MBC Annual Meeting Feb 5

We love Annual Meetings. We start with a great service, move to a fantastic lunch that makes us all feel great! It must be the lunch… because we never have a problem at our Annual Meetings. This year, we welcomed 5 new members, reviewed reports and accepted them, voted in 3 new Elder Board Members and passed the new 2012 Budget … all this in 30 minutes. And everyone left as happy as they were right after that delicious lunch! Now we know that is amazing for a Church Annual Meeting and we are so thankful for this great group of God honouring people who are here to help fulfill our Mission: Build relationships with people no matter where they are in the Spiritual Journey and help them to become fully devoted followers of Jesus.

January 1, 2012 — Baptism

Baptism & Testimony: Jenn
Sermon: Pastor Harv Sawatzky “Willingly Wearing His Colors”

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Services

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Services were held in the lobby of the church so were not recorded.

Christmas Day was especially different and wonderful!    After fitting in almost 150 people in the lobby for the Christmas Eve Service (standing room only), we set up tables and chairs in the lobby to accommodate a smaller crowd for Christmas Day.   We did have fewer people than usual but it was such a warm, cozy feeling to gather with church family on Christmas Day.  The fire-place was going, the coffee and hot apple cider were served and we sat around tables in the lobby enjoying singing and sharing together– family style.   The lobby was filled with laughter and love as we celebrated the birth of our King and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Christmas Eve Changed!

Yes, the Traditional Christmas Eve Service is wonderful.   Singing the carols, worshiping in the silence of candles lighting all around you.

But sometimes it just fun to change things up and do something different.  That’s what we did at MBC this year!   When everyone arrived they were welcomed with the smell of hot chocolate, coffee and Christmas goodies.   The Lobby quickly filled with warm sounds of laughter as people stood around visiting with friends and new acquaintances.  Then Pastor Tim led us in some Christmas Carols.  Pastor Aaron read Scripture and Pastor Harv talked about the Baby who came to be our Saviour.   “Joy to the World” filled the Lobby and resonated in all our minds and hearts as adults and children filled two Horse-drawn wagons for a good long trip around town, singing and laughing together in the unusually warm December weather.

 

MBC Family Christmas Program 2011

What a great day we had on Sunday, celebrating Christs’ birth with our church family! The Meal was so awesome! Did you know that we had about 260 people for supper that night? The Food Services Team out-did themselves again! Thank you, Thank you!

The program inspired laughter and tears bringing us all back to the true reason for Christmas! Even the toddlers got in on the action and appeared for the first time on stage at MBC. The youth respectfully portrayed the Christmas Story with little Luke B. stealing the show as the young child whom the wisemen came to see. A pointless, yet humorous skit by some silly women reminded us of the meaninglessness of all the frivolity of the worlds’ commercialized Christmas. Pastor Harv encouraged everyone to seek out the Christ-child in our own celebrations. He is the reason for all the celebrations. Christmas is about Jesus.

Below is the link to view the 2011 MBC Christmas Program. It requires a password… please call the church office to acquire the password (931-2688). Only those attending MBC regularly will be given the password.

Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Collection & Trip

2011 sets a new record for Martensville Baptist Church Collection of Shoeboxes: 144 Boxes were collected from our church family.
Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Last week a Team of MBCers traveled to Calgary to work for 2 days at Samaritan’s Purse Warehouse with the Shoeboxes, preparing them for their long trip. They were carefully sorted and checked to be sure that the children receiving them in many different countries would be blessed with the gift.

BGC Short Term Missions Opportunity in Japan

Imagine one of the most powerful earthquakes of all time that triggers a tsunami so large the odds of it happening are once every thousand years. This all adds up to one of the largest natural disasters in world history. Some of the foreshocks and aftershocks of this earthquake were the size of other major earthquakes. According to Wikipedia, the earthquake moved the island of Honshu 2.4 m (8 ft) east and shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of 10 – 25 cm (4 – 10 in). The damage caused by the water was far more deadly and destructive than the actual earthquake. The clean up will take years.

You can show the love of Jesus by helping people during a time of their greatest physical, spiritual needs and personal tragedy. If you have two weeks to spare and are not afraid of hard work and  getting dirty, join our TEAM JAPAN! Other teams that have travelled to Japan have distributed supplies, cleaned up streets and homes, and put on community events for adults and children.

TEAM JAPAN
Team Leader: Mas Kobayashi

Mas, is what we call, a repeat BGCC short-termer. He has traveled to serve in Japan numerous times. On his most recent trip (July 2011) he participated in the clean up work. Mas will also act as the team translator.

Travel Dates for
TEAM JAPAN are March 22 – April 5, 2012

Cost for TEAM JAPAN members: approximately $ 1,900 flying from Vancouver, so some will have to add the flight to Vancouver on top of their costs. And this will depend if we can get the same flight cost when we actually book the flights. This covers everything (including accommodations) but your spending money while on a day off inTokyo, and possibly a meal or two.

Team members must be 18 years of age or older. Children over 16 can participate if they are accompanied by a parent. No training is necessary and people with carpentry skills are an extra bonus. Contact us for more information to see if this might work for you. Diane@bgc.ca

 

MBC Gardens

Have you noticed how fantastic the Church flower beds have been all summer?

 

It takes a lot of work to keep the flowers looking so great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So who is our gardener, you ask?

Here she is… THANKS Charmaine!

 

Women’s Retreat Highlights

The 2011 Women’s Retreat at Beaver Creek Camp was again a huge success! About 40 women from MBC spent a weekend together, getting to know each other, having fun together and relaxing away from home responsibilities. The theme was “Taste and See that the Lord is Good!” We tasted, all right! The food was excellent and since the pallet theme was chocolate, we had opportunity everywhere to taste this or that kind of chocolate. However, we also learned through our speaker Barb Elich that “Taste and See” means so much more in our lives than food. God is good… He’s good to us in so many ways…. friendships, loved ones, how He cares for us, when He leads us, and as he uses all the circumstances of our lives to teach us. Then we heard testimonies from 3 women … some stories we had never known and were blessed through the faithfulness of our God through our very own friends. Whether we were walking, eating, making chocolates, crafting, playing games, or winning prizes, the atmosphere was one of love and friendship. A quote from one of the new-to-MBC women: “I’ve never seen this much love and acceptance in a church women’s group before… I didn’t think it could exist and I’m thrilled that is does.” Our speaker commented about the retreat leaders as she prayed for our group of women, “Thank you God for this generous group who have intentionally planned this time to bless the women of their church.” It truly was a blessing!

This was the 2nd Annual Women’s Retreat. That means there will be a 3rd. I recommend you plan to be there! This is a retreat like none other that I have experienced. What’s the difference? I’ve asked that question so many times, and I think I’ve finally figured out the answer…. it’s in the attitude of the Retreat Leadership Team who strive to fulfill their purpose of creating a place for the women of MBC to learn to love and care for each other in a godly way. They model this value by adding all the special touches they can think of and everyone goes away amazed at their humble generosity and over-the-top extras in decorations and planning.

So, I give credit to God and I praise Him for the work that He is doing through these special women who chose to obey when God said, “I have a plan for you.”

Mike Fast Sermon & Darryl Balzer Testimony

Sunday, May 15, Darryl Balzer spoke about his exciting short term missions adventure coming up.   Also, Mike & Eva Fast were with us, missionary family from the Philippines.  Mike shared a message on moving from spectators to participants which fit very well with Darryl’s story.

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