Our thoughts and prayers go out to Debbie and Roselda Heald in the loss of Paul Heald.
Services are this Friday at Strano Feeley Funeral home.
10am - Visitation
11am - Service
Private Interment
Please contact Deacons Rich Simpson or Jack Miller with desires to help the family.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Laughing in the Tent
Thoughts of Sarah and Sunday morning's sermon have come to me often lately. I can't get over the thought of Abraham and Sarah's immediate disbelief and then their ultimate strong faith. I praise the Lord for His patience in that process of rebuke and change in our lives. We need to take our faithlessness to the woodshed.
I can almost see the preincarnate Lord Jesus arguing with Sarah and concluding "Is there anything too hard for the Lord?" This question is a powerful statement coming from One who knew. Somehow, the devil has convinced us that we are not Sarah. We cannot see the hand of the Lord. He does not work through the natural and supernatural to control our lives.
I do not advocate that you search for the miraculous. There is nothing more spiritual about the miraculous than the natural work of God in your life. Like Sarah, we must surrender our wills to what God wants, and He will do in us His will regardless of probabilities, impossibilities, or any obstacles.
I cannot help but apply this to our new building. God has raised up this church, and through many obstacles, improbabilities, and struggles we stand where we are today. We are blessed beyond measure as a young church. And God has naturally by His will brought people and overflowed our facilities. He has put it in my heart, and the heart of the Leaders of our church and much of the Congregation to build this new auditorium. It has been a process of faith. God has rewarded with hundreds of thousands of dollars raised, the Sears property purchased, a great team of Engineer and Builder, a great Building Team, a beautiful design, etc. etc.
Now we are in view of getting the Permits from County by the Fall of this year. All that will stop us from building then will be having enough money. Last night we met with our Builder (Nowland) and were told that since our last estimate in 2007 building costs have gone up around 11%. Though the sagging economy has lowered costs some, this is still a valid increase. The preparation, excavation, landscaping of the site have risen to over a million dollars themselves. The building itself is about 1.6 million. With all other amounts, estimates for a turn-key project are hovering at 3 million dollars.
The Lord gently rebukes the thought of us raising enough money for a healthy downpayment to get the mortgage payment of this 3 million affordable. I hear Him say "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"
We must do the natural of sacrificial giving and allow God to decide when to do the miraculous. He knows our need, He has heard our prayers, we follow Him in faith, and wait on His timing. We must do our part and follow by giving and prayer. We wait on Him to do the "too hard" part.
PW
I can almost see the preincarnate Lord Jesus arguing with Sarah and concluding "Is there anything too hard for the Lord?" This question is a powerful statement coming from One who knew. Somehow, the devil has convinced us that we are not Sarah. We cannot see the hand of the Lord. He does not work through the natural and supernatural to control our lives.
I do not advocate that you search for the miraculous. There is nothing more spiritual about the miraculous than the natural work of God in your life. Like Sarah, we must surrender our wills to what God wants, and He will do in us His will regardless of probabilities, impossibilities, or any obstacles.
I cannot help but apply this to our new building. God has raised up this church, and through many obstacles, improbabilities, and struggles we stand where we are today. We are blessed beyond measure as a young church. And God has naturally by His will brought people and overflowed our facilities. He has put it in my heart, and the heart of the Leaders of our church and much of the Congregation to build this new auditorium. It has been a process of faith. God has rewarded with hundreds of thousands of dollars raised, the Sears property purchased, a great team of Engineer and Builder, a great Building Team, a beautiful design, etc. etc.
Now we are in view of getting the Permits from County by the Fall of this year. All that will stop us from building then will be having enough money. Last night we met with our Builder (Nowland) and were told that since our last estimate in 2007 building costs have gone up around 11%. Though the sagging economy has lowered costs some, this is still a valid increase. The preparation, excavation, landscaping of the site have risen to over a million dollars themselves. The building itself is about 1.6 million. With all other amounts, estimates for a turn-key project are hovering at 3 million dollars.
The Lord gently rebukes the thought of us raising enough money for a healthy downpayment to get the mortgage payment of this 3 million affordable. I hear Him say "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"
We must do the natural of sacrificial giving and allow God to decide when to do the miraculous. He knows our need, He has heard our prayers, we follow Him in faith, and wait on His timing. We must do our part and follow by giving and prayer. We wait on Him to do the "too hard" part.
