The Bridge April 2014

950 Self Street Franklinton, LA 70438

Phone: (985) 839-3427Fax: (985) 839-3572

Email:[email protected] www.fbcfranklinton.org

Sunday Bible Study 9:15 a.m.

Sunday Morning Worship 8:15 a.m. & 10:30 a.m.

Sunday Evening Worship6:00 p.m.

Wednesday Evening Worship5:00 p.m. Meal6:00 p.m. Activities

The Bridge April 2014Monthly Newsletter of First Baptist Church Franklinton

Christ’s Humility and Exaltation

5 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. 7

Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave,

taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in

His external form, 8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God

highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every

name,10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—of

those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth—11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the

glory of God the Father. Phillipians 2:5-11

Paul Watts, [email protected]

Spring is a wonderful time of the year! The days are getting longer, flowers are blooming and Easter is approaching. There is often a newfound burst of energy or an industrious feeling experienced at this time of the year. I hope this applies not only to our homes and our workplace, but also our spiritual lives. We have opportunities to share the Gospel and be salt in our community in unique ways during this season. We may find ourselves in the bleachers at a baseball game, on the soccer field, or in the local feed and seed. All of these places will afford us the opportunity to have conversations. We might consider these conversations about the weather or sports to be “small talk,” but we can use these opportunities to ask the biggest questions of life. A question as simple as, “Do you attend worship anywhere?” could open the door for a transition into spiritual conversation. At the very least you will have the opportunity to invite them to church, but there is also a possibility the Lord could open the door for you to share your testimony and lead someone to the Lord. Paul said: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:2. Let’s be ready!

The week of March 24th-28th, a great many people were engaged in a great witness to our community as we served through construction missions and service. I want to thank every person who participated through prayer, meal preparation, construction and/or evangelism. This effort has been ongo-ing for the past 6 years. God has been good to provide us with the people, weather, and funds necessary to keep this ministry going. Continue to pray for those touched through Be the Church Week. Pray we will continue to cultivate a spirit of cooperation with our sister churches and a reputation of loving kindness toward the community around us.

Carry the CrossLast year we began a tradition I hope will stand the test of time. We met at 9:00 a.m. on Good Friday and commemorated our Savior’s journey to Calvary by carrying a cross from the Dirt Cheap/Liberty Inn parking lot to the Washington Parish Fairgrounds. We sought to be a visible witness to the love and suffering of our Lord. Anyone who desired to take a turn carrying the cross was able to, but many who could not still took part in the procession. We ended our time together by observing the Lord’s Supper in front of the stage at the fairgrounds. I would ask all of our church members to prayerfully consider participating with us in this worshipful time on Good Friday, April 18th, at 9:00 a.m. There are sign up sheets around the church. No one will be excluded if they neglect to sign up, but it is a great encouragement to others and increases our accountability when we are willing to make a commitment. We will be purchasing shirts once again. If you did not get a shirt last year, please note your shirt size on the sign up sheet. Please pray with me that the Lord will be glorified through this effort and that seeds will be planted in the hearts of those who see us.

EASTER!Easter Sunday is about so much more than eggs and new outfits. On Easter we celebrate our risen Lord! Our Easter service is always a time of celebration and praise. We meditate on the angels’ message: Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Luke 24:5-6a. I hope you will invite your relatives and neighbors to worship with us on Easter morning believing they will say, “He is here because He has risen!” I promise those who attend worship with us on Easter morning will be greeted with songs of celebration and the Gospel message. Please pray for these services and those that may come through our doors.

Discipleship 101 Schedule Sunday evenings at 6:00 p.m.

March 30: The Triune God April 6: Made for Praise: The Image of God April 13: Sin’s Devastating Effects: The Image Destroyed April 20: Easter

