Newsletters

April 12-April 18, 2013

A Word from our Pastor:
Anger is the Only Proper Response
*This Post has some Upsetting Descriptions. It is about Abortion*
I am angry today. I am so angry that I want to write, to march, something, anything, to draw attention to an injustice that has happened in our country, and to draw attention to the unjust lack of response. You may or may not know that the most macabre, horrific, gut-wrenching trial of the last thirty years is happening right now. It involves a “Doctor” by the name of Kermit Gosnell. He is on trial for the murder of a woman, and infanticide against seven babies.
Kermit Gosnell ran a late-term abortion clinic in Philadelphia. He catered to mostly poor women and minorities over the course of 30 years, for 17 of those years his clinic went without inspection. Not one inspection of his facility over 17 years. Kermit Gosnell made millions of dollars aborting babies.
It seems that Gosnell would have gone on killing children for as long as he wanted if he hadn’t botched an abortion and killed a woman. It’s understandable that this happened, since none of his staff were licensed nurses or doctors and he let a 15 year old administer anesthesia.
Gosnell is on trial for 8 murders, but as at goes on, we are finding out that it was far worse than that. Far worse. One of his employees testified that she had seen Gosnell snip the necks of more than 30 babies who were born alive. One of them was left on a shelf and was “screeching”. Another witness said, “It would rain fetuses. Fetuses and blood all over the place.” He further testified that he saw over 100 babies get their necks snipped with scissors after they were born.
Did you know about this? The media reported Todd Akin’s pro-life blunder over and over again, and they made it a central part of the election. We all heard about it when Chick-Fila gave money to a pro-family organization. But this horror? Hardly a peep.
I write this to make you aware of two things: First, that Dr. Gosnell was able to do these things for 30 years without any trouble. May justice be swifter than the inspections! Second, it is to demonstrate that, on the issue of abortion, the media is horribly and terribly biased. One look inside of Gosnell’s house of horrors, and the abortion debate would light up like a bonfire. I haven’t told you half of the things that have come out during this trial; I don’t have the stomach for it. Some things cannot be unseen and unheard.
Pray for our country. Pray for our leaders. Pray that someday, this wickedness of abortion will end. And remember The Crisis Pregnancy Center when you pray, and thank God for it. Ministries like these are a light in a dark world.
Announcements:
Dates to Mark on Your Calendar:
  • May 12th – New Sunday School classes begin
  • May 26th – Last meeting for this round of community groups
  • June 2nd – Family Meeting
  • June 5th – Wednesday Night – First Wednesday for Students going into the 7th Grade
  • June 9th – Sunday evening service
  • June 16th – Sunday evening service
  • June 23rd – No Sunday evening services or activities
  • June 30th – New set of Community Groups begin
  • July 14th – 17th – Children’s Art Camp
  • July 22nd – 25th – Student Retreat to Pigeon Forge
Praise/Prayer Requests:
· Pray for Misty Merilien and her baby as the pregnancy continues.
· Pray for Kristy Baldwin’s aunt, who is battling breast cancer.
· Pray for Emri Legg, 6 week old daughter of a friend of Josh and Staci Bledsoe, was born with a mild form of spina bifada. Facing surgery and life-long trials.
· Pray for Ray Dixon, Drew’s father, he has prostate cancer. Pray God would strengthen him and point others to Christ through this trial.
· Please continue to pray for Jim Parker’s niece, Neci. Continue to pray, she is still awaiting two more operations.
· Pray for Ruth Thompson, Wanda Parker’s mother, who is in the beginning stages of congestive heart failure. Pray for her husband, Dalton, as he cares for her. Pray for Wanda and Jim as they are helping care for both of them as well.
Missions:
M.U.D. Ministries:
If you are interested in supporting M.U.D. Ministries, please contact Eric Hixon at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Volunteers for this week:
Sunday Morning Childcare:
Bed Babies through 2’s – Amy Williams, Ellen Sims, Matt Colvin
3’s and 4’s – Drew Dixon and Carter Spence
Sunday Morning Food:
Denise Bledsoe
Hospice Volunteer:
Last Week’s Statistics:
Budget Receipts:                        $2,970.00
Budget Receipts YTD:               $47,939.00
Budget Needs YTD:                   $55,178156
Budget (Deficit)/Surplus           ($7,239.15)
Building Fund this Week:          $275.00
Building Fund YTD:                  $9,775.00
Building Fund Giving to Date:  $184,896.75
Attendance:                                  79
New Covenant Baptist Church – www.DiscoverNewCovenant.com
104 W. Alabama Avenue, Suite A - Albertville, AL 35950
256-849-2454
Pastor – Brad Williams       Family Pastor – Drew Dixon
Sunday:
9:30am – Sunday School
10:30am - Worship Service
6:00pm – Community Groups
Wednesday:
11:30am – Men’s Bible Study
6:00pm - Children/Student Activities
6:00pm – Adult Bible Study

Our mission and passion at New Covenant Baptist Church is to glorify God by becoming a community that  fosters the love of God
with all of the heart, soul, mind and strength, and by learning to love one another as Christ Jesus has loved us.
The answer to every heart's need and the satisfaction of all our longing is found in Jesus Christ our Lord, who is Himself
the very image of Almighty God. We exist to adore Him, and to spread the knowledge of His greatness to the ends of the earth.
April 5-April 11, 2013