PW
Monday, March 9, 2009
A Button Message to the World
Hello World !
One of the amazing things that we have observed about our website is the fact that we get "hits" from dozens of U.S. States and many different countries. Some of the countries of course represent our missionaries, but many do not.
Our website is viewed regularly by people outside our area viewing sermons, music, or just watching what is going on at Lighthouse. We praise the Lord for this ! Our webmaster, Brian Mensch, has worked very hard at incorporating new ideas, navigation, design, etc. into our website. We are currently working on a "2.0" edition that will give the website a complete overhaul into a more simple, beautiful, streamline website. A neat fact about our website comes if you simply Google "Lighthouse Baptist Church". All over the world, our website is the #2 listing for Lighthouse Baptist Church. This is pretty amazing. The website is responsible for bringing several of our new people to Lighthouse. We praise the Lord only for the tool the site has been to the entire World.
Well, World...we would like you to consider giving back if our ministry has been a spiritual blessing to you. As many of you know, we are building a new 15,000 sq. foot auditorium. This is a true need, not a luxury. We have been overflowing our current building for a few years now. With the help of a video building overflow, we average over 260 in an auditorium of 211! Our people line up down the hall for the bathrooms, and we fill each current room with classes. Our parking lot overflows into grass, surrounding driveways, etc. Praise the Lord for this problem, but it is a problem none the less!
You can help us....you will notice a new yellow "Donate" button on the main page of our website under the picture of our new building. If we have ministered to you, we ask you to help us with our ministry. It is exciting to see people from dozens of States and Countries accessing our church ministry, and we ask you to consider returning the blessing.
May the Lord bless our ministry as WE BLESS HIM. Please do not feel indebted to give, we simply give you the opportunity.
PW
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Mincy Worship
I cannot say how much I enjoyed and truly Worshiped the Lord at the Sacred Concert on Sunday night. Dave Mincy is a fellow who puts his whole heart into his music, yet avoids the Contemporary trap of lust of the flesh, eyes, pride of life. Pray for him as he plunges forward into the blind will of God with his music. He confided that he feels much like blind Noah right now.
Can you see the difference in his music and what is offered to you at the Christian bookstore right now? His music is "Contemporary" in that it is up-to-date, yet is not rocky, sensual, or self serving -- Rather, it is God centered, self revealing, and doctrinally pregnant. He is not seeking fame, fortune, or popularity - He is ministering in local churches like ours.
We need to understand that we sing the "old hymns" because of their tremendous doctrine, God focus, and "singability" for our worship. We do not sing them because there is something more sacred about the time period in which they were written, or the music styles from that period. Praise songs from Mainstream Contemporary "artists" today are puddle songs (very shallow). They are focused on self experience and God doing something to me. They are also written to be marketed as a business for the greatest return with secular (unbelievers) music labels, attention, and respect. Mincy's songs are wonderfully transparent about our own sin and God's amazing Character, grace, and majesty.
I surely hope that more present day Pastors, Music Pastors, and believers will write new songs that can be sung in churches to add to our wonderful hymns. The idea of new hymns from Godly people that are far from the "sensual world" is a GOOD THING.
We praise the Lord for Who He is and how Great He is in all His Ways -- He Is God! Do yourself a spiritual favor and go to "What's New", or "Special Music" in this website and watch the video from some of the concert -- I would recommend "You are God" and "God's Plan".
PW
Can you see the difference in his music and what is offered to you at the Christian bookstore right now? His music is "Contemporary" in that it is up-to-date, yet is not rocky, sensual, or self serving -- Rather, it is God centered, self revealing, and doctrinally pregnant. He is not seeking fame, fortune, or popularity - He is ministering in local churches like ours.
We need to understand that we sing the "old hymns" because of their tremendous doctrine, God focus, and "singability" for our worship. We do not sing them because there is something more sacred about the time period in which they were written, or the music styles from that period. Praise songs from Mainstream Contemporary "artists" today are puddle songs (very shallow). They are focused on self experience and God doing something to me. They are also written to be marketed as a business for the greatest return with secular (unbelievers) music labels, attention, and respect. Mincy's songs are wonderfully transparent about our own sin and God's amazing Character, grace, and majesty.
