The Challenge C E N T R A L B A P T I S T N E W N A N N E W S L E T T E R

The ChallengeC E N T R A L B A P T I S T C H U R C H N E W S L E T T E R

To view the service at

11:00 am on Sunday, use

the link that will be

emailed to you Sunday

morning. To watch the

service after the initial

premier, you may access it

from the church website

or directly from YouTube.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF

EASTER

May 3, 2020

Rev. Matt Sapp

Sermon

“A Step in the Right

Direction”

Scripture

Galatians 2:11-16

Acts 15:12-21

Special Music

The Lord’s Prayer

Mr. Josh Tate

TUE 5-5-20

A Plan For Returning To In-Person Activities at Central

• We plan to resume in-person worship services on Sunday, May 31. We hope we’ve chosen a date that will allow us to re-launch worship with confidence. We will continue to fol-low the guidance of our elected officials and public health professionals, though, and make adjustments as needed.

• We plan to resume limited office hours the week of May 11. Again, we will make adjustments if needed.

• When we resume in-person gatherings, we will start with worship only and observe social distancing standards that will limit the seating capacity of our sanctuary. Without Sunday School, we will start back with three services on Sunday morning (8:45, 10:00, 11:15) so that we can safely accommodate all of our members. We’ll see how that goes and make adjustments as needed.

• We’ll develop a plan for re-starting Sunday School, week-day Bible studies, mid-week activities, Feeding our Friends, and all of our other ministries in the coming weeks as we have a better idea of what the next month or two will look like.

Rev. Katie Faison and Rev. Steve Cothran are actively moni-toring communications about summer activities for children and youth and will make decisions about how to proceed with things like VBS, summer camps, mission trips, etc. in the next few weeks.

THIS SUNDAY

Weekly Schedule through May 27 Virtual Worship (YouTube)

Sundays at 11:00 am

Music from the Sanctuary (Facebook) Wednesdays at Noon

Midweek Meditation (YouTube) Wednesdays at 5:00 pm

Youth and children interactive ministry opportunities at vari-ous times throughout the week.

You may contact the church office by phone at 770-683-0610 during regular office hours, Monday-Friday, 10:00 am-3:00 pm, or by email at anytime.

Mother’s Day

Videos

We are collecting video clips for a Mother's Day celebra-tion of moms! If you would like to be included: record a message (10 seconds or less) telling us what you love about your mom, why moms are special, or just wishing your mom a happy day--in LANDSCAPE format (horizontally)--and email your message to scothran@centralbaptistnewnan.org.

Pastor’s Pen

Returning to Normal?

We have worshipped virtually for SEVEN Sun-days now. Can you believe it? Sometimes it feels like it’s been seven minutes. Other times it feels like it’s been seven years. And, we are now scheduled to worship this way for four more Sundays. It has been extraordinarily difficult to plan more than a few days in ad-vance over the last two months. Conditions have been changing so rapidly around us. But we are prayerfully hoping that May will be a month of healing.

Beyond the health and economic strains that this pandemic has placed on our communi-ties, many are increasingly talking about the emotional and psychological burdens of social distancing and disruption to routine. There is a spiritual burden to sickness and isolation, too. Lots of us, I think, are realizing in ways we hadn’t before how important Christian community is to our well-being. As people who are animated by the in-dwelling Spirit of Christ, we are meant to live our lives togeth-er. That’s what the church is for.

As we begin to think about returning to in-person worship—and as we join churches all over the country in starting to develop safe protocols for in-person Bible studies and min-istry activities, I want to ask you to pray. Pray that God will bless this re-awakening of the Church Universal. Pray that God will bless this re-awakening of our church. Pray that what we return to will NOT be normal.

We live in an “already/but not yet” tension as members of the Church. The work of the Kingdom has already been accomplished in Christ. That’s what we celebrate at Easter. But the fullness of the Kingdom has not yet been realized here on Earth. Our work, then, is to make the world increasingly look like the fully-realized Kingdom of God. Big disruptions give us opportunities to make big steps for-ward toward that goal—to change the way the world works, to change what our lives look like, to re-align the world’s priorities so that they look more like God’s priorities.

We have a better chance to make progress toward those goals right now maybe than we ever have in our lifetimes. I pray we will. But it won’t just happen. If we’re not careful, we could just return to normal.

See you (virtually) Sunday. Matt

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you…

It’s a song everybody knows. The song has

only 4 lines (3 the same and 1 for the per-

son’s name to be added). The song can be

easily sung with or without the help of an ac-

companying instrument. The song is sung by

young and old alike. But I never realized the

joy and encouragement that came from the

singing of that song until this past Monday,

my birthday. It’s God’s people building God’s

church by the simple singing of the birthday

song.

