Volume 7, Issue 17 April 29, 2015 The Pastor’s Pen Who We Are Faith Fellowship of Lexington is a Non-denominational gathering of Christians who enjoy traditional worship services. Where to Find Us Faith Fellowship of Lexington worships in the Seventh-day Adventist Church facilities at 968 Lane Allen Road in Lexington, Kentucky. Our offices are located at 365 Waller Avenue, Suite 120, in Lexington. We're at http://faithfellowshiplex.com on the web. If you go to www.ihigh.com/faithfellowship you can watch our service live on Sunday mornings. You can also watch archived services by going to the iHigh address above. We Gather for Fellowship Coffee/Donut Fellowship Time: 9:15 - 9:30 a.m. We Gather for Bible Study Adult I Sunday school meets at 9:30 a.m. in room 8 (Library). by Dr. Bill Turner, Senior Pastor Thanks to the leadership of Ron Reaguer, our Administrative Board Chair, we had a fine Leadership Retreat this past weekend. Our agenda was church outreach and growth, and we did a lot of good, creative brainstorming. "Wake-up call" is the phrase that comes to my mind as I think about our morning together - and the future of Faith Fellowship. We've come to a time in our history when "business as usual" won't work. An increased and intentional OUTWARD focus has to become front-burner for us. Come to think of it, that's at the heart of what it means to be the Church in any era. One theologian studied the images for Church in the New Testament and discovered that most of them are about outward activity: light, salt, wine, leaven, etc. So our very nature is not to be a social club for "people like us," but folks on mission with Christ and each other out in the neighborhoods and networks of daily life. As we engage others in those places, an invitation to our church becomes a natural - and highly effective - way to enlarge the Sunday ranks among us. In the weeks ahead, I urge you to pray for our church - our work together right now and the future to which God's Spirit will lead us. All of our ideas, strategies, and plans won't amount to much without that. Living Faith Sunday school meets at 9:30 a.m. in Room 2. We Gather for Worship Sunday Worship: 11:00 a.m. Children’s Church: 11:15 a.m Child care is available. We’re Looking Forward… May 3 – Missions Sunday in our 11 a.m. service. May 9 – Men of Faith Breakfast at 9:00 a.m. at the Shamrock Grill. May 11 – Care Ministry Meeting in the Church Office at 7:00 p.m. May 12 - Join us at 7:00 p.m. at the Opera House in Lexington for Menopause: The Musical. The cost is $36 each when you have a minimum of 10 people attend. So far, we have 8 that have signed up to attend. Call Lois Baber at (859) 272-8792 for more information or look for the sign-up sheet at the Welcome Center. The deadline to sign up is May 3. May 14 – Women of Faith at 7:00 p.m. at the home of Charlotte Leadership Retreat Minutes - April 25, 2015 – 7:00 p.m. by Scot Reeves "At the Lexington Theological Seminary last Saturday, Reverend Turner and Ron Reaguer (Administrative Board Chair) hosted a Faith Fellowship Growth Seminar. From 9 to 11am, a good number of our folks shared and discussed a wide variety of ideas from Church Buses and Pot-Luck Sundays to New Member Contact Committees. Four major ideas linger after we adjourned: 1) As great as our Worship Services are, our Christian mission stretches beyond Sunday mornings, to touch the unsaved, unserved, or uninvolved. Personal contacts and word of mouth remain the best tools/options. 2) Also, Social Media on the Internet can be an effective way to get word out about us. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and others provide what amounts to free advertising and could be utilized to touch people within and outside our own circles. 3) Our Congregational activities (like the recent Lenten Home Study, Fifth Sunday Musicales, or Faith Frenzy! activities) are highlight opportunities to invite friends and neighbors. 4) Most of all, let’s continue to pray. Although we do not own or have our own church property, we worship in a tremendous spiritual environment. Over the years, our church has welcomed new members but we have not been able to keep pace with attrition. These notes provide just a snapshot. Please consider these ideas and feel free to offer other suggestions!" Krasinski, 3853 Pinecrest Way. Pamela Hanson, Executive Director of Simon House in Frankfort, Kentucky, will speak with us. May 28 – Missions Committee Meeting at 7 p.m. in the Church office. May 31 – Fifth Sunday Musicale at 4:00 p.m. – With a Voice of Singing will be presented by our adult choir and instrumentalists. Be sure to mark your calendar and invite family, friends and neighbors! Prayer Requests Growth and Support for our Care Ministers by Rev. Richard Dwyer Faith Fellowship is a Church that Cares. This is evident in our networks of individuals who are always alert for those of our congregation in times of spiritual and physical crises. I immediately noticed this