Home Coming Services with Guest Speaker Rev. Eric Himelick

:CANCELED: 

September 28 - 30  2012

Fri. - 7: 00 P.M. 

Sat. - 7: 00 P.M. 

Sun. - 11:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. 

Guest Speaker - Rev. Eric Himelick

Ground Zero

I took this picture about a year after the Towers were down. 

I was able to get an angle of the Pedestrian Crossing sign that made it look like you are walking to the Cross.  

We Remember

Opportunity

Happy 50th !!!!

Carl (Buck) and Beth Ann Johnson 

celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary 

on Sat. Sept  1st 

Congratulations!!!

Hobe Sound Bible College

The Hobe Sound Bible College group - Reflection

will present a service of music on

Sunday July 22nd 2012

11:00 A.M.

Lunch will follow the service

                                           

Is Patriotism Christian?

What is Patriotism?

What is Patriotism? Where does this leave patriotism? It all depends. If patriotism is love of one's country, it depends on the nature of that country. Most nations today are tied to a land and a race, though somewhat less so than 100 years ago. This is true of Europe and Asia. Patriotism is bound up in "blood and soil." Italians, Russians, Chinese, and Indians love their nation, its race(s), its location, its land, and its history. If they are Christians, they can legitimately appreciate the providence of God in their nation's history and admire their nation to the extent that it follows - or followed - God's truth.

Compounding matters, however, is the fact that most nations are tied up intimately with civil governments (though it doesn't have to be this way): to speak of the nation of France implies not just the French people, but the political state that governs French territory. This is the problem of patriotism. You love your country, but you may just mistrust your government. Still, you can love and appreciate your country and its heritage as a precious gift from God.
This is true even of Christian citizens in very evil regimes. Christian North Koreans can be patriotic, even though they despise their atheistic, idolatrous civil government. Korea has a great heritage and great customs and many great people. Christian North Koreans can be patriotic on that basis, if no other.

Our Unique United States

Now the United States poses a unique problem. It does not easily follow the pattern of nations noted above. Blood and soil mean much less here than ideas. Not race or place, but ideas, have always been at the root of what it means to be an American.
In this, it is helpful to note a striking Biblical teaching:

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.... (1 Timothy 2:1-3)

This Bible text does not prescribe the ideal civil government, but the minimal features of a civil government acceptable to Christians committed to living and spreading their Faith.
It means: pray that the civil magistrate leaves you alone so you can train your children in the Faith and you can live to please God and churches can preach the gospel. When Paul wrote this, the despotic Roman Empire was not in the habit of acting so honorably, and it got worse as time went by. So our Christian forebears in the early church sorely needed this prayer.
But the United States is a very different case. The U. S., it just so happens, was founded largely to fulfil just the sort of pro-liberty, non-interventionist role the Bible envisions. The founders, whatever their flaws, were to the man, dogged defenders of religious liberty. Most were professing Christians. This is why they did not establish a national church - they did not want to disturb the various states' established Christian churches. This is why they produced a federal Constitution, which elaborately checked sinful men's insatiable lust for power, including the sinners who happened to be politicians. This is why they drafted a Bill of Rights, which jealously guarded religious liberty. This is why they wrote that one of the nation's great objectives is "to provide for the common defense." As Eric Hoffer once said, this nation was founded by people who basically wanted to be left alone. This just happens to be the sort of civil government the Bible demands we pray for.

The Great American Experiment

We live in a truly amazing - and wildly successful - experiment in civil government that carried on many of the best features of the Christian commonwealth idea of medieval and Reformation Europe - and jettisoned most of their worst features. Ours is a Constitutional democracy. We believe in a federal expression of majority rule that is hedged in by the guarantees of a constitution that is very hard to change. This allows for peaceful dissent. We have a republic, not a direct democracy. We don't trust fickle majorities any more than we trust fickle kings and aristocrats. We elect representatives who vote on major issues facing the nation, and we can vote them out of office. This means that, unlike many other countries even today, we don't need a blood-bathing military coup every time we need political change. We can have peaceful political revolutions. We enjoy wide freedom of religion and freedom of the press. If you think we don't, try living in Saudi Arabia, Cuba, China or Iraq for a while.

