The Beth Haven Briefing

Check Back Soon!

2008-10-23T10:27:00.002-05:00

Next week we will have pictures & commentary on our Homecoming Sunday!

VBS 2008 - Day 5

2008-08-18T16:03:00.002-05:00

VBS 2008 - Days 3 & 4

2008-08-14T12:04:00.002-05:00

VBS 2008 - Days 1 & 2

2008-08-12T11:37:00.003-05:00

Fighting the High Gas Prices!

2008-07-10T17:10:00.003-05:00

Curtis & Amanda drive an hour one way to church.
They have figured out how to beat the high gas prices!

Wednesday, May 21

2008-05-22T10:32:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we completed our verse-by-verse study through the book of Romans.
What a joy it has been to study and to teach this tremendous book!
This is our 2nd time through Romans in the last 18 years.
I am not sure where we are going next, but as long as it is God's Word - I know it will be be good!

Sunday, May 18

2008-05-22T10:10:00.006-05:00

This past Sunday I preached a prophetic sermon that was received with great enthusiasm (as most prophesy sermons are).

IS THIS THE EARTH'S FINAL DECADE?

It had nothing to do with gas prices, food prices, wars, earthquakes, etc...
The sermon tried to lay out a proper understanding of Matthew 24

The goal was to provoke believers to be watching, waiting and working in these "last days".

I Have Been Lazy...

2008-05-22T10:07:00.004-05:00

I have been lazy when it comes to my blogs.
To my faithful readers - I apologize!

Wednesday, April 16

2008-04-18T10:53:00.003-05:00

The Wednesday night crowds have been dwindling and I'm not sure why.
I refuse to believe it has any connections to the "church cleaning" following each Wednesday service!

We are in Romans 15 and are learning what it takes to make a good, effective Christian worker.
We have already spent 2 weeks in chapter 15 and will no doubt spend 2 more there.

Sunday, April 13

2008-04-18T10:10:00.007-05:00

Last Sunday was a good day (98% of them are)!

The choir did an awesome job again!
I look forward to hearing them sing every week.
I can still remember when they first started and when they sang once, maybe twice a month. They have come a long way, and I enjoy listening to them on Sundays AND throughout the week!

I preached from John 15 - "THAT YE BEAR MUCH FRUIT"
I felt as though it went well.

We had a good dinner and afterward had birthday cake in honor of Shannon's birthday as well my daughter-in-laws birthday, both of which were on Monday the 14th.

We had two visitors for the afternoon Q&A service - we of course hope that they will return!

Sunday, April 6

2008-04-14T11:18:00.006-05:00

Hmm...

If I don't blog a recap of the day right away I have a tendency to forget what happened!

Rather than sit here for hours and rack my brain for accurate information - these services will fade into oblivion except maybe to those who attended:

Sunday, April 6
Wednesday, April 9

Sunday, March 30

2008-04-01T07:58:00.005-05:00

WHAT A GREAT DAY!

Congregational Singing (A+)
Special Music & Choir (A+)
Food & Fellowship (A+)

I won't give the preaching a grade (:o), but I will say that I enjoyed preaching this Sunday and felt great liberty and fluidity (yes that is a word) while preaching.

The attendance was good, but we still had several people gone for one reason or another.

In the afternoon service I answered 5 questions that had been previously submitted.

It was good to be in the house of the Lord! Amen!

Let me know if you would like a DVD of the service.

Wednesday, March 26

2008-04-01T07:35:00.006-05:00

We continued the teaching in Romans 14:6-12

The gist of the evening's lesson was that...
While we DO have liberty in Christ we must keep in mind:
(a) the weaker brother
(b) the Lord
(c) the judgment seat

The cleaning is still going well.
I overheard someone say that the work that is done in 20 minutes would take one person 3 hours.

So far... so good!

Sunday, March 23

2008-03-27T15:22:00.005-05:00

Our choir (this is not an updated photo) did a tremendous job on Sunday morning singing a Resurrection Musical! I so enjoy listening to them sing. They came from the very bottom and have worked their way to a very respectable choir in just a few short years!

