December 2016

Volume 12, Issue 12

Inside this issue:

Pastor’s Corner 1

A Message from our Assoc. Pastors

2

What’s Happening in SBC Youth Group

3

Upcoming Events 4

Worship Ministry 5

SBC Kidz 6

Church Calendar &

Birthdays

7

Hodge Podge 8

Special Points of Interest:

� First Fruits—All month long!

� Cart Corralling @ Food Lion

� Candlelight Service

� Holiday Schedule

� Clothes Closet opens at

West Campus (old church)

� The Carols of Christmas

� Little Tykes Volunteer Schedule - YOUR Help is

needed!

� Operation Christmas Child

Update

� BOP’s Luncheon

� Griefshare schedule change

� A note from the Duke’s

come to church and to be involved in discipleship, fel-lowship, and worship. It has become quite tiring to be honest with you and not all

that fruitful.

It has become very clear to us that God is leading us to simplify and, yes to purify, what we do as a church. Please be flexible as we in-troduce new opportunities for spiritual growth and maturity in 2017. We desire to strip away some of the fluff and focus our attention, energy, and resources on the pure basics of being followers of Jesus Christ. Can you think of anything more organic and pleasing to the Lord than to seriously read His Word and to spend genuine time in se-rious prayer? Jesus said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” Join us as we make it so in this exciting new year. Thank you for the privilege to serve you now and for the past 15 years.

We sincerely love you.

Devotedly,

Pastor Robert

Dear Smyrna Family,

Merry Christmas to each of you. As always I hope that you will be able to stay fo-cused on the beauty and real Truth of the Christmas sea-son. As followers of Christ, we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior and the reali-ty that “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” Yep, God came to earth to reveal Himself to us and to

save us. Merry Christmas!

This will be my last entry for this year and soon we will be turning the page of the calen-dar to begin another year. We all know it’s just another day unfolding, but it sure does feel like a good time to start fresh or to try again. The staff and I have been thinking and pray-ing about the direction in which to lead Smyrna this year. You know it is so easy to fall into ruts and all that was once exciting, new, and fresh seems to lose its ap-peal. That happens in the life of a church as well. I was told many years ago to change things every once and awhile simply to keep people out of ruts and keep us flexible; now that doesn’t mean make bad changes of course. So, here are some thoughts for the

upcoming year.

Pastor Aaron has written in this month’s Scroll about our

Pastor’s Corner Bible reading plan and devo-tional supplements that we will make available to you to begin this exciting journey with us as we walk through God’s Word together. We are also planning a real, genuine, bonafide, weekly prayer ser-vice. No, this is not going to be your typical prayer meet-ing. The plan for this hour of prayer will be to spend some time praising God for who He is, making sure we are clean before Him, thanking Him for all He has done, and finally to pour out our hearts in suppli-cation and requests for the lost, broken marriages, ad-dicts, the down trodden, our nation, and so forth. As of this moment, we are looking at Thursday night’s beginning at 6:30 pm. For those of you who are already so busy, please know that we are plan-ning to eliminate some activity

as we add others.

In our society today, the word “organic” is in. People are buying organic milk, carrots, tomatoes, and so on. When you see the word organic, the idea is that the item is pure. The staff and I have been working on ways to make “church” organic in 2017. We can think of nothing more pure and organic than simple Bible reading/study and pray-er. Beloved, we spend so much time trying to figure out catchy ways to get you to

Dr. Robert L. Rowland, III - Senior Pastor

(Johanna, Ben, Joe & Laura)

Page 2 Smyrna Scroll

A Message from. . . Aaron Bobo, Assoc. Pastor

Dear Smyrna Family, As I sit here and reflect on the reality that 2016 is almost over, I am reminded that life pass-es by quickly and changes quite often. I’ve reflected often over the past few weeks about previ-ous holiday seasons. I, like you, have so many great memories of time with family and holiday ex-cursions but I also can’t help but realize that life has a way of changing so rapidly. I think about loved ones who were here just a few years ago who have gone on to be with Christ, I think about the issues and challenges that faced me “back then” as opposed to now. I think about the reality that five years ago Ashley and I spent our Thanksgiving holiday as a couple, now we will spend it with two children and one on the way. Its been said about Vir-ginia weather that if you don’t like the conditions, wait about 10 minutes because they will surely change! While I have found that to be true at times in our beautiful state, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that our lives change almost as quickly as the weather! However, unlike the weath-er our lives rarely if ever return to their previous condition.

