First Baptist Communiqué

Wednesday, October 18thQuarterly Business &

Prayer Meeting 6:30 PM

October Events

Sunday, October 15thMissionary Christmas Offering - All Day

(See Article-pg. 2)

Our theme for Local Evangelism Month is: “Disciples Making Disciples in Everyday Life”

Theme Verse: I Corinthians 11:1 - “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”

Service Schedule During Local Evangelism MonthOctober 8th - Pastor Chad Konieczny, “God’s Purpose and Our Role” -- AM Pastor Chad Konieczny, “What Went Wrong” -- PM October 15th - Beacon of Hope Presentation, Karen Leif, Director Pastor Ron Sischo, “Using God’s Word and His People”-- AM Pastor Chad Konieczny, “God’s Agenda: Connecting God’s Agenda to Our Daily Lives” -- PMOctober 22nd - Pastor Tim Knaus, “Christ’s Death, My Life” -- AM Pastor Ron Sischo, “Transformation: How Now Shall We Live” -- PMOctober 29th - Pastor Chad Konieczny, God’s Method: Proclamation, Prayer, and People -- AM Baptism/Membership -- PM

Other Events

Volume 264 St. Johns, Michigan October 2017

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22 No Wednesday Evening Activities

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3 Christmas Cantata - “Season of Joy” -- Evening Service

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10Sunday School Christmas Program -- Evening Service Please note: The S.S. Christmas Program Practice will be Saturday, Dec. 9th, 9-11AM.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17 AM Service No Sunday School & No Evening Service

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24AM Service No Sunday School

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24 Candlelight Christmas Eve Service -- 6PM

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31AM Service No Sunday School & No Evening Service

UPCOMING CHURCH ACTIVITIES THROUGH THE

END OF THE YEARBe sure to mark your calendars.

Baptism/MembershipIf you would like to be part of the next Baptism/ Membership Service on Sunday evening, October 29th, please let one of the pastors know by Sunday, October 1st. Your first step after contact-ing a pastor is to fill out a membership form. The forms are located at the Information Area and on our Website: www.stjohnsfbc.com. We have both student forms (for those in high school or below) and adult forms. You must turn in your membership form by Sunday, October 1st.

Missionary Christmas OfferingEvery year we take an offering to give to our missionaries as a Christmas gift. The money collected will be divided equally among our sup-ported missionaries to encourage them during the Christmas season.

A gift-wrapped box will be at the Information Area Sunday, October 15th, for you to give your gift.

Reminder: This is a non-taxable gift and cannot be claimed on your income tax.

Forgotten Man Ministries Clinton County Annual Fundraising Banquet

“Hope for a Brighter Future” - Matt. 25:40The dinner will be Thursday, October 19th, 6:00pm at Grove Bible Church, Activity Center, 6980 E. Price Rd., St. Johns, MI. Sign up at the Information Area in the foyer by Sunday, October 8th. If you have any questions about the event, you may contact Terry Haneckow.

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Fall Kick-OffThrough the Beacon ministry, three days a week there are four groups of women (39 total!) meeting together to study God’s word. Monday’s at Suntree Apartments: Gail Perez leads a group using the Good, Bad, and Beautiful Women of the Bible study she wrote. Tuesday’s at Beacon: Group 1, led by Gail Perez and Group 2, led by Sharon Kidd are both using a new study written by Beacon volunteers called, Lessons from Luke. Wednesday’s at Beacon: Group 3, led by Kathy Annis is using a Kay Arthur study called, How to Make Choices You Won’t Regret.

Local Evangelism MonthThe Beacon of Hope presentation will be October 15 in the morning service. Come and learn how the Lord is working through the Beacon ministry and about ways that you can get involved at Beacon.

Food DriveBeacon of Hope is in need of non-perishable food! Due to the recent hurricanes, the Greater Lansing Food Bank, where Beacon gets most of its food supplies, will have less non-perishable food available because these supplies are being diverted to Texas and Florida. Beacon needs: Pasta and pasta sauce, tuna, peanut butter, canned fruits and vegetables, canned soup, rice, oil, and baking supplies (flour, sugar, baking soda & powder). There will be a bin outside of the church offices the entire month of October for you to leave your donations. Thank you!

Calling all deer hunters!Are you a hunter who needs to make space in your freezer for this year’s hunt? Then Beacon of Hope can help! Beacon accepts donations of professionally-processed venison. Contact Karen Leif to make arrangements to deliver to Beacon.

