May 2010 Lamplighter Newsletter, LaFayette Alliance Church

8/8/2019 May 2010 Lamplighter Newsletter, LaFayette Alliance Church

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Gospel – and in Christians band-ing together in Gospel churchesthat display God’s glory in thisfallen world.

We are also brothers united indeep concern for the church andthe Gospel. This concern is spe-cifically addressed to certaintrends within the church today.

We are concerned about thetendency of so manychurches to substitutetechnique for truth, ther-apy for theology, andmanagement for ministry.

We are also concernedthat God’s glorious pur-

pose for Christ’s church isoften eclipsed in concernby so many other issues,programs, technologies,and priorities. Further-more, confusion overcrucial questions concern-

ing the authority of the Bible, themeaning of the Gospel, and thenature of truth itself have gravelyweakened the church in terms of its witness, its work, and its iden-tity.

We stand together for the Gos-

pel – and for a full and gladdeningrecovery of the Gospel in thechurch. We are convinced thatsuch a recovery will be evident inthe form of faithful Gospelchurches, each bearing faithfulwitness to the glory of God andthe power of the Gospel of JesusChrist.

I want to thank you for the privi-lege of attending this conferenceeach time it has been held. I also

(continued on page 3)

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,to the Jew first and also to theGreek. 17 For in it the righteousness

of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteousshall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

On April 13-16, I had the privi-lege of attending this year’s To-gether for the GospelConference, in Louisville,Kentucky. This conferencebegan in 2006 and is heldevery two years. It is pri-marily for pastors and thosein leadership positions withinthe church. While I certainly

enjoyed the conference andits various speakers, the“icing-on-the-cake” for me,was that I was able to attendthis conference with broth-ers from this church that Ivery much love and respect(Pastor Brian, Mike Maloney, andRyan Smith). Since the confer-ence was held in Louisville (homeof Southern Seminary), I also hadthe opportunity of meeting upwith Darren and Trevor Smithwho are students at Southernfrom the LaFayette Alliance

Church.

For me, Together for the Gospelis not simply a “nice” conferenceto attend every two years. It is aNECESSARY conference! Thereis no subject that should be of greater importance to us thanthe GOSPEL! And yet, it is thevery Gospel that is so misunder-stood and misapplied in manyevangelical churches today!

I think the following Preamblefrom the Together for theGospel Affirmations and De-nials document would be helpfulin informing you as to what isreally at stake when it comes tothe Gospel, but also in encourag-ing you to participate in whatGod is doing around the worldthrough local churches in theproclamation of the pure, power-ful, and unadjusted Gospel!

Preamble: We are brothers inChrist united in one great cause – to stand together for the Gos-pel. We are convinced that theGospel of Jesus Christ has beenmisrepresented, misunderstood,and marginalized in many

churches and among many whoclaim the name of Christ. Com-promise of the Gospel has led tothe preaching of false gospels, theseduction of many minds andmovements, and the weakeningof the church’s Gospel witness.

As in previous moments of theo-logical and spiritual crisis in thechurch, we believe that the an-swer to this confusion and com-promise lies in a comprehensiverecovery and reaffirmation of the

Together for the Gospel!I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

From Pastor

Brian’s Desk

2

Wednesday

Prayer Meeting

3

Thank

You!

4

From the Church

Library

4

Faith Heritage

Open House

4

Alliance Women

Ministries Update

5

Birthdays/

Anniversaries

5

Jonathan Wood

Raptor Project

5

Church Lockup

Schedule

5

Quizzing

News

6

Spotlight on

Leadership

8

Bulletin Board 9

Christian Writers’

Gathering

7

Mother~Daughter

Tea

8

VBS:

The Egypt File

10

The LamplighterM A Y 2 0 1 0V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 5



P A G E 2

In the family,

husbands

should forsake

harsh or selfish

leadership and

grow in love

and care for

their wives;

wives should

forsake

resistance to

their husbands'

authority and

grow in willing,

joyfulsubmission to

their husbands'

leadership.

From Pastor Brian’s DeskThe Biblical Role of Men

and Women

In our Sunday School class we

have been studying the topic of Biblical Manhood and Woman-

hood and the impact it should

have on how we relate in our

families, in the church, and in

society in general. A key

document that has been

drafted on this subject is the

Danvers Statement, drafted by

John Piper and accepted by the

Council On Biblical Manhood

and Womanhood (You can

view the whole document

including the rationale for it atCBMW.org). This statement

acts as a “position statement”

or “statement of beliefs” on

the topic. We are currently

studying what the scriptures

say about the roles of men and

women beginning with God’s

design from the start as re-

corded in Genesis 1-3. I

would like to include the Dan-

vers Statement for you to read

in this month’s newsletter and

to encourage you to considerits precepts.

