Winn’s Messenger

Published for Members and Friends of Winn’s Baptist Church 12320 Winn’s Church Road, Glen Allen, VA 23059 Phone: (804) 798.5512 ● Fax: (804) 752.2401 ● Web: www.winnsbc.org

September 2011

A Great Day

Dear Church Family and Friends,

August 2nd marked the 10th anniversary of my being Senior Pastor of Winn’s. My wife and I received a nice gift from the church, which was presented in each service, (I accused Uncle Roy of being an Indian giver because he kept taking it back. He did let me keep it after the 3rd service!) As the gift was presented each time, it was accompanied by a warm standing ovation from the congregation. The late news commentator Paul Harvey used to say that compliments don’t hurt you if you don’t inhale. I didn’t, but I did gladly take the applause as an affirmation of my leadership and the direction in which I continue to lead the church. I went on to preach the message that I preached 10 years ago when I was being considered for the position, a message that makes clear what we need to do, and be, as a church determined to have Christ as King. I thanked those who bought into it 10 years ago and challenged the congregation to renew their commitment to the vision. One opportunity to express such a commitment was to participate in approving Doug Arnold as our new Student Pastor. Once again, there was an amazing and encouraging response on the part of our people. The music was great with the choir opening the 8:15 and 11 o’clock services with “Thou O Lord.” The cherry on top came in the form of a response to the invitation at the end of the 9:30 service. Two teenage girls came forward with a friend who made a commitment to Christ. We ended the morning with “Victory in Jesus”, my theme song. What a wonderful day indeed!

While it is certainly a time of victory in Jesus, let us remember that the devil will never stay away long. I am reminded of the gospel account that tells us that after the devil had tempted Jesus, he departed until an opportune time. While we rejoice in our victories over the evil one, we can never drop our guard. The best defense is to be a spiritually healthy church, so let’s each resolve to do our part to keep a robust immune system functioning within the Body of Christ.

Doug Arnold is due to begin serving beside us Labor Day weekend. What a wonderful addition to the team Doug will make! My heart overflows with gratitude to God and y’all for doing what it takes to make the ministry of Winn’s so effective. I truly believe that our best days are yet to come! To God is the glory!

Gratefully His and yours, Pastor Jeff

Children’s Ministry

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Philippians 1:3-6

It is hard to believe that summer is almost over and it is time to head back to school! Even though our summer days are behind us, I am praying that we will use the spiritual truths we learned this summer, to make us stronger witnesses for Jesus Christ this fall.

With Promotion Sunday on Aug. 28th, we are excited to be in our new Sunday School classes and Children’s Churches. We are looking forward to another awesome year of AWANA beginning on September 14th!!! Now, here’s a summary of our summer activities:

During the last week of June, 34 of us attended Centri-KID camp, held at Eagle Eyrie, in Lynchburg, VA. We enjoyed growing closer to God and to one another as we learned how God provides for all of our needs. We had a wonderful week where we focused on the Lord and are thankful for everyone who helped us go to camp.

Terrific Tuesdays’ allowed us to minister to 1st – 7th graders over the course of the summer. Each one of these children and students were given a daily devotional and were challenged to spend time in God’s Word and prayer every day. Our theme for this

summer centered on Apologetics and Creationism. We visited the Lexington Court Convalescent Center to play Bingo, played miniature golf, enjoyed God’s beautiful creation at the zoo and the gem mines, and practiced our Biblical critical thinking skills while at the Science Museum.

Winn’s on Wednesdays (“WOW”) enabled 1st-7th graders to choose 3 “tracks” where different skills were used to point kids to Christ. Some of the tracks were “Decorate Your Room”, “Babysitting”, “Survival”, “Retro Games”, “Soccer”, “Outdoor Cooking”, WOW Hoops”, “Flag Football”, and “Taming the Cookie Monster”.

Vacation Bible School was an awesome experience with classes for all ages from babies through adults. We learned that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and had around 300 in attendance each night. Several children made professions of faith and several others re-dedicated their lives. Several high schoolers took their VBS on the road and visited the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

As I write this, I am in awe at how much support we have received from our church family for these ministries. I am thankful for every adult, student and college-aged leader who poured their lives into their younger sisters and brothers in Christ this summer. Without all of your prayers and faithful service, our church would not be able to impact the next generation for Christ in our community. I cannot begin to express my deep appreciation to our Lord for giving us safety, for entrusting these children to us, and to each one of you who were faithful!