Christmas ShoppingInstead of a Christmas Shopping Day, Beacon will have Christmas items available in the Learn & Earn store the last week of November and first two weeks of December for participants to purchase. Donations of these items are needed: pot and pan sets, ladies’ pajamas (XL, 1X, 2X), toys, sports equipment, hunting and fishing sup-plies, jumper cables, and hair styling items (like hair dryers, curling irons, straighteners).

Beacon of Hope Update

The Mighty O.A.K.S. would love to have you be a part of their group. Plan to join them on Tuesday, October 10th, at 12 noon at Cliff Zehr’s home located at 1212 S. Chandler Road, St. Johns for an Apple Fest!

What to Bring: Lawn Chairs and a dish to pass. No desserts. What will be Provided: Cliff will provide a special dessert (Apple Pie), popcorn, cider, and bonfire. Tableware and other beverage will also be pro-vided. Sign up at the Information Area.

Mighty O.A.K.S.

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“BY THE WAY, WHAT IS OUR POLICY ON......”

Flowers from Funeral Services From time to time people from our congregation donate flower arrangements to the church following the funeral of a loved one. We always appreciate the thought and gesture. We simply want people to be aware that most of the time those arrangements will not be placed at the front of the auditorium. A lot of work and thought goes into coordinating the platform area, and often donated flower arrangements do not fit with what has been planned. Again, we always accept donated flowers, but it is very likely that they will be placed somewhere other than the front of the auditorium. Our goal is to seek appropriate places where arrangements fit with the existing surroundings.

Released Time Class Released Time Class with Debbie Price (Rural Bible Mission) will be starting again in October. The class for the town students meets at our church on the third Friday of each month. For October they will meet on the fourth Friday because there is no school on the third Friday. There are registration forms on the Children’s Check-in Counter for you to fill out and give to your school. It also explains what released time is all about. Home school children are welcome as well, just fill out the permission slip and give it to Debbie Price when they come to the class.

The first meeting will be Friday, October 27th, at 1:00pm.

Praying For . . . . . An article by Transport For Christ by Volunteer

Chaplain Tom Edsenga As I serve from time to time at the Transport for Christ Chapel in Byron Center, MI, I truly appreciate the prayers that my brothers and sisters in Christ send up to God on my behalf. Perhaps you’ve wondered how you can specifically pray for me while I’m serving in the Chapel and in everyday life. Here are some scripturally based prayers that will guide you as you pray for me: Worship: “Dear Lord, draw Chaplain Tom Edsenga into a deeper worship of You. Give Chaplain Tom a vision of heaven, and keep him from traditions that hold the form of godliness but deny its power.” Isa. 6; Rev. 4:2; 2 Tim. 3:5) Time with God: “Dear Lord, let nothing hinder Chaplain Tom’s time with you. Protect him from the distractions of busyness, unnecessary demands, fatigue, over commitment, compromise, and doubt. Bless Chaplain Tom with rich study time, and give him opportunities, desire, and places to see You in prayer, both alone and with others.” (Acts 6:2-4; Matt. 26:41; 2 Tim. 2:15; Mark 1:35; Acts 1:14) Preaching: “Dear Lord, anoint Chaplain Tom with the truth. As Chaplain Tom preaches, may he proclaim Jesus Christ in the energy of the Holy Spirit. Let people be cut to the heart and accept Christ.“ (Matt. 16:17; Col. 1:28) Fear of God: “Dear Lord, keep Chaplain Tom in the fear of You. Bind the fear of failure and people. Give him boldness to confront sin and other threats to the church. Enable him to remain confident even when others resist the gospel.“ (Prov. 19:23; John 14:1; Heb. 12:3, Psalm 35)

College and Career Ministries‘A place to gather, grow, and be equipped in service to the Lord.’

What: Bi-monthly Bible study, service projects, fun & fellowship for post-high school, 20’s, & 30’s. Invite friends to any/all activities!

Where: The Davis’ - 2141 W. Centerline, St. Johns, MI

Bible Study NightsThurs.,Sept. 28, Oct. 12 & 26, at 7pm. (continues Nov/Dec) Studying Tim Keller’s The Gospel in Life; Grace Changes Everything. (Study guides are available for $8. Please txt/email to reserve your book, or let us know if you can’t afford it). Come join us as we look afresh at the glories of grace, the gospel, and how it applies to life.

Service Project/FellowshipSaturday, October 21, 4pm. Leaf raking (location TBA) followed by chili supper and games at the Davis’.

#Stay Connected!- Weekly church bulletins - FBpage: SJFBC College and Careers Ministries - Email: If you haven’t received an email please send your email address to: davisjfam@gmail.com.

