The MESSENGER (USPS 591-280) is published weekly except the week of Christmas by

First Baptist Church, 600 Governors Drive, Huntsville, AL 35801. Periodical postage

paid at Huntsville, Alabama 31801-5178. POSTMASTER send change of address to THE

MESSENGER, 600 Governors Drive, Huntsville, AL 35801.

office: 256-428-9400

weekend minister on call: 256-428-9457

24-hour prayer line: 256-428-9460

The Messengerfbchsv.org

firsT bapTisT hunTsville

this sunday

knowing, lov ing, serv ing Christ...together

First Baptist Church

600 Governors Drive

Huntsville, AL 35801

June 2, 2013

Sermon“Who is the Holy Spirit (Part 1)”

John 16:7-15

First Fellowship - 8:15 a.m.Music from the First Fellowship Band

Morning Bible Study - 9:15 a.m.Bible Study for all ages

Sanctuary Worship - 10:30 a.m.Guest Music Leader: David Giambrone

Sanctuary Choir AnthemConsolation of the Cross - Martin

Worship in the Chapel - 5:00 p.m.David Hull, preaching

Volume 64 / Week Number 28 / May 30, 2013

First thoughtsDavid hull, Pastor

how large is our church? For many years the primary way of measuring something like this was to look at church membership and sunday school attendance. Membership numbers are not really helpful since Baptists are not very good about adjusting our rolls over the years. total membership numbers tend to be very inflated for most churches that have been around for many years. tracking attendance is the best way to know the size of a church. in addition to counting sunday school attendance, seven years ago we began to count worship attendance, which gave us another way of determining our size. so, how large are we as a church? Measuring this way, we could

determine average attendance numbers and say the following:

January – April, 2013 Average Worship Attendance 1105

January – April, 2013 Average sunday school Attendance 961

in recent years we have observed that even our most faithful members are attending worship and Bible study on sundays less than they did a few years ago. Many opportunities pull our people in different directions on the weekends. i have talked about this with similar churches all over the country. Everyone is facing the same issue.

in addition, we have observed that people connect to the life of the church in other ways than just sunday school and worship. in fact we offer many opportunities through the week that enable people to experience spiritual growth, enter into prayer, and have Christian fellowship. sunday morning at 9:15 is not the only time this occurs. We need a new way to measure the lives that are being touched through the ministry of our church.

to address these new attendance realities, our staff has now introduced something called touchPoints. Each quarter we will track the total number of people who have attended sunday school and various other groups where attendance is taken and where spiritual growth, prayer, and fellowship occurs. (Worship is not included in touchPoints since we do not keep track of individual names in our worship attendance numbers.) instead of just concentrating on average attendance, this gives us a way to measure the total number of people who have been touched over the last three months through the ministry of the church. People are just counted once, even if they were here every week and involved with several different groups. For the first quarter of 2013 our TouchPoints number is 1540. This means that 1540 people were engaged at least once in one of these groups in our church. We will continue to count folks in this manner, with the goal that the number of people touched in this same quarter next year will be larger than this year. thanks for what you do to make this goal a reality.

Choral Workshop with Milburn PriceWednesday, June 5, at 7:00 p.m.

What an opportunity to work with one of the most effective choral directors of our age,

Dr. Milburn Price, who recently retired from samford university. Dr. Price will be working

with us on our summer anthems and also the music for Labor Day at the Cathedral. his musicianship and exemplary Christian spirit will be a blessing to our choir. Don’t

miss this special night of technique building and choir strengthening!

Fellowship Club Meeting

June 7 at 10:00 a.m. in the Fellowship hall. Ron Pettus is speaking on the flag.

Menu: hamburger steak with brown gravy, mashed potatoes, green peas, rolls.Non-members, please rsVP to sue

Mauldin at 256-534-2368.

