The Christian Messenger

Fifth Avenue Church of Christ 115 W. Fifth Ave. Lancaster, OH 43130 740-654-0626 e-mail: info@myfacc.com www.myfacc.com
Brad Seevers Senior Minister (740-550-9882) David Tingler Associate Minister Glen Shady Youth Minister (740-438-5257) Sunday Services 1st Worship 8:00 a.m. 2nd Worship 10:30 a.m. Bible School 9:15am Evening Worship 6:00pm

September 6, 2011

It is time for the election of officers. Those serving on the Nominating Committee are: Mike Cooper, Larry King, Don Taylor, Marg Shumaker and Norma Holtom. All names for consideration must be submitted to these individuals no later than September 16th.

Nominating Committee

All Church Picnic

Sunday, September 11, 2011 Rising Park - Large Pavilion (Follow road to the right) 4:30pm Games ** 5:00pm Supper Punch, Ice and coffee provided Please bring food to share and your own tableware. 6:00pm - Devotions and Lords Supper 7:00 10:00pm Charlie Mays happy keyboard Fellowship Climb the mountain Smores Bring firewood Bring a game to share Bring a comfortable lawn chair NOTE: You can come for ALL or PART of the picnic. Please see Kathryn Albertson with questions.

Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of things we do not see. - Hebrews 11:1

SPIRITUAL STATISTICS (September 4, 2011)

Sunday School 1st Morning Worship 2nd Morning Worship Total Morning Worship Evening Worship Weekly Budget Budget Received Van Building Fund

104 99 102 201 33 $ 4,471.00 $ 5,256.40 $ 55.00 $ 5.00

SERVING SCHEDULE September 11, 2011 Mike Cooper, Dick Shumaker At the Table 1st Larry King, Ray Ayers Serving 1st Jerry Baker, Dan Brown Mike Cooper. Dick Shumaker At the Table 2nd L. King, D. Taylor, D. Thornton Serving 2nd N. Tomlinson, R. Troutman Mike Cooper Pastor of the week Larry King PM Deacon COMMUNION PREPARATION 1ST Worship Peggy Elkins 2nd Worship Geri Jaynes GREETERS 1ST Worship Larry and Jane King nd 2 Worship Linda Daubenmire, Norma Holtom NURSERY Sunday School Hannah Ross, Courtney Beiter nd 2 Worship Nick and Tracy Hinson Sunday School Helper Norma Holtom st Visitor Center 1 Worship Judy Gardner Visitor Center 2nd Worship Kim Seevers SECURITY 1ST Worship Paul Alexander Bible School Ray Coats nd 2 Worship Tom Puckett Evening Worship Paul Hoagland

The Church Bowling League is in need of men and women, ages 16 to 100, who would like to join them in fun and fellowship at Tiki Bowling Lanes each Tuesday at 6:30pm, starting on September 13th. For more information, see or call LeRoy Shaner, 653-9084 or Dale Thornton, 653-5176.

Would Anyone Like To Bowl????

MISSIONS SPEAKER
Sunday, September 25th Rich Teske, Director of Reach Out On Campus, at Ohio University will be here to speak at all services.

Worship
What should worship look like? What is good worship? It is truly amazing that in the old testament, there are very detailed step by step instructions for each of the feasts, festivals and sacrifices. Yet in the new testament we are not given an example of the ideal worship service. In fact most of what we have is correction when we miss the point. The picture is very similar to Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall. Genesis 2:16-17 says But the Lord God warned him , you may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden - except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit you are sure to die. In much the same way, we have freedom in worship within certain boundaries. In John 4 Jesus tells the samaritan woman that those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth. In I Corinthians, as Paul corrects improper attitudes in worship he states that worship must be done decently and in order. In the coming weeks we will look at these ideas in detail, and see how they should inform how we worship today. Lord, lead us to seek your will and to bless you in our worship. Amen

Looking Ahead! Womens Prayer Breakfast Saturday, October 8th ** 9:00am Hear a presentation by two sisters, Mary Rogers and Stephanie Van Horn tell about their mother, Sallie Durret Farmer who was an Army nurse. Mark this date on your calendar and plan to attend. Watch for further information closer to the date. Card-Making Class Saturday, November 12th Led by Diane Miller Christmas Tea Sunday, December 4th ** 2:00pm

Christmas in September
Wednesday, September 7th at 6:30pm at Mary Alice Coats home. Devotion/Special music by Cassie Bull. Bring a dozen cookies to share and a white elephant gift to exchange. Bring your lawn chair!

