Agape Fellowship

Hello all,

We’ve got a great Sunday morning coming up, and I hope you can make it. We’ll be worshiping, fellowshiping, eating and having a great time. First of all- instead of breakfast, we will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with a COVERED DISH, IRISH LUNCH. This means that we will be starting worship earlier than normal – shortly after 10:00am. Come at ten for just enough coffee to get you going! After worship, we will launch into the Jesus series, part three. This week we will be contrasting the true good news of Jesus with the religious rubbish that sometimes gets pushed around in the name of Christianity. See below for more details.

As for our lunch time together. Please remember to bring a lot of food AND drink to share. Agape will provide the cups, plates, utensils and ice, and the rest of us should bring food AND drink to share in abundance. Remember that we will have visitors with us, and we want to be sure and include them, so make extra food if you are able. We’re asking folks to consider making Irish themed food if possible. What is Irish food, I hear you ask? Great question! Irish food is more than just potatoes! Here are some ideas to consider (click on the links for pictures and information. Use Google to find good recipes): Irish stew, Coddle, Corned beef and cabbage, Boxty, Bacon and cabbage (yum!), Bangers and mash, Pea and ham soup or Fadge. You can also bring Irish breakfast items, or other seafood and meats…or really anything you’d like! For the really adventurous try: Skirts and kidneys or Colcannon. Probably best to leave the Black pudding, Crubeens and Stout at home for this gathering!

By the way- whoever dresses the best, in keeping with the Irish theme of the day, will get a prize!

Please go to: http://www.facebook.com/agapepinson and Click “LIKE” under that strange little picture of St. Patrick. You might also click “Share” to share an invitation to the Jesus series with your friends. This helps us get the word out and such, and it is quite easy to do.

Here’s what’s up with the Jesus Series for this week: DOWN WITH RELIGION – DOWN WITH MORALISM! Today most people perceive that the message of Christianity is something like, “Don’t do that!! Don’t do that either! Do this! We please God by being good and not doing bad – why don’t you naughty sinners understand that?!” This was not the original message of Jesus and His followers. Sadly, in many cases, the modern American church has distorted the original message of Jesus.

What were Jesus’ first public words? As Mark records, the first public words of Jesus were an encouragement to believe the gospel. That word is a religious word to us now, but it wasn’t at all religious in the first century. Gospel meant good news, and it was carried by evangelists. For instance, when Greece was invaded by a mighty Persian army, the Grecian army went out to meet them in battle. The whole country trembled at the thought of becoming enslaved by the dreaded Persian empire. Fortunately for the Greeks, their army prevailed and repelled the Persians. Heralds (or evangelists) were sent throughout the countryside with the good news (called a “gospel”) to proclaim to the people that they would not become slaves, but would be free! This is what the Jesus gospel should be – a proclamation of victory and freedom – not a set of rules and regulations.

This week at the Agape community in northeast Birmingham, we are going to continue in the Jesus series by considering His first public words, and what He meant when He told people to believe the good news. What was the good news that Jesus was proclaiming? Why was it so important? Why did He ultimately die for it, and what difference does it make in modern, secular America? Come join us at 10am This Sunday to find out. You can find directions on this page, or just message us for more info.

Sláinte!

Chase

Hello all, I hope your week has been well!

First of all – Don’t forget this Saturday night – before you go to bed – to move your clocks forward one hour. Yes, we lose an hour of sleep that night, but we gain more daylight during the evening hours, so it is a pretty good trade, I think.

This Sunday, we are still immersed in our focus on Jesus, and we will be discussing His baptism, His forty day fast, and how He resisted the attacks and temptations of Satan. We will learn more about the personality of Jesus, the purpose of God and how it all applies to our seemingly mundane lives in 2012 America. Come join us – and invite your friends!

Next Sunday we will forego breakfast and worship will begin early – shortly after 10am. We are doing this because we will be having a St. Patrick’s Day themed covered dish lunch right after our church gathering. Wear your green clothes, bring your Irish themed cooking (or any cooking, really) and come join us for a fun time of fellowship and food!

Kitchen clean up this Sunday: Gruendler/Benton Gospel community

Nursery this Sunday: Jason and Mandy Smith.

