the Logos

Lost & Found: If anyone picked up a ladies coat by accident on last Sunday on the bench outside of the ladies restroom, please return to the welcome center or church office (during the week). It’s a black coat with black fur on collar. There was a cell phone in the pocket. I know the owner will be happy to get it back. Don't forget about the two upcoming workshops in January on the 5th and 12th from 9:00am to 12:00pm. Topics for discussion on Jan. 5th will be peer pressure and health, and on Jan. 12th will be gang awareness for children, youth and adults Everyone is invited to join us for our New Year's Eve Celebration on Mon., Dec. 31st at 9:00pm. Please bring a friend and help us praise God what He has done in 2007 and look forward to another great year of serving Him. There will be no prayer meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 1st. We return to our regular schedule on Wednesday, Jan. 2nd.

This is the fourth Sunday of Advent. It represents peace. The first coming of Jesus enabled people to be at peace with God. His second coming will bring peace to world. Worthy is the Lamb of God that came to die for the sins of the world. Just a reminder that there will be a Free Christmas Lunch for individuals and families in need. Click here for details. Thank you for your generous giving to the coat drive. The Men's Ministry collected over 100 coats to give to those in need. Please mark your calendar for two upcoming workshops: January 5th and 12th from 9:00am to 12:00pm. Topics for discussion on Jan. 5th will be peer pressure and health, and on Jan. 12th will be gang awareness for children, youth and adults. Due to the Christmas holiday, we will not have Tuesday night prayer meeting, Wednesday night or Thursday morning Bible Study this week. Enjoy time with your family and friends. Merry Christmas!

As a parent of small children, buying toys has been a challenge this year with so many recalls. But I found this info on a a couple of websites that could make buying toys easier. One is HealthyToys.org (contains a database that provides a detailed breakdown of the substances found in over 1,200 toys they tested for lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, and PVC plastic) and the other is MomsRising.org (you can text message this one to get these test results on a toy back to your mobile phone). So as you shop for your little ones, I hope these websites will help you buy safe toys. read more | digg story

This is the third Sunday of Advent. It represents joy. We have joy in celebrating the birth of Jesus and joy in anticipating of His second coming. Don't let materialism and commercialism steal your joy. Thanks to those who attended our Christmas program and social on yesterday. Everyone participating in the play did a wonderful job. Everything went very well for our first stage production at our new facility and we look forward to things just betting better and better. We have started our new College Ministry. This ministry is for college students, high school graduates, and young adults. The ministry will be having it's first Bible Study and meeting this Wednesday at 7pm. We are actively working to get our Transportation Ministry back up and looking for a small church bus. We are looking for drivers to join this ministry. So if you have a good disposition and a valid NC driver’s license and would like to volunteer contact Minister William Fields or the church office. T

This is the second Sunday of Advent. It represents love. As we prepare for the coming of Jesus, we remember that God is love and gave us the greatest gift of His Son. Thank you for your generous giving to the love offering last month to help the victims of the California wildfires. You gave a little over $500 and the church added to it so we could donate a total of $1000 to Samaritan's Purse. Please spread the word that there's a free Christmas Lunch for individuals and families in need. The time is 11am to 2pm on Christmas day and the location is the Golden Corral at 6129 Glenwood Ave. Check our website or call the church office for details about attending. We will be going out Christmas caroling on Friday, the 14th at 6pm to the area nursing homes. Our Christmas program is on Saturday, the 15th at 4pm. Invite someone to come and join us.

Just a reminder about the upcoming movie "The Golden Compass"...Do not take your kids to support this movie. The intent of the books that this movie is based on is to kill God who is senile. The author is an avowed atheist and wants to spread an anti-God message. If you want to see a good, quality movie, pick up the DVD, " Facing the Giants ". For everyone's information, we made several changes to the format of our Tuesday night's Prayer and Testimony service: Testimony time will be from 7:00 to 7:30pm in the multi-purpose (MP) room Individual prayers (or small groups) will be from 7:30 to 8pm (people can pray in the MP room or in the sanctuary) The final close-out prayer will be at 8pm in the MP room The sanctuary will be open/available at 7pm for people who have time constraints and can't stay until 7:30pm to pray We are now in the Season of Advent. Advent means "to come". During this season we celebrate the first coming of Christ as we

There are various outreach opportunities: Service at With Love from Jesus on Sat., Dec. 1st ; the love offering from today will go toward purchasing food to be served to the women at the Helen Wright Center on Thurs., Nov. 29th; and the Men’s Ministry is collecting winter coats for those that need them in the community. Thanks to everyone who supported our Youth Ministry’s fundraiser (selling fruit and 2008 calendars) which ended today. What a great day as we conclude our Sacrificial Giving Campaign today. Since November of last year, we have been giving sacrificially to purchase furnishing and other items for the new building. I hope that everyone has completed giving their vows, but if not, you can continue to give until you are finished.

