Lent 2009

Posted on February 23rd, 2009

Lent is a forty-day period in our church calendar that is set aside for reflection and repentance.  Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism.  By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days.

Our church will also observe Lent as a communal preparation for Jesus’ journey to the cross on our behalf.  We invite you to worship with us during the season of Lent.  The following is a schedule of the themes of our services:

3/1           “Journeying with God” – Psalm 25:1-10

3/8           “Journeying with One Another” – Psalm 22:23-31

3/15         “Journeying in God’s Law” – Psalm 19

3/22         “Journeying with Thanks” – Psalm 107-1-3, 17-22

3/29         “Journeying with Clean and Open Hearts” – Psalm 51:1-12

4/5           “Journeying into Jerusalem” – Mark 11, 15

Also, the Farmville Area Ministerial Association invites you to attend their Wednesday Lenten Services at 12 noon followed by a free soup lunch at 12:30 p.m.  The following is a schedule of churches hosting these services:

Wed., March 4 – Farmville Presbyterian

Wed., March 11 – Farmville United Methodist

Wed., March 18 – Beulah African Methodist Episcopal

Wed., March 25 – Johns Memorial Episcopal

Wed., April 1 – St. Theresa Catholic

On Friday, April 10, Farmville Baptist will host a community-wide Good Friday Service at noon.  A soup lunch will be served after the service.

Tags: Lent, worship services
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Paul Cave 11/2/1933 – 2/19/2009

Posted on February 22nd, 2009

This afternoon, we held a funeral service for Paul Cave (pictured on the right), a stalwart member of Farmville Baptist and a devoted follower of Christ.  Paul served in many capacities here at Farmville Baptist, but he is most known for teaching our children’s Sunday School class for forty-one years!

Rev. Chet Smith, former pastor of Farmville Baptist (1976-1980), officiated the service and gave the eulogy to a packed house.

We give thanks for Paul and for his life, and we continue to keep Peggy and the whole Cave family in our thoughts and prayers.

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2/25 – Ash Wednesday Service

Posted on February 10th, 2009

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty days before Easter (excluding Sundays).  Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a sign of repentance and as a reminder of our mortality.

This year, we will have our Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday, February 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall, immediately after our Wednesday Night Soup Supper.  We invite you all to this worship service on February 25.

Tags: Ash Wednesday
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2/14 – Senior Adult Valentine’s Dinner

Posted on February 3rd, 2009

On Saturday, February 14, at 5:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall, all senior adults are invited to Farmville Baptist Church’s annual Valentine’s Dinner.

Chief Chef Jordan Whiley and his sous chefs will cook up something delicious and nutritious while our youth will provide service with a smile.

Please RSVP with the church office by Wednesday, February 11.

Tags: senior adult, valentine's dinner
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Souper Bowl of Caring

Posted on February 2nd, 2009

This past Sunday, February 1, our youth once again participated in the Souper Bowl of Caring.  It was an opportunity for our youth to help fight hunger and poverty in our community.

At the end of the worship service, our youth stationed themselves at the exits of the sanctuary holding pots to collect canned and boxed food for our emergency food pantry.  They also collected over $330.00 for F.A.C.E.S., our local food pantry.  Many thanks to those who gave to this worthy cause!

Afterwards, the congregation enjoyed a soup lunch in the Fellowship Hall.  For more pictures . . . Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: donation, hunger, poverty, souper bowl
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2/8 – Jeaninne Milne to Preach

Posted on February 2nd, 2009

Baptist Women in Ministry, a national organization that seeks to support and encourage women Baptist ministers, has designated February as the Martha Stearns Marshall Month of Preaching.  Marshall was an eighteenth-century Separate Baptist female preacher.  In her honor, Baptist churches are encouraged to invite a woman to preach and proclaim the word of God during a worship service in February.

To that end, we’ve invited Jeannine Milne, a member of Farmville Baptist and a graduate student at Longwood University, to be our preacher on Sunday, February 8.  Jeaninne recently has been sensing a call to attend seminary to prepare for congregational ministry.  Please pray for Jeaninne as you hear about her spiritual journey and her call to ministry!

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“Spiritual Transformation Journey” Update

Posted on February 1st, 2009

Pastor’s Column published in The Informer (FBC’s Newsletter for February 2009)

After worship on Sunday, January 11, close to thirty people attended our “spiritual transformation journey” meeting with Bill Moore.  At the meeting, Bill shared with the group what the journey was all about: a process that fosters a transformation of our lifestyles so that we as individuals and as a church will walk closer with Christ and live into the preferred future that God has for us.  It is a future that includes a deeper walk of faith and a closer sense of belonging among our members so that we can better be the presence of Christ here in Farmville.

Bill briefly told us how this journey begins.  After the church formally decides to embark on this journey, the congregation will choose among our membership seven spiritually mature individuals who are positive and passionate about the church.  This group will form a leadership team that will work closely with me in this journey.  During the next 16 months, this leadership team will go on three retreats (joining leadership teams from three other churches) to receive training and coaching on how to lead our congregation into a season of prayer, a season of congregational discernment of God’s vision and call, and a season of writing down the “future story” of Farmville Baptist based on the collective input of all members who participate in this journey.

We have scheduled a called church business meeting on February 15 to vote formally to undertake this journey.  I pray that you will support this endeavor.  I’m excited about what God has in store for us!

In another matter, Amanda Johnston resigned from her position on January 7.  Let us keep Amanda and John in our thoughts and prayers as they go through a challenging time of transition and change.  I want to thank them both for their service and ministry to Farmville Baptist, and I wish God’s blessings upon them as they seek God’s direction and call for their lives in the weeks and months to come.

Yours in Christ, Michael

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