B E T H E L B A P T I S T C H U R C H

July 2019

The Bethel Banner

Schedule of Events From the Pastor’s Desk

Volume 7

July Events

7/4 July 4th-Office Closed

7/6 1st Saturday Gospel Sing-6pm

Outreach Center-One Lane Bridge

7/7 Communion

7/7 Youth Trip to Carl’s

After Worship

7/7-712 Vacation Bible School-6-8:30

7/14 Children/Youth-Pool Party-

Limbrick’s-= 1-4pm-

Bring a Towel!

7/15 Patawomeck Quarterly Meeting -

Outreach Center

7/15 CARE Visits-Meet 10:15am

Outreach Center-Leave at 10:30

7/16 Church Council Meeting

7/17 Bi-Monthly Church Business

Meeting-7:00pm

7/20 11th Annual Fish Fry-Outreach

Center-5pm-Donations accepted

for Bethel Building Fund- “To Go

Boxes” -Available

7/29 WOM Meeting-7:00pm

One Nation, “Under God!”

There are a growing number of Christians who think that

believers should not be involved in government and politics. There are several reasons for this attitude:

1. Afraid of promoting a social gospel, substituting

culture for Calvary…never talking about getting saved, or the blood of Jesus. This is a viable concern, we don’t

want that.

2. Given up hope. They say, “it’s too late for America”, we’re past…all that remains is judgment.

Well, I see their point, we are moving swiftly to judg-

ment if we don’t repent and come back to God… There

IS hope, if we will do what the Bible says:

II Chron. 7

14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn

from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven,

and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 3. “I see politics as dirty…it’s beneath us as Christians…

all politicians are crooks…my citizenship is in heaven…

all we’re voting for is the lesser of 2 evils” These people are so tired of scandals, and so tired of the

political news section of the paper looking like a tabloid,

they’ve lost their heart to be involved at all. 4. Some Christians have been intimidated…and they’ve

heard the ACLU talk soooo much about the separation

of church and state—that they’ve actually started to believe in it.

In case you don’t know, that phrase never appears in the

Constitution! It was coined in the U.S. from a letter the principle

framer of the Constitution and Third President Thomas

Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association assuring them that he would keep the Government out of

the Church He was saying, never again will there be a

government sponsored church like you had back in England, where everyone is forced to attend and sup-

port!

Our first president, George Washington, took the oath of office and put his hand on what? (the Bible)

What was his first official act as President? (kissed the

Bible, then held a 2 hr. praise/worship session in Con-gress)

How did they determine to open sessions of Congress?

(prayer) Who would lead in those prayers? (chaplains)

How would they be paid? (tax dollars)

Does all of that sound like they wanted to keep God out of government?

*In 1776, 11 of the 13 colonies required that one had to be a Christian to be eligible to run for political office.

*In 1777, the Continental Congress voted to spend

$300,000 to purchase Bibles for distribution in the na-tion.

*The GETTYSBURG ADDRESS states "...this nation,

under God, shall have a new birth of freedom..." *The State Constitutions of ALL 50 States mention

God!.

*The famous "Liberty Bell" has part of Leviticus 25:10

inscribed on it: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the

land unto all the inhabitants thereof."

*An image of Moses carrying the tablets of God’s Law faces the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

*The entering President takes his courtroom OATH OF

OFFICE with his right hand on the Holy Bible, and concludes his vow "So help me God."

* The Supreme Court itself begins each of its sessions

with the phrase ’God save the United States and this honorable court,’

*First Vice President and Second President, John Adams

wrote in 1798: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and reli-

gious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government

of any other."

* President Thomas Jefferson: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just;

that His justice cannot sleep forever." - 1781

*Our sixth President, John Quincy Adams said: "No book in the world deserves to be so unceasingly

studied, and so profoundly meditated upon as the Bible."

- *At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin

Franklin said,

"God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it prob-

able that an empire can rise without His aid?"

*The Christian writings and pronouncements of our 16th President Abraham Lincoln would fill an entire book. He

said this when he assumed leadership over a nation on

the brink of civil war: "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of

heaven… But we have forgotten God. We have forgot-

ten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we

have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts,

that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbro-

ken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel

the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us

then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and

forgiveness." - 1863

*Franklin Roosevelt prayed this prayer on a national radio hookup on D-Day, June 6, 1944, as our troops

stormed the beaches of Normandy, France:

"Almighty God... with Thy blessing we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer

the apostles of greed and racial arrogance. Lead us to the

saving of our country. Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen."

*Harry Truman, our 33rd President, not known to be a

committed believer, understood the spiritual heritage of this nation:

"If men and nations would but live by the precepts of the

ancient prophets and the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, problems which now seem so difficult would

soon disappear”

*Gerald Ford, our 38th President, quoted a 1955 speech by Dwight D. Eisenhower on December 5, 1974:

"Without God there could be no American form of gov-

ernment, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first - the most basic - expres-

sion of Americanism. Thus the founding fathers of

America saw it, and thus with God’s help, it will con-tinue to be."

