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Vol. 46, No.
7 SOUTHSIDE ORACLE April
25, 2003
New Deacons Nominated
Sunday morning the elders proposed the names of five men to
serve as additional deacons for Southside. They are Rocky Slaughter,
Joel Ribar, John Dickson, Kevin Parker, and Kevin Mahan. If
anyone has a reason why he feels that any of these would not be biblically
qualified to serve as a deacon, please contact one of the elders.
The Bulletin Board
Attendance Record Broken! We set a new attendance record for
morning worship last Sunday. The combined attendance at the two worship
services was 311. The previous high of 310 was on April 16, 2000.
We appreciated our many visitors.
Bobby Valentine is in California where he is teaching a class at the
Pepperdine University Bible lectureship. His subject is “The Spirituality
of Deuteronomy.” Pamella and the children are with him.
Sunday Speakers – Monroe Hawley will be preaching at both
morning services Sunday on the theme, “Help My Unbelief!” Daryl Miller will
speak in the evening.
ATTENDANCE RECORD
Two years ago
Last year Last week Goal
Bible classes
148 145 132 170
Morning worship 219
253 #*311 250
Evening
worship 49 40
45 80
Contribution
$3399.39
$4620.67 $4042.81 $4200.00
ADDRESSES AND TIMES OF MEETING OF MIDWEEK STUDY GROUPS
(please contact the church office for addresses and meeting times.)
Calendar of Events
April 27 – Tween pizza party, after second worship
April 29 – May 2 – National Assoc. of Christian Camps workshop, Fallhall
Glen
May 2 – Tween activity night, Ribar home, 6:00 p.m.
May 9 – Mother-Daughter Banquet, 6:30 p.m.
May 10 – Ladies’ Day, Sheboygan Church, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
May 11 – Elders/deacons meeting, 4:30 p.m.
May 11 – Praise and Palate, 6:00 p.m.
May 13 – Rochester College a cappella chorus, Sheboygan Church, 7:00 p.m.
May 20 – Christian Workers’ Meeting, 9:00 a.m.
May 23 – 26 – Southside retreat at Fallhall Glen
June 1 – Congregational picnic, Root River Parkway, after 2nd
worship
June 15-18 – Junior camp, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen
Give God a Chance
A few years ago National Geographic carried a story about the
Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. Between 1908 and 1926 there was removed from
this natural habitat teeming with wildlife 423 million board feet of
timber. Today the swamp has returned to its pristine condition, almost as
if the hand of man had never been there. The magazine commented that this
is a good example “of what nature will do to restore herself and heal
herself.”
If you substitute “God” for “nature” you have a splendid picture of
the hand of God in human affairs. After all, it is God who made nature and
set in order those eternal laws that govern life. It was man who scarred
Okefenokee, but it is God who has healed it.
There is another way that God heals the damage done by man. Many
lives have been ravaged by sin to the extent that those to whom they belong
despair of ever returning to their proper state. Overcome by the guilt of
their wrongdoing, they have given up trying to put their lives right. Each
day their condition worsens; happiness becomes more elusive. But take
heart, dear friend! “There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul.”
That balm is the cleansing blood of Jesus shed on Calvary for your
misdeeds. He died for you – personally! Regardless of how deep you
are mired in sin, you may declare with David, “Wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow” (Psalm 51) with the assurance that when you give your life
to him your sin will be removed to restore your soul to the purity it had
when you entered the world.
Man decimated Okefenokee. Before the swamp could return to its
natural state by the hand of God, man’s cooperation was necessary. He had
to stop the depredation that ruined it. If your soul is to return to what
it once was, you too must cooperate with the Great Healer by renouncing the
life of sin with which you scarred its beauty. Your soul is worth saving!
Give God a chance to do it. _ Monroe Hawley
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