May 3, 2015 - Don't stop at one, give thanks ..... Our contemporary service at 11 AM is led by our worship band and feat
Central Baptist
news
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH - MAY 2015
Up Front When It Is Hard to Forgive Relationships with other people are often beautiful life giving things. But sometimes we have all experienced those times when they suck the joy and energy right out of us. Many factors affect the health of a relationship: personality traits, our health, the amount of rest we have and quite frankly, how much we are relying on God to help us experience them as he designed them to be experienced. There have been times in my life, and perhaps in yours as well, when a relationship became a source of stress instead of a source of joy, because of something that was said or done that caused hurt. We have many choices on how to respond when this happens. We can nurture the hurt, the disappointment and the frustration we are experiencing with the other person. We can go to others and enlist their sympathy or support for our case. We can make sure the other person experiences stress, by treating them in any number of disrespectful ways. Of course, none of these choices restores our joy or resolves the problem we are experiencing with the other person. In most cases it only makes the situation more stressful. And it certainly does not honor Jesus Christ when we choose to handle it this way.
There are many better choices. I will suggest just a few, but they have worked for me. Pray. Pray for God to soften your heart. Give thanks for the person or persons who are causing you stress. There are often at least a few good qualities you can lift up about the other person and it is good to recall them and remember them before God. Don’t stop at one, give thanks for as many as you possibly can. Ask God to help you forgive. There have been times when I could honestly say I did not want to forgive, but realized it was what I needed to do. I simply said the words and asked God to make it true in my heart. To my surprise, I discovered in a relatively short period of time, the pain and resentment I had once felt was no longer there. Seek an opportunity to sit down with the person who has caused you pain. Choose a time and a place that will allow you to have healthy conversation. Pray for God’s help and then with as much grace as you can muster open a conversation that will allow you to honestly share your concerns with them and allow them to respond. Depending on the seriousness of the disagreement, it may take more than one conversation. If after all of these steps, the situation has not improved, you may want to seek a pastor or a trusted friend in Christ for prayer, counsel and help. As you read this, your mind may be wondering what has brought this to mind. To alleviate the temptation to speculate, I will simply share, as a pastor, this is a spiritual issue that is brought to me from time to time, and from season to season and it seemed good to share it here.
As we seek to be a church that loves God, loves people, and serves the world, may our relationships express the redeeming love and grace we have received from Jesus Christ, especially when it is most challenging to do so. Blessings,
Church Events • May 3rd
Lincoln Funeral
Reenactment
• May 3rd
Blanket Sunday
• May 10th
Mother’s Day
No New Berlin Service
• May 11th
LCT &
Finance Area Meeting
• May 29th
Children’s House
Trivia Night
Off The Shelf New on DVD: The Book of Daniel
Veggies in Space – The Fennel Frontier This movie provides a lesson in the power of sharing. In a distant corner of the galaxy, Luntar the Looter is menacing passing ships and stealing their power sources. When a dark shadow falls on the sunny, beach-‐Pilled planet of Tootanny, the USS Applepies Pleet is deployed to put a stop to this space pirate. Captain Cuke (Larry) and Pirst ofPicer, Mr. Spork (Bob) hop in their space-‐ion wagon posing as undercover Tootany tourists to Pind Luntar. Along the way, Cuke and Spork discover that the villain is himself a victim,
desperately trying to save his planet from solar burst popcorn meteorites. When Luntar s nephew splits his sandwich and juice box with the captured Applepies crew, he presents a simple solution to everyone s problem. Will Captain Cuke invoke the Galactic Law of Finders Keepers, or will he Pinally learn that when you have enough to spare, you have enough to share ? (2014. Not Rated, 45 minutes, 4.8 out of 5 Amazon Rating)
Taken into slavery after the fall of Jerusalem in 605 B.C., Daniel is forced to serve the most powerful king in the world, King Nebuchadnezzar. Faced with immanent death, Daniel proves himself a trusted advisor and is placed among the king s wise men. Threatened by death at every turn, Daniel never ceases to serve the king until he is forced to choose between serving the king or honoring God. With his life at stake Daniel has nothing but his faith to stand between him and the lion’s den. (2013, Not Rated, 88 minutes, 4.4 out of 5 Amazon Rating) These DVD;s may be found in the Video Section of the Library.
Around CBC During the month of April, several volunteers including Hillary Haaker, Sharon Smith, Taylor Kinkade, Dulci & Darin Harms, and Emily & Josh Sabo helped with painting the Kid’s 252 Room on the 3rd Ploor. Here are a few pictures of their progress. Feel free to click and download for larger
!