It's easy for people to be naturally happy on occasions such as Thanksgiving and other holidays. But a Christians' joy is not dependent on any circumstance, but on what Christ has done for us. Paul admonished the Thessalonian church to be thankful. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV): "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." What a tall order that can be. It's easy to be thankful during good times. But the Word says give thanks in all circumstances. No matter where you are at in life, give thanks to God. If you are on top, give thanks. If you are in the middle, give thanks. If you are on the bottom, give thanks. When you have money, give thanks. When you don't have a dime, give thanks. When you feel great, give thanks. When you don't feel so good, give thanks. When the car is running smoothly, give thanks. When the car is broke down, give thanks. When you can afford filet mignon, give thanks. When you can only affo

Community Service Opportunities: Help reach our community through service at With Love from Jesus in Raleigh on Sat., Dec. 1st from 8am to 1pm. Next Sunday's love offering will go to purchase food for the women staying at the Helen Wright Center. We will be serving a meal to them on the 29th of this month. Sacrificial Giving Campaign: Do you realize that sacrificial giving imitates Christ. Jesus became "poor" by giving up His rights as God and becoming human. In His incarnation God voluntarily became man—the wholly human person, Jesus of Nazareth. As a man, Jesus was subject to place, time, and other human limitations. He did not give up His eternal power when He became human, but He did set aside His glory and His rights. In response to the Father's will, He limited His power and knowledge. Christ became "poor" when He became human, because He set aside so much. Yet by doing so, He made us "rich" because we received salvation and eternal l

Monday is Veterans Day and we want to recognize them for their service to this country. The Youth Ministry will be selling fruit and 2008 calendars to raise funds. All interested members should stop by the Welcome Center for info and materials. Here's a warning about an upcoming fantasy movie called The Golden Compass, which is coming out on 12/7. It's based on books by Philip Pullman who is an avowed atheist. Critics of his books point to the strong anti-religion and anti-God themes they incorporate. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "my books are about killing God". These books and this movie will be targeted at children as a direct challenge to C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. C.S. Lewis is a Christian author whose fantasy stories incorporated many Christian themes. I would not recommend anyone taking their children to see the Golden Compass or supporting this movie in any way. Sacrificial Giving Campai

The 2007 Thanksgiving Assistance Program ended on Sunday. We will be helping families that need some assistance during the holiday season. Your generous giving was greatly appreciated. As a reminder to our members, please do not park in the handicap parking if you don't have a handicap sticker. Thanks for your cooperation. Sacrificial Giving Campaign Update: We have completed 72% of the vows made. Campaign is over at the end of this month. 2 Cor. 9:8 says "God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others." God has and will bless those who have given sacrificially during this campaign. A lot of people have been affected by the wildfires in southern California , therefore next Sunday's love offering will go to help those victims. In addition to your financial support, please keep them in your prayers.

Don't forget about our sick & shut-in. Keep them in your prayers. The names are available on our website and on the church bulletin board. The Couples Ministry is sponsoring a fundraiser for their 2008 Fall Retreat. By purchasing a ticket for Langston Hughes' Gospel Musical, "Black Nativity", 50% of the sales will go to the ministry. The musical is December 21, 2007. Pick up flyer at the Welcome Center for more details. The 2007 Thanksgiving Assistance Program ends Sun., Nov. 4th. This program is designed to offer assistance to families in our church and community during the holiday season. Our goal is to provide assistance to 50 families. Please stop by the Welcome Center for more details and to fill out a form. The Church Family Meeting is scheduled for tomorrow (10/29) at 7:00pm. All members are asked to be present.

Parents: For your convenience, you only have to register/sign in their children when you bring them to Sunday School each Sunday. Your child will remain in class for children's church and you do not need to sign them in again. If you don’t make it to Sunday School, then you will need to register/sign in child before attending the worship service as usual. Remember, all parents need to sign their children out of children's church. We are starting a new Bible Study series entitled "The End of Time", on this Wed., Oct. 17th at 7:00pm. Ladies, don't forget about the upcoming Women's Conference entitled "Rip off the Mask" on October 19th – 21st. We are doing a new program for Thanksgiving called the Thanksgiving Assistance Program. It's starting now and ends Sun., Nov. 4th. We will be assisting 50 families with a food card. We are asking for members to make a monetary donations. You can put your donation in with your other offering just in

What an awesome first service we had at our new location. We thank God for all of our members and guests who came out to celebrate the first service in our new edifice. The service was packed, the overflow room was full, and we ran out of parking spaces! To God be the glory! Our new building should be a place of rich praise, real prayer, and revival power! But more importantly, we should dedicate ourselves and not just the building because we are the church! Other announcements... The Men's Ministry is inviting all men and young men to the Quarterly Prayer Breakfast on Sat., Oct. 13th at 8:00am. The Women's Ministry will be hosting a Women's Conference entitled "Rip Off the Mask" on October 19th - 21st. On that Sunday we will have a women's choir. The cost for the conference which includes meals on Friday evening and Saturday is $45 per person. Registration deadline is October 14th. You can register at the Welcome Center. Sacrificial Giving Campaign: Cur

There's a saying "if you don't know where you came from, you won't know where you are going". The Bible says in Deuteronomy 32:7a (The Message): "Read up on what happened before you were born; dig into the past, understand your roots." Mt. Zion began in the mid 19th Century with settlers from various parts of the state. In 1867, a wood frame church was built on Ferrell Street near the present King’s Wood Elementary School. This structure was given the name Mount Zion Baptist Church, which became a charter organization in the Cary community. In 1918, Rev. Elmo Jones became the first pastor. Rev. Jones moved the church to its current site on the corner of Chapel Hill Road and Academy Street by building another wooden frame church. Spring forward to 1979 when Rev. Dr. J. Allen Lewis becomes Mt. Zion's seventh pastor. Pastor Lewis brought many renovations including installation of stained glass windows, a steeple, baptismal pool, and the buil

