Bethel Baptist Church of Reva
www.bethelbaptist churchofreva.com
February 2015 Newsletter
Special Thanks/ Save the date
Page 10
What is love?
1 Corinthians 13: 4-8
4) Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not
envy, is not boastful, is not conceited,
Table of contents
5) does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not
provoked, and does not keep a record of
wrongs.
What is Love?
Page 1
Pastor’s Corner
Page 2
Missions
Page 3-4
Personal Bible Study
Page 5
Women of Bethel
Page 6
Looking back
Page 7 - 8
Sunday school classes
Get a face lift/ Reminders
Page 9
6) Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but
rejoices in the truth.
7) It bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things.
8) Love never ends………..
Set my eyes upon You Lord, set my mind
upon You Lord
Set my heart on fire for You
Breathe Your Life in me
Breathe Your Life in me
And may my life be wholly Yours
A vessel for Your glory, a light unto this
world
And may my lips declareYour truth
And may I stand firm on Your Word, Lord
Oh God I’m not ashamed of You
The Presence of the Lord is here now
The Presence of the Lord is here now
Pastor’s Corner
By: Pastor Adam Meisberger
Have you ever experienced the Presence of
the Lord? How wonderful it is for us as
believers to be in the blessed presence of the
Lord. Psalm 95:2 encourages us, “Let us
come before His presence with
thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him
with psalms.” And Psalm 114:7 reminds us
of the power of God’s Presence, “Tremble,
O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the
presence of the God of Jacob.” And then
there is the powerful truth that we who have
surrendered our lives to follow Jesus Christ
have the blessed Presence of God with us
always—God’s Spirit lives in us. Jesus
reassures us in Matthew 28:20, “And surely I
am with you always, to the very end of the
age.”
I would like to share with you the words
to a song that I recently wrote regarding the
reality of the Lord’s Presence in our lives. I
hope it encourages you.
The Presence of the Lord is here now
The Presence of the Lord is here now
Set my eyes upon You Lord, set my mind
upon You Lord
Set my heart on fire for You
I give my life to You
Jesus, all of me belongs all to You
Let Your Presence go before me, preparing
my way
And may this world see You in me
May this world see You in me
Yes may this world see You in me
And may my life be wholly Yours
A vessel for Your glory, a light unto this
world
And may my lips declare Your truth
And may I stand firm on Your Word, Lord
Oh God I’m not ashamed of You
The Presence of the Lord is here now
The Presence of the Lord is here now
The Presence of the Lord is Here Now
(written by Adam Meisberger)
to every one who has faith, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek." (RSV) Annie
Armstrong said, "If our link is weak and fails,
there will be a breakdown in passing on the
good news to those of the next generation."
Please watch the bulletin for the date of the
program of prayer and luncheon.
The Annie Armstrong Offering for our
North American missionaries will be
collected through Easter Sunday, April 5th.
Missions
Dinner for the Volunteers at the Culpeper
Free Clinic
We will be serving dinner to the
volunteers at the Culpeper Free Clinic on
Thursday, February 5th. If you can help with
the dinner, please contact Joan Proctor.
Winter Items for First
Baptist Church of Eagle Butte, South
Dakota
We will be collecting scarves, gloves,
mittens, and sweaters for First Baptist
Church of Eagle Butte, South Dakota
through Sunday, February 15th. Used items
of clothing will be accepted if they are clean.
There are paper bags in the Sunday School
classrooms for your donations.
Shiloh Association Mission Trip
There is an association mission trip to
Louisiana February 21st to 28th. If you are
interested in going, please contact Lanny
Horton at 829-6945.
Annie Armstrong Week of
Prayer and Offering for North American
Missionaries
The Annie Armstrong Week of Prayer
for North American missionaries will
be March 1st to 8th. The theme of this
year's program of prayer is "Send North
America". The scripture passage is from
Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the
gospel: it is the power of God for salvation
Who
Was Annie Armstrong?
Annie Armstrong was born in Baltimore,
Maryland in 1850. Her father died when she
was very young and she and her siblings
were raised by her mother and her uncle.
Her parents were very active Christians and
Annie became active in the church after she
accepted Christ as Savior. She was well
educated. As a tireless servant of God and
a contagious advocate and supporter of
mission efforts throughout the world, Annie
led women to unite in mission endeavors
that ultimately led to the formation of
Woman's Missionary Union in May, 1888.