Seeking Resident Housing

our student Ministry resident is seeking a one-year rental that could be a garage

apartment, house, or apartment. if you have information on a possibility, please email Jamie Mackey (jamie@fbchsv.org). the time needed is July 2013 to June 2014.

Get Hooked on Good Books

Kickoff is June 26! this summer reading program is open to

ages 2 through elementary school.

Veterans Pictures

for God and Country Service

A Special Patriotic Service and Dinner

Sunday, June 30, 5:00 p.m. Life Center

As before, we will have a slide presentation to honor all military personnel, living and deceased, connected to our church family. If you have not previously submitted a picture to be included in this presentation and would like to do so, please bring the picture to Nancy Moore in the Church Office. It will be scanned and returned to you. Please bring the photo by the office no later than Wednesday, June 12.

fbchsv.org

ministry calendar

knowing, lov ing, serv ing Christ...together

Library Hours Sunday 9-9:15 AM | 10:10-10:45 AM | 11:40-12:00 PMTuesday 10:00 AM-12:00 PMWednesday 4:00-5:00 PM

Wednesday Night Dinner MenuWednesday, June 5

AdultsChicken Tenders

Fire Roasted PotatoesSteamed Garden Vegetables

Rolls

SaladFried Chicken Salad

(Reservations for salad must be turned in by noon on Wednesday.)

STEWARDSHIP REPORT

Unavailable due to Memorial Day holiday

ATTENDANCE

Unavailable due to Memorial Day holiday

Worship Service

First Fellowship 322

Sanctuary Worship 601

TOTAL 923

THANK YOUThank you notes have been received from Teresa Bugg, MLK School Nurse and Mike

and Kathy Campbell. They have been placed on the bulletin board across from the Music

Suite.

FAMILY MATTERS

CHRISTIAN SYMPATHYFamily and friends of our member Woody Colvin, especially to his wife, Jo Colvin.

Jim & Ola Ann Lee in the loss of her brother, George “Bubba” Sims.

Yvette & Troy Hawkins in the loss of her father, and Abbie, Ellie & Jacob Hawkins in the loss of their grandfather, John William Pinkston.

our former recreation Minister, Roger & Dona McCurry in the loss of their son, Nathan McCurry.

First Baptist Church is hosting 42 business people from Vietnam on Sunday, June 2, in the First Fellowship Worship Service. Please give them a warm welcome. The group will also be

around our facility at various times until Friday, June 7.

June 9-136:00-8:00 p.m.

Family Bible Camp is not just for children - but for the entire family to participate together. We believe that when families move through the experience of Family Bible Camp together, then the learning can continue far beyond the hours spent

in the church building.

Sign up online at www.fbchsv.org/fbcregistration

or call 256-428-9411

Also, we need your help turning our new spaces into ancient Athens, greece. if you are interested in helping

with the transformation, please call Joy at 256-428-9427. Also, we still need canopy tents (10’x10’) for our

Market Place.

Sign up by Monday, June 3 by contacting the Adult Ministry Office at 256-428-9403 or 55plus@fbchsv.org

Experienced Adults

Fish Fry on the

Sunday, June 9

Sign up for Music CampJuly 8-12

www.fbchsv.org/musiccamp | 256-428-9421

Kindercamp YoungerCamp

OlderCamp

Grades 3-6Grades 1-2Completed K5

FBC DEACON NOMINATIONS BEGIN JUNE 22013 FBC Deacon Nominations begin this sunday, June 2, and end sunday, July 21.

Deacon Election will be on Sunday, September 8

Deacon Nomination Forms are available in the Admin Suite, Music Office, and in sunday school boxes. these forms give an overview of the nomination process and the requirements for FBC deacons. Completed forms should be delivered to the Deacon Nominee Boxes in the Admin Suite and Music Office or placed in the ss boxes. other boxes will be placed periodically outside the Life Center after First Fellowship on sunday mornings, in the East Entrance after sanctuary Worship, and in the Fellowship hall on Wednesday nights at Prayer Meeting.