Well, we had our very last worship service at our old location (8500 Chapel Hill Road) on Sunday at 4pm. The Mt Zion Mass Choir was simply awesome. I preached from Joshua 4 on the topic, "Never Forget How You Crossed Over". We had an amazing time celebrating what God has done for us at our old location and looking forward to what God will do when we relocate to our new facilities. If you were there, tell me what you thought about the last service. Our Building Dedication/Open House for the new church is Saturday, Oct. 6 starting at 10am. First service at the new location (316 Allen Lewis Drive) is Oct. 7 (Sunday School at 8:30am and Worship Service at 9:45am). I remind all of our members to please be considerate of our new neighbors and use Evans Road to enter. Click here for directions. Our parents and teens have completed the Pray21 campaign. This week should have helped the teens understand that becoming what God wants can be painful. Expect hard times but

I encourage everyone to vote in upcoming November elections: Most Cary residents will be able to vote for at least two of the candidates--the mayor and an at large representative. Others will be able to vote for three, depending on their district--B or D. Mt. Zion is in district B. If you missed the deadline for voter registration, you may register and vote during One-Stop Absentee Voting. More details on Community Connection section of website. Don't forget that our Sacrificial Giving Campaign ends at the end of November. Thank you for your faithful giving and fulfillment of your vows to God. Countdown to Transition: Our very last service is next Sunday at 4pm. The Building Dedication/Open House is Oct. 6 from 10am to 12pm. The first service at our new location ( 316 Allen Lewis Drive ) is Oct. 7 (Sunday School at 8:30am and Worship Service at 9:45am) Pray21 Week 2 Review: This week should have helped you understand that God values us. Every Christ-follower is safe and

The Youth Ministry will be presenting information to the Parents who have Teens interested in participating in the Teen Male Mentoring program on Mon. Sept. 17th at 7:00pm in the sanctuary. This important meeting will outline the activities and requirements for participating in the program. Pray21 Week 1 Review: This week should have helped our youth gain confidence in God and themselves as God's gifted, Spirit-empowered children. They should believe the truth...each Christ-follower is custom-designed for a vital kingdom purpose on earth, destined to make an eternal impact with their lives. God will take whatever we have whether it's a lot or small and multiply it. Everyone must take God’s power seriously. He can accomplish great things through you. Hand your doubt over to God. Spend quality time with God to strengthen your relationship with Jesus Christ.

I wanted to bring some awareness to the Jena 6 for those who are not familiar with the situation. At least three charter buses will be leaving Durham, NC for Jena, Louisiana, on September 19 to join thousands of others in a rally in support of the first of the Jena Six to be sentenced. North Carolinians will join thousands of others from Atlanta, Dallas, Washington D.C, Birmingham, Tallahassee and dozens of other cities in a protest rally outside the LaSalle Parish Courthouse. Tickets for the round-trip bus ride are $120 per person. Visit our community connections section for further details. They say it takes 21 days to establish a habit. That’s one reason we’re challenging adults and young people in this church to spend 21 days together (praying and fasting), laying a foundation for a 365-day-a-year, til-death-do-we-leave-this-earth commitment to God and His mission. This first week's overall theme is &quo

Please be aware of the following info in the email listed below. Basically, if you have a non-private, listed number, Google can do a reverse lookup on the number to find the address. Then you can click the map link which will bring up Google Maps (not Mapquest as stated in the email) for directions to the address. Obviously, people could look up your name in a phone book (if listed), get your address, and then get directions online. But this brings an interesting privacy/security issue with our youth who often give out their phone numbers online. This would make it very easy for predators to google a child's phone number to get directions to the child's home. I suggest everyone try this out for their phone numbers and opt-out if you so desire. And also talk to your children about not giving out their phone numbers to strangers. -----Original Message----- Subject: FW: Google & phone numbers Google has implemented a new feature which enables you to type a

Now there's a new way for your online shopping to benefit Mt. Zion. GoodSearch is introducing GoodShop , where your online purchases can benefit a charity or nonprofit organization of your choice. In addition to our current online shopping mall , you can now use GoodShop (you don't have to register a username/password, just select Mt. Zion of Cary as your charity) to have a percentage of your purchase go to Mt. Zion. Check out this bulletin for more details.

Parents and teens... 21 days of prayer is coming next Sunday. Next Sunday is the deadline to sign up for Spiritual Enrichment. We are in the home stretch of moving into our new facility. September is going to be a busy month. Furniture and equipment will be arriving and ministry training and orientation will be taking place each Saturday. Each ministry should have been informed to their training dates. If not, please contact the church office. Please continue to pray that everything comes together according to plan and we will be prepared for our first service in October. I hope everyone will have a happy and safe Labor Day. If you have the day off, enjoy it with family and friends.

