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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Men's Connect Groups -- Part 2

Below is another 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,

This morning, let me recommend another men's connect group for next semester...

About a year ago I picked up a book someone had recommended to me called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I don't think at that point I had even had heard of Francis Chan. The book was short and easy to read, so it didn't take long to get through, but wow! It turned out to be one of the very best books I've ever read.

Crazy Love is about how much God loves us and how we can be closer to Him. And while that seems like the theme to a hundred thousand books, this book is different. This book is so genuine and so fresh, I promise it will change your outlook and understanding of how much God loves people.

This next Connect Ministry semester, Sam Smith, who I think read the book about the same time I did, will be leading a connect group centered around a study of this book.

This would be a great group for all of our men, young or old, new Christian or long-time Christian.

The group will meet at the church each Monday, at 6:00 a.m..

If you would like just a taste of what the book is about, visit the website www.CrazyLoveBook.com and watch some of the brief videos there.

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.

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

Monday, December 28, 2009

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

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Focused on Service

Each week in our Connect Ministry (small groups), our leaders spend some time focusing on encouraging people to be involved in ministry and service. I just had a meeting this morning where we reviewed some of the new sign-ups. It is so encouraging to see so many of our people getting involved!

As an example, in my Tuesday Morning Men's Group, we had eleven in attendance today. Of those eleven men, three signed up to come listen to boys say their AWANA verses on Wednesday nights, two signed up for our weekly soul winning class, and one signed up to serve in our Food Pantry Ministry.

Our leaders are doing such a great job encouraging people to serve... Disciples are being made!

Thankful to Pastor such a Wonderful Church,
Pastor Noel

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Letter to the Church...

Below is an email I sent to our church members for whom we have an email address on record...

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Dear Church Family,

I'm in my church study preparing for our weekly staff meeting, and I thought I would send out a quick email to the church and share some good news...

First, I just received an email from a lady in our church that felt convicted to go and share Christ with her 95-year-old, Jehovah's Witness aunt. She took her notes from my sermon on the myth "Dead People Go To A Better Place". Her aunt repented of her sins and professed her faith in Christ. Wow!

Some more good news...

Sunday, September 27, was the first day in our new Connect Ministry semester. We had a record attendance of 419 people for the first week! We were up in every age category we measure. We were very grateful for that incredible number but had braced for the number to drop for week two. Guess what... it didn't drop... it went up! When all of the numbers are in, it looks like the total will be between 440 and 450 in small group attendance.

Tomorrow (10/7) I will begin to focus on 1 & 2 Timothy in my daily quiet time videos. If you would like a little help and accountability with your quiet times, check out MyMornings.blogspot.com to see my daily videos. There is an introductory video you can view here and then just join in with the others who are sharing together in our devotions each morning.

This coming Sunday morning I will be continuing my series on "Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe." We will be focusing on the myth: God Forgets All Our Sins. I am looking forward to the day of worship. I hope you will be here with us.

Pastor Wally, Pastor Shawn, Scott, and I will be meeting early tomorrow morning, as we do each Wednesday, to specifically pray for our church members and our community. If you send an email to info@fbcho.com before 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, I promise we will pray especially for you and your need when we gather together.

Pastor Noel

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Thoughts on Last Sunday and the Next...

This past Sunday was a great Sunday of worship...
  • We had a great crowd... both on the main floor and in the balcony! (In fact we had some families that had a difficult time finding seats together. I want to remind our regular worship attenders to sit as close to the front as you can get and to scoot to the center of the row you are sitting on. That will help us make things easier and more comfortable for our guests each week.)
  • We began the service with baptisms which has become an almost weekly occurrence. I pray this will always be true, and I pray that we never get 'used to it'. We should always marvel at the grace of God that changes lives.
  • We had a very good response during our invitation... a number of people and families praying at the altar. We had one young adult lady make a profession of faith and three youth make public that they had made professions of faith over the weekend.
  • Sunday night was a blast. We had a real wedding in our evening worship service... Sound strange? It was great! We had a young couple come into our church a few weeks ago. They made a profession of faith and began to allow the grace of God to change their lives. One of the things they wanted to do was to get married and re-start their family the right way. They didn't have the resources to have a wedding so we decided we would just make it a part of our worship service and celebrate the grace of God... How God's grace was changing them and how God's grace is changing all of us. So we had a wedding, a sermon, and a couple of baptisms... Then we had a giant reception. I was so proud of how our church came out to celebrate with the young couple and how they blessed them with money and gifts at the reception... Wow! What a great example of the love of Christ.
This next Sunday is going to be fun as well...
  • Our new semester of Connect Groups begins Sunday. We are hoping for a record attendance and involvement in our Connect Ministry beginning this week. If you haven't signed up for a group, there is still a few days left. Go to our website, fill out the form, and choose your group. Some of the groups are closed now, but we will do our best to get you in the group you choose.
  • This week we will be continuing our series of messages on 'Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe.' This weeks myth is... God Helps Those Who Help Themselves. We will be in Genesis 16.
  • Pastor Wally just let me know we have two more baptisms schedule for this Sunday morning!
A quick note on our daily Quiet Time encouragements. If you sometimes struggle with having a daily devotional time, take a look at our daily QT Encouragement blog... MyMornings.blogspot.com.

