Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from July, 2007

Church Family Meeting - 7/30

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

Are you a Christian?

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

Predators and cyberattacks, ID theft on Facebook

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

Pastoral Emphasis from 7/22

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!!!

Williamsburg Vacation

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

Pastoral Emphasis from 7/8

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.

Happy 4th of July (Let Freedom Ring)

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

Pastoral Emphasis from 7/1

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.