The Hardest Lesson – Love

by Rev Robert A Wendel

“This is my commandment, that you love one another.” John 15:12

It sounds so simple; it turns out to be so hard! To love some others, sure: Some people are easy to love. But if you knew a certain individual in my family. . . my office. . . my neighborhood! To treat all people decently, to be civil, to accord them their rights—that, with great self-control, I may manage. But to love them? The selfish, the arrogant? God alone could love some of the people I have to deal with!

It’s God’s attitude that allows me to love more than I would. Looking at Scripture, we get a sense that first century Christians were drawn to each other by this attitude of love. During Jesus’ lifetime, they understood that their path to the Kingdom stayed true when they put the interests of others ahead of their own. (Acts 4:34) Onlookers reported that there didn’t seem to be a needy person among them. Wherever these first Christians went, healing and prayer followed them.

What happened to this little group that followed the Rabbi from Nazareth? Pentecost happened, so they were blessed by the Holy Spirit, which made them more loving because they had made room in their lives for Jesus.

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Done,
With all Thy quickening powers;
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.
Isaac Watts

God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Reinhold Niebuhr
(1892-1971)

ABW is Hard at Work

Even though our ABW ladies have not been meeting in person, they are still hard at work. They have two projects ongoing. The first is our Quarters for Grades project for Weirton Christian Center and the second is our used postage stamp mission project. These projects have been part of the ABW for quite a few years. There is a box on the counter in the office for your used postage stamps. Donations for the Quarters for Grades project can be turned into the church office. The ladies are anxious to get back to meeting in person for their monthly meetings and helping with the ABW projects.

Stocking Our Pantry

When our students get back in class hopefully we can get back to normal at last! We are buying food to stock our pantry for the upcoming school year. Hopefully we can get back to normal with our Backpack teams once again packing backpacks weekly. I will be contacting each of our team members to verify they are still interested in packing food once each month. I am sure we will need to make some changes but we always have enough great volunteers to get the job done. We would welcome any new volunteers to become part of our Backpack Ministry.

Last winter we were given over 500 jars of peanut butter from Helping Hands. We donated many of them to other backpack programs since we could not use them all before they expired. We still have peanut butter and have donated it to our Blessing Box Ministry to be given out before it expires in August. We will be needing fresh peanut butter to distribute to our Backpack Kids. For the months of July and August please donate peanut butter. God Bless everyone who has donated food, cash or prayed for our Backpack Kids.

Summer is in Full Swing

Summer is in full swing, the weather, for the most part, is warm and children in our area are out of school. Speaking of school, children around the world don’t always have the advantages of children in our area as far as getting the supplies that they need. So as we usually do for July and August, we are collecting school supplies for our shoeboxes. Things like pencils, erasers, pens, crayons, small coloring books, colored pencils and pencil sharpeners are what is needed. This year I have been blessed with a donation of enough markers to give each child a pack. If you are not comfortable going to the stores yet, monetary gifts are always welcome. These children will be blessed beyond measure and so will you. Just think every time they pick up a pencil or a crayon, they know that someone from Beckley First Baptist Church in the U.S.A. thought enough of them and loved them enough to give them these school supplies. A collection box is located in Welcome Center for your donations. Please keep this ministry in your prayers as they continue to spread the name of Jesus and the love of God to children around the world.

Blessing Box

We have a blessing box located on the college side of the building out by Neville Street to help those in need. This box is filled daily with ready to eat food items. If you would like to help, there is a collection box located outside the pastor’s office and items can be left there. Please keep these people in your prayers daily as they struggle.

Helping Hands Continue to Help

First off, thank you so very, very much for your continued support of this ministry. Its mission of providing food and clothing to the people of Raleigh County is needed more now than ever before. Our number of families and individuals seeking help has been steady for the most part. God is blessing us as we continue to serve his people. Your prayers for this ministry are always appreciated and greatly needed. Also if you have a few hours in the morning one day to spare, we can always use an extra set of hands.

We are asking for you to continue to donate non-perishable items, toilet paper and soap. Items can be either brought over to Helping Hands or left in the black container outside the church office.

