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LamplighterTheTheTheThe

D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 1Vol. 4 Issue 12

The Church Christmas Play

Church Christmas plays are quite often a part of the Christmas

landscape. Various church members will portray different Bible

characters. The individual actors, their roles, and how they get along during arduous

rehearsals and the actual presentations often portray something of the church they

represent. Along that line, could it also be that the actual players in the original story

might offer insight into how we as a church ought to function as we together fulfill our

mission and ministries.

Lets first dismiss as role models men like Herod and the religious scribes. Herod

epitomizes anger and hatred for all things Christianthreatened by any Messiah Whoquestions his ungodly lifestyle. The religious scribes illustrate those blinded by their

own man-made religious system, showing apathy toward the true Gospel, and feeling

threatened by a Messiah Who rocks their religious boat.

However, take Mary. She models humble submission to Gods will. Without having to

understand fully how God would fulfill His promise, she put aside her personal

agenda, preferences, and conveniences for the cause of redemption and for the good

of others. Continued on page 2

Our Church Staff

Gary BurdenSenior Pastor

919-631-6789

Landon OrrMinister to Students

919-229-9379

Debbe LangdonMusic D i rector /P ianis t

919-410-0271

Kathy WelchOffice Coordinator

Michele McLaughlinAdmin. Assistant - Finances

Pat Baucom Admin. Assistant - Publications

Christmas at Bethesda

December 4th:

Festival of Trees - 4-5 PM - Johnson Medical Mall

December 18th:

Adult Choir Christmas Musical - 10:30 AMChildrens Christmas Program - 6:00 PM

Childrens Christmas Party - 7:00 PM

December 21st:

Church-wide Christmas Caroling - 6:00 PM

December 25th:

Worship Service Only - 10:30 AM

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Consider Joseph. Also not fully knowing how the Lord

would pull off His promises, he was willing to trust Mary

and give her the benefit of the doubt, as opposed to sus-

pecting her of immorality and discarding her. He showed

mercy even when his feelings showed potential betrayal

by his wife-to-be. He trusted Gods facts rather than his

feelings.

The shepherds demonstrate a united, common focus

when confronted by the supernatural newscast and con-

cert of heavenly angelic praise. Their individualistic turfs

and shepherding enterprises were suspended for worship

and witness. They made the effort to gather at the stable

for worship, and then they intentionally returned telling

others the Good News. They demonstrate the mission of

the church in praising the Lord and in proclaiming the

Gospel.

The wise men who came later simply wanted to see Je-

sus! And they made the sacrifice to do so as seen in their

difficult journey, in spite of Herods threats, and with gen-

erous gifts for their Lord. They had a hunger to know Him

and to make Him known--whatever the costs.

Can we all learn something of the character qualities from

each of these players that should characterize usHis

players on todays stage of lifewhether in those times

we gather to worship or scatter to witness? Also, in this

season of giving, can we all give our best Lottie MoonChristmas Offering for International Missions yet? I be-

lieve we can!

Because He came and because Hes coming again! With

love from our family to yours!

Gary BurdenGary BurdenGary BurdenGary Burden

Page 2T h e L a m p l i g h t e r

F R O M T H E P A S T O R ( C O N T D ) Recently I have been dealing with a

pretty major issue: writers block. For

some reason Ive been lacking my moti-

vation and inspiration to write, which for

a typical person wouldnt be a bad thing,

but when you have to write thousands

upon thousands of words a semester itcreates a problem. It doesnt seem to

matter what I do. I just cant think of creative ways to

word things, I struggle in my development of theses, and

my arguments and supporting points are tending to be

quite weak. Even writing my monthly article for the Lamp-

lighter has been tough recently as I am stumped as to

what to put down on the page. I have entered into a low

season as a writer.

As Christians we have highs and lows also. Sometimes

we feel like we are on top of the world: we are having

regular quiet times; we find ourselves praying a lot; we

can feel our relationship with God growing and moving.

Sometimes we have low points in our faith: it is hard to

open our Bible at home; we find ourselves blaming God

for things going on; and we just generally feel no motiva-

tion to serve. As we enter these seasons we need to ac-

knowledge that they are normal and typical of any Chris-

tian, and we need to try to get seasons to change.

