Russell Dean performs "Two Thousand Years" live at the 9th Annual Zion Christmas Concert. This years performance was held at
Seneca Baptist Church.
2009 Stand Up for Life March and Rally
You are invited to South Carolina's 2009 Stand Up for Life March and Rally on January 17, 2009.
South Carolina citizens will celebrate 35 years of standing up for innocent human life.
Below is
a copy of the flyer.
Please distribute the attached flyer to your contact list, your church, and media outlets
in your area, especially Christian radio stations and talk radio.
Saving babies’ lives in South Carolina’s
most notorious former abortion facility.
Street address: 1411 Barnwell St. Suite 3, Columbia SC 29201
By Brad Dover/Minister of students, Liberty First Baptist
We
don't hear too much "good news" these days, and I wanted to let our Upstate hear and see some of the good news
in our small town of Liberty. One of our high school football players had to have a 12-hour surgery at Duke University to remove tumors on his nerve
endings.
Eastside Baptist Church held a fund-raiser to help his family with their expenses for their
trip to Duke for Ethan's surgery. In one hotdog supper, they raised over $15,000, and every church, school and organization
pulled together to help one of our own families in a real time of need. Just last month, one of the high school football standouts, Matt Whitworth,
watched my son's 10-under team play in a playoff game, and he encouraged my son and complimented him on his game-saving
interception to secure their victory. For my son to hear this young man, who is the player of the year for the Red Devils, acknowledge his efforts on the field
and give him some knuckles on the sidelines, brought a huge Christmas smile to my son's face and to mine. Just to see these young men taking time
to watch a recreation game should encourage our whole town and, I know, it will not soon be forgotten in this 9-year-old's
mind. The other morning,
Liberty Elementary held its annual Christmas program at our church, Liberty First Baptist. Being the minister of students,
I had the opportunity to experience this blessed event. Each child was asked to bring a non-perishable, canned food item
to donate to United Christian Ministries and most brought more than one. In our very uncertain economy, I saw young children giving of themselves
to help others. My heart was filled with joy again to see our community, schools and churches making a difference in a child's
life. Then they all went inside and had their Christmas program, and all the school staff and even Santa warmed each and everyone's
heart. Wednesday night
at our church, Corey Sheriff — a high school baseball standout who takes time to encourage younger athletes —
had on his baseball shirt that said "One Liberty." I really like that slogan for the team but more so for our community.
I truly am proud to be a member of this great little community of Liberty. From the oldest to the youngest or the richest to the most needy, I
have seen our community pull together and make a difference in our town during tough economic times. Christmas is a day we celebrate, because
2000 years ago God sent the best Gift ever and placed Him in a manger to be our Redeemer. Christmas is Christ Jesus being
given to a lost world to be our True Light. I am thankful that Light shines bright in Liberty and that my family has seen and accepted this Gift God
gave us all so long ago. I pray that each of you will have a blessed and Merry Christmas and may our slogan for the new
year simply be to be, "One Liberty." Thanks, Liberty, for living out the true meaning of Christmas in our little world.
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the
life in your years.” ~ Abraham Lincoln A butterfly is an insect that develops through a process called metamorphosis. This process has four separate stages:
egg, caterpillar, pupa and imago. The final stage evolves into a beautiful yet pesky creature. The adult or imago
has been known to aide in pollination of some of the most valuable and prosperous crops, however, it has also been known to
damage some crops and trees to total ruin and complete devastation.
With that nugget of information about butterflies said, I would like to say this about
life. Although we do not go through a formal metamorphosis, we do experience change on a minute by minute basis.
Most of the time, change can be scary and also very painful but it also can bring great joy and beautiful transformation to
us.
A few weeks ago, my
brother Mike’s precious wife Kelly went to live with the Lord at a very young age. This has been one of those
difficult and unwelcomed changes that life seems to bring at times. I loved her as though she was my very own blood
sister as did everyone who knew her. She had the gift of encouragement and she had a way of making everyone feel special
and unique. Children and adults alike were touched deeply by her encouragement and willingness to use her God given
gift of love. She was a caring and loving wife, mother, teacher, friend, sister, and daughter and she served the Lord
with every fiber of her being.
