Yesterday was Robert Barnes last day as Pastor of the Alabaster Church of God.  Although he is no longer our pastor, we all know that there is no way he is retiring from serving our King.  He is just retiring from his service to us.  We had a great day Sunday with him in both services.  Hearing his last words from God to us and honoring and remembering his 8 1/2 years of shepherding us was something we will all remember.  Thank God for faithful serevants in the Kingdom like Robert and Pat Barnes.  We wish them well, continued success in the service they do, and many years of blessings from Our God.

And we hope you sell that house pretty quickly also.

As of today we have a new pastor.  Evangelist Ken Stroup has been elected to step up and fill the role of shepherd at ACOG.  He has worked many years in service to the Kingdom also and relayed to us that he felt he was being led by the Lord to come and care for us.  He does have some big shoes to fill but we believe he is up to the task.  We all hope and pray that he is guided daily by the Holy Spirit and moves our church forward and outward to further advance the Kingdom of God.

Stop by Sunday and hear his first words to us all as Pastor.

We will see you later Robert and Pat Barnes.  We will see you Sunday Pastor Ken Stroup.

We love you all

On Sunday night, March 8th at 6:00pm, we had our monthly Atik service. We started the service with a few comments about our desire to raise up youth and children that are leaders in the Kingdom. Brett Fincher played keyboards for us and sang with the ACOG children and youth as they led the church in praise and worship. After praise and worship, Arlon Fincher blessed us with his song, The Light of That City. The Angels of Mercy drama team did an awesome job praising God to the song Shackles. I believe that everyone in the church was moved by their enthusiastic worship.

Jeremy Atchley, a local evangelist, preached a sermon entitled “Don’t Look Back”. He did a tremendous job of sharing God’s word with us. It is obvious that Jeremy is passionate about God and will be a force in preparing young people for ministry in the Kingdom. I was impressed with his knowledge of the Word and his ability to relate to our youth and children in such a tender hearted manner. He closed out the message with a very moving altar service. We would definitely love to have him join us again sometime.

I am proud of our young people and thrilled with their desire to actively participate in ministry. The more active they are in church, the less likely they are to be pulled away from God by worldly temptations. We want to keep them moving onward and upward as they grow in the their relationships with God. Thanks to our church family for your continued support.

With Love,
Barbara

On Sunday night, March 8th at 6:00pm, we will be having our monthly ATIK service in the sanctuary at ACOG. We are real excited about the way God has been moving in these services. Brett Fincher and our kids praise team will lead in praise and worship. We are hopeful that our drama team, Angels of Mercy, will be ready to share their version of SHACKLES with all of us – YEAH!!

Jeremy Atchley, a local youth minister, will be singing and preaching for us during this special evening.

Please make plans to join us!

With Love,
Barbara

(This post has been edited as to the date due to the cancellation of March 1st service because of snow.  I will update any other info as I receive it.  Thanks, Sonny)

ACOG Mom’s, Dad’s and Grandparents:

Do we have an offer for you? On Friday night, February 13th, the children’s department will sponsor a Parent’s Night Out from 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm. We will provide dinner, a movie, games, snacks, and loads of fun for your children/grandchildren for the very low price of $5.00 per child. Please take this opportunity to enjoy a night out with your sweetie and leave the babysitting to us. There will be a sign-up sheet in the foyer of the church so we can have a head count for the evening.

Thanks!

Barb

Christian Greetings guys and gals!

I hope everyone is a having a blessed week thus far.  Just a heads up about a Wednesday night series that will begin next week… We’re starting a series on “The Clash of Two Kingdoms” and will begin to explore what the Bible says about Spiritual warfare.

For a while now, we have studied the importance of understanding God as a relational God.  We have explored quite a bit what the Bible says about who the Holy Spirit is, how He empowers us to follow Jesus, how that salvation is a Spirit-filled journey, how the Spirit brings us into the family of God, amongst other tremendous truths.

Since we have concluded that salvation is a relationship with God through Christ, I think it’s important to explore further the resistance that we all face in walking with God and living out His will.  So, I’m excited about the upcoming study and invite all 13-18 yr old Gospel gangsters to the ATIK sanctuary on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m.  Bring your Bibles, some blazing faith, a good attitude and an extra pair of socks!  (Here lately, God’s been blessings our socks off at ACoG!)

Peace

The Atik Service this past Sunday night was great! Brett Fincher, along with the ACOG kid’s, led praise and worship. They were followed by the Angels of Mercy Drama Team as they worshiped to the song, Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone). A young man from Addison Church of God named Ory Hampton delivered the sermon. He posed the question, “Jesus gave His all for us, what are we willing to give for Him?”

We are so proud of our children and their desire to be actively involved in ministry. Thanks so much to our church family for supporting the Atik Services. Our next one will be on Sunday night, March 1st at 6:00 pm in the sanctuary. We hope you will come and join us!

Love,

Barb

The children’s department of ACoG will be selling DVDs of the children’s musical performed in our sanctuary. If you know of anyone needing to purchase a copy of this please direct them to Barbara Snyder or Brandy Tiller. We have included all parts of the program including the call of salvation. We believe this could be another tool used to advance the Kingdom. This will help support the children’s ministry as all monies will go directly to the children’s department.

Thanks,
Children Dept. Staff
ACoG

Wonder what’s going on in the youth and children’s department?  Well . . . This is an exciting time of the year for us, as we are working on our Christmas play.  We have been practicing every Wednesday evening (and will be practicing this Sunday night in lieu of The Attik).  If you do not have a part in the Christmas play, please come anyway, as there will be a class held for you.

 

We will be performing the play on Sunday morning, December 21.  Please come and see all of our youth and children perform – they have worked very hard.  Today (Saturday, December 6) our kids actually performed their play during the Alabaster Christmas Parade.  While it was a little cold, they had a wonderful time.

 

We are so thankful for all our kids and their enthusiasm.  Thanks also to the parents who are always so willing to help with the kids.

 

Dee

Yesterday evening, the ladies ministry had their Christmas party, and what a wonderful party is was!  I am relatively new to ACOG, so this was my first Christmas Party with the ladies, and I was so impressed.  Different ladies in the church decorated the tables, and they were beautiful.  Nancy Massey decorated the Christmas tree (with some help from some ladies in the church).  And the food – we could have fed twice the people we had, and we had around 40 ladies.

 

It was so much fun spending time with the ladies from the church.  There was a devotion by Charlotte Ward and song by Jamie Fincher.  We played the left/right game with presents, and we had a lot of fun.

 

Thank you to all those ladies who participated in and planned the Christmas Party.  It was an overwhelming success!

 

Dee