Church Blog (Page 4)

What a Summer

This Sunday’s Summer Recap was incredible. If you were not able to join us, I encourage you to watch online and hear the stories and testimonies of how God moved in the life of our church this past summer. I was reminded of the first section of Matthew 18 where Jesus taught the disciples that we are all to have a child-like faith and welcome children in His name. This Sunday was a great reminder that, if we are watching…

Gratitude

Sunday was special—for me, my family, and for our church. What a great day and an incredible service. And that meal! We might have to bring that spread back more often. As the special music said on Sunday, “All my words fall short, how could I express all my gratitude?….all that I have is a hallelujah.” In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul writes these words, “2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the…

Mixed Emotions: “You’re Killing Me Smalls!”

Well…here we go…This is my first newsletter article as your new pastor. I’ll admit, I’m full of mixed emotions right now. Let me try to explain. Last week on vacation, we watched one of my favorite childhood movies, The Sandlot. I vividly remember going to the $1.00 theater in Lenoir, NC, with my dad to watch it on the big screen. We may or may not have snuck in our own popcorn, drinks, and candy in a duffle bag. I’ll…

You Have Been a Blessing to Our Hearts

Dear friends of Poplar Springs Baptist Church you have blessed our hearts across this past year.  Janet and I have so enjoyed walking with you during this pastoral interim.  We have been thankful to see the ways God is at work in the church and through your lives as you scatter from 1106 Poplar Springs Church Road each week to share Jesus’ love and presence with our community.  You all have ministered to us, and you have been just what…

Serving Others and Sharing the Gospel

“World Changers is a hands-on mission experience, engaging students in meeting the needs of people in communities across North America. Students can put their faith into action by serving others and sharing the gospel.”  Our Poplar Springs Baptist Church youth ministry has partnered with World Changers many times across the years and this week we have forty members of our church serving together on another World Changers project in Little Rock, Arkansas. They left out early this past Saturday morning…

The Earth is the Lord’s

Summertime is a wonderful time for praising God for the gift of the earth upon which we live. Trips to the beach, the mountains, the great outdoors, all give rise to praise as we thank God for the beauty of the earth, our home. The Psalmist leads us to sing from our hearts, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it…

What is Past is Prologue!

This brief sentence is from Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, and is inscribed upon the Robert Aitken statue in front of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the home of the original document signed on this date in 1776, The Declaration of Independence.  If it is true that the past is prologue to the present and the future, i.e., that which has happened in the past sets us up for future success toward goals envisioned “way back when,” then I think…

Have You Ever Been… Into the Wilderness?

Well, we surely have been “Into the Wilderness” this week at Poplar Springs because that has been our theme for Vacation Bible School at which 53+ children and 35+ adults/youth have gathered around God’s Word!  As we have so gathered, we have focused on God’s provision for the people of Israel wandering through the desert post-Exodus. We have watched God care for Elijah in his wilderness of discouragement and doubt. And we looked again at Jesus’ trip into the wilderness…

Working Together!

Working Together! As Paul writes to encourage the church at Corinth, not only does he describe the church as a body with members dependent on, and blessed by, one another, but he also refers to our life in the church with the designation, “workers together.”  It is one word in the text, a noun, a compound word combing “work” and “with” – that’s who we are in the church of Jesus Christ. We “work with” one another to share Jesus’s…

“Suit Up” for a Great Summer!

This week our Poplar Springs Youth are down at Camp Caswell, the North Carolina Baptist Assembly on Oak Island. Their focus for the week is the right focus for all of us as we look at the summer that is upon us and our opportunities to represent our Lord wherever we go and in whatever we do.  The Camp Caswell theme this year is based on Ephesians 6:10-18 and is the challenge to “be strong in the Lord and in…