Harmony Baptist Church

Facebook

Dwain — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:41:13 +0000

Getting ready to try something on Facebook starting this week. I will have a daily thought posted there. I think that many different people will read it and maybe even start to think about God and the things that he is doing around us daily. So often we go through out life and rarely think about the greatness of God. Unless He is our life or we are at a worship service sadly He is not on our minds. I want to give people a little push for them to think about Him and may even talk about Him. Hebrew 10:24-25

End of summer

Dwain — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:03:09 +0000

This summer has just gone by so fast. It seemed like yesterday we were watching the kids get out of school and next week they head back. I will have 2 grandkids going this year, Gracie will be in 1st and Maddie will be in K. Man how they grow up.
On the church front, God is moving! We have had so many great things happen this summer I fear of telling about them because I might leave some out. Highlights, 2 different VBS times, 2 camps, serveral baptism’s, 2 church in the park outreaches and the list goes on. We are always on the look out to see where God is working so we can join Him.
As you finish up your summer plans, remember that Jesus must come first. I didn’t say the church must come first, I said Jesus must come first. Daily, spend time with Him.
Dwaim

Heeding Warnings

Dwain — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:20:29 +0000

The weather people tell us that we are under a heat advisory for the next several days. So we listen to them and talk about how hot it is outside and maybe even try to stay out of the heat if at all possible. We heed the warnings of the weather man regularly.

God gives us warnings for the Bible and what do we do about them? Do we listen? Do we talk about them? Do we try to do something about them to help ourselves and others? Do we heed what He says to us?

You have to answer that for yourself.

There will be a class offered starting on Aug 1 at 9:30am titled The Call to Follow Christ. It will cover Six Disciplines for New and Growing Believers. The disciplines are, Living with Christ, Living in the Word, Praying in Faith, Fellowshipping with Believers, Witnessing to the World and Ministering to Others.

This should help us with the things that Christ wants us to learn and be ready to live out for Him.

I Am Back!!!!

Dwain — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:53:22 +0000

It has been a long time since I have posted any blogs. For that I am sorry, I could have tons of excuses but they would all fall short, so I will just say when you stop doing something, it is hard to pick it back up. Great lead into our daily prayer and bible times. If you stop, it is hard to start again, so the answer to keeping it going is to never stop. Our time daily with God is so important, it is a connection to the main power source. If you are having trouble with getting started with a daily quite time, just get in touch with me and I will do all I can to help you get started.

So much has happened since I last posted anything, I kind of embarrassed, over the next several post I will try to fill you in.

Let me just say HBC is like a brand new fellowship. We have a lot of new people and the Holy Spirit of God is here and doing some great things. Many people over the last 6 months have given their lives to the Lord through salvation, many have gotten right with Him and still others are finding that they are serving Him for His glory.

Let me leave you today with this thought to ponder;

No matter our positions in life, we have needs that only Jesus can meet! Mark 5:22-23. When will we just be real with Him with our lives?

Have a great day and weekend, hope to see you this Sunday.

Live for Him in all we do

Dwain — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:36:22 +0000

Hello Everyone
I sure hope and pray that your day and week is going well. I know for some it has been very trying and stressful with the start of school and some because the kids did not want to leave their fun in the sun summer. Let me give you some encouragement, Christmas is just around the corner and you will have some time off. Really. If you get paid twice a month, there is only 8 more pay checks till Christmas. Ok, so I added some more stress to your already stressful week. Glad I could help.
This week has seemed to be one of the longest ever. I was praying for yesterday to be the last day of the week, but that was not the case. I really don’t know why some seem longer than others.
I have been working hard on get things ready for our LIFE group kickoff that will take place the week of September 13. If you don’t know what this is, it is our small group ministry offered here at HBC. We are going to be studying Missional Living to start. Please sign up to take part in a group or to host one in your home. You can do this by emailing me dwain@harmonybaptistmo.org or by calling the office 573 774 5222
I have been studying this week on the way that God wants us to live. And what I have come up with is that He wants us to live for Him in all we do. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:16 “Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” What this tells me is I cannot build myself up, but only God, it is not about me, it is about Jesus. I cannot boast, and it would be better for me never to have been born, than for me not to preach of God’s greatness and love. God has also shown me about love, 1 John 2:16 “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
Friends this is Missional living at its best. This is the person that I think God wants all of us to be.
Have a great day and week. Till next time.
Dwain

