The Baptist Bridge

September 2012 By the grace of God, the Philippi Baptist Church shall Embrace, Model, and Share the love of God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Philippi Baptist Church 107 Church St. Philippi, WV 26416 (304) 457-3206

Inside this Issue Pastors Message...2 Birthdays3 Anniversaries...3 Prayer requests...3 Youth Event...4 Schedule...5 Women Events.5 Union Assoc...6 Getting to know...7

Catch us on the radio live every Sunday morning at 10:30a.m. WQAB 91.3 FM
E-mail: office@pbcwv.net Website: www.pbcwv.net

107 Church Street Philippi, WV 26416(304)457-3206

Jon Villers, Pastor

Greetings PBC Family!

We want to welcome all back from a busy and wonderful Summer. As I was growing up in Wirt County, this time of the year meant back to school, Friday night Football games and marching in the band! With Bobby and Thomas playing trombone this year at Philip Barbour High School, it brings back fond memories! That's the thing about memories, it takes us back and we often refer to them as the "Good Old Days." It takes me a little longer to think about countless bus rides where I would sit alone because I didn't participate in the off color jokes or I just didn't seem to fit in with the cool crowd. I never let on about these times and always covered it up by being a smiling outgoing guy who never met a stranger. It allowed me to know and be known to many, but not to make to many deeper connections along the way. I always wanted to be known as an encourager but there were some times I felt like I was on the outside looking in. There were many times I thought of older folks in the churches Dad served as closer friends than students my age. I am thankful that I did not feel bullied or pressured to do things I would regret. I also know the small community I grew up in was a great place for my development as a person and a follower of Jesus. Think back with me to your childhood. They were formative years in all our lives. Some times were filled with learning experiences that were very painful and other times filled with great joy. These experiences have shaped who we are today. I would encourage you to invest in our younger generations that fill the church pews and your neighborhoods every week. Your time will be used to it's potential as you take time to listen and learn from a middle school student or a college student or a young married couple. I wanted to thank all those who made our Annual Church Picnic a great success. I realize it was a little different to have our worship service at the pool pavilion, but it was a great opportunity for us to worship in the sanctuary of God's outdoors! I also want to encourage our younger generations to take the time to meet some folks that have been down the road of life ahead of them. We have amazing servants of God sitting in the congregation every Sunday who can be a mentor and voice in your life for many years to come. That is when our community of faith is at it's best. When all generations are represented and being the hands and feet of Jesus to a world that so desperately needs a Savior! Paul was writing to a young preacher named Timothy and gave these words of teaching to both the younger and older generations in 1 Timothy 5 (ESV): Instructions for the Church 1. Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, 2. older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity. We do want to say an official welcome to Eddy Poling as our Board of Christian Education has brought him on as our Youth Director. He will also continue to lead our Praise Teams as he spends his last semester before graduating with a teaching degree from Alderson-Broaddus. We had 70 to come for our first Baptist Campus Gathering! With over 800 students enrolled this year, there is great opportunity for growth and connections! We are having an organizational meeting the first of September to start a Fellowship of Christian Athletes group as well! Thanks again for all your prayers and support as we seek to "Embrace, Model and Serve the Love of God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit." Shalom, Pastor Jon

Also, in need of prayer: Our national, state, and country leaders and officials. Please pray for Victims of crime, war and violence throughout our country. Pray for protection for miliA-B College, President Creehan tary personnel and their families faculty, staff and students throughout the world and those Denny Poling-Bowers serving our country: Lee Beuckman Tim Jenkins, Children & Youth Chris Mossburg, Ralph and Phyllis Crites Major Kris Wood and Jeannine Blankenship Captain Aaron Cross Chuck Boyer Eleanor Ruth Burton Audrey Cross Becky and Mike Elmore Jim & Joni Friend Jane Gibbons Joe & Beverly Gouer Stephanie & Charles Hinkle Holly Jerry Jones 1-Skip Ervin Rev. Don Lenox 3-Tim Schoonover Christina Maddy 4- Nikki Price Channel Ruth Mahaffey 6-J.D. Long Donal Matthews 9-Mary Lantz Amanda Means 14-John Cain Donna Moore 19-Charlie Daniels Dr. Jennifer Parks 19-Obichukwe Okoye Brenda & Gary Price 22-Marj Campbell Jordan Price 25-Neil Irvine Margaret Salimi Kaley Sinsel 26-John Hicks Butch Skidmore 26-Zvezdana Vlasic Tim Simmons 27-Mary Boyer David Smell 27-Robert Boyer Mary Smith 27-Kathy Kratsas Christina Wentz 28-Nathan Smith Elizabeth Wentz

Mens Prayer Breakfast

Saturday, September 1st 7:30 am Medallion Restaurant SEE BELOW FOR A SERVICE OPPORTUNITY!!!
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29-Sarah Cobb 30-Elsie Frye 30-Nancy Stull

Otilia Franke (Mansfield Place) Blair & Pearl Marks, Dr. Shearer, Mary Tamulitis Vangie Shaffer: (Mansfield Place) Germaine & Austin Whitman,

5-Tom & Jean Roy

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Unspoken requests for family members, unsaved people, community concerns, job and home loss, financial difficulties.