Attention, Mt. Zion Parents: If you are a parent of preteens and/or teens, we have created an emailing list, parents@mtzionmb.org, for the sole purpose of sharing important information about protecting and raising our children. To subscribe, send an email to parents-subscribe@mtzionmb.org. Don’t forget to sign up for the fall '07 session of the Spiritual Enrichment course scheduled to start Sept 16th. The deadline to sign-up is Sept. 9th. The Greeters’ Ministry is looking for dedicated people to join us. When we move to the new edifice, there will be a greater need for dedicated greeters (especially to help at our new welcome center). You must have a friendly personality and have a sincere willingness to work with others. On 9/9, Mt Zion, along with other churches across the nation, will be participating in a 21 day prayer campaign for parents and teens to pray together. In addition to prayer, I’m going to challenge the teens to fast from listening to secular music and the i

This is one of the most powerful skits I've seen in a long time. Please share with your friends and family because this is a struggle that many people have dealt with or are dealing with now. But there is victory in Jesus Christ!!! Romans 8:1-4 (NIV): "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."

I've been getting a lot of these lately, so just be careful. If you didn't sign up for whatever they put in the email, then just delete it! read more | digg story

Thanks to your generous giving to the Love Offering. Proceeds from today’s love offering will go towards preparation of the meal for the ladies at the Helen Wright Center on August 30th. Ladies, don't forget that you are invited to attend the next Women's Fellowship on this Friday, Aug. 24th from 6:30pm to 9:00 pm at the American Legion Building (across the street from the church). Well, praise God...we have received our Certificate of Occupancy for the new church building! We truly give God all the honor and praise for getting us to this important milestone. We also thank our construction company, Bobbitt, our project management team, PMSP, our furnishing and transition committees for all of their hard work to get us to this point. Now all that is left is for us to go "occupy the land"!

Pictures from my 5th anniversary banquet and celebration are available from our photo gallery . The next Bible Study series, “Rising Above the Level of Mediocrity: A Commitment to Excellence,” will begin on Wed., Aug. 15th at 7:00pm. We invite everyone to come join us for this important series as we strive to do our very best in all areas of ministry. Parents, the Youth Ministry will be holding their quarterly Youth Ministry Open House on tomorrow at 7:00pm. I will be presenting some important information to the parents at the beginning of the meeting. Also, parents of preteens (9-12) are welcome to come as well. Ladies: We are visiting the Helen Wright Center on Thurs., Aug. 30th and need you to help serve a meal to the residents of this center. Please sign up on the bulletin board if you would to help serve. Also, next Sunday’s love offering will go towards preparation of this meal. All women are invited to attend the next Women's Fellowship on Fri., Aug. 24th from 6:30pm to

Just sharing this from Pastor Eric Ellis... A website that offer great deals on lens and frames: www.zennioptical.com

I want to remind everyone that there should be no food or drink in the sanctuary. We are finding too many empty water bottles after services. If you need water during the service for medical reasons, please let an usher know. We want to take care of our current sanctuary so that we will not take bad habits to our new one. Parents, the Youth Ministry will be meeting with the teen males who enrolled for the Male Mentoring Session on Sat., Aug. 11th at 9:00am-10:30am in the fellowship hall. If you are interested in getting your son involved, please contact Deacon Adrian Jones. If you were at the 11:15am service on this past Sunday, you know that we had an awesome time in worship that invited the power of the Holy Spirit into our sanctuary. Youth began to worship and praise God and deliverance took place. This happened a few week ago, but God took us to another level this time. I look forward to whatever God has in store for us when we worship Him in spirit and in truth. So if you we

I found these amazing pictures on Flickr of the tragic I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Please keep all of the families affected by this in your prayers.

Some items from our recent church family meeting... Please follow the seating instructions from the ushers when you arrive at church. It makes their jobs easier and keeps the seating organized. We appreciate your cooperation. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Please restrict movement during the Call to Discipleship. If you must leave, try to do so right before the sermon ends. We don't want any movement to be a distraction to someone that the Holy Spirit may be touching their hearts to come forward. Also, do not interrupt the move of the Holy Spirit when someone is shouting and praising God by forcing tissue in the person’s hand or fanning them directly in their face. This can also be very distracting. Be aware that only people in leadership (pastor, elders, deacons, deaconess) officially represents Mt Zion for phone calls and visitations. When other members call you or visit you, they do so on their own good will, but do not necessarily represent Mt Zion (meaning that they

This comes from Greg Laurie ... When it comes to identifying whether a person is really a Christian, there's an "outward-inward" dynamic that we sometimes fail to realize. Let's take a closer look at some of the aspects of this. 1. A person may pray and still not really be a Christian. If we're to believe the statistics from opinion surveys, nine out of ten people in our nation pray. Three out of four believe God is a heavenly Father who can be reached by prayers. In addition, recent scientific studies have verified that prayer improves the health of those who are sick. But that doesn't necessarily mean you're truly a believer if you pray. Most of us pray when we're in trouble. What's the first thing on the lips of most people when they're confronted by a crisis? You've heard it: "Oh my God!" That's a prayer, whether they admit it or not. It was true of me too, before