?’s: Call/txt Jim, Debi, or Elizabeth Davis at:517.974.7648

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LABELS FOR EDUCATIONCampbell Company has discontinued its Labels for Education program. We will no longer accept Campbell Soup Labels. The pocket at the Information Area has been removed. Thank you to all who so faithfully col-lected them to help Shepherds Home.

FYI: We are not collecting Box Tops for Education either.

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Daylight Savings Time EndsSunday, November 5th

Don’t forget to set your clock back one hour before you go to bed on Saturday Night, November 4th!!!

Library NewsCheck it Out!

I’m just browsing.

No idea how to get started with your church library? There are three easy ways just to browse.1) Go window shopping. We’ve been displaying materials for a while in the church library windows. They change every few weeks or as people check them out. Stop in and ask to borrow any of them.2) Wander into the library during open hours, and just look around. The sections are labeled. If you need a hand finding something specific, ask the person at the desk. They are there to help.3) Go to our catalog online. Newly entered items scroll underneath the search bar. You can just watch for a while, and click on an item. You can find our catalog, TinyCat at https://www.librarycat.org/lib/FBCSaintJohns, even at home in your fuzzy slippers.

We hope you’ll come on in and check it out!

Total items in TinyCat: 379. Total items in the library: Thousands.

Thank you for stopping by the Operation Christmas Child table during Kick-off Sunday!

Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is a simple way to share the love of Christ with a child. It’s far more than just a shoebox, it’s sharing the hope the Gospel provides with someone who may never have the opportunity to hear it again while meeting some of their physical needs. Please pray for OCC and 2017’s worldwide collection of shoeboxes. Please also prayerfully consider what to include in your box, and pray for your shoebox recipient that they will be open to the Gospel.

Since the suggested donation for shipping has increased to $9.00 per shoebox I thought I’d share some things that this donation helps cover by looking at the journey of a shoebox. First, on the sending side the cost of our shoeboxes being shipped to Boone, North Carolina this year from Mt Pleasant, and is just the first shipping costs associated with a shoebox gift. While at Boone, the distribution destinations will be determined, and arrangements planned for their future shipment either by air, or by sea. During 2018, teams from OCC will travel to meet, train, and equip carefully selected project partners (often churches, orphanages or schools) at distribution locations worldwide. While with these project partners teams arrange the details for the future import, customs requirements, and transpor-tation needs often through very difficult terrain and circumstances to the distribution sites. They will also meet with, and train our project partners that will give the oral Gospel presentation before nearly every shoebox distribution worldwide. Each shoebox recipient also receives, “The Greatest Gift,” a Gospel presentation booklet written in their language, and included with every single shoebox gift, for them to take and share with others. The entire journey of a shoebox is what the $9.00 donation helps cover.

We will again have shoeboxes available this year along with labels and any other resources you may need. If you have the opportunity to share this min-istry with youth groups, sports teams, scouts or even adult Bible studies, we’d be happy to help provide you with shoe boxes, and OCC related materials you might need to present this ministry to others.

We look forward to this year’s shoebox collection and more details will follow. Send any questions concerning Operation Christmas Child via email: OCCCentralMichigan@gmail.com or ask Jim or Grace Anne Rosbury.

Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas

Child Information

BUSY HANDS FOR MISSIONSWe had eight ladies present on September 12th, and kept everyone busy. We filled forty-five ditty bags, prepared fleece pillows for Youth Haven, and worked on receiving blankets for Craig and Shelly. We cleaned our room a bit too. We are in need of combs and toothbrushes and people to sew ditty bags. We have fabrics for them. See Pam Snyder or Dee Chapman. Our next meeting will be at 9:30 AM on October 3rd. Hope to see you there.

MISSIONS CLOSETThe Missions closet is empty of Bath/Body products and low on the glass candles. Glass works best as the colors of a candle can transfer to other items. There is always a need for flannel queen and cotton queen sheet sets and mattress pads. Thank you so much for blessing your missionaries with your gifts.

MAILINGS THIS MONTH Mailings, Mailings.....Our largest mailing this month was four boxes to Steve and Rowena Barnes in France. Rowena had needed silverware or cutlery as they call it, hers was looking poorly and they entertain people regu-larly. We mailed a flat rate box (nearly 20# which is the limit) with a very nice twelve piece plus serving pieces matching set that was donated. She said she would give her set to be used at the church. Rowena paid for her vitamins to be ordered while she was here and those were mailed along with the choices she had made from the closet. She remarked that they had little or no time to shop while in the States as they were involved in people’s homes and meetings. She made many choices of clothing, a mattress pad, a queen-size comforter (her spread for her bed she said was in shambles), and sheets.

