Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Bagpipes and drums in the BPC sanctuary
on Kirkin' 'o the Tartans Sunday

 Posted by Picasa

bpc newsflash ... 3/29/06

Birth Announcement
    * We welcome into the congregation Elizabeth Frey Clark, daughter of Colleen and Brad Clark, who was born March 24, 2006 at Baptist East in Memphis.


Christian Sympathy
    * Our Christian sympathy is with Susan Lewis and family in the death of her mother, Nell Randolph who died on Sunday, March 26, 2006.


Men's Breakfast 4/2/06
    * Coach Robie, the baseball coach at South Panola High School, will be the speaker at the Men's Breakfast at 7:30 A.M. on Sunday, April 2nd in the Recreation Room.  All men of the church are invited to attend.  The cost for the breakfast is $5.00.


Scholarship Applications due Monday, April 3rd
    * The Curry and Dunlap scholarship application forms are to be returned to the church secretary's office by 2:00 P.M. on Monday, April 3, 2006.


PW Coordinating Team Meeting 4/3/06
    * The PW Coordinating Team will meet on Monday, April 3rd, at 9:00 A.M. in the Session Room.


Confirmation Class Continues
    * Dr. Burnham will continue to teach the Confirmation Class each Wednesday at 6:00 P.M. until the final class on April 12th at which time the class will be examined by the Session.  All young people who complete the course may confirm their faith during the 11:00 A.M. worship service on Easter Sunday.


Flowers on Easter Sunday
    * On April 16th, the sanctuary will be decorated with Easter lilies from the Reggie Gordon Flower Fund and from memorials and honorariums.  To order one or more Easter lilies, fill out a form (located on church office hallway table) and return it to the church office by Monday, April 10th.


PYF 4/2/06
    * This Sunday PYF will meet at the youth house.  The Jr. Highs will meet at 6:00 P.M. and dismiss at 7:00 P.M.  The Sr. Highs will join the Jr. Highs at 6:30 P.M. for dinner and dismiss at 8:00 P.M.


Lost and Found Box
    * A Lost and Found Box has been set up in the Recreation Room.  If you have recently lost or misplaced something while at church, please stop by and see if it might be in the Lost and Found box.


Mothers Day Out Opening
    * The Mothers Day Out program at BPC has an opening available for a toddler age 2+.  Please call director Cindy Brown, 563-2829 to find out more details.


Holy Week Services at BPC
    * April 9th – Palm Sunday worship services at 8:30 A.M. and 11:00 A.M.
    * April 13th – Maundy Thursday evening communion at 7:00 P.M.
    * April 15th – Easter Egg Hunt at 11:00 A.M. at the Carlson's 505 College St.
    * April 16th – Easter Sunday worship services at 8:30 A.M. and 11:00 A.M.  Confirmation class will join the church during the 11:00 A.M. worship service on Easter Sunday.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006


Deacons & Elders get their balance on the low ropes course at Camp Hopewell on March 18, 2006 Posted by Picasa

Reflections on the Church Officer Retreat

The church officer retreat last weekend was a terrific success with nineteen deacons and elders in attendance on a crisp Spring day at Camp Hopewell. In the morning we enjoyed some group building activities that taught us the importance of communication,and working together to accomplish a goal. In the afternoon we reviewed ten-year trends of our congregation and discovered our church is above average in terms of church size and we have a young church with 200 of our 318 members younger than 45 years old and 115 church membes who are younger than 25 years old. In light of statistics and trends we defined our goal as follows: "Our goal at Batesville Presbyterian Church is to glorify God by reaching out in mission to the community and by increasing participation and promoting activities for all age groups in the church ." The Deacons and Elders left Camp Hopewell feeling positive about where our church is and where we are headed and we look forward to sharing more information about our church statistics and trends in the weeks to come.












The deacons and elders pictured at a church officer retreat at Camp Hopewell on March 18. Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

SNL Closes Out Year with a Bang!
The Sunday Night Live children's program ended the year with a family night gathering featuring a lively game of Bingo and a pizza dinner.

Thank you, Andrea Staten, for leading this wonderful program this year. The children have enjoyed playing kick ball at church, skating in Oxford, making pottery, visiting the older folks at the Fairfield and many other exciting events.

