Text Box: Use Me or Lose Me Recent surveys indicate that more than half of the Baby Boomer population wants the rest of their lives to count for something more significant. They want to invest the rest of their lives for the betterment of their families, their communities, and their world. This cohort of people is not only huge, but more than half of them want to give back to others. For the church that is aware of these realities, the boomer could well represent the largest labor force for the kingdom that the church has ever seen. These men and women will probably willingly serve in the traditional ways (ushering, greeting, sitting on boards, teaching classes, etc.), but if these are the only offerings you have then many of them will find greater opportunities to give back to the community outside the church.  This is what the Baby Boomer means when he says to the church, “Use me or lose me.”  He or she would prefer to get involved in something significant in the church, but if the church has too little to offer, he will find opportunities elsewhere. Leadership Network Advance 3/25/08

Text Box:   Text Box: First Baptist Church EDITION OF The Baptist Record Church Offices: 20144 Pineville Road, Suite B Mailing Address: P. O. Box 338 Long Beach, MS 39560 228-864-2584, Website: www.fbclb.com Text Box: May 1, 2008 Text Box:   OUR GOD REIGNS! Text Box: Total Annual Budget                 $835,869.00 Budget to Date Needed              $473,132.97 Budget Received to Date           $449,285.16 April 2008 Budget as of 4/30/08                   $  63,084.44 Budget Rec. as of 4/27/08          $  49,287.28 His Church Rising Totals           $691,648.58* *[Includes “Roast for LaRue” proceeds of $6,000]

Text Box: Good News- Part IV- We will be receiving a used Rodger’s Organ from Clarke-Venable Baptist Church in Decatur MS, for use in our new building. While this instrument will certainly not equal the beautiful organ we had before Katrina, it will be a great starting-place for us as we begin to worship in our new facilities.   The Preschool Choir will be singing this Sunday morning, May 4. Once again, I look forward to their sharing with us!   The Children’s Choir will have our last meeting time on May 7.  On May 14 we will combine the entire time with GA’s and RA’s for Awards Night. Thanks for a great year!   Worship & Youth Choirs will resume their regular schedules this Sunday afternoon, May 4. The Life-song Project   Youth Choir Musical Date Change: May 18 2:30 pm Middle School Gym

Text Box: If you have a college graduate, please call the office or write on your bulletin tab their name, university, and degree before May 9.  Thank you. Text Box: Heart to Heart Deacon Election Results. Those elected to serve on our Deacon Ministry team to complete one year unexpired terms are: Russell Stevison, Bob Sandberg, and Dink Boyd. Those elected to fill three year terms are: Walt Gautier, Ken Gibson, Bill Hutchinson, Bill John, Pete Meece, and Billy Skellie. Thank you to all who participated in our deacon nomination and election process. We will have 18 men serving in our deacon ministry beginning June 1. Mel Smith will serve as our new deacon chairman and the election of the other deacon officers will take place during their June meeting. Expect more information about the deacon ministry in future newsletters. Workday this Saturday. Can you help us this Saturday, 7:00 AM, as we continue the topsoil back fill around our new facilities? The rain on Sunday settled the soil we placed inside the islands and now we can go back and do the topping off to complete the areas where we worked this past Saturday. Also, we will continue to fill the balance of the spaces requiring topsoil in preparation for landscaping. Tools needed for workday: Touch teams will need gloves, malls to break concrete, shovels, garden and yard rakes, a few wheel barrows, and safety glasses for eye protection. Equipment teams will need tractors, dump trucks and other dirt moving equipment. If you have dirt moving equipment and can work anytime before Saturday, contact me. We can move the dirt prior to Saturday in preparation for the Touch Teams. See You Soon! - Bro. LaRue

Text Box: Brenda’s Notes . . .                  I want to thank those that turned in their “Service Opportunity Survey” this past Sunday.  I pray that I see more of them this coming Sunday.  I especially want to thank you for putting your names and phone numbers on them.  That was an oversight of mine.  If you did not get one this past Sunday, please be sure and get one this Sunday (they will have a place for name and phone number).  We are at a critical point in our church family and we need each one of us to step up and serve in some area of the church.  There are many listings of all areas – pray and see where God is leading you to serve.                  I would like to take this time to thank two committees that have been working very hard over the past few months preparing to have a top notch ministry set up and underway when we get into the new facility.  They are the Children’s Committee and the Preschool Committee.  They have been working on Policies and on logos and security for our children and preschoolers.  There will be a lot of things that we used to do but also, because of the day and time that we live in, there will be others that need to be in place to provide a safe and secure and kid–friendly environment for our children.  Please be on watch for these things in the near future and also be in prayer for them as they continue their work.               From your Construction Committee   Because of safety and final construction issues we would like to ask that you not go to the new building until we notify you that it is OK.  They are in the process of finishing work in the education area and extensive construction in the multipurpose room.  Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.  Just to let you know - all is going well.  Keep praying.

Text Box: BABY/CHILD DEDICATION Sunday, May 11, during morning worship.   If you would like to participate, please call the church office.

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