West Hendersonville Baptist Church 730 Willow Road Hendersonville, NC 28739 The Light Phone: (828)692-6607 Email: [email protected] West Hendersonville Baptist Church www.westhendersonvillebaptist.org www.truelife.org Where we reach, teach and minister to the Where we reach, teach and minister to the September/October 2013 whole family with the Gospel of Christ! whole family with the Gospel of Christ! Volume 6, Issue 5 Tracy’s Thoughts... SPOTLIGHT Come Join Us ! ON… Greetings Co-Laborers in Christ! Sunday Services I want to talk to you about “My Hope America” with Billy Bible Study 9:45 AM Tracy’s Thoughts Morning Worship 11:00 AM Church Staff Graham. Dr. Graham has been a great proclaimer of the gos- Evening Services 6:30 PM Back to School pel of Jesus Christ for many years. I remember watching old Youth Meeting 6:30 PM Rev. Tracy Fletcher, Pastor Women’s Ministry revival videos at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Valerie Fletcher, Director of Music Wednesday Services back in the late 1990’s. Wow, what a heart for the Lord and Jo Parham, Homebound Ministry Men’s Ministry Bible Study 6:30 PM Karen Kinlaw, Pianist for the world! Youth Meeting 6:30 PM Debbie Shehan, Church Secretary Member in the Dr. Graham was born November 7, 1918, and reared in Char- Adult Choir Rehearsal & C.A.R.E. Ministry 7:30 PM Spotlight lotte, N.C. It was at the age of fifteen (15), under the preaching Music Notes of evangelist, Mordecai Ham, in the fall of 1934, that Billy Graham surrendered his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Just five years later, in 1939, Billy Graham was ordained to the gos- Music Notes pel ministry. In 1943 he graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois and married fellow student Ruth McCue Bell, daughter of a missionary surgeon, who spent the first seventeen (17) years of You’re invited to join the choir! her life in China. On December 22, during the In one of the stories that I read, Billy Graham was struggling with the authority of God’s morning worship service, the Word. He went out and prayed in a quiet place in the woods and when he came back he choir will present Bethlehem stated that the issue was settled. God’s Word states that it is just that, God’s Holy Word; Morning. The music has been that settled it for Billy Graham. ordered, and sometime in Following that struggle God began to open doors for Dr. early September we will be- Graham to preach the gospel. In 1949, Dr. Graham would gin working on the cantata hold his first crusade in Los Angeles, CA. God took a during our regular rehearsals. young man from Charlotte, N.C. and made him a spokes- Can’t read music? No prob- man to the world. lem! We’ll have practice If you’ve moved within the past year or will be moving Dr. Graham has spoken to and prayed with many of the CD’s that you can listen to and learn by ear. in the future, please remember to call the church presidents of the United States, as well as dignitaries from So come on! We’ll be looking for you Wednesdays at office during office hours, email or leave a note, let- around the world. The Lord has opened doors for Dr. 7:30 p.m. See Valerie Fletcher for more information. ting us know your new address (and phone number if Graham to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in many there is a change) so that our information remains countries in the world. current. Thank you for your help. Continued on Page 2 Page 2 Page 7 Tracy’s Thoughts. My Hope with Billy Graham simply asks us to repeat Member in the Spotlight what Matthew did— look around and invite our friends Dr. Graham is hoping to celebrate his and neighbors over for a meal and to view the Billy 95th birthday on November 7, this year; Graham special. Following the special, share in about Sarah Elizabeth Ledbetter Blackwell, our ville High School, where he plays trumpet in yet this year he has an extra sense of ur- three to four minutes our testimony of how we came to Member in the Spotlight for the month, was born the school bands. gency to help the church reach out in America. He know Christ, and then ask them if they would like to at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, N.C. on August states in the pamphlet, My Hope America with Billy receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives. 16, 1943. One of three children born to Lillian Jim and Sarah went to Main Street Baptist with her sister, Stella, for awhile before [Stella’s] Graham: Here is a sample prayer to invite them to pray with you: Justice Ledbetter and Canie A. Ledbetter, Sarah’s brother Kever Alexander died when death, and after she passed away, they returned During my lifetime, I’ve had the privilege of seeing God Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, and I ask for Your just three months old. Her sister, Stella, was to West Hendersonville, in 1999. They say they move across America in powerful ways, and yet we have forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the Sarah Blackwell born on November 25, 1929, and died on were blessed to have attended church here seen our nation steadily sliding into moral and spiritual dead. I turn from running my own life, and now I ask You to January 3, 1999, from cancer. with Mildred Camp Blackwell, Jim’s mother, in her last ruin. As I approach my 95th birthday, I believe that run it. I surrender my heart and life to You. I will trust You years, and still try to sit in her pew every Sunday they unless God sends a sweeping revival, America as we and follow You as my Savior and Lord. In Jesus’ Name, amen. In 1945, Sarah’s mother brought her to Henderson- are able to be here. have known it- a nation rooted in biblical values- will be ville, where she has lived ever since. She attended Rosa Please take an opportunity to go to a thing of the past. Edwards Elementary School and graduated from Hen- “I love the old hymns and really enjoy hearing Valerie WWW.MYHOPEWITHBILLYGRAHAM.ORG to [Fletcher] sing ‘Via Dolorosa.’ My favorite scriptures Today, around 60 percent of Americans don’t attend dersonville High School in 1962. learn more about this special opportunity. There is a are many, but I especially like Romans 8:28.” church regularly. Among young people in our churches, lot of great information and some sample videos. On Sarah tells the story of how she decided on her half think that many religions can lead to eternal life. September 22, I am hoping to have a special message [vocation]. “My sister had been in a serious car acci- Since 1990, the number of people who specifically iden- on Sunday morning about My Hope with Billy Graham, dent, and while I was helping care for her I decided to tify themselves as atheists or agnostics has more than and then at the 6:30 p.m. service we hope to have train- make nursing my life’s work. I joined the staff at Par- tripled. ing. dee Hospital in 1961 as a volunteer and was part of Jo Parham is Homebound and the very first group of “Candy Stripers.” Prayer Director This is why I believe My Hope America is crucial. If you would like to host a Matthew event, please call It could be our last chance to see our country turn back the church office; we have 20 Matthew packets. Also, As time passed Sarah met Jim Blackwell, in August of to God. I hope you will join us in this nationwide evan- please come to the training event. We will take an op- 1962, and after a brief courtship the two were married gelistic campaign and reach out to your unsaved portunity that evening to watch one of the videos and on October 20, 1962. Rev. Mark M. Goss performed neighbors and loved ones with our true hope: the Gospel talk about writing out your personal testimony. the ceremony at the First Baptist Church of Hender- of the Lord Jesus Christ. sonville. At that time, she was working full-time at [the Please take the time to pray that the Lord of the harvest The hour is late, and the need is urgent. The eternal will send forth laborers and please be willing to answer hospital] as a nursing assistant, and continued to work WELCOME TO OUR destiny of many souls—and the future of our great na- for several years in that position. When offered a job that call. Also, write out names of folks that you do NEWEST MEMBERS tion—is at stake. Pray that we will turn from our not know if they have surrendered their lives to Christ, as a unit clerk, she accepted and worked in that posi- Nicole Gregory wicked ways and that God will heal our land. begin praying for them, and seek to build a strong rela- tion until she retired in 2008. She had worked as unit Gage Case clerk in several different departments until stationed in Joshua & Jennifer Wilcox I want to encourage you to participate in My Hope tionship with them. the I.C.U. in the late 1980’s, where she worked for Pam Flynn America with Billy Graham; this is simply a biblical Bill Weaver Let’s join together in prayer, and labor, expecting great twenty-three (23) years.