BIG RUN CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST)

Issue 2

Big Run
Christian
Church
(Disciples of
Christ)

7194 DRAGON HIGHWAY, CAMERON, WV 26033

Upcoming Events/News
by Pastor Lanette Rodgers

IN THIS ISSUE

Issue Date

Exciting things are happening in the life of

our church and we want YOU to be a part of
them!

October 2014
October 12th- Blackwood Legacy Concert pg. 2

In the Midst of Change

October 18th-Apple Festival pg. 3

Page 5

October 19th- Acolyte training pg. 3

October 19th- Christmas Program Rehearsal pg. 4
October 26th- All Church and Friends Halloween Party pg. 4

November 2014
November 16th- Pastor Lanettes commissioning/installation
November 16th-All church Thanksgiving Dinner

Monthly Devotional
In the world you will have
tribulation; but be of good cheer, I
have overcome the world.
John 16:33

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Page 7

A Note from Pastor

Lanette Rodgers
By: Pastor Lanette

Is it just me or did everything get really

busy as soon as fall started?! Kids are
back to school, work is picking back up
now that summer is gone; there are
football games, band rehearsals,
cheering practices, cross country
meets, dance lessons, more errands to
run, zero time to make dinner, we go
to bed late and wake up early, AND all
of my professors made all their
assignments due on the same day!!!
Its hard to find a minute to yourself,
let alone a minute for God, but it is
during times like these that we are told
to be still. Be still and know that I am
God. I often turn to Psalm 46 for this
reminder during busy times in my life
and during hard times. It reminds me
that God is bigger than any and all of
my earthly problems. At the end of
the day when there are still 35 things
left to do on my To-Do list and zero
hours left in the day, I let out a deep
breath, open up my Bible app and read
the soothing words of Psalm 46, God
is our refuge and strength, an everpresent help in trouble. Therefore, we

will not fear, though the earth give

way and the mountains fall into the
heart of the sea.
How amazing is it to know that God is
ever present? How awesome to know
that we do not walk through life alone.
That even in our darkest of hours, our
busiest of days (or weeks or months!)
or the scariest moments in our lives
that God is with us. God is in control.
Its easy to get caught up in the hustle
and bustle of life. Its easy to try and
take matters into our own hands, but
Psalm 46 reminds us that sometimes
we just have to stand back, be still,
and let God work. God will never steer
us wrong. We are on the right path
when we are walking it with God.

permission to relax (when is the last time

someone said that to you?!) but do so in the
presence of God. Release, let go, and most
importantly, marvel in the glory and greatness of
God.
Yours in Christ, Pastor Lanette
PASTOR LANETTE RODGERS

Friends, I encourage you to ask

yourselves, when was the last time I
relaxed in the presence of God?
When was the last time I was quiet
and still enough to hear Gods still
small voice whispering to me on the
wind? What would I do if I had just
one hour to be still? And then step
up to your challenge. I not only
encourage you but I give you

Blackwood Legacy
by Pastor Lanette Rodgers

Blackwood Legacy southern Gospel Group will be

performing for our Sunday morning worship service on
October 12, 2014 at 11:00 AM with a covered dish
dinner to follow. Blackwood Legacy does 200 concerts
annually across the United States and we are so
honored that we are one of their stops! It should be a
wonderful morning filled with great music, great food,
tons of fun, and a great way to share the news of Gods
love! Invite your friends! Admission is free! We would
love to see you join us for this exciting day!

Pastor Lanette Rodgers is a student at

Lexington Theological Seminary on the track
towards becoming an ordained minister. She
lives in Moundsville with her husband Josh
and daughter Jacqueline.
CONTACT INFO

Home: (304)810-4279
Cell: (304)639-4835

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Apple Festival
by Pastor Lanette Rodgers

Big Run Community Center will be hosting an Apple

Festival on Saturday, October 18th from 10-5pm. There
will be crafts, food, live entertainment, and homemade
apple butter! Admission is one dollar and kids under 12
are free. If you are interested in having a vendor table
please contact Debbie Elson (304)686-2246 to reserve!
Vendor tables are 20 dollars. Hope to see you all there!

Acolyte Training
by Pastor Lanette Rodgers

Attention all 2nd grade and up! We are looking for some
acolytes to participate in our morning worship! Whats
an acolyte you say? An acolyte is a very important
person who brings the light of God into the church on
Sunday morning in the form of a candle. If you are
interested in being an acolyte, we invite you to attend a
brief training after church on October 19th with Pastor
Lanette. We will be learning how and when to light the
altar candles and get everyone in a rotation/schedule.
We would love to have you participate and look forward
to seeing you at training!