While holding onto these last beautiful summer days, I look forward to the vivid Fall colors and the new opportunities the Lord will send our way. We still need more help in Sunday School, AWANA, Good News Clubs, Children’s Church, and the Fall Festival God continues to have great plans for us to reach children for Christ, but it takes many helping hands to do His work. Please pray about how you can get involved in our Children’s Ministry team – there are many opportunities!!! Call Cheryl at 798-5512, x. 26 to see how you can get plugged in!

AWANA BEGINS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2011

Wow, the summer programs are wrapping up! A new school is about to begin; which means our new Awana club year will also begin.  I am so excited for Awana to begin; I’ve missed the interactions with the Leaders and the Clubbers who attended last year.  This year we have some exciting things planned for the Leaders and Awana Clubbers, new challenges to reach new heights, and most of all new ways to learn how to step out on faith to show and offer the love of Christ to our friends, family, and neighbors.  So, Clubbers and Leaders, dig out and dust off your Awana uniform, books, and running shoes for the start of a new Awana season.

This year we are introducing the Trek and Journey programs for Middle and High school.  These programs offer incentives for our Middle and High school students the biggest being scholarship awards for completing set curriculums.  This can be as little as $1000 and up to $12,000 depending on the school and completion of set Awana (24/7 Ministry) requirements.  The Trek and Journey programs are geared to help train Middle and High school students to be future leaders in the church along with guiding them in their walk with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Here are some key dates to mark down on your calendar:

Aug 31 - Club specific training (Secretary, Puggles, Cubbies, Sparks, T&T, Trek, and Journey)

Sept 14th – Awana Starts.

Sept 24th – Awana Conference (at Winn’s Baptist Church) theme is “One More” *

Oct – Nov - Winn’s Awana Grand Prix (date to be announced)

Feb – Bible Quiz

Mar – Awana Games

* What will it take to get One More involved in Awana, One More reading the Word of God, One More life impacted forever, and One More ripple for Eternity? For the answers to these questions join us Saturday, September 24th for the Awana Conference.

See you in September,Awana Commander Jerry

Music MinistryWe are geared up for another exciting, yet busy season in the Music Ministry!! Both the Sanctuary Choir and Set Apart Student Worship Team are back in session after having a nice little break in July!!

Our Set Apart Student Worship Team started back on Wednesday, August 3rd. There were 29 students that came out for our “Get to Know You” fellowship and it was awesome!!! We played “team building” games from the show “Minute to Win It”, had prizes and ate pizza together (pictures below). At the end of the evening, the team gathered around Katie Howell to say their “good-byes” and to share some really sweet words of encouragement and cake. We wish her and her family the very best as they settle in New York. If your student wasn’t able to attend our fellowship and they are interested in being part of Set Apart, we meet every Wednesday at 5:00 – 6:15 in the Choir Room; we’d love for you to join us!!

This year the Sanctuary Choir and Set Apart Student Worship Team will be presenting the Christmas musical as one; how exciting is that? :) If you are interested in singing in the musical and would like to be part of one of these choirs, the cut-off date is October 1.

Our children’s choirs, Little Lambs (ages 4 years –1st grade) and Masterpiece Kids (2nd – 5th grades) start back on Sunday, October 2nd at 6:00. If you weren’t able to register your child at our Music Ministry Open House, you will have an opportunity to do so that evening.

Also, we are always looking for musicians to play for our 8:15, 11:00 and 6:00 services. You need to be at least 16 years old and have 2 or more years of experience.

Well, I hope after reading all this, if you’re not serving in the Music Ministry that you’re at least thinking about it!! There are many opportunities for you to get “plugged in” and if I can help you do that, I would love too!! Please feel free to call me at the church office 798-5512, ext. 25 or email me at kathyrector@comcast.net or krector@winnsbc.org with any questions!

