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Compiled by the Faith Newsletter editor: Burt Pearson
Contents:
From your Pastor
What Are We Doing? - Worship Committee
What Are We Doing? - Outreach Committee
What Are We Doing? - Christian Education
From the Deacons
Welcome to Dick Rothgeb
Welcome to the Burckharts
Obituary of Common Sense
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From your Pastor |
Pastor Bobby's usual message will not be in this month's newsletter.
As you are aware by now, our pastor has had a pretty hectic and trying past couple of weeks. During that time, he has had to travel to the Carolinas twice and perform funerals for both of his grandmothers and attend a called Synod meeting, which had been scheduled for March 3. And Susie and little Bobby have had to travel even more, since they had to return from Tallahassee prior to leaving for the Carolinas the first time.
You will notice, however, that we have a new format, thanks to Al Spengler, and that we finally have some actual news of what's going on in our church family, thanks to the Worship, Christian Ed. and Outreach committees and their chairmen, Tony Chambers, Bryan Holmes and Russell Penick respectively. |
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What Are We Doing? - Worship Committee |
The worship committee members are as follows: Pastor Adams, Carol Chambers, Tony Chambers, Bryan Thomas Hall, Russell Penick, Mari Richardson and Russ Soule
Next evening communion service – Mar 7th
A separate scripture reading will be incorporated in the evening service.
Special choir anthems are being selected for Palm Sunday and Easter services. There will not be a special music program for Easter, only the special anthems during worship services.
Children’s choir will be taking a break for a time.
The new church bulletin was initiated at the beginning of February. This bulletin was a result of much work by the Second Wind committee and the Worship committee, with special thanks to Mari Richardson and Jamie Spurlock.
The sanctuary sound system has been improved by the addition of a new sound board and new wireless microphone for Pastor Adams. The sound system was also completely re-wired during the sanctuary remodel. The old sound board has been moved to the choir room, with the addition of new speakers, for choir practice.
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What Are We Doing? - Outreach Committee |
Investigating the possibility of getting our church information to the local hotels (Cocoa, Merritt Island, Cocoa Beach).
Checking with PAFB Family Services to see if our information could be included in welcome packets that are given to families being newly assigned to Patrick.
Checking to see if we currently advertise in the newspaper under the "Reformed" heading.
Determining whether Faith ARP cards could be included at the Welcome Center.
Looking into new utility hook-ups for mailing purposes.
New signs have been completed and are ready to be placed at Hidden Creek and Courtenay as well as Hidden Creek and Tropical Trail.
Friends & Family Day: 5/15/10:This outreach event will also be used as early registration for VBS. A simple portable food might include hot dogs, baked beans, cookies, popcorn, cotton candy in a fair-type atmosphere. Possible entertainment is being considered.. Church information would be available to hand out to visitors. This event could be advertised in the newspaper and on Christian Radio.
Other outreach suggestions being considered are: hosting one or two reformed conferences a year, a radio time slot to advertise our events on Christian radio, seeking ways to reach home school attendees.
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The above are the current opportunities we are persuing for outreach.
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What Are We Doing? - Christian Education |
We now have $3480.57 in our Sunday School mission fund.
Foundational Class, "What We Believe & Teach": This study has begun in the Adult Two class. The size of the class has increased and they are now meeting in room just off the rear of the sanctuary.
Rowell Farm Visit: About 30 persons attended on a very cold afternoon.
Junior Curriculum, grades 4-6: Carolyn Plemmons hopes to work up a curriculum for her class for next year to include the following: In-depth study on church membership, study on hymns and their theology, Communion and Covenants.
Communicants' Class: A communicants' class, to be led by Bryan Hall, will be offered beginning 2/14/10. The class will be approximately six weeks in length.
Teacher Training: At this time we have 23 people from the Florida Presbytery planning to attend the teacher training to be held at Faith on Saturday, 3/20/10. The training will be led by Brent Turner, ARP Director of CE, and Sue Jakes, Great Commission representative. We are looking to offer two sessions, one before lunch and one after, and each trainer would take a session.
