EMMETT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
Novemberr 2022
Discover Christ's Transforming Love
126 S. Hayes Ave. Emmett, Idaho 83617
Lance Zagaris, Pastor
Pam Hodges, Worship Director
A Word From the Pastor
1 Peter 4:9-10 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
Romans 12:13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
Dearly Beloved,
We are called by God to offer hospitality to one another and to strangers. I thought it would be helpful to talk about what it means to be hospitable in this article and offer suggestions of how we can be people who are hospitable to others. “Hospitable” means given to generous and cordial reception of guests (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). It refers to welcoming people with attitudes of friendliness and generosity. It also refers to offering a pleasant or sustaining environment (M-W Dictionary).
As believers, we have experienced God’s hospitality in our lives. He has lovingly and generously adopted us into His family through our faith in His Son Jesus Christ. He has welcomed us into His family with open arms. Jesus is in heaven preparing a place for us when we are reunited with Him in the future. The Lord has been very generous with us, accepting us as we are, and receiving us into relationship with Him and with the family of God. When He calls us to be hospitable, in essence He is calling us to reflect His loving relationship with us with the people we encounter.
When you think about church, the LORD is not only calling the ushers and greeters to be hospitable toward regular attenders and guests. He wants each of us to display a servant’s heart and genuinely welcome others, new and old, into the building and into our lives. We should take an interest in them, introducing ourselves and asking questions and listening to their stories.
Just like when a new person enters your home, you invite them in, take their coat, offer them a chair and perhaps a cushion. You show them around your place. You let them know where the children may go and tell them where the bathrooms are located. You offer them refreshment and help them feel at home. You take time to get to know each other. All of us are called by God to offer hospitable gestures like this whether we are at home or at church.
Hospitable people open their hearts to others. They open their home to others. They open their refrigerator contents to share with others. They open their pocketbooks to be kind toward others. The Diaconate desires to be hospitable by paying for half the cost of Thanksgiving Dinner for those who attend! The Butticci’s paid for 3 meals but realized they’d be out of town that weekend, so they offered those meals for free to others in our church!
C.H. Spurgeon said, “when home is ruled according to God’s Word, angels might be asked to stay with us and they would not find themselves out of their elements” (How To Be A Caring Christian, pp. 87-88, Warren Wiersbe). Abraham entertained angels (Gen. 18:1-22). He didn’t realize it until they left. God has established three institutions: government, the Church, and the family. In two of these three, we have the responsibility and the privilege to be hospitable. Let God make a difference in your life by fully receiving His hospitality and then passing it on to others!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Serving you with Christ’s Loving hospitality!
Lance
Good News Club Update
During October we held 3 Good News Club sessions. We have had attendance of 11, 19, and 19 students. We give them tickets for attendance, bringing a Bible, saying their memory verse, doing their Quiet Time during the week, and bringing a friend. Their tickets go in a hat, and if their name is pulled from the hat, they can receive a prize. We are teaching Bible stories from the Gospel of John. On Oct. 12, 3 students prayed to receive Christ into their lives!
We are thankful for the dedicated team: Lance & Jolene Zagaris, Connie Walker, Margo Moodie, Roma Careaga, and Carol Rainey!
We are thankful for your prayers!
To find out more about Good News Clubs, visit Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) at https://www.cefonline.com/ministries/goodnewsclub/
Connie and Jenni
Jolene teaches the children
Roma helping students
Margo Moodie
Connie and Margo teach
Prize Drawing!
Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Ministry
The language of love is understood by all.
Loose Mouse in the Church! Reward if Found!
Jim Foster has lost his pet mouse somewhere on the 2nd floor of the church.
He is offering a reward for anyone, Jr. High or younger, who finds his mouse and turns it in to him personally.
Thank You For Maintaining Our Church Home
Jim Foster Trimming Lilac Bush
Cindy Smith Washing Outside Windows
Windows Before and After
(Click on picture to enlarge)
Wayne washed upstairs windows
Vi wiped things down and did some organizing
Lance washing windows
Marvin & Chapman Concert
Each of the band members gave heartfelt testimonies in which many attendees commented on how much those testimonies spoke to them.
