Donna is doing well!

Donna is doing well after her surgery. She isn't home, yet, but she expects to go home today. Please keep the Guytons in your prayers!

Meals for the Guytons

Donna Guyton is having surgery on August 31. It's an outpatient procedure, but she'll need a few days to recover. If you want to take supper to them one night, you can sign up on our schedule here.

http://www.takethemameal.com/meals.php?t=IYIH8068

You can also go to www.takethemameal.com and find the schedule using the name, Guyton, and the password, Guy.

This is my first time making a schedule like this for our class, but I thought we could give it a try! The Guytons only want meals for a week every other day, so that is what I have set up. If you want to sign up for a meal and have trouble with the site, please let me know. I'll help you! We can adjust a day here and there, too, if needed.

Please keep the Guytons in your prayers. Even a routine surgery can be scary, but we'll pray for their peace and Donna's quick recovery!

Greg Oakes is home!

Greg was released from the hospital this morning. Andrea and I caught up with Greg and Chasity in the parking lot of the hospital. Greg seems to be doing great and is looking forward to resting at home for a few days! Please continue to keep the Oakes family in your prayers. I'm sure that cards and phone calls are great, too!

Update - Greg Oakes

Greg had his surgery this morning and is doing fine so far. Derrick stopped by early this afternoon, and Greg was still asleep. Unfortunately, during some of the testing on Greg's spinal cord, he bit his tongue and that will cause him some problems when he is fully awake later today. Chasity expects Greg to stay in the hospital until Thursday or Friday. If you are able to go by there, call, or send a card, I know they would appreciate the encouragement. Chasity is still working on getting their cruise rescheduled!

Prayer Request - Greg Oakes

If you were in Sunday School this past Sunday, then you already heard that Greg and Chasity Oakes need our prayers. Greg has a back injury that is causing him a tremendous amount of pain. He is in the hospital in Cartersville and is planning to have back surgery tomorrow (6/22/10). First, please pray for a miraculous healing. The surgery is somewhat common, but it's still serious. It would be great if they didn't even need to do it. Second, if God doesn't decide to heal Greg miraculously, then pray for a smooth surgery and quick recovery. Please also pray for Greg and Chasity to have peace and encouragement during this time. They would love to hear from you if you are able to call or drop them a card or stop by. Chasity's cell phone number is 706-346-5950. We'll update the blog when we hear more.

In Case You Didn't Read The Book

Hey! I saw on a couponing website that christianaudio.com is giving away Forgotten God by Francis Chan as their audiobook FREE download of the month. I've posted the link below.

http://christianaudio.com/free?utm_source=christianaudio&utm_campaign=ffea1f007c-Free_June_2010&utm_medium=email

You can also download it directly to your iphone using the following link.

http://christianaudio.com/iphoneapps

Now, for the disclaimer - I'm posting this so y'all will know about it. I don't have an iphone, and I don't actually know how to do this myself. I'm hoping it won't be hard to do.

Saturday's Social

We had a great time on Saturday evening. We were blessed that the rain moved past us, and the snake was just a small snake!

If you weren't there, we missed you. Hopefully, we can plan another gathering sometime soon.

Saturday's Cookout

Derrick and I are excited to have folks over to our house on Saturday! I've put a list together of the food that we need for Saturday. I've tried to keep it VERY simple. Right now our count for folks attending is 26 adults and 30 kids, and everyone hasn't responded, yet. We are going to have a good time, but it's going to be hard to have a long sit down dinner - which is why I am suggesting chips, cookies, and other finger food type items.

