Sneak Peek at This Sunday

Church News

For any who have prayer requests still listed on the back of the bulletin, let me know which ones need to continue and which can be removed in order to turn over our requests for the year.

 February Celebrations

Eddie Olsen, 6^th; Richard and Joann Motzkus, 11^th; Ben Campeau, 13^th; Joy Sunderland, 14^th; Vicky (Peterson) Burschia, 16^th; Michael Eells, 17^th; Melody Tucker, 28^th

The Sarah Corner

Why Teachers Retire Early

These are reported actual test answers from various schools in the Huntsville, Alabama metropolitan area:

Q: Name the four seasons.       A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.

Q: What is a planet?   A: A body of earth surrounded by sky

Q; Name a major disease associated with cigarettes A: Premature death

Q: How can you delay milk turning sour?          A: Keep it in the cow

Q: What is the fibula?      A: A small lie

Q: What does "varicose" mean?              A: Nearby

Q: What is a seizure?                 A: A Roman emperor

Q: What is a terminal illness?  A: When you are sick at the airport

Q: What does "benign" mean? A: Benign is what you be after you be eight

Q: What is a Hindu?                    A: It lays eggs.

A banker is someone who lends you an umbrella when the sun is shining. Ancient Chinese Fortune

Today's Teaching

Sunday School: Dueling Denominations

Pentecostalism #1

Early Pentecostals considered latter day restoration of apostolic power

Came out of Holiness movements and evangelical revivals turn of 20^th century

These revivals led to greater attention on person and work of the Holy Spirit with emphasis on miracles of healings and tongues

 Sermon

Jesus and Nicodemus             John 3:1-21

Nicodemus was at the pinnacle of Jewish excellence, a member of the Sanhedrin and a Pharisee, when he sought out Jesus

The Sanhedrin was made up of 70 men responsible for religious decisions and some civil rule under the Romans. Two Sanhedrin members who appeared in a favorable light in the Bible were Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus

A Word from the Pester: NEW CD DONE!

We have prepared a new CD of The Music of Freedom that features The Music of Heaven. I thank pianist (extraordinaire) Lisa Heald for playing and Jon Campeau for producing the CD's. As  my church family and friends know I have been singing in church since I was 13 years old. I started in the Halstead Bible Baptist Church in Halstead, KS, singing in the choir, and then learned gospel quartest music from songleader Kenny Kraus. I led the singing at my home church, Arkansas City (KS) Missionary Baptist Church during my high school years, with Jana Noble as our accompianist. At the Independent Baptist College I sang in the choir and performed with the Ensemble as they traveled to various supporting churches throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado. It was (mostly) fun traveling with Bro. Wendell McHargue and the various members of the group. After college I became Associate Pastor and music director at the Grace Baptist Church in Colo.  Spgs. As pastor of Freedom since 1988 I have led the worship services and continued to sing my brains out (I may have run out a long time ago).
As I have reviewed this little bio of my singing I realize that I have been singing in chuch for 44 years. I could no more separate singing from my ministry than you could separate gravy from mashed potatoes. And gospel music is just as much a deliverer of the message of God's Word as preaching is, and most of the time is more effective. "When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!" May that rejoicing be yours every Sunday, and indeed every day of this life, with the song "to be continued" in heaven.

I am taking the occasion of this church blog to send a up a tribute to my mother, Irene Smitheran. I gave this tribute at her funeral on Wednesday, December 28, 2011 in Bolivar, MO. There are too many memories of my mom to include here, but of all the things I remember most, I remember that she made a killer meat loaf. I’ve tried to duplicate it but have not been able to as yet. She told me it was because she put diced ham in it along with ground pork, beef and bacon, but she must have put some other spices in it because I haven’t been successful in copying it yet. She also made fried chicken in such a way it was better cold the next day than it was hot, and it was very good hot. I know she used a cast iron skillet and not too much oil in frying it, but no matter how she did it, it was always good and better cold. We also had roast nearly every Sunday; she would sear it in the old electric skillet we had and then drown it before we’d go to church. It was always done when we got home but to this day I won’t have roast on Sunday unless I just have to. Her roast was good, but not every Sunday; how about spaghetti or chili or hamburgers, mom?

