ABW MINISTRIES - December Meeting – Tuesday, December 10th, 7:00 p.m. - Chapel.  Program:  Angel Song, a trio from the Master’s Touch Chorale.  Fruit breads will be distributed to our shut-ins after the program.  Come, bring a friend,  and a LOVE GIFT.  All are invited for a very special program.  Committee:  Sally Lyon, Carol Beckwith, and Debbie Oley.

ABW Ministries – needs $250.00 to reach its goal for the Congo.  Any donations would be greatly appreciated.

UNITY FELLOWSHIP - December meeting of the Unity Fellowship will be a New Year’s Eve Party, Tuesday, December 31st, starting at 6:30 p.m.  Appetizers in the library.  Dinner will follow at 7:15 p.m. in the Chapel.  Committee:  Mapstone, Richardson, Ware, and Ammann.  Margaret Vermilya is in charge of games.  All are welcome.
    
Care Packages – On Friday, December 6th, all youth will be assembling “care packages” for our college students to help them through finals.  If you wish to contribute to these packages, please feel free to do so.  Suggested items (not limited to) are instant soups, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, hot cereal packets, candy, gum, hi-liters, index cards.  We will be baking cookies and brownies to enclose.  We’ll need shoe boxes to fill.  Notes from our church family would be appreciated and money to cover postage appreciated also.  If you have any questions or donations, please call Kathie Shevchuk.  Thank you!

PLAYSCHOOL BAKE SALE - Playschool is having a bake sale on Sunday, December 15th, after the worship service.  Proceeds are to benefit Playschool field trips.  Donations will be gladly accepted.  Please call Debbie Oley with any questions.

HAND–IN-HAND - Hand-In-Hand will be collecting new and used hats, gloves, mittens and scarves to redistribute to individuals in the Greater Syracuse Area who are in need of these essential winter accessories beginning in November until February.  A basket will be in the Narthex and in the Chapel entrances.  Thank you for your contributions to this worthwhile cause.  Last year over 5,000 items were collected and First Baptist was a major contributor.

CHILDRENS’ VIDEOS - There are new videos available at First Baptist!  They are:  #53 – Veggie Tales:  “The Star of Christmas”; #81 – Larryboy – “Introducing the Alchemist! In. . .”Leggo My Ego”; #82 – God Rocks! – “Ten Rockin’ Rules or . . . Walkin’ Up is Hard to Do”.  Come and sign them out in the Church Office!

JOYFUL SOUNDS CHOIR - The Joyful Sounds Choir, the Kindergarten and the Nursery Classes plus other Sunday School children will present a Nativity Play called “There Was One Who Gave a Lamb: for the Sunday School Christmas Program on Sunday, December 15th at 6:00 p.m.  A Soup and Sandwich Supper will follow the program in the gym.  Please bring your own sandwiches for your family.  Soup, beverage and dessert will be served by the Christian Education Board.

BLOODMOBILE - The Bloodmobile was held Wednesday, November 13th from 1:30-6:30 p.m., and it was a big success!  Our quota for the drive was 60 pints; we collected 61 pints.  I wish to thank those who helped with the calling: Laurel Faucett, Ken Bex, Carole Guynup, Jessie Mapstone, Dottie Ammann, Myrna Stasiw, Gail Miller and myself.  I also want to thank  Erman and Laura Ferris, who donated the deli meat for the sandwiches we provided to the workers.  Thanks to Carole and Colleen Guynup and Ken Bex for working many hours during the blood drive.  We surpassed our goal!
--Shirley Mapstone

MISSIONS

“Praise for Progress in Prague”

Wesley and Cheryl Brown, IM missionaries to Prague, Czech Republic, are thrilled that the International Baptist Theological Seminary (IBTS) there opened its 2002-2003 academic year with the largest entering class in the seminary’s 53-year history.  Fort-six new students have come from a number of countries, including Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Ukraine and the United States of America.  More than half are enrolled in the Master of Theology and Ph.D. programs.  Twenty-one students are working on their nine-month Certificate in Applied Theology.
Cheryl, who is the Director of Biblical Studies, and Wes, who is the Chaplain, enthusiastically reported: What an exciting beginning we’ve had!  In chapel, our praise or prayer may be heard in 10 to 12 languages!  We sense the Holy Spirit working powerfully in our midst as we study, pray, learn about each other’s pilgrimages, and share about the ministries in which many are already involved.