Lunch will be offered, catered by Sonny's, and if weather permits, we will set up under the awning in picnic style.
Missions Weekend:4/17&18/10 - The Benicourts will be unable to be here during the time we have our missions weekend scheduled. We will work on securing another missionary.
VBS: Dave has spoken with Frank VanDalen who has agreed to be the speaker for our adult portion of VBS. The VBS material, "The Race Is On," has been received. We will offer a class for youth ages.
Youth:Paul and Beth Kostner have agreed to coordinate youth/family events for the church.
The following appeared as part of the Pastor’s message in the January Newsletter.
1. Sunday School – 9:00 am
Adult 1
An expositional study of the book of Zechariah. This is an in depth, verse by verse study.
Teacher: Phil Plemmons
Adult 2
A foundational study of basic biblical doctrines (Beginning January 2010).
This is a great study if you are new to Reformed theology, or if you simply want to review the great foundational biblical doctrines.
The study guide is, Confessing Christ- by Great Commission
Teacher: Burt Pearson
Adult 3
A study of the “end times,” or “the last things” with a survey of the 3 millennial views using: The Millennium and Beyond, Stanley N. Gundry, series editor and Darrell L. Bock, general editor.
Teacher: Mike Gallogly
Sr. High Youth 9th –12th Grade
A general study of the prophets, and why they came, what they said, and why God sent them. This is a great class to help continue to grow in your relationship with Christ, and to fellowship with other youth.
Teacher: Tony Chambers
Jr High Youth 7th + 8th Grade
Great Commission Curriculum
This is a great class to help continue to grow in your relationship with Christ. Good group interaction, fellowship, and an opportunity to wrestle further develop a Christian world view.
Teacher: Bryan Holmes
2. Mid-Week Studies in the Ministry Center
Wednesday Morning- 10:00am
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Read and discuss the Westminster Shorter Catechism and study the Scripture that supports these doctrines of grace.
Teacher: Pastor Adams
Thursday Morning Women’s Study 10:00 a.m.
An in-depth study of the book of Esther. This is also a great discipleship / fellowship for our women.
Teacher: Corlie Grey
(Babysitting provided)
3. Community Groups
North Brevard – Titusville (Wednesday evenings)
Facilitator: Bryan Banks
Host: Bryan and Melissa Banks
This is a marriage study that meets on Wednesday evenings using the book, Each for the Other, by Bryan Chappel. An opportunity for discipleship, fellowship, prayer, accountability, and encouragement.
Please call Bryan and Melissa at 383-7797 for additional information.
South Brevard- (Every other Tuesday evening beginning January 2010)
Facilitator: Frank Heeman
Host: John and Diane Perez
This is a foundational study of Reformed Theology using the book, When Grace comes Home, by Terry Johnson
Please call Frank and Kristi Heeman at 254-5517 for additional information.
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The above are the current opportunities we have for additional Christian education and discipleship.
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From the Deacons |
Psalm Singing: A Reformed Staple
We know that we are commanded to sing praises unto God. As the psalmist said in Psalm 98, "Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him." We also know that not all praise is God-honoring praise. For example, Aaron and the majority of Israel tried to praise God by making a golden calf and praising it as God. We know that God then punished Israel (through Moses) greatly. Just as this calf displeased God, other incorrect practices of worship also displease Him, including songs that do not honor Him. So what songs give correct praise to God? They must first be scripturally correct. Anything that is against scripture is against God and therefore not pleasing to Him.
To recap, so for we must sing songs that praise God and are scripturally sound. Where then should we get material for these songs? Should it be from the human imagination? No. The human imagination is tainted because of the fall (this is a massive understatement). This said, imagination does play a role with the arrangement and tune, but the words should not be man-inspired. Where can we find something that is not inspired by man? Only scripture is not man-inspired, but is, rather, the only place where we can find solely God-inspired material.