As you prayerfully consider a nomination, reflect on these Biblical requirements for deacons:• Demonstrate growth toward mature faith (Acts 6:3; 1 Tim. 3:9, 4:12)• Demonstrate Christian home life (1 tim. 3:11-12)• Demonstrate personal and public morality and a life accepted by god and

the church (1 Tim. 3:8, 10, 13; Phil. 1:27)

Welcome

Sunday, June 2First Fellowship 8:15 AMMorning Bible Study 9:15 AMSanctuary Worship 10:30 AMSummer Sunday Nights/Chapel 5:00 PM

Monday, June 3Letter Writing/252 9:00 AMBalance Classes/1st floor 9:00 AMStudent Bible Study/Student Ctr 5:00 PM

Tuesday, June 4Intercessory Prayer/Prayer Room 7:00 AMSpiritual Formations/Parlor 7:00 AM2345 Ministry Open Gym/Life Ctr 5:00 PMCollege Bible Study/St Ctr & SK 5:00 PMGrief Share Fellowship/Parlor 5:30 PMCub Scouts/327 6:00 PMVenture Scouts/342 6:00 PMBoy Scouts/3rd floor 7:00 PM

Wednesday, June 5Balance Classes/1st floor 9:00 AMWacky Wednesday/St Ctr, buses 11:00 AMSupper/Fellowship Hall 4:45 PMPrayer Meeting/FH 5:45 PMOrcheatra rehearsal/Sanctuary 6:00 PMSanctuary Choir/Choir Room 7:00 PM

Thursday, June 6

Friday, June 7Young Adult Girls’ Retreat off campusFamily Bible Camp Set-Up all dayBalance Class/1st fl. 9:00 AMFellowship Club/FH & FH Kitchen 10:00 AM Saturday, June 8Young Adult Girls’ Retreat off campusFamily Day at the Lake off campus Family Bible Camp Set-Up all day

fbchsv.org

ministry calendar

knowing, lov ing, serv ing Christ...together

Library Hours Sunday 9-9:15 AM | 10:10-10:45 AM | 11:40-12:00 PMTuesday 10:00 AM-12:00 PMWednesday 4:00-5:00 PM

Wednesday Night Dinner MenuWednesday, June 5

AdultsChicken Tenders

Fire Roasted PotatoesSteamed Garden Vegetables

Rolls

SaladFried Chicken Salad

(Reservations for salad must be turned in by noon on Wednesday.)

STEWARDSHIP REPORT

Unavailable due to Memorial Day holiday

ATTENDANCE

Unavailable due to Memorial Day holiday

Worship Service

First Fellowship 322

Sanctuary Worship 601

TOTAL 923

THANK YOUThank you notes have been received from Teresa Bugg, MLK School Nurse and Mike

and Kathy Campbell. They have been placed on the bulletin board across from the Music

Suite.

FAMILY MATTERS

CHRISTIAN SYMPATHYFamily and friends of our member Woody Colvin, especially to his wife, Jo Colvin.

Jim & Ola Ann Lee in the loss of her brother, George “Bubba” Sims.

Yvette & Troy Hawkins in the loss of her father, and Abbie, Ellie & Jacob Hawkins in the loss of their grandfather, John William Pinkston.

our former recreation Minister, Roger & Dona McCurry in the loss of their son, Nathan McCurry.

First Baptist Church is hosting 42 business people from Vietnam on Sunday, June 2, in the First Fellowship Worship Service. Please give them a warm welcome. The group will also be

around our facility at various times until Friday, June 7.

June 9-136:00-8:00 p.m.

Family Bible Camp is not just for children - but for the entire family to participate together. We believe that when families move through the experience of Family Bible Camp together, then the learning can continue far beyond the hours spent

in the church building.

