Friday, March 25, 2011
Carolina Familiy Planning Center Banquet
The 2nd annual Carolina Family Planning Centers fundraising banquet was a huge success. Recording artist/actor, Rebecca St. James was the singer/speaker. Overall the banquet took in approximately $19,000 on the night. Thanks to Cornerstone in Darlington for allowing us to use the facilities, to the volunteers for all of your hard work, to Heather for serving as our emcee, to Micara and Savannah for sharing your story, and to Jamie & Janet for being transparent and sharing your story. The CFPC is a prolife ministry with offices currently open in Hartsville & Darlington. We are currently talking to groups in 3 other cities considering opening local centers under our umbrella. If you would like more information about the CFPC, please visit www.CarolinaFamilyPlanning.org. A special thanks to all of our sponsors: Platinum Sponsors: - A.O.Smith - Emmanuel Baptist Church - Lakeview Baptist Church - Quality Auto Sales GOLD SPONSORS - LifeCare Hospice - Sonoco SILVER SPONSORS - Black Creek Baptist Church - Brown-Pennington Funeral Home - Cornerstone Baptist Church in Darlington - Donna Outlaw - Emmanuel Christian School - Hartsville Community Fellowship - Heritage Community Bank - Karen Griggs - Kelleytown Baptist Church - LifeWay Christian Store - Florence - New Providence Baptist Church & Youth - North Hartsville Baptist Church & Youth - Norton Funeral Home - Palmetto Family Medicine & Senior Care - Parnell, Wendell & Tricia - Sonic in Hartsville - SPC Credit Union - The Living Church - Trust Company / Allstate Insurance - And to all those who donated auction items.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Sunday Summary - 3.20.11
It's exciting to see people being saved, baptized, and added to the church almost every week! This past Sunday, we started our service with 1 baptism. By the time the day was over we had 1 saved, 4 new members, and 1 recommitment.
During the morning service, Cindy Faile (our missionary to Mali, Africa) gave an update of the ministry in Mali. Cindy will be returning to Mali on Tuesday, 3/22. Pray for her safe travel. In our evening service, Cindy gave us a list of things to pray about and then we hosted a reception in her honor and to give her a hero's send-off. Our church members brought desserts and cards of encouragement for her.
The morning message was on entitled, "God Has A Plan for Your Life." So many people are trying to find out where God wants them to serve, or what He wants them to do. As J.Vernon McGee used to say, "Finding God's will is not like a giant Easter egg hunt." God wants you to find it and will most often drop it in our lap. The question is whether we will follow His plan, or try to convince Him to give us something different. The altar was full during the invitation with people who were asking God to direct their lives.
During the morning service, Cindy Faile (our missionary to Mali, Africa) gave an update of the ministry in Mali. Cindy will be returning to Mali on Tuesday, 3/22. Pray for her safe travel. In our evening service, Cindy gave us a list of things to pray about and then we hosted a reception in her honor and to give her a hero's send-off. Our church members brought desserts and cards of encouragement for her.
The morning message was on entitled, "God Has A Plan for Your Life." So many people are trying to find out where God wants them to serve, or what He wants them to do. As J.Vernon McGee used to say, "Finding God's will is not like a giant Easter egg hunt." God wants you to find it and will most often drop it in our lap. The question is whether we will follow His plan, or try to convince Him to give us something different. The altar was full during the invitation with people who were asking God to direct their lives.
Monday, March 14, 2011
ECS & Kite Day - 3.13.11
Yesterday was ECS day at Emmanuel. One Sunday each year, we highlight Emmanuel Christian School during our morning church service. ECS is the largest ministry of EBC and we are blessed to partner with parents and local churches for the purpose of providing a quality education from a Christian world-view. Our elementary students filled the choir loft and sang beautifully. Students served as our praise band, faculty served as our praise team, upper school students served as ushers and greeters, faculty and alumni were recognized, artwork was displayed, the EXCEL students performed the prelude, newscasts provided updates, and Brooke knocked it out of the park with her song! I continued my sermon series on "Back to Basics" and we had 2 recommit their lives to Christ, 2 baptized, and 1 adult joined the church.
Following the morning service, we hosted "Kite Day" for the kids. There wasn't much wind, but there were almost 200 adults and children who participated. They brought picnic lunches and kites were flying all over our campus. This is definitely something we plan to do again.
A special thanks to all of the parents who brought their children to be part of our special ECS day, to Greta for preparing the Elementary choir, to Alex & Justin for the media projects, to the EXCEL teachers for helping the students prepare, and to Heather for coordinating the entire day!
Following the morning service, we hosted "Kite Day" for the kids. There wasn't much wind, but there were almost 200 adults and children who participated. They brought picnic lunches and kites were flying all over our campus. This is definitely something we plan to do again.
A special thanks to all of the parents who brought their children to be part of our special ECS day, to Greta for preparing the Elementary choir, to Alex & Justin for the media projects, to the EXCEL teachers for helping the students prepare, and to Heather for coordinating the entire day!
