The

J ul y 2014 Vol. 7 Issue 7

May Highlights
Current Highlights p. 1
Note from the Pastor p. 1
Note from Landon p. 2
Upcoming Events

July Calendar
p. 3

p. 4
Financials p. 5
Extended Session p. 5
Birthdays p. 5
Anniversaries p. 5
Upcoming Events p. 6

Our Church Staf


Gary Burden
Senior Pastor
919-631-6789


Landon Orr
Assoc. Pastor of
Discipleship & Evangelism
919-229-9379


Chastty Comeau
Admin. AssistantFinances


Pat Baucom
Admin. Assistant - Publicatons




Bethesdas B.I.G. Summer
Now - August 2014

Sunday Morning Message Theme
Marriage Maters / Family Maters
Ephesians 5:22 - 6:4
(Mini-Series within Current Ephesians Series)

Sunday Evening Family Gatherings
(All Ages - 6:00 PM)

July 6 Independence Day Weekend - No evening gathering
July 13 Answers in Genesis video
July 20 VBS/Church Picnic (12-3 pm) - No evening gathering
July 27 Answers in Genesis video
August 3 No evening gathering
August 10 The Movie Fireproof
August 17 No evening gathering
August 24 Ice Cream Social - End of Summer Gathering
August 31 Labor Day Weekend - No Evening Gathering



Wednesday Night Outreach - 7:00 PM
(See weekly bulletn)
Play & Pray nights at local parks
Community Service Projects
Music & Ministry at Nursing Homes
SummerFest Business meetng - August 20
(Covered dish dinner at 6:30 pm)

THINK B.I.G.!
(Bold Impact for God)
Page 2 The L ampl i ght er
Those of us who simply quote verbatm what the Bible
says about this issue or expound on Romans one are ofen
perceived as being intolerant, bigoted, and guilty of hate
speech. Robert Jefress, pastor of First Baptst in Dallas,
Texas says, It is the ultmate hypocrisy for the Obama
administraton to pretend it supports diversity and yet
denounces anyone who dares to disagree with its radical
homosexual agenda. When taking a closer look at homo-
sexual actvists, Tony Perkins, president of Family
Research Council says, Their ultmate goal is to sanitze
the public space of anyone who holds to a biblical view of
morality. Its not about tolerance, Its about forced
acceptance.

You may recall that Louis Giglio had been invited to
deliver the benedicton at President Obamas 2012
inauguraton untl gay rights actvists discovered that in
the 1990s he preached a sermon in which he called
homosexuality a sin. Thus, he was forced to back out of
the invitaton. Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptst
Theological Seminary, says, If a preacher has ever taken a
stand on biblical convicton, he risks being exposed
decades afer the fact. Anyone who teaches at any tme,
to any degree, that homosexual behavior is a sin is to be
cast out. The White House has now declared historic,
biblical Christanity to be out of bounds, castng it of the
inaugural program as an embarrassment.

Persecuton is already here and there are hundreds, if not
thousands of examples. Its just not reported by main-
stream media. It is the consensus of some that we are
just a few years away from American pastors being
brought up on charges of hate speech against homo-
sexuals. There is a hostlity brewing against Christanity,
and for any church that stands on what the Scripture
teaches regarding homosexuality, it must brace itself for
persecuton. We may see atempts to shut down
churches or remove Bibles from public libraries. Rick
Warren seems to be right on when saying that Religious
liberty will become the civil rights issue of our generaton.

A Tranformed America
Nikita Khrushchevs chilling predicton from 1959 said:
Your childrens children will live under communism. You
Americans are so gullible. No, you wont accept
Communism outright; but well keep feeding you small
doses of Socialism until you will finally wake up and find
that you already have Communism. We wont have to
fight you; well so weaken your economy, until you fall
like overripe fruit into our hands.


Periodically, I like to share guest
artcles. My friend Steve Haleour
guest evangelist here a few years
ago certainly understands the tmes
in which we are living, and so must we:

Could it be that one day you and I will be arrested for
preaching hate speech based upon our biblical view of
marriage and our refutaton of same-sex marriage? Is it
possible that Christan business owners could be forced to
close their doors for refusing to violate their Christan
convictons? Will chaplains be removed from our Armed
Forces for praying in Jesus name? Could evangelical
students be denied admission into science classes
because they believe in creatonism? The unspoken word
in each of these scenarios is persecuton.

