Bulletin Boards

It's been a semi-productive week. One of my big goals this week was to get out to Gettysburg College and try to get some Bible readings set up. Things didn't go as well as I had hoped on Tuesday. I got on campus and couldn't find the student union building which was what I was looking for, but I did find the dining hall. I was hoping the dining hall would have a place to put up a flyer, but it didn't. On my way out of the dining hall I spotted the library, and thought I'd use the library to study and also to post a flyer. I was able to do some studying, but I couldn't find a place for a public flyer.

Even though I couldn't find a place for a flyer, I decided to try to study as often as possible at the library in order to get more exposure with the students. So I went back to the library today.

I saw a couple of the same people as I did Tuesday, but no luck in getting any readings in place. But a positive for the day was that I found the Student Union building. It looks like the dorms at Auburn, so the other night I assumed it was a dorm but it was the union building. I found 2 community bulletin boards and put the very simple flyer on the 2 boards.

I'm hopeful that my phone and e-mail will begin to blow up, but I'm also realistic: one is better than none.

I was telling Ladonna about finding the bulletin boards today and she thinks some super markets have community bulletin boards too. So I will follow-up on that and if at all possible put flyers all around town.

I'm really enjoying the work thus far, and I hope that in some small way the efforts being made here are glorifying the Father.

God bless you guys

Time to Visit Some Colleges

Things are in full swing and going well, but it's time to get out into the community. A downside to moving into a new area is not knowing a lot of people. But Lord willing that is about to change after I visit several colleges over the next few days. My intention is to head to each of the campuses find out if I can put information on the bulletin boards and see if any are interested in reading the Bible.

I'm planning to go to:

Gettysburg College a local private school about 5 minutes from the house. Most of the students live on campus and don't appear to have cars, so people are walking around town and campus frequently.

HACC is a local community college with virtually all its students commuting to campus. This campus is also only about 5 mins from the house and even closer to the church building.

Messiah College is a private school about 30 mins north of Gettysburg. It is a "Christian college" with relatively moral students. The church here has been blessed by several students from this college over the years.

I hope that all of you are doing well. I truly appreciate your prayers.

God bless,

Wes

January Sermons

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I get to sit in my room and concentrate on class material and upcoming sermons. Well, today as I was working on some sermon ideas for the remainder of the month I realized the blog could be used as a place for your sermon requests. So if you have a topic or passage you'd like to hear a sermon on let me know.

I want to make it clear, that I will not always preach the sermon and it's not because I don't like you. Some times more pressing things will need to be addressed. Some times it will take more time to fully understand the topic and may not be preached immediately. But I would appreciate any input you'd like to contribute.

These are subject to change, but here are the sermons I've preached or will preach in the month of January

1/3/10: Glorifying God (based on Acts 9)

1/10/10: The Power and Love of God (based on Deuteronomy 10)

1/17/10: The Nature of Some False Teachers (2 Peter 2)

1/24/10: The Future of False Teachers, Their Followers & the Godly (2 Peter 2)

Doulos

It dawned on me late last night that some might read the title of the blog and say "What does that mean?!" so I will define the word.

Doulos is the greek word often translated as bond-servant.

In Philippians 1:1 "Paul and Timothy, bond-servants (douloi/doulos) of Christ Jesus."

In Philippians 2:7 this word is used of Jesus, "but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant (doulou/doulos), and being made in the likeness of men."

Doulos literally means:

Definition
	a slave, bondman, man of servile condition a slave metaph., one who gives himself up to another's will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men devoted to another to the disregard of one's own interests a servant, attendant Christ made Himself a doulos/slave for mankind. Therefore, I am Christ's doulos/slave!

The Start of a New Decade

Hello all,

Some of you have expressed interest in being able to keep up with the Lord's work here in Gettysburg, PA and I'm thankful for that interest, and I will try to keep you posted as often as possible. I've chosen to do another blog to achieve this because honestly it's less work for me and it's easy to let you know when it's updated. So I hope that you find it encouraging. I will inform you of updates via facebook and twitter.

Now for the update...

I've now been in Gettysburg for a week and half and it has been terrific. The brethren here have just taken me in as one of their own. I've been fed a lot and spent a lot of time with the brethren. They have a lot of Bible studies like you guys at EH. The teens get together twice a week to study. The adults have various studies throughout the week as well. It's been a great encouragement to see their interest in spiritual things.

I'd be lying if I said the first week or so hadn't been crazy. As most of you can relate, any time you move or start a new job you have to figure out the workload and your daily routine. Well, I'm still trying to feel my way through a routine. I'm starting to feel confident of one, but it's not set in stone yet. Here is a rough idea of the things I'll be doing here for the next few weeks:

I'll be preaching once a week (which I'm not used to) but very thankful to do. I'll be teaching the Wednesday night adult class on Ecclesiastes. I'll be assisting Scott in teaching a topical class on Sunday morning with the college-aged adults. On Sunday evening after worship, I'll be leading a study on the book of Mark with the college-aged adults. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings I study with Scott from 10-12. We are studying the book of 1 Corinthians (M,W) and various topics on Friday. In two weeks, I'll begin leading a study at the Bishop's with a couple of their neighbors. I hope to soon have several individual studies with some of the high school kids. I'll be attending a couple teen studies throughout the week, as well as some studies that Scott has at the moment.

I am thankful for all of these opportunities but there is more time to add additional studies. I hope and pray that the LORD will help me (us) to find those who need and are interested in hearing the gospel.

My prayer for you is the same that I pray for myself: "LORD may you be able to use me for your good." May we all be vessels of honor prepared for every good work.

God bless each of you,

Wes