Adult Bible Fellowship

Tim Brown has been a member of Living Hope since moving to Bowling Green in 1997. Tim has been an ABF teacher for 9 years and currently teaches an ABF Class at 9:30 and 11:00 and is also active in the Mens Minstry at Living Hope. Tim has been married to his wife Mylinda for 24 years and their family is made up of son Travis and daughter-in-law Laura, and another son Tyler.

I have had the honor, blessing, and responsibility the past nine years of teaching an ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship) class at Living Hope. During that time I have seen so many lives changed and watched as God increased the hunger for Him in many individuals. ABF’s (AKA: Sunday School Classes) are the greatest venue to make sure God’s Word is being taught in a group setting every Sunday in the local church. ABF’s provide three crucial benefits: 1)A place to study God’s Word with others 2)A place where you can get plugged in right away and where questions can freely be asked 3)Equips the participants to serve and provides a great place to connect to maturing believers.

I believe the greatest opportunity it provides is a place where individuals can discover or rediscover the Person of Christ. A quote I recently came across by Major Ian Thomas, who founded Torchbearers International states, “The upmost need in the ministry of the church today is to rediscover the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the indispensability of His indwelling presence within the believer”. I believe the tool of ABF is where that has the best chance of happening.

I am an old football player so I use a lot of analogies from my playing days that give me a visual of things in my spiritual life. I compare ABF’s to the fundamentals of blocking and tackling – no matter what else you do in the game of football, if you can’t block and tackle, you are not going to win a lot of games. ABF’s are where blocking and tackling get done in our spiritual lives. Every week up and down those hallways you have the certainty that blocking and tackling is going on. We are in a “war” with an enemy who hates our guts and doesn’t want us to work on our blocking and tackling so he tries to convince us that we don’t need to be connected to an ABF class, especially if we are connected to some other group. Truth is --- we need both! Barna Research has revealed that Sunday School attendance has actually grown due to attenders saying they needed more than they were getting in the groups they were connected to. In other words they needed more blocking and tackling to help them SIMPLY BE THE CHURCH GOD HAS CALLED US TO BE.

So let me challenge everyone to get involved with an ABF class and let God take you deeper as He uses the following individuals to help reveal the Person of Christ to you:

Tony Walker Todd Steward

Peggy Easley Andy Parsley

Sharon Stokes Ed Wilson

John & Nan Higgins Steve Henry

Dennis Strom Larry Causey

Mike Wilson Peggy Parrot

Tim Brown Pat McCubbin

Thomas Weakley Dan Edmonson

Sean Latham Gary Allen

Kimmy Stofer Matt Haste

Mike Roemer Bryan Keene

Brenda Martin Norris Shehan

Jackie Stewart

One Great Day

For me, this is one of the most exciting times of the year. I think it is great to see so many from Living Hope out in our community on the same day serving our Lord and our city. Each Sunday we gather together to worship and listen to Pastor Jason’s teaching. Each encounter we have with God’s word we become more like him. One Great Day is a great example of us acting on our understanding. Each year we seek to, as a community, go to our city and serve the people that need it. It could be building a wheel chair ramp for a disabled person, or mulching a flower bed at a local non-profit. It could be sorting clothes at Hope House or delivering meals to shut-ins in our city. Whatever projects happen, they do so to make God’s name great in this city. This year is even more special as Living Hope is teaming up with more than 20 other churches in our county on this Saturday to have One Great Day. This is possible through the Warren Association of Baptists.

Yesterday we heard a great testimony from Josh Porter, one of Living Hope’s own, about how his school has been impacted by One Great Day and the opportunities that it has given him to share about Christ. In everything we do on this one day it provides opportunities the other 364 days of the year. It might provide you those opportunities as you connect with a family through your group’s project or it might be another believer that works at the organization that you served. Either way the day’s impact stretches much further than the couple hours that you and your family serves on Saturday, September 26th.

One Great Day is for everyone! While we are getting ready to end our Church On Mission small group emphasis, its open to anyone who wants to serve our city. So if you are in a small group you should have been talking about what projects you want to do and have decided. If you are a small group leader and haven’t looked at the projects that are available yet, click here and login. If you are an individual or family that isn’t in a small group, but want to participate then please contact me (email or 270.843.9462) and I will get you connected to a project.