Eleanor Brittian’s birthday is this month, she turns 90 years old!! She lives in Anaheim, CA. What do you send this dear lady? A small LED flashlight, slipper sox, a fake candle that lights up and has a vanilla scent, a pretty Tupperware small container with baby candy bars, yarn to use in making another afghan, body cream, toothbrush and paste, some note cards to write a note to others that she shares the home with, and two DVD movies.

Nina Buser’s birthday was in August. She said she could use “kitchen things” and sheets for Beau’s bed. Her box included a set of sheets, dish towels/clothes, some smaller storage containers, hot pads, a candle, lip aid, body lotion, and a set of wrenches for Brooks.

Reava’s and Morse’s at Life Action Ranch were sent a couple boxes of clothing.

LANSING CITY RESCUE MISSIONThe City Rescue Mission of Lansing is the largest shelter in Michigan’s Capital area. On average, they provide Shelter to over 150 women, children, and men every night. They provide shelter and they offer “personal needs”or bags of hygiene items from their Personal Needs Closet. Below is a list of some items the Mission can use at this time. Please place your donated items in the yellow container in Classroom #12 located in the lower level:

New Socks for Men, Women, Children, and Infants New Underwear for Women and Children New Underwear and Boxers for Men Men’s UndershirtsTwin Blade Razors Shampoo/ConditionerDeodorant Toothbrushes/ToothpasteBody Wash Shaving CreamCombs / Hairbrushes Lip Balm

MISSIONS UPDATE:

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Missionaries of the Month Craig & Shelly Schafer

Field Address: P.O. Box 369 • Sentani, Papua • 99352 • IndonesiaTelephone number: Skpe phone: #989.244.1139E-mail: craig_schafer@ntm.orgMission Agency: Ethnos360Craig: 5/26/80 Shelly: 1/2/81 Married: 7/14/02Children: Jade: 6/30/05 Kale: 1/11/07 Hali: 5/18/09 Rone: 04/19/2015 Home Church: First Baptist Church, St. Johns

Craig was raised in St. Johns in a great Christian family. He was saved at the age of 12 but did not really start living for the Lord until around age 21. Craig knew God wanted more out of his life - and he wanted more out of his own life as well. He wanted his life to have an impact on eternity. At that time, he was first exposed to foreign missions and knew that was what God wanted him to do. Craig fought God for quite a while thinking he was not spiritual enough for the job. However, God showed Craig that He uses those who will give their meaningless lives to Him and depend on Him to use their lives for His glory. Craig met Shelly in his first year of Bible School, and they were married the year after. Shelly grew up in the Philippines where her parents are missionaries. From the beginning, she was introduced to what God is doing all over the world - drawing men to Himself. Although she was saved at the age of 7, Shelly’s life consisted of trying to meet others’ expectations of an MK, but her heart was never in it. When she graduated from high school, she attended New Tribes Bible Institute where God really started working in her life. Seriously studying God’s word for herself greatly impacted her heart, mind, and soul. On graduation, Shelly was considering becoming an elementary teacher, but the Lord kept bringing missions to her mind. She visited her parents in the Philippines that summer and once again saw the great spiritual need there. God really used that time to convince Shelly that He wanted to give her the privilege of serving Him overseas. Shelly returned to Bible school to work for a year and planned to continue the training the following year. After she and Craig met and married they continued training together. Craig and Shelly left for Indonesia in May of 2006 to continue the process of accomplishing their long-term goal of church planting. They spent a year (through Oct. 2007) in Salatiga intensively studying the national language and culture. After completing language school, they moved to Sentani in the Papua region and then to Wamena in April 2009 to prepare for their move interior. Craig, Jeff Palmer, and Matt Musser (teammates) spent about nine months traveling around the lands of the Duga people group. This is a people group of about 30,000 who live in a 30 by 50 mile mountainous area. Those in the Duga language group consider themselves Christian as there was a missionary among them for 20 years, but they still have little understanding of the gospel. There is a great need for discipleship and new teaching. The team was led to allocate into a valley called the Kora to work with the Kora people (a distant dialect of the Duga language group) in a village called Nggingginim (the ng is like the ng sound in sing). They completed house construction and moved into the village in December 2009. Since then they have studied the Kora language. Craig completed his studies in the summer of 2013. At that point, Craig began preparing a literacy curriculum for the Kora people to teach them to read and write in their own language. After completing the curriculum, the Kora team taught literacy to 15 students who graduated in July of 2014 with about 11 of them being able to read at a fairly good level. From that time on, Craig has been getting Bible lessons ready while a co-worker has been doing translation. In July of 2015, the Kora missionary team was finally able to start teaching the Kora people about the hope they could have in Jesus Christ! After 3 months of teaching, about 30 Kora people put their faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross! From there, Craig and Jeff continued to teach the Kora believers about their security in Christ and then studied through the book of Acts. The Schafers are currently on home assignment. They will head back to continue their work with the Kora people in October. Their hopes are to continue to disciple the believers, continue to translate more of God’s word into their language, and to hopefully have their first outreach to other villages that have not heard the gospel message. Please keep them in your prayers as they have many exciting things ahead and are excited to get back and continue to see the Kora church grow and share the love of Christ with the rest of the Kora people!