Happy Mother’s Day! One of the best things we can do for our children is to model what a healthy relationship looks like. This article, “8 Lessons I’ve Learned in 12 Years of Marriage,” by Jessica Dimas summarizes topics typically brought up in couples therapy. The lessons are: 1. Marriage is a cycle 2. You'll have horrible thoughts 3. Marriage takes work, especially after kids 4. You WILL mess up 5. You don't have to be joined at the hip 6. Don't assume you know what they're thinking 7. Respect him, cherish her 8. See the good Jessica recaps: the hard times bring you closer, you'll question your marriage at times, your relationship needs watering, forgive constantly, maintain your own interests, you aren't a mind reader, respect and cherish one another, and always, always look for the good. Happy 35th Anniversary to the PREPARE-‐ENRICH program! We are excited about the new Parenting Version. Contact Stephani for details on how to take the inventory and work on strengthening your relationship. UIS counseling intern Michelle Davidson plans to return in August for the fall semester and will be accepting new clients. Michelle is working on her master’s degree in Human Development Counseling and will see clients free of charge in exchange for the educational experience. This offer is open to all church and community members. Feel free to tell your friends and neighbors! Are you wondering if your relationship might need a tune up? Take the Relationship Maintenance Survey to Pind out. For monthly couples, individual, and family tips, please sign up for our e-‐newsletter. For daily relationship tips, follow us facebook. For more information about any ConnectEdPAIRS service, please visit www.connectedpairs.com, stop by, call, or email me in the counseling ofPice. I look forward to talking with you soon. All best, Stephani Cave, LCPC ConnectEdPAIRS 217-‐972-‐4851
[email protected]
Children’s House May is very busy and exciting month for Children's House. We are busily preparing for the 2015 summer program that begins June 4th. Teacher appreciation allows us to celebrate the wonderful and talented teachers we are so blessed with. On May 29th a Trivia night is planned here at Central to help with play ground fundraising. Here at Children's House we are very blessed with a lovely group of very talented and caring teachers. From May 4th through May 8th we will honor and celebrate these outstanding ladies. Each day will have a theme and a small token will be given to the teachers. Thank you ladies for your years of commitment and service. First Year Loretta Betsy Emily Josephine Kayla Michelle
One Year Kathy Allison G. Rachel F. Nicole R. Lisa
Five Years Tian
Seven Years Diane
Fourteen Years Rachael M Annie
Two Years Alison C. Karlene
Eight Years McKenna
Three Years Tami Angel Julie
Twelve Years Amanda Sandy
Eighteen Years Judy
Come join us May 29th for a night of fun and Trivia. Doors will open at 6:00 and Trivia begins at 6:30. Cost is $10.00 per person or $75.00 for a table of 8 players. There will be silent auction and food for purchase. All proceeds will help support us reach the funds needed to begin the construction on the playground. We are very dedicated to seeing the construction of the new playground. A fundraising team meets as needed and they have many ideas to help support our goal. In moving forward our goal is raise funds to set the foundation and removal of the tire chips. We are currently half way there. Judy Vlach Children’s House Director
Meals for Shelters This Summer Each Wednesday Night that we meet for dinner, meals are provided to the Contact Ministries Transitional Shelter, a shelter that helps women with children develop needed skills to thrive on their own and escape the cycle of homelessness. When a month has Pive Wednesdays, on the Pifth Wednesday, additional meals are prepared for the adult men and women's shelter, Helping Hands. When we do not have a Wednesday Night Dinner, meals still need to provided to the shelters. We will not be serving Wednesday night meals during the months of June, July and August and need your help for those Wednesday nights. Will you, your family, your Sunday School class, or small group help feed the hungry? The dates meals need to be prepared and delivered are: • May 27 • June 3, 10, 17, 24 • July 1, 8, 22, 29 • August 5, 12, 19, 26 • September 2 July 29 is a 5th Wednesday and meals will be needed for the Helping Hands shelter as well. If you would like to help but Pind yourself Pinancially challenged at this time, the benevolence budget has sufPicient Pinancial resources for this ministry. Your family or group can be reimbursed if you could prepare and deliver the meals to the shelter. If you need more information or can help with this ministry, please contact Carol Volle (787-‐3192).
Summer Schedule Change May 20th will be the last Wednesday Night Dinner for this season and will suspend throughout the Summer. Please see the article “Meals For Summer Shelters” for information how you can help to serve our community during this time.