I surely hope that more present day Pastors, Music Pastors, and believers will write new songs that can be sung in churches to add to our wonderful hymns. The idea of new hymns from Godly people that are far from the "sensual world" is a GOOD THING.
We praise the Lord for Who He is and how Great He is in all His Ways -- He Is God! Do yourself a spiritual favor and go to "What's New", or "Special Music" in this website and watch the video from some of the concert -- I would recommend "You are God" and "God's Plan".
PW
Monday, February 16, 2009
Eons
It may seem to you eons since I wrote last. It has been a month. No special reason for the delay other than my laptop hard drive failing and having to get a new HD in it. This of course meant that all my settings, programs, etc. were gone. Praise the Lord my personal files and sermons were saved! (my programs were not saved, but some of them were under deep conviction)
This has been a great month at LBC. WOW - the BJU music ministry team was a huge blessing yesterday, weren't they? I was so excited how transparent and ministering they were. In the afternoon when we took them to eat, I found them to be the same way. We have never had a group that was so interested in our church and our ministry. Usually, the college kids are young and don't really seem interested. But this group was very special. My heart was ministered to greatly by the S.S. message and Audrey's testimony (violin girl). I could feel the pain of her journey with God.
I want you to know that the Lord is working in the hearts of several individuals behind the scenes. Praise the Lord for this strange thing called Sanctification. He actually purifies the redeemed sinner as a process before we see Him face to face. How unsearchable are His ways!
Well, that's about it -- you did a great job at the Polar Bear Offering - near 25,000 now. We still need to pray for "Big Bucks" and give the best we can. We were informed that we will save on reduced cost of steel, labor, etc. - but the challenges of our sitework have added a huge amount to those costs. I would type how much "huge" is, but I can't bring myself to look at it. We are having a budget meeting with our Builder sometime soon to look at the updated costs. We knew all along that the longer we take to build, the more building costs would rise. Every building site has unique challenges that push costs. Our challenges are the underground storm water management system, the replacement of trees from previous owner, and the work we will need to do on the new entrances.
In all these things, God is faithful! He has an exact plan for this, and I hold fast to "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." We have walked with Him to the Union Hall, to the Warehouse, to 1842 Otts Chapel, and now to where He leads. I don't say this as a cliche'---I really believe it, and it keeps my heart calm when I see the big costs of the new building with all the "zeros" behind it. God has a plan for Lighthouse, it is not a "dice-shoot". God is directing our steps. We know this because He said it. Now we act on it, and expect the reward. Hebrews 11:6.
PW
This has been a great month at LBC. WOW - the BJU music ministry team was a huge blessing yesterday, weren't they? I was so excited how transparent and ministering they were. In the afternoon when we took them to eat, I found them to be the same way. We have never had a group that was so interested in our church and our ministry. Usually, the college kids are young and don't really seem interested. But this group was very special. My heart was ministered to greatly by the S.S. message and Audrey's testimony (violin girl). I could feel the pain of her journey with God.
I want you to know that the Lord is working in the hearts of several individuals behind the scenes. Praise the Lord for this strange thing called Sanctification. He actually purifies the redeemed sinner as a process before we see Him face to face. How unsearchable are His ways!
Well, that's about it -- you did a great job at the Polar Bear Offering - near 25,000 now. We still need to pray for "Big Bucks" and give the best we can. We were informed that we will save on reduced cost of steel, labor, etc. - but the challenges of our sitework have added a huge amount to those costs. I would type how much "huge" is, but I can't bring myself to look at it. We are having a budget meeting with our Builder sometime soon to look at the updated costs. We knew all along that the longer we take to build, the more building costs would rise. Every building site has unique challenges that push costs. Our challenges are the underground storm water management system, the replacement of trees from previous owner, and the work we will need to do on the new entrances.
In all these things, God is faithful! He has an exact plan for this, and I hold fast to "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." We have walked with Him to the Union Hall, to the Warehouse, to 1842 Otts Chapel, and now to where He leads. I don't say this as a cliche'---I really believe it, and it keeps my heart calm when I see the big costs of the new building with all the "zeros" behind it. God has a plan for Lighthouse, it is not a "dice-shoot". God is directing our steps. We know this because He said it. Now we act on it, and expect the reward. Hebrews 11:6.
PW
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