The preaching on the other hand left a lot to be desired. I was very disappointed with the sermon that I gave, and pray that it was not preached in vain. Every once in awhile we preachers "lay an egg"... How terrible is it to lay an egg on Resurrection Sunday!?

We had a wonderful meal afterward - you know the kind... ham, potatoes, green beans, rolls, etc...

The church house was pretty full, and we had several visitors which is always nice.

All in all - a good day!

Wednesday, March 19

2008-03-22T10:45:00.002-05:00

This past Wednesday we began Romans 14 and made our way from verse #1 to #5 as we taught about the weaker brother and matters of conscience.

Afterward we held our prayer meeting and then the congregation dispersed throughout the building to clean. This week seemed to move even smoother and quicker, and the entire church was cleaned in about 20 minutes.

This group cleaning also seems to provide an air of fellowship as well - so far I am very happy with this new arrangement.

[There are no basketball pictures this week. The players were few and I played every game and was not able to snap any pictures.]

SUNDAY, MARCH 16

2008-03-22T10:13:00.008-05:00

This post is rather late, as tomorrow is Sunday again.

We had a good day last Sunday.
The attendance was pretty good.

We enjoyed the choir singing...
Child of the King

We enjoyed the quartet singing...
Then Came the Morning

The congregation sang all of its songs about the crucifixion/cross/death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I then preached - Jesus at Golgotha -
the third stop (Gethsemane, Gabbatha, Golgotha) before the grave.

As always...
we then enjoyed lunch together, and then we finished our day with our Bible Q&A session.

Wednesday, March 12

2008-03-15T12:13:00.006-05:00

Wednesday night was a good night.

I finished Romans chapter 13 after spending 2 weeks on verses 11-14.
Paul uses some great analogies when he speaks of:
dark/light
night/day
sleep/awake
bed clothes/day clothes

~

To hurry the cleaning along on Wednesday nights I purchased 2 more vacuum cleaners.

I have come to detest "bag-less" vacuums. The one we have at the church boasts that it has no dirty filters inside the dirt cup. Well, it DOES have dirty filters everywhere else! You vacuum twice and you have to take the vacuum outside and spend 15 minutes dealing with THREE filthy filters.

So, I decided I would buy 2 "bag" vacuums. I was informed which inexpensive bag vacuum was in the top of Consumer Report's list. I could not find it at the several places I checked so I purchased 2 "Bissell Powerforce" vacuums. They were inexpensive ($38), and as soon as several of our people saw them - they informed me that they were junk.

The remainder of the night I joked that when the bags were full we would just throw the vaccums out and buy two more just like them! :o)

Sunday, March 9

2008-03-10T13:11:00.014-05:00

Yesterday when we walked in the door we were greeted with a brand-new BUNN coffee maker identical to the one on the left. 12 cups of coffee in 3 minutes - wow! Thanks Ron & Shirley and any others that may have helped out.

The bad weather had dissipated by Sunday morning, and the roads were not bad at all.

The crowd was down yesterday...
I know a few people were out of town...
some may still have been ill...
some may have been nervous about the roads...
and of course there were no doubt some who forgot to set their clocks forward for Day Light Savings Time.

The day was a good one:

We heard from the choir - Jesus Pilots My Ship
Aaron also sang - The Steps of A Good Man

I preached last Sunday Jesus at Gethsemane...
And this week from Jesus at Gabbatha
Next Sunday I intend to preach Jesus at Golgotha

I was a bit long yesterday - preaching about 50-55 minutes
We enjoyed a great lunch of chili dogs, etc.
In the 1:00 service I answered 4 questions...
And then the choir practiced for Resurrection Sunday

It was good to be in the house of the Lord!

Snow Saturday

2008-03-08T20:40:00.005-05:00

I wonder what tomorrow holds...