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Food for Thought…A Challenge to be Thinking Christians

How to Pray When You Don’t Want to Pray by J.D. GreearJ.D. Greear is the pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, NC

Our Summit staff team is currently reading through Paul Miller’s excellent book, A Praying Life. What I love about A Praying Life is how much it stokes a passion for prayer. I always love learning about other people’s “best practices,” but when it comes to prayer, I most often find myself in need of re-inspiration. And Miller does that well.

He also tackles the two biggest problems people have with prayer head on. First, we aren’t convinced it actually works. Sometimes we pray for something, and the opposite happens. Sometimes we forget to pray for something, and it does happen. Sometimes we pray for something, and it happens … but we wonder if it would have happened anyway. It’s refreshing to hear someone admit what many of us have thought.

The other big problem we have is that we don’t really know how to construct a meaningful prayer time. You can probably relate:

The most common frustration is the activity of praying itself. We last for about 15 seconds, and then out of nowhere the day’s to-do list pops up and our minds are off on a tangent. … Instead of praying, we are doing a confused mix of wandering and worrying.

If someone wrote a story of my prayer life, it would probably be titled, A Confused Mix of Wandering and Worrying.

Fortunately, Miller also provides several helpful ways out of our prayer haze. Here are four of the biggest takeaways from A Praying Life:

1. A lack of prayer isn’t a prayer problem; it’s an idolatry problem.

Prayerlessness is the inevitable result of pride or a lack of faith—usually both. You fail to pray, instinctively, either because you are too proud to realize you need God or too unbelieving to grasp his willingness to help. As Miller puts it,

If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life. You’ll always be a little too tired, a little too busy. But if, like Jesus, you realize you can’t do life on your own, then no matter how busy, no matter how tired you are, you will find the time to pray.

Most approaches to correct prayerlessness skip over this heart issue. They’re law-based and end up sounding something like, “You only pray six minutes a week. And you call yourself a Christian. Stop being so terrible, and do better.” This works for a little while—or maybe a long while, if you have a disciplined temperament. But it’s bound to fail, because it’s trying to fix an idolatry problem with a law-based solution. The law can’t overcome our idolatrous hearts; only the gospel can.

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The answer is not simply to “get more disciplined” or to start prayer journaling (both of which may be useful). Prayer is, in essence, a natural result of desperation and faith. When the gospel has cultivated humility and faith in us, we will obey Paul’s command to “pray continuously,” not because we’re told to, but because we are so in touch with our poverty of spirit that we can’t help asking for help.

2. Pray like a kid. Which is to say, stop self-analyzing and just talk with your Dad.

Jesus tells us to pray like children. The stories he commends about adults praying actually make them sound like children. Think about the parable of the friend who comes banging on your door at midnight and won’t leave you alone. Or the persistent widow, who keeps badgering the unjust judge until he grants her request (just to get her off his back). The heroes in these prayer stories are people who just come and talk and ask for whatever they need.

Just like our kids.

My kids don’t stop to analyze their motives before they ask me for something. They don’t ask, “Now why might I want this bicycle?” No, they just tell me what they need. Granted, the things they “need” are often ridiculous, sometimes dangerous. But they don’t mind looking silly by asking for the wrong thing. And they certainly don’t get held up by me telling them “no.” To my kids, “no” is just an annoying speed bump on the way to wearing me down with their requests.

What I worry about when I hear something like this is that we’ll become selfish when we pray. But Miller points out that this kind of praying eventually gets us closer to God’s heart than our usual method of over-thinking it:

Children never get frozen by their selfishness. They come just as they are, totally self-absorbed. Become like a little child—ask, believe, and yes, even play. How do little children ask? Without guile. They just say what is on their minds. They have no awareness of what is appropriate or inappropriate. When you stop trying to be an adult and get it right, prayer will just flow because God has done something remark-able. He’s given you a new voice. It is his own.