Monday, March 07, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
God is Moving - 2.27.11
Sundays at Emmanuel have become so exciting that people are literally saying, "I can't wait to see what God is going to do this Sunday." In the past 5 weeks, we've seen 9 people saved, 11 baptized, 22 new members (17 were adults), and our attendance increased by 50. Again, we are in a small town with a stagnant population, BUT GOD IS WORKING!
This past Sunday, we were privileged to start our service with 1 teenager and 2 children taking the step of baptism. We were also blessed to have the "Sounds of Liberty" worship team from Liberty University with us in the morning service and in full concert for the evening service. I preached on "Overcoming Temptation.
At the invitation, people came to the altar to pray, a couple joined the church, and a sweet lady came to make a public profession of her faith. She was saved, but felt she needed to share it publicly and it was such a blessing! As I was walking through the Worship Center, a lady stopped me and asked if we could talk. We talked and she prayed to receive Christ as her Savior!
Earlier in the week we also had two people saved on visitation! God has really been blessing our church family recently. I pray we never take it for granted, and we are faithful to give Him the credit and the glory for what He is doing both in and through us!
This past Sunday, we were privileged to start our service with 1 teenager and 2 children taking the step of baptism. We were also blessed to have the "Sounds of Liberty" worship team from Liberty University with us in the morning service and in full concert for the evening service. I preached on "Overcoming Temptation.
At the invitation, people came to the altar to pray, a couple joined the church, and a sweet lady came to make a public profession of her faith. She was saved, but felt she needed to share it publicly and it was such a blessing! As I was walking through the Worship Center, a lady stopped me and asked if we could talk. We talked and she prayed to receive Christ as her Savior!
Earlier in the week we also had two people saved on visitation! God has really been blessing our church family recently. I pray we never take it for granted, and we are faithful to give Him the credit and the glory for what He is doing both in and through us!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
More "Separation of Church and State" Nonsense
I am so tired of hearing people misquote the Constitution with regard to the "Separation of Church and State." This morning, I was watching another debate over removing the Ten Commandments from schools in Giles County, VA and heard the CNN anchor state that this was a First Amendment issue, dealing with the separation of Church and State. FALSE! On any other topic, the media would check the facts; but they seem ignorantly content with misquoting the First Amendment. The words "Separation of Church and State" DO NOT even appear in the First Amendment!
The words, "Separation of Church and State," were first used by Thomas Jefferson in his letter of response to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. The group was concerned that the government would breach its boundaries and try to interfere in religion. They wanted to keep the State out of the Church. President, Thomas Jefferson, responded, "...I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make 'no law respecting and establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State."
In its true context, the First Amendment is to protect the freedom of religion by keeping the State out of the Church. Even Wikipedia gets this one right, "...the amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an "establishment of religion," impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech," etc. The desire for a freedom of religion (without government interference) goes back to the Pilgrims, and is one of the premises upon which this country was founded.
So, why do we allow people to continually misquote and misuse the First Amendment? When will we demand that the First Amendment be properly interpreted? Evidence of the UNITY between Church and State is all over Washington, DC and woven deep into the fabric of our nation! Remember our national motto, "In God We Trust."
The words, "Separation of Church and State," were first used by Thomas Jefferson in his letter of response to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. The group was concerned that the government would breach its boundaries and try to interfere in religion. They wanted to keep the State out of the Church. President, Thomas Jefferson, responded, "...I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make 'no law respecting and establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State."
In its true context, the First Amendment is to protect the freedom of religion by keeping the State out of the Church. Even Wikipedia gets this one right, "...the amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an "establishment of religion," impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech," etc. The desire for a freedom of religion (without government interference) goes back to the Pilgrims, and is one of the premises upon which this country was founded.
So, why do we allow people to continually misquote and misuse the First Amendment? When will we demand that the First Amendment be properly interpreted? Evidence of the UNITY between Church and State is all over Washington, DC and woven deep into the fabric of our nation! Remember our national motto, "In God We Trust."
Sunday Summary 1.20.11
Today was another GREAT Sunday at Emmanuel. We are currently experiencing a mini revival as we have seen people saved, baptized, and added to the church for the past 4 weeks. Yesterday, I had the privilege of leading a 79 year old lady to Christ! Today, we started our service by baptizing two adult sisters, one of which was saved just two weeks ago. They both joined the church, which makes 17 new adult members in just 4 weeks. It's been incredible!
This morning, I continued the "Back to Basics" series with a message entitled, "The Bible, God's Word." The message was simple and described how we got the Bible, where it was written, in which languages, who wrote it, etc. We discussed scientific proofs, archaeological discoveries, prophetical accuracies, and other proofs that the Bible is a supernatural book. The proofs are overwhelming and even backed by the records of non-Christian historians. After proving the Bible is supernatural, I challenged our church to read it, study it, memorize it, and live it. I closed with four Bible truths: hell is hot, heaven is real, Jesus it the ONLY Way to heaven, and every man must choose to accept or reject Him. Those teachings aren't popular today, but they are the message of the Bible!
