Page 2 IN·SP·IRATION
MISSIONARIES
Timer and Mary Ann Hartley, Northern Afri-ca and the Middle East
Younis Farhat, Pastor, Asian-Indian Mission
Jim and Viola Palmer, United States
Hannah Redd, United States
Samantha Mullaney, Red Sea region in the Middle East
Josh and Rebekah Holt and baby Jan, England
Jan and Ed Kotynski, Wycliffe translators
HOMEBOUND
Sandra Abney Alvin Ashcraft Bill Barksdale Sarah Bell Hazel Burns Roscoe Carden Marilyn Carlile Jewel Coker Eleanor Culberson Jane Drake Charlie & Mary Duncan Walker Elster David & Betty Hilburn Louise Hunter Preston & Allene
Mangum Sue Moyer Don Patterson Lorene Quinette Horace Richardson Emmalene Rogers William Ross Cora Willis
YOUNG IN HEART
Our November meeting took place on November 12th with 37 members and 5 visitors present.
Dr. Mathew John spoke on the many problems affecting people's feet. The next meeting will be
December 10th at 11am. This is a catered luncheon and Joel Speiss will be bringing his Bells
Ferry Chorus group of elementary children to perform a Christmas program. If you have any
questions, please call Mary LaRue.
2015 CONTRIBUTIONS
Please give your end-of-year contributions on or before Sunday, December 27th. If you need to
deliver a contribution on Monday, December 28th thru December 31st, please notify Janet Ear-
nest. The IRS requires a contribution to be delivered to the church or post-marked by Decem-
ber 31st in order to receive a 2015 income tax deduction. Please call the church and request a
copy of your donations Year-to-date if you want to know what we have on record so far this
year.
Page 3 2 CORINTHIANS 8:7
OUR CORE VALUES
Our power source is prayer
Our church is to be Christ-like
Our sacred activity is worship
Our mission is to reach people for Christ
Our responsibility is to disciple
believers
Our message must remain unchanged while our
methodologies change
Our calling is to be involved in a servant ministry
Our resolve is to do ministry
through a “kingdom vision”
Our quest is to do ministry
with excellence
Our desire is to be faithful stewards
PRAYER
Often in business we evaluate our leaders on their ability to effectively delegate authority to
accomplish objectives. According to a recent article in “Outreach” it emphasizes the fact that
“You can delegate a lot of things but you cannot delegate prayer”. Prayer is the difference be-
tween the best we can do and the best God can do. The book of Acts reminds us of our respon-
sibility to pray for ministry. When we stop intercessory prayer it takes the supernatural ele-
ment out of our lives and our church can become a club. If we stop praying we are on our own.
Prayer is the number one core value and belief at SPBC. As we pray for the needs of ministry
and missions let us also pray for friendships and relationships with those that are apart from
God or don’t attend church on a regular basis.
The Prayer Team is always interested in new mem-
bers. It is an automated procedure to let you receive
email prayer requests as they flow from our church
and prayer website. You can pray at your convenience.
Our members will be glad to discuss details and the
commitment to pray for the needs of our church min-
istries, missions and families.
Tom
Our relay center was a great success this year. We collected 2,745 boxes this year and 296
were from our Sandy Plains family. Thank you to all who donated and to all of the volunteers
that helped man the relay center.
There is great news ... You can still help share God’s love with the children around the world
even if you don’t have time to shop and pack a shoebox gift. With a few clicks of your mouse
or swipes on your touchscreen, you can build a shoebox online. Make it your own by choosing
from a list of gifts, then add a personal letter and photo. Samaritan's Purse will pack your
shoebox and send it for you, for a suggested donation of just $25. They have even made it
possible for you to challenge friends so they can join you or you can purchase a gift card so
they can build a shoebox online themselves.
Each shoebox gift becomes a tangible expression of God’s love for a child in real need. Shoe-
boxes built online also allow ease of entry through customs, and help ensure Operation Christ-
mas Child’s continued presence in places that are hard to reach. Go online today to build your
box ... https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/buildonline/
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
PICTURE OF THE MONTH
Page 4 IN·SP·IRATION
All are invited to join us for a baby celebration! December 6th at 1:00 pm we will host a Baby
Shower in the Coffee Corner for Stephanie Ives. A light lunch will be served as we shower her
with gifts for her upcoming arrival later in December. Stephanie is registered at Babies R Us.
Contact Janet Porter or Michael Paine for more information.
Huge
Gathering
at our
Harvest
Hoedown!
BABY SHOWER
THE SHARE BEAR TREE
Sandy Plains Baptist Church and Preschool families have the opportunity to share our blessings
with some less fortunate children in our area. We are collecting gifts for the Cobb Pregnancy
Resource Center’s “Happy Birthday Jesus” Party. Parents at this event will be able to select gifts
for their children in a toy store atmosphere.
There are 3 easy steps to participate in this act of giving:
1. Take a “Share Bear” ornament from the tree in the children’s hallway.
2. Purchase an item in the category listed on the bear.
3. Bring the unwrapped gift in by December 17th and drop it in the collection boxes beside
the tree.