3. Prayer’s primary goal is being with God.

This may be the most important point in Miller’s entire book:

Oddly enough, many people struggle to learn how to pray because they are focusing on praying, not on God .… Prayer is all about relationship. It’s intimate and hints at eternity. We don’t think about com-munication and words but about whom we are talking with. Prayer is simply the medium through which we experience and connect to God.

Being with God is more important than reading him a laundry lists of requests. He already knows them anyway. And Jesus made it very clear that we gain nothing by puffing up our prayers to be longer.

God uses our prayers to change things, but the right prayers come just from being with him. One prayer rightly prayed is worth far more than millions of words that don’t come from fellowship with him.

More than anything else in Miller’s book, this has made me want to pray. My life can be hectic, and adding prayer as one more thing seems to make life more stressful, not less. But when we approach prayer as a way of spending time with our loving Father, it becomes something that brings calm and confidence in the midst of busyness.

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(Food for Thought…A Challenge to be Thinking Christians, Cont.)

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(Food for Thought…A Challenge to be Thinking Christians, Cont.)

I love how he describes this combination:

Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life [because if you love people you will be busy!]; it offers us a less busy heart. In the midst of outer busyness we can develop an inner quiet. Because we are less hectic on the inside, we have a greater capacity to love. … By spending time with our Father in prayer, we integrate our lives with his, with what he is doing in us. Our lives become more coherent. They feel calmer, more ordered, even in the midst of confusion and pressure.

4. Don’t look for a spiritual solution to a practical problem.

I want to make sure you read point #1. The root of most of our prayer problems is spiritual. We are idolaters, worshiping the wrong things. Unless God changes our heart, we’ll never be able to fruitfully change our habits.

But we aren’t just souls; we’re embodied creatures, which means that as much as we desire to pray, without a plan, it’s not likely to happen.

In this way, praying is a lot like spending time with my wife and kids or going to the gym. I legitimately want to do these things. And I enjoy them more than most other activities. But without a plan, the time in my day gets eaten up really quickly. So I carve out time to be home with my family—not because I need the discipline to overcome some lack of desire. Quite the opposite, the desire fuels the discipline.

The same is true of our prayer habits. If you find yourself legitimately wanting to pray but can never find the time, it can’t hurt to try Miller’s simple suggestions for beginning a prayer time in the morning:

1. Get to bed. What you do in the evening shapes what you do in the morning. “Morning J.D.” is amazing. He’s focused. He gets things done. He can pray for nearly 30 seconds without distraction. “Evening J.D.” is nearly worthless. The best thing “Evening J.D.” can do is set “Morning J.D.” up well.

2. Get up. Praying in bed is wonderful. But you’ll never develop a morning prayer time in bed.

3. Get awake. Maybe you need to make a pot of coffee or take a shower to wake yourself up. Go ahead and shake the cobwebs off.

4. Get a quiet place. There’s a reason Jesus told people to go into a room and shut the door to pray. It may not be a room for you. Maybe you do better going for a walk. The key here is to find a place without interruptions.

5. Get comfortable. That is, don’t feel like you have to pray on your knees. Miller points out that, for a while, he thought he needed to pray on his knees. But he would soon start aching and couldn’t focus.

6. Get going. Five minutes today is better than 30 minutes tomorrow—mostly because that “30 minutes tomorrow” may not materialize. Start with a small goal that you can actually attain.

7. Keep going. Consistency is more important than length. Praying five minutes a day, every day will have more of an impact than praying for an hour today and then not coming back to it for another three months.

What about you? What has helped most in your prayer life?

Copyright © 2017 J.D. Greear Ministries.

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Sun., October 1 Communion -- AM Service Mon., October 2 Shuffleboard -- 10am (Gym) Men’s Basketball -- 6:30pm (Gym)Tues., October 3 Busy Hands for Missions -- 9:30am (Lower Level-Classroom #15)Wed., October 4 AWANA -- 6:30pm (Children’s Wing) 24/7-Jr. High -- 6:30pm (Youth Wing) Sr. High Bible Study -- 6:30pm (Youth Wing) Prayer Meeting -- 6:30pm (Office Level-Room #1) Bible Institute Classes -- 6:30pm (Lower Level-Adult Wing)Thurs., October 5 Mentoring Moms -- 6:30pm (Cheri Kresge’s Home)

