February 2023 Acts of Faith Newsletter

Acts of Faith

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF FAITH BAPTIST CHURCH

We are a family of faith, sharing God’s love in a spirit of hope.

Wednesday night meals are back in February! Yum! We’ll gather in the RA at 5:30 for a family dinner. The suggested donation to help cover the cost of food is $5 per person. Here’s a look at what will be happening after the meal each week.

On February 1, we’ll crown the champion of the 2023 Faith Baptist Virtual Winter Olympics. You’ll be the audience as final entries will be revealed and points will be distributed. Everyone will have a great time seeing our competitors in action and celebrating with the winners!

After the meal on February 8 and 15, kids and adults will stay in the RA as Pastor Amanda uses episodes of the kids show “Bluey” to explore different parts of our faith. This will be family-friendly and engaging for people of all ages!

February 22 is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent on the Christian calendar. Therefore, after the meal, we’ll head to the sanctuary for an Ash Wednesday service. During this service we will reflect on our mortality, ask for forgiveness, and thank God for the love of Jesus. Part of this service is the traditional imposition of ashes where ashes are spread across our forehead. A description of Lent and information on some of the events held during the Lenten season is on page 4.

BUSINESS MEETING

& POTLUCK MEAL

Sunday, February 19 after worship

This month we will welcome Elizabeth King as our new pianist. She will join us for the first time at Wednesday night’s choir rehearsal on February 15. Elizabeth’ s hiring ends a long, three-year search for a permanent pianist. During that time, Judith Williams has graciously given her dedication and talents to playing for the choir, congregational singing, and instrumental pieces during worship. She will still play some from time to time while returning to singing with the choir. Thank you for continuing to share your gifts and calling with us, Judith!

Elizabeth King, a native Scott Countian, is currently the pianist for Newtown Christian Church and a freshman at the University of Kentucky, working toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music (Flute) and a Bachelor of Business Administration degrees. She was awarded two scholarships by the University of Kentucky and has held leadership roles in several volunteer organizations, including as a mentor in the Adopt an Art program where she taught dance, music, and visual arts, both virtually and in person, to children in gifted and talented programs and children in foster care. She is also a private instructor in flute and piano at King’ s School of Music. In total she has fourteen years experience playing piano and eight years experience playing flute.

We are delighted to welcome Elizabeth to our church staff and are eager for everyone to meet her!

What's more exciting than a business meeting? A potluck business meeting! Our next quarterly business meeting will be in the RA with a potluck like we did before COVID. So bring a dish and let's get down to business!

It is hard to believe that we are already a month into the new year! There are so many wonderful things happening in the life of our church and I am excited for all that is to come. As we enter into February and into the season of Lent, we are preparing our hearts and minds again for the mystery of Easter. It is a time for all of us to reflect and wonder about the gift that God has given us in the life, death, and ultimately resurrection of Jesus. In the children’s Godly Play time, they will walk with Jesus through his ministry on earth learning about his miracles and love.

We began our year with Music With Ms. Kathy. The children had a wonderful time gathering at Pastor Amanda’s house for some singing and playing instruments with Kathy Fraley. We ended our time together sharing our hopes for the upcoming year and eating ice cream sundaes!

Wednesday Nights at church will resume on Wednesday, February 1, as we all gather in the RA to celebrate being back together and watching the final night of the Virtual Winter Olympics.

The next two Wednesday nights (February 8 and 15) the children will remain in the RA to share a Bible study time with the adults titled “The Gospel According to Bluey.” Many children are familiar with this lovable blue heeler and will enjoy introducing her to the adults. This will be a meaningful time for children and adults to share their thoughts and discoveries about how God is working in their lives. This will be led by Pastor Amanda and will be a fun evening as everyone explores the Bible together!

The children will begin their own Wednesday night gatherings on Ash Wednesday, February 22, and continue to discover together what it means to follow Jesus.

Children are invited to remain after church on Sunday, February 26, to continue exploring beautiful Bali and the two missionaries there who are sharing God's love through art, music and dance. Children will need to bring a lunch and can be picked up at 1:30 pm.

We are starting something new with our very own Arts Academy. With the idea that we encounter God the best using all of our senses and talents, we are going to be gathering two Sundays a month. One Sunday we will use visual art to talk about and learn about God, and the second Sunday we will use our drama skills! All children are welcome to bring a lunch and stay!

Visual Art: February 12, March 12, April 16

Drama: February 19, March 19, May 7

serve in

Indonesia, with an emphasis on spiritual expression through the arts.

Finally, mark your calendars for a Breakout Games-style adventure on February 17. We'll meet at the church at 6 p.m. for a pizza dinner and then have some fun together! We'll wrap things up by 8.

Jonathan and Tina Bailey

Bali,

It’s a big month for our youth and our church! February 17-19 will be Disciple Now for our youth concluding with Youth Sunday! Our theme is Called to Follow. Disciple Now is an in-town retreat where the youth stay the entire weekend at someone’ s house. They will be led in Bible studies by Georgetown College students and then our youth will lead worship that Sunday!

