Feb/March 15

Your

Blue Ridge Baptist Association would like to invite all our pastors, and church staff members (paid or volunteer), and their spouses to our annual Appreciation Brunch, which was rescheduled from January, due to bad weather.

Each year the event starts with a time of fellowship over a lovely meal. We then enjoy a Yankee swap gift exchange. This is where you bring a gift that you may have received yourself, but don’t necessarily wish to keep it for yourself. Previously wrapped Christmas gifts, or Valentine’s Day gifts are both appropriate. The event ends with a time of entertainment and worship.

The menu includes seasonal fruit and berries, assorted pastries, homemade quiche, red potato home fries, crisp bacon, and a variety of coffees and teas.

Our musical guest is Jon Waller. Jon has served as a music minister in several local churches and is currently teaching during the week and preaching or performing at various churches on weekends, praying about where God would have him serve next.

He has been married to Stephanie for almost 7 years and has four children: Lincoln (5), Sadie (3), Duke (2), and Levi (3 months).

There is no charge to attend this event. Please RSVP for this event by February 7. You

may do so by contacting Mae Argilan at (240) 818-8760 or via email at mae@blueridgebaptist.org. This is always a fun event, we would love to see as many of our pastors and church staff as possible.

Rescheduled Ministers and Church Staff Appreciation

UNITY IS IMPORTANT From Bruce Conley

Your Director of Missions

The one thing that grieves my heart as a Director if Missions more than anything else, is when disunity creeps into a local church, and Satan uses that to tear apart the local family of God that our Heavenly Father has put in place. Feelings get hurt, people leave the church, and sometimes it takes many years for the church to recover from the damage - if they ever really do. The Message paraphrase of the Bible tells us; “If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if His love has made any difference in your life ... if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you - then agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends” (Philippians 2:1-2).

Let me state the obvious. Relationships are always worth restoring.

Life is all about learning how to love, and God wants us to value relationships and make every effort to maintain them instead of discarding them whenever there is a rift, a hurt, or a conflict.

In fact, the Bible tells us that God has given us the ministry of restoring relationships. For this reason a significant amount of the New Testament is devoted to teaching us how to get along with one another.

The Apostle Paul taught that our ability to get along with others is a mark of spiritual maturity. Since Christ wants his family to be known for our love for each other, broken fellowship can be a disgraceful testimony to unbelievers. This is why Paul was so embarrassed that the members of the church in Corinth were splitting into warring factions and even taking each other to court.

In 1 Corinthians 6:5 (from the same paraphrase) he wrote, "I say this as bluntly as I can to wake you up to the stupidity of what you're doing. Is it possible that there isn't one levelheaded person among you who can make fair decisions when disagreements and disputes come up? I don't believe it." He was shocked that no one in the church was mature enough to resolve the conflict peaceably. He later in that letter states, "I'll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other" (1 Corinthians 1:10).

If you want God's blessing in your life, in your ministry, and the life of your church family - then you must learn to be a peacemaker. Jesus said, "God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God" (Matt. 5:9).

Notice Jesus didn't say, "Blessed are the peace lovers," because everyone loves peace. Neither did he say, "Blessed are the peaceable," (those who are never disturbed by much of anything). Jesus said, "Blessed are those who work for peace" - those who actively seek to resolve conflict.

Peacemakers are rare because peacemaking is hard work, but because you were made to be a part of a local family of God, peacemaking is one of the most important skills you can develop. It is my earnest prayer for EVERY church in the Blue Ridge Baptist Association, that peace would always be the focus, as we seek to better understand and love each other, in spite of any differences that arise.

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Good news! The seminary event, originally scheduled for January, has been rescheduled for sometime in May. This means pastors and individuals interested in new educational opportunities will still have a unique chance to attend a one-day work session at the Baptist Mission Resource Center in Columbia, MD.

This is a "invitation only" event, and you should contact your Director of Missions (Bruce Conley) to reserve your seat for this fantastic day of information gathering. The date will be announced soon. If you are interested in attending - contact Bruce Conley at (301) 821-0370, or by email at xcopBruce@aol.com.

SEMINARY OPPORTUNITY RESCHEDULED

Each year, we honor the life and work of Annie Walker Armstrong (1850-1938) when we give to the annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions. As a tireless servant of God and a contagious advocate and supporter of mission efforts throughout the world, Annie rallied churches to give more, pray more and do more for reaching people for Christ. The Annie Armstrong website provides a wealth of resources for promoting the offering in the local church, including supplemental materials available only online: AnnieArmstrong.com. The National goal is $60 Million, what us your church’s goal?

Please be in prayer for our mission team as they prepare for this year’s trip to the Dominican Republic from March 1 - 7. The team is made up of the following people:

• Pedro and Isabel Guadalupe

• Lisa Summers • Dan Bonesteel • Michael and Sherrie

Fritz • Tammy Gutree • Bobby and Betty

McHenry

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Dominican Republic Mission Trip for 2015

February 28 - 8:00 - 10:00 am -Youth Ministry Round Table at The Golden Corral at 5621 Spectrum Drive, Frederick, MD 21703. Join in for a time of fellowship, encouragement and shop talk as we discuss how we can help one another “do” youth ministry.

March 2 - 6:00 - 8:30 pm - Come to Turner’s Skate Palace in Hagerstown every first Monday of the month to enjoy Christian music, videos, games, fellowship and more. Admission is free, skates not included. Remember you must have a free coupon to enter. See turnersskatingpalace.com for details.

YOUTH MINISTRY

A Special Blessing…

Charlotte Grace McCallion Cox was born 12/28/2014 at 2:07 pm. She weighs 5lbs 9oz and is 18.5inches long. Little Charlotte is the 2nd daughter of Richard and Anne Cox of Myersville Baptist Church.

