Arundel Association
The Bridge, Kent Island, hosted “a living Thanksgiving” for the community on Thanksgiving day, partnering with Kent Island American Legion, serving free turkey dinners with the trimmings to the community.
College Parkway Church, Arnold, will have a children’s Christmas program at 4 p.m. on Dec. 11. They’ll have a “Blue Christmas” worship service at 7 p.m. on Dec. 15 for those who are struggling through this holiday season. The youth will have a Christmas progressive dinner on Dec. 17; the church will have a Christmas cantata on Dec. 18 with a dessert reception afterwards and a Christmas eve and Christmas morning worship.
Crossroads Church, Severn, recently had a tailgate party to celebrate football, food and a new pastor, Tim Byer.
Baltimore Association
Canton Church has a coffeehouse the second Friday of each month. On Dec. 9, the church will have a free movie night featuring a Christmas themed movie and snacks.
Church members have been collecting toys for poor families to be distributed by Baptist Family & Children’s Services and making holiday food baskets.
Mars Hill Church, Essex, celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special service on Nov. 20. Tabernacle Church in Baltimore birthed Mars Hill Church and it was constituted during the summer of 1961.
Pastor John Smith of First Church, Essex, encouraged members to give out good candy for Halloween along with cards, which included an invitation to the church the following Sunday and offered free happy meals to all the kids who attended. Several families visited the church as a result of the outreach and two people accepted Christ.
About 80 people have made confessions of faith within the past 18 months. Fifty-seven have remained at the church. The church has grown from 30 to about 100 within a year and a half.
Blue Ridge Association
Faith Church, Knoxville, hosted the Disaster Relief Fall Regional Training on Oct. 29. Classes offered included Introduction to Disaster Relief, Feeding Unit, Recovery Unit, Communication Unit, Damage Assessment, and Red Cross Shelter Operations.
In addition, participants prayed over and commissioned the new Communication RV and gave special recognition to those who retrofitted the Communications Unit for Disaster Relief, as well as those who were deployed to help with hurricane relief in recent days.
Delaware Association
Bethany Church, Wilmington, will have their annual Christmas social/prayer bear affair for the holidays. Each year the church has a dessert social and collects stuffed bears as admission.
Each person who brings a bear puts a ribbon around the animal and writes a personal message. The bears are then taken to the children’s AIDS wing of AI Dupont Hospital. The church delivers over 100 bears to the hospital each year.
Eastern Association
Dentists and hygienists at First Church, Easton, provided free treatment to about 100 people in Easton as an outreach ministry. The church provided chairs and the dentists brought in their portable equipment and turned the fellowship hall into a temporary dentist office.
As folks waited, they watched Christian movies including “Facing the Giants” and “Fireproof.” Church members handed out free Bibles and Christian literature.
Mid-Maryland Association
Hope Church, Laurel, will have a Christmas musical titled “iHope”at 5 p.m. on Dec. 18. The show tells the story of a group of youth who create their own website called “iHope.”
On October 2, South Columbia Church honored Pastor Steve Neel and his wife Nancy for 30 years of ministry. The church presented the couple with a trip to Hawaii.
Mid-Maryland Association will sponsor a mission trip to Osaka, Japan, Dec. 10-21. Volunteers will give English and Korean lessons as a platform for sharing the Gospel.
Montgomery Association
Georgia Avenue Church had a prayer conference on Oct. 22. The theme was “Getting Back to the Basics.” Montgomery Association Director of Missions Ron Blankenship was the guest speaker.
An Olney Church Sunday School class prepared and served meals to men at the Carroll House Men’s Shelter in Silver Spring and to women at the women’s shelter in Rockville.
Poolesville Church will have a Christmas musical on Dec. 18 and a family movie night on Dec. 28.
Potomac Association
Cobb Island Church celebrated harvest time with a community pig roast. On Oct. 31, the church gave out 50 pounds of candy. Pastor Joseph Blanton made a sign with John 3:16 on it and used a work light to illuminate it on the parking lot.
Prince George’s Association
Emmanuel Church, Laurel, family and friends gathered to celebrate EBC’s 30th anniversary on Oct. 7, at the Sheraton Washington North Hotel in Beltsville. The celebration featured a Gospel music performance by national recording artist Maurette Brown Clark and praise dances by New Creation Dance Ministry of The Peoples Community Church of Silver Spring. Pastor Dennis Dunn of Fellowship Missionary Church, Albuquerque, N.M., was the guest speaker.
Prince George’s Association had its first Holy Convocation Service at Clinton Church in October. There was also pre-convocation youth and young adult praise service with praise dancers and a mime troop from Global Mission Church.
Susquehanna Association
Oak Grove Church, Bel Air, will present “The Christmas Post,” a musical set in the 1940’s, based on a Norman Rockwell painting. The show is set in a mythical hometown called “Homesboro” on Christmas Eve. The “newsies” are out and about selling the “Post,” the department stores are bracing for a last minute rush, carolers are singing, churches are ministering and families are trying to find the true meaning of Christmas as they struggle to stay sane amongst the hustle, bustle and the economic pressures.
Performances are at 7 p.m. on Dec. 2, 3, 9, 10 and 11 and at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 18.
Western Association
First English Church had a pre-Thanksgiving and Christmas puppet show.
Thomas Winborn, pastor of Welsh Memorial Church, Frostburg, has been ministering at the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship on the campus of Frostburg University. They started last year with six students and recently had 50 attend the worship gathering.
Resort Ministries of the North American Mission Board named Western Association as the association of the year for its support of Duvall and Deep Creek Lake Resort Ministries.
AssociationLIFE comes primarily from church and association newsletters, bulletins and written reports on events that are sent to BaptistLIFE.
Due to space restrictions, articles received may be edited. You may feel free to fax news to us at (410) 290-6627 or e-mail to smager@bcmd.org.