When
I watched this butterfly land on this flower, it painted the perfect picture of my sister in laws legacy. I was reminded
of Abraham Lincoln’s famous words, “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the
life in your years.”
Even
though Kelly was only blessed with 42 short years, she had life in her years. She had character that luminated all around
her and she stepped into her call with a “go getters” attitude. She will be forever remembered for her cards
with stickers and sweet words laced with gifts and love. She will never know the magnitude of the lives that she touched
while simply doing as she was impressed to do by the Father of us all.
I encourage you today to stop and evaluate your
life as I am doing today. Do we bring life to our years? Like the adult butterfly, does our life prosper others
of does it leave behind years of regret, hurt, unforgiveness, unbelief or lies?
What we do in our
life and the choices that we make, will reach farther than we will ever know. It’s not too late to change our
ways until the day that we take our final breath. Let’s make a difference. Let's seek God’s
calling and then live it with gusto. God loves each of us with a deep and unconditional love.
As Kelly always ended her cards and letters, I also end this one the same way. God loves you and so do I.
A friend sent me an email titled "Wet Pants." Normally I scan my email for anything that looks like
a personal note and save the cute forwards for Saturday. I am so glad that I opened this one, because it totally blessed
my heart. I think that this story expresses so much truth in its words. I pray that it speaks to your heart
today and that you will try to become a "Susie" to someone in need.
Come with me to a third grade classroom..... There is a nine-year-old kid sitting
at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart
is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It's never happened before, and he knows
that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again
as long as he lives.
The boy believes his heart is going
to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, 'Dear
God,
this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat.'
He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.
As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying
a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in
the boy's lap.
The boy pretends to be angry, but all
the while is saying to himself, 'Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!'
Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy.
The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his
pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful.
But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else - Susie.
She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. You've done enough,
you klutz!'
Finally, at the end of the day,
as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, 'You did that on purpose, didn't you?'
Susie whispers back, 'I wet my pants once too.'
May
God help us see the opportunities that are always around us to do good..
Remember.....Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you
a car.
Each and everyone one of us is going through tough
times right now, but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that only He can. Keep the faith.
"But as for me I know that my Redeemer liveth, And at last he will stand up upon the earth:" Job
19:25
Someone sent me this GodTube video to watch and it was such a statement of how our Savior carries
us when we are to weak to walk. I love it! I hope you see His love for you as you view it.
While visiting the
Focus on the Family website, I found a series of articles about chronic pain and illness. So many people suffer or have a close friend
or relative that suffers severely each day. I have a friend who fights this battle daily so I am so glad that I found
this series. I encourage you to read them and share them with your friends and family.
Laminin - The glue that holds the human body together
This past Sunday, someone asked me the question,
"What holds people together?" I thought about this question in great depth. According to Wikipedia,
"Laminin is vital to making sure overall body structures hold together."
The following video will explain Laminin clearly.
Thank you God for wowing me with this information! The video is approximately three and a half minutes long but it is
so worth watching. Be sure to email me and let me know what you think.
I went with New Hope Baptist Church, my home church, to the Georgia Baptist Conference Center to a ladies retreat this past weekend. Beth Greer from Life and Godliness Ministries was the guest speaker. I was not planning on attending this retreat, but I am so glad that I was able to go now.
This is the reason...
When I was about 13 or 14 years old, I went to camp with the girls in my church. I will
not admit what sort of trouble that I got into at camp, but as it turns out, Beth was the counselor that taught
me a huge life lesson that week. I did not realize our guest speaker would turn out to be the same Beth that taught
me this lesson when I agreed to go, or I would have probably been too embarrassed to attend. I am so glad
that I reconnected with her after all of these years because the Lord moved in my heart in such a powerful way this weekend.
It was such a sweet reminder of where God has brought me from and carried me to in the past 40 years.
If the ladies of your church is in need of a blessing, I encourage you to call Beth and invite her
to speak. She has such a special anointing on her life. Be sure to let Beth know that you heard about
her here.
I would like to recommend a Country Gospel Singer to you and your church. Be sure to forward his website
link to your pastor and choir directors. He has an awesome testimony too.
If you have any great Ministry
websites that you would like to recommend, please email me and let me know.