Now, the requirements thus far are that we must sing songs that are based solely on scripture and that praise God (which goes without saying since anything and everything in scripture is pleasing to God and good for His children). Since these songs must be scripturally based, why not use songs that already exist in scripture? This is actually very easy to do since there are 150 Psalms that were the songs of Israel for years. It is true that we cannot sing the Psalms as-is when translated since the whole musical scheme changes. This does not, however, mean that we cannot paraphrase slightly (and I emphasize slightly). As long as the paraphrasing does not change the meaning of the Psalm then there is not a problem. It is just like when translating the Bible from its original tongue to English and coming up with all of the legitimate versions that we have today.
Even Paul says in Colossians 3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." Nothing in the Bible is insignificant and Paul listing Psalms first is key. All of this said, it is perfectly fine and it is even commanded that we sing hymns. So why then do we not sing the Psalms with greater frequency. We believe in the totality of scripture and the Psalms are a part of scripture and we must sing all of them. It is also in our heritage to sing the Psalms: look at Calvin's Geneva Psalter. It is in this deacon's humble opinion that we do not do enough of this at Faith and we must strive to do better.
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In Christ, Bryan T. Hall
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Welcome to Dick Rothgeb |
On February 7, 2010, Dick Rothgeb joined the Faith congregation. Dick has lived in the Viera/SunTree area since 2003, moving here from Tennessee, near Dollywood.
Dick is a retired accountant. He worked as an auditor for the National Credit Union Administration and for NASA in Washington, D.C. Following that work, he went into private practice in Tennessee. He is widowed with two grown sons, one in Massachusetts and the other in Knoxville, Tennessee. They each have a boy and a girl, so he enjoys four grandchildren. Dick also enjoys reading, swimming, and still likes volunteering in accounting, including past church treasurer work.
Dick was raised in a Christian Baptist home and was saved as an 8 year old. In college he chose accounting over a ministerial major. He faced some worship challenges in the 80s when he started studying with R.C. Sproul. This led him to the Reformed faith, and eventually here to Faith Presbyterian.
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We’re glad you’re here, Dick!
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Welcome to the Burckharts |
On January 31, 2010, the Burckharts joined the Faith family. Kent, Penni and their daughter Karissa have been attending Faith since moving to Rockledge from south Brevard where they attended Covenant Presbyterian for the previous 12 years.
Kent is originally from northern Indiana and Penni is from Dayton, Ohio. Their parents were friends so they have known each other for a very long time. Kent moved to Florida in 1983. Penni move here in 1997, the same year they married.
Their daughter Karissa is in 2nd grade, attending Trinity Lutheran in Rockledge. Her favorite subject is recess, followed closely by math. She also enjoys soccer and climbing trees. We won’t go into some of the side effects of her love of climbing…
Kent is a Systems Manager for Health First and Penni is a homemaker as well as a piano teacher, currently teaching 7 students. Kent was privileged to be able to attend Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) part time while working, and graduated with Pastor Bobby and Brad Bresslin, Penni’s brother, who has preached at Faith on occasion. Though Kent is not pastoring a congregation at this time, both he and Penni viewed the seminary education as preparation for opportunities in the future.
Along with work and school, Kent enjoys snowboarding, though he has not done it in a long time. Penni enjoys piano, scrap booking and reading mysteries.
Both Kent and Penni were raised in Christian homes. Missions are near and dear to their hearts. Kent has served on several short term mission trips over the years. Before getting married, Penni spent five years with Baptists Mid-Missions in Brazil as a church plant associate, teaching music, discipleship and evangelism. She is happiest when serving the Lord. They are looking forward to opportunities here at Faith.
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Welcome Kent, Penni and Karissa!
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Obituary of Common Sense |
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. When a teacher was fired for reprimanding an unruly student, his condition only worsened.
Common Sense continued to lose ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to give an aspirin to a student, but could not inform parents if a student wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense really took a beating when the burglar could sue you for assault while defending yourself from a burglar in your own home.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled some in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is to Blame, and I'm a victim.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, good. If not, join the majority.
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From “The Fishwrapper”
as provided by Marian Sweigart
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