ALL LADIES WELCOME!

The Book Nook The next meeting of the Book Nook will be Monday, September 26th at 6:00 pm. We will be discussing the book While Were Far Apart by Lynn Austin. At each meeting we discuss our book of the month--and anything else that comes to mind! New members are always welcome! Come and join the fellowship! DORCAS OUTING IN SEPTEMBER The Dorcas Ladies would like to invite ALL LADIES to join them for lunch at 1:00pm on Thursday, September 22nd at Bob Evans Restaurant. Be sure to get a flyer to take with you and 15% of all sales that day will go to Olivedale. Sign-up sheet and flyer will be on the bulletin board. See Juanita Harmon to get a copy of the flyer.

Womens Bible Study Wednesday, September 14th 6:30pm Led by Norma Holtom
People came to HIM. They came at night, they touched Him as He walked down the street, they followed Him around the sea, they invited Him into their homes, they placed their children at His feet. WHY? Because He chose to be approachable and visible. He knew if people could see and know Him, they would also see and know God.

SERVING SCHEDULE September 18, 2011 D. Riggenbach, P. Wersell At the Table 1st Serving 1st At the Table 2 Serving 2nd
nd

BITS FROM BRO DAVE

PERSONAL: In last week's Messenger you read of the departure of Martha Kelly, our long-time Church Secretary. I want to use a part of my space, this week, to say "thanks" to my good friend and co-worker for her many years of faithful and diligent service. I have been privileged to work with Mrs. Kelly for about 26 of her 37 years. (Have known her since 1981.) She has always been a great source of support and her commitment to the church family has been obvious. I've always had confidence that any task assigned to her would be well done. I do wish her joy and contentment in her retirement but will miss her presence in our office. NEW HORIZONS RETREAT: It appears our final total for this event will be 16. I would remind those registered that we depart the church at 7:30 am on Tuesday, September 13. LaCOMEDIA DINNER THEATRE: As of this writing, we still have seats available for this matinee performance of "Church Basement Ladies: A Second Helping", on Thursday, October 13. We will be departing at 8:20 on that morning and returning in the late afternoon. The cost is just $43 per person and this includes transportation, dinner and the show. (We have contracted for 28 front row seats.) The absolute final date for payment is September 11. Make checks payable to "Fifth Avenue Church of Christ". WEDNESDAYS: My 10:00 am and 6:30 pm classes will resume on September 14. We will be following up on last year's study as we examine II Corinthians. Why not join us for one of these informal study groups? SUNDAY EVENINGS: This year, I am calling our series, "Sunday Evenings in the Sanctuary". We will, actually resume on September 18. I will be continuing a series from the Psalms, which we began in the Spring. I want to follow up this series with some studies on the "Hard Sayings of Jesus". Be thinking about this as I will be asking for your suggestions for texts. NOTE: Communion is available at these evening gatherings.

G. Lambert, R. Coats, R. Conrad, D. Gardner

D. Riggenbach, N. Tomlinson B. Lambert, N. Hinson, P. Hinson N. Rudolph, D. Taylor David Riggenbach Pastor of the week George Lambert PM Deacon COMMUNION PREPARATION 1ST Worship Peggy Elkins nd 2 Worship Geri Jaynes GREETERS 1ST Worship Dan & Janet Brown 2nd Worship Neal Rudolph NURSERY Sunday School Laura Wersell, Thea Kallenberg nd 2 Worship Courtney Beiter, Cindy Cox Sunday School Helper Ruth Andrews Visitor Center 1st Worship Geri Jaynes nd Visitor Center 2 Worship Bev Puckett SECURITY 1ST Worship Dan Brown Bible School Carmel Marsh 2nd Worship Mike Cooper Evening Worship Dick Shumaker

The Blue Star Mothers (Lancaster chapter) received a government grant to help with a purchase of a house for use by homeless veterans. It will house 8 veterans for a 2 year time period. They are in need of anything HOUSEHOLD related to furnish the house. They are working in conjunction with Lutheran Social Services also. If you are "house cleaning" or "downsizing" and have things (small household items) you could donate to this cause, there will be a donation box at the nursery entrance. If there are any questions, contact Sue Oehrtman. Thanks.