*President Ronald Reagan:

"If we ever forget that we are ’One nation, under God’, then we will be one nation gone under."

And so, as we look today at our civic responsibility, the

question is not, should a Christian be involved in gov’t…the question is: Can you be the Christian you are

commanded to be and not be involved?

The most patriotic thing we can do is not to set off fire-works, or sing a song, but to witness…to win ‘em, wet

‘em, and wean ‘em for the glory of God! Let’s join our

hearts together, and build a church that will stand as a

great light to a dark and dying world!

Spiritual freedom comes when you get saved!

On The Journey Together!

Pastor Gary

Page 2

Bethel Banner

Nursery

July 7, 2019

Missy and Bruce Sullivan

July 14, 2019 Crystal and Hannah Loving

July 21, 2019 Mike ans Shannon Carter

July 28, 2019 Becky and Johnny Wright

Children's Church

Counting Committee

July 7, 2019

Sandy Jett, Nancy Galyen & Tina Lynn

July 14, 2019 Crystal Loving, Carol Jarrett

& Harry Bradshaw

July 21, 2019 Carla Cooper, Pennie

Walker & Bobby Samuels

July 28, 2019

Joanie DeShazo, Tammy DeJean & Mike Short

July 7, 2019

TBD

July 14, 2019 Becky and Johnny Wright

July 21, 2019 TBD

July 28, 2019 TBD

FROM THE CHOIR LOFT

Hello Bethel!

FROM THE YOUTH ROOM

As you may have noticed, the choir has been on a bit of a hiatus the past cou-

ple weeks, but we are getting ready to get right back into the swing of things

soon!

Choir rehearsals will resume July 17th at 7:00 pm in the Sanctuary. We’ve

already started to add a few new faces to our choir family and I would like to

encourage anyone who might have an interest in trying out the choir to start

back with us on the 17th! Now is the perfect time to try something new! The

Bethel Choir is open to anyone aged 15 and up. No prior music experience or

ability is required just a good attitude and a willingness to worship through

song!

Children’s choir will resume Sunday, August 4th at 10:00 am in the choir

room. This is open to students K-5.

YOUTH. If you have any interest in being apart of the music ministry in ANY

way, please get in touch with me! We have openings for musicians, sound

technicians, openings in the choir and much more! I know we have some very

talented young people in our Church family, so make sure you come see me!

The music ministry as a whole has some very exciting things in the works for

the Fall and I can’t wait to share them with you soon!

Your Sister in Christ,

Allyson McCormick

Director of Music

Coming back from our Impact VA trip in Bluefield, VA the youth look forward

to bringing back all that they have learned about God, mission work, and a tiny

bit of construction knowledge back to Fredericksburg. Also we are looking for-

ward to some ice cream trips this month because lucky enough for us Pastor

Gary can’t survive without ice cream and even better he enjoys our company!

Lastly some of the youth and myself are excited to help with the running of

VBS this month.

Blessings,

Nick Short

Youth Ministry Intern

Volume 7

Page 3

July 7, 2019

July 14, 2019

July 21, 2019

Brandon Short Mike Short

Alex Barlas Chris Lynn

July 7, 2019 Steve Smith

540-429-6289

July 14, 2019 Bruce Sullivan

540-907-8696

July 21, 2019 Alex Barlas

540-847-1070

July 28, 2019 Bootsie Bullock

540-834-9620

Bruce Sullivan Buzz Green

Brian Pellegrino John Lightner

Bethel Banner

Rudy Griffith “CJ” Jones

Keegan McIntyre Jerry Reed

July 28, 2019

Chuck Ross William Hicks

Wardlow Trainor Steve Smith

FROM THE CHILDREN’S CORNER

Hello Bethel Families!!

July 2019

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 Independence Day- Office Closed

5 6Gospel Sing VA Singers & One Lane Bridge

7 Communion

8 9 10 11 12 13

14 Quarterly Mtg Pata-womeck Tribe-2pm

15 16Church Council Mtg

17Business Meeting

18 19 20 11th Annual Fish Fry

21 22 CARE Visits

23 24 25 26 27

28 29 WOM Meeting

30 31

We had a great June and now - IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!

It's VBS time!! Looking forward to a fun week July 7 - 12.

There will also be a couple of outing opportunities (Carl's,

pool party at the Limbrick's) that are listed on the calendar

and in the bulletin. No slowing down here!! Thank you for

sharing your children with us!!

Many Blessings,

Shannon W. Carter

Director of Children's Ministry

1193 White Oak Road (Route 218)

Fredericksburg, VA 22405

Phone: 540-371-3650

www.bethelbaptistva.org

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Sunday

9:15 AM Deacon Prayer Ministry

9:30 AM Coffee Fellowship

10:00 AM Sunday School

11:00 AM Worship Service

Wednesday

7:00 PM Choir Rehearsal-

Sanctuary

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Summer

11th