Church Membership January 4, 2009

What does it mean to be a “member” of a church?  What are the qualifications, and what are the responsibilities?  It depends on what kind of church you are.

Ivy Farms is a Southern Baptist congregation.  All members are believers in Jesus Christ as a personal savior.  All have confessed their sinfulness and put their faith in Jesus to save them from hell, putting their name in the Book of Life, that they go to heaven when they die.  And as believers, they agree to live their life as best they can by the standards set by the Bible, especially as described in the New Testament.

The Baptist church has two ordinances for the people:  the Lord’s supper (known to some as Communion) and full immersion baptism  Baptism is not given to infants, but only to those who first declare Jesus as savior.  The baptism is an outward sign that who they used to be is considered dead and buried, and that the person is now given new life in Christ.  We affirm the person going into the water and celebrate as they come out.

Most, but not all people attending Ivy Farms are Christians.  At present, all these attending Christians have been baptized by immersion.  And most of these Christians have taken the second step of declaring a desire to join the church.

The Baptist word is to “unite” with the church.  That is the goal. You become one with the group, and they pledge their affiliation with you.  We agree to support one another in prayer and encouragement.  We agree to volunteer for jobs that need to be done.  We agree to pool our money to pay the necessary expenses of heat and light and water and salaries.

That is what it is to be a member.  We care about all in our neighborhood, and enjoy the company of the visitors and regular attenders.  but Jesus (in John 15) told the disciples to “love one another” as a mark of their faith.  Membership provides our special concern because members have become one of our “another.”

Fireproof, the Movie September 22, 2008

There’s a movie about to be released called Fireproof. It will be in theaters Sep 26.

It’s about a man and a woman, husband and wife, with a marriage in trouble.  His job as a fireman is a metaphor for what’d happening at home.  Small fires keep popping up, and it’s all he can do to keep them under control.

Fireproof the Movie says there’s a better way.  Here’s the trailer:

FIREPROOF is the third movie from Sherwood Pictures, the hope-filled, heartfelt moviemaking ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church that continues to touch the world from Albany, Georgia.

At Ivy Farms Baptist Church, we endorse this movie.  And if you see too much of your own marriage in even this brief video, come let us talk with you about it.

see also http://fireproofthemovie.blogspot.com/

Courage To Be God’s People September 15, 2008

One of the friends of the church writes for TurnaroundChurches.  He has a new post that quotes a speech by Alexander Solzhenitsyn at Harvard in 1978: “A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, each government, each political party and of course in the United Nations”

We believe we should be a church that has courage to be God’s people.  The Apostle Peter spoke with boldness and courage to the early church.  The Apostle Paul carried the message of the Gospel wherever he went.

We want to be good stewards of God’s mercy, God’s grace, an authentic spiritual force in our community, to the neighborhoods of Ivy Farms, Sedgefield and South Morrisson.

As Solzhenitsyn said, “Destructive and irresponsible freedom has been granted boundless space. Society appears to have little defense against the abyss of human decadence, such as, for example, misuse of liberty for moral violence against young people, motion pictures full of pornography, crime and horror. It is considered to be part of freedom and theoretically counter-balanced by the young people’s right not to look or not to accept. Life organized legalistically has thus shown its inability to defend itself against the corrosion of evil.”

At Ivy Farms Baptist, we choose to stand against boundless freedom that leads to destructive behavior, and instead offer the controlled freedom of a balanced Christian life.  Our pastor teaches us how each Sunday morning at 10:45.  Come join us.

Hot Dog-o-Roma August 25, 2008

Come out Wednesday, Aug 27 for a community picnic at the church.

The highlight will be the hot dog eating contest.

More important, it’s a chance to meet your neighbors.

And it’s walking distance.

Celebrating the Absence of the Spirit of God July 12, 2008

JL Fuller, a Mormon apologist, has a great comment to a posting on the Whats This Mormon Thing?” blog. In it, he suggests that although we regret losing the presence of the Holy Spirit, it is that temporary loss that God uses to build our faith.

When He returns I understand I benefited from His absence. It made me think about what I was doing or did. … Afterwards, my testimony of Christ, Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost is strengthened.