Annie served as the first corresponding
secretary. Annie believed in Christ with all
her heart, but it was her hands that
expressed that belief in tangible ways. She
spent a great amount of time typing and
handwriting letters in support of missions
Her letters were filled with conviction that
more could and should be done in our
mission efforts. In 1893 alone, she wrote
almost 18,000 letters! Annie also never
hesitated to use her hands to reach out to
hug a child or distributed food and clothing
and the Word of God to those in need. Her
hands held her own Bible as she studied to
know how best to share God's love with
others. Most important, Annie was a woman
of prayer, folding her hands in prayer to
intercede for missionaries and for those
they were helping discover Christ. Annie
rallied churches to give more, pray more,
and do more for reaching people for Christ.
In her honor, the offering for North American
missionaries was named for her.
From the Newsletter of the
Baptist Friendship House in New Orleans,
Louisiana
Summer missionaries worked with the
two months Up2Hope summer program for
teenage girls. The Friendship House
continues to fight human trafficking and
meeting the needs of the survivors. "It is
nothing but pure joy when we get to see our
girls reach goals they have set." This past
month one young woman passed the GED
equivalent test and a a second young
woman completed her final exams and
graduated from high school in December.
360 people were served at Thanksgiving
and several salvation decisions were made.
A Christmas gathering was held on
December 13, 2014. A meal was served
along with passing out gifts to each person
who attended. On February 14th, there will
be another community gathering that will
include a meal, devotions, crafts, and
games. Both of these events gave our
homeless something to look forward to.
Please pray for the volunteers that help with
these events and that each person that
attends will experience the great love of all,
that of Jesus Christ. On April 11th there will
be a health fair which will provide basic
health screening at not cost as well as
provide information regarding nutrition,
parenting skills, communicable diseases,
and overall health and well being.
From the Newsletter of First
Baptist Church of Eagle Butte, South
Dakota
Winter has come to Eagle Butte. After
being in Eagle Butte for 31/2 years, people
tell Rev.Ben Farrar that he has not yet seen
a "real South Dakota winter" where there
are 6 foot snow drifts and the wind chill
drops as low as negative 50 degrees below
zero. In November the church hosted a
giveaway at which anyone in the community
who is in need can come and get what they
want. This giveaway is made possible
through the donations of clothing and other
items from out friends in every part of the
country. For those who sent us these useful
items, you have the thanks of all the people
here in Eagle Butte. The giveaway is also
used to promote one of the church's biggest
outreach events - the Thanksgiving
community meal. People from all over the
community are invited to attend. Some of
the young people from the Off-the-Wall
ministry volunteered to help serve the 200
people who attended. Rev Farrar found a
number of pew bookracks sitting in the local
unemployment office. When he asked if he
could have them, he was told that he could
take them. He mounted them on a wall and
filled them with Bibles, which had been
donated. Anyone who needed a Bible could
take one. After only a few weeks, over a
dozen Bibles have "gone missing" from the
racks. The church provides vans each
Sunday to pick up children to come to
Sunday School. Before classes, the children
are served breakfast. For some children,
this is the first substantial meal they have
had since Friday, when they had a school
lunch. ASs part of their Christmas
celebrations, the church continued its
tradition of donating shoeboxes of needful
things to Operation Christmas Child. This
year they were able to donate ten boxes.
Rev. Farrar asks for prayer for First Baptist
Church, that the leadership will keep their
hearts pure and humble and the church will
live in peace with each other. Pray that the
Lakotas in the community will come to know
the Lord and a real change in their Spirits
will alter the course of their lives for all
eternity. "May God bless you all, and draw
you closer to Himself each and every day."
Christine Carder
Personal Bible study
Material
I have been given numerous cd's that
I will bring to church Sunday and put
in the Library for anyone who would
like them or would just like to listen to
them and return them.
Volume 1 & 2 study guide books and
the set of cd's, Book of Judges by
Dr. David Jeremiah
6 cd study on The Laws of
Prosperity from the Kenneth
Copeland Ministries
You are Destined for Greatness cd
by Rev. Cathy Duplants
6 cd study on A Flourishing Faith by
Dr. David Jeremiah
15 cd study Faith Series by the
Kenneth Copland Ministries
DVD Close Encounters of the God
Kind by Dr. Jesse Duplantis Ministries
3 cd study Take Your Place, There's
No Limit to Your Righteousness by
the Kenneth Copeland Ministries
5 cd study A Higher Place of
Authority, Discover Your Position
and Power in Christ by the Kenneth
Copeland Ministries
8 cd study Authority of the
Believer by the Kenneth Copeland
Ministries
If you haven't visited Bethel's Library,
I encourage you to. There are many
great books and a large selection of
Bible books on tape at your disposal.
So, where does the emotional side of
love fit in, or does it? Emotions are
rocky and God commands us to love
our neighbor as we love ourselves. If I
relied on my emotions my neighbor
would not be loved. Why should I
“feel” love for someone I only know
in passing? There is no connection to
build on.