Hard labor and fun times at HBC

Dwain — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:37:41 +0000

Hello friends
Last week, Leslie, myself and the rest of our family went on our first whole family vacation minus Jeremy who could not get off work. We had a great time, and let me say that Table Rock Lake is outstanding.
But, today I am back to hard labor and fun times at HBC. Our offices will not be so bright for a short while; last Friday was Brandy’s last day to be part of the HBC staff. She accepted a new job on Fort Leonard Wood. She had worked for us for 5 years, she will be missed. So for a while please call before you make the trip out here so you will be sure that there is someone here. 573 774 5222 is the office number.
Our New Direction Task Force has been and is still working extremely hard trying to set the stage for our future as a community of believers. What I thought would take about 3 weeks to complete will be more like 3 months. Here is a list of accomplishments thus for,
We are a Worshiping, Discipling, Serving people,
Our mission statement is “A people striving to make Christ known.”
Our purpose is to “Glorify God and Edify Others.”
Our vision is to become an “Acts 1:8 church”
Our statement of Faith will be the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
You can locate this on our website harmonybaptistmo.org
Some upcoming events, Aug 16- Back to School Carnival for prek-6th grade, 5:30 to 7pm, for more info call the office. Aug21st- 1st Friday for 7th-12th grades, this event will be held at the Pulaski Baptist Assoc multipurpose building, call Leslie for more info at the office. Aug 30th, Volunteer ministry fair/ progressive Lunch during the last part of our morning service. 6 areas of ministry will be showcased, Music/creative arts, Adult ministries, Children’s Ministries, The ZONE Youth ministries, Service/Outreach, and Small Groups. There will be a lot more info to come about this.
And last but not least, there will be several different Small/Life groups starting the first part of September. Topic and leaders will be announced soon, if you would like to be in a group or lead a group please let me know ASAP.
2 Peter 1:3-4
Pastor D

Choose joy with me

Dwain — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:38:17 +0000

Hello to my blogging friends. There are many different things going on around the ministry of HBC today. Our youth are in Buffalo NY on a World Changers mission trip, tonight we start working on a house in our community putting on a new roof, youth camp gets started today, the house next door got the last coat of sheetrock mud, tree cutting for a lady in town and the sewer work was staked out for digging to start on Tuesday. WOW that seems like a lot of stuff.
God has blessed us with a group of people who are all about working and do great things for the glory of God. We are moving forward doing some great ministries. Our hope is that we are the hands and feet of Jesus and we pray that we are right where He wants us to be.
The last few months have been a growing time and a stretching one as well. Our New Direction Task Force is working and the results are going to be outstanding. We are trying to make the ministry as simple as possible and keep the main thing the main thing. Because of our love for Him, we Worship Him, because of our love for Him we Disciple each other and because of our love for Him we Serve.
In my studies I have been looking at John 10:10 and I have came to understand how far the enemy will go to kill, steal and destroy our joy. But, Christ came to give us Fullness. I choose to follow Christ and live in my joy not my defeats. Choose joy with me.

