the Logos

For those who have not heard, our own Minister Candice Walden passed away last week. It was sudden and took us by surprise. We saw her last Sunday presiding over the service.  But what takes us by surprise does not surprise God for He is sovereign over all things. Our lives are but a vapor and the death of a saint reminds us that we must be on mission for God "while it is day for when night comes, no man can work" (John 9:4).  We know that Minister Walden loved God and trusted Christ and is in His presence now.  Let us pray for her children and entire family.  The Homegoing service will be at Mt. Zion on Tuesday at 2pm.  It will be preceded by a viewing at 1pm. Last week, we talked about how the world's religions teach salvation by works.  By religion, we mean "false religion".  Man's self-righteous attempts to reach God.  But Christianity is about the Person and work of Jesus Christ.  We are saved by grace alone through faith alone i...

Happy Father's Day to all the dads!  Fathers, may we strive to demonstrate (albeit imperfectly) unconditional love, grace, discipline, instruction to our children so that these concepts will not be foreign when we teach them about our Heavenly Father. Praise God for a wonderful VBS this year. And thanks to all the teachers, volunteers, and students for making VBS great! The next Bible Study series, "Restoring Our Vision of God," will start on Wednesday at 7:00pm.  How you view God will affect how you live. Join us for this new series. This month continues to be important for us to stay on budget. Thanks to all who sacrificed to give more. We are asking that you please continue to give at least 5% above your normal giving. If you are able to give more than 5%, please do so.

This is our last month for Project: Invite Thy Neighbor. The goal is to invite at least 1 neighbor to attend a service, event, or activity at Mt. Zion (preferably the neighbor that you got to know and served in the previous projects). There are church cards (size of business cards) that you can use to invite people at the Welcome Center. Next Sunday is our Children's & Youth Day. We will honor our high school graduates and our children will be leading us in worship and bringing the message. This is a wonderful opportunity to invite your neighbor. Another great opportunity to invite neighbors is our upcoming Vacation Bible School.  VBS is June 11 – 15th. Registration is underway. Cost: $10 Singles, $15 Couples, $20 Families. Join us to experience an exciting time of God's Word, fellowship, fun, and snacks. This month continues to be important for us to stay on budget. Thanks to all who have sacrificed to give more. We are asking that you please continue to give mor...

Tomorrow is Memorial Day.  It is more than a day to shop or have off from work.  It is a day to remember those who have died in service to our country.  So let's pray for the families of those who have sacrificed their lives so that we may have freedom in this country.  We pray for their comfort and strength when remembering their loved ones.  And most importantly, we thank God for the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.  He died to free us from bondage to sin, death, and Satan.  But He not only died, He rose victoriously from the dead. Don't forget to sign-up for Project: Invite Thy Neighbor . Next Sunday, our Service Time changes. Sunday School will start at 9am and the Worship Service will start at 10am. Also in June, the Tuesday Prayer & Testimony service is moving to Wednesday at 6pm.  Now's the time to register for Vacation Bible School.  VBS will be held June 11-15.  This year's theme is "Sky...Everything IS Possible Wi...

Don't forget to sign-up for Project: Invite Thy Neighbor . The goal is to invite at least 1 neighbor to attend a service, event, or activity at Mt. Zion (preferably the neighbor that you got to know and served in the previous projects) between April and June. There are church cards (size of business cards) that you can use to invite people at the Welcome Center. If you would commit to this challenge, please sign-up. The Deaconess Ministry thanks all ladies who donated clothing, shoes, & accessories for the Dorcas Closet outreach on yesterday. The ladies from the Raleigh Rescue Mission and the Helen Wright Center really appreciated it! This outreach is a great example of our mission and vision : "spread the Gospel & serve the community". Not only did we bring in the ladies to serve them with clothing but we gave them God's Word. Announcing Service Time Change starting in June: Sunday School will run from 9 to 9:45am.  We hope that this will give families...

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers.  For those women who desire to be mothers and it has not happened yet, I pray that you will be encouraged by knowing that God is in control. Whether you become a mother or not, know that your identity is not in motherhood but in Christ! You are a child of God. Don't forget to sign-up for Project: Invite Thy Neighbor . The goal is to invite at least 1 neighbor to attend a service, event, or activity at Mt. Zion (preferably the neighbor that you got to know and served in the previous projects) between April and June. LifeWay Research reports that 82% of the unchurched would attend if invited by a friend or someone they knew. There are church cards (size of business cards) that you can use to invite people at the Welcome Center. If you would commit to this challenge, please sign-up.

The following is an excerpt from a post by Pastor Voddie Baucham when Iowa faced the homosexual marriage issue back in '09.  I wanted to share the part where he addresses the fallacy that homosexual marriage is a civil rights issue.  Click on the title link to read the entire article. Iowa: Homosexual Marriage Moves to the Midwest date Apr 6, 2009 author Voddie Baucham ERROR #1 HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE IS A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE     Right off the bat the Iowa decision jumps on the “Gay is the New Black” bandwagon.  They followed the logic of leading homosexual advocates who argue that homosexuality is not only a “Civil Rights” issue; it is morally equivalent to blackness.  As a black man, I am insulted by this line of reas...

