The Eastwood Beacon Reflection No. 61…Hmmm
Transcription
The Eastwood Beacon Reflection No. 61…Hmmm
The Eastwood Beacon Eastwood nurtures positive development in people’s lives through the love and teachings of Jesus Christ. - Mission Statement adopted by Eastwood Baptist Church, January 19, 2014. April 23, 2014 Reflection No. 61…Hmmm Easter Sunday is a day to remember for me, from the time of being greeted at the center door to the leaving after the fellowship time. There were the welcoming comments from friends, the kindness of the ushers, and the delicious refreshments. Mrs. Linda Tripp set the stage by an excellent Prelude. I was again humbled by the scripture reading of Matthew 28:1-10 by Mr. Joshua Robinson, especially verses five and six, “I know you are looking for Jesus…He is not here. He was raised, just as He said.” …Later in the service, as I observed one of the members, I asked myself, “Where are the saints of Eastwood?” Oh, I knew that some were not able to attend, and some have moved away. But I was thinking about those who have died. Then to me came the words, “They are not here, they have been raised.” Hallelujah! Amen! …Hmmm It was listed as a “Celebration of Baptism,” and it was. A wonderful testimony by four people that it is true “He is not dead, He is raised.” Makes you tingle all over, does it not?…Hmmm. Let us give thanks for Mary Bradley, Bailey Mitchell, Michael Ekelman and Kyle Mitchell. They are family now. And how about Ava Robinson that selected today to declare herself for Jesus at the end of the service. Wonderful! ….Hmmm, hmmm. The cantata, “The Offer Still Stands,” was as powerful as a thousand sermons. The choir was thanked for their contribution to our lives, and so I (we) say thanks again and again. It was a reminder that we are not to serve a tradition but to serve a living Savior….Hmmm. Just think, it did not happen just once, the Offer, but the Offer Still Stands. What offer you ask, the offer of salvation and life with Jesus. IN THIS ISSUE Mission Conference 2 Baby Bottle Boomerang 2 Rainbow Acres 2 New Addresses 2 Thanks & Praise 3 Baptized on Easter 3 Mission News 4 Library Volunteer Opportunity 5 May Calendar 5 Mother’s Day Brunch 6 Cherry Creek 6 Church Work Day 6 ABW 6 EASTWOOD STAFF Randolph T. Miller Pastor Jerry Gilmer Pastor Emeritus Eli Matthews Youth Ministry Coordinator Sharon Dady And the angel said, “Now get on your way quickly…He is not dead. He is going on ahead of you… Choir Director Linda Tripp Accompanist Sue Becker Church Secretary Blessings, Jerry Sam J. Angulo Custodian Staley Arnett Interim Nursery Attendant American Baptist Churches of the Central Pacific Coast - 2014 Missions Conference Friday and Saturday, May 2 & 3 - Hosted by First Baptist Church, McMinnville, Oregon “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” - Matthew 25 Join with American Baptists from across our region and around the world to see what God is up to! We will hear from - Roy Medley, General Secretary, ABCUSA. Mylinda Baits, Missionary, International Ministries. Sam Brink, Assoc. Exec. Minister, ABC Wisconsin. Ron Carlson, Missiologist, AB Home Mission Societies. Ruthann Stevenson, Trainer, International Ministries. Kyle Williams, Missionary, International Ministries. Larry & JoAnn Sims, Lay Missionaries, FBC McMinnville. We will learn about - How to be an effective Mission Partnership Team. Church-based community Medical and Dental ministries. How the Four Gospels inform our view of mission. Unique and effective ways local churches are impacting communities as the hands and feet and voice of Jesus. How your church can sponsor or join a mission trip. The World Friendship Center in Hiroshima. Optional tours of Linfield College Registration forms available at the Welcome Center or click on “Missions Conference” at www.abccpc.