Sun., October 8 LOCAL EVANGELISM MONTH Pastor Chad Konieczny -- AM & PM Services World Missions Prayer Meeting--After the PM Service (Lower Level-Room #13)Mon., October 9 Same As October 2Tues., October 10 Mighty O.A.K.S. Apple Fest -- 12 Noon (Cliff Zehr’s Home)Wed., October 11 AWANA -- 6:30pm (Children’s Wing) 24/7-Jr. High -- 6:30pm (Youth Wing) Sr. High Bible Study -- 6:30pm (Youth Wing) Prayer Meeting -- 6:30pm (Office Level-Room #1) Bible Institute Classes -- 6:30pm (Lower Level-Adult Wing)Thurs., October 12 Missions Committee Meeting -- 6:30 pm (Office Level-Room #2) College and Career Bible Study -- 7:00pm (Jim & Debi Davis’ Home)Fri., October 13 Elders Meeting -- 8:00am (Office Level-Conference Room)

Sun., October 15 LOCAL EVANGELISM MONTH Missionary Christmas Offering -- All Day Beacon of Hope Presentation -- AM Service Pastor Chad Konieczny -- PM ServiceMon., October 16 Same As October 2Wed., October 18 . 2 AWANA -- 6:30pm (Children’s Wing) 24/7-Jr. High -- 6:30pm (Youth Wing) Sr. High Bible Study -- 6:30pm (Youth Wing) Quarterly Business/Prayer Meeting -- 6:30pm (Office Level-Room #1) Bible Institute Classes -- 6:30pm (Lower Level-Adult Wing)Thurs., October 19 Deacons Meeting -- 6:00pm (Lower Level-Room #8)Sat., October 21 College and Career Leaf Raking/Fellowship -- 4pm (Jim & Debi Davis’ Home)

Sun., October 22 LOCAL EVANGELISM MONTH Pastor Tim Knaus -- AM Service Pastor Ron Sischo -- PM ServiceMon., October 23 Same As October 2Wed., October 25 . 2 Same as October 11 Thurs., October 26 College and Career Bible Study -- 7:00pm (Jim & Debi Davis’ Home)Fri., October 27 Released Time Class -- 1:00pm (Youth Wing)

Sun., October 29 LOCAL EVANGELISM MONTH Pastor Chad Konieczny -- AM Service Baptism/Membership -- PM ServiceMon., October 30 Same As October 2

CALENDAR

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03 Nancy Cashen Amber Keilen 04 Dan Halstead 05 Barb Case Monte Ely 06 Shellie Walter

07 Vada Halsted Carrie Miller

08 Kathy Annis Titus Burkhart Michelle Cornell 10 Grayson Ordway 12 Janice Crowell Caleb Robbe Ashton Sheen

13 Aaron Davis Mary Poling

14 Michael Knaus 15 Trisha Feldpausch 16 Nita Carpenter Melvin Crowell 17 Rachel Becker Fran Nelson Aaron Stine 18 LuAnn Carlisle Lydia Cyrus

19 Gretchen Bailey Peggy Woodrow

20 Elise Morse

22 Sharon Ashenfelter Janice Perry Joyce Worthington

23 Ayla Holben

24 Caden Fore

25 Bob Worthington

26 Marc Hufnagel Pam Snyder

27 Ted Loznak

28 Katie Mullikin Cindy Painter Bethany Woodrow

29 Keith Irish Sheila Robbe 30 Brayden Schmidtmann 31 Rick Hopkins Jaiden Knaus Helen Prohaska

Thank You Notes

First Baptist Church, It is with grateful hearts, we acknowledge and thank each and every person who has helped in any way to provide a home for Lane, Emily, and Nyra Bargeron. The ways people gave of themselves are too numerous to list, but nothing went unnoticed. We would like to update everyone with the completion: - Lane, Emily, and Nyra are settled into their completely debt-free home. - The yard is partially planted, with fencing and trees soon to go in. Many worked tirelessly for this family. Nothing given was too small to make this home a reality. ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD! We humbly thank you all, The Bargeron Home Committee

Dear Church Family, Please accept our deepest heartfelt thanks for walking with us through the death of our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend. The way you have ministered to us on so many levels will continue it’s good work for many days to come as we reflect and talk about the path God has called us to. We want to offer a special thanks to Pastor Tim, Pastor Ron, Pastor Chad and Julie for their assistance in very meaningful ways and how they ministered to us throughout the entire process. We were overwhelmed with gratitude for the food that was provided by this church family and for those who worked tirelessly in the kitchen and clean up. All of those efforts were noticed and so appreciated. With love and gratefulness, Willard Goldman and Family