We also thank the parents who cooked and chaperoned and the leaders of the various events. We look forward to another fun year of SNL when school begins again in the Fall. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

House votes to designate official Miss. tartan

March 14, 2006




The Mississippi House has adopted an official state tartan — a distinctive fabric of woven colors and stripes that can be worn as kilts, skirts and vests.

In Scotland, district tartans signify a region of the country and clan tartans signify a particular family.

The House passed a resolution today designating the tartan. The proposal now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Under the resolution, Mississippi's official tartan would be a plain design of dark green, which signifies the forests of pine and evergreen leaves of the Magnolia; light green for the leaves of the great Southern oaks; blue for the waters of the Mississippi River and the state's many lakes; red for the color in state flag and the bloodshed in the state's historic past; white for the sands of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the cotton fields; and yellow for the heart of the Magnolia, the state flower.

Anyone can wear a tartan, but more than one design should not be worn at the same time, backers said.

About 24 other states and some major cities have their own design, supporters said. Iowa adopted a state tartan in 2004.

The resolution, noting that the observance of Tartan Day is April 6, said the "state of Mississippi possesses a rich history filled with the character and strength of a truly diverse population, including many Scots and Scotch-Irish."

The resolution says Mississippi has 38 towns and cities with names appearing on the map of Scotland and 67 towns, cities, and counties with the names of Scottish families who came to America.

The resolution notes that the significance of April 6 dates back to the 1320 signing of the Declaration of Arbroath, the Scottish Declaration of Independence, which the proposal says was used as the model for the American Declaration of Independence. ///

~*~

It sounds like our Kirkin' o' the Tartans service is getting results in Jackson.

Peace,
Jon B.


Larger Church Bus Bought

The church has bought a bus from Carpenter Bus Sales, Inc. in Franklin, Tennessee. It is a 1999 Chevrolet Supreme with 57,300 miles and a 27 passenger capacity. It is an attractive white bus with burgundy trim. Entrance and exit from the bus will be easier for everyone since the step-up is lower to the ground and it has a fully automatic wheelchair lift. We want our older members and our physically challenged members to have easy access to all our church programs including out of town events.

The Session decided to buy a larger church because we have outgrown the 15 passenger church van. Haley and Jay Williams are taking 20 young people to the Montreat Youth Conference this Summer. For the last couple of years they have had to arrange extra cars when they take the youth to Oxford, Memphis or Montreat. Our Xyz group has also faced the problem of having to arrange additional transportation for their out of town trips.

The cost of the bus is $36,400 and this is where you come in. The Session challenges each family to give $300 to cover the expenses of the new van. Some people may be able to give more and we encourage those who are able to give more. But if each giving unit will give at least $300 we can cover the cost of this van. You may want to give your extra $300 over a 3 year time span so that you increase your giving to the church by less than $1 a day for the next three years. That is all it will take for us to be able to pay for the bus without depleting our savings account.

In the meantime, the Session will use money from savings to purchase the van because we need it now. Our church is a young and growing church. Thanks be to God that we need a larger church bus! Many churches would love to have such growing pains. In a spirit of gratitude to God for this growth let us give as we have made up our minds, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Peace,
Dr. Jon Burnham

Katrina Fund Supports D'Iberville Clinic

The Session has repsonded to a request from the Missions Committee by providing $1000 from our Katrina Mission Fund to a medical mission clinic in D'Iberville, Mississippi . Elder Erik Broome and Elder Bill Robison will continue to work with this clinic that provides free medical care for impoverished people on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Men's Breakfast on Sunday, April 2 at 7:30 A.M.

The Men of the Church will have breakfast in the Recreation Room at 7:30 A.M. on Sunday, April 2, 2006. A speaker for the event will be announced as the date approaches. Men, mark your calendar and plan to attend. The Evangelism and Fellowship Committee will organize the breakfast for the men.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Mainline churches

In my sermon on March 12, 2006 I mentioned how a couple of years ago I attended a clergy retreat at Camp Hopewell at which we looked at some statistics of the counties in our presbytery. The statistics were based on the year 2000 census. When we studied the Panola County statistics I was excited to learn there are 9677 Evangelical Christians, mostly Southern Baptists, in Panola County and there are 3781 Mainline Christians, mostly Presbyterian and United Methodists, in Panola County. And there are 20,583 "unclaimed" people in Panola County.

After the sermon a few people asked me about the meaning of the phrase "mainline church." Here is  a good description of that phrase along with links to other articles about Christianity from Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia.