Stuart Borders

First Impressions

Greetings to my Living Hope family! I am Kirby Ramsey, the First Impressions Coordinator at Living Hope. I work with and assist Mark Gilliam, the Staff Liaison, for First Impressions. My wife Judy and I have been attending Living Hope for almost ten years. We chose to attend Living Hope to be with our youngest son, Derek Willis and his now wife, Ja’net as they worshiped our Lord. We are blessed with five grown children and ten grandchildren and truly enjoy serving in First Impressions at Living Hope. We both got involved in the First Impressions Ministry at the Knicely Center assisting Jeff Carlisle for the period of time Living Hope maintained two locations for Sunday services. We found that by serving in First Impressions you could not help but meet new people, both members and visitors who were trying us out for the first time.

Most people realize that members of the First Impression team serve to create an atmosphere of welcome to all who venture onto Living Hope property. The First Impressions program consists of several divisions with everyone performing their duties in a manner both pleasing to our Lord and respectful to everyone who frequents our worship services and activities. Our divisions include:

First and foremost the task of helping members and guests find a suitable parking spot in our huge parking lot is directed by David Knighton. David always arrives early to strategically place entrance and directional signage for everyone. Along with the First Touch team members, members assisting with vehicular traffic serve in all kinds of weather, both good and bad. The First Touch Ministry is under the supervision of Tim Booth. You’ll find First Touch in our parking lot looking for and greeting visitors and guests as well as regular attendees. First Touch is simply an extension of the Greeters division headed by Cathy Adams. Greeters are stationed at every entrance for every service and with a smile, a friendly handshake and a welcoming comment, make sure everyone who enters our facility feels at home once inside. The Welcome Center team is headed by Murl and Trudy Weaver and offer everyone literature, information, and assistance in locating particular classrooms at Living Hope. Ushers are led by Blaine Whitmer and provide a third round of welcoming smiles, handing out worship guides, assist individuals in locating an available seat and collect offerings. Last but not least First Impressions also handles hall monitoring under the direction of Jimmy Thomas. Particular emphasis is placed on areas in and around the children’s area of our facility.

With all this being said, it’s important to realize that First Impressions is all about serving with a goal of having individuals experience such a fantastic feeling of warmth and friendliness that they will want to keep coming back. In Matthew 13:9 it says “Let anyone with ears listen.” From a First Impressions perspective, one can’t hear the word of God nor listen and understand its meaning, without being present. For this very reason First Impression team members have numerous opportunities to make Living Hope stand out as a godly place of worship, with loving people who want and pray for non-believers to “Get to God, Grow in Christ, and Give to Others.” It’s a very small part but as the saying goes, one’s first impression is usually a controlling factor in their decision to like or dislike someone, some place, or some thing. It’s hard to change someone’s first impression so members of the First Impression team know full well the importance of putting their best foot forward so if Living Hope is being appraised by someone visiting for the first time, it will be a positive appraisal. Helping Living Hope grow by making a fabulous impression on people is a major goal of the First Impressions Ministry. If you’re not currently serving in another ministry at Living Hope, please know that you are so welcome to become an active member of our First Impressions team. May God bless you and your family and may He help you find your ministry at Living Hope.

Something Bobby Welch Taught Me

At Living Hope yesterday we enjoyed a time of Spiritual Renewal. Dr. Bobby Welch was our guest speaker for the day. Bobby is a man I have admired for many years. It was an honor to have him come and share the Gospel at Living Hope. You can listen to his message to us by clicking here. We put up the 8:00 and 9:30 service because what he said at the 8:00 service was somewhat different than what he said at the 9:30 and 11:00 services, especially at the end.

He talked to us about authentic faith. One of the things he shared that I had never heard and absolutely loved was how the people in his small Northern Alabama town would describe someone that had become a Christian.

When a person in their town would come to that place in their life where they surrendered their life to the risen Christ, they were said to have changed. For instance someone might ask, "Jimmy, what year was it, when you changed?" Or asking about someone they might say, "Has Joey had a change yet?"

