Each year the Turner Baptist Association establishes an evangelism tent at the Fire Ant Festival, March 25 and 26. They need volunteers to be a part of sharing the Gospel with our local community. If you would like to be a part of this ministry, there will be training at 10:00 AM on Saturday, March 19th at Morningside Baptist Church. Our Regional Evangelism Consultant, Tim Williams, will lead this training. Let’s pray for the Gospel to be spread, and let’s prepare ourselves to share the Gospel and pray for God to draw people to Jesus Christ.

Turner Baptist Women’s Spring Meeting

All men and women are welcome to join us for our spring meeting. It will be held at Bethel on Monday, March 21, 2022. Supper will be served at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Our program will give you updates on missions done locally, statewide, nationally, and internationally.

Our offering will be given to The Bridge of Tiftarea. The Bridge is composed of 1)Tiftarea House of Hope, the women’s shelter in Tifton; 2) Training Center on Third Street; and 3) Bird’s Nest Thrift Store on Commerce Street in Tifton.  The ladies live at the House of Hope. At the Training Center, they learn about obtaining and maintaining a job and a healthy lifestyle. Many of them have begun their life with Christ because of their Bible Studies. Monies from the Bird’s Nest help with needed expenses for The House of Hope and The Training Center.

MID-WEEK DEVOTION

Don’t forget to check out Brother David’s Mid-Week Devotion on the book of Psalms. They are uploaded each Wednesday on the sermon page.

Giving as of March 16, 2022

Budget for 2022 . . . . . . . .  $322,471.00
Tithes Needed to Date . . . . . $68,215.07
Received to Date . . . . . . . . . $57,285.82
Needed for weekly budget . . . $6,201.37
Tithes Received this week . . . . $2,836.14

From OUr Family and Music Minister

Those who read my ramblings regularly have probably concluded you never know what topic I might choose. At this point, I should express a big “thank you” to everyone who proofreads my articles; especially on the days that my ADD brain is not focused. (If you have ever heard me tell a story, you will understand.) Sorry for the rabbit trail; now back to the topic. Even though my articles can seem random…usually they have been floating in my brain for several weeks before making it into text.

You had to endure the first paragraph for me to make the point that if you heard Bro. David’s sermon on Sunday, you would see that we are talking about the same topic; I don’t believe it is a coincidence. God uses circumstances to speak to us; we just have to choose to listen. Generally, most of the time, He is just trying to give me a swift kick to tell me to pay attention, so in turn, I share it with you.

Those who have heard me teach, know I could write a sermon series about the drive-thru of a particular restaurant establishment in our community. A few weeks back, I was sitting in this drive-thru with Maya and Gael, patiently waiting to order them some food before they “starved to death” (their words, not mine). Suddenly, I hear a young teenage girl yell at the lady over the intercom. (Now we had been in a long line that was moving reasonably fast, and the lady was taking orders efficiently.)

As this girl drew my attention, I noticed her leaning over her dad, who was in the driver’s seat, to place her order. So, not only was she being unnecessarily rude, her supposed moral compass had no part in pointing her in a better direction. As the car pulled in front of me, the first thing that caught my eye in big bright letters was her bumper sticker, “I am a member of _______ church. Please join us this Sunday.”

Now I know we can say things like, “They were having a bad day,” “A Church is made up of imperfect humans,” or “one person does not define a whole church.” And, of course, all of this can be true. But think about the impact that one situation could have had on the restaurant employee or a nonbeliever observing her behavior. Unfortunately, the devil is out to make Christianity look unappealing to the world around us.

My challenge to myself and you as well: If you had a big sign on the back of your car, “I am a member of First Baptist Church Ashburn. Please join us this Sunday”, how would you be representing God’s church? Every time we encounter the world, we face a mission field. I am sure we are all familiar with the saying that our actions speak much louder than words. In Matthew 5:16, we read, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

When you honestly evaluate your day-to-day life, not just your Sunday, are you being a light to the world? Is your light pointing others to Christ? Or are you as ineffective as a lighthouse on a rocky shore with a blown-out light bulb?

For many years, until advanced technology replaced them, lighthouses had a keeper 24 hours a day to ensure that the light was always shining bright. Their job was to do everything needed to maintain and keep that light in the best shape. So how do you keep your light shining bright? If we neglect to grow our hearts daily for Christ, our light will be quickly diminished. We will then be as ineffective for spreading the gospel as an unmaintained lighthouse on a rocky shore.