GOD WANTS TO USE YOU!

Dwight L Moody was the Billy Graham of the 19^th Century. He was an international celebrity. He was a shoe salesman in Chicago when a Sunday School teacher walked into the shoe shop and led Dwight L. Moody to Christ and he became a Christian. He figured he ought to apply to become a church member, because that’s what you do when you become a Christian he thought. He applied but he was turned down. One of the men who interviewed him for church membership wrote these words. “I can truly say that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker than was Mr. Moody’s when he came into my Sunday School class. I think that the committee of the church had seldom met an applicant for membership who seemed more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided views of the gospel truth.” That’s what they wrote about him when he applied for church membership. They said, “Hey you’re too dense you’re too dark and there is no change in your life.” A year later he applied again and they said, “You’re still as dark and dense as you ever were, but at least we think you are sincere so come on and you can join our church.” God used Dwight L. Moody to shake up two continents for Jesus Christ. Today there is the Moody Press, the Moody Broadcasting Network, the Moody Institute and the Moody Bible Church.

Maybe you feel unusable or too dense to be of any good to God or His Church. Don’t believe it! God has a place for you! Let us help you find that place! 

Bulletin Updates & Records

I am a member of Shadycrest Baptist Church. I happen to be the called Pastor as well, but like you, I am a member. As a member I take great pride in our church family and I want to see the health and success of our church. That is why I do the following:

• ·         Volunteer where I can
• ·         Give sacrificially to the church to help meet her needs
• ·         Pray for the church family
• ·         Lead my family to be healthy church members
• ·         Seek to be a unifying member
• ·         Treasure my membership here

And, as a member, when I see some things changing I frequently ask, “why are we doing that?” or “why are we doing it that way?” Those are perfectly good questions, especially when asked with sincerity and with a gentle spirit.

Therefore, when the proposal to change our bulletin was put forth I asked, “why would we do that?” The answer is at least 3-fold: 1) It saves a lot of money to print them “in house,” 2) The bulletin shells we were purchasing were constantly causing our printer to break down, causing work delays during the week, and 3) The smaller format is easier to manage, to store, to carry, and fits in your bible/purse.

But…It creates a communication challenge that will take some time for us all to fully embrace. With less room to work with I ask for your understanding. We will be: 1) prioritizing written announcements each week, and 2) including “The Record Speaks” in the bulletin once per month (1^st Sunday of the Month).

The Record Speaks is also posted weekly in the church office hallway and is available to you weekly via email at your request. Use a connection card to request this service or simply email Vicki at vprebilsky@shadycrest.org.  

Humpty Dumpty’s Mistake

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men, couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Can you see it? I would bet when you read this old nursery rhyme that visions of an egg sitting on top of a wall fill your mind…right? That is a story your mom or dad likely read to you out of a nursery rhyme book, but the original author probably found the idea for this rhyme in the old New England Primer.

Author David Anderson suggests this as the most likely origin of our Humpty Dumpty rhyme. He says that children learned their grammar from books like this and that children picked up ideas from the couplets used in that primer for the letters A and X. In the NE Primer it reads, “In Adam’s fall we sinned all; Xerxes the Great did fall and so must you and I.”

This little couplet, therefore, not only teaches the letters A and X, but also an important spiritual doctrine. That truth is that in the Fall (Adam & Eve’s sin), we all sinned. You see, the author of our Humpty Dumpty rhyme was not originally talking about an egg that fell, but a man. And yes, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men, and every king and every horse since then, still cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together. We were lost, all of us, when man fell (sinned). Yes, it was Adam who fell originally, and it was a mighty fall—a fall from fellowship with God. Who can put us back together again?

Beginning this weekend at Shadycrest. 

New sermon series "True and Better".

Join us at Shadycrest Sunday, May 24th at 10:30 AM