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Baby Bottle Fundraiser - April 6th to May 11th Rogue Valley Pregnancy Resource Center Fill a baby bottle with loose change (or bills). Return the bottle to the church office. We participate in Sanctity of Human Life by supporting The Pregnancy Center through Baby Bottle Boomerang! The mission of The Pregnancy Center is to provide education, godly guidance, supportive programs and loving encouragement to those who may be pregnant, parenting or post-abortive. This is done with Pregnancy Tests, Ultrasounds, Earn While You Learn Education, a Parent Pantry, Abstinence Education and post-abortive education, Forgiven & Set Free! We believe everyone should have access to this information and help, so all our services are free! Today we will be handing out baby bottles for you to take home and fill up with change, bills or checks and return them by Mother’s Day! Thank you for your support in defending the lives of the unborn and offering the gift of salvation to their parents! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOS RAINBOW ACRES MISSION TRIP The Rainbow Acres Mission trip has been scheduled for June 22nd through June 29th. Sign up on your communication card if you are interested in participating. Stay tuned for further announcements regarding planning, organization and fundraising. Watch for upcoming Bake sales! Donations are welcome to help participants with travel expenses. --------------------------------------------- Eastwood Beacon The next issue of The Beacon will be May 7th, 2014. If you have anything you would like put in the Beacon, an up-coming event, a function, etc. please have all copy in the church office by 12:00 noon on Tuesday, May 6th, 2014. Email Sue Becker at sbecker@ebcmedford.org If you would like to help get the Beacon ready for mailing, we will start at 11:30 pm, Thursday, May 8th, 2014. Many hands make light work and a time of fun and fellowship. We need cookies for our fellowship hour on Sunday. If you could help us, please sign up on the kiosk nearest the office. We appreciate all of you that have been so faithful bringing goodies each week. Thank you, Sue Shaw (541) 776-9976 ------------------------------------------New Addresses & Phone Numbers Allan Campbell PO Box 471 Eagle Point, OR 97524 Joan Daniel (541) 951-7710 Michael & Marybeth Gresham 2001 Table Rock Road Medford, OR 97501 MB cell (541) 973-5491 REQUESTS FOR PRAYER Thanks and Praise (4/20) Simply Magnificent! Praise for such a beautiful Easter celebration! Thanks & God’s blessings. Our Church: its leaders and families All of those with health needs. All service people here and overseas, including: Good job, Joshua! Kevin Hoffman, Army Lolo Vasquez, Iraq Aaron Chisem, US Navy Jason Cesario, Iraq Nicholas Hart, Marines Logan Oravetz, Army Isaac Gilmer, Marines Bruce Barnhill, Marines Praise the Lord! Wonderful! He lives indeed! Thank you, choir. Beautiful music filled our lives today. Beautiful service - Praise the Lord! Unbelievable performance, choir. So moving and real - the Holy Spirit was here. Baptisms were special. Thank you to Andy & Linda and the choir for their reading and special music on Easter Sunday. He is Risen! What a praising way to celebrate Easter!! Please pray for all students, teachers and parents (of all ages of children) Unemployed / Underemployed Our ABC-CPC churches, pastors and missionaries serving around the world. Jonna Reeder Kurt & Wilda Hildebrand, serving in Haiti Baptized on Easter Sunday! Mary Lou Bradley “Eastwood is my ‘true’ church. I love you all.” BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES Are there any changes, additions or deletions? Please let Sue in the church office know so she can make the corrections and notify everyone. MAY BIRTHDAYS Michael Eckelman “You are my family and I love Jesus.” Kyle Mitchell, age 11: “….The reason that I want to be baptized is so I can be closer to Jesus Christ. I know that after I get “dunked”, I will forever follow Jesus in His footsteps and be his disciple.” Bailey Mitchell, age 18: “….I have decided to be baptized because I know in my heart that I am ready for the next step in my relationship with God. I know it won’t be easy and there will be times when I lose track of what I need, but being baptized is only one more step in the direction I plan to follow for a long time.” (Excerpt from Bailey’s testimony) 1 1 1 7 7 8 10 18 18 18 19 21 23 Leighanne Nottingham Ray Olstad Joannie VanDyke Sharon Dady Aaron Thayer Eli Matthews Howard Bowman Joan Daniel Norma Hart Marjorie Peterson