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10 hours ago, swathdiver said:

We're supposed to judge, according to the scriptures!  How else can we be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine?

 

Congratulations!  Those folks sure took their sweet time, I knew it all along!  Now clean house and bring in the sheep! 

Yes, but sadly far too many people - even Christians (and the mother of this young lady is not a Christian...although the young lady professed, I'm not convinced she is saved due to some things I can't go into) - do not understand anything about what the Bible actually teaches about judging.  It's an easy out for folks who want to do just whatever they please. 

Thanks, swath. Randy is actually pleased that they took the time they did (although we were pretty sure all along, too). Because they've been without a pastor for so long, they wanted to rush into calling him, but he wanted them to take it slower, pray about it, and get counsel. I don't know if they sought counsel, but they did slow down and pray more about it. As it is, one of the men thinks the church is moving too fast - but I think his big issue is he doesn't want to go out soulwinning. =D But that's ok...my hubs has a LONG list of things to be teaching them, and as he teaches and the Holy Spirit convicts, things will change. 

He's thinking about starting on prayer on Wednesday nights.  What they've been doing is reading through the Old Testament and answering questions during the week, and then going over the answers on Wed. night and then having prayer time. I've enjoyed the reading - and I love answering questions - and we finished Jeremiah for this coming Wed. But they need some teaching, so things will change after that. And we're going to have a list of requests, rather than everyone just rattling off requests. Far too many of the folks like to give nitty-gritty details, and then other folks interrupt and ask questions and then conversations get going that are not in any way related to prayer requests. What should be a 10-minute time period extends sometimes to an hour...

Yes, it has been confusion. But that's to be expected without a shepherd. Hubs is going to begin an actual Bible study (as I said, probably on prayer to begin), and then we will break up into groups (to start, just two - men, and ladies) so that things will be less chaotic. 

We are thankful that this core of folks have been determined to keep this church going. God's definitely going to bless them for their steadfastness. I think He's begun that by having my hubs become their pastor (not one bit of bias there, you understand =D ).

 

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With a shepherd in the house now that young lady has a good chance of getting saved now and discipled properly; and her mother too!

Remember, the wise in heart receive commandments, the fools make a mock of sin.

The lost love to reference Matthew 7:1 while ignoring verse 2 and the rest of scripture on judging others.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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On 7/2/2017 at 10:53 PM, HappyChristian said:

Well, the vote was held. And it was unanimous - in favor. So my husband is now pastor of our church. I'm not sure either of us has really wrapped our heads around that, but it's sinking in....

Please do be in prayer for wisdom for him. There are a few negative things he needs to do almost right away. I say negative because it involves stopping things that have gone on that aren't right  but have become accepted. He's very patient and will explain things thoroughly, but I know some people will be hurt. 

The young lady I was going to be meeting with will not be meeting with me. She decided that I was judging her when I told her she needed to be consistent in attending if we were going to do this. I'm still waiting on a call from her mother, who also feels I was judging her.  The young lady has said she won't be back. I'm sorry to hear that, but the Lord can work on her heart.

 

That is great to hear about the new position. Trish and I will be praying for you guys. Your husband looks the same since we last seen you guys. :)

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1 hour ago, BroMatt said:

That is great to hear about the new position. Trish and I will be praying for you guys. Your husband looks the same since we last seen you guys. :)

Thanks for the prayer - we pray for you guys, too. I'll let Randy know he hasn't aged any. =D He'll appreciate that! 

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  • 2 weeks later...
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So here is a recent picture.  We are beginning a scrapbook so that members can look back and see photographic evidence of how God has worked. This photo was taken July 30. There are 4 members not pictured (2 are shut-ins and 2 are photo-phobic). 

Lighthouse Baptist Church July 23 2017.jpg

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18 minutes ago, DaveW said:

Our old church was called Lighthouse.

We got so many lighthouse trinkets..........

Every gift that anyone bought was a lighthouse.....:laugh:

Here, too. Pictures of lighthouses all over the place. Thankfully some have been taken down and taken home or elsewhere. 

We did get the fathers a lighthouse key chain for Father's Day. LOL But it was a nice one that says Jesus is the Light.

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In May, we had our first annual Mother/Daughter Tea. It was successful, with 21 ladies (that includes children) present. One of the ladies told me that was the largest gathering of women ever, even when the former pastor was here...that's pretty sad, actually! Then in June, we ladies had a special dinner on Father's Day for the men, with the gift mentioned in a previous post. On July 2, we had the business meeting where my husband was voted in as interim. I suggested a cookout that day to early celebrate Independence Day, and everyone loved the idea. So we grilled burgers, dogs, and brats for lunch, before having the meeting. 

We kind of begin to see a pattern - someone mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago that my husband has done more just since becoming interim (and that actually includes the events I've mentioned, because they were discussing and praying about him becoming pastor even then) then the previous pastor did in the 2years he pastored. That made me sad! They didn't even have a soulwinning program. That surprised me, because I know that their previous pastor's dad (who is a pastor also) emphasizes soul winning and has a time for that for everyone in his church.

