January newsletter
The Global Aid Network (GAIN) is the
humanitarian aid division of Cru. Our
missionaries, Bill and Dawn Sundstrom,
will be taking some PSU students down to
Lancaster to help sort items at the
Logistics Center. We will be sending our
donations with them.
PFBC is supporting GAIN
ITEMS NEEDED
Items are sent to refugee centers and people in crisis or need around the world.
□ Clothing, especially coats – new & used
□ New school supplies
□ Blankets – new & used
□ Shoes – new & good condition
□ Hygiene items
Donate items by JANUARY 20TH.
Learn more at gainusa.org.
PARK FOREST BAPTIST CHURCH
Church Events
• Jan 2nd -– Toys for Tots Agency
Pick Up & Cleaning
• Jan 4th – Women’s Dessert & Video
• Jan 5th – Men’s Breakfast
• Jan 6th – Wagners Sharing during
Worship Service
• Jan 8th – All Access Monthly
Prayer Gathering
• Jan 10th - Esther & Ruth Women’s
Bible Study Starts
• Jan 13th – New Quarter of Grow
Deep Hour
• Jan 13th – Second Sundays Lunch
• Jan 13th & 20th – Membership Class
• Jan 19th – Date Nite
Growing Stronger.
Think about it. There are probably a lot of ways over the
course of your life that you grew stronger, but they took a
little bit of work. If you look back on those days of growing
stronger and remember the effort you put in, and it wasn’t
always fun, but now you wouldn’t change a thing because
of the results from the effort. Maybe you spent some time
in the gym lifting weights. Maybe you studied hard for
your degree or to get a good grade and you gained
knowledge. Maybe you worked hard at a craft that took
years for you to become proficient in, but now you are
stronger in your ability. Getting stronger is not always
easy, it takes effort and hard work, but growing stronger is
also one of the ways that God invites us to live our lives in
our relationship with Him. We must think about and be
intentional about our spiritual growth. I Peter 2:2-3 says,
“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it
you may grow up into your salvation, now that you have
tasted that the Lord is good.”
Multiply
This year in 2019, as a church we are relaunching a fantastic
growth plan for you. It’s called “Multiply”. Yes, it will take
effort on your part if you choose to participate, just like
anything else in life, it might require reordering some
priorities, but it will be well worth it. Multiply is a
discipleship Bible study book written by two well-known
pastors, Francis Chan and David Platt. Why should you use
Multiply? Whether you have been a believer for many
years or if you are just new to your relationship with Jesus,
the Multiply book is written to help you be stretched in
your walk with God as you meet with one other person
regularly to grow stronger in your walk with God, by
discussing questions around 24 unique Bible studies that
cover topic such as, “Living as a Disciple Maker”, “Living as
the Church”, “How to Study the Bible”, “Understanding the
Old Testament” and “Understanding the New Testament”.
This material is part of PFBC’s discipleship material for you
that we encourage every person to go through with one
other person and then continue to use year after year as
you have the opportunity to help disciple other people in
their relationship with Christ.
So here’s the challenge.
Starting in January, find one other person you know who
you would like to meet with once a week for one hour.
Meet for breakfast, lunch, over a cup of coffee. Have read
the chapter for the week, and then discuss the questions
with each other. Grow. Grow stronger. Grow stronger in
your relationship with Christ and in the plan that God has
for your life. By meeting together, you are not only
investing in your growth, but you will be helping another
person grow. Jesus called us to be followers who help
make other followers in the Great Commission in Matthew
28. Let’s make 2019 a year of great growth in your walk
with God. Commit to growing stronger. (*Multiply books
are available in the office for a small donation or you can
download the Multiply app for IOS or Android.)
Pastor Jeremy
Thoughts From Pastor Jeremy
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you
may grow up into your salvation, now that you have tasted that the
Lord is good.
I Peter 2:2-3
On January 13th
, the church will kick off our 2nd
quarter of classes. These “Grow
Deep Hour” classes fit into our Discipleship Strategy of "Come Hear, Grow Deep,
Serve With & Go Out".
Quarterly Classes Easy to schedule. Variety of classes.
This round of classes should end in April or sooner depending on the class.
