IROQUOIS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN BAPTIST CHURCHES

"Yesterday, today, and tomorrow" - Saturday, May 3, 9:45 a.m. (registration) - 3:30 p.m. at the West Baptist Church, 39 West Mohawk Street, Oswego, NY (343-9188).  This is the spring 2003 Inspirational gathering of the Iroquois Association of American Baptist Churches.  Guest speaker:  Rev. Dr. Bernadette Glover-Williams.  All are invited to attend.

ABW MINISTRIES

MOTHER-DAUGHTER BANQUET  Tuesday, May 13th, 6:30 p.m. (in the Gym)  Program:  Sandy and Jessica Haase, Karen Chesebro; Dinner prepared and served by George Oley and men of the Church.  Cost:  $6.00 for adults and children 12 years and over; $4.00 for children 6-11 years old, 5 years and under - free.  Secret Pals will be revealed and new ones chosen.  All women of the church are invited. Come and bring your friends!

Cayuga-Onondaga ABW Ministries Association - meeting on Tuesday, May 20th, at 6:00 pm - Tully United Community Church.  Registration is at 6:00 p.m. with a potluck supper at 6:30 p.m.  Program and meeting will follow dinner.  Transportation will be provided.  Please contact Shirley Mapstone (682-8169) or Gail Carlsen (445-0581).

ABW Ministries Picnic Date has been changed - It will be held at Dottie Ammann's home on Tuesday, June 17th, at 6:00 p.m.  Committee:  Erma Bullard, Carole Guynup and Ann Morales.

Please continue to save Campbell's labels and cancelled stamps (1/4" border, please).

UNITY FELLOWSHIP

Unity Fellowship's meeting for May has been changed to Saturday, May 31st at 6:30 p.m. in the Chapel.  The program will be presented by Pat Infantine, the Manlius Librarian.  The committee consists of Trudy Siegenthaler and Erika Buchanan.  Please bring table service and a dish to pass.  All are invited.  

JOYFUL SOUNDS CHOIR

The Joyful Sounds Choir will sing "The First Song of Isaiah" with the Adult Choir on Mother's Day, May 11th.  They will also sing "Love is a Special Thing" with their mothers.

F-M COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY

The Food Pantry serves clients from the villages of Fayetteville and Manlius only.  Each client is permitted to come to the pantry once each month to select their food.  In addition to food and paper products, each family also receives a gift certificate from P&C Food Stores in the amount of $10 to $20 depending on the size of the family.  These gift certificates allow the families to purchase perishable items like milk, butter and bread.  

The Food Pantry is very short on canned meat (Stew, Spam, Sloppy Joe mix, etc.), tuna, chicken soup, vegetable soup, Spaghetti Os, meal helpers and paper products (toilet paper and paper towels).  Anything that you can do to help will be GREATLY appreciated.  Of course, money ($) is always goodJ.  Thank you so much for your generosity.
 
"I was Hungry and you gave me to eat" ---Sr. Monica - St. Ann's

MISSION NEWS

Report from Nepal - Even though the people of Nepal are 90% Hindu, Baptist churches and fellowships are growing rapidly.  At present, there are 90 churches and 400 fellowships in different parts of the Himalayan kingdom. 

International Ministries and the Nepal Baptist Church Council (NBCC) jointly support four evangelists who preach the Gospel and plant churches in their respective areas.  As evidenced by their 2002 report, God is doing wonderful things in that country.

Three of the evangelists serve existing churches, while the fourth, Homnath Goutam, established a fellowship of 17 baptized believers in the western part of the country.  The members built a small church building, which was to have been dedicated by the NBCC in January of this year.

The evangelists also visit individual houses, distributing gospel tracts and preaching about Jesus Christ.  Their Holy Spirit-inspired work led 86 people to accept Jesus as their savior last year.  Many of those were baptized.  Hundreds more expressed an interest in hearing more about the Son of God.

However, their work is not without some peril.  The country's government is unstable at the present time, and the NBCC asks for your prayers for the evangelists and their families.

--International Ministries

CARDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

If you know of anyone in the congregation who needs a get-well card or a card of encouragement, please give Jessie Mapstone a call at 682-2874).

ODYSSEY

Odyssey's meeting for May is undecided at this time.  Please keep your eyes out for a notice in the bulletin.  Odyssey is great fun, for kids in Grades 1-5, and consists of games, crafts, Bible study, and snacks.  Bring a friend!  If you have any questions, please contact Pam Foss at 682-0640.


CHURCH SCHOLARSHIPS

Applications for the First Baptist Church Scholarships are available in the Church office.  They are due into the Church office no later than June 1st.  For further information, please contact Ellen Everly at 682-7614.  Thank you.


ATTENTION GRADUATES

There will soon be many graduations being held; and if you or someone in your family will be graduating (high school, college, master's or doctorate), the church office would like to know about it!  Please submit a photograph and a paragraph telling us where you are graduating from, the date of graduation, where you will be attending college or where you will be working after graduation and any other pertinent information you would like to include.  This must be submitted to the Church office no later than June 10th so we can include it in the July newsletter!  Photographs will be returned.  Thank you!