Pastor Noel

Friday, September 18, 2009

New Song for Worship...

Pastor Wally, Pastor Shawn, and Church Administrator Scott are working on doing this little number in an upcoming service...



Pastor Noel

Monday, September 7, 2009

Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe

There are two things on my mind this morning as I do a little studying and praying about what is on the horizon at First Baptist Church of Heath…

First, I am looking forward to our new message series that begins this Sunday. After spending six weeks focusing on just two chapters in the Book of Revelation, now we are going to skip around the Bible for the next six weeks. I am borrowing this series title from a Larry Osborne book I read a while back. As soon as I saw the book title, I thought this would make a great message series if the Lord gave me liberty to preach it. So the title of our upcoming series is “Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe”. Larry, in his book, identifies ten of these dumb things. In my message series, I plan to address six. Three of mine are similar to his; three are different. Here is my list…


Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe
• Myth #1: Your Conscience Should Be Your Guide (9/13)

• Myth #2: Dead People Go To A Better Place (9/20)

• Myth #3: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves (9/27)

• Myth #4: God Forgets All Our Sins (10/4)

• Myth #5: God Has A Blueprint For My Life (10/11)

• Myth #6: All Things Work Together For Your Good (10/18)

Invite your friends, family, and co-workers. Let’s see how God’s Word can encourage us as we learn the truth about these myths.

Second, I have received much positive feedback from our on-line quiet time encouragement videos. Tomorrow (9/8) I will begin to focus on the Gospel of John. If you would like to join me for these quiet times for a few weeks, this would be a good place to start.

The best way to begin is to watch the video I made on how to have a quiet time. Then just jump in with the rest of us tomorrow morning!

For the introduction video, click here.

For the daily quiet time videos, click here.

Invite your friends, family, and co-workers to join in. The website is MyMornings.Blogspot.com.

Pastor Noel

Sunday, September 6, 2009

My Mornings...

Check out my new post at my other blog... MyMornings.blogspot.com

Pastor Noel

Saturday, September 5, 2009

My Mornings...

Check out my new post at my other blog... MyMornings.blogspot.com

Pastor Noel

Friday, September 4, 2009

My Mornings...

Check out my new post at my other blog... MyMornings.blogspot.com

Pastor Noel

Thursday, September 3, 2009

My Mornings...

Check out my new post at my other blog... MyMornings.blogspot.com

Pastor Noel

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

My Mornings...

Check out my new post at my other blog... MyMornings.blogspot.com

Pastor Noel

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

My Mornings...

Check out my new post at my other blog... MyMornings.blogspot.com

Pastor Noel

Monday, August 31, 2009

My Mornings...

Check out my new post at my other blog... MyMornings.blogspot.com

Pastor Noel

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Recent Tweets

My blog posts seem to be getting less and less frequent. I have begun using Twitter and Facebook to stay in touch with the online church community more than my blog. Some people don't use those tools and consequently don't see those posts. So I will occasionally just list those in this space in addition to the occasional blog post.

Pastor Noel

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Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it ... will do no good. Ps 127 ~ 5:55 AM Aug 5th

Same Scripture but different emphasis for Sunday message... New title: Final Warning: You Will Be Tested, I Will Help You... Rev 2:8-11 ~ 1:00 PM Aug 4th

Working on our prospect database.... noticed we have five people requesting to be baptized this Sunday.... Wow! ~ 12:50 AM Aug 4th

Good service and fellowship tonight with our team home from Kenya... ~ 8:30 PM Aug 2nd

Looking forward to being back in worship with my faith family... ~ 6:09 PM Aug 1st

Upcoming Message Series... http://bit.ly/bw5M9 ~ 9:15 AM Jul 31st

My 'son' in Kenya (Noel Junior) sent these keekoy's (sp?) to his 'sisters'... http://twitpic.com/c7iee ~ 10:35 PM Jul 30th

I'm home... Long day, but good day... ~ 10:29 PM Jul 30th

About to leave church to make a visit, then go to a meeting, then if time, another visit, then back to study... is vacation really worth it? ~ 4:48 PM Jul 30th

Good news... Revelation 1:3 promises that that Lord will bless the person who reads the book of Revelation... ~ 7:48 AM Jul 30th

An early start... Trying to pack a week's worth of work into two days... ~ 3:42 AM Jul 30th

Just finished the book, Eat This Book, by Eugene Peterson... Didn't agree w/ everything but I learned much... I will read this book again... ~ 1:02 PM Jul 29th

Looking forward to tomorrow, my 14th Wedding Anniversary. My wife is the 2nd biggest blessing in my life and a daily source of joy to me! ~ 11:30 PM Jul 28th

Just finished the book, 'The Purity Principle' by Randy Alcorn... Every married couple should read this book twice a year! ~ 6:31 PM Jul 27th

Preparing a four week series from the second and third chapters of the book of Revelation... I'm looking forward to preaching again... ~ 3:11 PM Jul 27th

Back in the saddle this morning... ~ 6:36 AM Jul 27th

Is praying for a great, God honoring worship service this morning... ~ 5:40 AM Jul 26th

Sitting by the pool working on an outline on my laptop... http://twitpic.com/bl7bv ~ 1:38 PM Jul 25th