A Note From Brad.

Today I want to highlight a very special night for our church. On Saturday, September, 17th, we will have a special night of praise and worship at FACC from 7-8 P.M. The intent of this worship is for those who are fasting to come together to celebrate what God is doing in their lives and we are seeking to gain strength through Him as we give Jesus our praise. We are asking our church body to fast from noon Saturday to noon on Sunday. We realize that many cannot go without food for that amount of time due to Diabetes and other health considerations, but we want to encourage you to fast then from something else. Could you possibly give up your phone or TV for that time period? Just what would you be willing to give up for the 24 hour period? As always, in place of this sacrifice, we are asking you to spend a great deal of time in prayer for our church. This Sunday we will have an insert in our bulletin which will layout specifics of what we are asking you to fast and pray for. I do hope you will seriously consider joining us in this season of fasting and praying and I certainly hope you will join us for our hour of praise and worship on Saturday night. I want to also remind you that this Sunday we will pay tribute to Martha Kelly for her 37 years of service to the Fifth Avenue Church of Christ. Martha will be recognized during the first worship hour only so if you want to be a part of this celebration and you normally attend second service, you may want to join us this week at our 8:00 A.M worship. Dont forget the following upcoming times of study September 14 - Family Reunion electives begin @ 6:30 P.M. o Three options for adults: Brad Various studies, worship, films, small group (Fellowship Hall) Dave 2 Corinthians (Room 208) Norma Colossians (Womens Bible Study) - (Room 214) September 18- Life Group @ Dan Browns (Not a Fan study-6:00) September 20- Life Group @ Fellowship Hall (Forgotten God-6:30) In His Service, Brad Seevers, Eph. 3:20-21

Prayer List ..
Robert Boyer Stacy Byers Ron Young Jeane Goldfarb Helen Puckett Willard Venatter Wanda Dickson Our Troops Estella Cornell Jim Evans Ron Ogden Sharon Britch Dorothy Henderly Clayton Hewitt Dorothy Herman Autumn Nagle

Children of God...
"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." -Proverbs 22:6

Baby Steps
By Glen Shady
This past week during Hosanna (second hour childrens worship) we looked at the story of Nicodemus visiting Jesus. Within this story you have Jesus teaching Nicodemus that we all must be born again. Now we are always so quick to point out that this is not talking about a physical rebirth, but we should be careful to not use that as an excuse to dismiss this whole idea. Perhaps this is a spiritual rebirth, but as a believer in God and the Bible I view the spiritual world as just as real (if not more so) than the physical world. Given this idea of people starting in the faith as spiritual babies, the Apostle Paul views it as a reality as he talks about giving the people of Corinth spiritual milk instead of solid food. He did this because he cared for that church. If you give a newborn solid food instead of milk, you are likely going to kill that baby one way or another. Similarly, if you refuse to give a growing child solid food, but only milk, we should expect that child to starve and die. What necessarily constitutes milk versus solid food in the church is admittedly difficult to differentiate. I am sure of one thing, though: we are expected to grow. I am not talking numbers, I am talking maturity. The key to this maturity has to be spiritual habits. Bible reading and memorizing, praying, fellowshipping (not meals), fasting, etc. These are the tools for growth that God has given us and has commanded us to do. The beautiful thing is that they do not work on our own power, but these practices allow Gods power to take over in our lives. How comforting this is! On September 17-18 we are going to be doing a church-wide 24 hour fast. Perhaps this is foreign territory for you. Thats okay. We have to remember that no growth happens without first going through baby steps. You see, nothing can happen without going through the baby step process. We run away from this process, though, because like real babies it is awkward, scary, and dangerous. The problem is that if we do risk taking baby steps, we will never learn how to walk. Also like a real baby, we have a loving father who is willing to catch us when we fall. So I encourage you to take a step of faith and prepare yourself for the spiritual growth that God will bring into your life. He is there, watching and waiting, wanting us to develop. Excited over the idea. We just have to trust him and push forward together.