As Christians, all this means that it's likely that the civil magistrate will leave us alone to believe and practice our Faith, the very thing that the Bible says we should be praying for in a civil magistrate. Sure, there's some encroachment on our liberties, and we should be vigilant in protecting them. But we have a great Constitution that we can resort to in cases of grievance, and a political system that gives recourse to those dissatisfied with the status quo.

This is why an American Christian may - and in my view, must - be a patriot.
Christian patriotism in the United States is necessary because it cultivates and defends the sort of minimal civil government that the Bible requires. We are patriots not because we have a love affair with the United States as such; we are patriots because the principles on which the nation were founded allow Christianity to flourish.

The United States is first about ideas, and those ideas are, for the most part, Christian ideas. On this basis, we can join the flag-waving.

This surely does not pre-commit us to any action the civil government may take. It pre-commits us to the form of government that protects the liberties of Christians (and others) and stays out of everybody's way. The great thing about the United States is that you can loudly criticize Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and still be a great patriotic American. You can hate abortion and pornography and homosexuality and Hollywood and public education and racism and materialism and Darwinism while wildly waving the Stars and Stripes.

Christians should defend the nation that defends Christians' liberty to embrace and propagate their Faith. If that nation is their own, they should be doubly defensive - and grateful.
Hand me another flag.

excerpt from:

http://chalcedon.edu/research/articles/christian-patriotism/

Welcome Landon Grant Mills

Upcoming Events

The summer is always promising of so many great things to do.  Vacations, reunions, home improvements etc.... 

Here is a list of events about our church that you may want to be involved in and put on your calendar.

June 16 - Singpiration and Potluck
at the home of Rev. John Kennedy

5:00 P.M.

June 17 - Fathers Day

June 20  - 1st day of Summer

June 26 - 29 - Rock Lake Youth Camp
click on link for info
http://www.biblemethodist.org/great-lakes/youth.htm

July 4 - Independence Day

July 6-7 - Port Huron Cruise Night
(this is not a church event but great to go to!!!)

July 11 - 2nd Qtr. Business Mtg.

July 13 - Bible Methodist Conference

July 13 - 22 Rock Lake Family Camp
http://www.biblemethodist.org/great-lakes/rock-lake-camp.htm
click on link for info

July - 18 - 22  Athens Youth Camp
http://athensyouthcamp.blogspot.com/

July  20 - 29 Remus Camp


July 22 - Hobe Sound Bible College
Mixed Quartet - Reflection
11:00 a.m. service

http://www.hsbc.edu/
Lunch will be served after the service

Aug. 2 - 12  Lower Lights Camp Meeting
Aug. 18 - Canoe Trip - Black River   Aug. 25 - raindate

Sept 3 - Labor Day

Sept 11 - Patriot Day

Sept 22 - 1st day of Fall

Sept 28 -30 Harvest Homecoming Services 

Speaker - Rev. Erick Himelick

Director of Victory Inner City Ministries

http://www.facebook.com/#!/victory.innercity

Oct. 8 - Columbus Day

             Oct. ??? Family night                   

 Oct 16 - Boss Day

Oct 20 - Sweetest Day

Oct 24 - 3rd Qtr Business Mtg.

Oct 28 - Communion

Oct 25 - 27 - Youth Challenge

Nov. 4 - D. S. T. Begins

Nov 6  - Election Day

Nov. 11 - Veterans Day

Nov. 22 - Thanksgiving

Dec. 9 - Hanukkah

Dec. 16 ??? - Church Christmas Program

Dec. 22 - 1st day of Winter

Dec. 25 - Christmas (Tuesday

In celebration of Pentecost

This sunday night (May 27th 2012) at 6 p.m.

We are going to have combined service.

The Dawn Valley Bible Methodist Church will be joining us for a Singspiration.A time of fellowship will follow at the back yard of the parsonage. Bring a friend, your singing voices, and a snack to share!

here are pics to show how it turned out!

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Mothers Day 2012 at our church

Mothers of our church

Angela's Sunday School Class

Larry Johnson Jr. teaching Adult Sunday School Class

Happy Mothers Day 10 Questions To Ask Your Mother

"Mom, I have to ask you something," my seven-year-old Henry begins. He stares at me with those solemn eyes and I steel myself.

Asking your mother questions like, "how am I like you," can open door to communication.

Considering our unique family, it could be any number of things. Why do you and Dad live in separate places? (We are married but never could stand to live together.)

Why is Gus so different from other kids? (Henry's twin brother is mildly autistic.)

Why does Dad look tired all the time? (My husband was 68 when our sons were born... You do the math.)

I'm ready.

"Do you think spit cleans better than water?" he asks. "You always use it to clean my face."

You know, it isn't a bad question. And, in a way, every burst of curiosity gives me hope that my boys will continue to quiz me about ever more interesting and personal things. Because, as adults, so many of us don't ask enough about our mothers. (Maybe we're scared. More likely we just don't get around to it.) Yet there's no better way to become closer to a person, even if you've known her all your life. So, after an utterly unscientific survey of friends and acquaintances, I've come up with 10 queries to get you started. Try them out this Mother's Day. You may even learn something about yourself.

1. What's the one thing you would have done differently as a mom? Recently I had this conversation with someone I had considered one of the best mothers I know -- the kind who never missed a kid's concert or a PTA conference. Her children are grown now, and they are neither independent nor particularly grateful.

"I should have let them fail," she told me. "When my daughter forgot to do her homework, I shouldn't have done it for her. When the other one got caught shoplifting, I should have let her spend a night in jail." For better or worse, your mother has probably given this subject a good deal of thought.

2. Why did you choose to be with my father? "Look at him!" my mother says adoringly. "He looks just like Jascha Heifetz!" He does, actually. But Heifetz, perhaps the world's greatest violinist, was one weird-looking dude. And my dad doesn't even play the violin. (Which is a bit like an accountant being the spitting image of Mick Jagger.)

So was there anything else? "Well, he liked smart women," says my mom, who was in medical school when they met in the 1950s. "So many men didn't back then." Not a bad reason to marry someone. I'm glad I asked.

3. In what ways do you think I'm like you? And not like you? Accuracy is not important here; you want to know her perceptions. Does she think you share her best qualities or her worst? (And do you agree?) Are your similarities and differences complementary -- they make the two of you click -- or are they the cause of all your conflicts?

4. Which one of us kids did you like the best? OK, chances are she'll dodge this question. But you'll probably force a compliment out of her -- "You were the one who set the table when you were three" -- and get a little insight into how she viewed each of you. And if she gives a straight answer? Well, you'll all have something new to fixate upon.

5. Is there anything you have always wanted to tell me but never have? The woman who suggested this question had learned late in life that the "aunt" who had lived with her parents while she was growing up was, in fact, her father's lover -- an arrangement that apparently suited all involved. Your mom's secrets might be a little less stunning. But hearing something she has been holding back may take your relationship into (good) uncharted territory.

6. Do you think it's easier or harder to be a mother now than when you were raising our family? We might agonize about working more hours outside the home and competing with our kids' cell phones for attention, but our mothers had other battles. "My mom thinks that if she had had a career, she would have been less frustrated and a better mother," reports one friend. The two of you needn't have a "Terms of Endearment moment over this one, but by understanding what she went through, you may appreciate your own situation more.

7. Is there anything you regret not having asked your parents? In my informal survey, the list went on and on, covering everything from "Did you ever think about leaving my dad for someone else?" and "Did you ever want to just throw in the towel?" to "What music do you want played at your funeral?" People regretted what they hadn't asked -- never what they had.

8. What's the best thing I can do for you right now? My mother is not subtle: "Call every day. If you don't, I think you're dead."

Other friends who had asked this question over the years were invariably surprised. One mom wanted her daughter to teach her to use a computer; another wanted her son, a plastic surgeon, to give her a face-lift. ("I had a moment where I didn't exactly love lifting my mother's skin off, but I thought I could do a better job than anyone else," he says.)

The mom of a young colleague wanted to meet her friends. "I'd always thought she wasn't interested in them," she says. "In fact, my mom was just shy."

9. Is there anything that you wish had been different between us -- or that you would still like to change? This inquiry prompted one mother to plan a trip with her 30-year-old daughter -- their first ever. She and her husband had always vacationed alone when their children were young, and she had felt bad about it for years. Whether you're 25 or 55, chances are there is some dynamic between you and your mother that could be better. Give her a chance to put it out there.

10. When did you realize you were no longer a child? I know what the answer will be for me, and I was startled to hear my mother give the same response: "I knew it when my own mother died," she told me. "That's the last time there would be anyone in the world who always put me before herself."