First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
P.O.
Box 170, Eagle Butte, SD 57625
(605)
964-3617 (Office) / (605) 891-1704 (Pastor’s Cell)
January
4, 2013
Dear
Friends,
Tasi
Livermont, the editor of the local newspaper, asked me to write an article on
the true meaning of Christmas for the West River Eagle. It was a harder thing than I imagined, since
Christmas is so very full of meaning, and I only had a small space to
fill. But I finished the article, and
you can read it by following this link: http://eaglebuttefbc.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-true-meaning-of-christmas.html
WEATHER
I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE
When
I first moved up here, everyone said I would have to get used to a huge change
in the weather. Well, I thought they
were just talking about a lot of snow. I
WAS WRONG!! Two weeks ago, we
encountered a type of weather that I have never seen in my life: freezing
fog. I woke up one morning to find a
cold fog totally swamping the city. A
really, really thick, cold fog. The picture above shows Main Street at 3:00 in the afternoon. People could barely see their hands in front
of their faces.
What was left on the trees the following morning was something to behold. Every individual twig was thickly covered with ice crystals of marvelous beauty and complexity. As you can see in the picture on the right, each bare branch seemed to have sprouted hundreds of tiny flowers, made of ice. In the picture on the left, you see the effect of the freezing fog in an entire tree. I’m still awestruck by it all.
MARCHING
FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION
As you know, one of our
own local youths, Tanner Gray, committed suicide recently. There was a strong reaction across the community,
and many churches and religious organizations made a commitment to do all in
their power to prevent terrible events like this one in the future. Our church was one of these. As a demonstration of this commitment, representatives
from the Baptist, Catholic, Church of God and Episcopal churches joined forces
to stage a prayer walk in Eagle Butte.
The walk started from four separate locations, situated in the North,
South, East, and West. We converged on
the Episcopal church, where we held a prayer service for the young people of
our community. May the Lord use us all
to prevent the evils of suicide from plaguing this community again!
OUR
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM!
I love Christmas! And
every year, First Baptist Church arranges all kinds of ways to celebrate the
birth of our Lord. This year was no
exception, and we kicked off our festivities with a special service, in which
our Sunday School children heavily participated.
One
bright Sunday morning, after the children had been given breakfast, we loaded
them all up in the church van and took them down to the local nursing home,
where they sang for some of the residents.
They sang a broad range of Christmas songs, with me reading excerpts
from the Bible in between. Finally, I
closed with a brief sermonette, and a prayer.
Then the children presented the residents with presents that they
themselves had made as craft projects.
This service was the result of weeks of practice on the part of the
children, and I was proud to be a part of it.
I am also proud of our Sunday School teachers- Amanda Benson, Amy Holley
and Tiffany Farrar (my wife!)-for teaching the children how to put on this
wonderful presentation.
Following our trip to
the nursing home, the children all returned to the church, giving a repeat
performance during our Sunday morning worship service. They were delightful, and the congregation
really got a chance to worship that day, for the Holy Spirit was there.
Although we usually
take the children home after Sunday School, on the week of this particular
service we thought we’d treat them to something nice in honor of the
season. So we served them a special
lunch of hot dogs and other child favorites.
At the center of it all was a nice cake, decorated with a Christmas
wreath.
After the meal, we pass
out some bags to the children-containing candy, fruit, and assorted nuts. There were more than two hundred such bags,
all of which had been stuffed by the older women of the church. After we had given a bag to each child, we
had a number of bags left over, so we distributed these to the community on the
following day.
In addition to the
bags, we were able to give each child a present, thanks to a generous donation
from friends of ours to the South. The
children’s enthusiasm was through the roof as they tore into these gifts,
rendered all the more precious by the fact that these would be the only gifts
some of them would receive this Christmas.
One little girl, when she opened her gift, became so excited that she
lost the ability to speak! She grinned
and moved her lips, but the sound just refused to come out! I made a point of reminding everyone that
morning that the reason we give gifts to the ones we care about at Christmas is
because God gave us the greatest of Gifts as a sign of His love for us. It was such a joyful scene.
WINDSWEPT
ACADEMY’S CHRISTMAS PAGEANT
Windswept
Academy took on the ambitious project of a full-fledged Christmas pageant this
year. Considering that the school is
host to over 40 students, ranging from 7th grade to Kindergarten,
all of whom were somehow involved in this play, it was a very difficult thing
to pull off. But the faculty and staff
at Windswept Academy was quick and talented, using the resources they had
available to put on a very Christ-honoring production. I can honestly say that the true meaning of
Christmas shone through in this, and I was honored to play the role of the
prophet Isaiah.
So
perhaps you are wondering how you can become a partner with us in our ministry
here in Eagle Butte? If so, then we are
happy to tell you, since we welcome assistance from the body of Christ. Here is
what we need the most:
Prayer. It may be true that our
church is getting along very well at the moment, and that God is doing great
things here. But it is precisely when a
church is being used by God that Satan does all in his power to destroy it. So please pray, my brothers and sisters. Pray that our leadership will keep their
hearts pure and humble, and that we will live at peace with each other. Pray that we will be protected from the power
of the enemy, and that God’s Holy Spirit will shine through in our lives. Pray that the Lakotas in the community will
come to know the Lord, and that the commitment they make will not be a
superficial group of words, but a real change in their Spirits that will alter
the course of their lives for eternity.
E-mail addresses. For those of you who have e-mail addresses,
please send them to me. That way, these
monthly newsletters can be forwarded to everyone in your church who wants
one! Just send your name and e-mail
address to me at benfarrar777@hotmail.com,
and I’ll make sure you receive this newsletter as often as it comes out.
Financial Assistance. Our church is fortunate to have members who
are generous in their giving. But some of our most generous members are,
nevertheless, very poor. We have long
been blessed with assistance from outside churches and individuals, and we try
to use those gifts wisely and well.
If
any one of you wishes to bless the church with a financial gift, you may send
it to:
First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
P.O. Box 170
Eagle Butte, SD 57625
A
donation was received in honor of Ellen Mustoe.
A
memorial gift has been received in memory of Peggy Banks of Burnsville, NC, who
died on Tuesday, December 4th 2012.
A
memorial gift has been received in honor of the late Andre Cowins, who passed
away on November 9th, 2012.
A
memorial gift has been received in memory of the late Tanner Gray, who was lost
to us on November 19th, 2012.
A
memorial gift has been made in memory of the late Robert Frye, who passed away
on Wednesday, June 6th, 2012.
May
God bless you all, and draw you closer to Himself each and every day.
Yours
in Christ,
Rev. Ben Farrar
Pastor
First
Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
