Monday

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

This is the first and greatest commandment.”

~Matthew 22:37-38 NIV~

Frank Smith

. . . . He will be having neck surgery March 16th at Brookwood Hospital here in Birmingham, Al. He will have 2 disc removed and a steel plate inserted. Hopefully everything will go okay for him. . . .

Sue

Miranda Erwin injured her rotator cup skiing Saturday. Pray for her as she has this evaluated today.

Mr. Frank Erwin in hospitialized at North Oaks. Pray for him as he undergoes testing to determine the exact problem.

Robbie Lynn C. Kirby is home, but experiencing lots ot pain. Pray the pain level lessens today and the extensive back surgery will have a positive result.

Shirley Bates Rushing
(September 29, 1947 – March 14, 2009)

Died on Saturday, March 14, 2009 at Glenwood Regional Medical Center in West Monroe, LA. She was a native of Kentwood, LA and a resident of Greensburg, LA. Age 61 years. Visitation at McKneely Funeral Home, Amite, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Tuesday and from 8 a.m. until religious services at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Services conducted by Rev. Heath Rohner. Survived by husband, Terry L. Rushing, Greensburg, daughter, Gail Housley and her husband, Kenny, Walker, son, Wayne Rushing, Greensburg, 3 grandchildren, Kevin Housley, Dustin and Rayleigh Rushing, 4 sisters, Barbara Hall, Amite, Sylvia Stielper, Baltimore, MD, Avis Carmical, Jackson, MS, and Willie Bell Strickland, Osyka, MS, 3 brothers, Donald Ray Bates, Kentwood, Hugh Bates, Kentwood, and Arthur “Odessa” Bates, Jackson, MS. Preceded in death by parents, Willie and Bertha Bates, brother, Howard Lee Bates, Father-in-law and mother-in-law, C. E. And Ruth Rushing, brother-in-law, Ricky Keith, sister-in-law, JoAnn Whitfield, and nephew, Patrick Bates.

Annie Armstrong Easter Offering

Annie Armstrong was the Corresponding Secretary of the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) from its establishment in 1888 until 1906. Her letters to Sunday School Board Corresponding Secretaries J.M. Frost and T.P. Bell reveal close cooperation between the Sunday School Board and the WMU as well as close personal relationships between the correspondents. At a time when many Southern Baptists opposed the existence of the Sunday School Board, Armstrong’s keen sense of both public relations and business matters proved valuable in the campaign to establish legitimacy and support for the new Board. Despite the fact that female leaders of the WMU were not paid for their work during this period, it is clear that Armstong’s leadership position was a full-time career in which she exercised significant influence over male leaders of the various Boards of the Convention. The official status of the WMU was as an auxiliary to the Foreign Mission, Home Mission, and Sunday School Boards, but the significant fundraising conducted by Southern Baptist women, along with the bureaucratic talents of Annie Armstrong, gave the WMU a level of power in the Convention that went beyond its status as an officially subordinate auxiliary. Interestingly, Armstrong alternately accepted and challenged the limited social roles of Victorian womanhood. She was willing to remain behind the scenes in the workings of the Convention, as exemplified by requests in her letters that the author of her tactical suggestions remain anonymous. On the other hand, Armstrong was willing to challenge the bounds of the “woman’s sphere” not for the sake of social equality but for greater efficacy in the mission work that was her passion.

Deacons for the Week at FBC, Kentwood

Smiley Conerly

Roy Turner

There will be a share group meeting Thursday night at 6:30 at the Alford cabin. Feel free to join us for food, fellowship, and a devotional.

IN ONE ACCORD

The following bit of humor comes from Roy Rivenburg:

“Most people assume WWJD stands for ‘What would Jesus do?’ But according to Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, the initials are shorthand for ‘What would Jesus drive?’

“For centuries, theologians have squabbled over the type of transportation the Lord would use: Public transit or private car? Stick shift or automatic? A sport-utility vehicle roomy enough for all 12 apostles or an economy model?

“One of Ostler’s readers theorized that Jesus would tool around in an old Plymouth because the Bible says God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden in a Fury.

“But our research department found several other scenarios. In Psalm 83, for example, the Almighty clearly owns a Pontiac and a Geo. The passage urges the Lord to ‘pursue your enemies with your Tempest and terrify them with your Storm.’ (We’re not sure how a Geo Storm could be considered terrifying, unless it had those scary shooting flames painted on the sides.)

“Another scripture indicates that Yahweh favored Dodge pickup trucks. Moses’ followers are warned not to go up a mountain until ‘the Ram’s horn sounds a long blast.’

“Some scholars insist that Jesus drove a Honda, but didn’t like to talk about it. As proof, they cite a verse in John’s gospel where Christ tells a crowd, ‘For I did not speak of my own Accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say.’ However, there is debate over whether the vehicle had bumper stickers such as ‘Save the Humans,’
‘My other car is a flaming chariot’ or ‘Honk if you love me.’

“Ostler has uncovered several other religious theories: [One of them is that] Moses rode an old British motorcycle, as evidenced by a Bible passage declaring that ‘the roar of Moses’ Triumph is heard in the hills.’ ”

Someone else has suggested the apostles following Jesus’ lead and carpooled in a Honda because Acts records that “the apostles were in one Accord”.

Rivenburg’s article is intended only to make you chuckle. But allow me to think with you seriously about the fact that “the apostles were in one accord.” The phrase “one accord” appears 12 times in the book of Acts. Most of those passages refer to the unity of the early Christians. There was a harmony that existed in the early church, the result of Jesus’ prayer in John 17. We all know the value of such unity. As David said long ago, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1). But seldom do we know the reality of that unity.

One thing I have noticed over the years is that unity is often the result of great adversity. We all saw it vividly in this country on a grand scale on September 11, 2001. A nation divided quickly became a nation united. Petty squabbles were set aside and the people of the United States stood hand in hand — “one nation under God.”

I’ve seen the same things happen in families, and in churches. Sadly, sometimes it takes a disaster to help us to put things into perspective, to help us to realize that the insignificant things which we tend to argue about are not nearly as important as the things which bind us together. Wouldn’t it be great if we could come to that realization without having to go through disastrous times?

May you all seek to “Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” (Phil 2:2)

Have a great day!

Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Enjoy the rain the Lord has provided to wash away some of the pollen.

Anna Lee