Lineup
Crazy Love
John & Sandy Mackin
Room 7
ONE
The Woodlawn Study
Jim & Diana Crom Room 11
The Book of Ephesians*
(Women's Class)
Priscilla Cetnar Room 9
*Starting February 3
Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament
(Men's Class)
Phil Cetnar Room 8
1 John
Small Group
Nate McElroy Room 12
Mini-Series Discussion
(College & Young Professionals)
Josh & Daniel Cetnar, Tessa Cooper Room 10
It's crazy, if you think about it. The God of the universe loves us
with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our
typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to
cuss. God is calling you to a passionate love relationship with
Himself. Because the answer to religious complacency isn't work-
ing harder at a list of do's and don'ts—it's falling in love with God.
In 1973, Birmingham was torn by racism and hate. God worked
through the Woodlawn high school football team to unite the city
and ignite a spiritual awakening. Could it happen again? ...it only
takes one person to start a revolution. What if that person is you?
Has it ever dawned on you that nothing has ever dawned on
God? He knew before the world began that His people would
face hardship, so He gave us His Word. The Book of Ephesians is
a survival manual—it equips believers to thrive in a world that
hates the message of Jesus Christ.
Continuing in...
1 John
Study by
Nate McElroy & Small Group
Continuing in...
Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament
(Currently in Numbers)
Study by Phil Cetnar
Mini-Series Discussion
Group discussion using the Bible, different RightNow Media video
series, and other resources. For Young Adults (18-35 years old).
Women’s Class
WOMEN’S MINISTRY HIGHLIGHTS
The Annual Christmas Brunch was
held again at Cheryl’s Victorian home in
December. It was a wonderful morning
of delicious food, great fellowship with
friends, and a beautiful talk by Jenny
Summers, from the Pregnancy Resource
Clinic (PRC). Jenny shared her testimony
and how Luke 2:19, “But Mary treasured
up all these things and pondered them
in her heart”, applies to us each day.
Mary had much to ponder as she was to
give birth to Jesus but through it all she
held it dear to her heart. Jenny en-
couraged us about what we may be
pondering and each lady was given an
ornament with a paper inside to write
what we treasure. Thank you so much to
the women and Crom’s Small Group for
decorating Cheryl’s home for this
special event. A BIG thank you to Cheryl
and Paul for hosting!
Thanks to all the ladies who contributed
to our Pregnancy Resource Clinic
week of blessings! As the Christmas
bags were delivered each day, the girls
on staff at PRC couldn’t contain their
appreciation and excitement. It’s a small
way to show Jenny, the executive direc-
tor, and her staff how much we appreci-
ate what they do in our community.
Our youth group and a few small
groups have helped Cheryl DeCusati
do two outreach activities. Cheryl had
the opportunity to share the love of
Jesus with two of the Bellefonte Elemen-
tary Schools who brought their students
and teachers to her house to Christmas
carol. During her teaching years, Cheryl
always shared Jesus with those in her
path and her heart continues to do that
even through her sickness.
We made over six hundred little cards
with a message & candy cane for each
student. Every year, she would make an
ornament necklace for the teachers. It
continued again this year with help from
our church. Thank you again to Jon and
the youth kids, the small groups, and
the other women who helped Cheryl
fulfill her wishes.
COMING AHEAD
The Ladies Spring Retreat will be here
soon—April 5-7, 2019. Later in January,
registration brochures will be available.
Join our planning team to help us make
our retreat a good one! Our first
planning meeting is January 9, 2019,
at 5:30 PM in Pastor Jeremy’s office.
Our Women’s Ministry Team is looking
to grow. We have three ladies but I
would love to see four more join us in
2019! If interested, see Hilary Field or
Priscilla Cetnar.
Women’s Ministry
Dessert and Video - Ladies, as you begin the new year, consider joining us on January 4 at 7
PM for dessert and the fourth video in the series Living Life Together, at the home of Hilary
Field (667 Devonshire Drive, State College). It’s a great opportunity to con-
nect with other ladies and enjoy some yummy dessert!
Breaking Free: Women’s Bible Study will resume their Wednesday mornings study of the
Beth Moore series Breaking Free on January 9 at 9:30 AM in Room 9.
Esther & Ruth Women’s Bible Study - The new study begins Thursday, January
10, at 7 PM in Room 9. Sign up for workbooks at the Activity Center and talk
to Audrey Ogden for more information.
Women’s Grow Deep Class - Sunday mornings from 9:30-10:30 AM, will
conclude their study of Ruth this month, and will begin Ephesians on February 3 using the
video series The Book of Ephesians by J.D. Greear.
In the video series Common Man:
Uncommon Life speaker Jeff
Bramstedt shares with us the
importance of the rigorous
training that a Navy Seal goes
through in the session titled “My
Training is Never Complete”.