Women of Bethel
Love…… In a world that is so
conceded can we really understand
what that word means? Most people
look at love as an emotion, but is it
really? 1Cor. 13:4-8 gives us the
definition of Agopa love.
This is God’s love, and unlike what
most considers love this is a perfect
love. When reading these verses we
realize there is no way to achieve this
type of love, and we would be right.
Without God working in our hearts to
make us more like Him we could
never hope to come close to this type
of selfless love. Every day we spend
in His presence we become more like
Him.
God commands us to love one
another. He doesn’t say you only
have to love this person if you have
strong emotions towards them. God
wants us to learn to love with His
love not with our idea of what love is.
In His love emotions are set aside. His
love is selfless. He looks down at us in
our mess and says ‘I love you’. It
doesn’t matter that we’ve failed once
again and find ourselves in the same
pit He just pulled us out of. He is
patient and kind. His love endures
forever.
Love never ends…… 1Cor.13:8
Madison and Culpeper for caroling.
When they returned, hot soup, chili,
and cocoa were waiting. A big thank
you to everyone who helped make
this day a success!
Looking Back
Christmas at Bethel
Children shared the Christmas story
this year and our Choir gave a
beautiful Cantata that everyone
enjoyed. Special thanks to our choir
director Rhonda Miller and Martha
Peake our pianist and everyone who
helped put the program together.
Big thank you to Full Circle Thrift
for donating our Christmas tree!
Bethel Goes Caroling
Bethel shares some Christmas cheer
with our shut ins , Bethel family, and
friends. Two groups went out to
We were also given a tree for the
fellowship hall by Billy and Pauline
Clatterbuck!
Thanksgiving Dinner
The food was wonderful, but the
fellowship was even better!
Pastor Adam’s mom and dad with
baby Caleb.
Bethel Sunday School
classes get a Face lift!
For the past few months Bethel
Sunday school rooms have been
getting a fresh new look and the
children are beaming! Sweet little
faces with huge grins, couldn’t
believe their eyes when they walked
into Ms. Martha’s class and saw the
wonder land painted on their walls.
Owls sat on tree branches while a
goat on the other wall made his way
to the top of a huge mountain peak.
Snowy white lambs grazed in lush
green fields that overlooked a sweet
little village tucked away in the valley
on the next wall.
There was also a new class
added downstairs for children coming
out of Ms. Tish’s class for the New
Year. These students were greeted by
Mr. Carpenter in a room done up in
soft greens and blues. They even get
to have their own hot cocoa every
Sunday!
There is great news for the
men’s class upstairs as well! Jim
Embree, the class leader has begun a
new bible study that works its way
through the bible as well as showing
you a new way to glean wisdom from
God’s word.
If you haven’t had a chance to
attend Sunday school, now is the
time to come and enjoy learning
more about our Lord, and getting
much needed support from other
believers like you. Be sure to check
out Ms. Martha’s room as well!
Sunday School starts at 10:00am
Reminders
We have a sign up poster in the vestibule
for flowers. If you would like to recognize a
loved one or commemorate a special day
this is a lovely way to do so.
To all morning service greeters, please
remember to hand out welcome cups to
new visitors. If you would like to sign up to
be a greeter one Sunday please see Debra
Morgan or Tish Stone.
The ladies class will be having their church
yard sale in May!! If you would like to bring
some items for the sale please put them in
the outside shed or see Sue Embree.
**Please remember we will not be able to
except televisions this year.**
Special Thanks
Save the Date
Thank you to everyone who
contributes to the Bethel Newsletter. If you
would like to add pictures, articles, or
special activities please email them to
carpenterb120@gmail.com
February 13, 2015
We need you!!
Pancake Dinner: Bethel will be having
a Pancake Dinner a 5:00 pm. – 7:00
pm. There will be a love offering
taken up for Youth Missions. Take out
is available!
Please consider sending an update
about activities or other church business to
be added to the newsletter. This would help
others stay informed as well as become
more involved in church activities.
April 5, 2015
Easter Sunday: Bethel will have our
Sunrise Service at 7:00 am. There will
be a Pot Luck Breakfast after this
service. The children will have an
Easter Egg Hunt during children’s
church along with crafts.
Groups to consider:
Deacons
Children’s Church
Sunday School
Bible Study
Music
There are many more, but these are just a
few that come to mind.
February Newsletter Contributors:
Other News
Pastor’s Corner- Pastor Adam Meisberger
Bethel will be getting church
mailboxes for each family of the
church. More info to come later, and
thank you so much to Billy and
Pauline Clatterbuck for heading this
up .
Missions- Christian Carder
Women of Bethel- Bonnie Carpenter
Pictures- Jenny Weakely Stacey Clatterbuch
Bonnie Carpenter