NON-PROFIT

ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #116 ROLLA, MO

1608 N Oak St Rolla MO 65401-2342 573-364-1266 www.rolla-firstassembly.org office@rolla-firstassembly.org

PRAYER ISSUE
Chuck Whitmire
Lead Pastor
pastor_chuck@rolla-firstassembly.org

JULY 2013

Spotlight on . . .

MAKING EVERY CHRISTIAN A MISSIONARY

Tim and Lauri Kean

the choir. He and Lauri are currently in the process of moving their membership to Rolla First Assembly of God. Lauri was born and raised in Illinois with her sister, Brandy, and brother, Shane. She was saved in 1993, and relocated to St. James with her parents, Bill and Judy Gentry, in 1995. Lauri served in the Navy when she was younger. She attended Rolla First Assembly of God for a few years after relocation, then she began attending the St James First Assembly in 2004. Lauri was very active in the St James Assembly of God: she was Nursery Director, taught Sunday school, ran the projection system, and taught Rainbows, and sang in both the choir and with the praise and worship team. Lauri currently runs an inhome day care, and recently graduated from Columbia College with a Bachelors degree in business administration.
(Continued on page 6)

Ray Cook
Associate Pastor
fireguy@rollafirstassembly.org

Dalton Avery
Youth Pastor
pastordalton@rollafirstassembly.org

~ Weekly Schedule ~
Sunday Morning Worship Contemporary: 9:15 am Traditional: 10:45 am Christian Development 9:15 & 10:45 Sunday Evening Service - 6:00 pm Everdeep for Youth Wednesday Evening - 7:00 pm Prayer Service SPARK (for kids) The Forge Youth Church Prayer Meetings Sunday: 9:00-9:15 am MondayFriday: 7:00-8:30 am Tuesday: 12:00-1:00 Second Fridays Monthly: 8pm-3am Saturday: 6:00 pm Bible Studies Men: Tuesdays 6:30 am
Youth Girls: Thursdays 7 am at Panera

Brian Feller
Childrens Pastor
pastorbrian@rollafirstassembly.org

Sam Parker
KCA/TSC Director
kcatsc@rollafirstassembly.org

Additional Staff
Karen Turner
Administrative Assistant office@rolla-firstassembly.org

Mark Berry
Custodian

Tim was born in Washington Mo, and was raised in St James by parents Sharon and Lester Kean. He was an only child. He graduated from St James High School in 1992 and went on to complete an associates degree in design drafting at Linn State Technical College. He has worked for the Phelps County Assessors Office since 2005. Tim began attending First Assembly of God in St James when he was 20 and was saved during the summer of 1995. He moved to Joplin in May of 1996, and then returned home to St James in 1999. He was very active at his former church in St. James, playing bass and guitar on the praise and worship team, helping with both children's ministries and youth, and driving the bus. He loves spending time with his family, and classic cars and Jeeps. Tim loves his new church family, and enjoys playing on the praise and worship team and singing in

~ Office Hours ~
Nursery provided for Sunday morning & Wednesday evening services

Pansy Bingham
Business Administrator pansy@rolla-firstassembly.org

Inside:

This month:

Coming Up:

Monday-Friday 8-12 and 1-5

Abby Swearingen
Media Assistant media@rolla-firstassembly.org

A Letter from Pastor Regarding Prayer How Old Is the Earth?

VBS & camps Finding Favour Concert

Youth to National Fine Arts Back to School Splash Bash 33 Mile Concert

Our culture preaches that the earth and the universe are millions, even billions of years old. Science textbooks, science museums, educational TV, and even many in the church repeat this millions of years mantra. But what does the Word of God say? What does the Creator Himself say? Last month we discussed that throughout the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for day, yom, means a literal 24-hour day whenever it is used with an ordinal number (first, second, third) or with the expression, evening and morning. In the historical record of Creation, Genesis 1, the description of what was created each day finishes with the expression, And there was evening and there was morning the first [second, third . . .] day. (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31) God made it very clear that the days of Creation were literal 24hour days! Genesis 1 also shows us where we get the concept of a week. Do you need more proof? The Fourth Commandment, Exodus 20:8-11 says, Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God . . . For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day . . . God spoke the Ten Commandments audibly to the children of Israel on Mount Sinai. Then He wrote them on tablets of stone. In Deuteronomy 9:10, Moses states, The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you . . . (See also Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 32:15-16; 34:1, 28) So after stating clearly in Genesis 1 that Creation was a six day process, God spoke it audibly on Mount Sinai, and then wrote in six days in stone as part of the Ten Commandments. Are you going to argue with God about what He spoke or wrote in stone? (boldness mine) How old is the earth? Using the genealogies given in the Bible and other historical markers, we