Peace,
Jon B. ///

Mainline Churches
Part of the series on
Christianity

History of Christianity
Jesus of Nazareth
The Apostles
Ecumenical councils
Great Schism
The Crusades
Reformation

The Trinity of God
God the Father
Christ the Son
The Holy Spirit

Christian theology
Christian Church
Christian worship
Grace · Salvation
Sermon on the Mount
The Ten Commandments

The Christian Bible
Old Testament
New Testament
Apocrypha

Christian denominations
Catholicism
Orthodox Christianity
Protestantism

Christian movements

In the United States, the mainline (also sometimes called mainstream ) churches are those Protestant denominations with moderate theologies which attempt to be open to new ideas and societal changes without abandoning what they consider to be the historical basis of the Christian faith. They are neither the more liberal groups such as Unitarian Universalism nor fundamentalist in their beliefs. These groups have been more open to demands for the ordination of women. They have been far from uniform in their reaction to the gay rights movement, but have not rejected it dogmatically in the way that it has been by the Catholic Church and the more conservative Protestant churches. They take a moderate view with regards to military service – all provide chaplains to the US Armed Forces and none are historically peace churches except possibly the Church of the Brethren – but all express reservations about aggressive use of military force for any reason.

The hallmark of the mainline churches would seemlingly be moderation. Only a few members or pastors in them would condemn the use of alcohol in moderation. Their theologies tend to be moderate and influenced, consciously or not, by the higher criticism. Most ministers and most members seem to be comfortable with modern-language (including inclusive language) translations of the Bible.


Sunday, March 12, 2006

Memo to deacons & elders

Elders & Deacons Day Retreat at Camp Hopewell
This
Saturday, March 18th 9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.

Come enjoy the fun and challenge of some outdoor group building activities in the morning, eat lunch, and do some planning for the future of the church in the afternoon. Give this one day to your church!

Friday, March 10, 2006

History of Scotland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stirling Castle has stood for centuries atop a volcanic crag defending the lowest ford of the River Forth.  The fortification underwent numerous sieges.
Stirling Castle has stood for centuries atop a volcanic crag defending the lowest ford of the River Forth. The fortification underwent numerous sieges.
History of Scotland
Chronological Eras
Prehistoric Scotland
Scotland in the Early Middle Ages
Scotland in the High Middle Ages
Wars of Scottish Independence
Scotland in the Late Middle Ages
Scotland in the Early Modern Era
Scottish Enlightenment
Scotland in the Modern Era
Dynasties and Regimes
House of Alpin (843–878) & (889–1040)
House of Moray (1040–1058)
House of Dunkeld (1058–1286)
Fairhair Dynasty (1286–1290)
House of Balliol (1292–1296)
House of Bruce (1306–1371)
House of Stuart (1371–1707)
Act of Union (1707)
Topical
Economic history
Military history
Colonial history
Scottish Politics
Art history
Literary history
Scottish Culture
Timeline of Scottish history
Scottish Portal


The history of Scotland begins around 10,000 years before the present day, when modern humans first began to inhabit Scotland after the end of the Devensian glaciation, the last ice age. Of the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age civilisations that existed in the country, many artefacts remain but few are of writing.

As you can see here, Wikipedia has an excellent history of Scotland. Wikipedia, as you may know, is an online encyclopedia which is written and maintained entirely by volunteers. More about Wikipedia here.

Presbyterians are indebted to Scotland for this is the country of our native church, the Church of Scotland. I had the opportunity to visit the offices of of the Church of Scotland while in Edinburg last year and I talked to some of their staff people about how their church operates. It is similar, as one would expect, to the ways of my denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA). This is because the Presbyterian Church (USA) is a descendant of the Church of Scotland.

For the past couple of years our congregation has celebrated a Kirkin' 'o the Tartans worship service. This service seeks to connect us to our Scottish Presbyterian heritage through the use of bagpipes in worship and other liturgical elements that herald from the Church of Scotland. The sermon preached by a guest preacher focuses on our heritage and the service is followed by a luncheon in the Fellowship Hall.