Friday Night Basketball

2008-03-08T17:56:00.010-05:00

Some of these pictures are hilarious!
It is funny to see some of the faces people make when immersed in an activity like this.

Jake trying to stop his older brother

Aaron securing the rebound

Aaron for 2 (yes, a girl has infiltrated our "Men's Basketball")

Ike for 2

Huh?

Personal Foul! :o)

Ike for 3 (Jesse is over matched so he tries distractions)

Andy with the rebound (what is Jesse doing?)

Aaron for 2

Hilarious picture!

Following the shot

Ike trying for the put back

Jake towering over older brother Ike

Fighting for rebound

Ike for 2 (girlfriend trying to stop him)

Jake all stretched out

Girl, this is a man's game!

Ike vs. Andy

Wednesday, March 5

2008-03-08T16:41:00.007-05:00

Wednesday evening I intended to cover Romans 13:11-14
TIME TO WAKE UP
TIME TO CAST OFF
TIME TO PUT ON

I only made it through one verse (#11) and the first point.
There is so much preaching & teaching in that phrase:
"...it is high time to awake out of sleep..."

After our Bible Study and Prayer Meeting we tried something new.
Those who could and those who would - stayed behind to clean the church.
We did an awesome job of cleaning and did the entire thing in 15 minutes!

Over the years we have struggled keeping the cleaning schedule filled - it seemed that the same people did it over and over, and there was just not enough volunteers to fill all the spots. We are going to try it this way and see how it pans out.

Sunday, March 2

2008-03-02T13:55:00.006-05:00

I knew that many families would be out due to sickness, what I did not count on was MY FAMILY being out due to sickness. Shannon told me last night that she would be staying home with our two sick boys (Jake & Jess).

I don't like it when Shannon is gone. It means that our choir will not sing, it means that there will be no special music, and it means that her full and loud piano playing would not be there to cover my many mistakes. Shannon is an important part of our worship service.

I confess... I pouted.

This morning on the way to church on a cloudy, dreary morning - the sun peeked through... and the day just got better after that.

>The attendance was down - but the church house was not empty.
>Carletta did a great job playing the piano.
>We heard some good testimonies.
>I felt liberty preaching on the garden of Gethsemane.
>We had a great time of fellowship around the table.
>God's people were happy and joyful.
>Those who needed the refuge & rest from the world - received it!
>The sun and warmer temperatures greeted us after lunch.

We instituted a NO TOUCH policy from the start so as to keep from spreading any more sickness around. It was funny - several of us touched elbows as a way to greet! :o)

Of the 4 questions I had to answer in the afternoon service - 3 belonged to one family who left early due to not feeling well so we canceled our afternoon service. People stood around visiting for a good while anyway.

"It was a good day in the house of the Lord!"

Last Night on the BB Court

2008-02-27T14:34:00.003-05:00

Jeffery trying to stop a 3 by Brian

Everyone waiting for the rebound

A scary looking picture of Stephen & Andy

Steve putting up 2

Jacob (not sure what he is doing)

Jacob VS. Steve

All eyes on Jacob

Comments

2008-02-21T10:00:00.005-05:00

I am sorry, I forgot to turn the comments section in this blog "on".
All new posts to this blog should allow comments now.

If we have trouble like we have in the past I may have to turn on "moderation", but for now you are free to post comments as you desire.

Men's Basketball (2-19-08)

2008-02-20T13:15:00.007-05:00

Indoor action shots are something I have not yet conquered. Here are some blurry photos of our men playing basketball.

Aaron (Isaac watching in the background)

Aaron & Isaac fighting for the rebound (Andy in the background)

Issac & Aaron fighting for the rebound

Brian for two points (Joe looking on)

I just happened to get all four of my sons in this shot

Jacob giving up on the ball as it goes out of bounds (Isaac & Brian looking on)

Jesse going for the rebound (Andy & Aaron looking on)

Aaron going for the two (Joe & Jacob boxing out)

Recent Baptisms

2008-02-20T12:51:00.004-05:00

Don & Vanessa