Archive for January, 2008
This has been a really good week. I have spent the first couple of days returning a bunch of phone calls and planning out the rest of the week. I thought that things would slow down a little this week, but that’s not going to happen!
One thing that I want to try to remember myself and help remind you…let’s don’t get so caught up in “what” we’re doing for the Lord that we forget “why” we’re doing it and “Who” we’re doing it for. I preached tonight on that passage in Rev. 2:4 where we see that the church of Ephesus left their first love. I know you’re like me and want to keep the right love relationship with the Father. Let’s make sure we are putting the time and effort into developing and elevating that sweet fellowship with Him.
I love you, church.
January 31 2008 | General | No Comments »
I copied this from off of Austin Garnder’s blog…by the way, you should view his blog regularly he has some really good stuff on it.
A woman was out walking with her 4 year old daughter. She picked up something off
the ground and started to put it in her mouth. The mother took the item away from her
and asked her not to do that.
“Why?” the daughter asked.
“Because it’s been on the ground, you don’t know where it’s been, it’s
dirty, and probably has germs,” mom replied.
At this point, the daughter looked at her mom with total admiration and asked,
“Momma, how do you know all this stuff, you are so smart.”
Mom had to think quickly.
“All moms know this stuff. It’s on the Mom Test. You have to know it, or
they don’t let you be a Mom.”
They walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but the young girl was evidently
pondering this new information.
“OH…I get it!” she beamed, “So if you don’t pass the test you have to be the dad.”
”Exactly,” mom replied back with a big smile on her face.
January 29 2008 | General | No Comments »
What an incredible day Victory Baptist Church experienced yesterday. It was full of vision and victory, hence the name, Victory Vision! I can hardly contain myself as I key in this post. The goodness of God as well as His presence was very evident in our services yesterday. From the Baby Dedication Service yesterday morning, to the service last night, it was action packed and Holy Spirit filled. You could sense the buzz as you entered the building last night…it was very electric and moving as excitement filled the air and 336 people filled the auditorium…what a Sunday evening service this was promising to be!
We started off the night with giving out some awards. The first awards given out were to the 28 folks who read through their Bible this past year. They each received a certificate as well as a New Testament with their name engraved on it. Congratulations to each of you…job well done! We then moved to some other annual awards and to a couple of new ones. Our Christian Service Award went to Brian and Christina Hellums. The Servant’s Heart Award went to Lamar Birge. Will Atkinson received the SS Teacher of the Year Award and Daniel and Kristin Kelley were the Paul Leslie Award recipients. The two new awards we presented last night were the Ministry of the Year Award which went to the Victory Baptist School, and The Victory Award, which went to Chris Wallace. I am very proud of each award recipient and want to once again congratulate you. Let me also thank all the family members who were able to be at our service on the behalf of the award recipients…thanks for helping make a special night even more special!
We then took a look back at the year 2007 through video, which you should be able to view in a day or two, and progressed to the 2008 video presenting our new theme and logo for the year. “Get Victory In Your Life” is what we want to try and help people do this year. You can visit getvictoryinyourlife.com or our church website and get a look at the new logo. In the days ahead, we hope to have some podcasts and links to some video for the new preaching series.
I then preached the Get Victory In Your Life message that shared my heart and passion and direction for 2008. The Lord blessed and our people were very receptive. We had another family join last night as well. Church, do you realize that is five families that have joined VBC since last Sunday night? 5 families in 7 days!!! To God be the glory! I had another family approach me after the service last night and told me they were going to join the next opportunity as well…Amen!
We then proceeded to one of the most exciting business meetings ever held at VBC where we voted on the acquisition of funds and the go ahead to build some much needed facilities. As you can imagine, everyone was very excited and curious as to the outcome. When the men came back into the auditorium, I have to be honest with you, my heart sunk. The way I wanted to be handed the results didn’t happen the way I thought we had it planned. I told the guys, if we didn’t get the votes needed, don’t hand me anything and we’ll just proceed over to the Fellowship Hall for the Chili Cookoff and fellowship. Well, they just came in and sat down…it was at that point I begin to lose what I was saying. Then, to top it off, I looked to the back and saw Bro. Chad shaking his head back and forth in “no” direction, not up and down in a “yes” fashion. What he was saying and what I thought he was saying were two totally different things. He was saying, “No, we can’t go over yet because you haven’t read the vote.” I thought he was saying, “No, don’t talk about the vote, we didn’t have enough votes” When I finally verbally asked him “OK, Bro. Chad, I guess it’s time we go over to the Fellowship Hall” he said we haven’t given the results yet. As Bro. Daniel proceeded to the pulpit my momentary fears were relieved. Just as I expected and prayed for, we had an overwhelming majority of “yes” votes. A whopping 94% of those voting said, “Yes, we believe this is what God would have us to do!” To God be the glory! Church, I don’t know if we fully grasp yet the vastness of the step of faith we took last night. We all know that without faith it’s impossible to please Him, and I am very excited about this journey of faith we’re on. We’re giving God opportunity to show Himself very real and to prove that He fulfills His promises. Thank you for be sensitive and submissive to the Holy Spirit!
