Back to Regular Schedule in February

Yes, our combined Sunday School and Worship month is almost OVER! Don't forget about our regular schedule, beginning in February:

Early Worship & Children's Church 8:30am
Donuts & Coffee in the Fellowship Hall 9:30am
Sunday School 9:45am
Worship 11:00am

Evening Worship 6:00pm

A matter of Vision

I have been often asked and even sometimes criticized for not communicating "My Vision" for Ebenezer Baptist Church. I know that without vision, people perish. I know vision is key in moving people toward a goal, and if we have no goal we will move along aimlessly . . . If you aim at nothing, you will hit it EVERY TIME.

However, I have a little trouble with the idea that I need to communicate MY VISION. I am imperfect . . . I make mistakes. For years I have worked at trying to remove myself from this process and give it totally to God. I still believe that is the right thing to do. This might seem like a game of semantics, but God clearly has put something out there for us and every church. Why reinvent the wheel??

Therefore, I choose to communicate what I believe to be God's Vision for Ebenezer. If you have been in morning worship the last two weeks, how could you have missed it?? And, if you were not there, cheer up . . . I have ONE more sermon to complete the concept!

In a nutshell, I believe God's vision for Ebenezer to be:

1. That EACH ONE OF US Loves God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. With everything that we are.

2. That EACH ONE OF US Loves our neighbor as much as we love ourself. And who is our neighbor?? ANYONE on this planet (I guess we will cross the planetary bridge if it ever becomes necessary).

3. That EACH ONE OF US Obeys God and Serves Him.

Is that simple enough?? Then, let's do it!!

229 Years STRONG

I would not say Ebenezer is an OLD church. True, we have been around for 229 years . . . But Ebenezer is a strong church with several things in our favor. I could list physical attributes of the church, location, makeup, etc., but I am convinced that ONE thing is directly responsible for that strength: OBEYING GOD. We make mistakes like everyone else and are not absolutely perfect, but when we obey God, He blesses us. When we are good stewards of what He gives us, He gives us more (and more resposibility). The Strength of Ebenezer is in our relationship with God . . . I pray we NEVER forsake that strength, because if we do, we cease to be a church.

Birthday Party THIS SUNDAY

Don't forget about the special festivities This Sunday (Jan 21), celebrating Ebenezer's 229th birthday:

Sunday School at 9:15
Morning Worship at 10:30
Covered Dish Lunch after morning worship

Also, our architects will be present to administer a questionaire and answer any questions about the process of designing and proposing a new sanctuary.

Hope to see YOU there!

Stress and Ministry

Did you know that 1600 pastors leave their ministries every MONTH due to stress?? Yeah, I did not know that either until yesterday. Anyway, here is a great article to consider along that same subject line.

http://www.baptiststart.com/pastors_deacons.htm

CLC . . . The SECOND day

Okay, I promise not to write about this every day, but you GOTTA read this. Yesterday we had a great day with our ten pupils. Drop/add is still going on, and Mr Lunsford told us we might make it up to 20 by Wednesday. Imagine our surprise when Mr L came out to meet us, telling us we have 26 students now!!

There were several I knew, a couple that visit Ebenezer, but no church members. But that is not the exciting stuff . . . As we were leaving, Vice Marshall McAlpin ordered them to a homework assignment . . . Write one page about why you took this class.

Walking out, two different students offered freely to me why they signed up for the New Testament class: Because THEY DO NOT HAVE A CHURCH!!

Think about THAT, EBC!!!

The First Day of CLC

Many people do not realize what happened on our campus yesterday . . . Perhaps a historic event. The Christian Learning Center of Florence had its first New Testament class for students at Sneed Middle yesterday. YES, these kids at Sneed, with their parents permission, could choose to take New Testament as an elective this year and they get school credit for it!!! And it HAPPENED at Ebenezer yesterday, and will happen every day until the end of this semester!

