| Volume 4, Issue 5 The Church Newsletter March 2010 First Baptist Church of Madison, North Carolina |
| I hope you will take a moment of your time to read the excellent article on Easter by Tony Cartledge on page three of this newsletter. Tony is right. There is a growing ignorance regarding the most important event on the Christian calendar. If we do not take care we will not pass along the precious treasures of our faith to the next generation. We may even forget them ourselves. Therefore I’m asking you to prioritize Holy Week and Easter on your schedule. Even more I want you to reach out to your family, friends, and neighbors and ask them to come along with you. Palm Sunday is on March 28th this year. Our children will be distributing palms during the service as we celebrate the Triumphal Entry of King Jesus into our hearts. This is the service that begins Holy Week at our church. Following the final Wednesday Lenten Service at noon at Madison Methodist Church our church will commemorate the Last Supper and Crucifixion with a Maundy Thursday-Tenebrae service at 7 pm on Thursday, April 1st. During this meaningful service we will celebrate communion. Come prepared to be moved as the Holy Spirit speaks to each of us through remembering the suffering that birthed our faith. Then the day of great celebration: Join us on Easter Sunday as we present the Easter Cantata. God is good. Press On! Chuck |
Thursday – April 1st • 7:00 pm Maundy Thursday-Tenebrae Service Friday – April 2nd • Good Friday Sunday – April 4th EASTER • 9:15 Early Worship - CANCELLED • 10:00 Sunday School • 11:00 Traditional Worship (Cantata) Monday – April 5th • 7:00 Deacon Board Meeting Wednesday – April 7th • 11:00 – Back Pack Pals ( Madison Presbyterian Church) • 5:00 – Children’s Ministry Team (VBS Days meeting) • 6:15 Family Night • 7:15 Choir Practice Saturday – April 10th • 8:00 Men’s Group (meets at Bob’s Restaurant) Sunday – April 11th SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER • 9:15 Early Worship (meets in Fellowship Hall) • 10:00 Sunday School • 11:00 Traditional Worship |
Wednesday – April 14th • 11:00 Back Pack Pals (Madison Presbyterian Church) • 7:15 Choir Practice Sunday – April 14th THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER • 9:15 Early Worship (Meets in Fellowship Hall) • 10:00 Sunday School • 11:00 Traditional Worship (Dr. Bill Duke) Wednesday – April 17th • 11:00 Back Pack Pals (Madison Presbyterian Church) • 7:15 Choir Sunday – April 25th FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER • 9:15 Early Worship (Meets in Fellowship Hall) • 10:00 Sunday School • 11:00 Traditional Worship Wednesday – April 28th • 11:00 Back Pack Pals (Madison Presbyterian Church) • 7:15 Choir |
| April Happenings |
| Happening This Month Holy Week Services: Palm Sunday- Sunday, March 28; Lenten Service – Wednesday, March 31,noon, Madison Methodist; Maundy Thursday – Tenebrae (Communion Service) – Thursday, April 1, 7pm. Easter Sunday – Service at 11:00 on April 4. No Early Service. Deacon Meeting will be held on Monday, April 5th at 7:00 pm. Children’s Ministry Team meeting to discuss VBS Day will meet in the Fellowship Hall classroom at 5:00pm on April 7th. Family Night will take place on Wednesday evening, April 7th at 6:15. Dr. Bill Duke will be our guest preacher on Sunday April 18th. April Birthdays: Teresa Moore (3rd); Mary Elizabeth Wilkins (7th); Joyce Fulcher (8th); Lloyd Baird (12th); Tom Bailey (18th); Jatana Love & Jo Comer (21st); Contributors are welcome. If you have a special ministry through our church simply submit a brief article each month by email to cpmcgathy@yahoo.com and it will get published. |
| Coming this May – Islam: A Better Understanding of our Religious Neighbors. This study designed and taught by Dr. McGathy will be held on Thursdays in May. Everyone is welcomed to attend. Look for more details in next month’s Church Newsletter. |
