Newsletter March 2013

 

First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte

P.O. Box 170, Eagle Butte, SD 57625

(605) 964-3617 (Office) / (605) 891-1704 (Pastor’s Cell)

March 8, 2013

Dear Friends,

Greetings to all of you from your friends at First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte. In the Lakota language February is called,“The moon of the hurting eyes”. It is so named because there is usually snow on the ground from November to March, and one’s eyes start hurting around February from looking at the sun glinting off of the snow. We have been fortunate this year, in that the Winter has been warm-by South Dakota standards. Nevertheless, it is still pretty cold outside, and we felt there was no better way to assist the needy in our community than by holding a clothing giveaway at our church. We had 14 large boxes full of clothing, and all of it had been provided by you! Because of the generosity of you and our other supporters across the country, we were able to get a great deal of clothing into the hands of the greater community. Plenty of people are warmer now, and they have you to thank.

 

 Magnificent Musicians Make Marvelous Music

 

Recently, a women’s conference was held in the Western part of the state. Some of the ladies in our church planned to attend, but God was not content to let them stop there. Through a series of seeming-coincidences and bright ideas, Amanda Benson and Amy Holley (who do the music at our church) joined forces with three ladies from the Lutheran Church (Christina Osthus, Julia Osthus, and Barb Berndt) to form an excellent musical ensemble. It featured a guitarist, a pianist, a violinist, and two singers. They performed at the women’s conference, doing a mixture of old hymns and modern praise and worship songs. They had such a warm reception there that they soon moved on to play at a community event that was sponsored by the Lutheran church. Since I know a good thing when I see it, I was quick to ask them to play their music at our church’s revival in just a few days. And praise the Lord, they graciously accepted! So now it seems that I have yet another reason to look forward to the revival!

Missionaries from Our Church Recognized for Their Service

 

Adam and Rachel Cowan, who are fairly new arrivals to our church, moved to this part of the country so they could serve in a missionary capacity, working at Windswept Academy. Adam teaches some of the older children, while Rachel serves as the school’s secretary. They somehow manage to do this while caring for two little girls and one newborn baby! Our State Baptist Convention took notice of their hard work and decided to recognize them by giving them a place in their newspaper. As you can see, their article takes up the whole back page. Their twins even made page one! It makes me so proud to working in a church where I can serve alongside so many servant-minded individuals.

 

 Lakota Christian Artwork

 

Bryson Dupris, whose painting of the Creation was in last month’s newsletter, has been working steadily on doing a series of ten paintings for us. I have found his designs to be both innovative and beautiful. Pictured above, you can see his renditions of the Fall, the Nativity, and the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses. In some of these paintings, you can see the faint image of a man holding a camera. Bryson did not paint the man holding a camera. You’re looking at my reflection in the glass. I really stink at photography. Our walls are quickly becoming adorned with pictures of scenes from the scriptures-scenes from the Bible that can be understood, even by the illiterate. And the more we surround ourselves with Bible, I think the better off we’ll be.

 

 A New Intern

 

Our church has experienced an unexpected windfall of late, as a young woman from Tennessee has volunteered to come and work for us as an intern. Her name is Emily Smith.  She plans to stay through the entire Summer and Fall, and I am anxious to put her to work for the Kingdom of God. Please pray that God will assist me in devising and internship for her that will educate her, give her experience, and accomplish much good among the Lakota people.  

REVIVAL!

Of course, the largest and most compelling thing in our near future is the revival that is coming up this week. On March 10-13, we will be conducting a series of meetings that are designed to be special periods of worship and outreach, to draw more souls into the Kingdom of Heaven. We have a guest preacher named Michael Martin coming in from Oklahoma, and some special music from the Christian music ensemble that I mentioned earlier. I have been busily promoting the revival in every way that I can think of, but it still weighs heavily on my mind that all our efforts are for nothing unless there is a movement of the Holy Spirit. If God moves through this revival, miracles will be done. Lives will be changed. Souls will be saved. It is even possible that the entire community could be transformed through the awesome power of God. This has been my prayer every day, and it has been the prayer of this church, as well. Now I beg you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to unite your voices in prayer and ask God for a miracle in the days that follow. I believe that God answers prayer. And I believe that He transforms lives. So please, lift us up, brothers and sisters. We need your prayers now as never before.

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. Pray especially for the revival, that God’s spirit will move, and that many people will be saved.

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 made to the church this month in loving memory of Miles Pinckney Farrar and Elizabeth Henkle Farrar.

A donation was made to the church this month in loving memory of Joseph W. Farrar.

A donation was made to the church this month in loving memory of Phifer Pearson

A donation was made to the church this month in loving memory of Maurice Chapman

A donation was made to the church this month in honor of Inez Jenkins.

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

 

February 2013 Newsletter

 

First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte

P.O. Box 170, Eagle Butte, SD 57625

(605) 964-3617 (Office) / (605) 891-1704 (Pastor’s Cell) 

February 8, 2013 

Dear Friends, 

Now, at last, I think I have become a South Dakotan.  After nearly two years of living here, the Lord has shown me my first TRULY COLD DAY.  Earlier this month, a cold front blew in that shattered every idea I had of what “cold” is.  If you asked me to explain the cold with a mere number, I would tell you, “-45 degrees”.  But the cold is much better quantified by describing its effect:

*It was so cold that they closed the schools.  Mind you, there was no snow or ice on the road.  But to go outside and wait for the bus was to risk death.

*It was so cold that the police picked up the homeless people in town and put them in jail.  Not because they had done anything wrong, but for their own protection.

*It was so cold that the snowmen had frostbite.

That’s how cold it was.  And even though I am happy to have experienced what a TRULY COLD DAY is like, I have to admit that it makes you grateful that God invented “indoors”.

