Lamplighter The

July 2015 Volume 8 Issue 7

Highlights

Note from the Pastor p. 1

Note from Landon p. 2

Calendar p. 3

Facts & Figures P. 4

Extended Session p. 4

Birthdays p. 4

Anniversaries p. 4

Our Church Staff

Gary Burden Senior Pastor

919-631-6789

Landon Orr Assoc. Pastor of

Discipleship & Evangelism

919-229-9379

Chastity Comeau Administrative Assistant

Continued on pg. 2

Rendering Unto Caesar

Russell Moore, president of our Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious

Liberty Commission, was spot on when he recently said: “As

Christians, we will render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but the

preaching of the church of God does not belong to Caesar and we will

not hand it over, not now, not ever.” And it’s not just the

“preaching”—it’s the living of the Gospel in everyday life by everyday Christians every

day of our lives. Too many of our Baptist forefathers fought, bled, and died for this

hallmark right in our country—freedom of religion, not merely freedom of worship.

To those conditioned by political correctness—even in many of our churches—these

discussions are unfashionable, unnecessarily polarizing, not cool, and perhaps a form of

“hate speech.” No emotionally balanced sane person relishes subject matter that

appears only negative. But failure to speak out is tacit approval by our silence. Not to

speak is in actuality to loudly speak. Moore emphasized that Southern Baptists are not

ministers of condemnation, but are ministers of reconciliation. “We will speak a word

that calls to repentance, but we will not end at repentance. We will not end at a call that

says, ‘Look at your sin.’ We will continue until we say, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who

takes away the sins of the world.’”

History has proven that when a nation legalizes sin, that same nation eventually

criminalizes Christianity. It has to. The Gospel message then becomes an impediment to

the guilt-free sin choices people wish to make. The “Gospel conscience “ of society just

has to go. Gospel-speech then becomes hate speech in such an inverted society. (Even

though the most horrid, unbridled hateful speech tends to come from those who lash

out to the purveyors of truth.) “If you Christians want to get along in our world, then

you’re going to have to go along.” But that’s exactly what we cannot do—cannot do and

be faithful to our Lord and His clear Word.

All this is not new. It’s just new to us. The Old Testament saints were warned of yielding

to cultural influences that called good evil and evil good. The early church saints set the

tone for all of our storied history within the ebbs and flows of persecution that dogged

their heels. Today is no exception—we just think it is. Again from Moore: “Baptist

Christianity just doesn’t do well as a water carrier for anybody’s civil religion. Ours is a

jailhouse religion, carried to us by heroes who were often outlaws: Paul of Tarsus,

Thomas Helwys, Roger Williams, Isaac Backus, John Leland, Martin Luther King, Jr..”

And we cannot sit idly by while multitudes of our brothers and sisters in other countries

are being led to the slaughter.

“Truth is not up for sale and the Gospel doesn’t bend to the highest bidder, and faithful

Christians do not stow away their convictions in a blind trust when they enter the public

square,” said Moore.

2015

Page 2 The Lamplighter

“12 For though by this time you ought to be

teachers, you need someone to teach you

again the basic principles of the oracles of

God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for

everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the

word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food

is for the mature, for those who have their powers of

discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good

from evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14

Recently, while teaching the Agape Sunday School Class

(what a privilege!), I talked about how parenting has really

shed more light on the verse above. The process of eating is

something that we take for granted. Until you have to teach

a child how to eat, you don’t really understand how difficult

it can be to move from milk to solid foods. It isn’t as simple

as just putting the food in a mouth. A child has to learn how

to use their tongue, how to chew, how to not choke on

everything. They also have to develop their coordination so

that they can actually put the food in their mouth. What a

struggle.

After having that discussion in class my son added another

element to the Apostle Paul’s metaphor. Sara sent a picture

one morning of my son crying with tears of frustration with

a very full mouth. Was he choking? No. Was she forcing

him to eat something he didn’t want? No, nothing like

that. See, Judah had decided he wanted more food in his

mouth. He was so frustrated that he couldn’t put more in he

was reduced to tears. All I could do was laugh.