As the vote results were read, confetti filled the auditorium and we begin to sing and praise God for the results…it was fantastic! We heard shouts of praise, I even heard someone with a horn or whistle or something as the applause went up. We ended that portion of service praying and thanking God for what He did. It was definitely something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
We ended the night with a great fellowship, Chili Cookoff, snack foods and a Rook tournament. A sweet, sweet spirit of unity and victory prevailed.
Let me close this post by thanking the staff for all the work they did in making Victory Vision Night happen. I know of at least four nights were they were still at the office at 1 or 2 AM and one night till at least 3 AM. Church, we have a great staff and I want you to know how grateful I am of them. I love you guys…thank you, thank you! I also want to thank all of those volunteers who did so much as well, from producing videos, taking photos, setting up displays, working the tables, etc. It was a huge effort by everyone, yet worth every bit of it! Be looking for pictures of this incredible night. Once again, I want to thank the Lord for His blessings in our lives and church!
January 28 2008 | General | No Comments »
I want to praise the Lord for the 10 families who dedicated their children to the Lord in yesterday’s 11 AM service. Why do we have a Baby Dedication Service I asked the congregation yesterday? For several reasons, but the three I gave and expounded on yesterday were as follows: 1, to Remind us of the Initiator of Life 2, to Recognize the Impact we have on Life and 3, to Refine our Investments in Life. We had a great day with a wonderful number of people. I was told we had 487 in the morning services…couple that with the two families that joined yesterday morning and that’s a day to praise the Lord for. God is good all the time, all the time God is good.
January 28 2008 | General | No Comments »
Well, things went well this morning. Even though SS and the first service were cancelled, we were blessed with a great 11:00 service. Driving to church this morning I was thinking, “We could have had the 9:30 services and would have been fine”. Oh well, at least we didn’t cancel everything, Amen! That being said, I am looking forward to the service tonight. We will begin at the same time as usual (6:00 PM). Choir practice has been moved to 5:30 and those young people preparing for the AWANA Quiz Team will have practice at 4:30. Take care and we’ll se you tonight.
January 20 2008 | General | No Comments »
Well, good morning! Looks like things dried up pretty nice last night, maybe a patch of ice here or there but I don’t think it amounts to much. That means that we get to go to church this morning! I look forward to seeing you a little bit later on. Remember, services start at 11 AM but the choir, nursery and other workers need to be there no later than 10:40 this morning. You definitely want to dress warm and please do be careful coming in. Looking forward to a good day and unless some other weather moves in, we’ll be having the evening service at the regularly scheduled time. Do check back in just to confirm on the times.
Come on in and see what the Lord has in store for us…see ya’ll at 11.
January 20 2008 | General | No Comments »
Good evening, it doesn’t look like we got hit with the full force of the winter weather that we were warned about…cold, yes. Wet, yes. As of right now, that’s all it is. I updated the prayer/weather line earlier this evening informing you that we would not be running our buses and that our 8:30 AM Sunday School would be cancelled.
I am updating that to confirm now that we will only be having the 11 AM Worship Service (the evening service is to be determined) The 9:30 SS and 9:30 Worship Service have been cancelled. This is not an easy decision to make at this stage of the game, but there are enough people attending our services from so many different locations that it would be difficult to make that decision either way in the morning and give proper notice. Not knowing how much is going to dry before it freezes has us at a standstill. It’s one of those, “What are we going to do?” situations. On the one hand, we definitely want to have church and some would think that it’s “no big deal”, just have it. I realize there are some Yankees out there that would come with 10′ drifts…but you also know how to drive in it. On the other hand, the main roads may be okay, but the back roads, subdivision roads and driveways are the problem. Not only that, but we have the parking lots and the sidewalks/steps to consider. So, I’m making the call now…will it be the right one? Tomorrow will tell. Sometimes you hit it right, sometimes you don’t…be patient with me if I miss it this time. As for right now, just plan on checking for updates here or on the prayer/weather line and by 9 AM we’ll confirm the 11 AM Service.
…here’s the schedule again summarized for you.