A New Development at Off-the-Wall

 

When the Off-the-Wall program was first started, it was intended as a means to give young people something fun to do on Friday nights-something that didn’t involve getting into trouble.  It was hoped that by providing them with a fun and exciting place to be within the context of a church, the young men and women would learn to view the church in a positive light, and be more receptive to the Gospel.  But we decided not to include any serious Bible studies in the event at first, since unchurched teenagers would be frightened by anything serious whatsoever.
 

All of that changed recently when one of our volunteers, Christina Osthus, offered to lead a Bible study for any young men and women who were interested.  A year ago, I would have said no.  But now that Off-the Wall has grown to attract as many as 60 young people a night, and has gained a reputation in the community for being a fun and exciting place, I decided that this was an idea whose time had come.  After all, what are we doing this for, if not to advance the Kingdom of Heaven?
 

Since that time, Christina has hosted two such Bible studies at Off-the-Wall.  At the first, two people willingly showed up and seemed to have a real interest in studying the Bible.  The next study had three people participating, who were very involved with listening and asking questions.  We have high hopes for this new Bible Study, and can’t wait to see where it might lead!

Native American Christian Art

 

The Lakota are famous for their remarkable skill in artwork.  Whenever my wife teaches art to her sixth-grade class, all she has to do is show the class a picture and ask them, “Do you guys think you can draw this?”  Then they do-perfectly.  But despite all this artistic talent, there is very little Christian art produced here.  Our church decided to find a Christian Lakota artist and get him to paint a series of pictures for our hallway, showing scenes from the Bible.

The artist we found was Bryson Dupris, a member of our church who is pictured above.  To the right of him, you see the first painting he did for us- a depiction of Genesis 1:1- “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.”  He will be painting more such pictures for us in the future, and we hope they will spark the imaginations of young and old alike.

A Generous Gift from Good Friends

 

This month, three boxes of socks arrived from our good friend, Ellen Mustoe, who had been collecting them from our Christian Brothers and Sisters in Virginia.  We are always pleased to receive gifts of this nature, and we plan to distribute these socks, together with other clothing items, to the community very soon.  Thanks to all who donated these.  God is using you as His hands in this world.

Back to School

 

 

Long ago, I graduated from seminary and said to myself, “That’s it.  I’m done with school for the rest of my life.”  Boy, was I wrong!  This month found me attending classes at the Oglala Lakota College here in Eagle Butte, making a feeble attempt at learning the language of the Lakota people.  While the Lakota have a distinct language, unique to their culture, necessity has forced them to learn English over the years.  In fact, the primary language of nearly every Lakota on the reservation is English.  But many of them are sad for the decline of their native tongue, and they are currently providing classes in elementary school and the college to re-train their people in the Lakota language.  I signed up for this class for two reasons.  First, there are still some Lakotas who speak Lakota as a first language, and who understand it better than English.  I want to be able to connect with such people.  Second, it is the nature of leadership that people only listen to you when they respect you.  And one of the best ways to earn respect is to show respect for others.  So I am learning the language, hoping that the Lakota will feel respected by my willingness to learn about them.

Baby Shower! 

 

Two of our newer members, Adam and Rachel Cowan, had a baby girl about two weeks ago.  So the women of the church wanted to hold a baby shower for her four weeks ago, and my wife volunteered to host it.  It turned out great!  There were refreshments and gifts, as are the tradition.  But when it came time for the games, they went a little unconventional.  After the women had given Rachel her presents, each of them wrote their own thank-you note, addressed an envelope to themselves, and presented it to Rachel as a way of lightening her workload. 

 

A New Ministry Tool

 

At any given time, I have about a dozen ideas in the back of my head about ways to help the church.  One project that we just finished this month is shown in the picture above.  It is a map of Eagle Butte-about six feet long and four feet wide-attached to the wall in our office.  This would not be very useful in most cities, but in Eagle Butte it is wonderfully helpful.  You see, while our streets have names, they don’t have any signs to mark where they are.  And while our houses have numbers, most of these numbers are not written on the houses.  The result is that it is next to impossible to explain where anything is.  But now, thanks to this map, I can mark the house of all the church members, and find them when I do visitation.  Even better, we can use it to mark the houses of all the children that we pick up for Sunday morning breakfast-and then use the map to train new van drivers.  It’s little things like this that make me happy.

Plans for the Future

 

On March 10-13 of this year, First Baptist Church will be hosting a revival in Eagle Butte.  We will be getting a guest speaker from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and together we will launch an all-out effort to spread the Gospel, expand the church and reenergize the local Christians.  It’s going to be awesome!  However, as is the case with every revival, we cannot be effective without the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit.  That’s why I want to ask all of you to pray that God will move in the hearts of the people of this reservation to win them to Christ.  When you pray for our evangelism efforts, it is exactly the same as being right there with us, working alongside us for the furthering of God’s Kingdom.

 

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

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

 

 

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, 

It has been a wonderful Christmas for us here in Eagle Butte, as the celebrations we had planned went along perfectly.  Some of us who moved here from out of town got the chance to visit with their out-of-state families, and those of us who stayed in town celebrated in the unique way that happens here on the Cheyenne River reservation.  One man blended Christmas with his native heritage by setting up a tipi in his front yard and decorating it with Christmas lights.  Unbelievable!  I’ve seen a lot of unusual Christmas trees in my time, but a Christmas tipi is an absolute first!

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 7^th 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 4^th 2012.

A memorial gift has been received in honor of the late Andre Cowins, who passed away on November 9^th, 2012.

A memorial gift has been received in memory of the late Tanner Gray, who was lost to us on November 19^th, 2012.

A memorial gift has been made in memory of the late Robert Frye, who passed away on Wednesday, June 6^th, 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