the Logos

Thanks to everyone who signed up to disciple our young men & women. We have all of our boys and girls assigned to someone who will help them become disciples of Jesus Christ. Ladies, you are invited to accompany the Deaconess' Ministry to help serve dinner at the Helen Wright Center in Raleigh on Thurs., Jan. 31st. The sign-up sheet is available at the Welcome Center. Thanks to all members who attended our Church Family Meeting on Monday. Some important points from the meeting: We are in the process of updating our Constitution & By-Laws and policies and procedures with information regarding our new meeting room scheduling and church discipline. There will some more updates coming so we will let everyone know when all updates are done so that you can download the most recent copy from the church website. We also encourage families to sit together during worship service. We don't want the teens to congregate in one location and end up talking and passing notes.

We still need 7 more men to help disciple some of our boys. I know that it's going to be a sacrifice of time, but this is what Jesus commanded us to do. And we cannot complain about the state of our young men if we are not willing to take the time ourselves to work with them. Check out my other blog entry for where you can buy the Disciplemaker's Handbook for $12 or less. The Women's Ministry will be hosting a Fellowship Breakfast on Sat., Jan. 26th at 9:00am. I hope everyone planning to attend signed up at the Welcome Center so the ministry will have an accurate count of attendance. We are proud to announce the Single Sip Café for all singles (18 years and up). So starting next Sun., Jan. 27th at 8:30am in Adult Classroom 3, singles can get together for fellowship, study, and light refreshments.

I had the pleasure of attending and participating (with a prayer) in a celebration in Cary on 1/15 for Dr. King's 79th birthday. After a brief intro by one of the organizers, we ventured outside for a candlelight vigil. Now it was quite cold that evening, but I was prepared with my coat, gloves, and hat. Although I can't say the same for my two armor bearers (who were complaining about their "paper-thin" suits). Needless to say, I kept my prayer brief while we were outside. After moving back inside, we listened to several songs by a chorus from Cary High School. I felt for them after seeing them outside in t-shirts. But they're young. They sang "Let My People Go", "This Little Light of Mine", and "We Shall Overcome". Next, we heard from a couple of elders who talked about their experience with civil rights. One lady, who was Caucasian, described the time when her school was desegregated and she became friends with Dr. King

The book we will be using for our upcoming discipleship class will be "The Disciplemaker's Handbook" by Alice Fryling (ISBN #0-8308-1266-0). So go ahead and purchase the book if you want to get a jump on reading it. It's a really easy book to read. I searched the web and found the book for $12 at the InterVarsity Press: http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=1266

Thanks to those who volunteered to disciple those coming forward last Sunday to accept Christ or rededicate their lives. We got more than enough ladies to disciple the girls, but we need 7 more men. We ask that any men who will step up and help disciple some young men to sign up at our welcome center. We will also be contacting those who signed up to disciple to let you know who you will be discipling and their contact info. Thanks to the Couples Ministry in conjunction with the Youth & Children's Ministries for putting on two very informative workshops on peer pressure & gang awareness. We were invited to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday at "Dream of the King Legacy 79th Birthday Anniversary" on Tuesday, 2/15 at Page-Walker Arts & History Center in Cary at 6:30pm. The event included a candlelight vigil, civil rights songs, and 79 expressions & birthday party. I will give my thoughts on this event in another blog entry.

Less than 10% of believers are involved in discipleship. But discipleship is not an option, it is a command! Believers are not saved to merely take up space on earth. When Christ found a person who was willing to commit his life, Christ attached Himself to that person. Christ began to mold and make that person into His image. The word attach is the key word. It is probably the word that best describes discipleship. Christ made disciples of men by attaching Himself to them; and through that personal attachment, they were able to observe His life and conversation; and in seeing and hearing, they began to absorb and assimilate His very character and behavior. They began to follow Him and to serve Him more closely. He envisioned an extension of Himself, an extension of His very being, and an extension of His mission and method. The way He chose to extend Himself was discipleship, attaching Himself to committed persons, and through attachment, the persons absorbed and

Happy New Year! What a blessing to see a new year. I'm thankful for what God has done in 2007 and look forward to what God will do in 2008 and another year of serving Him. We had a great turnout for yesterday's youth workshop on peer pressure. The topic for discussion on next workshop on Jan. 12th will be gang awareness. It is open to children, youth and adults. Our theme for 2008 is "Making Disciples of All People". Less than 10% of believers are involved in any form of discipleship. But making disciples is not an option, it is a command from Jesus. This year we want to focus on and train individuals on how to reproduce themselves. This is what Jesus did...He attached Himself to 12 men so that He could reproduce His character and mission. These men would carry on the mission after Jesus ascended back to heaven. Let us follow Jesus' example and invest our time into the lives of men and women.