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Christmas Program Rehearsal

By: Pastor Lanette Rodgers
Its almost that time of year again CHRISTMAS!! And
it will be upon us faster that you can say Ho Ho Ho! So
it is time to start rehearsing for a VERY special and
unique Christmas program! We invite kids of ALL
AGES to partake in our program this year which will
include dowel rods. Hmmm intrigued yet? Well to
find out more we encourage you to attend our first
rehearsal Sunday, October 19th, immediately following
acolyte training after church! There you will receive all
the details of our special program and we will get busy
on making it a wonderful experience for our Christmas
season. We will be performing our program the
Sunday before Christmas which is December 21st
during morning worship. We want as many kids as
possible to participate so make sure you are in
attendance! If you cannot make it but still want to
participate, please see Pastor Lanette for more details!

Halloween Party!
By: Pastor Lanette
Big Run will be hosting its first annual All church
Halloween Party on Sunday, October 26th from 5-7pm!
All kids and adults are encouraged to not only attend
but dress up in their Halloween best! There will be a
costume contest for kids AND one for the adults!
There will also be games, prizes, food, music, and most
importantly fun! Bring a friend or six and we hope to
see you there!

BIG RUN CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST) | Issue 2

In the Midst of Change

By: Pastor Lanette

Change is a scary word. At least to me it

is. In my 25 year old body, there is an old
woman who is trapped and she is set in
her ways! I have my morning and nightly
routine, I have my certain routes I take to
get from here to there, I have a certain
way to tie my shoes, fix my hair, put my
make up, I even have a certain order I
have to buy my groceries (start in the
back with milk and work my way to the
front!) As the seasons are quickly
changing and the colors of fall are all
around us, I start to reflect on all of my
routines and habits and realize that
they continue even into my personal
relationship with God. I have a certain
way I worship, I have certain words I use
when I pray, I have a certain name for
God I use, I read the same passages in my
Bible over and over again. And as I
reflect on these spiritual disciplines, I
then realize that I have a natural
tendency to cling to the familiar because
I am resisting the new, or to put it
differently, I like to wade in the shallow
end of the pool and I dont like to venture
too far out into the deep. Granted, some
things should remain the same and
should not be relinquished (such as my
daughters night time routine there is
NO messing with that!) but for the most
part and to quote an article I found on the
internet, living a fulfilled life means
learning to let go. I mean, change keeps
us young after all; it keeps us on our toes
and always sharp!
But change can also be overwhelming
and make you feel like life is a spinning
merry-go-round and you are just dying to
get off!

The comd

Ecclesiastes tells us that, just as there is a

time for the changing seasons, that there
is a time for everything and that includes
change.
The comforting words to all this are that
no matter how crazy life can be or no
matter how much we change or our
situations and surroundings change, let
us never forget that God always remains
the same and through each changing
season and each passing day, God has
something new to teach us. God has
some new blessing and opportunity to
share with us. God is relentless in
showing us love, but if we are reluctant
to embrace change, then we may be
reluctant in becoming involved in a closer
and deeper relationship with God. We
may be putting God in a box so to
speak. Gods love is boundless and God
wants us to venture deeper into the pool
of life so that we may be involved with
God more intimately. If we are so fixated
on what is familiar and constantly
looking in the rear view mirror, we may
miss where God is trying to take us next.
So dont just walk away from change, my
dear friends, run towards it! Embrace it!
Know that every new day and every new
thing is a wondrous gift and blessing
from God!
God bless you and the changes in your
life, ones that you make yourself and
ones you cannot control, and know that
you never walk lifes roads alone.

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BIG RUN CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST) | Issue 2

What Do You Expect

By: Dennis Fisher

In C. S. Lewis book God in the

Dock, he wrote: Imagine a set
of people all living in the same
building. Half of them think it
is a hotel, the other half think
it is a prison. Those who think
it a hotel might regard it as
quite intolerable, and those
who thought it was a prison
might decide that it was really
surprisingly comfortable.
Lewis cleverly used this
contrast between a hotel and a
prison to illustrate how we
view life based on our
expectations. He says, If you
think of this world as a place
intended simply for our
happiness, you find it quite
intolerable; think of it as a
place of training and
correction and its not so bad.

Sometimes we expect that life

should be happy and painfree. But that is not what the
Bible teaches. For the believer,
this world is a place of
spiritual development through
both good times and bad.
Jesus was realistic when He
explained what to expect in
life. He told His disciples, In
the world you will have
tribulation; but be of good
cheer, I have overcome the
world (John 16:33). In facing
lifes blessings and bruises, we
can have the inner peace that
God is orchestrating events
according to His sovereign
plan. Christs presence in our
lives enables us to be of good
cheer even in the midst of
pain.

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