How often do we do the same thing though when it comes to

maturing in our walk with Christ. Convicted by a passage

like the one above, we strive to fill ourselves with something

other than milk. We often get frustrated because even

though we are trying our best to be mature, we just don’t

seem to be progressing as fast as we would like. I will give

the same advice I give my son. Chew what’s in your mouth

before you take the next bite. Also, even though you really

like that biscuit, putting the whole thing in your mouth at one

time doesn’t really make for an enjoyable eating

experience. As we mature in Christ we need to have fair

expectations for ourselves. Yes, we need to continue to

pursue growth, but challenging ourselves beyond reason

often leads to frustration and failure. We will never attain

Christian perfection on this side of Christ’s return, rather, we

should strive to be transformed more into Christ’s image

little by little each day.

Landon Orr

Yes, we live in a peculiar age in our country. As Adrian

Rogers used to say, “The sin that used to slink down the

back alley now struts down the main street.” What used to

be called the carnival “Side Show” or “Freak

Show” (admittedly, highly politically incorrect statement) has

now moved to the center stage, and we all are to embrace

it—like it or not. Those who do dare speak against it are now

labeled the fringe, oddball, freakish, kooks, even haters. We

are the ones who are being relegated to the “back alleys” of

accepted society. Now that they are fully out of the closet,

the closet (our little church buildings) is our assigned and

confined space. (That’s freedom of worship vs. freedom of

religion. And that’s the extent of toleration in their intolerable

thinking.) “Do your little church thing—just not too loud,

and definitely not outside in the public square.”

Another observation: when these advocates of genuinely

twisted behaviors (read “sinful”) use their inculcated code

language like “my reality” or “my truth” they are easily

tipping their hand—a handed down worldview that rejects all

notions of absolute, objective truth, because it has rejected

the one true God of all truth. (Reread Romans 1.) Such a

secular, anti-God worldview is the starting point. And if

you’re wrong here, everything that follows will be skewed.

So what’s a true Christian to do? After Jesus called us the

salt and light of the world—yes even a world that crucified

Him—He quickly issued a caution: “If the salt has lost its

savor [effectiveness], it is good for nothing but to be cast on

the ground and trodden under foot of men.” The inverse

implication of that caution is that if we, the salt, are being

trampled under the feet of those who advocate for “their

truth and their reality,” then maybe it’s at least somewhat

because we haven’t been faithfully advocating for the One

Who is “The Way, The Truth, and The Life”—not just with

our words, but by our own lifestyle choices. Know the Truth

and live the Truth!

Yes, even the purest of the pure, and the noblest of the noble

will still face resistance in a sinful, fallen world. Look no

farther than the Cross. But as we celebrate another national

birthday this July, let’s at least make sure that our “rendering

to Caesar” doesn’t negate the other side of that coin—

“rendering unto God what is God’s.” And what is God’s? Is it

not our undying, unwavering devotion to Him no matter the

outcome? It is, with both conviction and compassion, saying

“yes” to Gospel Truth—“yes” with our lips and our lives. “If

not us, who? If not now, when?”

Gary Burden

From the

Associate

Pastor

Can you believe the Awana year is just around the corner?!?! I’m pleased to share that lead

teachers for each group have already volunteered, but we still need your help. More volunteers

are needed from nursery to teens, and even in games. Please pray about where God can best

use you to reach more families for Christ in the coming year.

Training is scheduled for August 1st (9am-3pm) and Awana will resume on September 2nd.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1

Camp Student and

Parent Meeting

7:00 PM

Prayer/Bible Study

7:00 PM

2 3 4

5

Weekly Sunday

Service

6

7

Deacons’ Meeting

7:00 PM

8

Singing at Barbour

Court

7:00 PM

9

10

11

12

Weekly Sunday

Service

13

Youth leave for

camp 4:30 AM

14

15

Prayer/Bible Study

7:00 PM

16

17

Youth return from

camp 10:00 PM

18

19

Lord’s Supper

Weekly Sunday

Service

20

Church Council

Meeting

7:00 PM

21

Board of Directors

Meeting

6:30 PM

22

Prayer/Bible Study

7:00 PM

23

24

25

26

Vote on

Deacons/Board

Nominations

Weekly

Sunday Service

27

28 29

Prayer/Bible Study

7:00 PM

County-Wide Youth

Water Wars

6:00 PM

30 31

The Lamplighter Page 3

7:00 pm ............................................................ Prayer and Bible Study