Finally, be praying for a powerful move of God in people’s lives at Vida Nueva this weekend. We will have many of our Agape people serving this weekend at VN, and several going through the three day weekend. It can be a life-changing time for people, and we need to pray for Godly fruit to come out of it. If you aren’t familiar with VN, it is a three day weekend that is intensely focused on discipleship and the grace of God, and geared towards young people.

See you Sunday at 10am – come hungry, as we will be beginning with a nice, made from scratch breakfast!

Chase

Hello all,

This Sunday we continue in a very important message series. Has the majority of the church in America missed out on a critically important teaching of Jesus? He told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were “clothed with power from on high.” The majority of Evangelical Christians (Baptist, Presbyterian, etc) believe that this process happens when one becomes a Christian today. Is this the teaching of the Bible? Come join us Sunday as we explore what is not merely an important theological issue, but something that could very well affect every part of our lives. We begin with breakfast at 10am. Dress casual and come hungry! In case you missed it, here is a link to part one of the We Lack The Power Series: http://agapepinson.com/2012/02/we-lack-the-power-part-1/

Chase

Also – see this note from David:

In February of 2011, the students of Agape embarked on a 1 year mission project called the Exodus Challenge. The focus was prayer and fasting as well as raising awareness and money to support Christian organizations working to rescue women and children from human trafficking. The ultimate goal is to see them healed through the power of the gospel.

In the past year, many of our students have held fast to this challenge. They have prayed and fasted for these women and children. They have looked for volunteer opportunities with local organizations working to end this epidemic. And they have monetarily sacrificed, by giving and raising funds. To this date, these students have given and raised approx $3,900 for this cause.

To end our one year mission project, we want to do a final fund raiser that will give all of you an opportunity to be involved. Sunday morning we will be having a bake sale and silent auction during breakfast and directly after church. Many of you may remember that we did something similar to this a couple of years ago for earthquake relief in Haiti. Homemade desserts and baked items will be on display before and directly after morning worship. Next to the item will be a paper where you can (anonymously if you wish) ‘bid’ on the item. The goal? Donate an absurd amount of money for a pan of brownies, in order to help raise funds to end human trafficking.

How can you help? First, we need people to bring desserts and baked goods! If you have already signed up, Thank You!!! If you have not yet done so, it is not too late. Just bring the item on Sunday morning! From there, we would ask everyone to participate in the bidding / donating both before and after morning worship. Any amount will help, and every dime will go directly to the Exodus Challenge.

If you are bringing a baked item, please have it to Agape by 9:50am on Sunday, so that people can begin bidding during breakfast. Please write out a small card with a description of your item (so that people know for sure what they are bidding on). We will keep the bidding open for a few minutes after the service and then announce the winners.

Thank you for your help! I love you all

Grace and Peace
David McConnell

One final note: Chris Snuggs used to produce a radio show called Tech Talk that Sam and I did in Birmingham for several years. We found out this week that Chris’ daughter Avery has just been diagnosed with leukemia. Please pray for her healing, and for the entire Snuggs family! .

Hello all,

1. Due to expected storms, and a few other issues, we will not be gathering as a group for tornado clean-up tomorrow. There are, however, many opportunities to serve if you are able. I initially was told yesterday that the City of Clay was not hosting volunteers for tomorrow due to debris removal. At this point, it appears that that may have been inaccurate. Before going out, just to be sure, check with the City of Clay Facebook page for updated information. You might also consider emailing Nick and Lisa and seeing how you can help at Lisa’s mom’s house, or in some other way. Our care package ministry is ongoing into the community, so feel free to bring more care package items this Sunday.

2. This Sunday we are beginning a very crucial 2 part series looking at something in Scripture that is critically important, but often ignored by Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, etc. Our focus will be on the baptism, fullness, and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Is there something that we are missing out on in our relationship with God? Have we missed one of the most important teachings of Jesus? Was the power that the early church walked in only for them, or is it for modern times as well? I am calling the next two messages “We Lack The Power.” Rather than seeing that in a negative sense, I believe it will be, for us, the beginning of an important pursuit. Come join us! We begin with breakfast at 10am, and follow with worship and more beginning at 10:45.

3. We are having a family gathering at 5:15pm this Sunday! Yes, the Super Bowl will be on, but that doesn’t have to be the focus of our gathering. Bring games (like bean bag toss, ladder-ball and more) as well as some food AND drinks to share. We’ll have a great time as a family – and you are invited!

See you Sunday,

Chase