Forsyth Park Caller October 2024

Pastor’s Corner

While serving a church near Charlottesville, Va, our church was an SBC
church associated with an Association. It was a place where, along with
member churches, more could be done together to do missions and help
people in need. There was a strength and comradery of being like-
minded Baptists who worked together in one accord, as it says in Acts.
Being in such an Association was a good thing.

Forsyth Park is part of an association too. 93 churches working
together-until we weren’t. I have heard stories of what happened that
night when the police were even called in to help. There was a fear of
the past DOM (Director of Missions); the past pastor; and even a lawyer
trying to take away the autonomy of the church.

But now is a different day. There is a new DOM, Brad Wright, who I
have met with several times and feel he is a good man. Obviously, there
is a new pastor at Forsyth Park (although this month it will be 3 years
since I stepped foot in the pulpit). It is a new day, I feel, and a chance to
begin anew.

As I have said, the TCN (Triad Church Network, formerly PMBA) is
like a library. No one is there telling us what book to check out. It is
totally up to us what we ask for and what we want to do. They are a
resource-nothing more. We can take what they offer or not-it’s totally up
to us. It is our church. Our property. Our say-so on every matter. Totally
autonomous. What we say goes-no one else. TCN is only there to help
the church get stronger and the community reached for Christ. And we
need to get stronger or perish.

Come to the Association annual meeting Oct 20. You can read about
the Association and the meeting on the TCN website, where you will
need to register as well as a guest and get an email about your attending.
There will be free food before the meeting. Come and see for yourself
and make your own decision. But come with an open mind. Don’t let the
past steer you in the wrong direction. Pray about the situation. Pray for
the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Then do as God is directing you to do. It
is His church. Let us serve Him together. A final vote will be taken Oct
27 to stay in the Association and be more active, or to get out of the
Association and not be involved at all. The choice is yours.

God, Are You There?

I’m way down here! You’re way up there! Are You sure You can hear
my faint, faltering prayer?
For I’m so unsure of just how to pray to tell you the truth, God, I don’t
know what to say…
I just know I am lonely and vaguely disturbed, bewildered and restless.
Confused and perturbed…
And they tell me that prayer helps to quiet the mind and to unburden the
heart for in stillness we find
A newborn assurance that someone does care and someone does answer
each small sincere prayer.
Helen Steiner Rice

The Window Through Which We Look

A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. The next morning
while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw the neighbor
hanging wash outside. “That laundry is not very clean,” she said. “She
doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry
soap.” Her husband looked on, but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman
would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman
was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her
husband “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who
taught her this.”
The husband said “I got up early this morning and cleaned our
windows.”
And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the
window through which we look.

My God is No Stranger

I’ve never seen God, but I know how I feel..It’s people like you whom
make Him so real..
It seems that I pass Him so often each day..in the faces of people I meet
on the way…
He’s the stars in the heavens, a smile on some face…a leaf on a tree or a
rose in a vase..
He’s winter and autumn and summer and spring..
In short, God is every real and wonderful thing…
I wish I might meet Him much more than I do..
I would if there were more people like you.

An Old Farmer’s Advice

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong
Life is simpler when you plow around the stump
A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor
Words that soak into your ears are whispered..not yelled.
Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight
Forgive your enemies. It messes with their heads.
Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
Most of the stuff people worry ‘bout ain’t gonna
happen anyway.

Don’t judge folks by their relatives.
The biggest troublemaker you’ll ever gonna have to deal with
watches you from the mirror each morning.
Always drink upstream from the herd.
If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.