Hate and Violence Cannot Defeat Love and Faith

Rev. Lee Spitzer, the General Secretary of our denomination (American Baptist Churches USA) has some thoughts about what all Christians may do to help thwart the rise of hatred around the world and right here at home. 

He begins: we “mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). As American Baptists, we stand in sincere sympathy with all people who suffer violence, injury and harm, regardless of religion, race, gender, culture or ethnicity. We oppose terrorism, violence and hateful ideologies. The Gospel of love surely shall triumph over evil.

He goes on to say, he wishes to do more and has suggestions on what that "more" should be. Give it a read: https://www.abc-usa.org/2019/05/a-pastoral-letter-from-abcusa-general-secretary-lee-b-spitzer/

Fire! A Pentecost Sermon

Pentecost Fire
in Balloons

Sermon for Sunday, May 20, 2018, based on Acts 2:1-8, in which the Holy Spirit comes upon the gathered disciples, giving them power to speak clearly to all the dispersed children of God, no matter what language speaking and where from throughout the Empire. On that fateful day in Jerusalem, the Christian church was born and began the task Jesus set for all disciples, back then, today, and always. Come and witness the good news presented here. May the Holy Spirit of God light a fire in you today!

Dominion

Sermon for Earth Day 2018 based on Genesis 1:27-31. An exploration is made into what it means for humanity to have been given dominion in creation. Explore our place in creation while listening and discover what microclimates we may care for in daily life.

Below is the first Earth Rise as seen by Apollo 8 while orbiting the moon, courtesy of NASA.


Moon crosses the face of the Earth, courtesy of NASA/NOAA

Welcome Stan Slade, Sunday, October 15, 2017

The congregation and pastor of Lansdowne Baptist Church welcome Rev. Dr. Stan Slade to speak to us about his work with International Ministries on Sunday, October 15, 2017. Stan, as he prefers to be called, has been active in two primary capacities with mission work under God's guidance: direct missionary training church leaders, and supporting the work of other missionaries and mission partners by helping provide leadership on International Ministries home office staff. For over 34 years, Stan has walked alongside church leaders in Latin America and around the world, supporting their efforts to become more effective servants of Jesus Christ in their local settings. In all of his different roles, Stan's passion has been to see people discover and embrace God's leading in their lives.

Stan will preach during the sermon time in the 11 a.m. worship service. His Scriptures of choice are Matthew 6:9-13 & Colossians 1:28 and his sermon title is On Earth, as in Heaven. All are welcome to join us for this special service, during which we honor the work of our missionaries worldwide.

Standing with the People of Paris

We at Lansdowne Baptist Church stand with the people of Paris as they grieve their losses. We pray for all who are suffering and afraid in the wake of terrorism worldwide. You are not alone.

We also grieve and pray over what has been done in Beirut, Lebanon.

Additionally, we pray for the safety of all the refugees fleeing the terror in Syria, for whom these horrid acts of terrorism make life so much more difficult far from home.

For the response of our denomination, American Baptist Churches, USA, please see: http://www.abc-usa.org/2015/11/14/prayers-requested-following-attacks/ 

Missionary Guest Speakers Sunday December 6

Lansdowne Baptist Church is pleased to host ABC USA missionaries to Thailand, Chuck K. and Ruth Gilson Fox, in church during 11 a.m. worship on Sunday, December 6th. They will speak of their good works overseas that day. Everyone is invited to come and hear what they have to say about their vital work.

Decisions to Make

Baptists have a long history of taking up Jesus' challenge to change our ways and work for positive change in our society. We are challenged to continue that tradition today.

Missionary Jeni Pedzinski Speaks at LBC

We were pleased to hear from Jeni Pedzinski, missionary to Thailand, on Sunday, November 16, 2014. Jeni is currently preparing to serve as the senior administrator of the New Life Center Foundation in Thailand. The center, established in 1987, serves young ethnic minority (tribal) women who are at risk of being, or have been victims of, human trafficking, forced labor, and sexual abuse. Jeni will provide support to the NLCF staff in administration, Christian discipleship, and financial literacy.

She is very well suited for the task at hand. Her presentation was moving. The story of how she was called to service by God through the stories of another missionary whom she met and spoke with when 11 was inspirational. It is amazing to see how God nourishes the seeds of faith planted in our lives by other faithful followers.

To learn more about Jeni Pedzinski's mission work, see: http://www.internationalministries.org/teams/529-pedzinski

There you can also find ways to support her vital work if God moves you to do so. For more on mission support, see: http://www.internationalministries.org/missionary_support_information

Jeni also lists a number of ways you may be involved in her ministry:

• Join her Ministry Partnership Network (MPN)
• Share information about her ministry with others
• Go on a mission work team to her country
• Give to her ministry individually or through your church
• Send emails and birthday and Christmas cards
• Pray for her ministry

We at LBC wish her all the best in her important work and will be praying for her continued success. 

Prayer Request from Missionaries Serving Southern Baja, Mexico

Dear Friends

Please pray for our Mexican brothers and sisters who are La Paz, Todos Santos, San Jose, and Los Cabos.as Hurricane Odilemoves in. Heavy rain and wind will begin later today as the Cat. IV hurricane bears down on the southern state of Baja. 

The ports in Cabo and La Paz are now closed and the Cabo airport is beginning to cancel flights into Cabo. Although La Paz is well protected from storm swell there is a prediction that we can expect around 5 inches of rain to fall causing flooding in the streets. 

You might be interested in watching the weather in both Cabo and La Paz on the webcams:http://www.webcamsdemexico.com/webcam-la-paz.html and following the radar updates on www.eebmike.com andwww.bajainsider.com for road conditions.

As we hear any updates, we'll let you know.

David and Joyce

David & Joyce Reed

International Ministries Missionaries

Serving in Southern Baja, Mexico since 1999

American Baptist Churches, USA

2014 World Mission Offering

During September and October, American Baptist Churches USA receives the World Mission Offering, an essential source of support for the entire work of International Ministries, including support for current global personnel and  the recruitment of new missionaries. Your gifts to the offering can be directed for the support of particular missionaries, like Sue Hegarty, who are doing Christ-like ministry and changing lives in more than 70 countries around the world. We invite you to participate in the offering this year and to give generously.

You can give here at Lansdowne Baptist Church in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. We will be glad to have you join us and support these missionaries. You can also follow the link here and give to the ABC-USA missionary of your choice: http://www.internationalministries.org/give 

To read about the work of missionary Sue Hegarty, see: http://lansdownebaptistchurch.blogspot.com/2014/09/missionary-sue-hegarty-reflects-on.html

Missionary Sue Hegarty Reflects on Conflicts and Self-esteem

Sue writes: 

Costa Rica celebrates its Independence Day on September 15th with everyone getting into the spirit. At school (and churches) there are special programs and streets are decorated. The big event is the Independence Day eve when children dressed in "traditional" costumes parade at dusk with their lanterns (or farolas).  

But it can create conflicts. I have been giving a class on healthy self-esteem and relationships at a mission called "God's House" on Sunday afternoons. This mission is in an apartment rented by the mother church and offers programs which meet the needs of that community. Since most members work six days a week, church services are offered on alternate Sunday afternoons. On the Sunday afternoons when there is no church service, we have been offering a class to the women. Our class fills up the tiny apartment, but our students are enthusiastic. We have a variety of ages, nationalities, and races, so it keeps things interesting!  

The students didn't want to miss the class on September 14th because of the Independence Day lantern parade so they asked if we could start class an hour earlier in order to finish in time to get children and grandchildren to the parade. That's just what we did! It was a hard class, though, as the women struggled to understand a new pattern to communicate negative feelings and ask for behavior changes without accusing the other person. Some of the older women commented that they wished that someone had shared this with them when they were younger as they had difficulties asking people (especially husbands) to change annoying behavior.  

Your prayers and gifts are so important to making this ministry possible. Please uphold these 18 women in your prayers. Thank you for your partnership as God works through these women to bless them and their families. 

To read additional reflections from Missionary Sue Hegarty, and to support her work, see: http://www.internationalministries.org/teams/68-hegarty

For additional posts from Sue on this blog site, see: http://lansdownebaptistchurch.blogspot.com/2014/06/missionary-sue-hegarty-reflects-on-her.html and http://lansdownebaptistchurch.blogspot.com/2014/04/news-from-american-baptist-missionary.html

Sharing the Joy Found in Our Faith

From time to time, I share the
joy I take from my faith with others
as the Christian clown, Joyful Noise.

In our day to day lives, sometimes we forget that the Christian faith is suffused with joy. That certainly appears to have been forgotten by many who appear in the public and project a far more dour and judgmental version of the faith. Let's look at joy in the Old and New Testaments for a different perspective. 

Joy in the Old Testament had a very public dimension, referring to visible acts of rejoicing. Practical reasons for Old Testament joy included having a loving spouse or wise children as seen in Ecclesiastes 9:9 and Proverbs 10:1. Theologically, Old Testament joy was a celebration of who God is and what God had done for God’s people, including deliverance, steadfast love, and salvation as seen in Isaiah 25:9, Psalm 30:5, and Jeremiah 31:12-13. Furthermore, God’s very self also rejoices, as illustrated in Psalm 104:31.