While it is true that we live in a world that changes incredibly fast, it is equally true that we serve a God who is the same “yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). While your life may be totally unpredictable on this planet, we believe in a great God who is a sure foundation. He is a foundation that we must build our lives upon if we hope to navigate this life with any certainty and stability. He is the only one who can be totally trusted and He is the one who has promised His children that He will “never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5). I hope that God’s constant and eternal love is reassuring to you as you navigate 2017, and I pray that our year of ministry together is one that can serve to strengthen your hope and trust in Him as our sure foundation.

One of the best ways to build upon the foundation of God’s faithfulness is to grow in your relationship with Him. We come to rely more fully on a God we know more intimately. This goal of knowing God more intimately is achieved, in part, by understanding and meditating on His Word. After all, the Bible is the medium through which God communicates His character and love. Therefore, the Bible is a book that is to be studied and meditated upon (Psalm 1:2). It is the place we go to find our strength and our hope because in it we are educated and reminded about God’s goodness and power despite life’s challenges.

Our hope and goal as a staff this year is to provide a new and great resource to assist all of us in our quest to grow in the knowledge of God as we all seek to build upon the only sure foundation. So, in order to accomplish this goal, beginning in January of 2017, we will be walking through the Bible from cover to cover over the next 3 years. Each day, we will have a designated reading as well as a short, one page devotion written by one of our pastors. The devotions will be made available on the 3rd Sunday and following of each month for the next month’s readings. So, be looking for January’s devotional booklets on Sunday December 18th. The devotions are totally free!

Each day’s devotion will focus on the Gospel and the person of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us in Luke 24:27 that Jesus “interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” As Christ taught His disciples the Bible He did so while focusing totally on Himself! The Bible is ultimately a book about Christ and it is intended for us to grow in our knowledge and relationship with Christ (2 Peter 3:18). It is only as we grow in our relationship with Christ that we will build lives that are able to withstand the constant change and periodic storms of this life.

I pray you will join our church family as we read through the Bible over these next few years. Our prayer is that you would meditate on God’s Word daily and that the Holy Spirit would use it in a mighty way to conform you into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).

Devotedly,

Pastor Aaron Email: assocpastor@smyrna1897.org

Dear Church Family,

The last time I wrote to you was before Hallow Him. Though that’s been a month ago now, I still have to point out that my prediction was correct: you did come through!! Of course, it’s no surprise that the people of Smyrna came through, but I don’t take that for granted. Not only did you give over 1000 pounds of candy (all of which was given away!), but you served faithfully and sacrificially throughout the evening. I try to make it a habit of reminding people often of this beautiful truth: when you serve for a simple hour or two on a Saturday evening in October (with a right heart—that’s important!) you

A Message from. . . Joe Rowland, Assoc. Pastor

Aaron Bobo

Associate Pastor (Ashley, Analeigh & Alizabeth)

Joseph S. Rowland Associate Pastor

(Kristin)

Page 3 Smyrna Scroll

are not just helping the church out, you are storing up for yourselves priceless treasures where moth and rust do not de-

stroy… how awesome is that??

Speaking of doing things with eternal value, let’s talk about evangelism… In my first year of full-time, pastoral ministry there have been ups and downs. More ups than downs, I think, but downs nonetheless. One of the downs is centered on evangelism. I thought if I simply provided people with opportunities to do evangelism that would produce enough fruit to fulfill a part of my duties as a pastor at Smyrna. So, we had two movie nights, for which I encouraged members to pray over people to invite and then to invite them. We had Cart Corrals, Hallow Him, and opportunities to give to mission work. However, none of those opportunities seemed to change much of anything in the life of the church. Sure, there’s not one person in Dinwiddie County who hasn’t heard of Smyrna at this point, but regardless, those evangelistic opportunities did-

n’t seem to change much for the colony of the Kingdom known as Smyrna Baptist.

Here is what I discovered: evangelism isn’t a task; it’s a lifestyle. We, as Christians, aren’t called to just do evangelism; we are called to live evangelistically (which does include doing the event of evangelism at times). What does it mean to live evangelistically? It means living a life that reflects the infinite glory of Christ. It means not waiting for outreach events to invite a co-worker to church. It means sharing the gospel with more (but not less!) than our lips. It means leading a life in which every bit of it is shaped by our mission for our King. We’ll talk more about this in the coming year, but for now I chal-lenge you to do some self-reflection. Are you actually living on 24/7 mission? Or are you just waiting for a golden oppor-

tunity to check “do evangelism” off your list?

