Leave a Comment on our New Blog

Check out a new blog we are using to get the word out about an upcoming message series.

www.InvestigatingEvidence.com

Leave a comment about any objection to the Bible's trustworthiness and I will be sure to address it during this message series.

Pastor Noel

Men's Connect Groups -- Part 1

This is a copy of an email I sent out to all of the men in our church for whom we have an email in our system. For some of our men we either don't have an email at all or we have an incorrect email. So, here it is...

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Dear Men of First Heath,

As you probably know, we are in the process of helping people sign-up for our next semester of small groups. We call these groups Connect Groups.

Last semester we saw a number of new men get connected in groups and we saw these same men really begin to grow stronger in their faith and walk with the Lord. I believe this next semester will be even better.

This semester we are offering seven men's groups. These seven groups will be offered on five different days of the week. There will be morning groups and evening groups... There will be weekend groups and weekday groups... There will be something to fit any man's schedule. Of course, many of you will choose to be in one of the thirteen mixed adult groups instead of specifically a men's group and that is fine, but take a close look at the men's groups that are offered this semester and see what fits best for you.

You can see all of the men's groups on our website: www.FirstBaptistHeath.com. Click on "Love People" and then on the link for our Connect Group Catalogue.

Let me highlight one of our men's groups today. I'll highlight more in emails later in the week.

Apologetics: Surprised By Faith
Group Leader: Dr. Eric Chico
When: Tuesdays, 7:00 a.m.

Have you ever wondered what the evidences or the proofs for our faith were? Have you ever struggled with how you could speak intelligently with an unbeliever or a skeptic about why he should choose Christ? Have you wrestled with some of the criticisms of the Christian faith and wished you could give a better answer either for your own benefit or the benefit of someone else? If so, this would be a great group to be a part of.

Eric has spent his life studying apologetics, the reasons and the arguments behind why we believe what we believe. Eric is uniquely qualified to lead this group.

This would be a great group for men who want to stretch their faith.

To sign-up for this group or any other group, just visit our website or call our church office (740-522-5245). If you have any questions about the groups that are offered, email our small groups pastor, Pastor Shawn (Shawn@FBCHO.com), and he will be glad to help you.

In Christ,
Pastor Noel

Study Retreat

Well, I'm in Greensboro, NC this morning heading back to Ohio after spending a great week getting away to do some studying. I am both exhausted and refreshed... and I am very much looking forward to tomorrow.

Let me say a giant thank you to my wife and girls for allowing me to be away from the family for seven days. This wasn't the easiest week for them for me to be gone. They are so supportive of me, though. I've got the greatest family in the world.

Also a big thanks to Pastor Wally, Pastor Shawn, and Pastor Troy for holding down the fort while I was away. Either everything went great while I was gone or they've done a good job of keeping anyone from calling me and telling me what went wrong. Either way is good. Thanks for all of your extra work.

I am thankful for a church that allows me to take a pause in my schedule like this and spend a week focused on the ministry of prayer and the Word.

Let me share with you what I was able to get done in a week's time...

I was able to have six extended, uninterrupted, unhurried devotional times of Bible reading and prayer. That was very refreshing!

I was able to read four books... One on writing (called "On Writing"), one on time management, one on how to better study and prepare, and one on apologetics. The last one I would recommend to you. It is called "The Reason for God" by Timothy Keller. Keller is a pastor of a very large church in New York City. He spends a lot of time ministering to a crowd of people who have many intellectual and cultural objections to believing in Jesus Christ. In this book he shares how our faith can best be taught and defended in a modern culture.

I was also able to write 65 pages on a project that will form the basis for a sermon series in the Fall. As a church we will use this both as a sermon series and also in new member training. More to come...

This has been my most productive study week ever.

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I am really looking forward to tomorrow. Four big events have got my motor running...

First, I will be preaching a message in the morning service on having margin in our lives and in our marriages. I have been looking forward to preaching this message for six weeks.

Second, we will be worshiping through the Lord's Supper in a very different way tomorrow. I've never done this before so I don't know for sure how it will go, but I am excited. During all of my time tomorrow when I'm not preaching (we will be having three worship services tomorrow, more on that in a moment), I will be leading in worship through the Lord's Supper in my study. I will meet with the church body, one family at a time, every seven minutes, for prayer and worship. I think the deacons have a great system worked out to make this a very special time for our church. Carla told me this week that so far we've got people signed up for every seven minutes until sometime past 9:00 p.m. It will be a long day, but I am looking forward to it. There are still slots available if your family hasn't signed up yet, but they are all after 9:00. We may do this again the following week to accommodate those we couldn't fit in this week, but I'm not sure. I'm trying to move some things around on my schedule to make it work.

Third, we will have a 'members only' preview of our new 'Sunday Extra Worship.' Beginning next week we will be re-doing our Sunday morning worship service on Sunday evenings after our regular Sunday evening service. I know that sounds complicated, you'll have to hear more as we talk about it at church tomorrow if you don't already know how it works. Our prayer is that this new service will do two things... First that it will help relieve the overcrowding in the morning service, and secondly that it will allow us to reach people we could never have reached before. We will be doing something special in the 'preview' tomorrow.

The fourth special thing tomorrow is a special announcement we will be making. I have been working with the leaders of our church for a few months on a special project that I think is going to be the key to our church reaching a new level in its outreach and its ministry. We have worked and prayed very hard to get this put together. Tomorrow we will be able to share the good news...

Well, I need to get on the road so I can see my family...

Pastor Noel