--excerpt taken from November 2002 International Ministries Update

NEWS ON GRACE CHEGE
Grace Chege spent August and September in her home country of Kenya.  She gave up her job and apartment here in order to be with her husband, his aging mother, and youngest daughter after 5 years of separation. Life in Nairobi is very precarious.  Doors are double-bolted shut at 7:00 p.m. and no one leaves the house.  The family sits in a circle and prays for a night of safety and rest.  The government is very corrupt. While our political candidates here were blasting each other with epithets, their politicians were blasting each other with gunfire even going into the churches to do so.

Returning to the U.S. in October, Grace returned to her nurse-aide work but at no regular hours.  She is called by both Alterra homes (Clare Bridge in Fayetteville and Wynwood in Manlius) and is sought after by both.  She often works double schedules, which leaves little time for sleep and meals.  Her car spends more time in a repair shop than it does on the road, so grace has had to call on many for help in transportation.

Her life still is not easy but she has a praise.  She will be moving into her own apartment on December 1st.

If anyone is familiar with AT&T overseas calling cards which, for reasons unknown, do not work in my system, please call Grace at my number and explain it to her (*see paragraph below).  She thanks and appreciates everyone who has helped her with her many problems in the past and at the present time.  In my humble opinion Jeff Loope deserves a ‘special star in his crown.’

*She has done all the paperwork for the U.S. Embassy in Kenya in hopes that her husband and daughter might come for a visit in the not-too-distant future.  Pray that this might come about.       
                       --Margaret Vermilya

THOUGHTS FOR CHRISTMAS

We commit, O Lord, to you, our hearts to be silent, our ears to be heaven bent like the wise men as they went.
Send us peace, peace on earth, the kind you brought at our Savior’s birth.
Send us joy, good tidings of great joy, which came even to a shepherd boy.
Send us love, love’s pure light, from angels on this silent night.
Send us Christ, Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
The baby born, to pay the price of sins so great for us so small starting in a cattle stall, going to a cross so tall, giving new life to all who hear your call.

Amen

--excerpt taken from a First Baptist Church of Manlius bulletin, Christmas Eve 1998.

ALL CHURCHWIDE CAROLING
Friday, December 13th, 6:30 p.m. there will be caroling for all ages.  We will meet at First Baptist Church and begin the outside caroling around 6:45 p.m.  We will meet back at Church for Hot Cocoa.  It should be ending around 8:30 p.m.  Come, have fun, and help spread the Christmas Spirit!

FAMILY CRAFT NIGHT
Wednesday, December 4th, 5:30-7:00 p.m. there will be a Family Craft Night.  Children and family members move from table to table in the gym creating crafts to take home for themselves or give as gifts.  Bring a friend!

CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICES
First Baptist Church Christmas Eve Services are as follows:
5:00 p.m., 7:30, and 11:00 p.m.
Rev. John Buskey will be preaching at these services and the entire month of December.

REV. BOB REED’S JAIL MINISTRY
Rev. Bob Reed needs used winter coats for his jail ministry.  Please bring the coats to the Church office, and Rev. Reed will pick them up there.  Thank You!

THANK YOU
Thank you to all who donated Operation Christmas Child boxes or who gave money for the mailing.  I delivered 46 boxes of which 15 came from Delphi United Church.  Thank you for your support.  – Colleen Guynup

CROP WALK
$1,036.00 was the total collected from First Baptist Church for the Crop Walk – Congratulations!!  Thank you to Ruth Ware for organizing this effort.  

RMMO
“I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He judged me faithful and appointed me to His service.”
These words from 1 Timothy 1:12 could easily express the gratitude retired American Baptist ministers and missionaries feel for their calling and lifework.  For many, their sense of vocation is so strong that they have found ways to serve well into retirement.  As one retired minister wrote, “With 55 years in ABC ministry, I can say I have been blessed far more than my ministry has blessed any congregation.  If God were to grant me the privilege of living 1,000 times on this planet, I’d beg to be a pastor each time.”

American