LBC Events

For this Sunday’s service, we hosted the men’s choir from the local Teen Challenge center. The program has been for men of all ages, not just teens, for many years. This choir had men from 21 to 49. (Photos are on the LBC Facebook page)

Dominic gave his testimony to start things off. He had been a member of Teen Challenge many years ago. He told of his very troubled youth, getting saved, and how the Teen Challenge program helped him develop a real relationship with Christ and put the old patterns away.  In between songs, a few members of the choir gave their own testimonies. They too, told of lives gone wrong as they relied on drugs or alcohol to fill their emptiness. One of them said, “but Christ is still resurrecting lives.” Through Christ, they have found the strength He promised them to become new creatures.

We were all blessed by their singing and powerful testimonies. God’s power to change people is amazing.

After the service, we held a spaghetti dinner for everyone. There was, naturally, a ton of great food. Even more special, was the continuing testimonies, one-on-one, at the tables as the choir members share still more of what Christ has done for them.

Announcements

Ladies Ministry — 6:30 pm @ the nursing home

Annual Business Meeting — 1pm, Feb 7, in lieu of afternoon service. All members encouraged to attend as we plan the year’s work, and budget.

Sweet Treats — 6:30 pm, Feb 12 @ LBC.

- On Saturday, postal workers delivered many many bags of food to LBC for our food pantry. The local post office holds an annual food drive for the hungry. They collected a truck-load of food. The post office distributes its collection to local food pantries. LBC’s food pantry got on their list. The result was enough bags of food to cover six of our dinning room tables. The church ladies were meeting at the church Monday evening for a night of prayer (Nursing home night was rescheduled), so they will begin sorting the bounty. Clearly, some more shelves will be required to handle this “Shower of Blessings.”

This morning, the men’s group (C.L.O.T.) met at the church. Over coffee and donuts, there was some great discussion. It started with the passage in John 10:10 — just what is this “abundant life” Jesus spoke of. This led into sharing of experiences in which God’s blessings could be seen in their individual lives.  Pastor Jon reminded everyone of the value in having someone to be accountable to, so encouraged all present to call their accountability partners in the weeks to come.  

For next month, read Galatians 6. What is the “Law of Christ” mentioned in Galatians 6:2?  Hope to see you there next month.

Weston Hezekiah Roe

Born Friday, April 10th. - 7lbs. 14 oz.  Both mother and son are doing well, and were reported (on Sunday) to be coming home soon.  Quite the cause for praise, eh?

This past Saturday and Sunday, LBC hosted Dr. and Mrs Peck from Baptist Church Planters. There were three sessions on Saturday, with separate ones for a men’s study and a women’s study, as well as a couple of whole-group sessions. On Sunday, Dr. Peck taught on his theme of “Becoming and Overcomer” in the Sunday School and Regular Service. Elijah, a man who knew great highs and sudden deep lows, was a frequent example. In the afternoon service, he spoke on biblical ways of overcoming discouragement.

We all enjoyed having the Pecks come and teach. For their part, the Pecks were glad to have met us in person. Through BCP, the Bennetts, the Moores and the Novy’s, they knew all about LBC. Now they have faces to go with the names.

Peep Powered

 This Sunday, Clyde, once again, had a big crop of kids for her kids’ message moment.  As an example of sharing something very dear and precious, she brought in a “Peep” for each of the kids.  Clyde loves Peeps more than any other food. It would be easy for her to hoard them at home for only her own enjoyment, but God wants us to share. After all, He shared with us something very dear to Him — His son.

Now, whether it was a good idea, or not, to get all those kids sugared up on Peeps before Children’s Church…  actually, they did just fine.

Announcements:

Teen Progressive Diner — April 3rd.

Easter Breakfast and Services — April 12. Breakfast at the church at 9:30, in lieu of Sunday School. Regular Service at 11:00, but will be somewhat extended. No afternoon service, so people can have Easter Diners with friends and family.

Teen Quest Weekend — April 17,18 at Camp Northfield

Church Spring Clean-up — Sometime in April. Ben is still deciding

Tuesday, Pam had her baby boy: Reuben. 7 lbs. 4 oz.  The doctors had been monitoring her daily because of the earlier miscarriage. They decided it was time and took Reuben by c-section. Both mother and son are doing pretty well. They’re keeping Reuben in the hospital for observation due to a rapid breathing rate.  Praise God for the successful birth.

Now it’s Kathy’s turn. She’s only a few weeks behind Pam.  Keep Pam & Reuben, and Kathy and her baby in your prayers.

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This morning, several of the men of the church met for the first of the regular monthly men’s meetings.Enoch walked with God (Genesis 5). Pastor Jon emphasized the need for spiritually strong men who will, like Enoch, walk with God to make the church itself strong. The men formed smaller groups of accountability partners. They’re to call each other at least once a week, to encourage a devotional life and pray for each other.  The group plans to meet at roughly the same time next month. A firmer time will be announced later.

The On-going Saga of the Couch

After the men’s breakfast meeting, most of them went over to Lois’s apartment to help her move. Delores and Clyde were already at the apartment, helping box up the loose items.  The men carried down all of the big furniture items, including the monster couch which was such a beast to get into the apartment in the first place.  With furniture expert Vernon Kilby on hand, and two strong young men (Pastor Jon and Sean), the couch had met its match.  They had it out of the old apartment and into the new one in short order. Photo below is the couch entering the new ground floor apartment.

We had a good turn out of church members and regulars Wednesday evening, for the singing of Christmas carols at the nursing home in Derry. (formerly Haven Health)  This year we had the blessing of Tanya on the nursing home’s electric piano.  The residents were really getting into the Christmas spirit. Almost every one of them were singing along. Many knew the lyrics by heart. Virginia (a resident the ladies visit regularly) was especially spirited, singing out and ringing her jingle bells in time to the songs.  Seeing the smiles on their faces was a blessing that’s hard to beat.  Thanks to all those who came and sang.

Once again, the LBC Men’s Breakfast was the scene of much good food (by “guy” standards) and good fellowship. True to tradition, cooking the bacon set off the smoke alarm.  Dan cooked up cheese omelets for the hungry men. Mickey provided his famous biscuits and sausage gravy.  There was a lot of the usual guy-talk — cars, GPS units, work and baseball.  It was great to see Vernon and his friend Luis come by before they went fishing.  David brought his dad. Austin (the hungry college student) was on hand to chat techno-goodies and chow down on a filling hot breakfast. It was a great time of fellowship.

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We had a bright sunny day this year. Our float was positioned second to last, so the many kids had a lot of waiting to do. The kids were cute and had a great time smiling and waving.  At the booth, the Air-Plinko game was popular — even with the older kids. Overall, we handed out about 300 prize packets which included a gospel of John, info on the church and a coloring book.  The town decided to shut down the event around 3 pm as a huge thunderstorm was approaching.  Nonetheless, it was a successful day of getting the gospel out to the community.

Here are some photos from the day: