What a joy it was to baptize Brian Smith into Christ this past Sunday morning!! Brian and Deborah have been attending for quite some time, and as we said Sunday, they got their start here at South Fork when our Amber Carter, a co-worker of Brian’s, invited them to attend our Friends and Family Day. You will not find anyone more genuine and sincere, grateful and joyful over his baptism than Brian. We are so thankful to have you both here with us!

Amber’s willingness to offer a simple, humble invitation is a call and reminder to all of us to do the same. Who can you invite to one of our assemblies, Shepherd Groups, or other activities? There’s someone you work with, go to school with, live nearby, do social or community activities with—someone who would appreciate your invitation and may even take you up on the offer! Let God do the hard part of moving them along and staying with them throughout their journey; your part is to let your light shine with your life and a word of invitation and encouragement that shows you care!

Our Bible classes are great opportunities to invite someone and give them an opportunity to meet some of our folks and become familiar with our church family. In March we will begin a new rotation of adult classes on Sunday morning. Here’s the stellar lineup:

  • Scott Mills/Tom Vance – Auditorium
  • “Next Steps: Moving from Where You Are to Where God Wants You to Be” – Phil Stapp/Charlie Branch – New Classroom
  • Wayne Gregg/Charley Belch – “Pursuing Perfection” – Room 307

The importance of Bible study is seen in this excerpt from a recent article I saw this week. The blog was entitled, “I Don’t Worship God by Singing. I Connect With Him Elsewhere.

I’ve a confession. I don’t connect with God by singing to Him. Not at all…I used to feel guilty about this but to be honest, I experience an intimacy with God I consider strong and healthy. It’s just that I don’t experience that intimacy in a traditional worship service. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of sermons I actually remember. So to be brutally honest, I don’t learn much about God hearing a sermon and I don’t connect with him by singing songs to him… So, do I attend church? Not often, to be honest…Like I said, it’s not how I learn. But I also believe the church is all around us, not to be confined by a specific tribe. I’m fine with where I’ve landed and finally experiencing some forward momentum in my faith. I worship God every day through my work. It’s a blast.

I could not disagree more with this message. How will we respond? Unless we turn to the Scriptures and Biblical authority, the only response is to affirm that anyone can serve God however they choose. Nothing is really required, and nothing is off limits. In fact, it doesn’t even matter if you serve God at all, or believe He exists, or if you serve yourself or something else as your god. If you like how it feels and it makes you happy, just live that way.

Will you be able to respond to messages like this and remain faithful to the Lord and His will? Will your children?