For the King,

Pastor Joe

Assoc. Pastor of Evangelism and Missions Smyrna Baptist Church Email: assocpastor2@smyrna1897.org

This month, help us stock the Dinwiddie County Food Bank

by bringing in non-perishable food items and place them under the tree during the

month of December.

Canned items such as:

• String Beans

• Garden Peas

• Corn

• Fruits

• Canned meats

Boxed goods such as:

• Hot Cereals (Oatmeal, Grits)

• Cold Cereals

• Mac n cheese

• Hamburger Helper

Milk & Non-dairy products:

• Canned milk

• Non-fat Dry Milk

• Boxed coconut or almond milk (for those with milk allergies)

Miscellaneous items:

• Bread products

• Pastas & sauces

• Jell-O, Cookies / Crackers

• Dried lentils, beans & pastas

• Christmas meal items (stuffing, canned ham, etc.)

• Condiments (Ketchup, sugar, BBQ sauce, teabags, etc.)

• Peanut butter & Jelly

• Water bottles

• Diapers, wipes & formula

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A Message from…the Worship Ministry. . . .

The Worship Ministry wishes each of you a The Worship Ministry wishes each of you a The Worship Ministry wishes each of you a The Worship Ministry wishes each of you a ChristChristChristChrist----filled Christmas and very Blessed New Year! filled Christmas and very Blessed New Year! filled Christmas and very Blessed New Year! filled Christmas and very Blessed New Year!

"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given,

and the government will be on His shoulders.and the government will be on His shoulders.and the government will be on His shoulders.and the government will be on His shoulders.

And He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, And He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, And He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, And He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6Isaiah 9:6Isaiah 9:6Isaiah 9:6

Page 6 Smyrna Scroll

If you are unable to volunteer on your specified date/time, please find

your own replacement and notify the Children's Director with your

replacements name - THANK YOU for serving the children of

Smyrna Baptist Church!

December Nursery (9:40) Nursery (10:45) Toddler's 1's & 2's Toddlers 3's Children's Church Check In (9:35) Check In (10:45)

Peggy Turner &

Brooke BishopMarion Rowland Stacey Dyson Rhonda Kester Johanna Rowland

Brandi Perkinson Angie Adkins Mary Hunt Gracie Saye Rebekah Servis

Kristin Perry Kristin Rowland Shay Tench Brenda Olgers Diana Neville

Mason Wells Lori Patton Victoria Twisdale Cheryl Joyner Hope Lane

Audrey Erdman Gina Perkinson Maggie ColemanBrandi

BarchonowitzRachael Tucker

Lorraine Arnett Kristin Rowland Janet Tyler Sharon Long Carla Temple

Volunteers

Needed

Dec 18 Angela Walker Angela Walker

Dec 25Volunteer

Needed

Dec 4 Jordan Smith Terri Driskill

Dec 11 Ashley Perkinson Kalley Saye

Smyrna Bapt i s t Church

Calendar of Events - 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

�DECEMBER�BIRTHDAYS�

Page 7 Smyrna Scroll

@11am

1st Fruits Sunday

BMen Breakfast 8am

6:30pm Awana / Youth

Mid-Week Worship

Worship Ministry Practice

Wednesday, 12/14 @ 11am

Deacon’s Meeting 7pm

945 am SS & 923 Church

11am Worship Service

Prayer Shawl Ministry Rm 121 / 930 - 12N

Prayer Shawl Ministry Rm 121 / 930 - 12N

Prayer Shawl Ministry Rm 121 / 930 - 12N

Newsletter Due Prayer Shawl Ministry Rm 121 / 930 - 12N

American Heritage Girls Troop VA1897 6-8 pm

6:30pm Awana / Youth

Mid-Week Worship

Worship Ministry Practice

6:30pm Awana / Youth

Mid-Week Worship

945 am SS & 923 Church

11am Worship Service

11am Worship

Service Only

GriefShare 6-8pm

Cart Corralling @ Food Lion 12N - 4pm

945 am SS & 923 Church

1100 am

Sr. Adult Christmas Covered Dish 5pm

Worship Ministry DRESS

Rehearsal 630-830 pm

Worship Ministry Praise

Band Rehearsal 730 pm

American Heritage Girls Christmas Caroling 6-8 pm

6:30pm Awana / Youth

Mid-Week Worship

Church Office Closed

Church Office Closed

Thanks for making our 5th year as an Operation Christmas Child Relay Center Operation Christmas Child Relay Center a success!