If you missed the concert, you can watch it on the FBC YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjRGhY0vkpQ) or via the FBC Website (www.FBCEmmett.org)
Email from Dan Chetti, Missionary
Dear Pastor Lance, and the Family of FBC Emmet:
Greetings dear Pastor Lance and faithful partners in Mission: (Please let me know if this mail has reached you.THANKS)
A quick update about our Enduring Love Ministries:
- In early July myself, and our Associate Director, Todd McClure, and our Director of Communications, Filipe Amado, travelled and visited our EL ministries in the Chouf Mountains in Lebanon. Later we visited Egypt, reviewed the launching of the Discipleship School among the Darfuri Sudanese Refugees, living in Egypt. We received a grant for this from the Cornerstone Foundation, Grand Rapids, MI.
- From there we travelled to North Sudan and witnessed an amazing outpouring of the Holy Spirit! We are building two new churches in the regions of Simer and Soba, North of Khartoum. We also entered the much neglected Darfur region, with the support of two Evangelists. We are making videos of these ministries. When they are ready, I will share them with you.
- Over the three years of COVID Pandemic, our 27 EL Arab missionaries in seven countries, discipled and Baptized over 200 new believers! In fact, over the last two decades, more Arab Muslims have come to faith in Jesus Christ in the MENA region, than all the previous centuries combined together! Praise be to God!
- I am attaching a short video of the ministries of our EL missionaries Amal & Rasha in the Chouf Mountains of Lebanon. Over the last couple of years, Amal discipled and Baptized over 61 new Believers! On the weekend we visited, there were six Baptisms!
- The two new churches we are helping to build in North Sudan cost just 15K. I will share more specific information about our emerging Sudan outreach.
- I and possibly Todd, will be visiting Idaho next summer as our strongest base of support is in Boise, Idaho! I will let you know the dates ahead of time so that we can also visit Emmet.
- We are undertaking the Enduring Love Arab outreach on behalf of the American Baptist Churches and International Ministries, which has very little foot print in the MENA Region. A region also much neglected by other Mission societies.
Thank you dear friends for your faithful and sacrificial support. God Bless you & your Ministries.
Dan Chetti
______________________
Daniel Chetti, PhD
Founder & Director, Enduring Love
Adjunct Faculty, Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, Beirut - Lebanon
Gloria Hill – Hang In There; It Will Get Better!
Gloria joined the Emmett First Baptist Church (FBC) in 1984. Gloria’s dad was LDS but didn’t preach his religion. Her mom had her own belief but didn’t want to go to church. Her mom once went to church which was a type of “Holy Rollers” and it scared her so bad she never went back, but she always read her Bible.
Gloria came to know the Lord through her husband John. Gloria didn’t attend FBC when initially married to John, and John didn’t attend either. Gloria was unsure why John stopped going, but assumed it was because his former girlfriend attended FBC and maybe he thought Gloria would be uncomfortable. When their daughter, Tammy was 5 years old, Gloria sent her to church with John’s former girlfriend. Tammy then asked Gloria to go with her. Gloria had joked that the building may fall down if she goes in it but she did go. After, Francis Granger said to Gloria, “See, the building didn’t fall down”. Gloria, along with her son Ron and daughter were baptized later that year. Ron had wanted to get baptized earlier but his reason was he wanted to be dunked! After waiting a couple of years his reason was that he would “get to meet Jesus”. After that, it was decided if Ron was going to be baptized Gloria and Tammy would too!
Gloria is generally seen with a smile on her face and a story to tell. Gloria has been an active member of FBC and has served as Church Clerk, Financial Secretary as well as attending Sunday School and helping in Jr. Church with crafts.
Gloria commented that her favorite thing about FBC is the people; everyone is so friendly. She said it is hard to see some of them unable to attend, like Mae Blaylock and Dorothy Pearce. Gloria enjoyed working with Vi Rexford in the Sunday School/Jr. Church classroom. If students were not minding Vi, Vi would give her a look and Gloria would then step in to get the child(ren) in line. Merne Wilson and Vi were always helpful and there to listen.
The rebuild of the church after the fire in 2013 was a good memory for Gloria. She enjoyed seeing the building come back to life. When she offered to help, Wayne gave her 10-14 chairs and she sanded and re-stained them. While it was a lot of work, she thought it was fun. She also enjoyed writing Bible verses and prayers on the walls as they were being rebuilt.
Gloria had 6 siblings and while many of them are gone now, she has a heart for caring for her brothers who are still living. Her brother Kevin had to have a leg amputated and she not only let him move in with her, but she also took care of him, driving him to appointments and helping him however she could until he was able to live on his own and go back to work. She did this while taking care of John and through the time of John’s passing. Gloria shared that she is also very concerned about another brother who is struggling. He is raising his grand-daughter and Gloria tries to help him and be there for him, but she is limited in what she can do.
