“And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.” Ephesians 4:11-13 (HCSB)
“Pastapalooza”
White Marsh Baptist Church in Perry Hall, Maryland., recently hosted their annual youth sponsored “Pastapalooza.”
White Marsh Baptist Church Youth Member Cory Lewis played his trumpet during the “Pastapalooza.”
Every April, the church’s youth group serves a spaghetti dinner and provides entertainment to raise funds for summer camp at Skycroft Conference Center, in Middletown, Maryland.
This year’s “Pastapalooza” featured a talent show. Young people sang, played instruments including trumpet and piano, and performed skits.
The youth enjoy going to Skycroft each year. Several years ago they participated in a camp missions activity at the Frederick Rescue Mission. They enjoyed the activity so much that the group formed an ongoing partnership with the mission, collecting supplies for the mission center guests and delivering them in the summer, and visiting during the Christmas season.
Unity Service
Viers Mill Baptist Church (VMBC), in Silver Spring, Maryland., is the home of four congregations — VMBC, Montgomery Chinese Baptist Church, Iglesia Bautista Hispana Viers Mill, and Fellowship Baptist Church, an African American church.
Each quarter the churches gather for a unity service, with one of the four congregations taking the lead in both worship and preaching. The Montgomery Chinese Church will lead on May 5th. All of the songs are translated so that every church sings the same song in their own language.
Viers Mill Baptist Church Pianist Rebecca Sparrow said the quarterly services are joyous, a representation of heaven itself.
Prayer Workshop
.Over 400 people attended the annual Language Music Festival at Global Mission Church of Greater Washington. Churches from a variety of ethnicities led a time of music and praise followed by a unity dinner.
Georgia Avenue Baptist Church, in Silver Spring, Md., will have a prayer workshop from 1 to 4:30 pm on May 11. The theme is “Prayer — There is No Substitute.” Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware Associate Executive Director Tom Stolle will be the guest speaker. The workshop is free and includes music and refreshments.
Language Music Celebration
Over 450 people attended the Palm Sunday Language Music Festival at Global Mission Church of Greater Washington in Silver Spring, Maryland. Michael Mattar said one of the highlights of this year’s annual celebration was watching various churches from the same language groups unite for their music presentations rather than share separately as in the past.
cover photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash