OLIVE GROVE BAPTIST CHURCH NEWSLETTER
February 2012
KAIROS TORCH at C.A. Dillon Youth Development Center
Our six month mentoring cycle for Torch 6 is nearly half completed. Several of our youth have been transferred to other institutions. This is not an uncommon occurrence but we surely miss them. I ask that you continue to pray for all of these boys as well as their mentors. Our work has really just begun and God has blessed us with many prayer warriors who support us through prayer.
Even now we are team building for Torch 7 in April. If you or anyone you know might have questions or might be interested in this ministry please contact me. Working with these youth is very rewarding and we are always looking for new people who are excited about sharing their blessings and God given gifts with the troubled youth in our society.
May our Lord continue to bless each of you.
Bekah Keith
WOMEN OF WORTH
We can thank everyone for their great help with the Christmas Toy Drive. With your help we were able to provide many nice toys and gifts for children this past year at Christmas. The menu for Wednesday night will with homemade soups, cheese toast, dessert and tea. Please come out at 6 p.m. and enjoy a great meal and then stay for devotional afterwards at 6:30 p.m.
Janie Latta
AWANA
We have had another fun-filled and exciting start to the second semester this year! We are having many clubbers come out and they are really having some fun. Since the weather has not been the best for outdoor play, we have changed it up a little and started playing some indoor games and this month we will be working on a couple of Mission Projects. We want to put feet to our faith and reach out to those who may not know Jesus. We will be doing this through our example and sharing.
Our leaders have really been amazing in their work with the clubbers. From chasing each other around as youthful figures to playing games with their little clubbers, the leaders are really pouring theirs hearts and talents into this program and into ministering to these clubbers.
We are so grateful to the parents who bring clubbers each night and to the church for their support of this program. It is never too late to join as a leader or volunteer for a night. You could come out and be a mentor to one or two clubbers on any given night and just work with them one-on-one in helping them work in their books or you could come and do the 10 minute lesson for a club. There are many ways anyone could help. Just let Joey or Mandy know if you are interested in an opportunity like that.
Joey Johnson
FROM THE BUILDING COMMITTEE CORNER:
The Building Committee has been busy working on making improvements to the shelter so that it will pass needed inspections and permitting. Right now, the shelter is still not useable, but we are hoping to have a workday Sat, Feb 4th to do the need improvements. Please come out on that day and help us for an hour or all day if you can- men, women, or youth are welcome! It should not take very long to do the repairs if we have several people working. Mainly, the work needed is adding metal bracing/ brackets and some plywood to the inside of the wooden walls. You can bring hammers, drills, and nail aprons. We will supply plywood, brackets, screws and nails. Thanks for helping to keep costs down by providing the labor needed to make these improvements.
Joey Johnson
REPORT FROM CARLA’S TRIP TO INDIA
Jai Masih and Namaste!! (Literally, Glory to God and Hello)
Being back in the United States for two weeks, going on three by the time everyone reads this, has been interesting, liberating and frustrating. Not to say that I am glad to be back, but I definitely have a new appreciation for the country we live in and the small comforts that we so much so take for granted like continuous electricity, heat, and traffic laws. But in the same token, being here does remind me that I am not in India. India was my home for 2 and half weeks. I do miss all of the annoyances such as the constant honking of horns from busses, autos, and taxis as well as walking across or along the street and not being brushed or bumped into by an auto, motorcycle, bicycle rickshaw, taxi or person. India was such an eye opening experience to a completely different culture, way of life, religion and customs. The phrases we heard often in response to almost anything was, "Sure, why not. As you like". They are open to conversation and discussions about spiritual matters, but they still hold fast to their religion of many gods and many ways to get to God, even though many that we talked to believe in Jesus and said that there is one central God. Their words do not carry the same weight or connotation as us Americans use our words. For someone in India to say they believe in God, the Evangelical American things that "ok, they are Christians (Bible believing, church attending, service and servant oriented)." This was not the case and many homes in the villages and city that we went to that we were told they were believers and we thought that, turned out to be they believed in Jesus, but along with Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu and Krishna. One man said that he was actually Buddhist. The Hindi definition of "believe" is acceptance, understanding in character only. Halfway through our time doing street ministry, we became really frustrated with that fact, but it also showed how we as Evangelical Americans have "Christianized" our words so much so that we lose the real definition of the words we use and when something does not go the way we expect, we retaliate. That night, it seems like everyone was shown that in our team and we had to spend the rest of the night working through our approach, terms, mindset and attitudes. After figuring out that understanding and cultural difference, we were able go out with a different approach of sharing the Gospel.
When I come back to Olive Grove for Spring Break, I hope to give a presentation that better articulates and shows what we did and what we experienced. Above was just a "readjusting overview" because a lot of people have asked two main questions, "How your trip was/what did you do?" and "how are you adjusting to being back?"