Here's my menu list:

Gordys - hot dogs, buns, ketchup, mustard

We need:
Slaw for hot dogs - 1 family (just a hot dog topping for mostly adults)
Chili for hot dogs - 1 family (just a hot dog topping for mostly adults, canned is fine)
Chips of all kinds - 3 families with 4 bags each
Chips and salsa - 1 family with 4 bags of chips and salsa to go with it
Cookies/brownies - 4 families with 4 dozen cookies/brownies each (homemade is nice, but store bought is fine - we have a lot of kids and they'll be happy with oreos or whatever!)
Drinks - 2 families to bring four 2 liter drinks each, 3 families to bring a gallon of tea, 3 families to bring a gallon of lemonade or kool-aid
Ice - 4 big bags of ice
Plates - 60 dinner and 60 dessert plates
Napkins
Forks - Parkers

I'm certainly open to menu changes, and you are welcome to bring more than what's on the list. I was just trying to think of basics to get everyone fed.

If you haven't responded as to whether or not you are coming on Saturday, you can email Andrea or comment here.

If you are coming on Saturday, please comment here with what you want to bring. Please read the comments above yours to see what others plan to bring so you'll know what has been covered already.

I'll need to go shopping later this week and I'll want to cover anything that hasn't been covered. So if you don't comment here, I'll email or call you tomorrow!

Thanks! Please pray for good weather!

Prayer request

Ok, for most that know me, this is very hard for me to do, but I have a huge prayer request for my family. Let me start at the beginning. On Oct. 25, 2008, Hal took transferred to a new department within the Dept. of Defense. Unfortunately,he had to temporarily relocate to Boston, MA. At the time he left, we didn't know how long he would be gone. God miraculously stepped in, and he was able to relocate to Macon on Feb. 16, 2009. Sadly, that's where he has been ever since. He works four 10 hour shifts Mon-Thur, which allows him to be home every weekend. Needless to say, I live for Thursdays! The prayer request is for him to be transferred to a location within driving distance of home. We are a little encouraged, because there is some change coming in June, and his supervisor has told him that there would be 18 new openings within the Atlanta area. Please say a prayer that he may get one of these transfers. After 18 long months of separation, both of us are growing very weary. It is hard on him to be gone from his wife and daughters, and it is equally hard for us to have him gone. There are some days when I don't know how I am going to get through. I had one of those particularly bad days this past Thursday. The girls just could not get along with each other and it was getting the best of me. I know a lot of it has to do with Haleigh's ""terrible two's". To top it off, I found out about a ladies conference that was happening at FBC Woodstock that I really thought would do me some good, but it was sold out. Don't get me wrong, I love my girls dearly, but sometimes I need to be rejuvanated. So, if any of you ladies hear of a conference or retreat that might be of interest to me, then please let me know. I miss going to the Thursday morning Bible study on a regular basis, but that seems to always be the time that one or both of the girls are sick. I know it's an attack of the enemy.

Please understand that it is hard for me to ask for prayer. I want to pretend that everything is ok. Don't get me wrong, we are fine, but we just miss our hubby/daddy being at home like he should be. I really have such a deeper appreciation for women who truly are single moms. Lift them up in your prayers as well. It is not an easy job, but by God's grace, it can be done. It is the only way I have survived this long. Thank you so much for being such a supportive group of people. We love you and thank God for being a part of your lives.

Love,
Leigh Anne

Intercede...

Hey guys...

Let's remember Jamie and Jennifer Horton in these days. Jennifer is facing the next year without the promise of a job. This can be scary but certainly not bigger than God. Please pray for guidance, provision, and awesome things ahead for this family.

A

Back to life

Me, Shep, and the kids went to South Ga. for a few days over Spring Break. We had a blast! Now it is Monday and the "real world" is kicking my rear. I have piles of laundry and a house that needs some serious cleaning.

We missed church yesterday which is something we don't normally do. It was nice to be together but we missed all of you. Church is more than church to us....you are our extended family. I hope your Spring Breaks were a ton of fun or at least relaxing and restful.

Anyway, we look forward to seeing you next week as Shep continues with teaching on the "Forgotten God".

Please continue to pray for Beth and Michael Gill. They have posted about a situation that needs our prayers.

Also, Lauren and Kent Howard will be welcoming their baby boy to the world this Thursday (they will induce her) if she doesn't go into labor sooner. We are so excited for them! Please pray for smooth delivery and transition for their family. We will begin taking meals to them next week.
Kristen Bishop is heading that up and she will let us know what they need and when.....

