our church members. I extend a heartfelt 'THANK YOU" to everyone who made this possible through donations, teaching, serving, prayer, financial support, and more! Pastor David, THANK YOU for your vision to reach children beyond our walls! Managers and Directors, thank you for allowing us minister to the children in your community! God, please give us this opportunity again next year!

8th Annual Fireworks Festival

It never gets old. This was the 8th year that Emmanuel Baptist Church partnered with the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce to host the Family Fireworks Festival on our campus. The crowd annually exceeds the population of our city and the event includes: a full carnival, car show, food & craft vendors, a kiddie section, stage entertainment, gymnastics, dance teams, and of course... the largest fireworks display in Darlington County!

The event is not done for profit, but rather as a service for the community. The cost of the event was underwritten by the following major sponsors: City of Hartsville, LifeCare Hospice, NUCOR, Raceway Automotive, and Sonoco. Additional sponsors included Norton Funeral Home and SPC Credit Union.

To pull off an event this size requires nearly 100 volunteers and my thanks goes out to every one of you. We could not do it without you! We used the City of Hartsville's mobile stage, Senator Malloy served as the MC, the band "Nonymous" (and yes it's spelled correctly) provided the entertainment, Mcleod Farms sponsored the pie eating contest, Sonic sponsored the hotdog eating contest, Krispy Kreme provided the donuts, Carolina Printing donated the trophies, Koss Motor Sports organized the car show, Pleasant Valley Stables coordinated the Kids Zone, Coker College provided the golf carts, the Sheriff's Dept., SC State Troopers, and Hartsville Fire Dept provided the safety and traffic control, and I apologize if I left someone out. Thank you to everyone who had a part, especially the congregation of Emmanuel for your vision and desire to be a church that is involved in our community.

My thanks also to the Chamber of Commerce. This was its last year to partner with Emmanuel, but we appreciate the opportunity to work together. The event will go on and we've been approached by other entities desiring to partner. We will obviously need more sponsors, but we're certain that God will provide. In fact, we already had vendors register for next year, and we are looking at rearranging the layout to double our vendors and grow the event. Mark your calendars for the Friday, before July 4.

Thank you, again, to everyone who came out to celebrate Independence Day with us!

Easter Weekend 2011

I can still remember sitting in Shoney's, in November 2002, with the Interim Pastor of Emmanuel as I prepared to serve as the incoming Senior Pastor of EBC. In our discussion, I told him that I could envision a church running 1,000 in Hartsville. He laughed, our population has continued to decline, and now there are 142 churches in a city of less than 8,000. BUT, it happened... EBC had 1,090 people attend our Easter weekend services... 14% of the population! I know it was Easter weekend, but a dream still came true!

This weekend, we offered two services. Our choir and drama departments presented a moving production, the Gospel message was clearly preached, nearly 200 first-time guests were present, our people prayed, God showed up and He drew people unto Himself. 17 people chose to start a relationship with Jesus as their Savior and Lord, others recommitted their lives to Christ, and others inquired about how to become part of our church family! It was amazing!

Another victory was also won. On Easter Sunday, a very special lady played the piano for the first time in two years, since her husband passed away. That lady, was Jayne Lindsey. Her husband, the late Dell Lindsey, was my friend and mentor in ministry. He was like a second father and he was the one who prayed with me the day I was saved. He showed me how to lead a person to Christ, he took me on visitation, opened his home to me, and invested his life in mine. Jayne is also the mother of Cynthia Colson, the wife of our worship pastor. She had not played the piano for anyone other than her late husband; but on Easter 2011, she played for two men who were products of her husband's ministry. I can't even begin to tell you how special that was for me. Thank you Mrs. L.

Easter is past, and the decorations are put away; but the souls of 17 people (maybe more) will live on for eternity with our Lord. It doesn't get any better than that. Thanks to everyone who had any part in the events of Easter weekend at EBC. I pray that our big vision for our small town has been increased by what we saw God do last weekend.

EGGstravaganza 4.23.11

This year Emmanuel hosted our 8th annual EGGstravaganza for our community. The event was scheduled for April 16, but due to weather warnings it was postponed by one week. We were reminded not to postpone anything in "speculation" of what "might" happen, but folks still came out the following week. Over 600 attended the EGGstravaganza and won a variety of prizes including, an XBox360 with Kinect. The children were divided into various age groups and all were fun to watch, but the highlight was the parent egg hunt! This is now an annual tradition and the highlight of the day.

Thanks to all of our church family who contributed candy, filled bags, donated prizes, setup tents, and volunteered time in preparation for this event. Thanks to those who setup tables & chairs, registered guests, gave directions, hid eggs, manned the prize rooms, presented the gospel, helped cleanup, and SO MUCH MORE!

It's exciting to see so many church members involved in serving and ministering to our community! What better time that Easter to reach people with the message of the Gospel!