Trevahn Foster Mary Bates Helen Bartlett 23 23 25 25 25 27 27 29 39 31 31 Mike Ekelman Don Hildebrand Rev Walter Manchur Anita Simpson Deborah Slocum JoNelle Petermeyer Dianne Rowell Jim Noble Jim Powell Sam Angulo David Sayler MAY ANNIVERSARIES 6 George & Sandra Nye 22 Cap & Sue Capriotti 29 Jacob & Julie Kinsman 29 Carl & Ada Kirkman MISSION NEWS Ed and Miriam Noyes The Twa of Inongo: Trying to Establish their place in a Modernizing Congo: April 3, 2014 For some followers of our journals this may be a little too dry. But we think it helps to understand more about the circumstances that shape the lives and outlooks of the people with whom we work. This short piece complements Miriam’s recent blog about the literacy team’s recent trip to Inongo. -- Ed and Miriam Pygmies in Congo are people living between two worlds. They live in clusters but are scattered in nearly every province of the country. For generations the government has wanted to see them settled in towns, abandoning itinerant life in the forest. Some Pygmy groups have settled voluntarily, hoping for a more stable and prosperous life. While some succeed, most find only poverty, malnutrition and marginalization outside the forest. The Twa living around Inongo encounter multiple barriers to progress in life outside the forest. Many of the majority Bantu have deep prejudices against them that lead to abuse and exploitation. Legally they are full citizens of the Congo. However, even for Bantu citizens enjoyment of legal protections and rights is not automatic; for the Twa, prejudice often eliminates any rights they have. They are often forced to work without pay or for half of what a Bantu would get. The law does not recognize traditional Twa forest-use rights and Twa bands hold land only at the sufferance of a Bantu land chief. Bantu prejudice excludes or severely limits Twa access to education and health care available to the majority population. Teachers and fellow students disapprove of Twa students sharing classrooms with Bantu students. Extreme poverty makes it hard for Twa parents to pay school fees. Health service workers are often unsympathetic and unwelcoming. Public health outreach (vaccinations, well-baby clinics, deworming and nutrition campaigns) often pass them by, forcing the Twa to rely exclusively on traditional medicine. Poor education and poor health have predictable effects on their ability to earn a living, and ability to influence the social and political structures that define their opportunities. Of course Pygmy tradition and the dysfunctional adaptation to settled life impose their own limitations. Seasonal hunting and gathering remove children from school, interrupting learning progress. Lack of proper attention to hygiene, poor nutritional practices, early marriage and motherhood : all contribute significantly to poor health. The stresses of life on the margins of Bantu society also lead many Twa to seek relief in alcohol or cannabis. In making the transition to settled existence, many Twa have not yet fully adopted permanent agriculture: when they have fields, they're often very small. Becoming a farmer requires hard-to-obtain land, unfamiliar seasonal planning, food stores in reserve, and assurance that the harvest will belong to the family rather than the landowner. It is a long and daunting list. Cutting fields for others, and working as hired labor for Bantu farmers is often a more familiar (if much less lucrative) decision for people with the day-to-day mindset of hunter-gatherers. Facing barriers every day of one’s life can crush the spirit, suck away hope. The Twa don’t need any do-gooder’s pity. But they do need constant reminders that they are cherished by God and bear His image. They need inspiration, knowledge of how others facing similar challenges in a changing world have transformed their circumstances. They need imagination and creativity that help them to understand and protect the distinctives that make up their essential identity . . . and help them to adapt to the modernizing world. We ask the Lord to be their guide, their refuge, their strength. MAY 2014 Sun Mon Ap ril 27 Tue Ap ril 28 8 am Chapel Prayers 7 pm Boy Scout 9:15 Sunday School Troop 5 Classes All Ages (K-Building) 10:30 Worship Service Joel Maiorano, preaching . 