To think that He uses me!!Kathy Rector

God is doing great things already through the Church on the Avenue! He has already provided us with two servant evangelism opportunities at Mary Munford Elementary School (which is where we will be meeting for Sunday worship services). On July 21 we hosted a basketball clinic with the help of the H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People to Eternity) Ministry of Westside Baptist Church in Snellville, Georgia. Despite the 100 degree heat 34 people registered for and attended the clinic, and three young men made decisions for Christ that evening! Then, on August 5 our team provided free refreshments during an outdoor movie night put on by the City of Richmond Department of Parks. We made lots of new friends (see the photos) and have already received a call from a family wanting to know when our first service will be! God is at work for sure!

Another milestone we have just passed is that we now have prayer walked every street in the community! Thanks to everyone who has so faithfully come out every Saturday morning to do this. Through the prayer walking we have gained a lot of information about the community and made several important contacts so that we can better understand how to serve it. Please join with us in continuing to pray that the Holy Spirit will soften the hearts of the people in the community and that the Lord will send us people, especially young families.

So what’s next? To help ‘create a buzz’ in the community we are planning a series of free family movie nights in the school auditorium for September 16, October 7, November 4 and December 2. The idea is to use these nights as servant evangelism opportunities to invite people to come to our Sunday services. Hopefully the word will continue to get out and the Church in the Avenue gets known fairly well prior to our official launch date on January 8. This is the date when we will begin weekly services and midweek programs and activities.

With our first movie night (Sept. 16) and Sunday service (Sept. 18) quickly approaching we are making plans to distribute flyers to every home in the community. There are about 5,000 residences so it is going to take a lot of work! On Saturday morning, September 3 and 10, and Sunday afternoon, September 11, we have three churches from around the state coming to help us. You are invited to join in as well and we welcome you to be part of the team. It is going to be a great time as we fellowship with other believers working together to get the word out to everyone in the community. Please contact me for further information.

Praising God with you,Pastor Jeff Chadwick

** Join us on Facebook for more information and pictures **

Dear Church Family,

I am so grateful to the Lord for bringing me and my family to serve alongside you all at Winn’s. I consider myself to be blessed to be led by the Lord here. The way that God orchestrated the whole process is a miracle in and of itself. It’s a long story, but in short: Everything was appointed by the Lord and came together for just such a time like this. Glory to God in the highest! It’s so exciting that it’s hard to express in human words!

We absolutely cannot wait until we see you all again. I already feel close to the congregation and look forward to the sweet fellowship we will have at Winn’s. You are such an awesome church! The more that I researched Winn’s the more the Lord impressed upon me, that it was totally of Him and that this is a God-honoring, body of Believers. Your works and reputation proceed you and speak well of the Lord.

Over the past few months I have had the privilege of hearing several messages online that Bro. Jeff has preached and I have to say that you are in good hands and I look forward to hearing many more and serving alongside him and all the staff. I love being on such a great team!

We are in the midst of packing up House and Home and saying our goodbyes to friends and family here in Tennessee. Please continue to pray for my mom and dad as they are taking it really hard seeing us go. Please pray for safety and a smooth transition for us in the next 2 weeks. I never knew how hard packing could be with a 2 and 3 year-olds in the middle of everything. But by God’s grace we will get there eventually. Also that the Lord helps us sell our house in TN. Lord willing we will see ya the 1st weekend in September.Love you all,Bro. Doug

Winn’s Baptist Church 12320 Winn’s Church Road Glen Allen, VA 23059

Address Service Request

 

Church Historian, Tom Lacy, Needs Your Help  

“The Mysteries in the History of Winn's Baptist Church” was published November 2005 corresponding with the dedication of our Fellowship Hall. This book is a compilation four previous researchers plus additional information previous researchers did not uncover.        We want to update Winn's history by adding your input.Tom wants to see any Winn's Baptist Church information you have in your possession. He is looking for pictures, bulletins, flyers, letters, meeting notices, meeting minutes, newspaper articles, genealogies of Winn's church members, military records or the names of veterans of all wars and campaigns including the Revolutionary War, family members buried at Winn's, memorial gifts made to Winn's in your name or family name and other forms of memorabilia.         You keep it - Tom just wants to see it.E-mail Tom at RevTCL@aol.comCall Tom at:  804-749-4050           

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