What better time to move out of a spiritual funk than

Christmas. I know that for some people the holiday

season brings with it memories that can cause sad-ness, but Christmas also brings with it hope, and from

this hope stems joy because we know that our Savior

was born. In that fact we can rejoice forever. So as

we begin hearing those familiar Christmas tunes on the

radio let us always remember why we are celebrating

and let us use that remembrance as a joyful motivation

to continue serving our Lord. LandonLandonLandonLandon

Merry Christmas

From your Ministry Staff

Gary, Landon, DebbeGary, Landon, DebbeGary, Landon, DebbeGary, Landon, Debbe

Kathy, Michele & PatKathy, Michele & PatKathy, Michele & PatKathy, Michele & Pat

The word Advent means coming orarrival. The focus of the entireseason is the celebration of the birth

of Jesus the Christ in His First Ad-

vent and the anticipation of the re-

turn of Christ the King in His Second

Advent.

In the Spirit of Advent, we will celebrate the Season

each Sunday morning during the month of December.

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Page 3The Lamplighter

We had a great time fellowshipping and

fishing in November. We found that the

sea was quite rough and those of us who

made it found it hard to keep the bait out in

the ocean. Will Smith was able to catch

our one and only fish. We had a great time.

Just a reminder to all men, our Baptist Men of Bethesda

Baptist Church is open to all men in and outside our

church walls. Keep a lookout for more upcoming event

information and opportunities. We hope to start anotherBible study in January on Sunday nights.

Samaritans Purse (Christmas Child)

Shoe Box Collection

Praise the Lord. We received 190 boxes of our 200 boxgoal.

Christmas is a season of giving and you helped to give agift that can last for eternity. Each shoe box is a simplegift with an eternal message. Operation Christmas Childbrings joy and hope to children in desperate situations

worldwide through gift-filled shoe boxes and evangelis-tic material that tell the Good News of Gods love forthem.

Please continue to pray that the shoe boxes will be de-livered safely and that lives will be changed for GodsGlory.

The Lighthouse Class would like to thank everyone fortheir participation in this church-wide mission project.We wish you all a Blessed Christmas.

Our Awana Awards program will be

Wednesday, December 14th at 6:30

PM. You are invited to come and

share this special time with our children.

Also during the month of December the Awana Program

will be on December 7th and 14th only.

CHRISTMAS PARADE

The Clayton Christmas Parade will be

held on Saturday, December 10th be-

ginning at 3:00 PM. Our church will

have a float with the theme of Happy

Birthday Jesus. You are invited to

join us, ride on the float and distribute

candy along the parade route.

The children have been hard at

work preparing for a special

presentation for you! Please

join us Sunday evening, De-

cember 18 to celebrate the

birth of Christ with our chil-

dren. Afterwards, we will

gather together in the Fellowship Hall to share refresh-

ments and hear the story as it is written in the Book of

Luke. You are encouraged to bring your favorite holiday

cookies to share!

Once again, I ask for you to consider our childrens min-istry. Our classrooms are overflowing with children! We

have had to split some grade levels which means we

need more teachers for Sunday School as well as Kids

Worship. We are making it each week in Kids Worship

with an average of 22 children. We have had to move

them to a larger room without tables and make some

changes in how we use the time during Kids Worship.

We want to prepare them for worship in the sanctuary.

We need a few volunteers who are willing to lead music

for them each week. We would also like to have some

guest speakers. If you would like to share your testi-mony or a story from your childhood please let us know.

The kids would love hearing from you and you would only

need to speak for maybe 15 minutes. We look forward to

hearing from you!

DIRECTOR NEEDED

Vacation Bible School Director. Must be organized,

willing to delegate, able to make decisions, love the

Lord and loves children. Please notify Wendy Gate-

wood if you are willing to help.

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W e e k l y W e d n e s d a y S c h e d u l eW e e k l y S u n d a y S c h e d u l e

Ladies Lock-in

6:30pm.................................................................... Awana, Youth Bible Study

6:45 pm.............................................................. Adult Prayer and Bible Study

Choir Rehearsal

9:15 am .............................................................................. Bible Study Fellowship

10:30 am ...................................................................MorningWorship Celebration

6:00 pm..................................................LifeLine...Get Connected (Small Groups)

Student LifeLine

SPK CHOIR (Shout Praises Kids) - Grades 1-5

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Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3

4

Brkf. Fellowship

Week l y

Sunday Service

Festival of T rees 4-5 PM

5 6

Ladies Bible Study

10 AM

Deacons Meet-

ing

7

Awana

WeeklyWed.

Schedule

8 9 10

Clayton

Christmas

Parade

3:00 PM

11

W ee k l y

Sunday Service

12 13

Ladies Bible Study

10:00 AM

14

Awana Awards

Weekly Wed.