Most of you know that I'm ever vigilant to keep our youth safe on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, so I was really intrigued by a couple of articles (which I digg 'ed) on predators and cyberattacks, ID theft on Facebook. What really had me floored was the following statement: "In a "thought experiment" the two conducted in the United States before visiting Australia, Howard said they managed to acquire enough information on one young user to steal her identity. "We pulled down one person's name--in this instance, a female--and everything she put out there," Howard said. "In 15 minutes of doing Google searches, we were able to collect enough information to steal her identity."" So to continue to sound like a broken record, we must be careful how much personal information we release on these sites as well as who we allow to see our information. read more | digg story

Congratulations to Minister & Deaconess McCullough on birth of their daughter, Leah Danielle McCullough (weighing 4 lbs, 10 oz). The Men's Ministry invites all men and young men to come out and fellowship at the Men's Life Study Group on Fri., July 27th at 7:00 pm. The meeting will be at the home of Bro. William Carpenter. Call the church office if you need directions. Don't forget that there will be a Youth Contemporary Service next Sunday at 4pm. Minister Cy Young will be the speaker. Please bring your youth out to support this service. July 31 from 5pm to 8pm will be With Love From Jesus (WLFJ) night at the Chick-Fil-A at Cary Town Center. Ten percent of the sales from that evening will be donated to this ministry. WLFJ is a great outreach ministry, worthy of our support. The Chick-Fil-A cow will be there with balloons and a craft for the children. So go out, enjoy and help!!!

Here's a good article with some links to sites that will help you "decode" and communicate with your kids who are texting: http://tinyurl.com/2mogl5

We have made it back from our vacation in Williamsburg, VA. Thank God for a safe trip and traveling mercies (we got stuck in traffic on the return due to an accident on I-85). Isaiah and Abigail really enjoyed themselves at the amusement parks. We went to Busch Gardens for two days and then Water Country USA. We also visited the Jamestown Settlement to look at the galleries and learn a little history. The kids enjoyed it too, especially boarding the Colonial ships at dock. Check out our photos from the trip. Some of these pictures were taken by Isaiah and Abigail. Isaiah is becoming quite the photographer. Abigail needs a little more practice as parts or all of my head are missing in some of her shots. Photobucket Album

Congratulations to the newlyweds, Deacon Ivan and Sis. Shanetta Porter. What a beautiful wedding ceremony they had on Saturday. The Love offering next Sunday to go to family that lost everything in fire. Thankfully, no one was home but the family has lost everything. Please be prepared to come next Sunday to give generously in the love offering to help this family. The New Believers’ Class will be held on Sundays, July 22nd - Aug. 26th during the Sunday School hour. Please place your name on the sign-up sheet located on the bulletin board if you plan to take this class. Please go out to support Minister Candice Walden, accompanied by the Male Choir, who will be speaking at a revival on Thurs., July 12th at 7:00pm. Everyone is invited to attend. Keep my family in your prayers as we will be going on vacation this week. So we will be out next Sunday.

On July 4, 1776, we claimed our independence from England and Democracy was born. The 4th of July is Independence Day where we celebrate the freedoms we enjoy in this country. But the sad fact is that we are less free than we think. There are many people in the U.S. that are in bondage (not physical, but spiritual). The quest for freedom is high on most people's agenda today, and it has also been one of the main threads of human history. We speak of freedom in many ways...personal freedom, freedom of speech and association, academic freedom, free trade, freedom of the press. We also talk about individual liberties, liberation theology, and religious liberty. Other basic freedoms often discussed include freedom from want, fear or interference, and freedom of choice, conscience or opportunity. Common phrases that sum up many people's attitudes toward freedom include "doing your own thing," "going your own way," or "it's up to you (or me)." Re

There will be NO BIBLE STUDY on Wed., due to Independence Day. I will be speaking at Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Youngsville to celebrate Rev. Patrick Clay’s 8th Anniversary on Sunday, July 8th at 4:00pm. Everyone is invited to attend. Harvest Crusade: Just to recap, 41,500 people came to the RBC Center over the three days of the Triangle Harvest. Of that group, 2,471 people responded to the call of the Holy Spirit and made professions of faith during the event. Praise God for the lives that were changed. In addition, 12,966 people watched the live webcasts over the Internet and I heard of one testimony where someone accepted Christ while watching the webcast. It's great to see technology like webcasting over the Internet being used to build the Kingdom of God.

The above picture really sums up the powerful move of the Holy Spirit as people poured out onto the floor of the RBC center to give their lives to Christ. Participating in the Triangle Harvest has been a wonderful experience. I had the privilege of being a counselor for two nights (I watched the webcast on Saturday night) and it was great to be on the floor seeing so many people accepting the free gift of salvation. I thank God for using Greg Laurie to deliver a relevant message each night. As it was mentioned, there were about 230 area churches working together to bring Harvest to the Triangle. Despite any cultural or denominational differences, we all had one thing in common...wanting the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be presented to the lost. It was also great to experience different styles of worship at the various churches where the impact classes were being held. I loved seeing a lot of the young people praising God at Harvest. I pray that more of the youth at Mt. Zion would fr

Our next Bible Study series, “Relying on the Holy Spirit,” will begin on Wed., June 27th at 7:00pm. We definitely need the Holy Spirit to guide, comfort, and counsel us in our everyday lives. Everyone is invited to come out and join us for this study. More ministry opportunities are available: The IT ministry is seeking new members to help with media operations as well as helping with website development. We are forming a new marketing committee to produce profession-looking materials such as church bulletin, newsletter, visitor packets, etc. If you are interested in volunteering for any of these ministries, please let us know by contacting the church office. Well, Harvest is over and I'll be sharing my thoughts on it in a separate blog entry.