PRESECUTION LOOMS ON THE HORIZON

The above questons are not merely hypothetcal
possibilites, but realistc probabilites assuming that we
contnue on our present path. Most likely this entered
into World Visions decision to change its hiring policy
regarding homosexuals. As you know, this Christan
agency has an operatng budget of almost a billion dollars
and is credited with conductng disaster relief projects
and rescuing millions of children from poverty. Since
many of its employees had advocated the hiring of homo-
sexuals, the agency stated that it had prayed about it for
years and decided to embrace the changed policy. Yet,
upon the withdrawal of support from Conservatve
churches, World Vision quickly reversed its decision,
issued an apology, and returned to its long-standing
policy. However, they exposed their willingness to cave
to the cultural norms. Perhaps it was because they could
foresee persecuton for organizatons, such as theirs, who
refuse to compromise their Christan convictons.

Frank Page, President of the SBCs Executve Commitee,
says Im not a conspiracy theorist, but I do believe the
day is coming when churches will see outright persecuton
as well as a contnued patern of harassment and margin-
alizaton in this culture. Churches beter gear up and re-
alize that day is coming.

Indeed, the homosexual agenda and issues surrounding
same-sex marriage is the lightning rod issue for the
twenty-frst century church. The slippery slope we are on
cannot be overstated and we should not ignore the larger
context of what this says about the natons moral
fberand destny. For our purposes, lets confne our
thoughts to the ramifcatons for the Church.
Contnued on page 3
The Lamplighter Page 3
With a weakened economy, a weakened morality, a
weakened church, a weakened family structure, a
weakened military, a weakened government, and a
weakened educatonal system, one is hard-pressed to
fnd anything in America that is not in decline. America
is more vulnerable now than like any thing weve seen in
our lifetme. When factoring in the huge paradigm shif
from our historical pillars of biblical truth to that of
moral relatvism, we are standing on a sandy foundaton
unprepared for the winds to blow and rains to descend.

Back to our lightning rod issue. It is especially unsetling
to know that the First Amendment Center released a
study revealing that the majority of Americans now
believe that gay equality trumps religious objectons.
Already, we are seeing Christans losing their jobs,
businesses being targeted with lawsuits, and schools
being threatened with discriminaton accusatons. The
gay community is not content with the culture acceptng
their lifestyle, they want us to afrm it and endorse it.
Any who dare to object will experience what Frank Page
describes: A biblical worldview will not be tolerated in
the twenty-frst century. There will be actve and open
persecuton. When you have natonal leaders who say
that Baptst and other evangelicals are guilty of hate
speech because of our recitaton of simple scripture, then
you are going to see the alienaton and actve persecu-
ton of churches in the United States.

Lets pray fervently for Gods interventon!

Gary Burden

Prayer for
Independence Day

On this Independence Day I am
reminded of all those who have
sacrifced for my freedom, following
the example of your Son, Jesus
Christ. Let me not take my freedom, both physical and
spiritual, for granted. May I always remember that my
freedom was purchased with a very high price. My
freedom cost others their very lives.

Lord, today, bless those who have served and contnue
to give their lives for my freedom. With favor and
bounty meet their needs and watch over their families.
Help me to live my life in a way that glorifes you, Lord.

Give me the strength to be a blessing in someone else's
life today, and grant me the opportunity to lead others
into the freedom that can be found in knowing Christ.
Last month I briefy described how I
select songs for worship. This month,
I thought I would give a more succinct
statement of my vision for worship. This is
a summary of a more detailed document
that I have. If you would like to read more let me
know, I will gladly send the original your way!

Worship Vision Statement: As a church, we will seek
for our worship to be God-focused, Christ-centered,
Spirit-led, biblical in content, contextual in style,
genuine in expression, corporate in environment,
exuberant in passion, and edifying in nature.

God-focused: The God of the church is the creator God,
who intends to be the focus of all creaton. Our
worship will refect this focus.

Christ-centered: It is through Christ that we can
approach God, so our worship will be centered on Him.

Spirit-led: A service void of the Spirit is not worship; it
is a meaningless gathering of people. We will allow the
Spirit to lead, inspire, and motvate our worship.

Biblical in content: God gave us a sufcient, powerful
Word and our worship will seek to refect this Word.

Contextual in style: Our worship will seek not to stfe
the true expressions from the hearts of each individual.
The songs should be an expression of the heart, in a
language that is understandable, in a style that is
connectable, and with content that is true to the lives
of the congregaton.

Genuine in Expression: We will seek to express our-
selves in ways that are genuine to our congregaton and
to make our worship refect a real outpouring of our
congregatons heart.

Corporate in environment: We want each individual to
be comfortable, not in isolaton, but rather in the family
of God. We gather corporately to speak the Word to
each other, encouraging each other with our prayers,
with our songs, and with our speech.

Exuberant in passion: Our worship services will be a
refecton of the Kingdom of God, not dull but
exuberant in passion for our Lord.