Schedule

15 16 17

18

Christmas

Mus ica l

Childrens Christmas P rogram 6:00 PM

19 20 21 22 23

24

25

10:30 AM Only

26

Church

Office

Closed

27 28

No

Activities

29 30

Youth leave for

WinterFest

31

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T h e L a m p l i g h t e r Page 5

Date S.S.AM

Worship

Budget

Offering

His Vision

Our Mission

Oct. 30 110 163 3,719.90 963.00

Nov. 6 145 182 9,508.82 1,740.00

Nov. 13 107 176 4,649.31 745.00

Nov. 20 117 171 5,060.20 605.00

Total 479 692 22,938.23 4,053.00

Avg. 120 173 5,734.56 1,013.25

Average Attendance & Offerings for November 2010

Avg. 104 152 6,580.86

Facts & Figures for October/November 2011

DECEMBER EXTENDED SESSIONAND KIDS CHURCH

Sunday, Dec. 4Sunday, Dec. 4Sunday, Dec. 4Sunday, Dec. 4 ---- AMAMAMAM

Babies: Kathleen McLamb &

Cherilyn Murphy

2s: Heather Henry &

Tori Smith

3s/4s:Wendy Beasley &

Diane Duncan

KKKK----3rd Kids Church3rd Kids Church3rd Kids Church3rd Kids Church

Frances Burden &

Angel Duncan

Sunday, Dec. 4Sunday, Dec. 4Sunday, Dec. 4Sunday, Dec. 4---- PMPMPMPM

Sharon Johnson &

Sharon Levin

Wednesday, Dec. 7Wednesday, Dec. 7Wednesday, Dec. 7Wednesday, Dec. 7

Frances Burden &

Louise Gilmore

Sunday, Dec. 11Sunday, Dec. 11Sunday, Dec. 11Sunday, Dec. 11 ---- AMAMAMAM

Babies: Brigitte Creech &

April Lengel

2s: Brandi & Tobi Sauer

3s/4s: Kristol Flanigan

& Kristen Duncan

KKKK----3rd Kids Church3rd Kids Church3rd Kids Church3rd Kids ChurchNicole & Michael Ritchie

Sunday, Dec. 11Sunday, Dec. 11Sunday, Dec. 11Sunday, Dec. 11 ---- PMPMPMPM

Jane & Johnnie Gatlin

Wednesday, Dec. 14Wednesday, Dec. 14Wednesday, Dec. 14Wednesday, Dec. 14

David Duncan &

Shannon Coomer

Sunday, Dec. 18Sunday, Dec. 18Sunday, Dec. 18Sunday, Dec. 18 ---- AMAMAMAM

Babies: Sondra Gatewood &

Jane Gatlin

2s: Diana Lee & Sis Godwin

3s/4 s: Leigh Smith &

Jennifer Harrison

KKKK----3rd Kids Church3rd Kids Church3rd Kids Church3rd Kids Church

Christmas Musical

Sunday, Dec. 18Sunday, Dec. 18Sunday, Dec. 18Sunday, Dec. 18 ---- PMPMPMPM

Larkin Creech

Wednesday, Dec. 21Wednesday, Dec. 21Wednesday, Dec. 21Wednesday, Dec. 21

Church-wide Christmas

Caroling

Sunday, Dec. 25Sunday, Dec. 25Sunday, Dec. 25Sunday, Dec. 25 ---- AMAMAMAM

Babies: Faye Wells &

Shalee Sams

2s: Laura & Shane Benson

3s/4s: Julie Brueggen &

Sara Orr

KKKK----3rd Kids Church3rd Kids Church3rd Kids Church3rd Kids Church

Wendy & Chris Gatewood

Sunday, Dec. 25Sunday, Dec. 25Sunday, Dec. 25Sunday, Dec. 25 ---- PMPMPMPM

No Activities

Wednesday, Dec. 28Wednesday, Dec. 28Wednesday, Dec. 28Wednesday, Dec. 28

No Activities

Preschool Regis. DeskPreschool Regis. DeskPreschool Regis. DeskPreschool Regis. Desk

1st Sunday:1st Sunday:1st Sunday:1st Sunday: Brigitte Creech

2nd Sunday:2nd Sunday:2nd Sunday:2nd Sunday: Diane Duncan

3rd Sunday:3rd Sunday:3rd Sunday:3rd Sunday: Diane Duncan

4th Sunday:4th Sunday:4th Sunday:4th Sunday: Wendy Gatewood

5th Sunday:5th Sunday:5th Sunday:5th Sunday: Brigitte Creech

Do you hear what I hear? The

sounds of Christmas music bring joy

to my heart, reminding me of favorite

Christmas traditions and the most

wonderful gift of all the birth of Je-

sus! Bethesdas choirs are prepar-

ing special musical programs tocelebrate this most wonderful time of

the yearand we invite you to be a part of each one!