Pastor Constane with the Haitian church in Hagerstown is looking for someone who can teach piano lessons to a young person in his church, who would like to help with worship. If you can help, please contact him at 301-825-4592 or jtconstane@hotmail.com.

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February 4 @ 8 AM Pastor’s Breakfast at Bonnie’s at the Red Byrd in Keedysville March 4 @ 8 AM Pastor’s Breakfast at Bob Evans on Route 40 in Frederick

Teacher Wanted

Birthdays

February02 Dave Lynche05 Tunea Burt09 Larry Rickard11 Adrienne Sumpter15 Kathryn Rich15 Deb Youngbar20 Bob McHenry23 Millie Housam

March10 Scott Sheets13 Pam Eubanks23 Delbert Pope26 Shane Wilt30 Karen Gerstmeyer30 Ruby Zecher

Anniversaries

March12 T. Smiths17 Crawford25 Fox

Event Calendar

February 4 at 8:00 am - Pastor/Staff Fellowship Breakfast at Bonnie’s at the Red Bryd in Keedysville.

February 8 - Racial Reconciliation Sunday (SBC)

February 9 - 15 - WMU Focus (SBC)

February 14 - Children’s Ministry Day (SBC)

February 14 at 10:00 am - BRBA Minister’s Brunch at Ceresville Mansion in Frederick

February 21 - VBS Expo at South Columbia Baptist. See bcmd.org/vbs-training-1 for info and registration.

February 28 - Youth Leadership Roundtable at Golden Corral in Frederick at 8:00 am

March 1 - 11 - Youth Week (SBC)

March 1 - 11 - Week of Prayer for North American Missions (SBC)

March 2 - Youth Skate Night at Turner Skate Palace in Hagerstown

March 4 at 10:00 am - Pastor/Staff Fellowship Breakfast at Bob Evans on Rt. 40 in Frederick

March 7 - 14 - Dominican Republic Mission Trip

March 21 - Church Planting Emphasis (SBC)

March 22 - Substance Abuse Prevention Day

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In the Churches

Summit Trace - Frederick:Summit Trace Church has started a new sermon series called Powerful Prayer Theory.

Church member Grace Schofield is in Africa, please take a moment and pray for her. You can learn about her trip by reading her blog at http://graceschofield.com/blog.

First Baptist - Brunswick:The church will be hosting a community date night on Friday, March 6. The goal of this event is to introduce people to the church and it’s children’s ministry and to foster healthy relationships between parents.

Pastor Phil is beginning a new teaching series called, “Six Things to Hate about the Church”.

NorthStar - Ijamsville:NorthStar will be hosting their annual dinner at Ceresville Mansion on February 8.

Friendship - Waynesboro:The church was able to purchase a 2 story home at the end of 2014. They plan to renovate the home and use it as their new worship center. Congratulations on the purchase and may God bless you as you attempt to impact your community for Christ.

First Baptist Church - Frederick:FBC Frederick will host a Winter Chocolatefest from 2:00 - 5:00 PM on February 21.

There will be a children’s ministry Easter Egg Hunt at 2:00 pm on March 28.

Paramount - Hagerstown:Paramount will host a Valentine’s Day dinner on February 14 at 6:00 pm.

Smithsburg Valley - Smithsburg:The church will be hosting a Financial Peace University class Sunday’s at 1:00 pm starting February 8.

Tri-State - Hancock:The Good News Club has been such a success at Hancock Elementary that attendance is around 30 children every Tuesday. However, that requires many more volunteers than we have to help. So, they have moved their operation from the classroom after school to the church premises on Sunday AM. Their first meeting was January 18th beginning with breakfast for the kids and coffee for the adults. They will be continuing with this format for the next few month.

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PLEASE PRAY FOR….

GREENBRIER BAPTIST - as they search for a senior pastor.

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH of THURMONT - long time pastor Clint Guthrie retired at the end of December. Dave Burt is the current Interim Pastor.

COVENANT BAPTIST CHURCH - Terry Crawford stepped down from leadership in January. A search committee is being formed.

PARAMOUNT BAPTIST CHURCH - Pastor Larry Rickard retired at the end of December, and a search is underway. Director of Missions, Bruce Conley, will do a 3 month Interim Pastorate for them March - May, but remains still fully available to any BRBA church that has needs during that time period.

WEST END BAPTIST - is in need of prayer support as they look for one full time person, or two part time individuals to be on staff and lead worship and youth ministries respectively. BERKELEY BAPTIST CHURCH - has called Pastor Joseph N. Giles, Jr. from Virginia to serve as their new pastor. Pray for him as he and his family moves to our area and begin to serve. Pray for several of our pastors who are going through difficult times right now. Encourage your pastor this month and do something special to let him know how much you appreciate him! Pray for the Dominican Republic mission team that is forming to assist Franklin Graham's efforts in that country with Operation Christmas Child and Samaritan's Purse ministries. Pray for Pastor Peter Guadalupe and his wife Isabel as they prepare to lead the team. Pray for Will McRaney and the Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network. Pray for Darline Schmidt, wife of retired pastor Ken Schmidt who is experiencing a lot of pain in her knees and is undergoing tests. Pray that the doctors will be able to manage her pain, and heal her condition. Pray for Myersville Baptist Church. They recently passed a faith budget that they know they cannot afford, but are trusting God for provision as they boldly move forward to reach out to their community for Christ. Pray for the family of former BCM/D Exec. Treasurer , John Faris. John lost his battle with cancer in December and went home to be with the Lord. Pray for comfort for his family. He had retired to South Carolina.

Pray for Burl Haga, Chairman of trustees at First Baptist Brunswick, as he is in Washington Hospital Center with heart problems.

20810A National Pike Boonsboro, MD 21713

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