Sign up online at www.fbchsv.org/fbcregistration

or call 256-428-9411

Also, we need your help turning our new spaces into ancient Athens, greece. if you are interested in helping

with the transformation, please call Joy at 256-428-9427. Also, we still need canopy tents (10’x10’) for our

Market Place.

Sign up by Monday, June 3 by contacting the Adult Ministry Office at 256-428-9403 or 55plus@fbchsv.org

Experienced Adults

Fish Fry on the

Sunday, June 9

Sign up for Music CampJuly 8-12

www.fbchsv.org/musiccamp | 256-428-9421

Kindercamp YoungerCamp

OlderCamp

Grades 3-6Grades 1-2Completed K5

FBC DEACON NOMINATIONS BEGIN JUNE 22013 FBC Deacon Nominations begin this sunday, June 2, and end sunday, July 21.

Deacon Election will be on Sunday, September 8

Deacon Nomination Forms are available in the Admin Suite, Music Office, and in sunday school boxes. these forms give an overview of the nomination process and the requirements for FBC deacons. Completed forms should be delivered to the Deacon Nominee Boxes in the Admin Suite and Music Office or placed in the ss boxes. other boxes will be placed periodically outside the Life Center after First Fellowship on sunday mornings, in the East Entrance after sanctuary Worship, and in the Fellowship hall on Wednesday nights at Prayer Meeting.

As you prayerfully consider a nomination, reflect on these Biblical requirements for deacons:• Demonstrate growth toward mature faith (Acts 6:3; 1 Tim. 3:9, 4:12)• Demonstrate Christian home life (1 tim. 3:11-12)• Demonstrate personal and public morality and a life accepted by god and

the church (1 Tim. 3:8, 10, 13; Phil. 1:27)

Welcome

Sunday, June 2First Fellowship 8:15 AMMorning Bible Study 9:15 AMSanctuary Worship 10:30 AMSummer Sunday Nights/Chapel 5:00 PM

Monday, June 3Letter Writing/252 9:00 AMBalance Classes/1st floor 9:00 AMStudent Bible Study/Student Ctr 5:00 PM

Tuesday, June 4Intercessory Prayer/Prayer Room 7:00 AMSpiritual Formations/Parlor 7:00 AM2345 Ministry Open Gym/Life Ctr 5:00 PMCollege Bible Study/St Ctr & SK 5:00 PMGrief Share Fellowship/Parlor 5:30 PMCub Scouts/327 6:00 PMVenture Scouts/342 6:00 PMBoy Scouts/3rd floor 7:00 PM

Wednesday, June 5Balance Classes/1st floor 9:00 AMWacky Wednesday/St Ctr, buses 11:00 AMSupper/Fellowship Hall 4:45 PMPrayer Meeting/FH 5:45 PMOrcheatra rehearsal/Sanctuary 6:00 PMSanctuary Choir/Choir Room 7:00 PM

Thursday, June 6

Friday, June 7Young Adult Girls’ Retreat off campusFamily Bible Camp Set-Up all dayBalance Class/1st fl. 9:00 AMFellowship Club/FH & FH Kitchen 10:00 AM Saturday, June 8Young Adult Girls’ Retreat off campusFamily Day at the Lake off campus Family Bible Camp Set-Up all day

The MESSENGER (USPS 591-280) is published weekly except the week of Christmas by

First Baptist Church, 600 Governors Drive, Huntsville, AL 35801. Periodical postage

paid at Huntsville, Alabama 31801-5178. POSTMASTER send change of address to THE

MESSENGER, 600 Governors Drive, Huntsville, AL 35801.

office: 256-428-9400

weekend minister on call: 256-428-9457

24-hour prayer line: 256-428-9460

The Messengerfbchsv.org

firsT bapTisT hunTsville

this sunday

knowing, lov ing, serv ing Christ...together

First Baptist Church

600 Governors Drive

Huntsville, AL 35801

June 2, 2013

Sermon“Who is the Holy Spirit (Part 1)”