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

10:30 am .......................................................... Morning Worship Celebration

6:00 pm .......................... Summer Video Series: Christian History Made Easy

Praise In Motion (children 3 years– rising 3rd grade)

Sunday Schedule Wednesday Night Schedule

Youth Camp at M-Fuge—Louisville, KY

2015

Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to Him with timbrel and harp. Psalm 149:3

Calling all kids ages 3 years through rising 3rd grade students. Join us on Sunday evenings this summer for Praise in

Motion, an exploration of movement as worship. No prior experience, special apparel or shoes necessary. Come and join

the fun, please wear comfortable clothes that allow you to move easily.

Sandy Gordon 3rd

Glenda Daley 5th

Charles Wilson 6th

Hunter Beasley 8th

Kristian Henry 8th

Julia Stephens 9th

Missy Urban 9th

J.B. Earp 12th

Nick Tart 12th

Brigitte Creech 13th

Jerry Dalton 15th

Brenda Jones 19th

Kristen Duncan 20th

Sherald Lee 20th

Jonathan Harper 21st

Sharon Johnson 21st

Brandi Sauer 21st

Joshua Murphy 23rd

Suzanne Yates 25th

John & Elvis Farr 1st

David & Robin Keefe 12th

Lyde & Dorothy Ellis 19th

Nick & Missy Urban 27th

Ray & Misty Carroll 31st

The Lamplighter Page 4

JULY EXTENDED SESSION

AND KID’S CHURCH

Sunday, Jul. 5 - AM

Babies: Kathleen McLamb,

Shanon Burford & Cathy

Johnson

2’s: Heather Henry &

Erin or Shay Nuckols

3’s/4’s: Julie Brueggen &

Diane Duncan

K-3rd Kid’s Church

Frances Burden &

Rebecca Johnson

Sunday, Jul. 5 - PM

Praise In Motion

Wednesday, Jul. 8 - PM

No Childcare

Sunday, Jul. 12— AM

Babies: Brandi Sauer,

Brandon & Hannah Beasley

2’s: Missy Urban & Cheryl

Chicki

3’s/4’s: Ashley & Lee

Trowbridge

K-3rd Kid’s Church

Ginger Starling &

Angel Duncan

Sunday, Jul. 12 - PM

Praise In Motion

Wednesday, Jul. 15 - PM

No Childcare

Sunday, Jul. 19 - AM

Babies: Sondra Gatewood,

Brigette & Larkin Creech

2’s: Brittany &

Andrew Arant

3’s/4’ s: Wendy & Chris

Gatewood

K-3rd Kid’s Church

David Duncan & Tyler Henry

Sunday, Jul. 19 - PM

Praise In Motion

Wednesday, Jul. 22 - PM

No Childcare

Sunday, Jul. 26 - AM

Babies: Faye Wells,

Wendy Beasley & Sara Orr

2’s: Ryan & Miranda

Godsell

3’s/4’s: Kirk & Christy

Richardson

K-3rd Kid’s Church

Terry Gatewood &

Josh Murphy

Sunday, Jul. 26 - PM

Praise In Motion

Wednesday, Jul. 29 - PM

No Childcare

Preschool Registration Desk

Diane Duncan

Date S.S. AM

Worship

Budget

Offering

Continuing God’s

Vision

May 31 101 150 5,829.39 665.00

June 7 91 115 2,929.59 940.00

June 14 95 119 3,769.00 884.25

June 21 71 135 3,254.83 810.00

Total 358 519 15,782.81 3,299.25

Avg. 90 130 3,945.70 824.81

Average Attendance & Offerings for June 2014

Avg. 90 158 6,383.12 2,036.86

Facts & Figures for June 2015