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The Champions Spirit

Volume 68, Issue 16
April 26, 2009

In This Issue

Perfect!

In a congregation of great singers, sometimes I feel like the “odd voice out.” (It may be that there are some hearing me sing that wish I were “out.”) At any rate, in conversations with others, I have found that I am not completely alone.

To those of us in such a state, I found some interesting information. According to a report presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science by University of Wisconsin researchers, infants are born with an exceptional talent for distinguishing sounds. It appears that infants have the ability to recognize perfect pitch at eight months of age! That means we had it...but unfortunately, some of us lost it somewhere along the way!

We begin life perfect in another way. We are born pure, without sin. We have those qualities of which the Lord would say, “Let the little children come to Me” (Mk.10:14). Trouble is...somewhere along the way, as we grow old enough to discern between good and evil, we choose the evil and sin comes into our lives. We choose to lose that perfect, sinless state.

There is good news, however. While we might never be able to gain “perfect pitch” again, we can regain purity of life! Christ died for us—shed His blood for us—that in coming to Him, we might have our sins washed away. He continues to keep pure the believer who follows in the Light.(Rev. 1:5; 1 Pet. 3:21; 1 Jn. 1:7).

Perfect pitch? That’s great! But greater far is the Lamb’s blood working in our lives, cleansing every sin. Now, that’s PERFECT!

—Larry Keele

(By the way, somehow I think all of us will be “on pitch” when we sing the “new song” in heaven!)

FAMILY MATTERS...

Larry Keele“The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul...” (Psa. 19:7)

What a blessing it is to have the Word of God that meets the needs of the depths of our souls! Through the Word (the Scripture), we are led to the Word (Jesus) who “became flesh.” It was through the sacrifice of Jesus’ body and blood that we are able to stand today in the presence of the Almighty God! How blessed we are! Another blessing that is ours is to be able to have so many guests with us today. May you find things done in such a way as is pleasing to God and uplifting to you. Please, come again.

This morning we are blessed to have Peter Chin bring us the message of the morning. Peter is an instructor and the Dean of Academics at Four Seas College of Bible and Missions in Singapore. We pray that Peter, his wife Pooi Fun, and their sons, Willy and Andy, will continue to be blessed as they all are such servants in the Kingdom.

Those involved in our Vacation Bible School are gearing up for another successful summer program, June 8-12. This year, James Wyatt has agreed to coordinate the program. To help or volunteer your services, see James.

We were thankful to receive the wonderful news that Jeri Ford and unborn child are doing fine upon receiving a check-up in Canada! We thank our God for that news.

Events to Remember:

Parting Thought: Envy provides the mud that failure throws at success.

LarryHAVE A BLESSED WEEK!

 

Jeremy's Junction

Jeremy GeurinThis past Sunday night, the youth group went to the Liberty Church of Christ. They had an event called "Sunday Night Live." This is where once a month some of the churches from that area get together and have singing, worship and additional fellowship together. We had a great time eating and talking. Some of our kids played some basketball.

One of the special things for me doing things with Liberty, would be getting the opportunity to see their youth minister work. Their youth minister is a guy by the name of Brett McGohan. He has been their youth minister for about a year. We were able to hear him preach Sunday night about how everything was possible for those who are with God. It was a very good speech.

Brett and I come from the same congregation in Arkansas. The Northside Church of Christ in Benton, Arkansas is where we first met many years ago. I was in high school and Brett was in middle school/junior high. He came in as a very shy little fellow who didn't know anyone. One day, the intern (who was living at my house) and I invited Brett to come play basketball with us. Later on, we would learn that this was the first time anyone had ever invited him to hang out. He was especially honored because we were older guys giving him attention.

Years went by and Brett grew up. He went to Harding to study to become a youth minister and is now married and working full time at Liberty. He really touches me every time I see him knowing that I had been a part of a positive influence in his decision to become a minister.

It started by a simple invitation to play basketball. It spread to the longing to make others feel loved and included in his own youth group after we all graduated. It then went on to work full time sharing Jesus with teenagers as a career.

We have no idea how much a little sacrifice and invitation to people mean to their future. Can we sacrifice our time and make people feel included? Can we find young people who don't seem to fit in and invite them to something that will help them along? We never know the massive impact we have on the future of the church when we just take a little time to show a young person love.

—Jeremy Guerin

John's Jogs

John QuallsBible Bowl 2009

Now that LTC is over and we can reflect on what we did, we had one amazing year. Bible Bowl is such a dynamic event at LTC for many reasons. Most events take hours of training and preparation providing the participants with valuable leadership training. Bible Bowl seems to stick out among the other events as a special competition. From January to April, students spend every Sunday night reading, reviewing, and understanding one book of the Bible. This year, our students got the chance of reading the entire book of John and memorizing and understanding the scriptures. In order to master Bible Bowl, a student must spend 16 hours of study on Sunday nights, plus hours upon hours of work at home. This year we had four individuals obtain gold medals and two teams receive gold medals for their work. These individuals and teams went above and beyond to score in the top 90% of their competition within their age group. We also had many individuals and teams receive silver medals, meaning they scored in the top 20% of their age group. This truly is a special honor that should be recognized. The two things that make the most impact from me are that over 40 students were able to read and understand the Gospel, and that all of them gave a full effort during the entire process and had excitement to learn the Gospel. I am proud of every single student and know that the foundation of the church will remain strong as long as our youth commit to study the Bible through Bible Bowl. Make sure you congratulate all of the participants for their hard work. Here is the list of participants:

—Justin Sammons

11-12 Silver
Nancy Burkett – B
Julien Taylor-Lee – S
Ryan Martin – B
Thomas Smith – B

9-10 Silver
Jessica Fontenot – G
Jordan Fontenot – S
Shandon Nutter – B
Serrae Reed – B

7-8 Silver
Elijah Brown– B
Tony Brown – B
Jonathan Martin – S
Justin Freed – S

7-8 Silver
Joey Barrera – S
Josh Barrera – S

5-6 Silver
Noah Reed – B
Eddie Tonche – B
Morgan Freeman – B
Kaitlyn Jones– B

5-6 Gold
Summer Holt – S
Elizabeth Killough – S
Madison Phillips – G
Ryan Smith – G

5-6 Bronze
Trace Chappell – B
Jack Clinton – B
Nick Eley – B
Charlotte Haigh – B

5-6 Bronze
Megan Barron – B
Tyler Eley – B
Kate Hicks – B
Emilie Morris – B

3-4 Gold
Elaina Barrera – B
Tucker Chappell – B
Krista Freed – G
Nathan Boyles – S

Justin Sammons and Susan Fontenot worked with the 7th-12th grade teams. Shanna Phillips, Christy Smith, Dwan Reed and Kent Phillips taught the 3rd-6th grade teams. They did a fantastic job and should be given a “great job” booster.

—John Qualls