John 16:7-15

First Fellowship - 8:15 a.m.Music from the First Fellowship Band

Morning Bible Study - 9:15 a.m.Bible Study for all ages

Sanctuary Worship - 10:30 a.m.Guest Music Leader: David Giambrone

Sanctuary Choir AnthemConsolation of the Cross - Martin

Worship in the Chapel - 5:00 p.m.David Hull, preaching

Volume 64 / Week Number 28 / May 30, 2013

First thoughtsDavid hull, Pastor

how large is our church? For many years the primary way of measuring something like this was to look at church membership and sunday school attendance. Membership numbers are not really helpful since Baptists are not very good about adjusting our rolls over the years. total membership numbers tend to be very inflated for most churches that have been around for many years. tracking attendance is the best way to know the size of a church. in addition to counting sunday school attendance, seven years ago we began to count worship attendance, which gave us another way of determining our size. so, how large are we as a church? Measuring this way, we could

determine average attendance numbers and say the following:

January – April, 2013 Average Worship Attendance 1105

January – April, 2013 Average sunday school Attendance 961

in recent years we have observed that even our most faithful members are attending worship and Bible study on sundays less than they did a few years ago. Many opportunities pull our people in different directions on the weekends. i have talked about this with similar churches all over the country. Everyone is facing the same issue.

in addition, we have observed that people connect to the life of the church in other ways than just sunday school and worship. in fact we offer many opportunities through the week that enable people to experience spiritual growth, enter into prayer, and have Christian fellowship. sunday morning at 9:15 is not the only time this occurs. We need a new way to measure the lives that are being touched through the ministry of our church.

to address these new attendance realities, our staff has now introduced something called touchPoints. Each quarter we will track the total number of people who have attended sunday school and various other groups where attendance is taken and where spiritual growth, prayer, and fellowship occurs. (Worship is not included in touchPoints since we do not keep track of individual names in our worship attendance numbers.) instead of just concentrating on average attendance, this gives us a way to measure the total number of people who have been touched over the last three months through the ministry of the church. People are just counted once, even if they were here every week and involved with several different groups. For the first quarter of 2013 our TouchPoints number is 1540. This means that 1540 people were engaged at least once in one of these groups in our church. We will continue to count folks in this manner, with the goal that the number of people touched in this same quarter next year will be larger than this year. thanks for what you do to make this goal a reality.

Choral Workshop with Milburn PriceWednesday, June 5, at 7:00 p.m.

What an opportunity to work with one of the most effective choral directors of our age,

Dr. Milburn Price, who recently retired from samford university. Dr. Price will be working

with us on our summer anthems and also the music for Labor Day at the Cathedral. his musicianship and exemplary Christian spirit will be a blessing to our choir. Don’t

miss this special night of technique building and choir strengthening!

Fellowship Club Meeting

June 7 at 10:00 a.m. in the Fellowship hall. Ron Pettus is speaking on the flag.

Menu: hamburger steak with brown gravy, mashed potatoes, green peas, rolls.Non-members, please rsVP to sue

Mauldin at 256-534-2368.

Seeking Resident Housing

our student Ministry resident is seeking a one-year rental that could be a garage

apartment, house, or apartment. if you have information on a possibility, please email Jamie Mackey (jamie@fbchsv.org). the time needed is July 2013 to June 2014.

Get Hooked on Good Books

Kickoff is June 26! this summer reading program is open to

ages 2 through elementary school.

Veterans Pictures

for God and Country Service

A Special Patriotic Service and Dinner

Sunday, June 30, 5:00 p.m. Life Center

As before, we will have a slide presentation to honor all military personnel, living and deceased, connected to our church family. If you have not previously submitted a picture to be included in this presentation and would like to do so, please bring the picture to Nancy Moore in the Church Office. It will be scanned and returned to you. Please bring the photo by the office no later than Wednesday, June 12.