Gen H Opportunity Central and GenH Kids have begun a partnership on a couple exciting endeavors. GenH Kids is an organization, located just up the street from CBC Downtown on 4th St, that seeks to help nurture healthy children through movement and nutrition. GenH will be using the church’s kitchen on a couple occasions that will help further their mission. We are also working with GenH and others on developing a community garden located on 3rd St and Cannedy not far from the the church. The produce from the garden will go into the community to Graham families and others to enjoy. If you are interested in volunteering in any capacity let Josh or Emily Sabo know!
Higher Education The Higher Education Fund of Central Baptist Church was created to assist students pursuing a college degree. The application form for 2015-‐2016 will be available in the Welcome Center and on our website on May 1, 2015. The application form should be completely Pilled out and submitted to the church ofPice no later than June 1, for consideration for the 2015-‐2016 school year. If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Mary Ellen Sharp (523-‐3639, ext. 16 or
[email protected]).
Birthdays And Anniversaries 05/04
Jerry & Sheila Fite
05/06
Dave & Theresa Law
05/12
Reg & Judi Mills
05/20
Dave & Lin Glomski
Ray Reynolds
05/21
Jason & Rachel Crain
05/09
Nora Ficke
05/22
Josh & Emily Sabo
05/16
Dallas Tankersley
05/25
Matt & Tricia Allen
05/18
Jenny Baur
05/28
Tony & Nancy Crain
05/29
Gregg & Paula Harwood
05/18
Lisa Morrow
05/31
Tom & Irene Peters
05/18
Glen Smith
05/22
Greg Seifert
05/24
Mary Coleman
05/27
Alexus Berry
05/27
John Black
05/29
Jennie Alt
05/31
Dixie Dalbey
05/31
Suzanne Stericker
05/01
Gideon Smith
05/04
Maybelle Hall
05/08
Judi Haber
05/08
Lincoln Funeral Reenactment Info On Sunday, May 3rd, 4th street will be blocked off at 9 :00 a.m. and we will lose access to our parking lot after that. There will be no parking on 4th street that day. We will be able to leave the parking lot through the Jackson Street exit at anytime. We encourage you to carpool as much as possible. We will worship at 8:30 only with Sunday school at 9:45.
The funeral procession will not begin until 12 noon and may not come by the church until 12:30 or later. While we wait for the procession, we will have a potluck in Merriam Hall. The church will provide a meat and cheese tray and bread and everyone is asked to bring a side dish or dessert to share. The funeral procession has not been reenacted since the original funeral so this very likely is a once in a lifetime experience.
A Word Of Thanks Jerry and I want to thank all of you for your prayers, words of encouragement, visits, phone calls, cards and hugs during his recent hospital stay and recuperation. God has blessed us in many ways and our church family is just one of those blessings. We want you know how much you are appreciated and what an amazing gift all of you are to us. Thanks again for all your love and caring. Jerry and Sheila Fite
To all involved in the Chili Supper Fundraiser, Thank you so very much for all you have done. That was a very appreciated donation of $890. We will be able to help so many needy families. It is fund raisers like your that keep our doors open. Thank you again from the volunteers at Loami Area Community Pantry
Please accept the gratitude of Washington Street Mission and the people we serve for your volunteer effort in our recent coffee drive. Because of your efforts, hundreds of cans of coffee and hundreds of dollars we collected. It was one of the most successful events of its kind
I wanted to thank you for the gift for the bicycles for Pastors in the Congo. A bicycle is the most practical way of getting around n this part of rural Africa. With such poverty a pastor here could never afford a bicycle. You gift is helping to equip a rural pastor for ministry.
Tom Ryder President Board of Directors
Blessings, Glen and Rita Chapman International Ministries
Our Condolences Blanket Sunday Our hearts and prayers go out to the following families who lost loved ones during the month of April. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers following this dif;icult time. Linda Hicks family
(Sister of Kay Summers-‐Orr) Family of Jan Sherrow at the loss of her sister in law. Gwen Ogden family
But we do not want you to be uninformed about those who are asleep, that you may not
The Pirst Sunday in May is designated as “Blanket Sunday”. Church World Service helps to provide blankets to those whose world has been torn apart by war, severe weather, earthquake, or other disasters. When all that is familiar has been removed from your life, your immediate wish is for your family to have a warm place to sleep. Blankets provided by Church World Service through your donation provide not only warmth, but also protection from the weather, a way to carry your belongings, or the beginnings of a tent. Please use the envelopes in the pew labeled “Blanket” and give as many multiple of $5 as you can to support this service. Please make your checks payable to Central Baptist Church.