Sis. Cynthia Whitney delivered her Initial Sermon on Sunday at 4pm. Her message was from Matt. 25:1-13, "Preparing to Meet the Bridegroom".  Thanks to everyone who came out to join us for this special occasion! Our the Church Family Meeting was Monday at 7pm. We gave updates on our financial situation, ministry realignment, and our weekly services. Starting in June, Sunday School moves to 9 to 9:45am and Worship Service starts at 10am. High School seniors: Applications are now available for the J.A. Lewis Memorial Scholarship. Check with the church office for the application packet. Applications are due on May 27, 2012. VBS is quickly approaching (see announcements for details). You can pay your registration via the offering by writing "VBS" on the special offering line on the giving envelope. We have a Mt. Zion family needing financial help with housing. The need is great so we're asking our church family to help through the love offering.  T...

Missional opportunity: Zone 1 & Zone 2 members will be ministering at With Love From Jesus in Raleigh on Saturday, May 5th. We will be arriving around 9:00am and leaving around 2:00pm. I am happy to announce that Sis. Cynthia Whitney will deliver her Initial Sermon on Sunday, May 6th, at 4:00pm.  Everyone is invited to join us for this special occasion! Don't forget that the Church Family Meeting has been rescheduled for Monday, May 7th, at 7:00pm.  We will have an update on our financial situation and the ministry realignment.  All members are asked to be present. We are starting a new series next Sunday in Ephesians called "Christ Identity". Get prepared by reading the entire book of Ephesians. We will be tackling some "meaty" topics in Ephesians so come "hungry" and bring a friend.

Our Radical Love initiative for this quarter is Invite Thy Neighbor.  So for those neighbors that you have gotten to know and served, now invite them to church, Bible Study, and other church events.  I will be speaking at New Destiny Christian Fellowship (Pastor Maurice Wright) for their 8th Anniversary on Thursday, April 26th, at 7:30pm. Everyone is invited to join us. We are having a Family Fair Day on Saturday, April 28th; from 10am to 2pm. Parents, we're going to discuss important information for raising and discipling our children. Children will enjoy outdoor games and activities. Parents, bring your children and invite your friends. A picnic lunch will be provided. Our upcoming Church Family Meeting has been postponed to May 7th at 7pm.  Please mark your calendars.

Today we kick off our next Radical Love project for the quarter: Invite Thy Neighbor.  With Easter approaching, it's a great time to invite someone to join us for the Easter weekend. Here's what's happening for our Easter Celebration: We are having Good Friday service again this year starting at 6pm for 1 hour; on Saturday, there will be an Egg Hunt at 1pm (with hot dogs afterwards); and then on Sunday we'll celebrate the Resurrection of Christ at our Sunrise Easter service starting at 6am.  There's a Easter Celebration flyer that you can download from the church's family website for inviting friends, family, and neighbors. Also, during the Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, we will be serving the neighbors who live next to the church by offering to wash their cars.  We need some volunteers that would like to serve in this capacity.  If you are interested, please contact the church office. Our youth are being missional on Saturday, April 7th, at 12:00pm by goi...

Thanks to everyone that participated in the Spring Spruce Up on yesterday.   The savings we got from doing the clean up ourselves is in the thousands!  So your time and effort is greatly appreciated. And the winner of the zone challenge goes to Zone 4 (for the most participants and hours worked)! The Fish Fry scheduled for Saturday will be rescheduled to a later date. There's still time to participate in Serve Thy Neighbor before this quarter is over. Here's a great service idea: as the pollen settles, offer to wash your neighbor's car. In anticipation of next quarter's Invite Thy Neighbor, we have flyers for our Easter weekend celebration that you can use to invite neighbors. We have a few flyers available at the Welcome Center but I want to encourage most of you to download it from the church family website . All members have received an email to complete a skills profile. If you're a member and did not receive this email, update the church office with ...

The next Bible Study series, "Feeling Secure in a Troubled World," starts on this Wednesday at 7:00pm. Join us for this exciting new series! Don't miss the opportunity to be missional in your neighborhood by participating in Serve Thy Neighbor . Very shortly we'll send out an email to all members to complete a skills profile. By God's grace, He has blessed this church with a lot of talent and skills so we want to know what those skills are in order to utilize them for the benefit of our church body and to the glory of God. So I encourage everyone to please fill out the profile.

I hope that everyone's Lent is going well.  One of reasons we participate in Lent is that it's a great reminder that all of our Christian life is about denying self.  As our bodies desire that food or activity, we deny it.  Likewise, we are to deny our sinful and selfish desires daily to follow Christ.  May our fasts during Lent remind us of our daily need to deny self, take up our cross, and follow Christ. Don't forget to sign up and participate in Serve Thy Neighbor .  Don't miss the opportunity to be missional in your neighborhood by serving others. The next Ecuador Info Meeting is tomorrow (3/12) at 6:30 at Cary COG .  If you are even remotely considering going to Ecuador, then please plan to attend this meeting. You will need to bring your $100 deposit and copy of your passport.  Even if you decide later that you cannot go, the $100 deposit would go towards the mission trip (a worthy investment). Men, join us for a movie night on Friday....