know that there were approximately 2000 years from Creation and Adam to Abraham, another 2000 years from Abraham to Christ and about 2000 years from Christ to the present, giving a total age of the earth of about 6000 years. Bottom line: God created the earth and universe in six days about 6000 years ago. It did not take God millions of years. In fact, there are many dangers in believing in millions of years because it contradicts Scripture in other key areas. Well address this in future articles. Beverly Flori
Reference: Mike Riddle, Creation/Evolution: Does It Matter What We Believe, Answers in Genesis

Sunday 1

Monday

Tuesday

July
Wednesday 3 10

Thursday

Friday

Saturday 6 On call this weekend: Pastor Chuck 341-8086

2 Mens Bible Study 6:30 am

4 5 Independence Day Church office closed

7 Missions Sunday 8

9 Mens Bible Study 6:30 am

11 Board meeting 6:00 am

12 Pastor Chuck and Annettes anniversary

13 On call this weekend: Pastor Ray 578-7609

Vacation Bible School Week of Prayer

The Encounter 14 Communion 15 16 Mens Bible Study 6:30 am 17 18 All Night Prayer 8:00 pm 19 20 On call this weekend: Pastor Dalton 202-4208

First Assembly is partnering with Food For Orphans on October 19 to host a Food Packing Event. During this event, volunteers will package and ship meals of rice, protein, vegetables, chicken flavorings, vitamins, and minerals to orphans around the world. Participants will measure and combine ingredients, weigh and seal bags, and pack them for shipping. The food will then be shipped to a verified international orphan project in a third world country. Each bag contains 6 meals; each meal costs approximately 25 to pack. Packing is not strenuous, and can be done by almost anyone, including children. Most of our missions events are for adults only, but this is an opportunity for whole families to be involved in a missions project. This event is open to anyone, whether or not they attend our church, and can be quite large. We are looking for at least 250 packers to pack 54,000 meals in four hours. In addition to needing packers and sponsors, we are looking for businesses to sponsor whole tables or a number of meals. Your preparation for the food packing event can begin now. Set a bowl on your table. Each time you eat, place one quarter in the bowlthe amount it costs to feed one meal to one orphan. You will gather your entrance fee by the time of the packing event and have a constant reminder to pray for these orphans and the success of our event. Paying $54 will enable each participant to pack 216 meals in about 2 hours. If you are unable to pack but would like to help, please consider sponsoring another packer. Contact Abby at abbyswearingen@gmail.com or Kathi at missions@rolla-firstassembly for information or to sign up.

Youth Mission Trip to Denver

Family Feast Missions Committee Meeting 21 Building Fund 22 Baptism Sunday 23 Mens Bible Study 6:30 am 24 25 Youth Float Trip Finding Favour concert 26 27 On call this weekend: Pastor Brian 426-6235 Youth car wash fundraiser for Fine Arts trip 29 30 Mens Bible Study 6:30 am 31

Life Groups 28

Kids Camp
Burgers, Brats, and Bring Your Bible (whole church)

(Kean Continued from page 1)

Lauri loves to be around children and enjoys making cakes for family and friends, and spending time with her family. She and Tim first met attending church together at First Assembly of God in St. James. They were married September 24, 2005, and became a blended family. Currently the family resides in Rolla. Tim and Lauri have four grown children, Andy, Cody, Tyler, and Breanne. Andy and his wife Kate reside in Michigan. Andy is a veteran who served in the United States Navy. Cody and his wife Erin reside in St. Louis, and Cody currently serves in the Missouri Army National Guard. Tyler and his wife Leslie live in Rolla, and have three beautiful children- Aiden, Macie and Kira. Breanne and her husband Zac also reside in Rolla and have a son named Lukas. Tim and Lauri have two children still at home, Brenan who is 10, and Mikalah who is 5. Brenan loves basketball, and helping out at church. He is also a bright young man who loves to learn and read. He also loves to draw. Brenan recently completed 4th grade and will be home schooled for 5th grade this fall. Brenan was saved at the age of 4, was baptized when he was 8, and was baptized in the Holy Spirit at 9. He loves his new church family here in Rolla, and says his