A Cup with Pastor Paul http://acupwiththepastor.blogspot.com

Did you ever have an imaginary friend when you were growing up? I did. I had two. Their names were Sigul, and Spinch Bowles, and they lived in a closet in my grandmother’s kitchen. (I have no idea where I got those names.) When I was growing up, my maternal grandfather was my hero. He was a mechanic who worked on tractors at a shop that also had a tow truck. My grandfather was a story teller, and he would often come home from work and relate in great detail the story of how one of the men had taken the tow truck out the night before in response to someone in distress and had basically saved the day. My imaginary friends and I would relive the details of those stories for days in my grandmother’s closet. I can still remember my relatives snickering at me and my imaginary friends. But to a four year old, they were real. I think imagination is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. Imagination is the beginning of invention. This summer when it’s 98 degrees with 98 percent humidity, imagine what it would be like if years ago someone hadn’t imagined a way to compress a gas to super heat it, then expand the hot gas through a series of tubes so that it super cools, and then rigged up a fan to blow air across those tubes and through a

series of ducts into the rooms of our homes conditioning the air. I bet they had imaginary friends at one time, too. As adults we still use our imaginations, only now we call it planning because it sounds silly and childish to say that we have imagined something. We equate imagination with fantasy and often see it as a waste of time. Besides, an imagination that runs wild often causes fear. So we learn to control our imaginations and put them away in a box in the closet of our minds. But God gives us an imagination for a good reason. It helps us to worship Him. In Isaiah, God used the prophet’s imagination to help him see into the throne room of heaven. Isaiah wrote: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory.” What was Isaiah’s response to what he saw? He cried out, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” I wonder how often I come to church with my imagination on the back burner of my mind, and rather

than engaging God in worship, I numbly go through the motions. I

wonder how often God has to say to me, “Where is My awe?” I wonder how often I let life get in the way of my imagination, and I miss God altogether. I wonder what our worship would be like if we used our imaginations to think of God in all of His holiness and all of His glory, to think of that cross in the front of the sanctuary and what it really means to us, to think of Jesus saying from His cross, “It is finished.” I can only imagine. Can you?

Senior Adult Day at Camp Living Waters

is April 8th at 10:00 a.m.

Senior Adult Revival May 4th - FBC Franklinton May 5th - Hillcrest May 6th - Enon May 9th - Clifton

Dale Parker,Minister to Senior Adults& Discipleship Training

[email protected]

Cody Thomas, Student Pastor

[email protected]

Spring is here, which means summer is almost here. Summer is steadily approaching and will be here before we know it. With summer comes Summer Camp! I don’t know how many stories I have heard from students about how God moved in their lives at Summer Camp. Summer Camp is an awesome opportunity for a young person to grow in his walk with Christ. As always, I’m excited about this year’s summer camps. This year’s theme for FUEGO summer camp is “Enough.”

The theme for FUEGO comes from the words of Philip to Jesus in John 14:8, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” If we back up and see the context in which Philip is speaking, we get a better understanding of his statement. Look at the first seven verses of John 14:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known Me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”

Jesus clearly tells his disciples that He and the Father are the same, and yet Philip misses it. For Philip, in this moment, Jesus is not enough for him. He doesn’t see Jesus as being the Father, so he totally misses out on the divinity of Christ, in this moment. The presence of God is all around Philip, and yet he misses it.

Contrary to Philip’s statement, our attitude should be that of, “We cannot get enough of Jesus.” What would happen within our church if all of our attitudes were that of, “We cannot get enough of Jesus”? What would happen within our Student Ministry if our attitudes were that of, “We cannot get enough of Jesus”? If we had that type of attitude, summer camp would be filled every year. Students would start living for Christ instead of living for the world. Lives would be centered on Christ.

Summer is a busy time filled with all kinds of activities. When our hearts and minds are focused more on the activities of the summer, we miss out on Christ. What would happen if this summer we had the attitude of, “We cannot get enough of Jesus”? We would have the best sum-mer of our lives! Make Christ a priority today and for the summer.

There are also spots available for this year’s 10th-12th graders summer camp to World Changers in Chattanooga Tennessee, July 21st-25th. Please contact the church office for more information concerning this summer’s youth camps.

REACHING In &

REACHING Out

Student Ministry Events

Biblical Parenting SeminarSaturday, May 3rd

Conducted by Kevin Boles, Youth Strategiest with the

Louisiana Baptist Convention

World Changers is in Chattanooga, Tennessee the week of July 21st – 26th. In order to secure your spot, a deposit of $75 is due.

FUEGO camp in Eunice, Louisiana at

Acadian Baptist Center.

June 23rd – 27th (Monday – Friday)

Butch Reviere Minister of Music

[email protected]

It is more than appropriate to occasionally thank all the folks who faithfully serve in our Worship Ministry here at FBC, Franklinton.