D a n v e r s S t a t e m e n t

Affirmations

1. Both Adam and Eve were

created in God's image, equal

before God as persons and

distinct in their manhood and

womanhood (Gen 1:26-27,

2:18).

2. Distinctions in masculine

and feminine roles are or-

dained by God as part of the

created order, and should find

an echo in every human heart

(Gen 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor 11:7-

9; 1 Tim 2:12-14).

3. Adam's headship in marriage

was established by God before

the Fall, and was not a result of

sin (Gen 2:16-18, 21-24, 3:1-

13; 1 Cor 11:7-9).

4. The Fall introduced distor-tions into the relationships

between men and women

(Gen 3:1-7, 12, 16).

* In the home, the husband's

loving, humble headship tends

to be replaced by domination

or passivity; the wife's intelli-

gent, willing submission tends

to be replaced by usurpation

or servility.

* In the church, sin inclines

men toward a worldly love of

power or an abdication of

spiritual responsibility, and

inclines women to resist limita-

tions on their roles or to ne-

glect the use of their gifts in

appropriate ministries.

5. The Old Testament, as well

as the New Testament, mani-

fests the equally high value and

dignity which God attached to

the roles of both men and

women (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18;

Gal 3:28). Both Old and New-Testaments also affirm the

principle of male headship in

the family and in the covenant

community (Gen 2:18; Eph

5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; 1 Tim

2:11-15).

6. Redemption in Christ aims

at removing the distortions

introduced by the curse.

* In the family, husbands

should forsake harsh or selfish

leadership and grow in loveand care for their wives; wives

should forsake resistance to

their husbands' authority and

grow in willing, joyful submis-

sion to their husbands' leader-

ship (Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19;

Tit 2:3-5; 1 Pet 3:1-7).

* In the church, redemption in

Christ gives men and women

an equal share in the blessings

of salvation; nevertheless,

some governing and teaching

roles within the church arerestricted to men (Gal 3:28; 1

Cor 11:2-16; 1 Tim 2:11-15).

7. In all of life Christ is the

supreme authority and guide

for men and women, so that

no earthly submiss ion-

domestic, religious, or civil-

ever implies a mandate to

follow a human authority into

sin (Dan 3:10-18; Acts 4:19-20,

5:27-29; 1 Pet 3:1-2).

8. In both men and women aheartfelt sense of call to minis-

try should never be used to set

aside Biblical criteria for par-

ticular ministries (1 Tim 2:11-

15, 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-9). Rather,

Biblical teaching should remain

the authority for testing our

subjective discernment of

God's will.

9. With half the world's popu-

lation outside the reach of

indigenous evangelism; with

countless other lost people in

those societies that have heard

the gospel; with the stresses

and miseries of sickness, mal-

nutrition, homelessness, illiter-

acy, ignorance, aging, addiction,

crime, incarceration, neuroses,

and loneliness, no man or

woman who feels a passion

from God to make His grace

known in word and deed need

ever live without a fulfilling

ministry for the glory of Christand the good of this fallen

world (1 Cor12:7-21).

10. We are convinced that a

denial or neglect of these prin-

ciples will lead to increasingly

destructive consequences in

our families, our churches, and

the culture at large.

T H E L A M P L I G H T E R - M A Y 2 0 1 0



Together for the Gospel!

P A G E 3V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 5

(continued from page 1)

want to thank you for the opportu-

nity that you give to me each week of preaching and teaching the GoodNews of Jesus Christ. I cannot tellyou what it a joy it is to preach tosuch a Word-focused, Christ-centered, and Gospel-loving con-gregation. I trust that I will nevertake such a privilege for granted!

I would also like to mention thewonderful Northeastern Districtand Prayer Conference thatPastor Brian and I attended at Niag-ara Falls (Niagara Alliance Church).

The theme for this year’s confer-ence was Open Doors! We werereminded by both the Scripturesand by multiple testimonies thatGod is doing some great thingsthroughout many of our districtchurches as God presents “OpenDoors” for ministry opportunities.

We also reaffirmed the excellentministry of our District Superinten-dent, Dan Miller, with a 100% vote

in favor of his continuing to servethe district with another 4-yearterm. What a blessing to have Rev.Dan and Elaine Miller as our districtleaders, as well as all those whoserve so well at the district office!