favorite things about church are Sunday School, where he gets to learn more about Gods word, and children's church where he says they incorporate fun and Gods word. Mikalah, age 5, is the youngest of her family. She just completed a homeschool kindergarten program and will be attending first grade this fall at Truman Elementary School. Mikalah enjoys singing and playing with her toys and older siblings. She has been a student at the Dance Studio for the past four years. She loves to go to dance class and do pageants, but she loves to come to church the most. She loves her Pastors and teachers, and always has a hug for them. Mikalah was saved when she was three. She loves to sing praise and worship. She says her favorite part of church is going to class and children's church, but she also loves to go to her Wednesday night class. She says she loves to pray and learn more about Jesus. Tim and Lauri are happy to be a part of such a wonderful loving church family, and look forward to many years of growing and serving our Lord as members of Rolla First Assembly of God. Tim and Lauri Kean

For quite some time, I have noticed a lack of young adults, both single and married, in our Sunday evening services. The Lord is guiding me in some ways to try to reach this age demographic. I remember the late 70s, after my conversion, where God so often met us around altars on Sunday nights, and I miss that for our young people. We are gearing one particular night each month for 16-30 year olds, both single and married, to come and seek God. Everyone is welcome, but our focus will be for this age bracket. We will provide child care and, I think, a night that God visits us. You can join our Facebook group as well for updated information (facebook.com/groups/ the.encounter.rolla). More than anything, please pray for us and this generation. We have asked churches in Rolla and the surrounding areas to bring their young adults to this monthly event, and are hoping for a large

turnout. If you would like to be involved in making these nights a success, please contact Pastor Chuck or Pastor Dalton. The Encounter begins in the evening service on July 7th with special speaker missionary David Grant. One Sunday night each month at 6:00 pm, we are asking God to help young adults encounter the Holy Spirit in worship, instruction, community and mission. The Encounter is a service focusing specifically on encountering the presence of God. We will seek the Lord in the altars and wait on Him. The worship is open ended, the teaching will be challenging, and we pray we meet with God in a way many have never known. Pastor Chuck

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
Matthew 21:22

Wait! Before you discard any of your childrens outgrown clothing, please consider sharing them with the children of our single parents. The Amazing Moms board has designated Saturday, July 27, as Back-toSchool Shopping Day. When you start eliminating gently used clothing from your childrens closets and drawers, would you give them to this ministry? There are three girls and six boys of school age needing new school clothing. We know that there are many creative craftsmen among our church family. If you are one of those blessed people, would you consider sharing your craft with Amazing Moms? Were wanting to learn how to make crafts such as jewelry, cards, specialty items like tutus and flip-flops, and others. We have scheduled August 31 as Craft Night, and would like to invite all creative people to participate with us. For more information about any of our events, please contact Rose Skyles or any other board member: Cathy Skyles, Lindsay Davis, and Patti Adams. Rose Skyles

We have several missions trips planned in the next few months, and many more opportunities available. As this newsletter arrives, a team is remodeling a storefront for Theresa Odun-ayos church plant, which has outgrown the site where they were formerly holding services. We have sent a team to help Washington First Assembly build their new church, and will go again in the fall. There are many missions needs. If you would like to be include in email notifications of both our trips and opportunities to join with other teams, along with a monthly missions newsletter, please contact our missions coordinator, Kathi Garner, at missions@rollafirstassembly.org.

Upcoming Dates

September: return to Washington First Assembly October 19: Food Packing event March 22-29 2014: Spring construction mission trip to Minden, Louisiana