Yesterday (Sunday, March 16th) was one of those occasions when

“Thanking” was paramount. As you may know, David and Hazel Varnado (in the early service) and John Sumrall (in the late service) are at the controls of our projection system. Switching from computer to DVD and back again…quickly!... requires pushing the right buttons, and they are not always given a lot of prior notice about these out-of-the-ordinary challenges. Anyway, as always, they serve with grace and patience. Marie Varnado fills the same roll on Sunday evenings, and we have some willing and very capable substitutes: Brother Cody and Telisa Sylvest. Thanks to all of you!

As you may have noticed, Lynn Fussell has not been at the piano the last few weeks. She is taking some

time off to care for her mother, and in her absence, Jerry Dick and Marion Porter have graciously helped to lead us in worship from the piano. Thank you, ladies!

I have been a part of the fellowship here at FBC for almost a year now and have been blessed by and am grateful to all who comprise our worship leadership team. For those who are new to our fellowship and for others who may not be aware, here are all the others who serve faithfully through our music ministry:

Sonya Burris – plays piano for the early service and on Sunday evenings in additon to helping with choir rehearsal

Brian Fussell – our devoted organist

Jerry Dick – leads the Senior Choir and the Bell Choir

Warren Cooke – at the con-trols of our sound system every Sunday morning in the early service

Johnny Burris, Stephen McElveen, Darren Schilling, Cody Thomas, Matt Westmoreland, and Jordan Dale – handle the sound in the late service on a rotating basis…Matt also serves in the same way on Sunday evenings

The Bell Choir – If you read music, Mrs. Jerry would love to “sign you up”

The Senior Adult Choir – We have a great time every Monday morning and would welcome more “seniors” to join us

The Sanctuary Choir – rehearses on Wednes-day evenings and is currently preparing an Easter Musical entitled, Hallelujah, Praise the Lamb,to be presented on April13th

One Voice –the praise team which leads our worship on Sunday eveningsMeghan and Jim Stringfield, Whitney Crowe, and Josette Stringfield – These folks lead our Children’s Choirs.

I make these kinds of lists with fear and trembling; there’s always the risk of overlooking someone and I have “been there, done that.” Of course, there just isn’t space to list all of the individuals in our choirs and ensemble, but please know that your commitment and sacrifice of time and energy is very much appreciated by all of us.

Thank you!!! To those who sing for us occasionally, and others who serve with us from time to time, thank you, too.

May Jesus always be exalted in this place and receive all the glory!!

Note from Brother Butch

Children’s Ministry

Upcoming EventsCentri-Kid CampJuly 15th - 19th OR July 28th—August 1st$65 deposit due to reserve your spot.Contact Brother Cody for more information.

Children’s Committee Meeting Sunday, April 6th at 5:00 p.m. in the Senior Adult Center

Preschool Easter Egg Hunt (3 yr olds-Kindergarten)Sunday, April 13th following the 2nd Service. Each child needs to bring one dozen eggs filled & a basket.

Centri-Kid Bake Auction Sunday, April 13th following the evening service

Great RED Easter Egg Hunt Wednesday, April 16th at 6:00 p.m.

I’m super pumped for this year’s Centri-Kid. I always have a great time at Centri-Kid, and I have a feeling that this summer’s Centri-Kid will be the best yet. I’m super pumped because of this year’s theme … Reset: God Redeems. Centri-Kid themes are always fun; but this year seems to be right up my alley. Video games and Jesus … this is going to be the BEST. Although I am excited about the video game aspect of the theme, I’m more excited about learning how God Redeems. This word redeem is amazing; it means to buy or get back, recover, to pay off, to deliver from sin, to fulfill a promise, to restore. There are other definitions along those same lines, but let’s just go with those right now. To be redeemed is amazing! Man and God’s relationship was messed up since sin entered the world through Adam. Because of Adam’s sin, mankind is naturally separated from God. God is holy, the total opposite of sin, thus God and sin do not mix. Because of sin, we are separated from God, but God seeing our desperation sends Himself in the form of a man as a solution to our sin problem. God came to earth as a man named Jesus, lived a perfect life, fully man and fully God, sacrificed His holiness for our unholiness, died on the cross, and then resurrected to a new life. Amazing … God sacrificed Himself for the sins of mankind. When we surrender to Jesus and confess Him as our Lord and Savior, we are … REDEEMED. We go from being naturally separated from God to being in a perfect relationship with God. Through Jesus we are able to get back to God, recover our relationship with God, pay off our sin debt, be delivered from the punishment of sin, be in a covenant relationship with God, and we are restored to our created order. Through Jesus we are redeemed … God presses the reset button on our lives and gives us a new life, a life that is not of the flesh but of the Spirit. Thank God: He sees our desperation and resets our lives through Jesus. I’m excited that those attending Centri-Kid will be hearing about how God resets our lives through Jesus. Many children will hear this for the first time and will respond accordingly. Pray for us as we go Centri-Kid; pray we have a great week at camp, but more importantly pray for lives to be redeemed. There are still spots available for this summer’s Centri-Kid camp. Contact the church office for more details.