When talking to Gloria, you know her passion is family. Whether it is her siblings, her children, her grandchildren, a niece/nephew, cousin, etc., she generally has a story to tell or is helping them in some way. She always thought she would get married, have kids and be out doing stuff with kids… She was not going to be like her mom and sit around and crochet all day. She would be going to kid’s/grandkid’s games, etc. Gloria commented that her kids are now grown and she “sits at home and crochets all day!” Even though they are grown, she still keeps them in line… she told a story of her granddaughter calling her to have her talk to her dad (Gloria’s son, Ron) because he wouldn’t give her allowance to her. After finding out from her granddaughter that she planned to take half of her allowance to give to Jesus, Gloria asked to talk to Ron. She then proceeded to tell him that “unless you want Jesus to come down on your case, you give her the allowance!” Of course, she then got her allowance. 😊
Gloria has gone through challenges in her life. She was married 56 years her husband John, and the last 8 ½ years she began seeing a gradual decline in him. He had dementia. People told her to put him in a home. She refused to put him in a home and took care of him at home until a short time prior to his passing. While this was difficult, she learned a lot. She learned to just go along with what he was saying, don’t argue and if necessary, change the subject. She has many stories… him thinking he was going to work but not sure which job he was going to, even though he had been retired. Or talking about visiting with his mom and dad who had been gone for years. In the last couple of years, he got to where he didn’t know who anyone was.. the neurologist said to accept it.
Through Gloria’s experience with John, she is able to help others. She recently received a phone call from John’s cousin’s daughter, who needed guidance on how to handle her parent who had dementia. She was able to talk her through it and be there for her.
Gloria knows John is in a better place and her faith in the Lord has hoped her deal with the loss of him. She also relies on the Lord to help her with her in dealing with her brother Jerry who is struggling with his home situation. While it hurts to see him in the situation he is in, Gloria realizes that he brought the situation on himself, and she can’t help him; but it is still hard.
Prior to John going to be with the Lord, Gloria’s daughter, Tammy, lost her partner, Nate, to COVID 19. Gloria’s granddaughter struggles with a rare auto-immune disease which has threatened her life and/or the quality of her life. And the list goes on….
Through reading her bible every morning and daily prayer sessions, Gloria gets her strength from the Lord. Her message to the readers of this article, it to “Hang in there; it gets better!”.
Thank you, Gloria, for your time, and your openness and willingness to share. I have enjoyed getting to know! Your smile and humor, even through the tough times, is a blessing.
~by Kathy Osborn, FBC Secretary/Treasurer
When life knocks you to your knees, pray there!
Sundays with Ruth
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend
Ekstasis | Literary Essays on Art & Academia - Ekstasis Magazine
It was so many years ago
yet the memories
are quite fresh
like warm biscuits, anointed
with sausage gravy,
each bite a reminder of
those Sundays when you
took me across town to
the care home to visit your son
Charlie, and his housemates.
Once a month
we made this journey
right after church.
I was sixteen
you were perhaps as old as Anna
the prayerful widow who
waited decade after decade
in the Temple
to meet the infant Messiah.
Like her, you were
a woman of prayer
and a widow who at least
twice a week
adopted me.
More than a mother to me
our bond sealed by those
long drives to do Sunday School
for the children,
all the grown-up children
whose minds were forever young.
On every visit
we told the same stories
we prayed the same prayers
we sang the same songs
we got and gave
the same hugs.
And after we said our goodbyes
we went to lunch at
The Hen and Hog;
fried chicken and baked ham
with fixins aplenty, one price
all you can eat.
And today
like all those Sundays
before I grew up,
I can still smell
the aroma of those meals,
and my eyes can still see
your soft, wrinkled hands
passing me the biscuits,
words of grace
gently pouring each Sunday
from your lips.
~Steve Bell
Mustard Roasted Potatoes
You don’t have to love mustard to try these, they don’t have that fake yellow mustard vibe. These are perfect for a crowd and reheating! View in Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjGXyzwDB7p/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=103e87ab-612e-45e5-a495-f22f27e7db25
Ingredients
8-10 Yukon gold potatoes, chopped in 4s
1/2 onion, sliced thin
3 TBS EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
3 TBS whole grain mustard
Sea salt and pepper
- Mix all ingredients, roast at 425F for 50 mins, tossing halfway through. Top with lots of fresh parsley and chives before serving.