The Champions Spirit
Volume 68, Issue 9
March 8, 2009
In This Issue
Plan now...Friend Day & Picnic in the Park, March 29
Schedule:
9 a.m. - Bible Class
10 a.m. - Morning Worship
11:15 a.m. - Travel to Spring Creek Park in Tomball (map will be provided)
(Afternoon times are approximate.)
12:45 p.m. - Picnic dinner (bring favorite food and to share)
2 p.m. - Afternoon Devotional
2:30 p.m. - Free time to enjoy each other, various games, and the beautiful surroundings of God’s wonderful world!
No evening services on March 29.
FAMILY MATTERS...
If you are our guest today, we are thankful you have chosen to be with us and join us in our worship of our Lord! We would love to have a record of visit, so please complete one of the visitor’s cards and place it in the offering tray when it is passed. Again, we are glad you are here.
Growing again! We are happy to announce that Wes and Pam Arnold expressed their desire to place their membership with us. We are happy they have come our way and hope that our Lord will be glorified as we serve Him together.
As noted in the article above, Friend Day and Lunch in the Park is coming March 29th. This always proves to be an enjoyable day as we gather after morning services at Spring Creek Park for a picnic dinner and afternoon of fun and fellowship. There will be a short devotional while we are there. There will be no evening services.
We appreciate the Bedrichs for hosting the Men’s Day at their farm and for the fajita dinner. Their gracious generosity always overwhelms us. Also, thanks to Emmett Gaines for his work in getting the song and study materials ready for this event and to Jeremy Guerin for driving the bus.
We had over 40 participate in Tuesday Nights Together (TNT) last week! The food was great (as usual), but even better was the opportunity to be with fellow Christians, working together for the cause of the Master! Cards were written to missionaries as well as to ill members, visits were made, rooms were cleaned, cards were sent to the sick and visitors as well as other projects were done before we ended at 8 p.m. It was a great night.
Parting Thought: A warm smile and wholesome laughter have great face value!
HAVE A BLESSED WEEK!
Jeremy's Junction
Several months ago, we had Friend Day at Champions. I remember getting our class ready because we had a goal to bring in 100 in our class. However, this fell on a holiday weekend. Lots of people were out of town enjoying some much needed vacation with their families. I know in our class, tons of our regulars were missing. However, due to visitors, we had around 50 in class! The thinking is that had it not been for vacation time, we would have met our goal. I know this was the thinking throughout the congregation.
Well, guess what! We have another chance on March 29th! It will be a beautiful day and we are also going to go on a picnic! This is an amazing opportunity to invite your friends and family and to encourage others and each other. Set a goal for your class and pray diligently to meet it.
Let's all work together and make Sunday, March 29, an amazing experience for everyone involved. If you are looking for the perfect opportunity to invite someone to church, this is it! See you there!
—Jeremy Guerin
John's Jogs
CHRISTIANS – WORDS HAVE MEANING
A young man whom we’ll call Jack, a building contractor, during a time of heated crisis in his marriage followed the advice of a counselor and separated temporarily from his wife. This gave them both time to cool down. The difficulties of his marriage had put a strain on Jack and resulted in his business suffering.
Then, out of nowhere, someone spread stories that his business was in trouble and his marriage in jeopardy because Jack was involved in dealing cocaine. In his small community, this kind of story was explosive. Because Jack was hurting financially and having trouble paying his creditors, people began to believe the rumor was true. New business contracts dried up. Suppliers and banks with whom he had worked for years had their suspicions aroused as well.
Jack was forced into bankruptcy. In a desperate attempt to save his reputation and livelihood, he sold his home to pay off debts and this additional strain pushed his wife to file for divorce. Where he had hoped to pull his marriage and his life back together, he saw it crumble into ruins. Then came another crippling blow.
Jack eventually traced the rumors about himself to their source; a man who occasionally attended his church and who was also in land development – in effect, a business competitor. That this man had spread false testimony about him was bad enough, but that the lies had been picked up and repeated enough by other believers in his own church that they slowly spread throughout the whole community. Fellow Christians, under the guise of “praying for Jack” and “expressing concern” for him, eroded his reputation and ultimately shook the foundation of his life. Jack is on the way to rebuilding his reputation and his business. But after learning that Christians helped assassinate his character, it is no wonder that he now says, “I have a hard time wanting anything to do with Christians. It’s going to take a long time for me to trust them again.”
I don’t know if this story is true or not. But I do know that whether it is true or not, the moral of the story is true. Words do have meaning. Words can help or hurt. Words, stories, tales, actions, etc. all have consequences. Considering this story as well as the one Jeremy presented in his article last week about the preacher’s son, Brethren, we need to prayerfully consider the things that come out of our mouths. They may have significant effects on other people including our brethren.
—John Qualls