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Vol. 47, No.10
SOUTHSIDE ORACLE May 7, 2004
The Bulletin Board
Celebrating God’s Family – Next Sunday, May 16th we will have a
single morning worship service at 11:00 a.m. accompanied by a
separate children’s worship. There will be no service at 8:30 that Sunday.
Bible classes will begin at 9:30 followed by a fellowship period prior to
worship. We will share a meal together at 12:30 p.m. and will have a
congregational meeting at 2:00 p.m. After this there will be a devotional
and song service. There will be no regular evening worship, but there will
be a devotional at 6:00 p.m. for those unable to be present in the morning.
Though we know we will be very crowded, this will provide a wonderful
opportunity for the whole church to worship together at the same time.
The Sick – Aline Sturomski underwent surgery Monday at West Allis
Hospital….
Cheryl
Morgan is doing well at home after surgery last Thursday….J. R. Frost’s
mother, Patricia Frost, is in the hospital for tests….Pearl Molla was
hospitalized last week, but went home on Sunday….Gertrude Bahn continues to
recuperate at home…. Leo Parry, father of Linda Stanger, remains
hospitalized in Michigan ….Julie Nichols, sister-in-law of Jim Nichols, is
in critical condition in a hospital in Oshkosh.
There will be no Praise and Palate at 6:00 p.m. Sunday because of the
special program the following Sunday. Worship will be conducted as usual at
that time.
The
Mother/Daughter Banquet is this Friday at 6:30 p.m. A capacity
attendance is again expected.
Southside Retreat – Those interested in going to the Southside Retreat
at Fallhall Glen on May 28-31 should sign up on the sheet on the bulletin
board. There is a choice of cabins/lodge rooms on a first come basis. See
the Alexanders for questions.
ATTENDANCE RECORD
Two years ago Last
year Last week Goal
Bible classes
159 157
144 170
Morning worship
239 223 *239 250
Evening worship
63 74 55 80
Contribution $3985.65
$5290.20 $4182.75 $4500.00
Men! This is your invitation to join a group of our men who meet every
Tuesday at 6:00 a.m. for fellowship and study at Meyers Restaurant, 6015 W.
Forest Home.
Calendar of Events
May 7 – Mother/Daughter Banquet, Southside, 6:30 p.m.
May 7, 8 – Youth Rally, Fond du Lac Church
May 14 – Family Fun Night, Jubilee Christian School,
6:30 – 9:30 p.m.
May 16 – Southside combined morning worship, 11:00
a.m.
May 16 – Congregational meeting, 2:00 p.m.
May 18 – Christian Workers’ Meeting, 9:00 a.m.
May 28-31 – Southside retreat, Fallhall Glen
June 5 – Building improvement day
June 20 – July 3 – Junior camp session, Wisconsin
Christian Youth Camp
July 4-17 – Middle camp session, Wisconsin Christian
Youth Camp
July 6-11 – Menominee (MI) Youth Service Trip
The Personal Touch
Recently, I answered the phone and heard a
voice on the other end of the line inquire, “Is this Normal L. Bales?”
People don’t normally use my middle initial when they call me on the phone,
even though I sign it on all my legal papers. The voice then made a
statement and I realized that a computer was trying to sell me a certain
service. I didn’t feel any guilt about hanging up on a computer. I’ll be
nice to the roofing salesman and the portrait peddlers, but if anybody wants
my business, they’re going to have to approach me with a real flesh and
blood, oxygen-breathing person.
My brief encounter with the talking
computer led me to do some more serious thinking about the way we try to
influence other people to become Christians. Some of us would like to find
a way to evangelize without becoming personally involved. If we can produce
a slicker magazine ad or a more graphic television commercial, then surely
we can bypass the hard work of forming personal relationships. If we had a
way of getting the masses inside huge sports arenas, could we not turn loose
one of our more gifted preachers and let him persuade those audiences to
obey Christ? We dream of those things, but it never works out that way.
While mass media may be effective in surfacing those people who are ready
for relationships, there is no way that mass media can supplant relationship
building. Computer technology has many applications to the work of the
church, but computers will never replace people as God’s instruments of
evangelism.
The gospel has always been an intensely
personal message. It must pass through human channels. In Romans 10:14,
Paul asks, “How can they hear without someone preaching to them?” In 2
Corinthians 4:7, he describes the gospel as a treasure and he insists that
“we have this treasure in jars of clay.” That’s a way of saying that God
has made his people stewards of salvation. There’s not a computer
technician in the world who is capable of designing a software system that
will replace these “jars of clay”. The technological revolution may
simplify our task, but the personal touch is still needed to bring people to
Jesus. __Norman L. Bales
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