Children’s Ministry

This month PlaySchool learned about the letters P, Q, & R. To celebrate the letter “P”, they went to the Post Office

and Purchased Postage with Pennies to Pay for their Post cards they mailed to their Parents!

At the end of March the Franklinton Fire Department came with a Fire truck to talk about fire safety. The PlaySchoolers loved seeing the fire truck and their new fireman hats!

PlaySchool News

Leslie Westmoreland WINGS Coordinator

[email protected]

WINGS Ministry

Biloxi, MS: MS Coast ColiseumJune 27-28, 2014

Tickets $69 Hotel info: La Quinta Inn and Suites in Biloxi (228-392-5978)Take Exit 44 off of I-10 (Rooms have one King bed and sleeper sofa)One person in a room ($108.88) Two people in a room ($54.44)

Free Breakfast and Outdoor Pool/Hot tub

Schedule for the Conference:Friday, June 27th 5:30 p.m. Doors Open to Attendees7:00 p.m. Event Begins9:30 p.m. DismissSaturday, June 28th 7:30 a.m. Doors Open8:30 a.m. Event Begins10:00 a.m. Break10:45 a.m. Event Resumes12:15 p.m. Event Concludes

**Remember to bring your Bible, pen, and notebook.**

Beth Moore’s Beloved Disciple

Starting April 2nd on Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Joshua Classroom

Books cost $16.00

To everyone who hosted, prepared food, hosted tables, helped behind the scenes, and participated in the High Tea for India.

The Tea raised $1638.00 for Urdu Bible Translations.

Thank you!

Children’s Church

Month of April

Cody and Mallory Thomas

for ages 3 to

Kindergarten

Nursery

4/6 JoAnn Luiza & Gayle Rester

4/13 Kim Cooke & Sandra McDaniel

4/20 Denise Gatewood & Beverly Slade

4/27Lacy Burris & Nicole Wager

Wednesday Night Supper

4/2 Group B - Fried Chicken

4/9 Group C - Spaghetti & Meatballs

4/16 Group D - Country Fried Steak

4/23Spring Break - No Dinner

4/30Group E - Pork Loin

Sunday Night Supper

4/6 Schilling, Bankston, Burris, Cooper, Waskom, McElveen, Raybourn & Sandifer

4/13 Morgan, Cooke, Sylvest, Cooke, Morgan & Mobley

4/20 - Easter No Services

4/27 Knight, Branch, Wales, Rester, Kirby, Varnado & Fortenberry

Deacon Schedule

4/6 Joe Sandifer & Lance Schilling

4/13 Tommy Wood & Richard McElveen

4/20 Richard Knight & Matt Westmoreland

4/27Howard Gibson & Mike Hickman

Volu

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or Ap

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Announcements

The Washington Parish Food Bank is a community based ministry that distributes donated food to over 300 low income, pre-qualified residents of the Franklinton and Mt. Hermon areas. The food bank building is located at 2009 Main St. (behind Trinity Baptist Church) in Franklinton. Food distributions take place every first Wednesday of the month. Volunteers currently serving come from 6-7 different churches in our area, the Washington Parish Sheriff ’s department, local high school ROTC students, the LSU Ag Center, as well as other interested individuals willing to help. Anyone can volunteer to help. VOLUNTEERS are needed to bag produce and distribute food from 8:30 am – 12:00 noon on the first Wednesday of

each month (see actual schedule below). Also needed are office workers, counselors, and traffic controllers. No experience necessary!

Upcoming food distribution schedule:

APRIL 2 MAY 7 JUNE 4

If you are interested, call Debbie Richardson at 335-2835 or come by the food bank on food distribution day.