My Sweet friend and sister in Christ is coming to SC! I want to invite
you to go hear her if you are a lady in need of a blessing! She is a dynamic speaker and her faith has encouraged me
over the past few years. I will be there, will you?
“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes….”
Romans 1:16 NIV
What does it mean to be “Unashamed of
the Gospel”? It means that you are not afraid to openly declare that you are a follower of Jesus Christ. That you would
rather experience rejection than not share with someone who is lost in sin how they can become a child of God. It means that
you care enough about God’s priority to seek and save the lost that you would shamelessly participate with Him in spreading
the gospel of His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus died the most shameful death anyone could, so that we can be “Unashamed of
the Gospel.”
DATES
& LOCATIONS:
Thursday, January 24, 2008 – Taylors First Baptist
Church
The following information came from the National Domestic Violence Hotline website: http://www.ndvh.org/
What is Domestic Violence?
Domestic violence can
be defined as a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate
partner.
Abuse is physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence
another person. This includes any behaviors that frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, injure
or wound someone.
Domestic violence can happen to anyone of any race, age, sexual orientation, religion or gender. It
can happen to couples who are married, living together or who are dating. Domestic violence affects people of all socioeconomic
backgrounds and education levels.
You may be in an emotionally abusive relationship if your partner:
Calls
you names, insults you or continually criticizes you.
Does not trust you and acts jealous or possessive.
Tries
to isolate you from family or friends.
Monitors where you go, who you call and who you spend time with.
Does
not want you to work.
Controls finances or refuses to share money.
Punishes you by withholding affection.
Expects you to ask permission.
Threatens to hurt you, the children, your family or your pets.
Humiliates
you in any way.
You may be in a physically abusive relationship if your partner has ever:
Trapped you in your home or kept you from
leaving.
Prevented you from calling police or seeking medical attention.
Hurt your children.
Used
physical force in sexual situations.
You may be in a sexually abusive relationship if your
partner:
Views women as objects and believes in rigid gender roles.
Accuses you of cheating or
is often jealous of your outside relationships.
Wants you to dress in a sexual way.
Insults you in sexual
ways or calls you sexual names.
Has ever forced or manipulated you into to having sex or performing sexual acts.
Held you down during sex.
Demanded sex when you were sick, tired or after beating you.
Hurt you
with weapons or objects during sex.
Involved other people in sexual activities with you.
Ignored your feelings
regarding sex.
If you answered 'yes' to these questions you may be in an abusive relationship;
please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or your local domestic violence center to talk with someone
about it.
Merry Christmas to all who read this. May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you on this His birthday!
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 KJV
If you are a frequent
visitor to this site or just passing through, you may be struggling with the past. I know that I have struggled more
than I care to even think about. Over the past year, I have faced this giant over and over again. When I am reminded
of who I am with Christ, Satan usually reminds me of who I am not in Christ.
Mistakes and failures do not
define what Christ did for us. We will always be human and perfection is nothing that we can achieve. If you want
to know the honest truth about it...we are nothing without Christ.
With that said, I have to remind you
of a small truth that is so huge. God loves us. He came to free us from all sin. His grace and mercy alone
defines our self worth. With Him, we are worthy to be called saints of God.
I love the video clip
I have posted here. The one thing that spoke to my heart while watching it was, I alone may fail, but God who lives
in me is everything that I need. When I can't be what I need to be He is. That my friend is love.
If you are reading this and you are feeling alone or afraid, watch this clip and remember that God loves you so much.
He shines from within to make all things worth going through. He promised us in His Son Jesus Christ we are made new.
A new creation. A child of a king.
A princess. A prince. A son or daughter of the Most
High God.
He loves you and no matter where you are, where you have been, or where you may walk....you can go back
to what he has created you to be. A beautiful creation and reflection of Christ Himself.
A butterfly is an insect that develops through a process called metamorphosis. This process has four separate stages:
egg, caterpillar, pupa and imago. The final stage evolves into a beautiful yet pesky creature. The adult or imago
has been known to aide in pollination of some of the most valuable and prosperous crops, however, it has also been known to
damage some crops and trees to total ruin and complete devastation. 
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