Edifying in nature: Everything we do in worship will be
edifying in nature, never tearing town a believer, but
building them up in Christ.
Landon Orr
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday


1


2

Bethesda
Summer Schedule
B. I. G.
7.00 PM
3

4 5

6


Weekly
Sunday Service

7

His Vision
Our Mission
Commitee Mtg.
7:00 PM
8

Deacons
Meetng
7:00 PM
9

Bethesda
Summer Schedule
B. I. G.
7.00 PM
10

11

12


13

Weekly
Sunday Service
with The Lords
Supper
Church Council
Mtg. 4:30 PM
14

15

16

Bethesda
Summer Schedule
B. I. G.
7.00 PM

17

18

19

20

Weekly
Sunday Service
Church Picnic
123 PM
21



22

23

Bethesda
Summer Schedule
B. I. G.
7.00 PM
24

25

26




27

Weekly
Sunday Service

28


29 30

Bethesda
Summer Schedule
B. I. G.
7.00 PM
31


The Lamplighter Page 4

9:15 am .................................................................... Bible Study Fellowship
10:30 am ......................................................... Morning Worship Celebraton
Bethesdas B. I. G. Sunday Night Schedule
6:00 PM
Sunday Schedule Wednesday Night Schedule

Bethesdas B..I. G. Summer Schedule
(see weekly bulletin)
7:00 PM
July 913, Youth at Ridgecrest
The L ampl i ght er
Page 5
JULY EXTENDED SESSION
AND KIDS CHURCH
Sunday, July 6 - AM
Babies: Kathleen McLamb,
Shanon Buford
& Cathy Johnson

2s: Heather Henry &
Ashley Fannin

3s/4s: Julie Brueggen &
Tara Baker

K-3rd Kids Church
Frances Burden &
Robin Hotakey

Sunday, July 6 - PM
No Evening Actvites

Wednesday, July 9
Bethesdas B.I.G. Schedule

Sunday, July 13 - AM
Babies: Brandi Sauer,
Brandon & Hannah Beasley

2s: Missy Urban &
Brooke Ashley

3s/4s: Larkin &
Brigite Creech

K-3rd Kids Church
Ginger Starling &
Angel Duncan

Sunday, July 13 PM
Jane & Johnnie Gatlin

Wednesday, July 16
Bethesdas B.I.G. Schedule
Sunday, July 20 - AM
Babies: Sondra Gatewood,
Jane Gatlin & Cheryl Chicki

2s: Britany &
Andrew Arant

3s/4 s: Wendy &
Chris Gatewood

K-3rd Kids Church
Tyler Henry &
David Duncan

Sunday, July 20- PM
No Evening Actvites


Wednesday, July 18
Bethesdas B.I.G. Schedule


Sunday, July 27 - AM
Babies: Faye Wells,
Wendy Beasley & Sara Orr

2s: Ryan & Miranda
Godsell

3s/4s: Kirk & Christy
Richardson

K-3rd Kids Church
Terry Gatewood &
Josh Murphy

Sunday, July 27 - PM
Sarah Jay & Cherilyn
Murphy

Wednesday, July 30
Bethesdas B.I.G. Schedule


Preschool Regis. Desk
Diane Duncan


Date S.S.
AM
Worship
Budget
Ofering
His Vision
Our Mission
June 1 90 170 6,283.77 1,535.57
June 8 89 165 6,154.60 4,045.00
June 15 90 140 6,711.00 530.00
Total 269 475 19,149.37 6,110.57
Avg. 90 158 6,383.12 2,036.86
Average Atendance & Oferings for June2013
Avg. 97 131 4,720.49 1,253.75
Facts & Figures for June 2014





Sandy Gordon 3rd
Glenda Daley 5th
Charles Wilson 6th
Hunter Beasley 8th
Kristian Henry 8th
Julia Stephens 9th
Missy Urban 9th
J.B. Earp 12th
Nick Tart 12th
Brigitte Creech 13th
Jerry Dalton 15th
Brenda Jones 19th
Kristen Duncan 20th
Sherald Lee 20th
Jonathan Harper 21st
Sharon Johnson 21st
Brandi Sauer 21st
Joshua Murphy 23rd
Suzanne Yates 25th




John & Elvis Farr 1st
David & Robin Keefe 12th
Bobby & Phyllis Godwin 15th
Lyde & Dorothy Ellis 19th
Nick & Missy Urban 27th
Ray & Misty Carroll 31st
Upcoming Events






Adventure with the Son!
Vacaton Bible School
Songs, Crafs, Games, Bible Stories, Food
Saturday, July 19 - Sunday Morning July 20, 2014


Church-wide Picnic
Sunday, July 20
12 N - 3:00 PM
At the church


Mark Your Calendar for:
The Art of Marriage
(A six session video event)
Getng to the Heart of Gods Design
August 15 & 16, 2014
Cost $50.
To Register: www.bethesdaclayton.com/artofmarriage