You may pick your ornament up on Saturday, December 5th at The Very Beary Christmas
Breakfast or any time before the 17th.
CHURCH CONFERENCES
Page 5 2 CORINTHIANS 8:7
CHURCH STAFF
Dr. Alvin Southerland Senior Pastor
Bryan Paine Worship Pastor
Gary McEntire Pastor to Students
Janet Porter Children’s Director
Terri Butler Preschool Director
Dr. Don Mason Pastor to Senior Adults
Year-To-Date Budget:
$624,000
Year-To-Date Offerings: $609,718
The Quarterly Church Conferences have been scheduled for 2016. Please mark your calendars
so that you can attend these important meetings. They are:
January 17th , for 4th quarter of 2015
April 17th, for 1st quarter of 2016
July 17th, for 2nd quarter of 2016
October 16th, for 3rd quarter of 2016.
UP AND COMING
Young In Heart will meet on
Thursday, December 10th at
11am for a Catered luncheon.
The Caring and Sharing group
will meet on Thursday,
December 12th at 7pm at the
home of Bess Clements.
The WMU Council Meeting
will be on Wednesday,
December 2nd at 6pm in C6.
The Leadership Meeting will
be on Sunday, December 6th
at 4pm in C-18.
We will go to Heritage on
Sunday, December 27th at
4pm.
One of our students, Emily Wood, has recently started working at the new Lassiter Chick-Fil-A
store. Emily put us in contact with Amanda Seyden, a marketing director for Chick-Fil-A and
Scott Reed, the operator for the Lassiter and Sprayberry stores down the street from us. They
were eager to develop a relationship with our church and were looking for ways they could
help us. This partnership has already paid off for us in a huge way. Recently, the Sprayberry
store provided a very large nugget platter for our AWANA thanksgiving feast—for FREE! They
also created an awesome gift basket for us to give away at our recent FUSION auction.
Both Janet and Gary would like to extend their gratitude to Amanda, Scott and his team for
their exceeding generosity toward us. We would also ask that if any of our church family gets a
chance, please stop by one of their stores and show them your appreciation for their willing-
ness to help us out!
THANKS CHICK-FIL-A!
CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION BANQUET
Please plan to join us on Sunday, December 6th at 5:30pm in the Fellowship Hall for our Annual
Christmas Banquet and Christmas Festivities. Tickets are available until Thursday, December
3rd. Cost for adults is $7, children $5 and under age 5 are no charge. Max per family is $20. The
menu is Ham, Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Beans Almandine, Salad, Yeast Rolls and Various
kinds of dessert.
CHILDREN JANET PORTER
A VERY BEARY CHRISTMAS
A Very Beary Christmas is our kids’ Christmas event this year. All kids and their families
are invited to join us on December 5th from 9 am – Noon for free breakfast and fun! We
will serve pancakes from 9 am – 10 am to kids and their families and they can have their
picture taken with an 8 foot Teddy Bear.
At 10 am, the kids will have the opportunity to hear the Christmas story and make a craft or
two. The parents can leave from 10 am – Noon as the kids play. This is our gift to our
families, a little bit of kid-free time.
Volunteers are needed for this event to serve pancakes, help with crafts and take care of
children. If you are interested in helping with this fun event (and maybe even snuggling
with the 8 foot Teddy Bear), please contact Janet Porter at [email protected].
Christmas is often the kids’ favorite time of year and the adults most stressed time of
year. I pray that we are able to view Christmas through the eyes of the kids. Christmas is
full of excitement and wonderment, from the lights to the expectation of gifts. God gave us
the greatest gift in His son Jesus. Let’s all focus on sharing His gift with those we meet this
Christmas season!
Page 6 IN·SP·IRATION
God meant
for us to not
just survive
in the day to
day tasks,
but to thrive
as we grow
closer to
Him and
lead others
to do the
same.
MIDDLE / HIGH SCHOOL GARY MCENTIRE
2 CORINTHIANS 8:7 Page 7
WHY AN APOCALYPTIC ZOMBIE SURVIVAL RUN?
Unless you have been living in a bunker for the past few years, you have undoubtedly heard
of or became enamored with a TV phenomenon called The Walking Dead. It’s a show based on
the idea that humanity has been infected with some kind of contagion and that when a person
dies, their body continues to mindlessly live on. There is only one way to stop these creatures (if
you don’t know how, ask someone). These zombies (known as “walkers”) have only one
purpose… to eat and eat often (if you don’t know what they eat, ask someone).
Recently, I and my student ministry leaders took a group of students to a corn maze where
they had to navigate a rain-soaked obstacle course and accomplish several tasks. The only
problem was that there were “zombies” in the corn maze. The “winner” was the person who
could accomplish all of the goals while not becoming a zombie themselves. The kids are still
talking about how awesome of an event this was.
But why do it? I like to associate important lessons with memorable activities. In this case, I
had just the lesson to tie in with such a culturally relevant phenomenon.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that in the TV show, the term “The Walking Dead” isn’t a
reference to the zombies. It is a reference to the survivors — those that are living out the
remainder of their lives just waiting to become one of the walkers.