Tonight, I continued teaching "about" the Bible and how the 66 books were selected. We discussed canonicity, and even delved into the books of the Apocrypha to explain why they did not pass the test of canonicity and are rejected by everyone except the Catholic church. The Apocrypha is where teachings such as purgatory, praying for the dead, and angel worship originated. Too many Christians are easily persuaded into false beliefs, because they do not take the time to research and study their faith. At EBC, we are trying to lay a firm foundation.
Thank you, Lord, for another great day and the privilege to preach your Word. Thank you for the blessing of seeing people make spiritual decisions. Help us remain faithful to the work you have called us to.
This morning, I continued the "Back to Basics" series with a message entitled, "The Bible, God's Word." The message was simple and described how we got the Bible, where it was written, in which languages, who wrote it, etc. We discussed scientific proofs, archaeological discoveries, prophetical accuracies, and other proofs that the Bible is a supernatural book. The proofs are overwhelming and even backed by the records of non-Christian historians. After proving the Bible is supernatural, I challenged our church to read it, study it, memorize it, and live it. I closed with four Bible truths: hell is hot, heaven is real, Jesus it the ONLY Way to heaven, and every man must choose to accept or reject Him. Those teachings aren't popular today, but they are the message of the Bible!
Tonight, I continued teaching "about" the Bible and how the 66 books were selected. We discussed canonicity, and even delved into the books of the Apocrypha to explain why they did not pass the test of canonicity and are rejected by everyone except the Catholic church. The Apocrypha is where teachings such as purgatory, praying for the dead, and angel worship originated. Too many Christians are easily persuaded into false beliefs, because they do not take the time to research and study their faith. At EBC, we are trying to lay a firm foundation.
Thank you, Lord, for another great day and the privilege to preach your Word. Thank you for the blessing of seeing people make spiritual decisions. Help us remain faithful to the work you have called us to.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday Summary 1.13.11
Yesterday was another exciting day at Emmanuel. We started the service with a couple taking the step of believer's baptism! There is nothing better than seeing a family know the Lord, grow in Him, and to help them take a spiritual step together.
In the morning service, we celebrated marriage and concluded the service with couples gathering at the altar and exchanging vows of recommitment to each other. Marriage is a picture of the love relationship between Christ and His Church, so is it any wonder that Satan wants to destroy it. Marriage is under attack in the media, culture, and even in the political arena. So, in my "Back to Basics" series, today we went back to the beginning and looked at God's design (His blueprint) for marriage. Though the world may be redefining marriage, God's plan hasn't changed.
In the evening service, EBC hosted Garrett Graham for his debut concert to promote his new CD "Welcome Home." Garrett is a testimony of God's grace and has an absolutely amazing voice. He sang to a full house and we were truly blessed by a very worshipful concert.
In the morning service, we celebrated marriage and concluded the service with couples gathering at the altar and exchanging vows of recommitment to each other. Marriage is a picture of the love relationship between Christ and His Church, so is it any wonder that Satan wants to destroy it. Marriage is under attack in the media, culture, and even in the political arena. So, in my "Back to Basics" series, today we went back to the beginning and looked at God's design (His blueprint) for marriage. Though the world may be redefining marriage, God's plan hasn't changed.
In the evening service, EBC hosted Garrett Graham for his debut concert to promote his new CD "Welcome Home." Garrett is a testimony of God's grace and has an absolutely amazing voice. He sang to a full house and we were truly blessed by a very worshipful concert.
Monday, February 07, 2011
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/
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stevenfurtick/~3/kxBCbA95d1w/
Emmanuel Christian School 2011-12
ECS enrollment for the 2011-12 school year opened to the public on February 1. I was informed today that we already have 201 enrolled for next school year. Classes are filling fast and there are limited spaces in our 2K-6th grades. We have already filled one class in a couple of grade levels, and we only offer 2 classes on each grade level. The second class is only offered if there are sufficient students to fill the class -- So, don't delay in getting your application fee turned in to reserve your space!
For those who are not aware or are comparing schools, ECS became a State "Licensed" Preschool in 2010, which sets us far above the average church daycare which only meets the minimal "registered" status. To our knowledge, we are the ONLY church related school to have voluntarily taken this step to make ECS accountable to the State of SC and to meet their requirements in all areas of safety, inspections, documentation, and academics. Make no mistake, we are still unapologetically a Christian school and teach academics from a Christian world-view; but we believe "whatever bears HIS name deserves our best!"
If you have questions about ECS, call (843) 332-0164 or visit http://www.ecscrusaders.com/.
For those who are not aware or are comparing schools, ECS became a State "Licensed" Preschool in 2010, which sets us far above the average church daycare which only meets the minimal "registered" status. To our knowledge, we are the ONLY church related school to have voluntarily taken this step to make ECS accountable to the State of SC and to meet their requirements in all areas of safety, inspections, documentation, and academics. Make no mistake, we are still unapologetically a Christian school and teach academics from a Christian world-view; but we believe "whatever bears HIS name deserves our best!"
If you have questions about ECS, call (843) 332-0164 or visit http://www.ecscrusaders.com/.
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