Church Family, I cannot get out of my mind Genesis 18:22 .Abraham remained standing before the Lord. This entire verse comes about because of the awful sin of Sodom and Gomorrah and it is grieving the heart of God. God doesnt want to pour out His wrath and justice on them, but will unless someone stands in the gap for this area. Our Father in heaven wants to show mercy to them and to us, and those around us, but it requires someone to stand in the gap and pray. Abraham, known as an altar builder, stands before the Lord in prayer and makes a difference in the lives of some of those in Sodom. A quick side note here: Abraham was not always a perfect example of a Christian but he got his life turned around and headed towards God and was effective in prayer. In Genesis 19:29 the Bible says So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe. Wow! That is God answering the prayer of a man on behalf of his nephew and his family as well. Do we want God to save our families, reach our friends, and turn America around? It will require closet and corporate prayer as the Bible prescribes to us. Thank you for being a praying people, but if youre not in a corporate prayer meeting, youre missing a key component of Gods plan and purpose for your life and your church. Sincerely, Pastor Chuck and Annette Parents, I am incredibly humbled every Sunday when you trust your children into my care. The opportunity to show kids who Christ is blesses me beyond measure. But I only see your children for maybe three hours on a good week, and thats really not enough time to instill in them the desire to follow Jesus for the rest of their lives. Thats where you come in! It starts as simply as taking the time to teach your children how to pray daily. They come home from the hospital with you incredibly helpless. They cant feed themselves, change themselves, tell you what they want, etc and the same holds true for what they grow up believing. Start by praying over them every day yourself, until the day they can start speaking. As soon as they can say simple words, they are ready to be taught how to pray. Ive seen it time and again in my own home. Prayers dont have to be long and wordy. Theres no special phrases you need to know. A prayer such as Dear God, thank you for my food. Amen is plenty to start with. If your children are older, a great place to start is with taking the time to teach them the Lords Prayer located in Matthew 6:9-13. The disciples needed to be taught how they should pray, so if our heavenly Father thought it was important for them, then it is important for us as earthly parents to take the time to teach our own children. This also requires us to model this behavior to our children ourselves. If we dont show that its important in our lives, why would they? The Bible gives us guidance in 1 Corinthians 11:1; Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. Paul knew that prayer was that important to Jesus, so then it must be important for him and for the whole body of Christ. Paul was the example for them. Take the time to let your kids know that prayer is important to you, and it is important for them. Blessings, Pastor Brian

James 5:16
Prayerwhen the word is spoken, thoughts may go in several directions. Some will think of spiritual warfare; others will turn their thoughts to praise. Still, some may think of prayer as being that intimate encounter with the Lord, Jesus. All of these, and more, are true concerning prayer. Prayer is bold and outspoken; and it is quiet even silent. Prayer is captured in a time increment as we enter into our private prayer room. It is also released in a continuum, as we begin to learn how to pray without ceasing. Sometimes, the thought of prayer scares people. Questions arise, such as: What if I dont pray right, for long enough, am eloquent enough or even as often as I should? The heart of prayer can override these thoughts. The way we pray, or even the way we approach prayer is as varied as the multitude of people who pray. There are also times that we pray for different things that will invoke a shift in the posture of prayer. For instance: when we meet early during the week for Morning Prayer, we place ourselves before God seeking insight and godly wisdom as we entreat his help for the many needs around us. During All Night Prayer Watch, we position ourselves for intercession. It is generally aggressive prayer that pushes into the Kingdom of God, seeking revival, restoration and change in the spiritual climate in our church family and in our city. Furnace Room Prayer lends itself more to being the watchers on the walls. We pray during the service with our spiritual eyes opened, keeping watch over the family of God, and leaning on the direction of the Holy Spirit. And during the Week of Prayer we focus on the heartbeat of our church, and we pray along with the leadership, so we can be in one accord with the pulse of the mission of our assembly for effective outreach to our city. And of course, these approaches to prayer overlap each time we meet. All of the different venues for prayer have an intended purpose, yet we know that the gathering of different people often determines the posture of prayer. This is a wonderful thing, especially when the Holy Spirit is ultimately the one who determines the prayer atmosphere. And it is when we are being led by the Spirit that the heart of prayer is breathed out through our lips and spoken into existence, calling out for salvation, reconciliation, restoration, revelation and more. Finally, a word on how we pray. This thought sums it up succinctly. We pray the same way we breatheas if it were natural to our existence. You are unique, and therefore, your prayers will be unique. I remember once at Morning Prayer, having prayed a long blast of bold, strong and otherwise loud prayers. They were prayers that shouted out a call of righteousness and a heavy hand of deliverance from God Almighty. Then, someone else began to pray, and her prayers were softly-spoken, gentle words voiced with a quiet reverence to her Daddy. I was taken to my knees by this prayer, and I realized how together we labored to push back the forces of evilI, with the faith believing for a move of the Mighty God, and she with the faith believing the effectual work of the love of our Abba, Father. Both were ways to access the throne, both were powerful and both were lined up in agreement just spoken uniquely and as surely as we breathe. Carol Hudler

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:20