| REPRINTED FROM TONY CARTLEDGE’S BLOG OF MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010 I've known for some time that America is far from being a religiously devoted nation, but I didn't realize the population had become so religiously ignorant until I scanned a recent study made public by the Barna Group. According to their research, just two out of three Americans recognize Easter as a religious holiday, and less than half -- 42 percent -- connect Easter with the resurrection of Christ. Those are staggering numbers, though I'm not sure how to interpret them, because I don't know how the questions were asked. The article describes the survey only as "a free response query" conducted through telephone interviews with 1,005 adults. Different questions like "How would you describe Easter?" or "What does Easter mean to you?" would naturally elicit different responses. Evidently, respondents were given some freedom to talk about their understanding of Easter -- and for many of them that understanding is apparently quite small. Just two percent of those interviewed described Easter -- the very core of the Christianity -- as the most important holiday of their faith. Meanwhile, two percent thought Easter was about Jesus' birth, another two percent said it was about his "rebirth," and one percent said Easter celebrates Christ's second coming. Three percent or those interviewed described Easter as a celebration of spring or a pagan holiday. There is some truth in that last response, because some customs of Easter, like Christmas, originated in festivals devoted to other gods. The date of Christmas was chosen in part to counteract and calm down riotous celebrations during the Roman feast of Saturnalia, and the observance of Easter bears marks of the old Saxon holiday celebrating the birth of spring and a goddess whose name was Eostre. Even so, it's rather alarming that only 42 percent of American adults can point to Christ's resurrection as the meaning of Easter. Even those identified as Christians don't approach 100 percent: just 73 percent of evangelicals (by Barna's very conservative definition), 55 percent of "born again" Christians, and 35 percent of "notional" Christians identified the resurrection of Christ as the meaning of Easter. I'm not sure what to make of this, except to observe that many people who claim to have religious beliefs have little real comprehension of them. Are their churches doing an incredibly poor job of Christian education, or are they even attending? For many folk, if they've been to church on Easter lately, they must have slept through not only the sermon, but also the ringing renditions of "Up From the Grave He Arose!" I wish the researchers had also asked how many families with young children expect to have a visit from the Easter Bunny this year -- and whether they consider bunnies and eggs to be religious symbols. Then again, maybe we wouldn't want to know. And maybe that's part of the problem. Dr. Tony Cartledge is a well known Baptist author, professor of religion and homiletics, and fellow North Carolinian. Formerly the editor of the Baptist Record he now contributes to Baptists Today. Bring your family and friends to church this Easter season! |
| Prayer Shawl Ministry Meeting dates set so far for 2010: April 13th and 27th |
| ADDITIONAL CHURCH INFORMATION Pastor: Rev. Dr. Charles “Chuck” McGathy Phone: 336-207-2055 Email: cpmcgathy@yahoo.com Church Web Site: www.firstbaptistchurchofMadison.org Church Office: 8:30 -12 noon (M-F) Phone: 336-548-6112 Christian Education Superintendent: Dr. Herb Lewis Children’s Education Director: Rev. Marcia McQueen Kids Hope Director: Dawn McGathy Children’s Worship Director: Millie Cocklereece Missions Director: Sylvia Perkins Music Director: Jane Scruggs Church Secretary: Debra Greenway Financial Secretary: Sylvia Perkins First Baptist is located at 110 S. Franklin Street, Madison, North Carolina 27025 Services are held on Sunday at 9:15 and 11:00 am; Sunday School at 10:00 am; Family Night is held in the Fellowship Hall on the first Wednesday (following the first Sunday)* Nursery care and Children’s Church are available. |
| Flowers for 2010 We are scheduling sanctuary flowers for 2010. If you wish to place flowers in memory or honor of a loved one, you can use the envelopes in the pew racks, call the church office or call Jeanie McCollum at 548-9402. Unfortunately due to the rising cost of flowers the arrangements will be $25.00 each for this year. |
| VBS DAYS You are invited to come join us at Saddle Ridge Ranch of First Baptist Church in Madison, NC. Our Vacation Bible School is expected to be full of knowledge, fun and music for your child/children. We are very excited about it, and hope to see you there. So, grab your boots and meet us ready to have fun and learn about the ABC‘s of being a Christian. Dates are: June 23rd, June 30th, July 7th, and July 14th Time: 9:00am - 12:00pm VBS Coordinator- Sarah Lawson Children’s Worship Director - Mrs. Millie Cocklereece |
| Palm Sunday – Maundy Thursday - Easter |
| Easter Ignorance |