Jesus’ call to us is to “FOLLOW HIM” … to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Join us at Ewing Road Baptist Church beginning Sunday, January 15, 2012 for a five week study through Matthew 10:24-42 as we learn how Jesus defines and describes what it means to be a disciple, or follower, of Him.

Winning at Relationships – James 4:1-3

Conflict with God – James 4:4-6

The Gravity of Grace – James 4:6-10

Watch What You Say - James 4:11-12

Is God In Your Picture? – James 4:13-17

Taming the Tongue – James 3:1-12

Wisdom that Works – James 3:13-18

When Good Isn’t Good Enough – James 2:10-13

Cotton Candy Faith – James 2:14-18

Counterfeit Faith – James 2:18-20

Genuine Faith – James 2:21-26

Where Belief Meets Behavior – James 1:1

Growing Through Trials – James 1:2-4 (Part 1)

Growing Through Trials – James 1:2-4 (Part 2)

The Dilemma of Trials – James 1:5-8

The Danger of Distraction – James 1:9-12

The Slippery Slope – James 1:13-16

Taste and See – James 1:16-18

Hearing from God in the Midst of Our Trials – James 1:19-21

Confronting Casual Christianity – James 1:22-25

Practice What You Preach – James 1:26-27

Recently our family had some of our closest friends to move out of state. Our oldest son and their son had become best friends. My son has had buddies, but never a friend like this. They genuinely loved hanging out together and were always looking out for the other one. When our friends moved out of state my wife and I had the unenviable parental role of helping our children deal with separation and loss. I don’t care who you are that is no fun, especially when trying to help a six year mature in life.

Herein lies the fertile ground for what God taught me … my son was losing the close access to his friend, but he was not without a friend. God impressed upon my heart that the best way for me to help my son grow through this experience was for me to be his best friend. After all, who better to show my son how to be a friend and how to be befriended by someone else. God has strengthened our relationship. We are both learning how to respect the other person more and how to put their best interests before our own.

I was wrong in my previous assessment of parenting and being friends with our children. Our children do need us to be their friend … just not a silly, childish friend. There is always the need for our children to have friends of their own age, but God has given us the privilege to be their friend and help them learn what godly friendship looks life in real life. So, my son and I have had some great conversations, played monster truck rally in his bedroom floor, watched movies together and hung up the Christmas lights/decorations. Though we have done these things together before, this time we did with a renewed friendship as father and son.

So, in all of our efforts at parenting I would recommend that we develop godly friendships with our children. I know that friendships are one of the strongest influences in a kid’s life, so I want to make sure that I am being that strong influence. It’s an investment that will develop a legacy for generations to come.

Daytona Beach, Florida

• Dates: March 9-14, 2012
• Purpose: To share the gospel with the bikers at Bike Week
• Cost: TBD
• Trip is in partnership with Faith Riders.

Manhattan, New York

• Dates: March 31 – April 6, 2012
• Purpose: Work with The Gallery Church in Manhattan to conduct street evangelism, church publicity & after school programming for local elementary students
• Estimated Cost: $700

Lviv, Ukraine

• Dates: June 8-17, 2012
• Purpose: Leadership training (access to 350 churches); Evangelism, VBS (for ~150 kids)
• Estimated Cost: $2300

Savannah, Georgia

• Dates: June 16-23, 2012
• Purpose: Home repair; Evangelism
• Cost: $309 ($50 deposit due by January 8, 2012)
• Mission trip is sponsored through ERBC student ministry

Honduras

• Dates: June/July 2012
• Purpose: Construction, VBS, Lead Worship in Churches
• Estimated Cost: $1350

Kingston, Jamaica

• Dates: July 14-21, 2012
• Purpose: Evangelism, Construction
• Estimated Cost: $900 ($50 deposit due by December 31^st)

Southeast Asia

• Dates: September/October 2012
• Purpose: Evangelism and Relationship Building to help the missionary to be better able to engage his people group
• Estimated Cost: $2200

Ethiopia

• Dates: October/November 2012
• Purpose: Leadership training of local pastors; Evangelism
• Estimated Cost: $2300

According to information from the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention:

• The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions accounts for 57% of the International Mission Board’s total income

Have you ever wondered what the average cost of keeping a missionary on the field is?