I understand that feeling. I remember being mad at God once, and yelling at him to leave me alone.

He did.

In that instance, He showed me how much of my life depended on Him. Without God, I experienced a depth of emptyness, of aloneness, such that I never want to feel again. And when He returned, an instant later, my testimony was strengthened.

But then, as JLFuller said, “Is it tough to face the world alone? Yes it is. But I need reminding.”

(read the comment in context here.)

Taking a break June 11, 2008

Although Ivy Farms Baptist continues services each Sunday morning at 10:45am, GracePlace is taking a break for the summer. I’m over committed and our small congregation agreed to suspend for the summer, and tackle the restart again in the fall.

What did we learn?

• The facilities are old and tired. It was difficult running sound and video from the pulpit. Having a sound board behind the choir loft is unacceptable. We’re going to move it this summer.
• You can’t run a church without help. Too hard to do alone. It wil wear you out fast.
• Frequent communication with all building tennants is needed. I showed up one evening to find the afternoon church had scheduled an ordination service to begin about an hour before my service. I had done some extra advertising that week, and was a little upset. (The deacon calmed me down.) I was reminded that ordaining men for service was worth more than my feeble attempts at doing church. The other congregation closed the auditorium door and I moved into one of the classrooms. We started talking that evening. The communication with that pastor helped convince the host church to let us paint the hallways, and make a plan to renovate the too-small women’s bathroom.
• Just when you think you’re making progress, the devil will find a way to shut you down.

Starting in July, we’ll start the prayer walking again, and start over in the fall. I’m building a Money 101 course and the pastor is getting his parenting workshop ready. If we can find someone to help get the ballfield in shape, we’ll run a flag football league.

Pray with us. With God’s help, we’ll start this again in the fall.

The Bells Are Sold! April 9, 2008

Praise God!

GracePlace, the evening experimental congregation at Ivy Farms Baptist, needs operating revenue – for a video projector, sound equipment improvements, advertising, etc. I looked around the church and found an unused set of handbells, 4 cases with 37 bells in fairly good shape. The church authorized me to sell them, so I put out the word that I they were for sale. Most people that responded considered only the age (>30 years old), and not the fact that they hadn’t been played in 20 years and were still shiny with good tone, and only wanted to pay $1200-1500 (a new set costs $9000). So I held on to them and prayed some more. This week on Sunday night, I posted them on Craig’s List. I put the bells on the market for $4000, which is a good price given their condition, but still gives us enough cash to do some upgrades.

On Tuesday, a 16-year-old young lady searched Craig’s List for handbells for the first time. She does solo handbell performances with borrowed bells.  She also wants to start teaching special needs kids to play handbells, since it doesn’t involve learning to read music, but only counting carefully and ringing when it’s your turn. She’s on a choir tour this week, but her parents came to see them Wednesday afternoon. They agreed that the bells were in generally good shape, but will need some refurbishment (some of the 30-year-old plastic is cracking and one bell won’t ring). This family paid the full offering price, minus a fair refurbishment cost, which is $3200 – the exact amount their daughter has in her bells savings account!

This transaction provided more cash that I frankly expected to get, provided better bells than she expected to get, and came at the exact right time for both of us. It won’t do everything we need money to do, but it will meet some immediate, critical needs. Praise God with me!

Mike Mitchell

GracePlace Worship Leader

World Athiest Day March 22, 2008

On Sunday, March 30, World Athiest Day will be commemorated during the 6pm service at Ivy Farms Baptist Church, 55 Ivy Farms Road, Newport News, VA. 23601

Speaker Mike Mitchell will actually use the church’s Bible, psalms 14, verse 1, to describe how the Day came to be recognized.

Seating is limited. Call 595-0577 to reserve your place.

Former Muslim to explain “Why Be a Christian?” March 2, 2008

 

If you’re in the area,
Come hear Nabeel Qureshi, a former Muslim, explain
why he believes in Christ as Lord and
what Christians can do to better
share their faith with their Muslim friends.

GracePlace Worship, Feb 24 March 2, 2008

GracePlace

Worship Service

Feb 24, 2008, 6pm