FIRST BAPTIST THIS ‘N’ THAT

• Cody & Aubrey Fleischer 5603 N. Gilson Road Elsie, MI 48831

• Fran Nelson “Use from 9am-5pm” Phone: (252) 558-1375 Still has the current number

• Opal Parsons Phone: (989) 668-0500

Please make these changes to your FBC Phone Directory:

GREETERS SCHEDULE01 Foyer Bryan & Trisha Feldpausch Office AM-Joel Seling PM-Diana VanOrsdol08 Foyer Roger & Rosanne Schafer Office Chris & Sarah Bouck15 Foyer Ron & Jill Keilen Office Sharon Ashenfelter22 Foyer Mike & Tammy Underwood Office Jay & Becky Peterson29 Foyer Tom & MB Moldenhauer Office Joe & Vicky Ondrusek*Foyer-Stay until Sermon*AM Greeters please be at your door by 10am.*Office-Greet for Sunday School-9am.*Everyone Greets in the PM Service Unless otherwise stated.

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TODDLERS

TODDLER COOKIES

USHERSNURSERY

SCHEDULES FOR OCTOBER

GREETERSSee Schedule on Page 6.

“This N That” Page.

01 AM *John Leif, Ted Bedell, Jason Holben, Ron Showers, Jimmie Harps, Jim Cyrus PM Doug Merignac, Ted Bedell08 AM *Scott McCorvie, Derrick Ostrander, Preston Nichols, Phil Burkhart, Duane Schafer, Dennis Eilert PM *John Glerum, Walt Knaus15 AM *Julius Motz, Shane Kidd, Norm Moinet, Mark Lutz, Ted Beck, Aaron Davis PM *Jim Ashenfelter 22 AM *Rick Davis, Kyle Walter, Ryan Shackelford, Joe Ondrusek, Joel Morgan, Harold Lichte PM *Dean Feldpausch, Chris Bouck 29 AM *John Leif, Ted Bedell, Jason Holben, Ron Showers, Jimmie Harps, Jim Cyrus PM Doug Merignac, Ted Bedell

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01 Sue Bishop08 Eileen Feldpausch15 Paige Feldpausch22 Sharon Kidd29 Sarah Thomas

01 AM Michelle & Ben Rosendale, Lori Knaus, Clayton West PM Davey & Katie Fore, Isaac Painter 08 AM Kelly & Averlin West, Pamarie Nichols, Jessie Eilert PM Preston & Stephanie Nichols, TBD 15 AM Mishelle & Elyana Pagels, Rebecca Becker, Tori Harps PM Brad & Grace Kresge, Bethany Konieczny22 AM Valorie Iung, Eileen Feldpausch, Pearl Nichols, Lydia Ely PM John & Karen Leif, TBD29 AM Emily Brun, McKenna Briggs, Jazmine Harps, Kayla Mead PM Andrea Bancroft, Sarah Bouck

NURSERY ALLERGY NOTICE: Please kindly refrain from hair products, perfume, and lotion on your service date due to askin contact allergy.01 SS Emily Knaus, Lori Knaus, Lauri Walters AM Lisa Barrett, Elizabeth Davis, Chara Walters, Linda Kresge PM Cindy Painter, Carolyn Patrick04 Awana Carolyn Henning, Eileen Feldpausch, Katie Fore 08 SS Emily Knaus, Bernadette Richardson, Anna Ordway AM Trisha Feldpausch, Diana VanOrsdol, Ellen Kresge, Faith Robbe, Linda Kresge PM Annette Peterson, Fran Whitlock, Grace Peterson 11 Awana Carolyn Henning, Emily Brun, Trisha Feldpausch 15 SS Emily Knaus, Becky Becker, Emily Bargeron AM SuAnn & Savannah Prince, Kay Schmidtmann, Jazmine Harps, Linda Kresge PM Traci Brooke, Anna Ordway18 Awana Carolyn Henning, Emily Bargeron, Seeking Volunteer22 SS Emily Knaus, Sarah & Sylvia Thomas AM Sarah & Sylvia Thomas, Jill Bancroft, Ashton Sheen, Linda Kresge PM Jen Simon, Lexie Sheen25 Awana Carolyn Henning, Emily Brun, Eileen Feldpausch29 SS Emily Knaus, Lisa Crandall, Helen Kresge AM Amanda Briggs, Tori Harps, Carrie Schmidtmann, Linda Kresge PM Dawn Benson, Cheryl Haviland