Judgement House - Revenge

The script this year is "REVENGE, When Rage Takes Control", a story, ripped from the headlines, of a young man who gets even with his school mates. Our first performance will be Friday, February 1st from 6:30pm to 9:30pm Our second performance will be Saturday, February 2nd from 6:30 pm to 9:30pm and our Third performance will be Sunday, February 3rd from 4pm to 8pm. Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are recommended. You can make reservations by calling the church office at (863)675-2171 or on the church website. The program takes about one hour to go through. When you arrive to Judgement House you should go to the big white tent and sign in.

The purpose of Judgement House is to have people think about there life and where they will spend eternity. We make plans for all kinds of things in our lives but many people don't think about where they will spend eternity. We don't go to heaven just because we are good or because we treat people with respect. We go to heaven if we have prayed and accepted Jesus as our Lord. Please be in prayer for each person who goes through Judgement House and for the cast and the counselors who will talk with those who want to make decisions for Christ.

Death in Family

Please be in prayer for Cathy and her family this week. Cathy's oldest sister died on Sunday night and we are flying on Wednesday to New Orleans for the funeral on Thursday. The funeral will be held at Charlet Funeral Home in Zachary, Louisiana on Thursday at 1pm. The interment will be in Centerville, Mississippi. We will be flying back on Friday. Please remember Cathy's brother and sisters during this time of loss.

Gideon Speaker - Sunday, January 27, 2008

This coming Sunday, January 27, 2008 in our Morning Worship Service, we will have a speaker coming to share about the work of Gideons.

The Gideons International are an interdenominational association of Christian business and professional men who are members of Protestant, evangelical churches. Members are dedicated to saving the lost through personal witnessing and the distribution of God's Word in more than 180 countries around the world.

Having access to God's Word can lead people to faith in Christ, and those new Christians can then grow by studying their Scriptures and even use them to share their faith with others.

For this reason, Gideons focus on distributing complete Bibles or New Testaments. These Scriptures are printed in more than 80 languages and are either given directly to certain individuals or placed in selected public locations where large numbers of people who may be searching for answers will have the ability to encounter the Word of God.

Distributing complete copies of God's Word also . . .

Plants powerful seeds that God can use in His timing. (I Corinthians 3:6)
Allows people to read the truth for themselves. (John 8:32)
Provides a continuing witness when the Gideon is no longer present. (Hebrews 4:12)
Makes it easier for the people we reach to in turn reach others with the truth about Jesus. (II Timothy 2:2)
Makes it possible for new Christians to learn and grow through personal Bible study.
(II Timothy 2:15)
Areas of Distribution
Scriptures are distributed one by one by members of The Gideons International to these groups:

*Students in the 5th grade and above
*Prisoners and police, fire, medical and military personnel
*Anyone else Gideons witness to individually
*Scriptures are placed in certain locations, including:

**Hotels and motels
**Hospitals, convalescent homes, medical offices and domestic violence shelters
**Prisons and jails

Come this Sunday, January 27, 2008 and hear our Gideon Speaker

Panama Mission Report

My recent trip to Panama was a wonderful experience. I had a safe drive from LaBelle to Miami Airport, was able to get checked in and to my gate without any problems. Our flight was delayed by two hours because of snow in the Boston area (the inbound flight was delayed). I arrived in Panama around 4:15pm and got to the seminary for my first class around 5:30pm. The class was suppose to start at 5:30pm, but because not everybody was there yet I had time to eat and was able to start teaching around 6:15pm. Our class time usually ran from 5:30 pm to 9pm Monday through Friday night. The course I taught this time around was "Missions, Evangelism and Discipleship." I throughly enjoyed going through it with the pastors and lay leader of Panama. I believe this is a course every believer should find time to take.

On Friday they took me into Panama City to do some site seeing and shopping. We used the local buses to travel to and from the seminary to downtown Panama City as this is the way most Panamanians travel. As such there were 40 to 50 people on our bus. It was interesting to see the other buses as we rode since the individual drivers seem to compete on who could decorate their bus in the loudest colors. On the way back however, just as we crossed over the Panama Canal, our bus broke down. We all had to get off the bus and try to flag down other buses. But we finally got back to the seminary and it was a good trip to Panama City.

Saturday, January 19, 2008 we had the Graduation Ceremonies for 24 students that had completed the ten-book course that took two years to complete. The ceremonies where held at the hotel near the airport in the banquet room. There were close to 200 people present. We had a breakfast buffet and then the graduation ceremony. Dr. Jerry Gesell and Dr. Ron Long from Luther Rice Seminary were present with Dr. Long preaching the graduation message. Dr. Gesell and Dr. Long passed out the graduation certificates. It was a wonderful moment to see these individuals complete this achievement in their lives and to see how proud their families were for them. The end of the ceremony was marked by two local dances. One was done by some teenagers from a local indian tribe and the other dance was a traditional Latin dance done by two teenagers. This was a great ending to our Graduation ceremonies.

I would like to thank everyone for allowing me to go to Panama to teach these class and to represent First Baptist Church of LaBelle.

Panama Mission Trip - January 2008

Pastor Jeff and I in connection with Luther Rice Seminary will be in Panama from January 14 - 21st to teach local pastors and leaders. These Pastors and leaders have enrolled in a 10 course study, design for Pastors and Church Leaders. We will be teaching course number 10 entitled "Missions, Evangelism, and Discipleship". This will be the third course we have had the privilege of teaching. It has been a joy in getting to know these men and women who are in the course.

At the completion of this course we will have the honor to be part of their graduation ceremony on Saturday night. Dr. Long is planning to be their to present certificate to these students. On that Sunday morning I will have the honor to preach in one of the church in the area and Jeff will sing.

I ask that you pray for our travel to Panama and back to America. Pray that God will use us in a mighty way while we are there.