caring quality when I first joined the Faith Fellowship Ministerial Staff a few months ago. One group that faithfully provides a caring presence to those in need is named Care Ministers. Those who are Care Ministers serve on a rotation basis as contact people for those who are in need of spiritual support and physical presence. We are offering a time of growth and support for our Care Ministers on Monday evening, May 11, from 7:00 to 8:30, in our church office on Waller Avenue. We will spend time sharing our needs as Care Ministers. In addition, I will be sharing ideas for growth as a Care Minister that have come from my studies in Clinical Pastoral Education at Central Baptist Hospital and in Pastoral Care and Counseling at the Lexington Theological Seminary in the 1980s, as well as the time I spent as Minister of Pastoral Care at Calvary Baptist Church and as Executive Director-Pastoral Counselor of the Interfaith Samaritan Counseling Center that was sponsored by Calvary Baptist Church. If you are not one of the Care Ministers of Faith Fellowship but have an interest in exploring this possibility of Christian service, you are invited to attend this meeting. Please RSVP to Norma Smither in the church office To add a prayer request, please fill out a Prayer Request card that (859-277-0420) so that we may be prepared with adequate materials and can be obtained at the Welcome snacks. Center; call the church office at 277-0420, or submit a prayer request or update online at http://faithfellowshiplex.org. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you… Colossians 1:3 Pray for John Compton who has developed a very serious bacterial infection while recovering from open heart surgery (4 bypasses) about a month ago. John is also dealing with stomach issues and issues with his incisions in his leg. Please keep John and Gloria in your prayers. Pray for Velma Smart who has tumors that may be malignant. She will have surgery in the near future. Mitch Borders is requesting prayer for Velma and her family. Kevin Parrish requests prayer for his dad, Charles, who is going to have his eye removed due to cancer, on Friday, May 1, at a hospital in Cincinnati. Please remember Charles and his family during this time. Pray for a young friend of Nancy Robinson’s granddaughter who suddenly lost her vision in one eye. At this time, the doctors Mission Moment by Janet Layman, Missions Committee Chair Faith Fellowship of Lexington seeks to become the hands and feet of Christ in the world through engagement in missions. God Provides On Sunday, May 3 (Missions Sunday) during the final hymn we will come forward and lay our God Provides cards on the altar table. The purpose of God Provides is to covenant with God to look for unexpected income throughout the next year and then share some or all with Faith Fellowship Missions fund. This is not a pledge - it is a decision you prayerfully make to contribute and only you and God will know what the amount is. While this program helps to fund our Mission work, it also helps build our faith and dependence on God, who provides all that we have. Simply put the amount on the card and address the envelope to yourself. The cards will be mailed back to you next spring as encouragement and a reminder. NOTE: Our Missions Sunday guest speaker will be Pam Hanson, Executive Director of Simon House in Frankfort -- a nonprofit organization serving homeless women who are pregnant or have children and other low-income clients. Pam is an ordained Presbyterian minister and volunteers as the associate minister at First Presbyterian Church in Frankfort. Thank you! by Ann Holt and Norma Smither Thank you, dear friends of Faith Fellowship, for remembering us for Administrative Secretary’s week. We love the flowers, we love serving and we love you! have given her a 10-15% chance of restoring her sight. Pray for Jackie Bondurant as she recovers from a Deep Brain Probe recently. This procedure will control the tremors that Jackie has had for some time. She and David appreciate your prayers on Jackie’s behalf. Pray for Ellie, Karen Maudsley’s three-year-old granddaughter, who has been diagnosed with a tumor in her knee. Please pray that it is benign and can be easily removed. Pray for Beth, who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She is a friend of Phyllis Budde. Pray for Jennifer Upthegrove, age 42, who had colon cancer surgery recently. Please remember Jennifer and her family in prayer. She is a friend of Pam Gilkerson. Pray for Karen Delong, who is now home and is improving. She and her husband, Mike, appreciate your prayers. (Booker) For Bonnie Savage’s dear friend, Mary who has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Doctors are Care Ministers for April 27 through May 3 Fred Smith (272-3968) EMER1003@twc.com Denny Bonner (278-7505) dnbonner@twc.com Donna Bonner (278-7505) dctbonner@gmail.com Care Ministers for May 4 – May 10 Mary A. Pollock (606) 776-2194maryann.pollock@twc.com