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June/July 2015

Volume 37, Issue 5

“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day

and night shall not cease.”

Genesis 8:22

Lakelands Baptist Association Churches collected

287 Ministry Health Kits!

250 ministry health kits were distributed to the migrant camps in Edgefield on

May 26. The rest will be used in our local community. Thank you to Jim and Irene

Murphy, Shirley Abernathy, Sandra Wiley, Anne Evans, Sandra Gillion and Shirley

Cheek for volunteering to sort through the health kits.

August 10th – 14th from 6PM – 8PM

Special Meeting June 30th at 7pm at LBA (This special meeting is for all volunteers working with Hispanic VBS.)

Due to our new policies and procedures, this will be a most important meeting to go over safety concerns while working with children and expectations of

volunteers, also preparations for the upcoming VBS will be discussed. Please come and invite others who want to be a part of this local mission project.

LBA t-shirts will be given to those in attendance.

Please contact Sue McElroy at 344-4989 if you or your church would be able to help in any way. We need helpers to assist the leaders, food for snacks, help with transportation, money for school supplies, craft items, etc. Please pray about this

special outreach that affects so many lives right here in Greenwood.

HarvestFest 2015

October 3rd

5pm

145th Annual Meeting

October 19th Group 3 Churches will be

providing the meal this year.

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Senior Adult Rally

July 21st at 11am

Associational Mission Trip

Please be in prayer for those going to Rwanda, Africa June 7-14 and for those

who will be ministered to during this trip!

Please be in prayer for those attending the

Southern Baptist Convention

2015 Pastors' Conference

June 14-15

Southern Baptist Convention

2015 Annual Meeting

June 16-17

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

Beulah Baptist Church

June 15th -18th 6:30pm-8:30pm

Happy Father’s Day! June 21st

Call to Prayer

Walnut Grove Baptist Church

June 13th 1pm - 4pm

Walnut Grove Baptist Church is opening up their sanctuary on the 13th of June, from 1:00 to 4:00. As you may be aware, due to the many

challenges facing churches and Believers these days, at home and abroad, there are many

“Calls to Prayer.” Gov. Haley is calling for a state day of prayer on the 13th of June in North Charleston. Notification of that event has been sent out to our pastors and churches from Mark Hendricks, the Associate Director of the Office of Public Policy, SCBC. Other churches in our

area may be doing some similar events. As such, Walnut Grove Baptist Church is providing their

sanctuary as a place for any who desires to simply stop in and pray on the date listed

above. For more info, please call Pastor Charles

Robertson at 828-0388.

Men’s Ministry Rally

July 27th at 7pm

Abbeville First Baptist

Seeking Financial Secretary

Rice Memorial Baptist Church is seeking a part-time Financial Secretary to oversee the

financials for Rice Memorial. The position requires 20 hours/week and a minimum of 4 days/week. Experience in church accounting practices and

QuickBooks is desired.

Resumes will be received through 6/1/15 at Rice Memorial Baptist Church, 1974 Highway 72 W,

Greenwood, SC 29649. Phone: 229-5467.

ESL Lesson on Southern Cooking June 24th 10am - 12pm

New vocabulary, recipes, demonstrations & lunch from the Southern dishes. Internationals in Greenwood are

invited. Please contact Judy Davies for more information at 227-8158.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

Journey Off The Map

Walnut Grove Baptist Church

July 12-16 6pm-8:30pm

Used VBS Material

The association is requesting that any churches utilizing the “Journey Off the Map” curriculum,

to please bring all left over VBS material and props to the association office for use in the

Hispanic VBS.

JU NE /JULY 20 15 Page 3

Who’s in Charge?

In life these days, it seems that the often unanswered question is,

“Who’s in charge?” I know that is true around the office, or so it

seems. You see, I’m supposed to be in charge….and make no

bones about it, I am in charge! Sherrie and Brandy know that I’m

in charge…mostly because they let me be in charge. I mean, they

really are two very wonderful and Godly ladies, and they respect

authority, so they let me be in charge. They say “yes sir and no

sir”….at least when others are in the office. They ask me politely

how I want things done, what my preferences are, and always

remind me that if they are not doing something just exactly like I

want them to do it, to please let them know and they will change

it to my way pronto…because hey, after all, I’m in charge…

right?!

