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Family Lines
Newsletter, May 9, 2010
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**The Difficult
Line Separating Wisdom and Foolishness**
By David
Chadwell
Now the
Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things, and
they were scoffing at Him. Luke 16:14
(NASB)
Sandwiched between
“the parable of the unjust steward” and the story of the rich man and Lazarus is
an interesting verse. It is fascinating because a religiously conservative
influence in “then” Jewish society “scoffed” at Jesus and his teachings.
The Pharisees were the “main stream” voice for following scripture and returning
to the ancient ways!
What is
scoffing? Today, scoffing might be identified with these statements:
“Surely you are not serious! You are kidding! Everyone knows it
cannot work that way! That is ridiculous! God’s outlook does not
allow such ridiculous thinking! Get serious!” In the Bible, scoffing
is mocking or deriding.
Scoffing is too
common among Christians. It often occurs when we seek to make society’s
ways or values compatible with Jesus’ ways or values. If the call of
society and the call of Jesus Christ are identical—at least similar—we can
follow both Jesus and society if we avoid being a “bad” person. Hey, we could
increase the appeal of being Christian if we can love money and love Jesus at
the same time! If we could be Christian and live like everyone else, that
would be great—hard choices would be eliminated!
Becoming a
Christian is more than adopting a statement or agreeing with a
declaration. It basically adopts a contrasting set of values. It is
more than a list of “how tos”—how to worship, how to do church, etc.
Christianity involves the courage to live as an example among people who say,
“You are not serious! You have got to be kidding! Everyone knows
that is not the way it works! That is ridiculous! Get
serious!”
Being an example
involves how you treat your spouse, your children, business, people you like,
strangers, and even people you do not like. Most of all, it is about how
you use life. These are not about rules and regulations, but about Jesus’ values
in our lives.
Do you have the
courage to follow Jesus to new values? Those values will make you an
example! Those seeking hope will bless you for your courage to follow
Jesus!
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**Order of
Worship**
Worship Leader --
Brent Evans
#296 – We Have
Come Into His House (vs. 1, 2)
Welcome
#2 – We Praise
Thee, O God (vs. 1, 2)
#3 – Hallelujah,
Praise Jehovah (vs. 1, 2)
#4 – To God Be The
Glory (vs. 1, 2)
Prayer
There’s A Stirring
(on screen)
Table of the
Lord
Offering
What Heavenly
Music (on screen)
Coins for Christ
No Children’s
Worship Today
#647 – Soldiers of
Christ, Arise (vs. 1, 2, 3, 5)
Message -- Chris
Benjamin
Song for
Responses
#924 – Just As I
Am (vs. 1, 4)
Shepherd’s Prayer
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**In Our Thoughts
& Prayers**
• Bonnie Ray
(Karen Carter’s mother) is in HealthSouth, and scheduled to be dismissed
soon. She will continue rehab as an out-patient.
• Sara Newton is
in critical condition at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City, OK. She has a
staph infection in her blood and in a heart valve. In addition to prayers, cards
will encourage the family. Jim and Sara’s address is 312 Dripping Springs
Drive, Edmond, OK 73034.
• Marlin Edens
(Tammy Cypert’s father) is recovering from surgery to remove lymph nodes. He
will have radiation treatments to prevent the cancer from spreading to his
lungs.
• Pray for our
Christian brothers and sisters in Nigeria, for Nigerian Christian Hospital, and
for the country.
**Bereaved in
Prayer**
• Our love and
sympathy is extended to the family of Leon Medlock. Leon died Sunday while
in hospice care at Sparks Hospital. Funeral services were May 6th at
Edwards Funeral Chapel with burial at McCurtain, Oklahoma.
• Our sympathy is
also extended to Phil Chavis in the death of his aunt, Patricia Bloom Eddins, on
May 2.
