Happy New Year!
Sheila and I want to wish you and your family a very happy and blessed new year! We also want to thank you for your amazing Christmas present!
Along with the New Year comes new visions, dreams and goals for our personal lives. But what about our spiritual lives? What kind of visions, dreams and goals do we have for 2014? Have you given any though or prayer to your spiritual visions, dreams or goals? Have you thought how the Lord could use you in 2014 at LBC in making a difference in people’s lives right here in our community? You have heard me say this before … everyone matters in our church family! Well on January 12th at 6:00 PM, we will be sitting down as a church family and sharing our visions, goals, and dreams for
2014. My desire is to hear from everyone in our church family! If you do not like to talk, then please write them down and I will read them for you. I do believe this will be an exciting service to attend, share and listen.
Looking Back at 2013 …
2013 was a great year for us at Lakeview Baptist Church in so many ways! Allow me to highlight just a few.
I am so proud of how so many of you were so dedicated to the Lord’s work here at LBC this past year. For ministries to work, it takes people! People who are dedicated to using their gifts and talents unto the Lord! No one person can carry the whole load or perform all that is needed to be a ministering church. So I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard in ministry this past year at LBC. In any successful ministry it takes people dedicated to the Lord’s calling and I’m so thankful that our church has many people dedicated to the Lord’s calling. One of the many things that excites me about 2014 for LBC is that already new people are coming up and saying, “it’s time for me to get dedicated and go to work for the Lord!” Wow, that is so awesome!
We set the largest ministry budget in church history for 2013 and 2014! The reason we can set the largest budget in church history is because of our people’s giving which has been so strong. This budget means that we are funding ministries like never before and that is very exciting!
New ministries such as a new web-site, email & text communication, young people’s hand bell choir, Christmas Gifts of Love, fellowship nights, two adult volleyball teams, Veterans Home, Ladies Golden Apples, to name a few were started in 2013 with more to come in 2014!
We were blessed to see nine people follow the Lord Jesus Christ in believer’s baptism and four more to join our family here at LBC in 2013. We have grown both in numbers and in love. I think many church leaders today focus so much on the numbers part and leave out the most important part … and that is love. As a matter of fact, the Bible says that without love, we
have nothing! I am so thankful for the love that is within the family at LBC!
Looking Ahead at 2014
25th Anniversary … This year marks Lakeview Baptist Church’s 25th anniversary! On Sunday, May 25th we will be celebrating the twenty five years of ministry here at LBC in a very special service.
We will be sending out special invitations to all members who have attended LBC in its twenty five years of ministry. So if you know of someone who has attended LBC in the past, we would appreciate it if you could give us their name and address so we can send them that special invitation.
We have so many special things planned for this special day as we celebrate 25 years of ministry! One of the things we want to do is to honor all those who have given so much in that we can enjoy ministry today at LBC. In that we will honor all of our charter members in a very special way.
There will be pictures covering twenty five years of ministry and we will also be giving away special 25th anniversary t-shirts for all who attend.
We will be having a special 25th anniversary dinner following the services. There is going to be much, much more on this special day and we will be talking about this awesome day in the coming weeks and months.
Golden Apples … It’s that time ladies! Golden Apples will be starting back up this month. For those of you who have never attended one of these Lady Ministry events … it is a special time for just the ladies. It all starts out with a lady bringing a special recipe and everyone helping make this dish and other food items. This month, Jessica Latham will be bringing that special recipe. Then all the ladies partake (fancy word for eating). Then someone brings a devotion or testimony. I understand it is a very moving time! Pam Mayes will be bringing a very powerful testimony for the January meeting and believe me when I say, ladies, you don’t want to miss it as Pam has shared her story with me and it is indeed a powerful word!
Fellowship Night … Due to the very busy and hard schedule of November and December, we are giving the month of January off for our kitchen crew as they have more than earned this. Fellowship night will resume back in February.
New Sermon Series Coming Very Soon …We are the army of God. The Bible tells us to put on the Whole Armor of God. In this series we are going to look at what it means in that we are the army of God and what is the armor of God and how do we put it on. We will learn that we have been delivered from the hand of the enemy by being washed in the Blood of the Lamb and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. We will learn that God did not call us into His service and into warfare without weapons. Trust me when I say, you don’t want to miss any of this series because it could mean the difference between victory or defeat for you and your family!
Bad Weather and Service Cancelation …When bad weather comes and threatens the cancellation of our services, a decision will be made as soon as possible by our deacon body and everyone will receive notification. If you are on the email list or text list you will receive notification through them. If you are not on either list, you will receive a call from one of the deacons. If you do not receive notification, please contact one of the deacons or myself and we will make sure that you are added and receive future notifications.
Texting and email…This has and is a great communication tool for our church. There are 69 members that are receiving emails and 21 receiving text! If you would like to be on one or both all you have to do is contact me by email at pap4ut@gmail or text me at 270-881-6233 and I will be glad to add you.