Living on both sides of Christ

Dwain — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:39:02 +0000

Good day to my blog friends.
I have been praying through the thoughts of personal and corporate sin and the understanding that Christ out of His obedience to His father took care of it.
I came across this, Charles Spurgeon put it magnificently when he said, “Christ became like a reservoir in the midst of the mountains. All the tributary streams of iniquity, and every drop of the sins of His people, ran down and gathered into one vast lake, deep as hell and shoreless as eternity. All these met, as it were in Christ’s heart, and He endured them all”.
Was He not on earth always stripping off first one robe of honor and then another, till naked, He was nailed to the cross, and there did He not empty out His innermost self, pouring out His life-blood, giving up for all, till they laid Him penniless in a borrowed grave? How low was our Redeemer brought!
Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the red drops by which you have been cleansed; see the crown of thorns; mark His scourged shoulders, see His hands and feet given up to the rough iron, and His whole self to mockery and scorn; see the bitterness, and the pangs, and the throes of inward grief, showing themselves in His outward frame; hear the thrilling shriek, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Now, know this, Christ loves us so much that we should live our lives to emulate Him. The bible says that in our weaknesses He is strong. Let Christ in your life and see if it doesn’t make a difference. The things that lead you to sin (knowing the difference from right and wrong and doing the wrong things) won’t seem nearly as important any longer. A life in Christ is the smoothest life that anyone can ever find, a life outside of Christ might seem smooth but in reality it is the hardest life that anyone can ever have. How do I know this? I have lived on both sides, and I would not trade where I am in Christ with the other for any reason. One of my life verses is John10:10, and believe me I want that abundant life that that talks about.
John 3:16, Romans 3:23, 6:23, 10:9-10 and 1 John 1:9 are some verses that will help you get into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

When it comes to change

Dwain — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:40:44 +0000

Seasons change, people change, life changes, kids change and the list goes on and on. Is there a stopping point to all this change stuff? In the church you will find a great deal of people that like change in the world such as, air conditioning in their cars and homes, crystal clear televisions, store bought food and clothes, but not at church. I was even told one time that if it was good enough for God to stay the same it should be good enough for the church to as well, just as long as we can keep it as it is now. People have some funny thought when it comes to change.

I have said for a long time “If you have been in an encounter with God you can never stay where you are.” God brings us to the point that we must see through His eyes and not our own. Eph 1:18 ask for God to open the eyes of our hearts. He has got more for us that will trust him than we can ever imagine.

Here at HBC we are on the verge of some new things. Starting July 7 we will have a New Direction Task Force that will be blasting away at the future of the ministry and mission for the Glory of God. There are 15 people that will make up this team. Please be in prayer for them. They will be looking at topics like What is Important, What is Our Purpose, What are Our Desires, How Do We Get There, Are We Even Close, Name, Location, Vision, Direction, Leadership, Missions, Associations and Affiliations.

This will be a large task, but a needed one. Because of this, there will be some major changes takeing place. I am trusting God to do something outstanding through this Task Force. Not that we are doing anything wrong or bad now, we just want to be right in the middle of where God wants us to be. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to not lean on ourselves but to trust in Him. Then He will lead and guide us.

If you have any question just give me a call or send me an email and I will do my best to answer them.

God Bless and have a great Independence Holiday.
See you Sunday.
Pastor D

Thoughts from the SBC

Dwain — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:41:33 +0000

Here I sit at the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville KY. I had a great day, 10 outstanding sermons. Really 10 in one day and the worship times were outstanding. Heard a few speakers for the first time today, and I might have a couple new favorites. I am excited about what God taught me today.

I have been praying and preaching through the thoughts of totally relying on God in everything that I do and that we do as a church. Often we trust so much in ourselves that it leaves very little room for God. I want God to move mightily in my life and I also want to see His church grow into what He has planned for her. I feel like if we don’t start acting like who He wants us to be, we might not be able to do anything at all. He has removed Himself from churches before and He will continue to do so if we don’t wake up and fast.
One of the things that we need to ask ourselves is this from David Platte “Are we going to die for our religion or are we go to die for our devotion.” Just let this sink in and we will talk more about this at a later date.

Are you available to God? Pastor Johnny Hunt said tonight that “God will use anyone who makes themselves available to Him.”

Do you want to be used by God?

Till Next Time

Pastor Dwain