The short version of what we did is just a vague list that I hope to go into detail during my presentation because each one could take pages upon pages written out and the whole entire telling of my trip is on average taking 2 hours give or take. While in India...we saw 3 people come to know Christ, encouraged believers, went to a Hindi church, met amazing people with amazing stories, went to houses and villages, ministered to the orphans and widows, all got sick, experienced culture, was broken of ourselves, saw God working through us despite how we were feeling, saw the healing hand of God and His power, experienced a taste of Heaven worship, taught English, became accustomed to India time, praised God and currently praising God that He is the only way and that we serve a God who is not dead!! We saw festivals, went to temples, had church with white believers in English, had Americanized cuisine that was Indian such as Pizza Hut, McDonalds, and Domino's, saw the sunset and sunrise on the Ganges River on a boat, ate tons of Indian food, and we were lights into extreme places of darkness.
Thank you for allowing me and helping me to experience all of this and learn so much more about myself, God and His mission and ministry that He has placed upon my life. I really appreciate all the financial support given and the prayers. We felt those prayers, we really did. It was encouraging to know that people back home were praying for us. We all talked about going back to our homes and telling everyone what we experienced and I cannot wait to share with you all.
If you want to see God in a different way and take your relationship with God to a whole new level, go on a mission trip outside of the US to a third world country. He has called us already. Our response if we are saved has already been yes to God. So the question is, will we be obedient to God when He says "Go"?
"If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in." Isaiah 58:10-12
In Christ,
Carla Maples
YOUTH REPORT
Wow, what an incredible winter we have had so far! All of you students did an awesome job Christmas caroling and then showing off your acting and singing skills during the Christmas play! I was so proud of you guys! Then, we had a blast at Winter Jam in January!! For those of you who missed out, that night we decided as a youth group to sponsor an orphan in China through Holt International. Si Jian is a young girl that lives there and is in need of a family to adopt her. While she is waiting on a family our monthly sponsorship money goes to help provide for her medical needs and other necessities. One way you adults can help her is through supporting us during the Youth’s monthly mission meal. A portion of the profits will go towards Si Jian. In addition, there is a bucket in the youth room for students to contribute individually as they feel led. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.
I am super excited about our Bible studies over the next few months! Now that we finished our awesome study of Crazy Love, we are now starting up our walk through “The Story” on Sunday nights. This is a 10 week study and walks us through the Story of God’s redemptive plan. We will spend the first few weeks grasping an understanding of this Story and what it means for us personally, then we will spend the next seven weeks learning how to effectively share God’s story with the people that we come in contact with! Super good stuff!!! In addition, we just finished up a series of messages on Wednesday nights going over the basics of the Gospel. Now that we have laid a foundational understanding of what the Gospel is and why it matters, we are going to spend the next several weeks going over some specific areas and issues that teens face and how God says they should be handled in light of the Gospel.
Finally, we have several exciting events coming up that you need to be aware of. First on the list is the Youth Rally on Feb. 3rd. This is for all Middle and High School students. We will leave the church at 5:00 and eat dinner at the rally. The cost is $5.00. I have reserved a limited number of spots, so please see me if you are interested in going! Next, we will be fixing the Mission Meal on Wed. Feb. 15th. Finally, after much anticipation, we will be packing up and heading to Winterplace for our Winter Retreat/Ski-Trip on Feb 24th-26th. There will be a mandatory meeting for this after church on Feb. 12th to go over some important information with students and parents.
Thank you for allowing me to serve with you!
Love,
Chad
PASTOR’S COMMENTS
February is among us. Of course we know what is celebrated in this month: love. Valentine's Day is the day set aside where love is expressed between individuals. For many couples February 14th is special because they are intentional on spending that time with the one they love.
Changing gears a bit, allow me to present a challenge to you. As the New Year is already behind us (hard to fathom that) and as we are approaching Valentine's Day, spend time with the one you profess to love chiefly, Jesus Christ. I have often used the following example when illustrating the nature of love between Christ-followers and Christ: We would think it very strange, and in fact incongruous, if a husband and wife claim love to exist between them yet an attempt to spend time and learn more about the one him or her claims to love is absent. So too, it is truly inconsistent for a professing Christ-follower to make a claim that he has love for Jesus yet there is no exercising of that love to pursue time with Jesus.
There are occasions when parenting, work, and school can sometimes become a barrier that bars me from the one (Kim) whom God gave to me to experience life, as if I am experiencing only 1/2 of my life (cf. Genesis 2:24b) when those barriers are erected. I know when Kim and I are able to have "alone time," whether it's dining, shopping, or entertainment, we both feel rejuvenated and our marriage galvanized. So too I have found in my personal life that when I allow people, events, and even responsibilities to shade me from the radiant glow of my Savior and Lord, from whom I am warmed and enlightened in my personal time with Him in prayer and definitely Scripture reading, I become cold and lifeless with regards to the abundant life Jesus promises to those who are in His Kingdom.
Start today by pursuing that love relationship with Him--talking to Him and He talking to you through His Word.
Together in Christ,
Pastor Kevin
Birthdays for February and March