Navy Seals are constantly
training. This prepares them for
whatever mission they are
assigned. Once they complete
that mission they return and
get right back into their training
so they are prepared for their
next mission.
Our Christian walk should be
much the same. Constant training
gives us the ability to go out as
the Apostle Paul instructed us to
run with perseverance the race
marked out for us (Hebrews 12: 1)
or fight the good fight of faith
(1Timothy 6:12). Each and every
day is a mission, we need to be
prepared.
How can we be sure we are
prepared? By training which
includes prayer, reading God’s
word and a coach who will help
you get through life. If you don’t
have a coach consider finding
someone who will encourage you
to continue to train.
What’s your New Year’s
resolution going to be? Hopeful-
ly, if you’re not in training, it will
include: prayer, reading God’s
word and finding a coach.
Link to last month’s video session
rightnowmedia.org/Content/
Series/265337?episode=4
Join us for the next
MEN'S BREAKFAST on January 5, 2019, 8 AM.
Dennis Devlin
Men’s Ministry
Men’s Ministry
Sunday School Classes
We have a wonderful Sunday School class for
elementary students that is taught by Julie
Zuercher. She is teaching from a curriculum
called Better Bible Teachers and the kids are
really enjoying it.
Babette is teaching the preschool children.
We would love to have more students in both
classes. Sunday School starts at 9:30 AM in
Rooms 4 & 5. Start the year off with a
resolution to get involved in Sunday School,
many adult classes/Small Groups are held
from 9:30 – 10:30 AM for parents. There is
something for everyone!
Looking to Serve?
If you are looking for a place to serve in the
church, Children’s Ministry has opportunities
for you to get involved. It is so special when
you can take the time to share your faith in
Christ with the children of PFBC. Please
consider how you can impact future
generations of our church. If you would like to
get involved, please get in touch with Babette
Children’s Ministry Happy New Year! We are excited to begin a new year
in Children’s Ministry.
Whew, what a year! As I sit here and reflect over
the last 12 months, I am encouraged by what I see.
This past January saw a youth ministry struggling to hold
it all together. As the months passed, leaders became
more comfortable with the new RIOT, and teens were
getting on board with the new direction we were headed.
The first major turning point came in the spring during
our Spring Retreat. We got to spend a weekend away
getting to know each other, growing closer together and
closer to God. A few more months passed by and we
had an incredible summer. Several teens spent a week at
Lake Ann camp growing by leaps and bounds in their
faith. Several teens spent the summer as counselors,
sharing their faith with the kids in their cabins. Other
teens went to other various camps, and one was used by
God to save a life. Summer ended and teens were
excited for a new school year. We challenged them hard
to stand out for Christ in their schools and to be bold in
their faith. We continue to see new faces both on
Sunday nights and at our monthly events. The teens are
showing a genuine care for each other, seeking prayer at
times, and reaching out to each other. They are also
spending time together when there is no youth group.
These are signs that the ministry is thriving. When I look
back on this year, I get more and more excited for this
coming year.
I know that God has some big things planned for RIOT,
and I look forward to seeing what they are.
Check out what some of our teens have
said about the ministry:
• My favorite part is how close all of us [are] but how
easy it is to get close with us.
• My favorite part is the preaching [you are] giving us.
• I like the activities we do together as a group.
• I found that the group has this really great dynamic
now with each other where we feel close enough to
share our personal lives.
• It’s really great to reflect upon the lesson[s] with each
other and apply it to our lives, and to get a break
from worldly things where we can get together and
worship God.
• So much bonding in Christ’s love.
• I like how we have really fun activities that we do
as a group and the leaders are just really amazing
and fun.
• You teach us about how to be strong in our faith
and basically how we can create an impact on
people's lives.
• My favorite part about youth group is the time
and effort all the leaders put into the time we
spend together.
RIOT Report
Please Pray
• For the new year and the places that God is
leading us.
• For our Youth Worship Team.
• For our teens to continue to be bold in their
schools (we've been challenging them).
• For our Juniors and Seniors that have been
shifting their focus to leadership.
• For us as we continue to seek new ways to help
guide our teens to draw nearer to God.
• For the people that God will lead to the minis-
try to join us as leaders.
• For the teens that they can continue to seek
God and the ways that He would use them for
His kingdom.
• For the teens to want to seek out their lost
friends.
Praises
• We have an exciting outlook for the new year.
• The teens are being bold for Christ at their
schools.
• Teens are comfortable enough to invite their
friends.
• We are seeing an increase in maturity and in
numbers.
• We have teens seeking out friends that they
can bring with them.