Moving to the New Testament, its books are suffused with joy. This joy emanates from the inauguration of the new age in which the Messiah has come. The angel’s pronouncement of good news of great joy for all people in Luke 2:10-11 becomes central to Jesus’ ministry in both word and deed. Joy is in the very character of God’s kingdom and once discovered, as stated in Matthew 13:44, the discoverer will sell all he or she has to retain this treasure and will do so joyfully. Paul puts a fine point on the matter when he states that the ultimate source of joy is in Christ and the Holy Spirit (Phil 3:1; 4:4; Rom 14:17). Therefore, if we know the ultimate source of joy, certainly we should share that source with others, and visible acts of rejoicing while doing so would not be out of place, according to the Old Testament. Of course, sharing Jesus with others is evangelism.

This is taken from the article "Joy in Evangelism" published in Witness Magazine and written by this pastor, Jeffrey B. Snyder ... who expresses his joy in Christ every chance he gets. 

Wishing you joy ... a contagious joy you'll share with others. 

Missionary Sue Hegarty Reflects on Her Mission Call and Mission Trips

Nicaragua

This month I thought that I would share an important experience in my missionary calling. I can thank my parents for instilling an interest in missions from a young age. Later when Steve and Sheila Heneise spent their home assignment in our area, they encouraged our church to do a mission trip to Nicaragua where they were serving at the time. 

Our church voted to do this, raising money and collecting things like clothing and school supplies. About 10 people went, some of whom had never traveled outside the U.S. before. We definitely had culture shock as we rode in the back of a pick-up truck to a dusty little town in Nicaragua to put a new tin roof on their church. The old one had been corroded by volcanic acidic gases! 

People lived in homes with dirt floors, animals wandered everywhere, the food was different and water had to be carried in huge buckets from the river below town. Yet, there was so much hospitality despite the language barrier. Fortunately I had some Spanish and was able to have deeper conversations with some of our hosts. We were inspired when the church members shared the children's clothing we brought with non-members, even those who had made fun of their faith. 

I can honestly say that going on this work tour was a major step in my journey to becoming a missionary. It was a way of giving but, honestly, of receiving more than I gave. It was a way of seeing others live out their faith in difficult circumstances. I learned so much! God also used that trip to begin calling me to serve internationally. 

I firmly believe that mission tours and work groups are opportunities for the participants to serve God as well as their brothers and sisters in Christ. At the same time it provides an experience out of our comfort zone for us to learn about other people and cultures and see what God is doing. It is a learning and receiving experience that can change you forever! 

Costa Rica

Perhaps you can open yourself up to the possibility of visiting Costa Rica in one of the planned tour groups. You can also work with Angela Sudermann of International Ministries' Volunteer Office to find out about organizing a team and how to "help without hurting" (being culturally appropriate). Write her at angela.sudermann@internationalministries.org to explore the possibilities. 

Lansdowne Baptist Church is pleased to support Sue Hegarty in her ministries in Costa Rica.

For more from Sue Hegarty, see: http://lansdownebaptistchurch.blogspot.com/2014/04/news-from-american-baptist-missionary.html

News from American Baptist Missionary to Costa Rica, Sue Hegarty

Sue writes:

March has been a month of continuing with teaching and preparing to teach in the second semester for Pastoral Care for Women.

I am also making progress on one of my 2014 goals, to build stronger ties with churches and the women of the Baptist Federation. God has graciously provided several opportunities this month. I have visited a church and a mission that I'd never been in before. The director of Pastoral Care for Women and I were able to share with one of the women pastors about the resources we can offer her church as they deal with domestic violence in one of their missions. Another woman pastor called to "cry on my shoulder" for an hour; what a privilege to listen and pray with her. The president of the Baptist Women invited me to be the closing speaker at their Retreat on April 25-26 to share on the topic of Christian service. The leaders and I met to make preliminary plans this month and I covet your prayers as I seek to bring them God's message!

During March, I also reconnected with colleague Chris Marziale who represented International Ministries at the playground dedication in La Guacima, as well as helping out a work group from Woodbury Baptist Church of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts, which make these "connections" possible. These relational "connections" are the stuff of ministry and we are partners in this!

~Sue Hegarty

If you would like to learn more about the work of American Baptist missionaries around the world, see: https://www.internationalministries.org/

If you would like to know more about Missionary Sue Hegarty's work, see: http://www.internationalministries.org/teams/68-hegarty