Dr. Bill Turner (859) 548-2093 bturner@lextheo.edu Men of Faith Breakfast – May 9, 2015 by Ron Reaguer Join us on Saturday, May 9 at 9:00 a.m. at the Shamrock Grill on Hartland Parkway for our Men of Faith Breakfast. We are having our gathering on the second Saturday in May due to the Kentucky Derby being held on the first Saturday. This is a great time to do outreach by inviting a family member, friend or neighbor. Look for the sign-up sheet in the Welcome Center or call Norma in the Church office. Altar Flowers Reminder Look for the sign-up sheets of dates available in the Welcome Center for providing flowers for our services. We are using Stems, a wholesale florist, and the new price is $85 for two arrangements. Place your name and phone number(s) on the sign-up form and Norma will contact you regarding any specific choice of flowers and the verbiage you wish to place in the bulletin. What a lovely way to honor those you love! determining the best treatment for Mary, age 82. Faith Summer Frenzy is coming soon! Pray for Angie Walk, Diana Sisk’s sister, that her doctors can give her an accurate diagnosis in order to know how to help her. Faith Summer Frenzy activities are starting to heat up, and it's not even summer yet!!! On the calendar for May are: Pray for Todd Pickett who is in dire need of a kidney because of diabetes complications. The kidney does not need to be a match; it is a kidney donated for a kidney. His mother, Joan Pickett, is a close friend to Barbara Hull, Gloria Compton, and Liz Berryman. Please pray that a kidney will be made available for him. He is now on dialysis while waiting for a kidney. Soldiers…Faith Afield Here are the names of the service people we currently know about. SSGT. Jamen Berry, son of Andy Berry Capt. Ginny Iskandarov – niece of Ginny Berry Elnur Iskandarov – nephew of Ginny Berry by marriage SSGT. Cameron Smith – brother by Sarah Reeves - Menopause: The Musical, Tuesday, May 12; 7:00 p.m. at the Opera House in Lexington. The cost is $36 each. Call Lois Baber at 272-8792 for more information or look for the sign-up sheet at the Welcome Center. - Golf Scramble - Monday, May 18, at the Tates Creek Golf Course (see Ron Reaguer for details) - Trail Riding at Asbury - Saturday, May 30 - (see Sarah Reeves for details) Check the table in the lobby of the church on Sunday for other chances to sign up for an activity. For those who are new, Summer Frenzy is summer camp for adults, but instead of just a week of camp, we schedule activities all summer, at different venues, and at different times of the day. Some activities require a small fee, but most are free. Bring a neighbor, a friend, a relative, or a co-worker, and enjoy the summer outings with other members of Faith Fellowship! of Sean Smith O ye of little faith… Airman Benjamin Engelbrecht – son of Paul Engelbrecht (picture provided by Sarah Reeves) Please send Ginny Berry any updates on the status of these persons…change in rank, address, new assignment…Her email address is momb1@twc.com Current Administrative Board for 2014 - 2015 Ron Reaguer, Chair Mitch Borders, Treasurer Andy Berry, Board Secretary Roger Blair Jackie Bondurant Denny Bonner Charlotte Krasinski Kinch Query Bob Quisenberry Sarah Reeves Adam Rudder Sue Thompson Patricia Wilson Pictured above is Dr. Bill Turner who did the “Chiming of the Hour” this past Sunday in response to a challenge to him by Liz Berryman. After Richard Dwyer, our organist, preached a few weeks ago in Dr. Turner’s absence, Liz thought Dr. Turner should play the organ. And you thought our pastor could not play the organ! Just look at the inspiration on his face as he was looking toward heaven, not to mention the inspiration he provided to everyone present who heard the chimes! Selah Volunteer Skill Bank Contact Information Our April 25th Leadership Retreat in pictures… (pictures by Sarah Reeves – more pictures to come next week) Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Church Office: 859-277-0420 Other times, call: Liz Berryman: 859-227-7560 Andy Berry: 859-223-8687 If they cannot be reached, call: Mary Anne Pollock: 859-368-0667 or 606-776-2194. Deadlines Roger has his phone and Scot has his coffee. Let the brainstorming begin! Prayer requests, committee news or announcements, and personal interest stories should be submitted by Noon on Monday for inclusion in the next issue of The Current. Please send them by email to norma@faithfellowshiplex.org. Announcements for the Sunday bulletin should be submitted to Norma by noon on Wednesdays at norma@faithfellowshiplex.org. Not sure if Ann (left) is raising her hand to answer a question or if she is just saying hello. We had a great group of about 30 people who met on Saturday (not all are pictured) to share ideas that would help us grow as a church. God bless each and every one of them who gave up their Saturday morning to be a part of this brainstorming session.
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