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Berea Baptist Church Blog

January 03

Remembering Berea in 2009

Remembering Berea in 2009

To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven

Ecclesiastes 3:1

For me, the start of a new year is not a time to make random resolutions that I have no intention of keeping; it is a time to reflect on the year that has past…a time to take an inventory of where I was, and where I ended up….a time to reflect what God has done for me…and what I allowed God to do through me. It is a time to take a spiritual checklist to see what God has been doing, and what He wants me to accomplish this year.

As I look back on the year 2009, I think about the many good times and bad; the loss and gain; the failures and the successes that we shared at Berea this year. Here are just a few things that stand out in my mind about the year we just ended:

We collected over 30 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child in our efforts to help meet the needs of children around the world and share the Gospel with them. We also funded the shipping for all but 7 of those boxes.

We collected over 180 cans of green beans to support the Care Channel of Jacksonville in their effort to feed the hungry of Jacksonville, Arkansas.

We dug deep into our pockets and gave money to the Dixie Jackson, Annie Armstrong, and Lottie Moon offerings to support missions in Arkansas, North America, and around the world. We also gave me to the Arkansas Baptist Children’s Homes to minister to children and families in Arkansas.

We started singing at the nursing home to be with our dear sister (my grandmother) Ethel Duncan, and we continued to worship with our dear friends there even after Ethel left us to be with the Lord.

How amazing it was to see God work in my life and the life of my family and church family. I hope you experienced God’s blessings in 2009, and will seek to serve him wholehearted in 2010.

If you have any favorite memories about Berea in 2009, or about how God bless you last year, and would like to share those – please email those to me at bereabaptistchurch@sbcglobal.net.

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ

Jeff Rudd

5:52 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

November 22

Counting Our Blessings

Today we held our Thanksgiving dinner at Berea. We had chicken dressing, ham, creamed potatoes, potato salad, candied yams, sweet potato casserole, corn, green beans, baked beans, 2 fruit salads, veggie salad, and so much more. We had a wonderful time fellowshipping with everyone!

We have stopped collecting green beans for the Care Channel of Jacksonville. We have over 180 cans! This is wonderful because we were asked to donate 150 cans. Thank you all for your support, several families in the Jacksonville area will benefit from your donations!

This last Thursday I delivered our shoe boxes to Immanuel Baptist Church for Operation Christmas Child. It was amazing seeing the volunteers there filling up large cardboard boxes with our shoe boxes and packing them all into a huge cargo trailer on a semi truck. I'm truly thankful that God placed the desire in all of your hearts to provide a box or more for these children around the world. I just know that God is using all of our boxes to bring a lost child back to Him.

We are still collecting toys for the care center at Berea to hand out for Christmas. Shirley said she will be taking toys until Dec 22, 2009, which is the last day the care center will be open before Christmas. We voted this morning and the food item for December is going to be instant potatoes! So please bring all the instant masked, scalloped or au gratin potatoes that you can and be part of feeding a needy community.

Offerings for Lottie Moon International Missions will be starting Sunday, November 29, 2009. This also starts off the week of prayer where we will be praying for mission efforts internationally! This offering will run through the month of December.

I know that we have had so much going on offering/charity wise these last couple months. But every dollar, every penny you have donated to provided to these organizations has been helpful. I told many of you this morning that this Christmas/Holiday season has been more about everyone else for me than ever. I want to be part of something bigger... I want Berea to be part of something bigger. Berea, you have provided shoe boxes full of necessary items and gifts for 30 children this year, you have donated money to the ABC Homes to help out this Thanksgiving, you have provided more than 180 cans of green beans to feed the hungry this Christmas and you have provided staple food items to the caring center each month.

5:18 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

November 15

More Updates!

We are done collecting shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. We are proud to announce that we collected 30 shoe boxes this year! Thank you all for your participation. We hope that next Christmas we can provide even more shoe boxes, I know that I plan to do several myself next year!

We are still collecting canned green beans for the Care Chanel of Jacksonville. At last count we had 152 cans! This is amazing, Care Chanel asked that we try to meet a minimum donation of 150 cans this year and some of you said you still had cans to buy! This is something to be proud of, guys, keep those cans coming. Each can will help a less fortunate family have a good Christmas dinner.

We are still collecting offerings for ABC Children's homes who are celebrating 20 years at the Boys Ranch! Times are hard for everyone so lets try to support this wonderful ministry with what we can. Every dollor helps!

We are still collecting toys and boxes of cereal for the Caring Center at Berea. If you can't provide a toy then please throw your spare change in the jug at the front of the curch during service on Sunday!

That is it for our ministry opportunites right now. So a couple more quick reminders:

Saturday, Nov 21, 2009, is our work day. We don't have a set start time, but the earlier you get there the sooner we get Shirley's list done... or mostly done! I think Jeff and I will be there around 8:00 or 9:00.

Sunday, Nov 22, 2009, is our Thanksgiving dinner. We started a list of food for people to sign up and bring. So far we were missing Mashed Potatos, Drinks, Tossed Salad, and some Desserts. If you care to join us, please try to contribute something, although it is not required.

Well, I think that is all. Please remember to keep all those missing today in your prayers that they return next week for some wonderful fellowship time. God bless you all, have a good week!

4:52 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

November 08

Update on our ministry opportunities

We are very proud of Berea Baptist Church for taking part in several ministry opportunities this year. We would like to update you on where we are right now, remind you of the deadlines and encourage you to open your hearts and spread the love of Christ this holiday season and all year.

Operation Christmas Child (Samaritans Purse): we have 24 boxes at the church right now ready to be delivered to the drop off locations. We still have another week to go before our deadline of November 15, 2009 to have our boxes to the church. This is wonderful! This means that we will be bringing the Word to at least 24 children who desperately need it! Thank you!

Jacksonville Care Chanel: The Care Chanel asked that we donate 150 cans of green beans this year! We are happy to say that so far we have approx. 100 cans and we still have one more month to collect cans! This is a wonderful opportunity to provide part of a Christmas meal to families in need. Thank you!

ABC Children's Home: We are taking offerings for the ABC Homes this month. This offering will go to help support these homes who take in children in need! Please, show your support and donate what you can, every penny helps!

Christmas toy drive for Berea's Caring Center: We are collecting new toys for children of all ages for families who are going to have a hard time providing gifts to their children. This is our third year doing this and it is a wonderful local mission of our own as well! If you can't donate a toy please throw some extra cash into the collection jug at the front of the church on Sunday mornings.

8:03 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

Big thanks to Jacksonville Second Baptist Church

Our parking lot was full of cars. A church bus was parked that said Second Baptist Church, Jacksonville. What was going on? They were on a mission trip... A trip for local missions.

Local missions are just as or even more important than missions in Africa or China. These missionaries were sorting clothes and hanging them on racks they had brought. It was time to move the winter clothes into the clothing closet for those who are less fortunate. We didn't know we had so many coats to give away. Thanks to the missionaries from Second Baptist we knew what we had to give out this year. People who come to our food pantry and clothes closet get many of the basic necessities they need for their families but the best thing they will receive is someone who will listen to their problems and helping hands of people who care.

The missionaries didn't quit with the clothes closet, they also fixed the playground equipment for the children waiting for their mom or dad to finish getting their clothes and food. They also fixed the railing in the stairwell for safety.

Thank you, Second Baptist Church, for all you have done!

Local missions is what's going on.

6:16 PM GMT | Read comments(0)