VBS was a great success. I would like to thank to all who participated (teachers, students, and those that prepared the meals). We look forward to having VBS in our new facility next year. We are looking to start a College Ministry (ages 18-25). With so many colleges and universities in our area, we have a tremendous ministry opportunity to touch the lives of students. I've already heard from a few people who are interested in being a part of this ministry. If you are interested, please send me email or call the church office. On last Friday, I attended a session with Dr. Tony Evans to discuss gang violence. He introduced his Adopt-A-School initiative . Basically, a church would adopt a school in their community and provide mentoring, tutoring, and other social services (depending on the capacity of the church). By doing this, Dr. Evans said they saw a great reduction in gang activity in communities in Dallas. Urban Alternative will come to provide training if there a

Every time I watch the news or read a headline, I’m reminded that we live in a negative world. Jesus told his disciples in John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble . But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Although we live in a negative world, we are not to be negative people. We are to be rejoicing people. We are to focus on positive thoughts and praise: things true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report. Philippians 4:6-9: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received

VBS registration is underway with less than 2 weeks remaining before it starts on June 11th – 15th. Please register today ASAP. Harvest Crusade Update: Pray for the event and those who will be invited. Now is the time to get your invitations out! Invitations are available for you to pick up in the vestibule. The “My Story” invitations can be picked up at church office. Harvest needs 300 Ushers! So if you are not going to be a counselor then consider volunteering as an usher. Usher Training is taking place now until June 16. No experience necessary, just attend the training. On Sunday, June 10th at 3 PM there will be a training session at Cary's First Baptist Church located downtown. The media campaign starts on June 4th, so get ready for the Harvest Flood!

Graduating high school seniors, don't forget to apply for the J. Allen Lewis Memorial Scholarship by May 31st. Ladies, we will be serving dinner to homeless women at the Helen Wright Center in Raleigh on Thurs., May 31st at 7:00pm. Food items, monetary donations, and your presence are needed. Pastor Eric & Lady Beverly Ellis & the Philippian Community Church of NC will celebrate their 8th Anniversary May 30th-June 1st at 7:30pm nightly at the Lighthouse Convention Center in Raleigh. Everready Choir will render the music on Thurs., May 31st. They will also have a picnic on Friday, June 1st at Pullen Park starting at 10am. Everyone is invited to attend. Harvest Crusade Update: Invitations to Harvest are now available for you to pick up in the church vestibule. We also have the special “My Story” invitations which you can pick up at church office. These invitation allow you to put your own brief testimony in the invitation. You can either write it or goto the harvest w

Temptation troubles us all. All of us are targets of the tempter. All of us feel the lure of the world. All of us experience the appetites of the flesh. We have an adversary and his name is Satan. Satan is the tempter. He was the tempter in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3). He was the tempter of Jesus in Matthew 4. The tempter is a deceiver. The tempter is a liar. The tempter is a thief. Despite all the attributes of the tempter, Satan, we are equipped to win over this powerful enemy. 1 John 4:4 (NLT): “But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” The Holy Spirit is within every believer. The Holy Spirit is greater in power than our foe. The devil might be stronger than us, but he’s not stronger than our God! One way for us to win over temptation is in the simple fact that God is faithful. That means He is trustworthy, you can believe Him, and

Thanks to everyone for your happy birthday wishes, cards, presents, and most importantly, your prayers. It was greatly appreciated. All seniors who are graduating from high school are reminded to apply for the J. Allen Lewis Memorial Scholarship due by May 31st. Parents: There is a type of crystal meth going around that looks like strawberry pop rocks candy. Teach your children about the reality of drugs and not to accept something that looks like candy from others. I posted a bulletin with details on our MyChurch page. Harvest Crusade Update: Starting May 21 through June 16, Harvest will be hosting Usher Training at various church locations throughout the Triangle. Check out the schedule for the training here . No experience is necessary, you just need to attend the training.

The Youth Ministry will be holding their quarterly Open House on Mon., May 14th at 7:00pm. We need all parents of our teens to attend. Update on Harvest Crusade: I want to encourage everyone who can to volunteer as a counselor. Harvest has a goal of 3,000 counselors so that we can provide one-on-one time with people coming forward. So even if you missed the first two classes, you can still be a counselor if you attend the third and final class! Being a counselor at Harvest does not mean that you will need to do any "in-depth" counseling. What is needed is to simply greet and encourage a new believer and give the person some info on their new walk with the Lord. Those who want to be counselors, please contact Deacon Ward (his email address can be found here ) immediately to let him know. And if anyone wants to work on the follow-up team, you also need to contact him immediately. Mt Zion will not be providing transportation to the event. The idea is for people to brin

I got word that the Wheelers have settled into their new home in Georgia and the Thornes have safely moved back to NY. They ask that you keep them in your prayers. Our very own Sister Sam Hanebeck will be speaking to youth at a church in Virginia next Sunday at 5pm. I know that she would appreciate your support and prayers. Harvest Crusade: Week 1 of Impact Classes is done. I hope everyone had an opportunity to attend. Hopefully, no one found the material brand new as I have preached or taught on most of it in the past. But it was good as a refresher. And it was good to fellowship with other believers at different churches.