God is good! These are excitingdays to serve our King! May Godrichly bless you in your service toChrist!

Pastor Rob

The Week of Prayer is set up with adifferent focus each day, which canalso be a guide for regular prayer

times:

May 2 - pray for your local church and

pastor.

May 3 - pray for U.S. Alliance pastors

and workers.

May 4 - pray for U.S. Alliancechurches.

May 5 - pray for Alliance leaders

worldwide.

May 6 - pray for Alliance international

workers.

May 7 - pray for overseas C&MA na-

tional churches.

May 8 - pray for "Pushing Back theDarkness" initiatives around the

world.

May 9 - pray for Alliance supportingorganizations, including CAMA, edu-cational institutions and retirement

centers.

With the theme for this year's Na-tional Day of Prayer being "Prayerfor such a time as this," based onNahum 1:7, we join with other be-lievers across the country to inter-

cede for our nation and our local,state and national leaders.

So, take these opportunities to makeprayer foundational to everything

you are and do

Prayerfully Yours,

Larry Petry

"First of all, then, I urge that entreatiesand prayers, petitions and thanksgivings,be made on behalf of all men, for kingsand all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity."

I Timothy 2:1,2

The month of May brings two note-

worthy opportunities for prayer.

May 2 - 9 is the Alliance WorldWeek of Prayer, and Thursday, May6 is the 59th annual observance of

the National Day of Prayer.

Prayer is a core value of the Chris-tian & Missionary Alliance. It is cen-tral to what we do as a denomina-

tion, as a church and as individuals.

Wednesday Prayer Meeting

“The month of

May brings

two

noteworthy

opportunities

for prayer.”



P A G E 4

The deadline for

the June issue of

the Lamplighter is

Sunday, May 16th.

Please submit your

articles to the

church office.

Thank You!

After many years of sharing her originalpoems with the congregation through theLamplighter each month, Dorothea Dyer

has informed us that she sadly must“retire”. We wanted to take this time tosay Thank You to her for all of herwonderful and inspirational poems!

Keep a look out in future editions wheresome of her previous poems will be re-printed!

which there are 10-minute re

ings such as "Accepting y

new role" and "Accepting Go

peace". Christian humorist B

bara Johnson wrote Wh

Does a Mother Go to Res

which is the inspiring story

her coping and finding com

in God's peace after a series

family tragedies.

You might be blessed by read

The Stay at Home Mom,

Women at Home & Those W

Want to Be by Donna O

Another wee inspirational bo

by a variety of well-kno

Christian women such as L

Swindoll, Beth Moore, and PaClairmont is The Love o

Godly Mother. [249.4 Lov]

A new book geared particul

to women is His Word in

Heart by Janet Pope [220.7 P

in which the author reveals h

she trained herself to incl

Scripture memory in her d

routines such as housework

waiting in traffic or in a med

office.

We have also added R

Sproul's 2009 book John [22

Spr] one book in his series:

Andrew's Expositional Co

mentary.

Good reading!

Jean Palmer

Here's a peek at some of the

special books we have on

motherhood which are all in

249.4 followed by the first 3

letters of the author's last

name: Be Still My Soul, Mo-

ments of Peace for Moms

[249.4 Bes] which is a wee

treasury of inspirational essays,

Bible verses and thought-

provoking quotations for

Mothers. Mothers Have Angel

Wings: a Tribute to the Tears

and Triumphs of Being a Mom

compiled by Carol Kent. Dia-

pers, Pacifiers, and Other Holy

Things by Lorraine Pintus

which has short chapters on a

variety of subjects especially

for mothers of preschoolers. It

will remind mothers of how

valuable they are and give them

a little break when they need

to laugh or cry over life with

preschoolers. And then there

is The Frazzled Mother's Guide

to Inner Peace by Pat Baker in


From the Church Library




Thank you for your giving during the monthof April! LaFayette Alliance Women wereable to send $30 toward “Pass the Salt”, the

May 2010

1 – Ruby Loomis, Dick Standford

3 – Gary Lauzon

4 – Beth Ortlieb

5 – (Eddy & Cheryl Diaz)

7 – (Joe & Joan Hunter)

9 – Gerri McNeill, Lorenda Brown, (Rick & Margo Sullivan)

10 – (Mike & Georgia Phipps)

11 – Betty Roberts

12 – Tina Culver, Dorothea Dyer, Shane Sullivan

15 – Jessica Benedetto, Joe Kolceski

17 – Jacob Doolittle, Rebekah Doolittle, (Carl & Barbara Compton)