I pray blessings over you all this week. I hope God has been speaking to you....and more than that...I hope you have been listening for Him!

Andrea

Gill Family Update

We have been so blessed with prayers and words of encouragement from all of you. Thank you SO MUCH!!


Currently, Michael's situation is still unresolved, but it has improved. We will know tomorrow afternoon, hopefully, what the final judgement will be. The State people did some investigating and determined that most of the claims were innaccurate and there was not enough for them to take action. So, they passed it down to Micheal's umpire association to deal with. We know that he will proably not get to officiate a championship game this year, but he has the opportunity to state his case as to why he should be allowed to officiate playoff games. The board members, ironically he is one, will meet tomorrow afternoon. Please pray that Michael will have the right words to speak and the other men will have ears that will listen with open hearts and minds.



On a slightly different note, through all of this I have been convicted to memorize more scripture. I thought you all would be a great source to find encouragement in the word. Let me know what your favorite verses or passages are. I hope to compile all your input for the class to share!!

In Christ,
Beth Gill

Perfect Example

I just want to applaud Beth for doing exactly as she did. This blog was designed to keep us in touch with each other and the goings-on in our lives. She did just that!! She and Michael needed some prayer support so she went to the very place that she should expect to receieve it.

I hope you all are continuing to take seriously the charge to prayer that we have as believers.

We are called and told by God to "pray without ceasing".

I don't know about you but if I were to keep my mind in a constant state of prayer and praise it would leave a whole lot less room for other things like....worry, anger, jealousy, fear, resentment, bitterness, insecurity, etc...

Now, wouldn't that be something??

I might just be a bit closer to living filled by the Spirit of God.

Anyway, our sister and brother in Christ have asked for prayer so let's stand with them!

We've been talking about transparency and being real with each other. This afternoon a situation presented itself at our house. Right after I thought of my Lord and Savior for help, I thought of you all. Some of you got a very vague text message from me asking for prayer and I knew you would answer. Here is the story.

This afternoon, Michael came home with a very black cloud over his head. For those of you that do not know, he is a high school baseball umpire. A baseball coach that Michael had ejected from a game recently has decided to get even and make false accusations against him at the state level. These accusations are things that you and I, who know Michael, would laugh at because they are so preposterous and out of the realm of sanity. But the State Association does not know Michael like we do and they tend to believe crazy things.

When he first told me and I saw how mad, hurt and discouraged he was, my first thought was pity for myself because I was going to have to be the one to glue him back together. But then it hit me like a brick. We don't have to take this! As I look back, I can see that recent things that have shaped our circumstances are not in response to anything we have or have not done. I am convinced it is Satan's meddling. He gets a kick out of watching us squirm as he pokes and prods us. I am not going to go into all the details of the series of events, but this just explanation just seems to fit to me.

So, once I realized what I needed to do, I sent out my message and dropped to me knees in my bedroom. I got mad. I told Satan to GET OUT! Peace fell over our house. I felt strong. Michael calmed down and Katie slept though it all.

I know this is not over. Thank you for being part of our support system!!

The Gills

Sunday's class

Can someone give me a synopsis of what we went over and how far through the book we are??

Donna and I had kids church duty upstairs and missed out!!

C

Ava's PURR-fect weekend

Turning 5 is BIG fun!

Ava's actual birthday is not until St. Patrick's Day but we celebrated early with a shared party on Saturday.

There were many of Ava's favorite things: friends, swings, see-saws, cupcakes, cheese puffs, cookies, crafts, and pretty presents.

She insisted on wearing her crown....and I couldn't say no.

It even matched her outfit.

We praised God for holding off the rain and letting us enjoy the awesome playground.

I can't believe my little girl is turning five.

You are such a delight to your daddy and me. We are crazy about you! Your love your daddy's stories, my nail polish and lip gloss, your sister's company, and being Zeke's little mommy.

You also adore animals. You ask us all the time to have one.

