Winstanley Family, Twila and I have been amazed by the warm welcome we have received by the Winstanley Baptist Church family. We have only been with you for a few weeks, but you have already made us feel like “family.” God’s Spirit is definitely present at WBC. I want to remind you that I am not a master at remembering names and faces. Please continue to be patient with me. Please continue to tell me your names so I can get to know you.
The Window Volume 70, Issue 6 June 2018 w w w.w i n b a p . o rg Check out our Facebook page & app
Winstanley Baptist Church 9471 W. Hwy. 161 Fairview Heights, IL 62208 618-397-2010 April Report Checkbook Bal. $78,890.94 Receipts $38,719.45 Expenditures $30,185.60 Ending Balance $87,424.79
Summer Wednesday Schedule start on May 30 5:00 pm Dinner 6:00 pm Prayer Meeting Children’s Activities Youth Worship 7:00 pm Chancel Choir 8:30 pm Men’s Open Basketball Search Committee Jim Bryant, Chairman Paul Flahan Ian Harrier Sally Horstmann Laura Osborn Dave Rochleau Linda Spradling Rick Haverman, alt.
Sermon Series Beginning in June “Prayer Can Change Your Life” June 3 “A Beginner’s Guide to Prayer June 10 “4 Purposes of Prayer” June 17 “5 Conditions of Answered Prayer” June 24 “When God Says ‘No’”
I know that most of you are praying people, but do you really feel power in your prayer life? Do you pour your heart out to God in honest, sincere prayer? Do you expect God to answer your prayers? I believe that the Bible tells us that the ability to talk directly with God is one of the greatest privileges of being adopted into His family. That is why I will be preaching an 8-10 week series of messages on Sunday mornings I am calling “Prayer Can Change Your Life.” Over the next few weeks, we are going to work on re-focusing our prayer lives. Let me ask you a personal question: how fervently are you praying for Winstanley Baptist Church? We all know that WBC is in a transitional time. Are you praying that God will bring revival to this church? Are you praying that God will use you to help bring about that revival? When you pray, is your heart broken for the lost and unchurched people who live all around the church? There are thousands of people within a 5-mile radius of Winstanley who do not know the Lord. Are you praying for them? Are you praying that God will use you and others at WBC to reach them with the Gospel? There is a beautiful, powerful prayer in the first chapter of Nehemiah that can serve as a model prayer for us. But I believe that the real key to the power of that prayer is what Nehemiah did BEFORE he prayed. Scripture says that “for several days” Nehemiah wept and mourned over the condition in Jerusalem. THEN he prayed that God would give him success in being a part of the solution. When is the last time you wept and mourned over the region served by Winstanley Baptist Church? When is the last time you wept and mourned over Winstanley Baptist Church? When you see the empty seats in your Sunday School class and in the Worship Center, does your heart break? Does it drive you to pray passionately that God will give YOU success in being a part of the solution? I KNOW that God wants to use this church to reach our community and region with the Good News. The only real question is, “Will we let God use us?” God is calling us to recommit ourselves to sincere prayer – as individuals and as a corporate body. Will you commit yourselves to praying specifically for Winstanley Baptist Church on a daily basis? Will you pray individually for the people who have stopped coming to WBC? Will you pray for the lost in our area? Will you pray for the leadership of our church? Blessings, Pastor Derald
On the topic of prayer, please lift up our students and leaders for summer camp this year. On June 11 we travel to Bolivar, Missouri for a week of fellowship, worship, Bible study, and other activities. Ask the Lord to bring students to saving faith and to grow us in our relationship with him. I’m encouraged that the leaders of this summer camp (Super Summer) place a high priority on prayer. They sent me a bracelet for each student and adult leader attending camp. Church members are supposed to wear the bracelets with the name of a student or leader and pray for that individual during the week of camp. I only have one bracelet per student/leader. If you would like to have one of these bracelets, and engage in fervent prayer for one of our students or leaders, please see me. Fielding