A Word from our Family Pastor:
Sharing Christ in Unusual Places
As many of you know, last week I was privileged to attend the annual Game Developers Convention in San Francisco. I was asked to cover the conference for a secular site called Paste Magazine and a Christian game site called Game Church. I wanted to share with you a little bit about my experience because I believe that God was at work and gave me some important opportunities introduce people to Christianity.
One of the projects I worked on throughout the week was to interview interesting and influential game designers about their religious and spiritual beliefs for Game Church. I discovered what I already suspected about people in this field—very few of them are believers and many of them are either agnostic or atheistic. These conversations further convinced me that it was important for me to be there—to introduce people to the hope that is found only in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
While at GDC, I had the privilege to play a game that is in development called That Dragon, Cancer, a game by Ryan Green and Josh Larson, both of whom are believers. The game is about Ryan’s three year old son who is battling terminal brain cancer. It is harrowing and emotional, but most importantly the game is a natural platform from which Green and Larson can talk to people about their hope in Christ. And that is what they did all week long at GDC—they would show the game to journalists and developers and then have a conversation with them afterward.
I knew Green and Larson through the internet before going to GDC but became fast friends with them when I got to meet them face to face in San Francisco. Over the course of the week I got to meet a number of journalists in person that I only knew through the internet. I was pleasantly surprised to hear from them that they had not only read some of my writing (most of which explores the intersection of games and Christianity) but they respected it. Consequently, I got to be an evangelist for That Dragon, Cancer to a number of developers and journalists.
The world of game journalists and game developers is a pretty dark one, one that desperately needs the gospel. While at GDC, there was a “Christian” group that protested outside the Moscone Center with signs that said things like “God hates gamers” and
“God hates gays”—seriously, I am not making this up. If people like Josh Larson and Ryan Green and Richard Clark and myself did not go to GDC and seek out conversations with the developers and journalists there, these people protesting outside the Moscone Center would be most of these journalists and developers only introduction to Christianity.
There are some fascinating things going on in the game industry. By and large the developers and journalists I talked to were fed up with the standard violent games that big game companies have been producing for a while now. They want to see games that tell personal, emotional, and important stories. This is interesting because it seems the industry is poised to listen to stories like the one that Green and Larson are telling. I am thankful to God for these two men—for their determination to share the gospel in a place it is not often shared and for Ryan’s faith that has strengthened him and his family through the horrific trial they are going through. Pray for them, but not just that Joel would be healed, but also that many would hear the gospel the personal story they are sharing.
In Christ,
Drew
Announcements:
Dates to Mark on Your Calendar:
  • April 7 – Community Groups Resume
  • May 12th – New Sunday School classes begin
  • May 26th – Last meeting for this round of community groups
  • June 5th – Wednesday Night – First Wednesday for Students going into the 7th Grade
  • June 30th – New set of Community Groups begin
Praise/Prayer Requests:
· Pray for Kristy Baldwin’s aunt, who is battling breast cancer.
· Pray for Emri Legg, 6 week old daughter of a friend of Josh and Staci Bledsoe, was born with a mild form of spina bifada. Facing surgery and life-long trials.
· Pray for Ray Dixon, Drew’s father, he has prostate cancer. Pray God would strengthen him and point others to Christ through this trial.
· Please continue to pray for Jim Parker’s niece, Neci. Continue to pray, she is still awaiting two more operations.
· Pray for Ruth Thompson, Wanda Parker’s mother, who is in the beginning stages of congestive heart failure. Pray for her husband, Dalton, as he cares for her. Pray for Wanda and Jim as they are helping care for both of them as well.
Missions:
M.U.D. Ministries:
If you are interested in supporting M.U.D. Ministries, please contact Eric Hixon at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Volunteers for this week:
Sunday Morning Childcare:
Bed Babies through 2’s – Sam and Misty Merilien, Randy Spence
3’s and 4’s – Amber Knight and Reagan Gregg
Sunday Morning Food:
Lisa Spence
Hospice Volunteer:
Amber Knight
Last Week’s Statistics:
Budget Receipts:                        $3,772.00
Budget Receipts YTD:               $44,969.00
Budget Needs YTD:                   $51,236.26
Budget (Deficit)/Surplus           ($6,267.85)
Building Fund this Week:          $1,195.00
Building Fund YTD:                  $9,500.00
Building Fund Giving to Date:  $184,621.75
Attendance:                                  109
New Covenant Baptist Church – www.DiscoverNewCovenant.com
104 W. Alabama Avenue, Suite A - Albertville, AL 35950
256-849-2454
Pastor – Brad Williams       Family Pastor – Drew Dixon
Sunday:
9:30am – Sunday School
10:30am - Worship Service
6:00pm – Community Groups
Wednesday:
11:30am – Men’s Bible Study
6:00pm - Children/Student Activities
6:00pm – Adult Bible Study

Our mission and passion at New Covenant Baptist Church is to glorify God by becoming a community that  fosters the love of God
with all of the heart, soul, mind and strength, and by learning to love one another as Christ Jesus has loved us.
The answer to every heart's need and the satisfaction of all our longing is found in Jesus Christ our Lord, who is Himself
the very image of Almighty God. We exist to adore Him, and to spread the knowledge of His greatness to the ends of the earth.

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Our mission and passion at New Covenant Baptist Church is to glorify God by becoming a community that  fosters the love of God
with all of the heart, soul, mind and strength, and by learning to love one another as Christ Jesus has loved us.
The answer to every heart's need and the satisfaction of all our longing is found in Jesus Christ our Lord, who is Himself, the very image of Almighty God. We exist to adore Him, and to spread the knowledge of His greatness to the ends of the earth.