I was totally overwhelmed. Texts and emails

in the morning with birthday wishes, cards in

the mail, a phone call or two. I had never re-

ceived so many birthday wishes when we

were all working! Then the Facebook video:

our choir children singing Happy Birthday; our

choir children playing Happy Birthday on the

violin, the guitar and even the kazoo; our

CBC families singing Happy Birthday togeth-

er; and, with unparalleled enthusiasm, Steve

and Nancy doing a bit of a happy birthday

rap! All ages sharing Happy Birthday wishes,

from 3 to 73! Thank you, Katie, for your crea-

tivity to coordinate the video!

Finally, Julia drove over as did Courtney and

Maggie, Katie and Emma, and Debbie: a car

caravan with gifts and “Happy Birthday.”

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “Therefore

encourage one another and build each other

up, just as in fact you are doing.”

I was indeed overwhelmed with both smiles

and tears of joy. What an encouragement you

all have been to me on my birthday.

(Certainly the happiest quarantine birthday

ever!) It’s God’s people building God’s church

by the simple singing of “Happy Birthday.”

Thanks for the “Happy Birthday” song that

filled my day!

Anne

Pastor’s Pen Music Ministry Pastor’s Pen Music Ministry

Dinner Talk Let's all take advantage of this time together

and stretch our brains! Here are some ques-

tions for you to discuss around the table as a

family. Happy Talking!

*New questions below...I hope those who

participated last week enjoyed this activi-

ty.*

Tuesday Night: If you could get everyone in your family to read one book (besides the Bi-ble), what would you want them to read?

Wednesday Night: What is your spiritual gift? How can you use it to help the church?

Thursday Night: If you sailed on Noah's ark, which pair of animals would be your favorites?

Mrs. Katie

VBS July 6—

July 9, 2020

Please go to the church

website to sign up! Cen-

tralbaptistnewnan.org or

click here. If you are in-

terested in volunteering, please contact Katie

at kfaison@centralbaptistnewnan.org.

It’s that time of year again! VBS 2020 (July

6—9) will be here before we know it, and we

encourage you to take some time to pray

about volunteering. This is one of the most

influential weeks of the year for our children.

It is very rewarding to spend a week with

these children and be a big part of their Chris-

tian education. If you are interested, please

contact kfaison@centralbaptistnewnan.org or

678-877-7060.

Fernraiser

Pickup:

May 6, 2:30 pm

We are grateful to every-

one for your patience dur-

ing quarantine! Ferns

should arrive at the church around 2:30 pm.

You will be contacted by your youth seller

about fern pick up.

Graduate Recognition

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Do you have a high school or college graduate this year who is a member of Central? We want to rejoice with you by recognizing them in The Challenge by publishing their senior portrait and the school from which they are graduating.

We will also honor our high school grads with a special video, so we need you to email 6-8 of your high school senior’s cutest photos from birth to present to include in this video. Please email all photos to chaynes@centralbaptistnewnan.org no later than May 5.

On May 17, we will celebrate our high school seniors and their families by recognizing our graduates during the worship service. (This recording will actually be done on Friday, May 15. More details coming for seniors and par-ents via email.)

Scholarships Jennie Fowler Cole All undergraduate college students who are

members of Central Baptist Church are eligible

to apply for this scholarship but must reap-

ply each year. Applications are available in the

church office. Deadline to return completed

application is Fri., June 5.

Family Ministry Student Ministry

Children’s Ministry

New Members Please welcome Jim and Seay Poulakos, and

their children, Mary Patten and Rees, who

joined Central Baptist Church on Sunday,

April 26, 2020 by statement of faith.

CENTRALBAPTIST CHURCHNEWNAN, GEORGIA 14 West Broad Street (Just off Court

Square), Newnan, GA 30265

www.centralbaptistnewnan.org chaynes@centralbaptistnewnan.org

Phone 770-683-0610 Fax 770-683-0333

Mrs. Julia Huster Organist

Rev. Matt Sapp Pastor Mrs. Debbie Porrello Financial Manager

Rev. Anne S. Cronic Associate Pastor of Music and Worship Mrs. Courtney Haynes Senior Administrative Assistant

Rev. Katie Faison Associate Pastor to Children, Women,

and Senior Adults

Mr. German Lopez-Figueroa Custodian

Rev. Steve Cothran Associate Pastor to Students Mr. Randy Boswell Facilities Maintenance Manager

CHURCH STAFF

Stewardship Update

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Capital Campaign

The Challenge (USPS# 908-920). Published weekly, except for the two weeks after Christmas, by

Central Baptist Church, 14 W. Broad St., Newnan GA 30263. Periodicals paid at Newnan GA.

POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Challenge, 14 W. Broad St., Newnan GA 30263.

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Weekly Budget

Needs

$22,804.10

Budget Offering $30,530.00

YTD Budget Needs $387,669.70

YTD Budget Offering $351,964.93

Receipts $8,247,515.35

Pledges/Non-Pledged $8,699,716.55

Please address any correspondence to

our physical address at

14 West Broad Street

Newnan, Georgia 30263

instead of the Post Office Box.

Your participa-

tion matters.

BE COUNTED.

Click here to

complete the

2020 Census.