I wanted to use this opportunity to give a very evangelistic message about how we are all
“The Walking Dead” - how we are all just living a temporary life on this planet, walking a path
towards a future eternity somewhere. What I wanted to do was make our students take a hard
look at where and with whom they will be spending that forever and what they need to do
about it now to ensure that their eternity is secure. My hope is that students who have been
considering making a decision for Christ might have come a little close to making that decision.
For those that have already made that decision, the hope for them is that those students take
that same message with them to their schools and to their friends.
We are the Student
Ministry of Sandy Plains
Baptist Church.
We are about joining our
minds with the mind of
God.
We are about denying
ourselves and lifting up
Christ.
We are about submitting
our will to the will of
God.
We are about merging
heart, soul, strength and
mind into one dedicated
purpose: to love God and
to love others.
We are about becoming
one in Spirit with other
Christ followers.
We are about becoming
one with the One.
We are about:
the FUSION
Our totally non-zombie related Student Christmas
Party is Sunday, December 20th at 6:30.
Return Service Requested
2825 Sandy Plains Rd / Marietta, GA 30066 770.971.8525 / www.sandyplains.org
LIVE LOVE SERVE
CALENDAR AT A GLANCE 12/2 WMU Council, 6pm (C6) 12/5 A Very Beary Christmas for Children, 9am-Noon (FH) 12/6 Christmas Banquet, 5:30pm (FH) 12/10 Young In Heart, 11am (FH) 12/10 Caring and Sharing, 7pm (Bess Clements’ home) 12/12 Under a Starry Sky Christmas Program, 7pm (WC) 12/13 Under a Starry Sky Christmas Program, 11am (WC) Under a Starry Sky Christmas Program, 6pm (WC) 12/20 Silent Lord’s Supper Service, 5:30pm (WC) 12/23 Office Closes at Noon 12/24 OFFICE CLOSED 12/24 Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, 5:30pm (WC) 12/25 MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS! OFFICE CLOSED 12/27 Heritage, 4pm 12/30 Office Closes at 2pm 12/31 OFFICE CLOSED—Happy New Year!
REGULAR WEEKLY SCHEDULE Sunday 9:30 AM Classic Worship 9:30 AM Bible Study 11:00 AM The Awakening Worship KIDSWorship in Student Center 11:00 AM Bible Study 5:00 PM Evening Activities 5:30 PM The Fifth Gospel (C4) Wednesday 5:15 PM Fellowship Dinner 6:30 PM AWANA 6:30 PM Adult Bible Study
SPBC Volunteer Schedule—December 2015 December 6th December 13th December 20th December 27th
Deacon of the Week
Jim Caulk Tom Freeman Ray Butler Chad Conrey
Counting Team
Linda Miller Terri Butler Melissa Lacy Ed England
Paul Smith Nan Maddox Linda Hodges Janice Ashley
Judi Murphine Cindy Moore David Braswell Sandy Rudin
Lock-Up
David Braswell Ed England Ed England Roy Earnest
Tom Freeman Dixie Beggs Dixie Beggs Willie Terrell
Security at 9:30am
Lewis Casey Danny Ashley Dixie Beggs Wally Harris
Sam Hill Robert Moody Wayne Cole Earl Gossage
Security at 11:00am
Jim Caulk Larry Logan Daniel Reavis Roy Earnest
Chase Conrey Roland Smith
Soundboard
Danny Wood Danny Wood Danny Wood Danny Wood
Projection
David Peterson David Peterson David Peterson David Peterson
SPBC Volunteer Schedule—December 2015 December 6th December 13th December 20th December 27th
Extended Session Coordinator
Jenni Logan Janet Porter Bernie Caulk Christine Peterson
Babies and Twos—1st Service
Janice Ashley NO SERVICE DeAnn McEntire Janet Earnest
Melita Conrey Christmas Production Josh McEntire Susan Warren
Babies and Twos-2nd Service
Terri Butler NO SERVICE DeAnn McEntire Leigh Ann Anderson
Lindsey Butler Christmas Production Josh McEntire Cynthia & Elliott Wood
Threes, Fours, and Fives
Robert Moody NO SERVICE Robert Moody Robert Moody
Betsy Moody Christmas Production Betsy Moody Betsy Moody
Backup Workers
Brett Norman NO SERVICE Leigh Ann Anderson
Janey Norman Christmas Production
Traditional Service Ushers
Team 2 Team 3 Team 1 Team 2
Chad Conrey Don Singletary David Braswell Chad Conrey
Danny Ashley Dixie Beggs Wayne Bartlett Danny Ashley
Joe Ballew Garvin Bell Bob Hayes Joe Ballew
Earl Gossage Lewis Casey Frank Hartley Robert Moody
Robert Moody Wayne Cole Jim Kennedy Ron Stone
Ron Stone John Downer, Fran Florian John LaRue Don Walker
Don Walker Wally Harris, Sam Hill Steve Stephens
Alex Taylor, Greg Taylor