As a matter of fact, please invite your friends and fami-

lies to join us!!

On Sunday, December 4 @ 4pm, our Adult Choir will

present a 30-minute program of Christmas music during

the Festival of Trees at Johnston Medical Mall. Sunday,

December 18, will bring a day full of Christmas music

and celebration. The Adult Choir will present our

Christmas musical Mary Did You Know? during the

morning worship service, and the ShoutPraiseKidsChoir will present For the Glory of the King at 6pm.

Youll enjoy hearing some old familiar carols along with

some new melodies, all proclaiming this timeless mes-

sage.This is the season where hope is strong

With joy and peace and love and song,

A glorious, blessed unparalleled season

The coming of Christ to the world. This is the reason

Enough for each carol and candle-lit service,

So we gather with only one purpose

To celebrate Jesus and think of His birth,

This is a time to remember on earth,To reflect on His coming, to stop and look back

And think of that story so long in the past.

He is the reason we have a song to sing!!!!

God bless.DebbeDebbeDebbeDebbe

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4967 Highway 70 West Business

Clayton, NC 27520

Phone: 919-553-7678

Address Service Guaranteed

December BirthdaysDecember BirthdaysDecember BirthdaysDecember Birthdays

Rebecca Johnson 2nd

Kaye Peele 2nd

Ann Harper 3rd

Ray Carroll 5th

Linda Little 5th

Mandy Windham 6th

Bobby Godwin 10th

Brian McLamb 13th

Judy Beal 17th

Bob Jones 17th

Jean Wilkins 19th

Edward Sasser 27th

Shelton Johnson 31stDennis Kennedy 31st

Were on the web!

www.bethesdaclayton.com

Chris & Wendy Gatewood 9th

Tobi & Brandi Sauer 13th

Tommy & Betty Jones 15th

Larkin & Brigitte Creech 21st

Jerry & Betty Jo Dalton 21st

Gary & Frances Burden 29th

Bob & Brenda Jones 29th

LADIES TUESDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY

On Nov. 29, we will have finished our home study on 2 Peter and Jude, "LivingWith

Discernment in the End Times" by Kay Arthur, David Lawson, and Bob Vereen

(Precept Min. Int.). Many times in these short, but powerful, epistles Peter and Judeboth speak urgently and passionately of "reminders" to their recipients, true believers

in Jesus Christ--the church: "I will always be ready to REMIND you of these

thingsto stir you up by way of REMINDERI am stirring up your sincere mind by

way of REMINDERI desire to REMIND you (2 Peter 1:12;3:1; Jude 5). And what

are Peter and Jude urgently reminding God's people of? In summary--the Truth about

God, His Word, and what we have been given in Jesus Christ our Lord, AND the stern

warning to guard ourselves and be discerning about FALSE teachers who, as the Holy

Spirit of God had Jude to put it "have crept in unnoticedungodly persons who

turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Je-

sus Christ. (Jude 4) By the way, "licentiousness" means "wantonness, absence of

moral restraint, indecency"--a "do as you please" or "its all about me" attitude and life-style. These men (& women, too) have infiltrated the church, so the apostles and

Jude give us bold, strong examples and descriptions as to what to beware of. As

Jude did, we need to "contend for THE faith"---salvation in no other than the Lord Je-

sus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Man! Keep in theWord and wait "anxiously for

the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life." (Jude 20-21).

Because of the many activities here at Bethesda, we will postpone our home Bible

study and prayer time until first week of March, 2012. Watch and listen for more infor-

mation later. However--please never, never postpone your personal time with the

Lord in His Word and prayer! Now, "to the only God our Savior, through Jesus

Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and

forever. AMEN!" (Jude 25) --Your sister in Christ alone, Sharon LevinSharon LevinSharon LevinSharon Levin

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2011 Lottie Moon Theme HIS HEART HIS HANDS HIS VOICE I am Southern Baptist missions

Southern Baptist churches collect the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for the sole

purpose of supporting international missions. Every penny of the offering goes to the

International Mission Boards overseas budget, thus supporting our missionaries and

their work.The International Mission goal for this year is $175 million.

Our church goal is $5000.Jesus has commissioned us to be His heart, His hands, His voice.

Through praying, giving and going, Southern Baptists have fulfilled this

legacy for more than 160 years. Yet billions remain lost and time may

be running out for them. Our churches must take direct responsibility

for helping reach the nearly 3,800 unengaged, unreached people

groups that missionaries may never be able to get to.

Happy Birthday