Our very own Angel Johnson was recognized by the Smith Elementary School as their Spotlight on Students Award winner for 2006 - 2007. Spotlight on Students is a program sponsored by Wake County Public Schools to recognize students for outstanding personal achievement. Please congratulate Angel the next time you see her. Sis. Michelle Chalmers invites her Mt. Zion family to support her in the first level of her new (GiftQuick) Business on May 5th at 4:00pm at her home (1552 Dirkson Court). Our first Theatrical Dance Production, "Distractions" was a successful! Everyone from the dancers, musicians, directors, stage hands, etc did a great job. And more importantly, there were 31 visitors at the event, 10 of which did not have a church home and 1 person accepted Christ during the invitation. Praise the Lord! I personally encourage all who can to participate in the Impact classes starting this week for Harvest Crusade. Regardless of whether you volunteer to be on the follow

I would like to thank everyone for their prayers, well wishes, encouragement, and gifts during the celebration of my fifth pastoral anniversary. We had a great time at the banquet on that Friday and on the following Sunday. It was great to have my mom and the pastor and first lady from my home church to come down and participate in the activities. The family and I enjoyed riding in the limo. I'm the only person I know that rides in a limo with three car seats! But that's how I roll!!! Again, I enjoyed my anniversary and appreciate what everyone has done to support my wife and I in ministry. We look forward to many, many more years of working together to accomplish the purposes God has for us.

For those who have not heard...the Wheelers are going to be relocating to GA. Looks like their last Sunday will be 4/22. Please take some time to wish them well before they leave. I know that God will continue to bless them. "Distractions" is almost here (4/28 at 5pm at Green Hope High School). Invite someone to come to this event. To our graduating seniors, take note of a couple of scholarships: Coca-Cola Two Year College Scholarship Award and Mt Zion’s own scholarship award. Other scholarship and internship info available on our MyChurch classified section . The next Bible Study series, “Preparing for Christ’s Return,” will begin on Wed., Apr. 18th at 7:00pm. Everyone is invited to join us for this series. Harvest Crusade: Next prayer meeting is 4/19 at 7pm at Bay Leaf Baptist Church in Raleigh. I personally encourage all who can to also participate in the Impact classes. Regardless of whether you volunteer to be on the follow-up team for the Harvest events, it will

Our first Theatrical Dance Production, "Distractions" will be on 4/28 at 5pm at Green Hope High School. Don't forget to invite someone to come to this event. Easter Sunday's love offering is going to support Harvest Crusade. Since Mt Zion is participating in this great event, we also want to support it financially. As Easter is a reminder of God giving His very best for us, let us do our very best for our Lord in our sacrificial giving. Continue to be faithful in your giving towards your vow to God.

Visitation and Homegoing services for Sis. DeLoatch will be held at Mt Zion this week. The Visitation will be Tuesday (4/3) at 7pm and the Homegoing service will be on Wednesday (4/4) at 10am. We had a great Youth Revival last week. On Wednesday, we had about 5 young men come to devote themselves to a closer walk with God. On Thursday, Sis. Payton’s young boy, Braxton gave his life to Christ. Praise the Lord! And on Friday, our youth wrote out their struggles and laid it at the altar. Pastor Wright challenged them to pray and read Proverbs for 21 days. Our first Evangelical Outreach Theatrical Dance Production, "Distractions" is almost here! We want to do our best to make this production one of excellence. Two things are needed: 1) Volunteers to work backstage and 2) Invite people. The invitation to accept Christ will be given so please invite those who may not know the Lord to this great event. Online flyers that you can email to people can be found here . Next Su

If you haven't seen them yet, check out our photo gallery for great pictures from our Street Dedication and Groundbreaking Ceremony. As we find out about job opportunities, internships for students, scholarship info, and such, we post it on MyChurch in the classified section . Ladies: We will be serving dinner to homeless women at the Helen Wright Center in Raleigh on Thurs., Mar. 29th at 7:00pm. The Deaconess Ministry is in need of donations to purchase the meat to serve the ladies. Your donations can be given to any deaconess. Spring Youth Revival is this week, Wed thru Fri at 7:00pm. We have dynamic guest speakers each night. Then on Saturday is the Teen Summit. Parents, please bring your youth out to these events. Have you put the names of those you plan to invite to Harvest Crusade in the prayer box yet? Don't forget to fill out the names on the Harvest bookmark and drop the bottom portion in the prayer box so the names can be prayed over at our prayer meeting on Tuesdays

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:6-9 I wish I could tell you that you will not have trials. Some people thought that when they became a Christian they were through with trials. They thought that faith in Christ would keep them from suffering. They thought the Gospel train was the gravy train. Then reality arrived. In this world, we will have trouble. John 16:33 (NLT): “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Christians are not immune from sickness. Christians can have financial problems. Christian parents can have trouble with their children. Christian workers can have bosses who are hard to please. But we should remember these times are temporary when we consider eternity with our Creator. 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” We must accept trials as part of the refining proce

