Yesterday, we held a funeral service for Ethel Southall, one of our beloved members who unexpected passed away last week. Ethel was active not only at our church, but also at New Life Assembly of God, where she fixed hot dogs for their school every Wednesday, and at Heritage Baptist Church, where she participated in their Friday morning quilting group.
Ethel was the “momma hen” of her big family clan, and the whole sanctuary was packed with family, friends, and former students. During the service, we played Ethel’s moving testimony of her faith in Christ that she gave at one of our Lenten services last year. Her testimony can be heard here.
Ethel will be greatly missed by our church and by our community, but we know that she has entered into her eternal reward and is now reunited with her parents, her husband Walter, her younger brother Everett, and older brother Bill–a former Minister of Education here at Farmville Baptist who also recently passed away on March 7.
The picture above of Ethel with her oldest daughter Jayne was taken in March of 2006. Our hearts and prayers extend to Ethel’s family during this time of loss.
Last Sunday afternoon, we had nearly fifty children (in addition to their parents) in our front and back yards enjoying an Easter Egg Hunt. Many thanks to Amanda Johnston and our Children’s Committee for organizing the event. We had youth hiding the eggs, college students offering games and face painting, and parents bringing food. John Johnston grilled over one hundred hot dogs for everyone!
Click “more” for more pictures. (more…)
Last night, about eighty people attended a “Christ in the Passover” presentation given by Rob Wertheim of Jews for Jesus. Rob’s forty-five minute presentation went over each of the elements of a traditional Jewish Passover Seder meal and how each element points to Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, the spotless lamb of God sacrificed for the sin of the world. After the presentation, we all celebrated Communion. It was especially gratifying to have members of First Baptist and Zion Hill Baptist churches, two African-American churches, in our midst. As we received the bread and the cup together, we experienced the truth of St. Paul’s affirmation proclaimed in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Following the children’s lesson of our regular worship service, children from kindergarten through second grade leave the sanctuary to participate in their own worship service in our Fellowship Hall. Two adult leaders, plus an older child, guide the children in this service.
The service is quite simple, and, with the exception of the changing Bible story, it remains constant from week to week. The kids follow a simplified order of worship that echoes what the main congregation is using upstairs in the sanctuary. The hope is that the children’s worship service will allow children to worship more fully now — and in the future, when they join the grown-ups in the main service.
The concept and materials are based on Young Children and Worship by Sonja M. Stewart and Jerome W. Berryman, available in our church library.
Click on “more” to find links to .pdf versions of the leader’s guide and the weekly lessons for Children’s Church through August 2008. (more…)
Pastor’s Column in The Informer (FBC’s Newsletter) – published March 2008
I had the privilege of attending the New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta at the end of January, and I was greatly inspired by the experience. It wasn’t so much because of the “big name” speakers, although they brought wonderful messages. No, it was the mere fact that I was in the same room with nine thousand other Baptists, spanning many geographic, racial, political and cultural divides, worshipping and praising God together. During those three days, I felt a spirit of unity based on our common commitment to Jesus Christ even in the midst of our diversity. It made me glad to be a part of the larger body of believers who call themselves Baptist. But after that meeting, a question remained: “What now?”
Then I returned to Farmville and found our town reeling from the fatal shootings and the car accident involving the Prides and Baxter Stegall. That Sunday afternoon, I attended a community-wide prayer vigil service at First Baptist Church on behalf of the victims. In the midst of our tragedy, I witnessed a sanctuary packed with fellow believers spanning geographic, racial, political and cultural divides, worshipping God in Christ and praying together. I felt a movement of God’s Spirit that unified us despite our deep differences. But after that meeting, a question remained: “What now?”
I’m happy to report that after the prayer vigil service, a small group of local pastors, African-American and Anglo (and one Asian!), decided to meet to plan other joint services to gather the community together. We feel that God’s Spirit is leading us first to establish trust, friendship and love among ourselves, and then to lead our congregations to do the same. I will keep you posted as plans materialize. In the meantime, pray for us pastors as we seek to join in what God is doing here in Farmville to unify us all in the love of Christ.
Yours in Christ, Michael