Anyway,  the pattern seems to be that we've done something monthly since May (not including the visitation that is done on Saturdays - we've been doing that for a while as well). This month is no exception.

Once it became clear that my husband would be voted in (yes, he is interim for now, but I don't doubt they'll vote him in permanently in Oct), the idea of thanking the men who were filling the pulpit came to mind. My hubs and I talked about it, and he thought it was a good idea. We mentioned it to the church, and they loved the idea. So, what we will be doing is hosting a barbecue for the men and their families this coming Saturday. The pastor who founded the church (he is also the pastor who sent the pulpit fill) and his wife are also invited.

We designed a gift for them as well. You guessed it - a lighthouse. :laugh:  I'm going to post the picture so you can see it...Anyway, we had 4 copies printed professionally, and framed them. They are so sharp looking! We will present them to each man as a tangible thank you gift that they can keep with them, and hopefully keep our church on their minds so they will remember to pray for us (I'm sure they will).

The church moved from a large church they were renting - and that was far too expensive - into a manufactured home (as you can see from the group photo posted earlier) about a year ago. When they moved, the pianist tweaked the words to Church in the Wildwood to sing about the church near the airport. The Lighthouse Baptist Church choir (not a real choir, my hubs jokingly called us that last night, to the delight of the members) will regale our visitors with that song as part of the program. If I'm able to, I'm going to try and add a verse that thanks the men.

The members are excited about it. Hubs has an idea for September already. November and December have obvious ideas for events. October we aren't sure about yet. Halloween won't happen, but we'll do something. A movie night with popcorn sounds good (we have some stellar Christian movies that would be good to show).

I know that events are not what makes a church. But doing these things together as a church brings unity as we become the church God wants Lighthouse to be. 

The photo I attached is the first draft that I did. When the printer printed it, it wasn't the right size. We needed 8 x 10, but I made the original too square to be that size. So I re-did it and the printers were able to print it in an 8 x 10. The members were thrilled at the way it turned out. The second photo is the final one.

lighthouse plaque idea 1.png

Lighthouse Baptist Church Thanks Picture 8 by 10.png

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My hubs preached on graven images yesterday. There was a picture of the Last Supper, along with non-KJV ten commandments in one room, and some other stuff.

He preached it knowing it was what the Lord wanted, and, due to some reactions of some other things, was a bit leery of some folks. God was working though. As soon as the message was done, the lady who owned both of those took them down immediately. There are two other things that need to go, but we are praying this week that the Holy Spirit will talk to the person to whom those belong.

I mentioned in the previous post that the first picture wasn't the right size. They had printed them, though, and actually gave us 8 copies. So each family got a copy last night - and they were pretty tickled about it. One of the ladies said she was glad to get it, because she had to get rid of the picture of Jesus she had on her wall. That was exciting!

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  • 1 month later...
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Today marks the last day of my hubs' interim. However, the business meeting won't be until October 15, so he will continue as he's been doing for the next 3 weeks. While not counting chickens before they're hatched, we'll be surprised if the votes go negative (some might, but we don't think the majority will).

Yesterday we held a multi-family rummage sale at the church. Not as a fundraiser (each family kept their own $), but as an opportunity to get our name out to the public. There were a number of people who came who had no idea we were there.  While nobody came to church as a result this morning, there was some positive feedback and we were able to get the church brochure (which is mainly a tract) into many hands.

It was neat to see how the members jumped in - cleaning, mowing, etc. The church shone!  We all brought cookies, and shared coffee, punch, and cookies with those who came (free). Most of the people went inside to get a cookie or two and some coffee. 

So the word is getting out. 

Next Sunday is our potluck Sunday. The first Sunday of each month, we will have a potluck dinner after the morning service. That Sunday only (other than the quarterly business meeting days), we will then have a service following dinner. After that, we'll have birthday cake, and then the day will be over. As time goes on and we grow, we are hoping to be able to do something with kids/teens in the evenings on the first Sundays. 

Most of the potlucks will be simply whatever anyone brings. However, at times we will plan a theme or an event. This next week, we are having a chili cookoff, complete with (silly) prizes and ribbons. 

I'm still working on the curriculum, and we've talked about probably needing a junior church curriculum as well, if we get children who are unable to sit still for the main service. So another thing to add to my list. =D  The thing about the curriculum is that, as soon as I get a lesson done, I think of all kinds of things to add. LOL  I'm trying to make it as meaty as possible so that folks who've not had experience as teachers can use it well.

At this past ladies' lunch, I asked the ladies to think of some songs they would be willing to sing as a group. None of the ladies really want to sing specials (they don't feel capable), and we don't want to force the issue. But I told them I'd like us to sing as the Ladies of the Lighthouse - in a large enough group to "hide." And not tell our husbands - just surprise them on the day. They all seemed to like the idea, and I've been given some suggestions (which made me very happy!). 

My hubs administered the Lord's Supper a few weeks back, to the delight of the members. That was one thing they spoke about really missing with not having a pastor.

So far, we haven't seen anyone saved or even coming to the church as a result of our door knocking. But as my hubs preached today, we need to expect great things from God (and he made a point to let folks know that isn't talking about material things!) as we abide in Him and do His will as a church on the grow.

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