18 – (Clayton & Jessica Estey)

20 – Kathy Grabowski, Michael Caputo-Schoeck

21 – Diana Johnson, Barbara Mandigo

23 – Joe Grabowski, Amanda Maloney

24 – (Greg & Sue Titus)

26– Sue Walker

27 – Patti Reed

28 – Grace Dow, (Greg & Joan Simmons)

29 – Patty Maloney

30 – (Jeff & Sherry Kline)

31 – (Doug & Becky Mintz)

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Church Lock Up

ScheduleThis is a reminder for church officers who are onthe lock up schedule for the month of May:

May 2 Mike MaloneyMay 9 Matt CoulterMay 16 Jim PhillipsMay 23 Eric ReedMay 30 Pat Buff

If you are unable to be at church on the day you arescheduled for lock up, please arrange to change withsomeone on the schedule.

2009-2010 AWM National Project.

We help all our International Workers includ-ing marketplace ministries by providing themwith an “Outfit”. This is money to buyclothes, household items, things they need togo overseas.

District Expense: This covers training for allour regional coaches and materials needed forthat as well as printing materials given out toall our local churches.

Each month our Alliance Women Ministriesgroup sends funds to the Northeastern Dis-trict to help with various ministries. There willbe an offering can available in the foyer on thesecond Sunday of each month. You can also

designate “AWM” on your offering envelope if you prefer. Here is a brief summary of whatwe will be giving toward in the next two

months:

May: International Worker Outfit (the sug-gested amount to send in is $3 per AllianceWoman in the church. Remember, if you are awoman, you are an Alliance Woman!)

June: District Expense ($25)

Would you please consider giving to AWM inorder to help our International Workersspread the Good News of Jesus Christ?

Alliance Women Ministries Update



P A G E 6

Please keep these

quizzers in prayer

as they review the

years material and

prepare for

Districts, and as

we coach them.

QuizzingSenior News

We finished off the regular quiz year with a greatquiz meet. Quizzers were jockeying for position

to make it into the top five for trophies. Here’show the seniors finished:

Nick Murgia – 1st placeSam Benedict 2nd placeCaleb Benedict 3rd placeNoah Schadt 4th placeAaron Fleming 5th place

Sam Benedict received a trophy for Most Improvedover last year and Caleb Benedict took home thetrophy for Rookie of the Year. Nick’s Team, alongwith Nate Phipps and Aaron Fleming received the1st place team trophy.

The top five plus Taylor Fleming will represent ourZone at the District Quiz Meet on May 1st inWestfield, NY. Rick Stout, Nathan Southwick andI are coaching the senior team. The top five atDistricts will represent our district at Internation-als in July. Please be in prayer for us and Marie asshe coaches Juniors.

All the rest of our quizzers are done for the year.Some are already beginning to think about nextyear when we will study the Gospel of John.

Georgia Phipps


Junior News

We finished out our season in good stead with 4of our 5 quizzers representing us at Districts.

Even though we ran into some difficult questions,the quizzers were up to it with some interestingtallies.

Joel Fleming went home with the 1st place trophyand his team with Amanda Negley earned 1st place.Beca Lloyd went home with a 2nd place trophy andthe Most Improved quizzer award. Amanda Ne-gley took the 3rd place trophy and Rookie of theYear. Chris Lloyd received the 4th place trophyand David Chen from Syracuse was 5th. These fivequizzers will represent the Finger Lakes Zone atDistricts.

We finished our last regular quiz day with an icecream social and congratulations all around. Pleasekeep these quizzers in prayer as they review theyears material and prepare for Districts, and as wecoach them.

Marie Murgia



P A G E 8

Beginning in July,

each month we

will focus on 1-2

families in our

church as a way

for everyone to

become more

familiar with

each other.

Spotlight on Leadership Boards


We cordially invite you to a Mother-Daughter Tea onMay 15th at 1pm at LaFayette Alliance Church, Rt. 20 inLaFayette, NY. Not every woman is a mother, not everymother has daughters, but every woman is a daugh-ter. So in the spirit of fellowship, this invitation ex-tends to ladies of all ages and walks of life. We hopeyou will take this opportunity to join us in our Victo-rian Garden for an afternoon of fun, fellowship, andfood. Hope to see you there!

