FAMILY NEWS AND NOTES
As the men serving on the communion table make their way toward the front to be seated, please begin to prepare your minds for our worship services.
Please remember …Each Member and Visitor needs to complete an
ATTENDANCE CARD and pass them to the inside aisle where they will be picked up at the appropriate time.
Teacher’s Workshop: Next Saturday, January 26th, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., our congregation will host a teacher’s workshop for all ladies who are interested in either becoming Bible class teachers, or in becoming a better Bible class teacher. The two ladies who are coming to conduct this seminar are well-known in our brotherhood for their teaching expertise, and come highly recommended for their ability to conduct teaching seminars. They are coming a long way to share their skills and knowledge with our ladies, so I hope everyone of our ladies will take advantage of this seminar, and that includes our young ladies of junior and senior high school age. Even if you are not currently teaching in our Bible school program, this seminar could help you to develop the skills necessary to become a teacher of other ladies and young people. All of our current teachers are of course expected to be present to learn all you can to help you be a better teacher. We are expecting many ladies from other area congregations to be our guests for this seminar, and we sure want our own ladies to have a good showing and be here to welcome these guests. Please don’t let other things get in the way of this rare opportunity to increase your teaching skills and zeal. Lunch will be served at noon to all seminar participants by our ladies, so if you would like to help with this, please let Janice McCain know today!
Bible Bowl practice at 5 PM this afternoon. Everyone is encouraged to attend. We are grateful for the time and efforts of the young people who participate and for the support of their parents. We had 125 in attendance last week.
3rd Sunday Youth Devotional Sunday following the evening services. Hosted by the Ferrells’ and Traughber’s. Check with Linda Ferrell or Delores Traughber as to what to bring.
There will be a SINGLES NOON BANQUET hosted by the youth of the congregation, on February 27, 2008. All singles are encouraged to keep this date open so you can attend.
There will be a Bridal Shower for Laci Farmer on February 03, 2008 at 2:00 PM in the Multi-purpose room. Laci is registered at Mason Hardware and Wal-Mart. More info to follow later.
Perry Cooper (at the writing of this bulletin) was still in room 320 at Titus Regional Medical Center. He had surgery on his foot this past week to remove dead tissue. He will be there for several more days.
Edith Shiflet was moved from ICI to a private room on Thursday (Room 416). She is due shortly to be transferred to Good shepherd Hospital in Longview for long-term skilled care for the drug resistant pneumonia she has. She will undergo high powered anti-biotic treatments and regime and high level skilled nursing care.
Tim Jones was dismissed from the hospital last week following tests that showed no heart problems, although he is undergoing treatments for other problems he has.
R. C. Grissom is now back at home.
Carolyn Sargent has been confined to her home last week with the flu, but is much better now.
Bill Webb, friend of Daniel & Keely McCary, passed away this past week. At the printing of this bulleting arrangements were pending. Bill was an elder at the Commerce church of Christ.
Terry Coutounamos, who has been on our prayer list for quite a while, passed away last week. Her funeral was conducted at 2:00 PM Thursday at the Methodist Church in Naples, Texas.
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PRAYER LIST
Justin Barker, Rachel Barker, Doris Bell, Louis & Nona Bell, Winell Blackard, Annah Brown, Sue Browning, Billye Campbell, Gene Campbell, Perry Cooper, Josephine Cooper, Ann Carter, Grady Duncan, Patsy Duncan, Jan Hargrove, Dorothy Kyle, Joyce Lee, Georgia Lide, Wade Miller, Weldon Miller, Ben McCain, Charles Neal, Elna O’Neal, Edith Shiflet, Rebecca Tippitt
ALSO: Lynn Barrett, Robert Brewster, Wesley DuBose, Betty Duncan, William Embree, R. C. Grissom, Ted Klym, Betty Newman, Linda Stansell, Paul Unger
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What Kind Of Church…? The Choice Is Yours!
What do you want the North Jefferson church to be like? How do you want us to be thought of in the community? What impression do you want our visitors to leave with after coming our way? Most importantly, what does God think of us, and how will our congregation be judged eternally? As you think about your answers, let your imagination run wild for a moment. Friendliest church -- most inspiring worship services -- best evangelistic emphasis -- most compassionate benevolence program -- most peaceful church -- best taught Bible school -- strongest visitation program -- most loving fellowship -- best youth program -- most generous -- etc., etc. The choice is yours, you know!
Of course, I’m not talking about what doctrine we will believe, practice and teach. That’s already been decided for us by Christ. If we want to be the Lord’s church, then obviously we must do what Christ said, or we are not His church. What I am talking about is how we apply Christ’s doctrine. That’s what really determines what the North Jefferson congregation will be like, and that decision is up to the membership. Let me explain.
Who decides what the attendance will be at any given service? The members decide! Who decides how much will be spent on evangelism? Someone says, “well, the elders do.” Wrong! Oh yes, the elders decide where the money will go, but the members decides how much will be spent, because if we don’t give it, they can’t spend it. What about the atmosphere of our assemblies, who decides what that will be? Why the members, of course! You can’t have a friendly church, without friendly members. You can’t have a loving church, without loving members. You can’t have enthusiastic and spirited worship, without members who worship God in a spirited and zealous fashion. You can’t have peace in the Lord’s church, unless you have brethren who are peacemakers.
One final question, who decides whether we are a growing, stagnant, or dying church? You’ve begun to catch on, it’s the members! Oh yes, leadership plays a major part. I’ve always believed, and the Bible clearly teaches that the church cannot outgrow its leadership. In other words, you can’t have a growing church with a stagnant or dead leadership. Generally speaking, the members will not go where their leaders will not lead and that’s why many churches are stagnant, dying, or dead, because their leaders offer little or no example of real leadership for the members to follow. As the Bible says, “where there is no vision, they people perish” (Prov. 29:18).
Ultimately, though, it falls on the membership to decide whether the church grows, maintains the status quo (a nice way of saying remains stagnant), or dies. In the case of stagnant leadership, faithful members will kindly exhort and encourage the leaders to boldly dream, challenge, and lead by example. In the case of dynamic, visionary, on-fire leadership, though, if they don’t have zealous members who are willing to follow their lead by involving themselves in the work, then the battle is lost. The simple truth is, it takes great leaders and great followers to build a great church!
To a great degree the success or failure of the local congregation is in YOUR hands. YOU must decide how much visiting will be done, how many home Bible studies will be taught, how many folks will be invited to attend our services, how much the Gospel will be shared in private conversations, and what kind of influence the church will have in the community by YOUR own personal demeanor and example. YOU decide how much money will be spent on world evangelism, how uplifting and joyful our worship will be, and whether or not we have peace or war in the local fellowship. Ultimately, whether or not the local church grows both spiritually and numerically, will, to a great degree, be determined by these factors. So, you see, the choice really is YOURS!
What do you want this church to be like, and what would it be like if everyone else attended, participated, worshipped, gave, and worked just like Y0U do? D. Mc.