We finally broke down and rescued an 8 month old kitty cat from the pound.

She is sweet, frisky, and loving just like you.

I will never forget the moment you saw her and realized that we could keep her. It was priceless and seared into mommy's memory. Thankfully, I captured it on film.

Her name is even fitting for you to own her. Her name is Belle. Just like the princess in Beauty and the Beast.

We had an wonderful weekend and we love watching God teach you and draw you to Himself.

I pray that I live out my faith for you and ask for God to minimize my failures in your eyes.

You are my mini-me.

You are breath-taking and I want more than anything for Jesus to be the love of your life.

You will always be our baby girl.

Happy Birthday!

Hi everyone-
Just wanted to share a couple of websites that Hal and I like for sermons. www.sermonaudio.com is a great place for sermons from people like Charles Spurgeon and R.C. Sproul. www.oneplace.com is another great site for more modern speakers like Dr. David Jeremiah, Alister Begg, and Ravi Zacharias.
Thanks!
Leigh Anne

We need to do March (and maybe February) birthdays. I can't remember if we celebrated February with breakfast...I am thinking not! Anyway, does anyone have a suggestion for a good Sunday morning to do breakfast and celebrate some old folks :>) ha ha!

I am good for whenever.....let's talk and plan it!

A

Community Prayer Blitz

All,

We will be having our community prayer blitz on March 21. Meet at the church at 4:30 for details, then depart around 5:00 to head to our areas of the community. Should last about an hour. Childcare will be provided by the church if needed. This will be another great way to grow together and continue our prayer for revival in our community. If anyone is intereseted, please let me know and I will add you to the list!

Thanks,

Jon

Happy Birthday!

Happy Belated Birthday to Michelle Martin!! Who turned a certain age Yesterday March 3rd.

Everybody join me in singing:
happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Michelle, happy birthday to you!!

Do you get the Sunday paper?

I am working through the Women's Ministry Team to put together "Envelopes of Encouragement" for some of the clients (for lack of a better word) of the Bartow County Women's Resource Center who live in the Housing Authority properties. These envelopes are intended to let these women know that someone is thinking of them and wants to encourage them. We plan to fill 50 envelopes each month with coupons, scripture cards, and anything else that we can think of from time to time that will be an encouragement to these women. These families probably wouldn't wake up on a Sunday morning and decide to come to CFBC, but this is a way for us to reach out to them from our church and other local churches and give them an opportunity to get to know us better. We'll use this opportunity to invite them to preschool activities, VBS, and other church events. To get started, though, we need more coupons than I have at home right now. If you get the Sunday paper and have coupons that you don't use, please consider bringing them to church and putting them in our coupon box. I don't actually have our coupon box ready, yet, so I'm not sure where it will be located. You can always just bring coupons directly to me! You do not have to clip the coupons unless it's convenient to do that. Any contribution helps! Thanks, Deana

Meet the Abells!!

Ok, when Scott Barkley set up a blog for our class, before he started teaching his own class, he did some "biographies" of some of our classmates. I am going to attempt to do that now, so we can get to know each other a little more personally. I am NOT as good of a writer as Scott is, so please look past all of the grammatical stuff and runon sentences,etc etc........

Beth and Greg Abell:

Beth Abell is 30 years old and was born and raised in Bristol, Tenn. (Nascar Country). Beth loves singing and reading. Frank Peretti is one of her favorite authors. Greg Abell is 34 years old and was born in Atlanta and raised in Stockbridge. Greg enjoys golfing, basketball, and video games. He served our country in the Marines (active duty for 5 years). I (Craig) thank you for your service Greg!! They both accepted Jesus at the age of 8!! (Greg's story is very cool!! Ask him about it sometime!)

Beth and Greg met in Beaufort SC while Greg was stationed there. They have been married for 9 years! They have 3 little boys! Christian is 7, Luke is 5, and Eli is 2. Greg has been working for Shaw Carpets in Calhoun for a year and a half and Beth is a stay-at-home mom, with all of the duties that entails!! (There is not enough pay for that job!!)