The Trustees have charge of the physical property of the church, both in maintenance and insurance. In addi-tion to the Trustees, we are also blessed to have a group of men, the “F4”, who willingly volunteer their timeto work on jobs around the church, saving the congregation time and money! Thank you for all of your hardwork!

(from left to right) Pat Buff, Clayt Estey, Matt Walker, Dick Standford, Eric Reed & Mark Johnson

Trustees

Mother~Daughter Tea




Katie Wells Updates...

Baby Bottle Boomerang YARD SALE As you are cleaning out your closet, attic,and garage this spring, donate your items toAlliance Women Ministries. We will be hav-ing a yard sale to benefit our local group inearly June. Thank you for supporting the

LaFayette AllianceWomen! Keep watch-ing for more details!

Don’t forget that the baby bottles

will be available for pick-up onMother’s Day, May 9th. They willbenefit the ministry of New HopeFamily Services. Please take abottle - fill it with coins, bills, or acheck - and return it on Father'sDay, Sunday, June 20th.

Senior Ministry LuncheonAttention all Seniors— This month we will havea luncheon on Thursday, May 6th here atchurch at noon. Join us for a meal together anda great time of fellowship.

Greg Gelewski, from OCRRA will be our spe-cial guest. Bring all your recycling questions!

Please bring a dish to pass. Feel free to invite afriend and enjoy a relaxing, fun time.

The best way to stay up-to-date withKatie is by visiting her blog:www.missionarykatiewells.blogspot.com

You can read her updates as soon asthey are posted, see her quarterly news-letter, and even comment on her posts!

You can link to her blog from the home-page of www.lafayettealliance.org

ReminderPlease Note:

Submissions to the Lamplighterneed to be in file format; eitheremail or on a CD. Email would be

the preference. Thank you!

Delta Lake Summer CampsThe early registration deadline is fast approaching!Don’t let your child miss out on this awesome

opportunity!The following is a list of the camps:

Explorer Camp (Grades 9 - 12): July 25 - 31

Pioneer Camp (Grades 6 - 8): July 18 - 24

Trailblazer Camp (Grades 3 - 5): July 11- 17Adventure Camp (Grades 9—12): July 18 - 24

Costs for Explorer, Pioneer & Trailblazer Camps:$287 if registered by May 15th. After that $307.

Cost for Adventure Camp: $308 if registered byMay 15th. After that $330.



We’re on the web! www.lafayettealliance.org

Our mission is to know Jesus Christ; exalt Him as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, Coming King,and complete His Great Commission.

LaFayette Christian & MissionaryAlliance Church

P.O. Box 1506069 Cherry Valley TurnpikeLaFayette, New York 13084Phone: (315) 677-9810

Rev. Robert Gates, Senior [email protected]

Brian Mandigo, Associate [email protected]

Ellen Coulter, Office [email protected]

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

July 26th-July 30th 6pm-8:30pm

If you asked the children of your church and community how they felt about the Bible, what would their response be? Would they consider theWord of God relevant to their lives and interesting to learn from? Or would it seem irrelevant and trumped by “science”?

A recent survey by American Research Group revealed that an alarming number of young people are leaving the church after they graduate be-cause their questions about the Bible had not been answered. Of those polled, 86% had begun to question the Bible by their high school years.Of those who said they did not believe all the accounts in the Bible are true, 82% cited doubts about the Bible’s authority or its trustworthiness.

This VBS program, The Egypt File: Decoding the Mystery of Life, is a tremendous opportunity to address some of the questions childrenhave such as: did we come from ape-men? Is all human life valuable? If we can instill the truths of the Bibleand show its absolute authority, we will help to reverse this sad trend by equipping these children with theanswers they seek. Vacation Bible School is a fun way to provide solid Bible-based teaching in a fun and enter-taining way, that counters the misinformation about the Bible and science that children encounter daily.

I hope you will all join us in this journey. I understand that not all of you can volunteer during VBS week butthere are many other opportunities that are just as vital. Some of these may be providing financially, helpingwith decorations, being part of the publicity so we can reach our community, and most importantly praying forour VBS volunteers and for the children that attend that week. I would like to find a prayer coordinator: anindividual who has a heart for prayer and for organizing others to pray. If you are interested please let meknow.

I have seen God do amazing things in my life and know He can do the same in each of these children’s lives. Inthe coming weeks, consider where God is leading you to help in this year’s VBS program and join us in thisadventure.

In Christ,Sherry Negley

May 2010 Lamplighter Newsletter, LaFayette Alliance Church

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Transcript of May 2010 Lamplighter Newsletter, LaFayette Alliance Church