Evangelism Training - 3.6.11

Yesterday was a great day as we again hosted Don Sunshine (uncle to WMHK's Steve Sunshine) at Emmanuel. Don is a former police officer who has a presentation entitled, "Make A Difference" or MAD. Through it, he shows people how easy it is to share your faith in almost any situation. Don spoke in our ECS chapel last year and it really impacted several of our students. He followed that with a 4 hour training seminar on a Saturday. Our adults were so impressed that we decided that our whole church needed to hear Don's presentation. So, he taught a 4 hour course divided up across our Sunday services 9:30. 10:30, 4:30 and 6:00pm.

Today we also had a man place his faith in Jesus Christ for salvation! He came during our invitation stating that he had been a "make-believer" (a term Don used for those who were pretending to be saved). He said he had battled with this for almost 18 months and today he nailed it down!

Don had 3 other men with him and they were going from Hartsville to Daytona, FL for Bike Week. The men devised a plan and scooped my youngest daughter out of class today so they could take her for a motorcycle ride. She loved it!

If you want to encourage your church to share their faith, I would highly recommend Don's seminar for your church. Visit his website at www.donsunshine.org

Fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium.

This is a great blog post by Pastor Steven Furtick. I encourage all of our church members to read it, meditate on it, then catch this vision for Emmanuel.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stevenfurtick/~3/kxBCbA95d1w/

7th Annual - Carolina vs. Clemson Day

It happened again in 2010... Carolina vs. Clemson Day at Emmanuel Baptist Church!

• There were tailgate parties at 9:30am on the parking lots. Tents were setup, tailgates were down, breakfast foods were abundant, and footballs were being tossed back and forth.
• There was a sea of orange on one side of the church and a sea of garnet on the other. It was a church division for the right reasons and all in fun.
• There were decorations, streamers, banners, balloons, painted faces, and more.
• There was Adrian Despres, the chaplain for the Carolina Gamecocks!
• There were 600+ people present!
• There was an amazing Spirit-filled message about Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness and all who looked to it were healed.
• There were 8 people who looked to Jesus and found healing for their souls.
• There were more who recommitted themselves back to God.

Carolina vs. Clemson Day is just a tool to give people an excuse to invite their friends to church. Did you? Was an eternal destiny changed because of your effort? I'm still rejoicing with those who filled pews with family, friends, and co-workers. I'm thanking God for the lady who sent us the names of 20+ people she and her husband wanted to invite and wanted us to pray for. I'm still thanking God for what He is doing through Emmanuel Baptist Church!

Comedian Chonda Pierce

Christian comedian, Chonda Pierce, performed last night at Emmanuel to a "sell-out crowd." Chonda ministers to people by sharing love, laughter, and the joy of the Lord. Last night's effort was a fundraiser and to help us raise awareness for the prolife, Carolina Family Planning Centers! Visit their website at www.CarolinaFamilyPlanning.org. In addition, we had the Children of the World, an international children's choir perform during the intermission. They stole the hearts of the people. You can find out more about the children's choir and World Help ministry at www.WorldHelp.net.

Chonda's transparency about her own struggles, connected with many folks. In addition, her honesty about the ridiculous (and hilarious) behavior of "church people" in the name of God... may have helped a few Pharisees see themselves in a new light. Hopefully some churches will be different today, because a few people are different today.

A special thanks to all of our volunteers who collected tickets, greeted, served as ushers, sold merchandise, worked security, helped advertise, cooked, transported, etc. A strength of EBC is the number of people who are willing to serve! A special thanks to our staff, who take every event at EBC very personally and see it as an opportunity to reach people.

Taking It (VBS) to the Streets!

I have some great memories from Vacation Bible School (VBS) as a kid. Arts, crafts, games, Bible lessons, and yes... the snacks. Someone recently said that he remembered making an ash tray in VBS... must have been a deacon's child. :-) Sadly for some, the role of VBS has diminished into an inexpensive summer childcare program with parents strategically dropping off their children at a different VBS each week. This year at Emmanuel, we decided to try something different.

Kudos to Pastor David and all of our volunteers for taking VBS off campus and into the local community! This has made a tremendous impact and even the skeptics within our church have confessed their change of heart. It's not easy carrying supplies, food, sound systems, etc. back and forth daily; but TODAY, our VBS team ministered to over 80 children in our community and saw 26 of those children come to Christ! Now that's exciting!

8th Annual EGGstravaganza

This morning, EBC hosted its 8th annual community Easter egg hunt. It's neat when you start a great tradition and people call you each year asking when it is going to be. This event bridges ethic and economic gaps across our community and seems to be a lot of fun for everyone. We were taking good notes on Saturday and are already thinking of ways to make this Bigger and Better for next year.

Literally hundreds of children, plus parents and grandparents joined us for the day. The story of Easter was presented appropriately to each age group, and we gave away 130 prizes, including bicycles and many other "fun" toys to those who found the special prize eggs. Finding the special eggs was a daunting task among the 12,000 eggs that were distributed across our campus, but every child went home with at least a bag of candy.

The highlight of the day was the parents' egg hunt. Last year, we gave away a Wii game system, this year, we gave away two $100 cash prizes. The parents were almost more fun to watch than the kids. Congratulations to Scott and Carie for finding the winning eggs!

Thanks to Pastor David, our staff, and the dozens of volunteers that takes to pull off such a large event and to do it well. The involvement of our church family is what makes EBC so special.