Okay…okay! So…what can I say…maybe something like…

“Yeah right…that’s a good one!” Geez I crack myself up!

Realistically, let’s see, how can I say it politely…uhmmm…well,

there is no polite way to say it, so let me just say it the way it

is….yeah, Sherrie and Brandy pretty much run the show around

here. Especially Sherrie, oh my word….that girl is on top of it…

24/7. I mean, look up organized in the dictionary and you’ll find a

picture of her stacking the water bottles in the refrigerator in such

fashion that a Marine drill sergeant would be proud. And let

someone take a water bottle out and before you can say

“Shazaam!” boom, she is in there putting another one in its place.

So yes, I am in charge around here, but only because Sherrie and

Brandy let me be in charge. And if that weren’t enough to keep

me humble and in my place, occasionally, Sheila Riddle drops in

just to make sure I know who’s in charge! In fact, when she rides

by and toots her horn at me when I’m outside, she does that two

finger thing to her eyes and then points them at me, like, “Yeah,

I’m watching you!”

Kinda reminds me of home. Yep, I’m in charge there too, pretty

much just like work. I wear the pants in my house…but which

pair of britches I get to wear on any given day is pretty much

decided by one of four women, plus a daughter-in-law, and soon

Lettie Ann will be giving me orders. But hey, they do let me

decide the important things like how high to cut the grass or how

deep to till the garden or whether to take the trash out…like now

or five minutes from now…yeah, you get my drift. Most men are

shaking their heads right now going… “Yep, I feel your pain

brother.” But hey, it is what it is…I’m just kinda glad the girls let

me live there in the house with them cause I actually enjoy doing

so, but sometimes I think that that too, might be up for discussion

one day . I just hope they never take an actual vote on the

matter…if’n you know what I mean?

Speaking of women being in charge, take last night for instance,

Tripp and Hannah were at the house. We grilled chicken and

made homemade ice cream and were having a gay ole time. After

visiting a while, Tripp and I were on the back porch talking

manly stuff…like you know, how high we cut the grass and how

deep we till the garden, and other things that our wives let us

make decisions about, when I caught Hannah looking out the

kitchen window at me, with eyes and facial expression that

basically said, “David, I’ve got to get Abe and Nat to bed because

it is a school night and it’s your job to get Tripp to quit talking

and get him up and out the back door and into the truck…and I

mean…like now!” And she said all that without speaking a

word…with only a three second gesture with her eyes and a slight

bob of the head…I mean only women can do that! So, what did I

do? I jumped up and Tripp followed suit and within a couple

minutes they were pulling out the driveway…sorry Tripp! But

after all, it’s my house and I’m in charge and I chose to let

Hannah tell me exactly what to do…after all, I’m the man and I

make the decisions! Poor Tripp won’t even know that’s what

happened until he reads this. I love ya brother, but when a woman

speaks with her eyes and a bob of her head, I’ve learned the best

policy is to just say, “Yess’em!”

Anyways, me and Tripper were conversing on the garden stuff

and were bemoaning the lack of rain. I mean, my poor garden

looks fairly pitiful. But, taking it all like a man, regarding the lack

of rain, I said, “Yep, once again, when the topic is, ‘Who’s in

charge,’ it ain’t me or Tripper. God’s just letting us know that

He’s in charge.” But this time, I’m really okay with not being in

charge. Really, whether it rains or not, I’m good with letting God

be God. I kinda got schooled on that one yesterday morning in

church, when my pastor, John Keith, was making a great point

about the difference between “commitment” and “surrender.”

