Thank you for praying for our Christmas events in December! Once again, our youth presented the Nativity in a beautiful way this year. Narrators read from Luke 2 and Matthew 2 while Christmas carols softly played. Between scenes the congregation would sing selected carols. Once everyone was on stage, the Praise Team sang “Of the Father’s Love Begotten.” After the Nativity, they quickly changed and came back for a song they had prepared, “The Wexford Carol.” Some of the kids are displaying the hats everyone received that day. After the Nativity and sermon, we had a delicious fellowship dinner. Thank you again for your faithful prayers!

We wanted to let them know we appreciated their hard work on the Nativity, so we threw them a pizza making party!

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for this ministry! Thank you for your faithful support! God has answered your prayers for our account! Thank you to Haven Free Will Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC, and Bethel Free Will Baptist Church in Woodbridge, VA, for giving so generously to get our account out of the red. Praise the Lord!

For the past month and a half, we have been praying that the Lord would guide us by His Spirit to know what to do in the coming year. On January 12, we met, and God answered our prayers. He unified us by His Spirit and gave us some great ideas to reach out to the community and to minister to those in our congregation. Please pray that the Lord would motivate us to implement these ideas, and that He would give us wisdom and grace, and that He would make our efforts fruitful. Thank you for praying!

I Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us, “Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing,  in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  Thanks be to our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has done so much for us this year!  We are rejoicing in His goodness.  God is using each experience in our lives to teach us how to love and serve each other and how to show Christ’s love as we minister to the needs of those God has brought our way.

Praise the Lord, in October, two more people have asked Jesus Christ to forgive their sins and be their Savior!

This year everyone had such a great time at the Harvest Party.  We also enjoyed a campfire singalong, devotion time, and yummy dinner.  The judges worked hard to evaluate the pies while the kids played and tried to break their pinatas.  Thank you for your prayers!

In October, Bill traveled to Linneus Free Will Baptist Church in Linneus, ME, for a revival.  Special thanks to Pastor & Mrs. Rick Murray and the Linneus church for their wonderful hospitality.  It was so nice to fellowship with you!  Thank you for your prayers and support!  Special thanks to Pastor Paul Collins  and Harrisonburg FWB Church in Harrisonburg, VA, Pastor Dave Nobles and Bethel FWB Church in Woodbridge, VA, and Pastor Glen Johnson and Good News FWB Church in Chesterfield, VA, for allowing us to present our ministry in November.  Thank you for your  hospitality, prayers, and support.  We enjoyed your fellowship!

Just a quick health update on Bill & Christy:  By God’s grace, both are fully recovered. Your love and prayers during the times of our illnesses were invaluable and a great encouragement.

As 2013 is quickly drawing to a close, we look back on the opportunities God has provided for our church family.  The Lord has given us great blessings and opportunities to reach out to each other and to the community in which God has placed us.  You have partnered with us in all of this through your continued prayers and financial support.  We are so grateful for each of you!  May God richly bless you, your churches, and your families as we look forward to serving Him together in 2014.

Upcoming Events and Prayer Requests:
November 24–Church Thanksgiving Fellowship
December 15–Living Nativity and Church Christmas Dinner
December 24–Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion & Carols
Please pray for these events as we prepare for them & invite people to come.  Please pray as we plan for outreach opportunities in 2014.  Thank you so much!

Thank you for your faithful prayers and continued support!!! Praise the Lord–two people have asked Jesus Christ to forgive them of their sins and be their Savior this month! Praise His glorious name!

It was so nice to go camping together as a church! We had a wonderful Saturday morning prayer breakfast, and then Sunday after church, we came back to camp for “s’more” fun! Getting together in God’s great oudtoors was such a blessing. Those who couldn’t camp overnight were able to come and join the fun during the day. Praise the Lord for good fellowship!

What a lovely day we had together at our Autumn Tea. Our ladies prepared dainty finger foods and decorated the tables beautifully! Twenty-nine ladies in all gathered for sweet fellowship. Our guest speaker presented a devotion on missions. She gave an illustration which challenged us. According to her, only 2/10 of us and 0.5% of our finances go to unreached people groups worldwide. Let’s pray that God would help us do better! You can see more pictures of this and other events by clicking here.

On September 22, the Youth Chorus sang “Trust in the Lord” by Ron Hamilton. It is a song with text taken from Proverbs 3:5-6, which says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” They did a beautiful job! The kids also began making the pinatas for our upcoming Harvest Party. They covered balloons with paper mache. They will paint them this coming Sunday.

We are so thankful that the Free Will Baptist Home Missions Heritage Tour stopped by on Sunday, September 1. For Sunday School, Pastor Henry Horne from Union Chapel Free Will Baptist Church in Chocowinity, NC, blessed us with a message.  After that, Pastor Dann Patrick from Faith Free Will Baptist Church in Goldsboro, NC, delivered the Worship Hour sermon. Praise the Lord, one lady for whom we had been praying accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior, asking Him to forgive her sins! Quite a few local visitors also joined us!! What a great day!
To top it all off, we went into the fellowship hall for a Seafood Fest! Fresh clams, called “Steamahs,” Clam “Chowdah,” Baked Stuffed Quahogs, called “Stuffies,” and Baked Stuffed Fluke (flounder) were the star players in this event. We also had some Italian food and great desserts. Yum!  See more pictures of this and other events by clicking here.  Be sure to keep scrolling down to see other events!

Our church folks so enjoyed visiting with everyone from the Heritage Tour.  It is great when other Free Will Baptists from around the country can come to visit.  Thank you so much for being a blessing to Beacon!  Come back anytime!

It was so nice to get to see Pastor & Mrs. Dann Patrick again!  They are from Christy’s childhood church, Faith Free Will Baptist Church in Goldsboro, NC.  He also married Bill & Christy.  What a wonderful treat that they came with the Heritage Tour! Christy’s parents, Ed & Mary Edmonds, pictured left, also came for a visit.  It was wonderful to take them on a tour of the church and spend time with them.  We are so thankful that they could come up!  It was such a privilege to give everyone from the Home Missions Office a tour of the church in person!  What a blessing!