How can you be involved in this great weekend? I glad you asked! We need to feed the youth! We also need people to pray! And we need people to be in worship Sunday, February 19, to support our students!

If you would like to help with meals, please contact Sharon as soon as possible. We will need people to provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday for two different houses. If you would like to commit to pray, contact Sharon to get specific things to pray for as the weekend progresses. Everyone can begin praying now for our youth, our host homes (the McConnaughhays and the Feltons), our Bible study leaders (Ragan Welch and Carter Felton), and our youth as they prepare to lead in worship. I’m so excited to see God work during this weekend!

All youth are invited to a Super Bowl party on Sunday, February 12, starting at 6 p.m. in the youth room! Bring your favorite football-watching food to share.

We had a fun night at the Fraleys’ with our college students in January! Thank you Fraleys for opening your home and loving on our students!

We had a great turnout for our JOY Lunch in January as new Mayor Burney Jenkins shared his dreams for Georgetown with us. We are so appreciative of Mayor Jenkins taking time to speak to us!

Our February outing is a movie night! Everyone is invited to go see 80 for Brady at Theatres of Georgetown on Tuesday, February 7. The movie starts at 5:10 p.m. so we’ll meet in the lobby around 5 and then go in together. Tickets are $6 and you can get a free popcorn with the purchase of a drink since we going on Free Popcorn Tuesday!

We hope you will join us for our JOY Luncheon this month! It will be on Monday, February 20, at 11 a.m. in the RA. The Senior Adult Committee will be providing a variety of soups for lunch. You are invited to bring a side dish or dessert if you are able. Our speaker will be Michele Carlisle, Executive Director the AMEN House, and she will talk to us about Project Prom Dress, a ministry that provides prom dresses, accessories, and minor alterations at no cost. Project Prom Dress is held at Faith and many of our members are volunteers.

PromDress Project 2023

I am having knee surgery on the day of the luncheon and will be out for a couple of weeks. Diana Niedwick, Senior Adult Committee chair, will host the luncheon.

The senior committee and I are working on some great activities for the next several months including a couple of plays and obviously places to eat. We hope you come. If you need transportation, please let me know or contact the church office. We don’t want anyone to miss out on events because they don’t have a way to get there.

I look forward to sharing many new and exciting times with you in 2023. Blessings, Rick

Words from William

It happened again! Last week we were contacted by a church in Illinois interested in reproducing our reading camp and a church in Kentucky wanting more information about how they could do a free laundry day. Since COVID, this has become a regular thing for us. Over the last few years I’ve had people want to copy our COVID regathering plans, know how we did certain aspects of our digital Bible studies and worships, seek guidance as their church navigates questions about human sexuality, learn more about the Helping Hands Payday Loan Program, use our liturgies from various special services, rethink their budget communications based on our Annual Budget Booklet, and know how their church can have a partnership with a school like we have with Southern Elementary. Now we can add free laundry day and reading camp to the list. (Although this isn’t the first time someone from out of state has asked us about reading camp.)

I love getting these calls. It’s fun to talk with pastors and congregants as they share dreams for their church and how they have been inspired by us. It’s also a good reminder how lucky I am to be at a church like Faith. In the church world, Faith is like a laboratory, exploring ways to meaningfully connect with God and others that other churches can learn from. We aren’t trying to be unique or cutting edge; we are just trying to love God and love other people. But, your sincere yearning for God, your patience, your willingness to approach the problems of the world creatively, your willingness to share your gifts, these things allow us to do some pretty cool stuff! It is simply incredible how our sharing of God’s love in a spirit of hope impacts far beyond our own congregation!

This posture as a laboratory church that is helping to develop practices, programs, and perspectives for the benefit of other churches as well as our own isn’t going away any time soon either! The Energy Stewardship Committee recently started their work by setting short and long-term goals. Their long-term goals are:

1) Learn about and test energy efficiency measures in such a way that other churches can apply what we have learned in their own context.

2) Create connections and educational opportunities that address energy sustainability on a city wide and potentially systematic level.

There is a spirit of cooperation and mutual growth in this church. We don’t see other churches as competition, but as fellow workers in bringing about the Kingdom of God. I love our curious and caring nature. I am so happy that I get to be part of a church that is worth copying and willing to share!

Every year the church takes time to prepare ourselves before Easter. This period is called Lent. This year Lent will start on February 22, with Ash Wednesday and continue until Easter on April 9. Lent is traditionally a time when people focus on spiritual practices like prayer, scripture reading, fasting, and giving as we seek to follow Christ more fully. It can be a time for us to repent and reset, refocusing ourselves on Jesus before we celebrate his resurrection on Easter morning. Our church encourages people to observe Lent in personal and communal ways. We will be sharing several resources throughout February to help you personally observe Lent through different spiritual practices.