My family heritage is partly Scottish as my grandfather Neeley was descended from the McNeils of Scotland. However, all Presbyterians are spiritually descended from Scotland so the nature of ones genealogy is of little concern for the Kirkin' o' the Tartans worship service.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

BPC News March 9, 2006



Worship Leaders 3/19/06

* Nursery – Linda Taylor, Susan Lewis
* Wee Worship – Karen Cole, Suzan Graves
* 8:30 A.M. Usher – Ben Graves
* 11:00 A.M. Ushers – Al Welshans, Kevin Henry, Debi Honnoll, Paulette Norman
* Greeters – Jana Brock, Jeff Brock, Hunter Brock, Bryan Nickle
* Acolytes – Emma Pittman, Julianna Morrow



PYF 3/19/06

* This Sunday, March 19th, PYF will go to a Memphis Grizzlies basketball game. We will meet at the Church at 1:30 P.M. and return at 8:00 P.M. You will need to bring money for snacks and dinner.



PYF Wednesdays

* Normally the Jr. High PYF members only attend on the first Wednesday of the month, but they are invited and encouraged to attend every Wednesday night during the weeks the confirmation class is being taught.



Women’s Retreat 3/18/06


* A one-day women’s retreat will be held on March 18, 2006 at Fairfield Presbyterian Church, Blue Springs, MS., 8:30 A.M. – 3:00 P.M. The guest speaker will be Rhonda Duggar and the topic of the retreat is “Jesus, There’s Something About That Name.” For more information, call Billie Garner, 563-3858.



2006 Scholarship

Applications Available


* The Curry and Dunlap Scholarship application forms are now available in the church secretary’s office. Seniors who have been active members of BPC since March 1, 2005 are eligible to pick up an application form. Applicants may apply for either the Curry or Dunlap Scholarship but not both. Applications are due back in the church secretary’s office by 2:00 P.M. on Monday, April 3, 2006.



XYZ Group to Memphis March 22nd

* Dr. Burnham will take the XYZ Group to a Lenten Luncheon at Calvary Episcopal Church in Memphis on Wednesday, March 22nd leaving the church at 10:00 A.M. and returning around 2:30 P.M. Bring money for lunch at the church in Memphis with a menu featuring pancakes or fish pudding. Everyone is welcome to come and invite a friend. Let the church office know if you plan to attend so we can plan for the transportation.


Elders & Deacons Day Retreat at Camp Hopewell
Saturday, March 18th 9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.

* We will enjoy the fun and challenge of some outdoor group building activities in the morning, eat lunch, and do some planning for the future of the church in the afternoon.
* All elders and deacons are encouraged to plan their work and social calendars around this day retreat on March 18th. Give this one day to your church!

Batesville Presbyterian Church

Spring Stewardship
Time & Talents
Campaign


• As spring approaches most of us are anxious to experience somewhat of a renewal or refreshment to end winter months. Spring is also the time to renew our commitment of our time and talents to the programs of our church.

• The Time & Talents Campaign, as its name reflects, is the commitment of your time, whether it be driving children to the zoo or teaching a Sunday School class; or of your talents, whether it be leading arts and crafts for Vacation Bible School or cooking for PYF. Everyone has something to give. Everything that is given is very important to the programs of our church.

• What is your talent? Please prayerfully consider where you can give of your time and talents to the upcoming children and youth programs of our church.

• Sign up sheets are available on the tables at the front and back of the sanctuary and in the Recreation Room. Or you may pick up a brochure located on the table in the church office hallway, fill it out and return it to the church office!

Prayer List

* Dudley Beall, Shane Bright, Ann Burford, Bettye Carpenter, Lucy Clark, Shelli Cook, Kathy Davidson, Karen Emerson, Danny Ferguson, Bobby Hays, Jerry Holloway, Bonnie Johnson, Mike Kelly, Jr., Jay Kilpatrick, Kay Long, Bebe Lyon, Hazel McBride, Carole Martin, Kayla Massey, Jim Minor, Delaney Perry, Nell Randolph, Peggie Robertson, Mike Turner, Lib Vinson, Johnny Walters, Sue Wooten.



Lord’s Supper during Lent


* We will celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper during Lent each Sunday during the 8:30 A.M. Sunday service and during the Maundy Thursday service at 7:00 P.M. on Thursday, April 13th.



Holy Week Services at Batesville Presbyterian

* April 8th – Palm Sunday worship services at 8:30 A.M. and 11:00 A.M.
* April 13th – Maundy Thursday evening communion at 7:00 P.M.
* April 15th – Easter Egg Hunt at 10:00 A.M.
* April 16th – Easter Sunday worship services at 8:30 A.M. and 11:00 A.M. Confirmation class will join the church during the 11:00 A.M. worship service on Easter Sunday.