My mother endured the Great Depression in her childhood. She told me the story of seeing the local banker approach the front door of the home her and my grandpa and grandma lived in to tell them they were repossessing the farm. She did not tell me that story until she was in her 70’s, and even after all those years she cried as she told it. The events of the Depression formed her life’s choices from that point forward. She would save every little bit of food after we ate, no matter how small, even though we always had plenty.  She saved every little margarine container in order to save those little bits of food; we found dozens of those containers in the cupboard. She saved the wax paper that lined cereal boxes, using that paper over and over again for a variety of uses. Bread bags, used aluminum foil, item after item would be saved. After she told me the story of the banker I realized what all that saving had meant to her; it was her way of surviving those awful times. Those in my generation and younger cannot begin to imagine the sacrifices and hardships that my mom’s generation went through. And after the Depression, they faced WWII and the sacrifices that meant. My mother’s generation truly was The Greatest Generation, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for all she did to give my sister and me and good life. She did a great job and I salute her.

My mom and dad raised two kids, both of which entered the ministry. My sister, Barbara Lingo of Brighton, MO, has been a missionary, a teacher of missions at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO, and a pastor’s wife. Her and her husband David currently minister at the Berean Baptist Church of Bolivar. I have been in the ministry since 1981, so mom has left a legacy in the ministry that has far exceeded her humble beginnings. I know she never set out to raise kids for the ministry, for there was nothing in our background that would indicate that would be the direction we would take. But she made every attempt to teach us correctly and keep us on the straight and narrow, and the results were nothing to be ashamed of.

Mom, I salute you: you did a good job. And say hello to Dad for me. I sure do miss both of you.

Emily Irene Smitheran, 84, passed away December 25, 2011 in Brighton, MO. She was born July 17, 1927 in La Cygne, KS, the daughter of Edwin and Eva Leona Bartlett Riley. After graduating from Osawatomie High School in 1945, Irene began her career as a secretary which she practiced until her retirement. She married E. J. (Red) Chandler and they were parents of 2 children. E.J. passed away in 1969 and she later Raymond Smitheran who also preceded her in death. She was also preceded in death by her parents, and sister, Esta Brown of Osawatomie, Kansas.

Irene was a member of the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary in Mound City, Kansas.
Irene moved to the Brighton area from Arkansas City, Kansas, in 1996. She was an active member of the Berean Baptist Church, Bolivar, MO.
Irene is survived by a son, Greg A. Chandler and wife Ruth, of Colorado Springs, Colorado; daughter Barbara Lingo and husband David of Brighton; a sister, Margaret Wilson of Mound City, Kansas; 5 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Wednesday, December 28, 2011 in Bolivar, MO. Interment is at Green Valley Cemetery, Osawatomie, Kansas.

Last Sunday night December 18 the church enjoyed a performance from the Songspinners the Colorado Springs Show Choir. Our "beloved" pastor and member Nancy Jenkins are a part of this choir and the church thoroughly enjoyed the show. We all enjoyed our pastor making a fool of himself for the fun and enjoyment of all, certainly a worthwhile pastoral activity! Thanks so much for these great people for putting so much work and energy into our church Christmas celebration. Merry Christmas to you all!

I had made an offer to the church last Sunday that if we sold 100 cookbooks between now and December 18, our Christmas fellowship, I would shave off my beard at the fellowship. Yesterday morning someone came forward with a razor, scissors, shaving cream and 100 $10 bills to purchase 100 cookbooks. So, off came the beard at church. The last photo was taken at home after I got a chance to more "properly" shave the beard off. Be careful what you ask for as a pastor, right? The Lord bless all who make our church a fun place to be .  (We're not the worst church you'll ever attend)

Blowing Into Fall

We recently completed our study of the Minor Prophets in our Sunday morning worship sermons. Our study began with the books of Joel and Micah and finished up in September with the book of Hosea. The study of the Minor Prophets revealed that God could simultaneously judge His people for their egregious sin and show them grace by promising the coming Messiah and the Millennial Kingdom. As God’s children we must see both sides of God’s character, judgment and mercy, and learn to live on His merciful side as much as we possibly can.