• $46,700 per year
• $3,890 per month
• $900 per week
• $128 per day
• $5.30 per hour
• $0.09 per minute

In 2009 there were 753 missionary appointments to the international harvest fields. In 2010 there were only 381 missionary appointments to the international harvest fields. That represents a 49.1% decrease. The shortfall is not the number of potential candidates but in the funding. We are left one overarching question when it comes to our missions giving …

“Are you doing more for the cause of missions than ever before?“

Join us for our Christmas worship services at Ewing Road Baptist Church. Dr. Michael Stovall will be preaching a series of messages titled “The Gift of Christmas.” A gift must be given and a gift must be received in order to be a gift. According to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.”  And according to John 1:12, “To as many as will receive Him, to them He gives the right to be called children of God.” Salvation is a gift and His name is Jesus. Join us as we celebrate this precious gift of love, hope, peace & joy.

Click here for a pdf of the sermon outlines.

You can listen to the audio of the sermons below:

The Gift of Love – Luke 2:25-35

The Gift of Hope – Romans 5:1-5

The Gift of Joy – Luke 2:1-20 (Part 1)

The Gift of Joy – Luke 2:1-20 (Part 2)

We have a moral responsibility to acknowledge when an evil injustice has occurred and then fight for justice to be delivered to the situation and everyone involved. Men of courage will fight for justice, especially for those who cannot fight for themselves. A man of courage is one who has chosen to stand up and become fixed on doing what is right. The tragedy with Penn State and the firing of the legendary football coach, Joe Paterno, reminds us that being “innocent” is not the standard for leadership; rather, being above reproach is the standard for leadership.

What we DON’T know … We do not know all of the sordid details of all that has happened. Likely we will not know everything for quite a while, if even then. We do not know who did what and when others knew about it. This will have to wait for a thorough investigation.

What we DO know … We do know that something horrific occurred on multiple occasions from an adult to innocent boys. You would have to turn a deaf ear and blind eye to pretend that you do not know something terrible happened. We also know that several others knew about what was going on. These included persons with direct responsibility for reporting the events to the proper authorities. We can know that a single decision can change the lives of many people. We can know that being passive about fighting for justice leaves an unnecessary trail of victims directly and indirectly.

What we CAN’T say … Regardless of what our intuition tells us, we are in no place to judge the motives of the adults involved. We can say that what it appears they did was wrong (i.e., inappropriate behavior with children, not reporting to authorities), but we can cannot pass judgment on their motives. For instance, I do not know what was going through Jerry Sandusky’s mind. I just know that it could not have been pure and good because of the behavior it led to on his part. I also cannot act like I know what was going through the minds of Joe Paterno, the Athletic Director and the President of Penn State. I just know that evidently they did not consider the problem to be worth fighting for justice based on their actions.

What we CAN say … We can rightly say that there was not enough done to protect the innocent and hold the guilty accountable and responsible. We can say that good men, though they may be legally innocent, did not fight for justice. We can say that the behavior of adults was inappropriate, even sinful.

What is the threshold for “doing enough” when it comes to fighting for justice? The Bible teaches, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). In their book The Resolution for Men, Alex and Stephen Kendrick flesh out God’s expectations:

• To act justly - to deal fairly and honestly with others, to confront evil both in ourselves and our society, and to intervene on behalf of the weak, vulnerable, mistreated, and oppressed.
• To love mercy - to discern the physical and spiritual needs of others, and to represent the hands and heart of Christ to people who desperately need help, compassion, and deliverance from evil and injustice.
• To walk humbly with your God - to live a circumspect and selfless life before Him, devoted to Him and to His Word, exercising our faith and love in a way that actively, consistently honors Him and His lordship (p. 132).

Fighting for justice is mandatory for us because it reflects our Creator’s compassion for people. God created mankind in His image (Genesis 1:26). No other part of God’s creation was created with this characteristic. This means that mankind is the pinnacle of God’s creation. It also means that we were created with the capacity to have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, an attack on another person is an attack on the image of God. Fighting for justice is a spiritual and moral issue that requires good men to make courageous choices.