Buses -Cancelled
8:30 Sunday School -Cancelled
9:30 SS/Worship Service -Cancelled
11 AM Worship Service -As scheduled…check by 9 AM to confirm.
6:00 PM Service -As scheduled depending on weather
January 19 2008 | General | No Comments »
Good afternoon church. This is the first update on our current weather conditions. As long as I have power at the house, I can keep the weather updates pretty much “real-time”. As many of you may have already heard on the church recording, the Baby Dedication Service and the Victory Vision Night services have been postponed to next week, the 27th. (You can call the church number 770.466.4040 and hit option #3 to hear the recording.)
We have NOT cancelled church services for tomorrow as of yet, but we know for sure we’re not taking the chance on running the buses. So….bus workers, not cold vinyl seats on thin dress pants and dresses in the morning…you deserve a break anyway! Obviously we want to have church tomorrow and are planning to have it, we will just have to keep you posted throughout the evening. One of the reasons we postponed our Vision Night is because we want as many people as possible to hear and see what is going to take place and would not want the weather to prevent some of those who wouldn’t be able to make it out not get the full impact of Vision night.
Right now things at our house are just cold and wet. Porches and the like are icy, but all the earlier snow that fell has melted. Depending on how much the roads dry up this evening will determine the status of the morning drive in. The best I can tell, the temperature will be dropping to around 19° F (brrrrr) by 8 AM. If things stay as wet as they are, there will be a lot of ice on the roads…that’s what we don’t want to deal with.
Check back later for more…
January 19 2008 | General | No Comments »
This weekend is promising to be one of the most exciting times in the history of Victory Baptist Church! As a reminder, we will be having a Baby Dedication Service in conjunction with Sanctity of Life Sunday in the 11 AM service. All those who are having their children dedicated, please meet in the Nursery Hallway no later than 10:50 and someone will be there to line you up and give details. We will be taking your pictures and then presenting you with a small gift. Your framed pictures will be available down front in the auditorium as soon as the service is dismissed.
NOTE: Since Wednesday we were not able to give you the follow up information from Sunday’s meeting, we will be handing out a copy of that information on Sunday morning. About 15 minutes AFTER the 11 AM service ends, we will go over the handout in a brief meeting in the auditorium. I realize many of you will have family and friends with you on Sunday morning so we will keep it short so as not to take time away from your lunch and fellowship. We will also have a Question and Answer Time in Room 201 (Diggin’ Deeper SS Classroom) one hour prior to the 6 PM service for those individual members who would like to pose questions to the Building Team and/or Finance Committee.
Finally, I cannot tell you how much I am anticipating the service on Sunday evening…Victory Vision Night 2008! It will be a night you will probably remember for the rest of your life! Of course, we will relay the new theme and logo, give out awards, take a video tour highlighting last year and challenge VBC from the Word of God. We will also be voting to begin construction on our much needed auditorium. What better night than Victory Vision Night to have this opportunity to get victory in the vision God has given us here at VBC! Oh church, I am surer about God leading in this direction than ever before! Now is your time to trust God, God’s men, and the leading of God’s men…come alongside the Pastor and the leadership of this church as we answer “The Call to Victory”!
Many people will be off work or school on Monday (MLK Day), so they will be able to stay after the service and enjoy our Vision Night Celebration in the Fellowship Hall complete with our annual Chili Cook-off. For those who will not be able to stay, the services are expected to end around 8 PM or so. (about the same time as our Wednesday night services)
I love you church…have a great day and I’ll see you Sunday!
January 18 2008 | General | No Comments »
That’s what thousands of kids in the Walton/Gwinnett County School systems were hoping and praying for this morning, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Do you remember those days? The anticipation of not having a day of school because of ice or snow was especially high on those days when you had a big test that you weren’t quite ready for. Of course, for me, school never seemed to close on the right days…it was usually the day of a big ball game or something.
Well, it looks liked just a cold, wet day…but hey, we could use the rain, right? Please be praying for the staff today as we are still putting the finishing touches on Victory Vision Night! You don’t want to miss any of the services on Sunday. Of course, we will be having a Baby Dedication Service in the 11 AM service, along with a Sanctity of Life emphasis, as well as the Vision service Sunday evening. Again, Lord willing, we will be casting one of the biggest votes of faith in VBC history that night. I say that, not to scare anyone, but to excite and encourage everyone! Come be a part of something big. I believe with all my heart that God is moving us in this direction and I do not want to miss it.
We will have a time (to be determined later) sometime Sunday to answer some of the questions posed in last night’s meeting…I will keep you posted by blog and/or by the prayer line as well as announcements on Sunday.
I love you church…I pray you have a great “snow” day!
January 17 2008 | General | No Comments »
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