Currently, life is going very well for the Abells and if asked they would tell you they are blessed! They are thankful for a job that provides! They are ecstatic that God has led them to a church family that is growing! Another joy in their life right now is that Beth is one of the newest members of the praise team and we all will be seeing her lead us in worship soon!!

As with any family there are areas of concern for the Abells that they are praying over and for. I (Craig) wanted to mention some of those so that we as a Bible Study Class could join with them in lifting those concerns up to our God!

The Abells are praying for wisdom and guidance in where to send their children to elementary school next year. They had some problems with a local school this year and as we all know the elementary years are vital in providing a foundation and LOVE for learning in all children! They are asking God to lead them to the right school and teacher! They are also praying for a schedule change for Greg. Working night shift with a family is not fun and they would love for Greg to be able to get moved to day shift. With the boys at home, Beth is not able to attend a Bible Study she once was a part of, and feels that God has been telling her to start her own Bible Study in her home for women in her neighborhood!! (WOW!!) She is praying for guidance in this endeavor and praying for the women that WILL be attending that study!

I hope you have enjoyed getting to know the Abells a little better and any errors in this posts are mine, not theirs!! I hope everyone in our class will put these concerns in your prayer journals so WE as a class can be prayer warriors for Beth and Greg!!

The Treasure Principle

Thank you to everyone who participated in the discussion this week in bible study!! A big thanks to Michael and Derrick, who had a spirited debate that helped me more than either of you will know!! For me personally, since the church was having trouble in December, God has been beating me up about this topic. It was a very good study and I got a lot out of it.
For me, it was hard to join either side of that debate, because while I agree with Michael that a certain percentage is not "required" or commanded, I agree with Derrick that for me personally, if 10% is not the minimum I give, then I feel I have sinned against God. And to "keep it real", I have not been giving at that level, and have asked forgiveness. Before we started this study, I couldn't have even told you what mine and Donna's gross salary was. That is tough to admit, but there you go.
In the future, I will be remembering that it is God's money, and I am just the manager. (Of course, I would fire someone that was managing my money the way I have been managing God's money, and therefore, He has been on me about this!!)
Craig

Test Successful!!

Make sure that you accept the invite from google groups. Make sure that anything from google groups is a safe sender in your email and NOT going into your spam folder!

Testing the new email system

This is only a test. Had this been an actual post this writing would be filled with something no doubt inspiring and uplifting. This is only a test!

SHE IE AWAKE!!!

Sarah Hawkins Clark is awake!! That's all I know right now!!

Ryan Archer Surgery Today!

Ryan Archer is having orthroscopic knee surgery and is back right now (early AM hours). Please pray for him and surgeons. He will be on cruches for about 1-2 days and should recover quickly.
Mande

Update:
8:30 Paren spoke with surgeon and he did great. They clipped a small tear and cleaned some of his joint surfaces. She should be able to see him soon. Continue to pray for quick recovery!

How Cool!

Many thanks to Mande and Jon for getting us connected! I love this and I pray it will serve a wonderful purpose in helping us stay in each other's business (spiritually speaking of course). It was so fun to have you all in our home and to those of you who weren't able to come....you were missed.
I loved our game of guessing what name tag we each had. I personally award Lori and Billy Mitchell the winners of this game. They have a knack for coming up with delicious clues :>).

Can't wait to see you all Sunday!
A

Sarah Clark

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sarahfaithclark

UPDATE: Sarah (Hawkins) Clark

Steve Hawkins called with an update of good news on Sarah. He said she had an MRI today that showed improvement and that the medicine is working. He said as far as when she would wake up or how much therapy she will need, they still don't know. He would like to encourage people to go to their web site, www.caringbridge.org, and type in her name - sarahfaithclark - for updates.

Good Job Mande!!

Good job setting up the blog Mande!! We should have done this long ago!
Donna and I had a blast at our class party Saturday night!!
A big thanks to Shep and Andrea for hosting our BIG class at their house!
C