Communally, we will start Lent with an Ash Wednesday service on February 22 after the Wednesday night meal. Additionally, each Sunday

during Lent we will be sharing our faith stories by sharing our favorite hymns. Each week a member of the congregation will tell us what their favorite hymn is and why, and then we’ll sing it together. During the sermons, we ’ll be sharing the story of God and how that connects with our own stories. Leaning into all of this story time, we’ll also hold a Lent Workshop on storytelling on Saturday, March 19. Congregants will share their storytelling gifts and insights so that we all might communicate our faith (and just communicate in general) better. Finally, we will once again gather as a community on Good Friday, April 7, at Georgetown College for a Community Good Friday Service.

Let Lent be a time of renewal for you and our family of Faith this year by leaning into spiritual practices that we might have started neglecting, so that we will all be ready to truly celebrate the gift of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter!

100%

samples of detergent. Torie Hundley, Southern’s Family Resource Coordinator, asked families to complete a survey and asked if Laundry Day was helpful. Here are some of the responses she received:

“Yes I don’t have a washer or dryer and I have 3 kids. So I always have a lot of dirty laundry to do every weekend. If I can get help at least 1 week a month to do it, it would really help me out a lot. I’m very grateful

Faith Baptist Church

Goal: $5,000

Total Given: $8,119.50

Thank you for your generosity!

The Missions Committee is excited to report a total of $8,119.50 given for Offering for Global Missions. We had a goal of $5,000 and are thrilled once again to have gone well over our goal thanks to the generous giving of our Faith family. We invited Scarlette Jasper to worship with us in December since she was one of the missionaries featured in the video series and she is supported by the OGM. She had COVID and couldn’t come! We missed her and look forward to another time when she can come to worship with us.

We greatly appreciated Sharon Felton and the youth taking the Christmas shoe boxes from Faith to Corbin and helping Scarlette organize boxes and extra items in December. Scarlette reported that she served approximately 2800 people through the shoe box ministry in 2022!

The Missions Committee is hopeful to offer at least one mission opportunity each month in which our church family can participate and volunteer. One opportunity is helping move appliances and cabinets from apartments in Louisville that Keith Stillwell told us about during worship on Sunday, January 15. We are not sure how long volunteers will be needed to help with this project, but we will let you know. As the committee becomes aware of mission needs, we will keep the church updated.

The first Laundry Day was a success as several Southern Elementary families were able to get $15 worth of free laundry! While the laundry was going, our ministers chatted with the adults and played with the children. We provided lunch for the families and someone from Scott County Cooperative Extension handed out information about green cleaning and free

Yes my washer broke so this gave me a chance to wash mine and my three kids laundry while in the process of replacing my washing machine”

We look forward to seeing how this program grows and

from 2:45 to 4:30 p.m. in the Faith gym starting February 28 and going through April 27 with a week off for Spring Break. Volunteers are especially needed on Thursdays this spring. No experience or preparation is necessary. Contact Elizabeth Sands Wise to sign up or get more information.

of gifts support CBF field personnel serving in

The church staff had a planning day in January to think about what our summer events will look like and put dates on the calendar!

FAITH BAPTIST

CHURCH STAFF

PASTOR

William Reilly

william@familyoffaith.net

ASSOCIATE PASTOR OF STUDENTS

Sharon Felton

sharon@familyoffaith.net

ASSOCIATE PASTOR OF CHILDREN & EDUCATION

Amanda Langlands

amanda@familyoffaith.net

Kevin and I are so grateful for the time off you gave me after the birth of our daughter in October. Being able to focus on giving Poppy all the love and care she needs and deserves was a gift, and we cherish the time we had together as a family. Adjusting to life with two kids and helping Harrison move into the role of big brother was (and still is) a lot to manage, but not having to worry about work on top of it all was immensely helpful. We are also thankful for the meals, gifts, prayers, and words of encouragement you gave us. I want to say a special thank you to the staff and church members who stepped up to cover my duties (and did a phenomenal job!) while I was on maternity leave. As if William didn’t have enough to do during Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas, he took on a large chunk of my communication duties. Those who volunteered were Shirley Snodgrass, Matt Makaveli, Teresa Haggard, Cecelia Reilly, Jane Cutter, Dawne McConnaughhay, Ann Leigh, Lynn Mayo, and Judith Williams. The Finance Team (Glenn Williams, Kim Kindrick, Joyce Baird, and Betty Parrish) was a great help to Shirley and Teresa as they handled the finances in my absence. It turns out the expression “it takes a village” doesn’t only apply to raising children. Thank you, everyone!

MINISTER TO SENIOR ADULTS

Rick Hawthorne rick@familyoffaith.net

CHOIR DIRECTOR

Natalie Tilford-Kopp

natalie@familyoffaith.net

OFFICE MANAGER

Angela Earwood

angela@familyoffaith.net

CUSTODIAN

Charlesetta Hilliard

ORGANIST

Charlotte McFarland

PIANIST

Judith Williams

NURSERY WORKERS

Suada Derakovic

Melisa Custard

Church Office: (502) 863-1537

M-F, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.