He shared that up until a few decades ago, few church going folks

spoke of “commitment.” Rather, he said that folks spoke more

about “surrender.” As he pointed out, “commitment” speaks more

of me being in charge and I get to decide when, how and at what

level I will choose to commit my life. On the other hand,

“surrender” is an all or nothing proposition. When one surrenders,

it means that someone else is totally in charge of your life from

that moment on. I thought about some of the old gospel songs,

like “I Surrender All.”

Maybe that’s part of the problem facing the Church these days,

folks are looking around for someone to be in charge and fix it

all. But hasn’t that been decided, like a very long time ago.

Wasn’t it Jesus who said, “And I will build my church…” Sounds

to me like He, Jesus, is in charge, with words like “I” and “my.”

And didn’t His father say several thousand years before that, “If

my people will humble themselves and pray and turn from their

wicked ways, then I will heal their land.” It’s not like we are left

wondering who’s in charge…His Word has already declared that

He is in charge! The only question that remains is will I “commit”

by giving Him partial control or will I “surrender” and give Him

total control.

I may joke about who’s in charge at the office or at home or in

life, but in reality, if God’s not in control of all of it, especially

His Church, then we need to not hope, but rather despair, because

if that’s the case, we are in deep trouble. And if our leaders,

whether they are our South Carolina Baptist Convention leaders

or Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics or whomever, keep acting

like they are in charge, “Whoa Nelly, Katie bar the door,” we are

all in for a long day of humbling at the hands of our Father. For

He has declared that He is a jealous God and He will share His

throne with no one. The way I see it, we can commit to doing

better or we can surrender to the only One who can actually do

something about our situation. In the words of the great Jewish

leader Joshua, I think I will take his advice, “Choose you this day

whom you will serve, as for me and my family, we will serve the

Lord.” Now that, my friend, is an admission of knowing who’s in

charge!

Lakelands Baptist Leader June/July 2015

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Lakelands Baptist Association Periodical Paid At

David W. Little, Associational Missionary

Greenwood, SC 29649-9998

dlittle@lakelandsbaptist.org USPS 391-110

bjones@lakelandsbaptist.org (Financial Secretary)

admin@lakelandsbaptist.org (Administrative Assistant)

Website: www.lakelandsbaptist.org

Telephone: (864) 227-6261

310 Panola Avenue

Greenwood, South Carolina 29646-4562

Jesus Christ was with God the Father before the world was created. He

became human and lived among humanity as Jesus of Nazareth. He came to

show us what God the Father is like. He lived a sinless life, showing us how

to live, and He died on a cross to pay for our sins. God raised Him from the

dead. Jesus is the source of eternal life. Jesus wants to be the doorway of new

life for you. In the Bible, He was called “Lamb of God” (John 1:29). In the

Old Testament, sacrifices were made for the sins of the people. Jesus became

the sacrificial Lamb offered for our sin.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the

Father except through Me” (John 14:6). He is waiting for you now.

Admit to God that you are a sinner. Repent, turning away from your sin.

By faith, receive Jesus Christ as God’s Son and accept Jesus’ gift of

forgiveness by dying on the cross.

Confess your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

You may pray a silent prayer similar to this as you call on God to save you.

“Dear God, I now that You love me. I confess my sin and need of salvation. I

turn away from my sin and place my faith in Jesus as my Savior and Lord. In

Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” After you have received Jesus Christ into your

life, tell a pastor or another Christian about your decision. Show others your

faith in Christ by asking for a baptism by immersion in your local church as a

public expression of your faith.

The Holy Bible, Book of Romans 10:9-13

News and Events

Thank you to all of our team and committee

members who attended our first annual

training and appreciation dinner.

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Temple Baptist has called

Rev. Earl Hartley as their Interim Pastor.

All God’s Children Preschool

& Kindergarten of North Side Baptist

Church is currently enrolling for the

upcoming 2015-2016 school year.

AGC is scheduled to begin fall classes

on August 17th.

If you would like more information or are interested in

enrolling your preschooler, or know someone who may

be interested, you can download a registration form

at www.northsidebc.org

or call the AGC preschool office at 223-1460.