Life Lessons

by Pastor Doc Adkins

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Matthew 5:13

I am not quite sure why, but the other day I saw a little girl having the time of her life evidently, with her own pack of chewing gum. First it was one piece and another and so on, until I heard her mother say, “you chew it all now there’ll be nothing left for later.” I nearly laughed out loud when I saw her reach in and stretch it out of her mouth as far as it would go. And then it happened! Smack! It broke into and now gum is in her hair, on her chin, and stuck to her fingers. Bummer!

Maybe I was just at the right place to see it all but maybe it was where I needed to be. Kids are God’s living illustrations to life.

Here are a few random thoughts that came out of the moment.

Don’t Get Stuck.
Sometimes we get stuck in our spiritual walk. We have times where we just get in a rut. We kind of get stalled and it seems like nothing is going to work to fix it. We may not be spending time in God’s Word or we may be reading our Bible on a regular basis but we aren’t getting anything out of it. It’s like stretching out chewing gum. Why do kids do it? Chewing gum was meant for one thing only. Chewing!! Our walk with the Lord is for one thing only, to bring us closer to Him

Don’t Lose Your Flavor.
Gum is only tasty those first few seconds that you put it in your mouth. It loses its flavor really quickly. How about you? Do you feel like life has chewed you up and made you lose your desire to serve the Lord? Infuse some flavor into your life by getting back to walking and talking with the One who can sustain you. Read your Bible more. Pray more. Draw closer to the Lord and allow Him to encourage you and breathe new life into you.

We have to make a difference in this world. Remember what Jesus said about being the salt of the earth in Matthew 5:13.…but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?…

Don’t Pop!
Have you ever been going along in your walk with the Lord and all of a sudden someone or outside forces brings you down? The air goes out and you deflate.

I’ve had that happen to me and it can really bring you low. I think that’s when we have to learn to keep our eyes on eternal values. We can’t allow other people or circumstances to pop our bubbles. We have to just keep on doing what we know is right and serving the Lord to the best of our ability.

We can also pop when we get too busy with life and forget to slow down. There is so much wisdom in that old phrase, “learn to take life one day at a time”

Don’t be Distracting.
Gum in someone’s mouth can be the most distracting thing. It can annoy us. It can throw us off focus. How about us? Are we living in such a way that we distract the cause of Christ? Do we bicker, gossip, and act unbecoming as a Christian?

Don’t be a stumbling block for others to reject Christ or for other Christians to falter in their Christian life. We have to keep our attitudes in check. We have to keep our tongues in check. We have to show the love of Christ.

Don’t Get Stuck to the Bottom of Someone’s Shoe.
Recently I got out of the car at Walmart and stepped in some gum. It was a little warm and that gum stuck to my shoe big time. I tried wiping it off by rubbing my foot in the little grassy area by the car and scraping my shoe on the cement but it just wouldn’t come off.

As I went on my way my foot kept sticking to the floor everywhere I went. I have to tell you that that sticky gum put me in a bad mood. I hate going to Walmart anyway but I just needed a couple things so I stopped there while I was out. By the time I left I was pretty cranky and out of sorts.

As I pulled out of the parking lot, I realized that I had just let a little wad of gum spoil my day and cause my whole outlook to change. I was in such a good mood when I pulled into the parking space.

I had allowed that insignificant sticky gum on the bottom of my shoe to determine the direction for my day—that direction being a pretty miserable attitude.

I know I need to not allow circumstances or other people to control how I act. That day with the gum on my shoe, I had to stop right there and ask the Lord to forgive me and my attitude.

I think when we become that person with the bad attitude and the grumbling spirit; we end up being the gum stuck to someone else’s shoe. We start annoying them. We start being the thing that makes other people cranky and out of sorts.

Don’t Become Ugly.
Chewing gum comes out of the package all fresh and new. It looks nice. It smells nice. Look what happens when it gets chewed though. Chewed gum is just plain ugly.