**Continued
Prayers**
Aiden
Blasdel
Anita &
Wendell Fenton
Aura Lee
Land
Bennie
Hedrick
Casey
Dotson
Caidan
Dockery
Inez
Hatfield
Jane
Roller
John
Gardenhire
John Davis
Lela
Neal
Margaret
Stone
Mary
Wray
Phillip
White
Richard
Broyles
Shirley
Dotson
Wilma
Son
**New
Address**
Bill & Pat
Yick
8512 Royal Ridge
Drive
Fort Smith, AR
72903
Phone (479)
484-7426
**May 9th Is Baby
Bottle Sunday! **
On Mother’s Day,
we kick off our annual Baby Bottle Campaign with all donations going to the
Heart to Heart Pregnancy Support Center. Baby bottles will be distributed
after worship on Sunday morning. Be sure and get one (or more!) as you
leave the building. Fill your bottle with spare change, dollars, or
checks, and return it on or before Father’s Day, June 20. Contact persons
for this campaign are Lou Winchell, Mark Wilson, and Larry Todd. Last year over
2000 families were served by Heart to Heart. Your donations will help continue
the wide variety of services offered to women, babies, and families in our
community!
• Free Pregnancy
Testing
• Pro-Life
Counseling
• Baby
Items
• Adoption
Referrals
• Post-Abortion
Trauma
• Parenting
Classes
• Maternity
Items
• Chastity
Programs
• Medical &
Housing Referrals
• Speaking
Engagements
**Motherly Love
Dinner**
Younger women
(college age and up), including mothers with children at home, and singles:
please sign the list in the foyer if you plan on attending the Motherly Love
Dinner at Sheila Vaught’s home on Thursday, May 13 at 6:30 PM. If you have
questions, please call Coleen Shirley.
**Mulberry Church
of Christ Fish Fry**
Saturday, May 15
at 6:30 PM
A flyer with
details is posted on the bulletin board in the foyer.
**Senior Sunday
Baskets**
Baskets for each
graduating Senior are in the foyer next to the youth group bulletin board. If
you would like to give a card or gift use these baskets to do so. The baskets
will be there through Sunday, May 23.
**Congratulations!**
Marvin and Bobbie
Hughes are great-grandparents! Reid Green was born May 5th to Lisa & Andy
Green (granddaughter and her husband). Baby Reid weighed 7 lbs., 8 ozs.
and is 20 inches long.
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**Wedding
Invitation**
Mr. and Mrs.
William Armstrong Kamp
Request the honour
of your presence
At the marriage of
their daughters
Ellen Marie
to
Clay Alan
Smith
and
Emily Kathryn
to
Jeffrey Wade
Pressley II
Saturday, the
Fifteenth of May
Two Thousand
Ten
at Five O’clock in
the Evening
West-Ark Church of
Christ
**Sign Up for
Green Valley Bible Camp!**
Parents, you have
many choices for your children to do this summer! There are all kinds of
sports camps and activities to choose from!
Consider sending
your child to Green Valley Bible Camp this summer! It not only builds and
promotes your child’s physical character but also their social and spiritual as
well!
Day camp is for
ages 1st grade to age 10 (Transportation provided). Regular camp is for
ages 11 - high school graduates.
Please check out
the camp at the website: www.greenvalleybiblecamp.com for information and
to sign up. If you have any questions, please contact Niketa Stinchcomb.
**Joy
Bunch!**
We will not meet
this month due to other church events and conflicts.
**West-Ark’s
Online Calendar**
May 23, 4:00 PM
Elders, Deacons, and Ministry Leaders’ meet in room 203.
**2009-2010 Budget
vs. Actual as of 4/30/10**
• Budgeted
Contributions -- $540,000
• Actual YTD
Contributions -- $577,948
• Actual Expenses
-- $536,055
**King’s Kids
Calendar**
• 6th Grade
“Graduation” Party, Saturday, May 8, 6 PM at the Null‘s Home (7301
Ellsworth, Fort Smith)
• Mother’s
Day/Heart to Heart Baby Bottle Campaign Kick-off, Sunday, May 9
(Children’s Worship will not meet) NOTE: Bridge 56 kids meet in the room at the
back of the auditorium during the last song to distribute baby bottles.
• Last Kids For
Christ before Summer break, Sunday, May 16
•
Promotion/Graduation Sunday, May 23 (Age specific info is available at the
King’s Kids Board in the church foyer and at www.westarkkids.org/facebook)
Children’s Worship will not meet.
• Reid Knight Baby
Blessing - Sunday, June 6
• Family Day Trip
to Tulsa’s Incredible Pizza, Saturday, June 26 (check it out at
www.incrediblepizza.com/tulsa)
• Silly Olympics,
Sunday, July 25, for 3-year-olds through those going into 1st grade AND
FAMILIES. Don’t miss out on this fun, family event!