Our Sunday School lessons have been most fruitful as we have been studying other denominations, a study that I call “Dueling Denominations.” We have been concentrating on a simple overview, knowing that to study each denomination in detail would take years. We began with Catholicism and then studied Episcopalians, Lutherans and are currently studying Presbyterians. In order to understand the beliefs and practices of others a working knowledge of church history must also be studied, so we have been learning much as we have gone along in our study. We are certainly looking forward to the study of the Baptist church so that we can figure out what we’re actually doing (.....?)

 We will be finalizing our Christmas celebration schedule for this year. We have the opportunity to have a special fellowship this year and with the Songspinners performing with Nancy and Greg, but it will have to be another night other than December such as Friday night the 9th. We can then have our potluck fellowship on Sunday night the 18^th; be thinking about what we can do to celebrate the season.

Daylight Savings Time ends November 6^th this year
Christmas and New Years will be on a Sunday-we will have worship services those mornings at 10am with no Sunday school (unless there are any other ideas about the scheduling of those two Sundays)

Current Sunday School: Dueling Denominations
Presbyterians: Lesson #3
Exists today in America in two main groups, PCUSA (Presbyterian Church USA) and PCA (Presbyterian Churches in America)
Reformed Theology vs. Presbyterian Church theology
Major differences with Baptists: baptism, Lord’s Supper, church government, beliefs on predestination and freewill

Sunday October 16 Sermon
We will study the book of John section by section-not as a series-with topical sermons presented to break up the study; John was studied in 1990 and it’s time to update
John 8 – The Light of Jesus Still Shines
John 8:1-11                    Woman in Adultery/Pharisees in Hypocrisy
John 8:12-20                  Jesus the Light of the World

Pastor's Catch-up

Some meanderings while catching up on the summer of 2011 for Freedom BC:

We had a great Sunday August 14 with Missionary Ed Potter and his wife Abbie at the church. We also had the privilege of welcoming the Potter clan and the Rogers clan from Pueblo in our services. We had a great fellowship following the service. The presence of Ed and Abbie and the Pueblo folks was most appreciated by our Freedom folks. You guys are welcome back anytime, and make sure you bring the grandkids!

Greg and Ruth have had the joy of several trips this year: last December to Virginia Beach, VA to move Tim and Christa. We traveled back to Virginia Beach in April for the birth of our 4^th grandchild, Neva. We went to Bolivar, MO and Branson in July to visit Greg’s mom and Ruth’s mom and dad. Christa and Neva joined us along with Ruth’s sister Mary, with Shawn and Josh. Then August 1-12 we went to Ketchikan AK to see our daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren, Bethanne, Melody and Tate. It was wonderful to see everyone but we are glad to be home.

The church updated the kitchen to include cabinets and a sink so we now have a more normal fellowship area. We also recently painted the interior of the church so our little storefront is actually quite comfortable and aesthetically pleasing to worship in. We thank Johnie and Jackie Jackson for obtaining the used cabinets and Johnie for installing them.

I have been preaching through the Minor Prophets recently, a sermon series that the folks will tell their grandchildren about, and mightily bored they’ll be! It is good to be reminded of the great prophetic messages that God gave to His people through these shorter books (hence the name “Minor” only in volume, not content). The prophecies and events mentioned in the Minor Prophets are forerunners of our future. We have studied Joel, Micah, Habakkuk and Zephaniah so far and will conclude with Haggai, Hosea and Nahum. (We have previously studied Obadiah, Jonah, Zechariah and Malachi.) The common theme through these books is that even though the Lord brought judgment against His people because of their disobedience, He also brought restoration and blessing. He will do the same for us: even though the future may have some dark days of judgment ahead, the Lord will bring restoration and renewal. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.

At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD. Zephaniah 3:17, 20 (KJV)