Because the first Monday of September will be Labor Day, Heart & Hand volunteers should show up on Saturday, September 8th from 9:00-noon instead of Monday, September 3. Changeover from summer to winter clothing will take place at that time. Any and all help is appreciated. ******************* Our next Adopt-A-Highway cleanup day has been scheduled to coordinate with the Statewide cleanup, scheduled for September 29, 2012. We will meet at the church at 9:00am, to clean our assigned 2.2mile section of Rt. 119, from the covered bridge to the Rt. 57 intersection. Anyone who has not helped in the past, please report at 8:30 to view the mandatory safety video. Please wear long pants, work shoes or boots, and hats, jackets and sunglasses as appropriate. Work gloves and safety vests will be provided. As usual, we will expect to be competed by about 10:30am. The AAH notice advises that all volunteers will receive a free gift! Please see Craig Cobb if you have any questions. May the Good Lord Bless all those who help to care for His world! Thanks, Craig Cobb

ALL YOUTH and FAMILIES AND YOUNG AT HEART

Come Join U-Link for an Afternoon

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Please Bring a Cover Dish September 8th 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm At Hepzibah Baptist Church

Fun, Games, Music, and FOOD!!!! Special Music By Tim Sandy and Family

Many fun activities

For More Information Contact:

Aaron Helmick 304-300-0866 Janet Morris 304-669-8354 Roger Delaney 304-669-3895 Rick Garavaglia 304-672-5678 Pastor Jon Villers---304-457-3206

Childrens Volunteer Watch and Teach Calendar for September

September 2 September 9 Christie Allen Need Volunteer Koreen Villers Thomas Villers Kelly Bracey Lindsay Bracey September 16 Rebekah Hicks Tom Dadisman Pete Ferguson Chuck Ervin Carol Ervin September 23 Cheryl Wolfe Allison Villers Heather Cottrill Hayden Cottrill Sara Poling Eddy Poling September 30 ? No Wee Church No Junior Church

Nursery Wanda Steele

James Steele

Wee Church Junior Church

Cheryl and Abby Blankenship Sarah Ferguson Pete Ferguson

Sarah Cobb will be hosting a 12-week Precept Bible Study Entitled, How to Stand Firm When Tested, at her home beginning Tuesday, September 11th. Mary Ann Weller will be leading the study. Class runs from 1:00-3:00pm each Tuesday afternoon. Wed love to have you join us.

WANTED
Who: Women of the Church Where: Fellowship Hall When: Tuesday, September 4, 2012 7:00pm Program: Stop the Pain with special speaker Rochelle Sutton Bible Book of the Month Ephesians

American Baptist Women will be collecting school supplies the month of September. These will be given to the teachers of our church. Things needed are tissues, pencils, crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors, glue, rulers, erasers sand notebook paper. We will also be collecting Campbells Soup labels and Box Tops for Education throughout the year.
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Union Association Summer/Fall Cluster Services 2012

September 30Annual MeetingElkins First Baptist Church Pastor Jon Villers, Speaker Registration 2:30-3:00pm Reports will be given by BCM, ABWM, Missions, and others Dinner will follow along with a love gift for the meal. October 7 - Point Pleasant Baptist Church Pastor Bruce Hoffman, Speaker November 4 - Union Baptist Church Pastor Chris Mullett, Speaker7pm December 2 Flemington Baptist Church Pastor Alan Rosenberger, Speaker 7pm All offerings will go to the General Treasurer of the Association. If you have any questions regarding these meetings, please call Roger Delaney, Chairman of Discipleship, Union Association, at 304-842-5149.

We all know that things are meant to be used, And people are meant to be loved. Were all mixed up, however We love things and use people

He Carries the Tune

Jud Bracey, Choir Director at Philippi Baptist Church, is a dyed-in-thewool Yankee, for he was born in Vermont and grew up in Maine and had parents who both earned divinity degrees at Gordon College in Massachusetts. They also lived for some five years in a fifth New England stateMainefrom 1968 to 1972 while Jud attended AldersonBroaddus College. It was natural for the Bracey boy to attend A-B, for his parents wanted him to attend a Christian school, and of course they thought first of Gordon, but there was no music program therethe field in which Jud wanted to major. He applied to Alderson-Broaddus and soon received a telephone call from Steve Roberts, then Director of Admissions at A-B, who said that a music program was just underway. That was in March of 1968, and on the basis of his scholastic record and his ambitious goals, Jud received a full scholarship. I almost left after my first year, he now reports, partly because I was homesick, but the people here had gotten their hooks into me, and I stayed and graduated in 1972. Then I went to Hancock County as band director for a year, and then I got married, and Karen, my first wife, and I headed to Ohio University for graduate school. I directed music at a church in Cambridge, Ohio, while we were there. Then Bob Hamrick resigned from the A-B music faculty to join the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Skip Ervin called and asked me to come back to A-B. He laughs. This fall Ill be starting my 37th year at the college. He and Karen parted ways, and he and Kelly were married in 1983. Their daughter, Lindsay, was born in 1989. She will begin teaching music in the Barbour County schools this fall. Back in 1986 Jud started working on a Ph.D. at WVU but eventually decided to work on a Doctor of Musical Arts degree instead. He finished in 1997. In the meantime, George and Marija Sommer invited the Braceys to their house for dinner one Sunday, and they urged Jud to become the choir director at Philippi Baptist Church. In September hell be starting his 25th year in that position. He also currently serves on the Board of Worship. As for the future at PBC, Jud says, I want this church to be a truly multi-generational fellowship. Were all encouraged with the influx of young familiestheyre the future of this congregation. But we must also cherish our older members. We need to find ways to worship and serve on common groundthe Lords ground. He surely speaks for the entire congregation of which he is such an important part.
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