• Faith Fusion,
Saturday, August 7, for Kindergarten to 6th grade AND
FAMILIES.
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**Youth Group //
News**
Interns Begin! -
Sunday, May 9 / Welcome our interns: Noland Higginbottom, Abby Hill,
Hailey Siebold, Matt Curran
Sunday Night Live
@ Mt. Comfort - Sunday, May 9
Don’t miss out on
our last Sunday Night Live of the year! The theme for this month’s SNL is
“I am the true vine.” - John 15:1. The vans will leave at 4:45 p.m. and
return around 9 p.m. Come worship, fellowship and eat with all your youth
group friends and students from across Arkansas.
Bulgaria Meeting -
Wednesday, May 12 (Date Change!)
The Bulgaria
Mission Trip Meeting on May 16 has been rescheduled for May 12 at 6 p.m. in the
youth room. Make sure you bring all your homework, paperwork and any money you
have received.
Youth Group -
Wednesday, May 12 / We have been having a ton of students show up...
don’t miss out as we continue our new study on “Identity in Christ” and
fellowship together! Youth Room, 7-8 p.m.
PST+ Meeting -
Wednesday, May 12 / Open to all interested adults and
7-12th grade parents. Youth room, 8 p.m.
Inner City Lunch
at Hope Park - Saturday, May 15
Join us as we help
serve lunch at Hope Park to some of our area’s homeless population. This is the
first time we’ve done this “officially” so don’t miss out on this great service
opportunity for our own community. Vans will leave the building at 10:30 a.m.
and return around 1:00 p.m.
Youth Event -
Sunday, May 16 - Stay tuned for details as our Student Leadership Action
Ministry (SLAM) Team puts together another fantastic event just for
you.
7th Grade / Senior
Sunday - Sunday, May 23
Parents: You
should have received a letter in the mail explaining the details of our 7th
Grade / Senior Sunday. If you didn’t, please contact Jackie immediately. All
materials are due back on Monday, May 10! (Seniors: Gift baskets have been
set out, please pick up the contents by May 23.)
Give A Goat Now
Project - We were blessed to have Salvador Cariaga, Phillipine missionary and
director of the Give A Goat Now project, speak to us last Wednesday night. Our
SLAM Team has expressed an interest in raising enough money to purchase two
goats for poor people in the Phillipines. We’ll be selling bracelets, made
in the Phillipines, to help us in our effort. Please start spreading the word
about the availability of these bracelets to your friends and at your schools.
We’ll sell them for $5 each, with half the money going to purchase goats. We
should be getting our bracelet supply this next week.
Upcoming Events -
Mark your calendar!
Junior / Senior
Trip: June 2-6 / Watch for details!
Soul Quest: June
13-19 / Applications due June 1!
Bulgaria Mission
Trip: June 23 - July 7 / If you would like to contribute funds for this
trip, please see Rick or Jackie.
Colorado Mission
Trip: July 25-31
Faith Fusion:
August 7
Congratulations -
Allison Thompson and Breck Cogswell were inducted into the National Junior Honor
Society at Chaffin Junior High on May 3. Northside Jazz Band, featuring Eric
Berger, will be the opening act for the Jazz Festival on May 22nd. The
show starts at 1:00 p.m. downtown.
**Happy
Birthday**
May
9
Ronald
Bartlett
Eddie
Harrell
Haley
Hickey
May
10
Torrey
Bishop
Adina
Boatright
May
12
Ronald
Moreton
May
13
Sally
Smith
May
14
Mathew Griffin
III
**Morning
Nursery**
Trish
Carson
Dwonne
Cogswell
Vicki
Anderson
**Evening
Nursery**
Terri
Jones
**Attendance and
Contribution Count**
Bible
Classes...………....379
Sunday AM
Attendance..553
Sunday PM
Attendance..159
Wednesday
Classes…...N/A
Contribution………..$20,460
Children’s
Homes……..$326
Coins For
Christ.............$31
Lao
Worship
Attendance……………......30
Contribution……………$200
Iglesia de
Cristo
Attendance………………..65
Contribution……………$251
Office Phone (479)
452-1240
Fax (479)
452-5767
office@westarkchurchofchrist.org
www.westark.org
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"Making disciples
for Jesus who are eager to serve others."
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