May 2023 Fellowship Connections Newsletter
/From the Elders
While it is wonderful to see the rapid growth of our church, and since folks are coming from many different church experiences (or no previous church experience), it is important to ensure that we all understand our form of government. So I want to take this opportunity to explain the office and role of elders.
In the New Testament church, Christ has provided men to hold the position of elder to oversee the life of His church— those whom He commissions and enables to shepherd His church. The position of elder is given broad responsibility and authority in the New Testament. Because elders are to be examples to the flock in godliness and govern well, they are called elders. Because they are responsible for oversight and administration of the life of the church, they are called overseers or bishops. Because they are to care for and feed God’s people, they are called shepherds. The work of elders is to shepherd the flock. This work includes guarding, overseeing, discipling, teaching and preaching, evangelizing, praying, serving, and disciplining.
All elders together share the authority in and responsibility for the life of the church. Some elders are gifted and recognized as teaching elders; their primary authority and responsibility is in the Word and in doctrine and secondarily in oversight. Other elders are gifted and recognized as ruling elders; their primary authority and responsibility is in oversight and secondarily in the Word and doctrine.
At Faith Bible Fellowship Church, elders, as leaders of the people, are chosen by the membership of the church on the basis of Scriptural qualifications. Our Board of Elders is composed of ordained ministers called by the local church and all elders elected by the congregation. Our current board is composed of Pastor Bunting, Pastor Vargas, Ken Good, and Alex Kocman.
Be assured, each of us individually and all of us collectively care deeply for every person who walks through our doors. Therefore, we want to get to know you better. If there is any way we can minister to you, it would be our joy and our honor. You can find the contact information for each of us on the church’s website.
— Ken Good
Announcements
Election Day — May 16 is Election Day, and our church building will once again serve as a polling place. We will have a table set up with information about the church, as well as some free goodies for our community members to enjoy. If you would like to provide treats or man the table for any period of time throughout the day, please contact one of the pastors.
Baptism/Membership — On May 28, we will experience the joy of seeing believers baptized and receiving new members into the church. If you have come to faith in Christ but have never identified with Him publicly in baptism, talk to one of the elders about participating.
VBS 2023 — Mark your calendars! Our evening Vacation Bible School will be held on July 16—19, with a Family Fun Night on July 20. We will need lots of people to help, so please be praying now about how God can use you to reach the families in our community.
Ministry Highlights
Recently the Deacon Board added three new members. The 2023 Deacon Board, shown from left to right, are Aaron Brown, Helen Gemmill, Brett Young, Carl Douthit, and Patrick Lampman.
The Deacon Board focuses on three main areas of service: (1) helping the widows and elderly of the church, (2) taking care of building maintenance, and (3) administering the benevolence fund/helping those in need. The Deacon Board meets once a month to discuss needs and projects. We often get involved in helping people move and organizing help for them. In addition, we help coordinate and repair things around the church, such as our newly remodeled Sunday School room. We try to be wise stewards of the benevolence fund to help those who may be struggling financially, both within our church and within our community. It is always a blessing to be able to help those in need, and we much appreciate the church family providing for this fund so that we can use it to assist others in their time of need. If people are aware of needs within the congregation, feel free to reach out to any member of the Deacon or Elder Board.
— Carl Douthit
Meet the Webers
We are the Weber family (pronounced WEE-ber). Grant and Helen are the proud parents of ten children and have seven grandchildren. The children range in age from 28 to 8— five boys and five girls. Grant and Helen met at Toccoa Falls College, GA, and were married in Grant’s senior year in 1991. Helen was born and raised in Beaver Falls, PA, and Grant hails from Ontario, Canada. Grant is a Sales Executive for Sefar, Inc., which makes plastic woven mesh. Helen manages the household and homeschools the children, which is a full-time job with overtime. We have been attending Faith Bible Fellowship for over a year now. We enjoy the Bible-based teaching and the close community.
Meet the Lewises
Hi! We are Rick and Diana Lewis, and we have been attending Faith for almost two years. This month we celebrate 41 years of marriage. We have three married children and nine grandchildren. I (Diana) homeschooled all three of my children. We are so thankful that all of them and their spouses are following God.
Rick is a marketing communications graphic designer, and I am home full time. We love taking long walks together and spending time with our children and grandchildren. Rick doesn’t have much time for hobbies but likes Mustangs and has one, which he enjoys. I love to read and, when time permits, doing various crafts, such as crocheting and sewing. I also raise chickens and enjoy flower gardening.
We both came to Christ when we were in our teen years. We’ve always been pretty involved in serving our church, and at our last church we were youth leaders and ran a coffee house for students in their teens and 20s.
We are very glad that we found Faith Bible Fellowship Church. We’ve enjoyed getting to know so many of you and look forward to getting to know many more, serving God with you.
Easter Egg Hunt 2023
On April 8, we opened our church to the community for our annual Easter Egg Hunt. After a brief gospel message by Pastor Ricardo, children were called by age groups to the field to hunt for eggs. While they waited their turn, families could come indoors for breakfast while the children colored with sidewalk chalk or worked on a craft. Many thanks to JoAnn Brown for organizing the event and the many volunteers who helped create a fun, welcoming environment for our neighbors.
CEM Update
Church Extension Ministries is the church planting division of the Bible Fellowship Church. Please remember this ministry regularly in your prayers.
A lot has been happening in the BFC church plants over the past few months! Here are some of the recent developments:
A new church is joining the BFC family! Sovereign Grace Bible Church of Harmony, NJ, has been working to be adopted as a Bible Fellowship Church. It is in the final stages of calling a pastor and working out the legalities related to incorporation, property deed, name, etc. Please pray for our new sister church and its members.
Carlos Rodriguez, full-time pastor of La Roca BFC in Reading, has been appointed Interim Director of Hispanic Ministries. He will continue assisting the Hispanic ministries in the U.S. and Mexico until a director can be found to serve full time. Please pray for this need and for Pastor Rodriguez as he juggles these additional responsibilities.
Our own Pastor Ricardo is serving on a Church Planting Resource Team (CPRT) for the greater Harrisburg area. Due to tremendous growth in the churches in the Capitol Region, the BFC feels led to plant a new church in this area. Please pray for wisdom for the team, which includes three other pastors in addition to Ricardo: Pastor Steve DelDuco, Grace BFC Harrisburg; Pastor Mark Barninger, Freedom BFC Dauphin; and Pastor Dennis Spinney, retired pastor and church planter.
Help Wanted
We are always looking for contributions to the newsletter. Do you have photos from a church event? Would you be willing to introduce your family to the church? Are you involved in a ministry, or have you been impacted by a ministry and would like to share your experience? You don’t have to be a great writer (bullet points are just fine), or you could just offer to be interviewed. Contact Jean Soyke if you have anything you think would bless the body here at Faith Bible Fellowship Church.