Elder Snead sent this to me. It's quite funny. Enjoy. Country Funeral As a young minister, I was asked by a funeral director to hold a grave-side service for a homeless man, with no family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a cemetery way back in the country, and this man would be the first to be laid to rest there. As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost; and being a typical man did not stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late. I saw the backhoe and the crew, who was eating lunch, but the hearse was nowhere in sight. I apologized to the workers for my tardiness, and stepped to the side of the open grave, where I saw the vault lid already in place. I assured the workers I would not hold them up for long, but this was the proper thing to do. The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch. I poured out my heart and soul. As I preached the workers began to say "Amen," "Praise the Lord," and "Glory"! I preach

Harvest Crusade Update: Bumper stickers are now available. If you are like me, I don't like putting bumper stickers on my car, but these are removable. This is a great way to announce to the community the event is coming and generate some "buzz". You never know someone may ask you "what is Harvest Crusade?" or "Who is Greg Laurie?" and then you will have an opportunity to share with them about the crusade and invite to come out. Distractions: We are excited about Distractions, our first drama and dance production of its kind so please invite people to come out on 4/28 at 5pm at Green Hope High School. Please be in prayer for our brothers & sisters in Brazil that are facing persecution with a new legislation that would make saying anything about homosexuality a crime punishable by 3-5 years jail time. See the details here . Relocation Update: Our buyer is now saying that we can remain on our current location until our new church is built. PR

I found this article interesting. Looks like Discovery Channel is trying to distant itself from the James Cameron-produced documentary on the Lost Tomb of Jesus despite the fact that it had good rating. Looks like they canned the repeat airing of it. I'm not upset about that. Check out the article here: http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11681

Congratulations to Deacon Porter who is now a granddaddy. Jazzmin Moss gave birth to her daughter, Laila J`anee Moss weighing 8lbs 3oz and 21in long. Also, Shanese Greene gave birth to her daughter, Nia Alanah Greene weighing 6 lbs and 7oz. Proud grandparents are Rufus and Peggy Credle. Harvest Crusade is coming in June at the RBC Center. Don’t forget to put the names of people who are not believers that you want to invite on the tear away section of the Harvest bookmark and drop in the prayer box located in the vestibule at the church. Sacrificial Giving: Continue to be faithful in keeping your vows. Things are moving quickly so we must remain focused on our commitments to God. I drove by the site on Saturday and there are now beams up at the site! Due to death in Minister Falana's family, her 2007 Women's Conference will be rescheduled for another time.

Congratulations to Sis. La Donna & Bro. Antonio Bethea on the birth of their son, Mason Gregory, Feb. 28th, 6 lbs., 15 oz., 18 ¾ long! Don't forget that Daylight Savings Time change is next Sunday (3/11) so set your clock 1 hour ahead on Saturday night. Relocation Update: Our buyer had asked for extension and we are currently negotiating on a new contract. Notice that the time between when we need to leave our current location and when the new facility is complete is shortening. If it's God's will, we desire to stay where we are until we move into our new facility. The good thing is that we have a temporary location identified and we are working through logistics (God has already worked it out that we won’t need a special use permit from the Town of Cary). Continue to pray for our transition and our negotiating with the buyer. I encourage everyone to come out to our Bible Study series, “Know why you believe”. This series is especially relevant due to recent challenges t

Congratulations to our latest newlyweds: Troy and Yolanda Brooks and Minister James and Cecelia Wheeler!! Some of you should have received a new contribution statements in the mail because the amount for your sacrificial giving was incorrect. We apologize for the error and appreciate your patience as we corrected the problem and hope it didn’t cause too much of an inconvenience. Thanks for your generous giving in last Sunday’s love offering, we were able to give $1,000 to the family that lost everything in a fire. We are in the Lent season, which started on Ash Wednesday and goes to Easter. I suggest you fast by giving up something you enjoy and pray so that you can draw closer to God. We had a tremendous time at the Black History Program at the Bond Park Community Center. Everyone did an awesome job from the participants to the production. There was a lot of God-given talent being used and we learned some new things about some of our very own members who were actually making black his

Today is Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent. We marked the foreheads of everyone at Bible Study with ashes. The ashes were prepared by burning palm leaves from the previous year's Palm Sunday celebrations and mixing them with olive oil. Ashes represent mourning and repentance. So during Lent, we should be repentant and draw closer to God. I would also encourage you to fast during Lent by giving up something dear to you.

For God so LOVED the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 This is how we know what LOVE is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16

It was truly a historic occasion as we celebrated during our street dedication and groundbreaking ceremony on last Saturday. Some people say that miracles no longer happen. But we are in the midst of a miracle. In 1998, to facilitate a vision that God gave him, Pastor Jackie Allen Lewis led Mt. Zion to purchase 24 acres of land here in Cary with a small congregation. That was a miracle! Over time, we were able to make our payments and keep this land. That was a miracle! Then on the seventh year, we were able to sell a portion of the 24 acres, which allowed us to pay off the remaining portion that we kept. The number seven represents completeness. God brought us to completeness with the land so that we owned it. Then in year eight, we were actively planning and designing with Bobbitt to begin construction. The number eight represents regeneration or new birth. God was preparing us for the beginning of a new era. Now in 2007, the ninth year, we are breaking ground and construction is sta