It actually becomes little wads of ugly. We have the potential to become little wads of ugly too. As Christians, we have to continually allow the filling of the Holy Spirit and be sensitive to God’s leading or we will become dried out, ugly, and stuck to the bottom of a chair somewhere.

Don’t you love being around new Christians? They are full of life and eager to learn and serve the Lord. They are fresh and new and just out of the package.

Conclusion: I hope I can avoid some of the pitfalls of being gummed up in my life. I don’t want someone to look under a desk someday and find me in a wad, dried out, and stuck fast. I know I need to start by drawing closer to the Lord. Ever soaked a jar to remove a stuck label? That is what soaking in God’s Word can do for us. It can break us free.

God’s Word is like that Goo Be Gone stuff. It has the power to release us. It can help scrape us off of the ledge. It has the power to move us and get us unstuck.

When we are stuck and gummed up it clogs up the wheels of the cause of Christ. I want my life to count for the Lord. I want to make a difference. In order to do that I have to remember that the Christian life is all about being that salt and light of the earth.

ABW is Always Willing to Help

Our ABW women are always ready and willing to help in whatever way is needed by the church and its congregation. We have several mission projects ongoing even though we are not currently meeting. They include our Quarters for Grades project at the Weirton Christian Center plus our used postage stamp project. Quarters (or dollars) for the children at Weirton Christian Center can be dropped off at the church office Monday through Friday from 9:00 until noon. There is a container for your used postage stamps on the counter in the office. We are anxiously waiting for the time when we can all get together again.

We invite you to join us for Women and GIRLS’ Day, June 12, 2021, 1-3:30 pm EDT, for fellowship and the chance to bless American Baptist Nursing Homes! This is a virtual meeting.

Participants will break out into small groups to create bookmarks, a small packet of useful items, a beaded bracelet, a greeting card puzzle, and a greeting card for American Baptist nursing homes. Special guests include Rev. Aracelis Vásquez Haye (keynote speaker) and Lauren Thomas-Moyett (music leader). We will also announce our 2021-2023 Ministry Focus.

Go to www.abwomensministries.org/womensday today and register!

Living So Others See Christ in Me

by Rev Robert A Wendel

The Lord make His face shine upon the, and be gracious unto thee. Numbers 6:25

A six-ton block of Carrara marble, from Mount Altissimo in Italy, stands in Christus Gardens in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Carved within the flecked marble is a concave sculpture of the face of Christ. (A concave sculpture looks as though the image has been pressed into the marble, like a handprint pressed into wet cement.) Beneath the face, these words have been carved: “The eyes of the Lord are in every place keeping watch upon the evil and the good.”

As you move to the left of the sculpture, and then to the right, you can understand why the artist had chosen those words. Christ’s whole face seems to move with you. Not just His eyes, but His entire face seems to move with you, wherever you go. Even though it is an optical illusion, it seems to fitting that a sculpture of Christ should possess such a mystical quality.

As I look at my own life, I wonder if I have done as good a job as the Italian artist. I have attempted to carve the face of God’s Son into my humanity, but what kind of face have I carved? How do others see Christ in me? The sculpture has given me something to strive for. I pray that Christ’s image is pressed deeply into me, in a concave fashion, so that when others move to the left of me or to the right, they will see Christ turn and gaze out upon them. . . . . from all angles of my life.

Dear Father, help us to carve the face of Your Son within our hearts. And may His face have the freedom to turn loving toward others—no matter where they walk. Amen.

“The Resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over, no matter what my circumstances.” –Robert Flatt

Another School Year Behind Us

Another school year is behind us and soon we will begin restocking our Backpack room. We will search all area stores and the Mountaineer Food Bank for healthy food and snacks for our Backpack Kids.

On May 26th we had representatives from Mountaineer Food Bank come to inspect our facility and review our procedures. Every two years they review each agency to make sure they are following all rules. We are pleased to announce that we passed with flying colors.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed in any way to support our Backpack Ministry. May God Bless You! Please continue to pray for our Backpack children to be happy and healthy.

For the month of June please donate cans of Tomato or Chicken Noodle soup.