We only have 7 families signed up for Project: Serve Thy Neighbor. But God has called to serve others. So I want to encourage everyone to step up and sign up to support this initiative. Many of our long time members know Marche Smith (son of Sis. Sandra Smith). He's a member of Christ First Christian Fellowship Center and will be delivering his initial sermon today. Christ First will be having this service at Mt. Zion at 4pm. The next Ecuador information meeting will be 3/12 at Cary Church of God .  I would love to have a great team of people from Mt. Zion to go to Ecuador this year.  As you can see in this video , the hotel that we stay at in Ecuador is quite nice so you will not be "roughing it" while there.    We have a praise report that the church has gotten an extension from the bank. God answered our prayers!  Now the next three months are going to be critical for us to make budget.  Thanks to all who sacrificed to give more.  We are ...

We are now in Lent which started on Ash Wednesday and will end on Easter. Why do we fast during Lent? Fasting is a very helpful way to reduce distractions, focus on God, and cultivate a sense of dependence on Him. When giving up certain foods or drinks, fasting is a way of sacrificing physical nourishment to seek spiritual nourishment. It is also good to give up things or activities that might be feed our sinful desires. So I pray that our fasting and praying during Lent this year will remind us that we need God and we will draw closer to Him. Don't forget to sign-up for Project: Serve Thy Neighbor . Let's sacrifice of our time to serve our neighbors with the love of Christ.   Members: Help us improve our communication in the church we request that you make sure your membership record in up-to-date by using the Connection Card in the bulletin, contacting your Deacon, or calling or emailing the church office.

This afternoon, Sis. Angela Cody delivered her Initial Sermon. Thanks to all who joined us for this special occasion! This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday.  We will anoint everyone with ashes (as sign of mourning and repentance over sin) right after Bible Study.  Ash Wednesday is also the beginning of Lent (40 day fast until Easter Sunday). We do a partial fast by giving up something.  In light of our Make War series, I recommend that we should give up something that may be feeding our sinful desires. Sometimes non-sinful things can be sinful for us.  We may need to limit the practice of these things (by fasting from them) so they do not become weights that hinder us. Don't forget to pick up your Giving Statements at the Welcome Center for your taxes. We are calling all men to help us on Saturday starting at 8am to put down mulch.  Help us keep our church grounds looking good. 

I'm pleased to announce the appointment of Sean Cherry as an elder.  I know that Sean and his wife, Angelique would appreciate your prayers as he takes on this important role to help lead and shepherd Mt. Zion . We have a Town Hall meeting on Saturday at 9am to discuss and get your feedback on our proposed ministry realignment. All members should have received a copy of the proposal via email. If you did not receive it, make sure your email address is current with the church office. We want to send another team to Ecuador this year in July on a mission trip. We are calling on all members (adults, college-age, & teens) to consider sacrificing a week of your summer to spread the Gospel and love of Christ.

We presented our proposal for realigning our ministries to our Discipleship Model at the Church Family Meeting. We will email what was presented to all members this week. Make sure we have your current email address. Our Town Hall meeting on 2/18 at 9am will be devoted to discussing and getting your feedback on this ministry realignment. The next Bible Study series, "SERVICE ROOTED IN GRACE," will begin on this Wednesday at 7:00pm. We progress in the Christian life when we see our sin as first and foremost against a Holy God. We are sinners saved by grace. Join us for this exciting new series. I'm happy to announce that Sis. Angela Cody will deliver her Initial Sermon on Sunday, February 19th, at 4:00pm. Everyone is invited to join us. Don't forget that the Ecuador trip info meeting is tomorrow at Cary Church of God (on Evans Road) at 6:30pm. Pick up a brochure at the Welcome Center. As a reminder, we ask everyone to restrict movement during the Call to D...

Project: Serve Thy Neighbor is happening now. We want to do at least one act of service for a neighbor. Check out the Radical Love website for different ideas on how to serve your neighbor. I'm asking all families to participate and sign-up on the website or use the Connection Card. Thanks to all parents who attended the "Upgrading Your Parental Software" seminar on yesterday.  It was a great success and I want to thank the youth directors, Deacon and Deaconess Jerkins, for their research and hard work with putting on the seminar. The Church Family Meeting is tomorrow (1/30) at 7:00pm. All members are asked to be present. This is an important meeting to attend as we want to share some ideas we're working on for realigning our ministries to our Discipleship Model. On Saturday, February 4th, a local chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity is sponsoring a blood drive by the American Red Cross here at Mt. Zion from 9:30am to 2:00pm. Since this is tied to the ...