DONATIONS OF FOOD ITEMS GLADLY ACCEPTED

There is a new extension of our benevolence ministry that allows the beneficiaries to give back to the church by spending one day each week making jelly. These jellies are then availabe to all our members for personal use and for ministry. (See the jelly ministry shelf by the kitchen).

Some of these jellies will be used in care baskets, some for missions projects, and some in our Outreach Ministry. We invite all of our members to find creative ways to use these jellies for the glory of God. Each jar label contains a scripture verse intended to touch and encourage the reader. The labels also display the church’s contact information.

All of the expense of this ministry has been covered through designated donations to the Benevolence Fund. The response has been so overwhelming that we have sufficient funding to over the next six months’ expenses.

Funding, however, is not our only need. As “berry” season begins, we will need to gather and prepare around 400 gallons of juice to meet our requirements during the next year. Specifically, anyone wishing to donate blueberries, blackberries, mayhaws, muscadines, peaches, pears, plums, strawberries...almost any kind of fruit..please contact Brother Cody or Jimmy Wales. We have sufficient equipment to extract and store the juice, but we need your help in securing enough fruit.

One final note: Anyone who would like to learn how to make jelly would be welcome to join us as an unpaid volunteer. We usually hold our jelly-making sessions on Tuesdays of each week from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. To avoid over-crowding, we ask that everyone schedule his session through Brother Cody.

Jelly Ministry

Food Bank Needs You!

India MissionariesRemember to pray for India and the missionaries there.

Just for your information, here are some Hindi words:

English / Hindi

White / SafedCold / Thandi

Uncle / Cha ChaHow are you? /Aap Kaige hainI’m OK / Mentik HunBrother / BhyaWelcome / NamasteThank you / DanabadI Am OK / Mein AchchahunGrandfather / DaDaBanana / Kava

Centenary United Methodist Church invites you to join us for our presentation of “The Living Last Supper”, Thursday, April 17, 2014, 7:30 p.m. in our sanctuary, 1015 Cleveland Street, free admission.

See and hear the disciples’ thoughts after Jesus announces that one of them will betray Him. For more information call 839-3808.

Welcome Our New Members

Shawn Wortman

Dawson, Britney, William and Gavin Bell

Please begin to pray for our Vacation Bible School. We hope to have great attendeance by students; and we will be looking for plenty of volunteers to serve during the week. If you feel led to be a part of this exciting time with kids, please contact Emily Phelps or Lori Schilling.

VBS Teaching Materials Pick-up on

Sunday, April 13th at 5:00 p.m.

in the Storage Room

Lydia WattsJason Russell

Vacation Bible School

June 2nd - June 6th

Centenary United Methodist Presents “The Living Last Supper”

Children’s Book Now Available

Our own, Diane James wrote and illustrated a children’s book entitled Love Me Back...David’s Rock, and Crazy Noah - Three Narrative Poems

We are pleased to announce that these books are now available in the church office for anyone

interested in owning a copy for $11.00.

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

8:30 a.m. Senior Singers

7:00 p.m. AA


5:30 p.m. Outreach

7:00 p.m. AA


5:30 p.m. Outreach

7:00 p.m. AA

7 a.m. Men’s Prayer Breakfast

5 p.m. Children’s Committee Meeting

11a.m.Beth Moore study begins

5 p.m. Wednesday Night Supper

6 p.m. Evening Services


Great Red Easter Egg Hunt


No Wednesday Night Supper


7 p.m. AA

7 p.m. AA

7 p.m. AA

7 p.m. AA

1:30 p.m.CPR Class

4 p.m Deacon’s Meeting

10 a.m. A.W. Robbins Outing

6:30 p.m. Hymn Sing at Heritage Manor

PRSRT STDNONPROFIT

ORGANIZATIONUS POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT NO. 27

April 2014



8 a.m.-12 p.m.

Work day

Good Friday9 a.m.Carry the Cross

7 p.m.Family Movie Night at Washington Parish Fairgrounds

2 p.m. WMU

8:00 a.m. Blood Drive for Macy Guildener

10 a.m. Senior Adult Day at Camp Living Waters

Easter Cantata

Preschool Easter Egg Hunt

5 p.m. VBS Material Pick-up

Centri-Kid Bake Auction

Easter

Merry Hearts Outing to Houmas

Gospel Music Festival - Cassidy Park

950 Self StreetFranklinton, LA 70438www.fbcfranklinton.org

Government & Nonprofit

The Bridge April 2014