We collected 786 Opera on Christmas Child shoeboxes this year from our church and the surrounding

communi es. 290 of those were packed by Smyrna! We want to say a quick thank you to all the volun-

teers who donated their me and to everyone who packed boxes. You are all instruments in the Lord’s

hands to bring hope and joy to children across the globe. Keep an eye out for good sales for shoebox

items throughout the year and remember that toothpaste and candy WILL NOT be allowed next year.

See ya’ll next shoebox season! All glory to our great God! Thank you and God Bless! - Jennifer Burke, Chena & Catherine Crocker

23 Miranda Rider 26 Blake Jones Candi Cornett Rebecca Nunnally 27 Jo Anne Pugh 28 Dylan Jernigan 29 Andrew Edgerton Noah Servis 30 Travis Edgerton Luke Perkinson 31 Jordan Allen

Kyleigh Allen

10 John Alvin Slaughter Wyatt Richmond 11 Lindsay Cliborne Danna Gammon Alexis Graham Will Kennedy Layla Montgomery

Devon Westmoreland

13 Dale Andrews Jeff Cobb 14 Greyson Stamp 15 Victoria Slayden 16 Maggie Coleman

Alexandria Varga

1 Ashleigh Harvey 2 Heather Keen-Henderson 5 Robin Kennedy Brown Shirley Draper Dusty Rhodes 6 John Walker Wilson Miller 7 Kara Grace Jones Lauren Kidd 8 Jennifer C Perkins Brent Slayden Brian Slayden Thomas Spence

9 Alizabeth Bobo

17 Donna King Holly McCaffity Levi Dyson 18 Kathi Charboneau Andrew Onley Allen Cousins 19 Kim Davis

Makayla Tench

20 Carly Cliborne Earl Gattis Kyle Edwards Rick Hawthorn 21 Miranda Dalton

22 Nick Oakley

DECEMBER

If your missing from the Birthday

List, it’s because we do not have your special day in our

records. Please go on-line to MySmyrna or call

the church office to update. Thanks!

*Griefshare resumes 1/5/17

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18971 Carson Road Dinwiddie, VA 23841

Angela B. Walker, Admin. Asst. Phone: 804-469-9363 E-mail: admin@smyrna1897.org www.smyrna1897.org

If you would like to submit information or an article for publication in the scroll,

please do so by the 15th of each month.

Mission Statement

Smyrna Bap st Church exists for the

purpose of building up a community of

fully equipped believers who give glory

to God with every aspect of their lives. www.sbcv.org

Griefshare classes will resume on Thursday,

January 5, 2017

From our family to yours. . . From our family to yours. . . From our family to yours. . . From our family to yours. . . From our family to yours. . . From our family to yours. . . From our family to yours. . . From our family to yours. . .

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Your Smyrna StaffYour Smyrna StaffYour Smyrna StaffYour Smyrna StaffYour Smyrna StaffYour Smyrna StaffYour Smyrna StaffYour Smyrna Staff

1st or 2nd time Guest? Be sure to fill out a Connection Card Connection Card Connection Card (in (in (in

the pocket on the back the pocket on the back the pocket on the back of each chair in the Sanctuary)of each chair in the Sanctuary)of each chair in the Sanctuary) and

drop it in the offering plate or text WELCOMEWELCOMEWELCOME to the number be-

low. We would love to have a record of your visit!

Our appreciation to BMen for setting up the church for our 51st Thanksgiving Dinner. There was a great turn out for the meal, and from best count over 300 in attendance. All seemed to enjoy it. There were 5 original members that were in attendance tonight that attended the first one: Dr. Charles Ashby, Charles Kennedy, Dan Up-ton, Lemuel and Huntus Duke. It is just great when people come, bring food, eat and just socialize.

We thank all who helped place food, helped cook turkey, or assisted in any way. May God bless, Lemuel & Huntus Duke & the Kitchen Committee