In order to get it started, Justin and I volunteered to teach it this first semester . . . As a pilot program. Next semester we hope to have two or three classes that meet at EBC. We started with ten kids, but Mr Lunsford told us he thinks it will grow to 20 before the end of the week.

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!! We also need another classroom volunteer or two, so if you find yourself with nothing to do between 1:15 and 2:30, give us a call!

2007 Budget Highlights

We voted TWO milestone events yesterday:

1. We voted to call a Minister to Children to our church. All you have to do is look around, see the 150 kids in those halls on Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings, not to mention the weekday kids who are there EVERY day of the week, and this person already has a heavy job load. Pray for this person (God ALREADY knows who He has for this job) and pray for our personnel team as they begin their search.

2. For the first time ever, our yearly budget tops the "Million Dollar" mark. This is NOT a scary thing . . . If God led us to do this, He will provide. Just be obedient in YOUR financial arena, and He will provide the rest!!

All God asks of US is that WE OBEY!

Financial Report 2006, part 1

There is a real victory in all of this I need to share. The financial report is not quite closed yet, but here are some numbers that are pretty solid, and I wanted to share them with you:

Budget Offering Needed this year $929,970.49
Budget Offering GIVEN this year $965,267.58

That is $35,000 OVER what was needed this past year. When I think about the fact that we were right at $35k UNDER last year and we stepped out on faith and increased the budget anyway, that is pretty awesome.

The total budget was $950,282, and we have spent ~ $852,000 (that is the part that is not closed yet, but it is pretty close). In the end, we will have come in very close to $100,000 under budget in SPENDING.

All of this is GOOD!!

Now, we did have 53 Sundays this year (which happens every once in a while), but that does not dilute the fact that we gave $811,000 last year and $965,000 this year, a difference of ~$154,000!!! We gave that much more this year!

And NONE OF THIS includes the Habitat House, Honduras offerings, or any other extra offering project!

That is a reason to celebrate!

Church Membership with a PURPOSE

This Sunday (Jan. 7), we begin a four-week emphasis in Sunday School on Church Membership. All youth and adults will gather in the Sanctuary at 9:15 (9:00 doughnuts and coffee in the Fellowship Hall).

We will talk about what it means to be a Christian, about baptism and the Lord's Supper, about what we believe as Baptists, about how Ebenezer works as a church. This will be a great month and will help all of us better understand our church. I hope you will be there!

Looking for a new ministry??

If you are looking for a new ministry this year, check out what is going on at http://www.oneverse.org. This is an international Bible translation ministry that allows YOU to take part in the very real ministry they do every day. Check it out!

The Mission of Double 07

2007 is here, and The Mission has been accepted by the Students at Ebenezer! This past weekend was our Winter Retreat, which was incredible! The challenge to "Pursue Jesus" was laid bare before all of us in attendance as we realized the opportunity God has given us daily. One thing that stands out in my memory of the weekend was Mark White (our speaker for the weekend) illustrated to us the simple choice we have every moment of our lives pertaining to how we will live this life: Will you be obedient or disobedient? A simple question that frequently demands a sometimes difficult answer. As CRASH Ministries goes into 2007, pray that when we look back at the end of this year we will see the results of lives lived for the glory of Christ to know Him, know Him more, and make His name known to others. Pray that the fruit of our spiritual lives will be double what it was in 2006, thus the name Double '07. May you feel invited to accept this mission for your life this year. Forget about worrying over resolutions, and begin living the revolution.

"And those who knew braced for the ride."
-Angels & Airwaves

Justin McAlpin

January 2007: Something Different

Don't forget about the Sunday morning schedule changes for January. Doughnuts and coffee in the Fellowship Hall at 9:00am, Sunday School at 9:15 (All youth and adults meet in the Sanctuary), and combined worship in the FLC at 10:30am.

Opening the Door

This blog will chronicle the ins and outs of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Hope you get lots of good information from it and hope this is useful to you!!

David