What’s Happening Monthly AB Men’s Breakfast 1st & 3rd Saturday; 8 am; (Merriam Hall) Hegarty Circle 2nd Monday; 9:30 am; (Weber Lounge) Beth Long Circle (New Berlin) 3rd Thursday evening; various locations Newsletter Contact church ofPice for submission deadlines Girl Scouts 1st & 3rd Tuesday; 6 pm; (New Berlin)
SUNDAY 8:30a
Classic Worship
9:45a
Sunday School all ages
11:00a
Contemporary Worship
Children’s Church
4:00p
Sunday School (New Berlin)
5:00p
Worship (New Berlin)
6:00p
Youth (New Berlin) Meet bi-‐weekly
TUESDAY Compass
WEDNESDAY 4:45p
Wednesday Night Dinner
5:00p
Face2Face (Rm 309)
6:45p
Choir Practice
THURSDAY 7:00p
Sunday, May 3rd Schedule of Events include: • • • •
8:30 a.m. Service 9:45 a.m. Sunday School 11:00 a.m. Church Potluck in Merriam Hall 12:00 p.m. Processional on 4th Street
Blanket Sunday Sunday, May 3rd
Mother’s Day
Sunday, May 10th No New Berlin Service
Weekly
3:00p
Lincoln Funeral Reenactment
Worship Team Rehearsal
All events at Springfield location unless otherwise noted.
Children’s House Trivia Night Friday, May 29th, 6:00 p.m. Merriam Hall
Visitor’s Info and FAQ We are one church in two locations, with campuses in Springfield and New Berlin, IL. Together, we are a church family loving God, loving people, and serving the world in Jesus’ name. All are welcome to worship with us. We gather each Sunday to love God in worship at our Springfield Campus (located at 501 South 4th Street, Springfield, IL) at 8:30 am and 11:00 am, and at our New Berlin Campus (located at 600 W Birch Street, New Berlin, IL) at 5:00 pm. When you visit our church you are our guest. Our members and regular worshipers participate in a financial offering during the worship services, but this is not expected of our guests. Our desire is to be a church that helps people know and experience God in a meaningful way. If there is anything that we can do to help you on your life and faith journey, please let us know. Where Can I Park? The Springfield campus parking lot is smaller, however additional parking is available along the street (4th street and on Jackson), in the Illinois Bar Association’s parking lot on East Jackson Street, and in the parking lot across from the Illinois National Bank building on South 4th Street between East Capital Avenue and East Jackson Street. (This latter lot will be easy to see, diagonally across from the front of the church as you arrive). Is Childcare Available? Our nurseries located on the first floor of the building. Our well trained and experienced child care workers and paid staff are eager to care for and spend time with children. We also have Sunday School classes (beginning at 9:45) available for Pre-K children through high school students at our Springfield campus. Classes meet on the second and third floors. What Should I Wear? There is no dress code at Central. Wear what makes you feel comfortable and to be who you are. Our 8:30 AM worship service in Springfield is a traditional service. The attendees generally wear business casual attire. Our 11 AM worship service in Springfield and 5 PM worship service in New Berlin are both contemporary worship services and most people dress casually. We only ask that you turn your cell phone off or set it to vibrate. What Kind of Music Can I Expect? In Springfield, the 8:30 AM service music is lead by our Chancel Choir and designed to connect you with God through rich traditions of hymns, songs, scripture and prayer. Our contemporary service at 11 AM is led by our worship band and features modern worship music. There is a high-energy, celebratory feel to the service and participation is encouraged and expected. Whether we are clapping, singing, reflecting, or listening, our focus in only on Jesus. New Berlin also has a contemporary service at 5 PM and is led by our worship band and features modern worship music. We provide a weekly podcast of the sermon or teaching message each week. If you feel gifted and called to serve in worship ministry, please contact our Worship Arts Director, Robert Reynolds. Some examples of ways to serve in worship ministry include singing with the worship band or choir, playing an instrument, reading Scripture, volunteering as an usher, running sound and/or media, etc.
Get Connected www.facebook.com/cbcchurchfamily twitter.com/CBCchurchfamily cbcchurchfamily.org
OfWice Hours -‐ Monday through Friday 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Phone 217-‐523-‐3639 Email
[email protected]
Children’s House – http://www.childrenshouse.org Phone 217-‐523-‐0122 Email
[email protected] 