What I love is that this language speaks to what happens to a person's life. When a person comes to faith in Christ, they are changed. Jesus saves by grace through faith and not by works, but anyone who has been saved by grace through faith always has works. A person of faith always lives out their faith and their life is changed and other people can see the change in the way they treat others, speak, and approach their life.

I think I am going to start using that because it is Biblical.

James 2:17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

John 15:8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Pastor Jason

Being a Deacon at Living Hope

Greetings Living Hope family! I am John Paul Blair, 2009 Deacon Chair.
My wife Leslie and I began attending Living Hope in the late 80's when dating as WKU students. We now have two children, John Robert ("Jack", age 10) and Margaret Grace ("Maggie", age 5) growing their faith as a part of the Living Hope family as well. What a blessing our church has been and continues to be!

What a pleasure it is to serve the Lord as a Living Hope deacon! As
deacon, our primary role is to serve the membership by extending the
reach of the pastoral and ministry staff. On Sundays, you see us
prepare and serve Communion, and you may notice us congregate in the
front of the worship center to assist in decision counseling. We enjoy
these parts of our ministry.

During the week, every member of our team (38 strong) makes visits to
hospitals and long term care and rehabilitation facilities, including
Nashville. We visit funeral homes and follow up at least once with all
we've touched. We visit not only those from our membership, but also
regular attenders, family members and friends of our congregation. This
also is a joy.

We help care for the widows and widowers in our fold through service
projects and special events. We are joyfully exploring ways to serve
our shut-ins (members who cannot make it to church on Sunday) and to
help welcome new members to our church family.

What a joy it is to serve alongside our staff and to serve as a vessel
for the Lord to work through! If we have visited you, our hope is you
were blessed as much as we are to serve His Kingdom.

Thank you church family for your recent nominations to add to our
ranks. Thank you for allowing us to serve you. We are blessed.

John Paul Blair
2009 Deacon Chair

Grace Community and Grattitude

I would never want to imagine life without a being part of a group of fellow believers. This morning, Rick gave his testimony about how much the choir means to him. He shared that his life is richer, and his family's life is richer because of his decision to be part of the Worship Choir. He talked about the opportunity in that group to share concerns, hurts, and victories with each other. We were created to live in community. I am thankful for my choir family and my church family.

Today, as Living Hope gathered to worship, I was struck by the strength that I gained through the unity of the congregation singing together great truths about God, Jesus, and Spirit and the Word of God. There is something very powerful about the gathering of God's people to declare praise, thanksgiving, and truths in unity. Again, in community, we not only live life together, we also gather to worship in Spirit and in Truth. What a great priviledge!

As Jason preached today, there was a strong movement of the Spirit of God among us. I consider myself gratdful person. However, I realized that a life completely given to gratitude would be a life refusing to sin against Jesus who paid the ultimate price for my sin. I also realized that my life has much room to grow in gratitude. As the Holy Spirit faithfully does, He challenged me through Jason's sermon to press on to become a person totally given to a life reflecting my thanksgiving to a loving God, Savior, and Spirit.

Benny Stofer
Worship Pastor

Church Picnic

We had a fantastic time last night at our church picnic. There were a lot of people there from all different ages. We had lots of babies, students, seniors, singles, and families that were laughing and enjoying time together. The picnic was geared around getting small groups together to launch our fall focus "Church on Mission." It was a lot of fun to walk around and talk to hundreds of people and see old friends catching up and seeing new friendships formed.

I met two small groups last night that were all meeting each other for the first time. It was quite a logistical feat for them to figure out where to meet, but they got connected. It was clear in both of those instances that these groups of people were going to become great friends and grow together in Christ and in their love for one another.

Whenever I see a small group form I get excited because I know that if the group does what it is supposed to that these people are going to be blessed. Over the next few years as each person in the group experiences sorrow, success, and everything in between, there will be friends that will be there with them. I am on call this week so I will be visiting those that are in the hospital. I know that those that are connected in a small group or an ABF are going to have already been cared for and prayed for. I will be there just to bless God's people doing what God's people do: loving Jesus and loving each other.

Pastor Jason Pettus