4 Ap ril 29 12 noon - Men’s Bible Study 5:30 First Place 5 11 Mo thers Day 7 pm Boy Scout 8 am Chapel Prayers Troop 5 9:15 Sunday School (K-Building) Classes All Ages 10:30 Worship Service 5:00 Youth Group 7 pm Boy Scout Troop 5 (K-Building) 8 am Chapel Prayers 9:15 Sunday School 7 pm Boy Scout Classes All Ages Troop 5 10:30 Worship Service (K-Building) 5:00 Youth Group 13 12 noon Men’s Bible Study 5:30 First Place 19 25 Fri 1 Ap ril 30 1 pm Bereavement Group at the New Far East 7:15 Choir Practice 6 9:30 ABW 12 noon - Men’s Bible Study 5:30 First Place 12 18 Thu Sat 2 3 ABC-CPC ABC-CPC Mission Conference Mission Conference McMinnville, OR McMinnville, OR 9:00 Church Work Party 8 am Chapel Prayers 7 pm Boy Scout 9:15 Sunday School Troop 5 Classes All Ages (K-Building) 10:30 Communion Worship Service 8 am Prayer in Chapel 9:15 Sunday School Classes All Ages 10:30 Worship Service Wed 20 12 noon Men’s Bible Study 5:30 First Place 26 27 12 noon Men’s Bible Study 5:30 First Place 7 11:00 Staff Meeting 6:00 Mid -Week Bible Study 7:15 Choir Practice 8 5:30 Deacons’ Agape Meeting 14 15 16 17 22 23 24 29 30 31 9 am Builders’ Social 21 28 11:00 Staff Meeting 6:00 Mid -Week Bible Study 7:15 Choir Practice 10 10:00 “Secrets of the Eastwood Sisterhood” Mothers Day Brunch 11:00 Staff Meeting 6:00 Mid -Week Bible Study 7:15 Choir Practice 11:00 Staff Meeting 6:00 Mid -Week Bible Study 7:15 Choir Practice 9 5:30 Deacons’ Business Meeting “Secrets of the Eastwood Sisterhood” Inviting all women and girls to: A Mother’s Day Brunch Saturday, May 10th, 10 am - Koinonia Building Invite your mom, daughter, sister, grandmother, granddaughter, aunt, best friend… The brunch will be catered by Rooster’s and will include Quiche, Cinnamon rolls, Country potatoes and fruit salad. The cost will be $12 per person. Scholarships are available. Please bring a photo of you and your mom, daughter, sister, etc. to the church office as soon as possible. The photos will be on display during the brunch. -------------------------------------------- Church Work Day Inviting ALL who want to help “spruce up” our church. The next scheduled Work Day is Saturday, May 3rd. Meet at the church at 9:00 am and we should be finished by 12:00. Please bring rakes, clippers and DON’T FORGET the gloves! We will be doing yard work. See you there. Questions...call Don Eastman at (541) 7737237 Cherry Creek Apartments Community Ministries is asking for volunteers to help deliver Welcome Baskets to the new residents of the Cherry Creek Apartment Complex. There will be a brief informational meeting scheduled in the near future. Contact Annette McGregor by phone: (541) 8991088 or email: abcm48@yahoo.com or sign up on your Communication Cards if you are interested. ------------------------------------------ American Baptist Women Tuesday, May 6th !!! PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE !!! Social time: 9:30 - Presentation: 10:00 We all know what April showers bring, but what do those "May-flowers" bring? Come & listen to former meteorologist turned realtor, Scott Lewis, as he tries to explain our unpredictable spring weather! Scott will also talk about local trends in real estate. All women are invited! April 27, 2014 May 4th, 2014 SUNDAY, April 27th Prayer in Chapel Sunday School classes (all ages) Worship Service Father Joel Maiorano, preaching Youth Group 8:00 9:15 10:30 5:00 MONDAY, April 28th Boy Scout Troop 5 7:00 TUESDAY, April 29th Men’s Bible Study Luncheon (Walker Room) First Place 12:00 5:30 WEDNESDAY, April 30th Choir Practice 7:15 THURSDAY, May 1st FRIDAY, May 2nd Prayer in Chapel Sunday School classes (all ages) Communion Worship Service Pastor Miller, preaching 8:00 9:15 10:30 MONDAY, May 5th Boy Scout Troop 5 7:00 TUESDAY, May 6th ABW Men’s Bible Study Luncheon (Walker Room) First Place 9:30 12:00 5:30 WEDNESDAY May 7th Staff Meeting Mid-Week Bible Study Choir Practice 11:00 6:00 7:15 THURSDAY, May 8th SATURDAY, May 3rd Church Work Day SUNDAY, May 4th 9:00 Deacons’ Agape Meeting 5:30 FRIDAY, May 9th SATURDAY, May 10th “Secrets of the Eastwood Sisterhood” Mothers’ Day Brunch 10:00