What a yummy feast we enjoyed at our Wild Game dinner!  Dishes of Teriyaki Duck, Venison Stroganoff, Wild Turkey Pot Pie, Braised Dove, and Venison American Chop Suey filled the countertop.  We had quite a few visitors that day, as well.  Thank you for praying! God is good!

It was nice to attend the Northeast Association of Free Will Baptists’ annual Mid-Winter Refresher in Maine.  We fellowshipped with our New England churches and enjoyed the snow together. Praise the Lord, we have not had snow in 2 weeks!  Spring is hopefully around the corner!

This past month, we had 2 “firsts.” First, (ha!) our church was the site of a wedding for one of our couples on February 16–a first for the new building!  Second, one of our dear members went home to be with the Lord in late February.  Norman Hargraves will be terribly missed, but we are thankful to know he is at rest with our Lord!  So on March 4, we held our first funeral in the new building.

We are so thankful for a place to worship, learn, fellowship, cry,  grieve, laugh, and celebrate together.  God has instituted the church, His church, to be a family–His family!  What peace it brings to know that our church family is there for us no matter what comes!

The love and support we can offer each other represents the love and support that Jesus Christ offers those who trust in Him for salvation.  Not only do we have the joy of a relationship with our Lord, but we become a part of something so wonderful–a place of belonging and a place of service–the local church.

How nice to have a visit from our friends, Danny, Dawn, Summer, Autumn, Joshua, & Jonathan Elliott–FWB Missionaries to Quebec.   What a blessing it was to have Danny preach for us that Sunday.  While here, we celebrated Autumn’s  birthday with an Allie’s Donut Cake! (Allie’s is an amazing local donut shop.) It is nice to fellowship with other Free Will Baptists!

Please pray for us as we start some exciting new things in our Wednesday night programs.  On Wednesday nights, we will be incorporating some creative play time, Bible memory, Child Evangelism Fellowship Bible lessons, and a choir to teach the children some theory and special music for church.  Tommy Goodfellow will be teaching the teens and adults what the Bible says about child-rearing. We will continue with the half-hour prayer time with adults and children together.  That has been a tremendous blessing and faith-builder for all of us!

Please join us in praying for our Sunday School attendance to increase.  Sunday School is a small group Bible study for all ages.  God has given us some additional teachers, so here are the classes we will be offering very soon:

Nursery         Preschool        Primary        Junior

Teen            Adult            Married Couples

Please also pray with us as we continue to strive to live up to our Mission Statement:

Beacon Free Will Baptist Church is dedicated to helping you and your family have a close relationship with Jesus Christ through biblical teaching and warm Christian fellowship.

We are so thankful to announce that Tommy and Sue Goodfellow are moving to Rhode Island to help us in the ministry at Beacon.  Please pray for them as they search for housing and get settled in.  What a blessing they are to us!

The church is piled high with snow after the Blizzard of 2013!
Thank you for your continued prayers for Christy.  Praise God, she does not have a collagen deficiency as was thought originally. Apparently, it was a spontaneous bilateral dissection of her carotid arteries.  We are continuing the Gerson Therapy Diet for now, and she feels great!  We are confident, God willing, that she will make a full recovery.  Thank you again for your prayers!  You have been such an encouragement to us!
After our January fellowship dinner, we went over to Wickford Lanes and had a ball! (Ha, Ha!)  How great to have such a good time together! We filled that bowling alley!  Praise the Lord!
We are very thankful for our wonderful church family.  God is good!
Thank you for your faithful prayers and continued support!!!

How exciting to have our Living Nativity on the beautiful stage in the new church building!  Once again our children and teens did an amazing job of portraying the first Christmas.  It was a great service full of joy at remembering our Savior’s birth.  After Pastor Bill’s sermon entitled, “A Wise Approach to Christmas,” we enjoyed a delicious ham dinner together in the fellowship hall.  We even played ping pong and Pictionary/Charades and had a great time!  Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support for Beacon Free Will Baptist Church!!
We want to thank all of you for your prayers regarding Christy’s recent health crisis.  She was diagnosed with bilateral dissection of her carotid arteries due to a collagen deficiency.  Thank God she suffered no brain damage or stroke, and doctors said they expect a full recovery with an aspirin a day and 2 weeks of bedrest.  She is currently following the Gerson Therapy Diet to promote more rapid healing.  We can see God’s hand at work and are very thankful.  Thank you for your continued prayers!  Your overwhelming support means so much to us!

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, & Happy New Year!!

What a great year 2012 was!  God has been so good to us!  He blessed us with a mild winter last year enabling us to build the church more quickly.  Already this fall we had a Nor’easter with freezing rain, snow, and icy winds.  If that had happened last year when we were trying to put the roof on, it would have made things move more slowly for sure!  That is just one example of the provision God gave for getting the church built.

Our Harvest Party went so well this year at the church!! Our kids & grown-ups alike especially look forward to Pinatas, Games, Great Food, Hot Spiced & Cold Cider, Pie Baking Contest, Candied Apples, Campfire Sing-a-long, Devotion, Marshmallow Roasting, Great Fellowship, and Tons of Fun! (Campfire Marshmallow Roasting took a raincheck for the following week due to bad weather.  We had a great time around the fire-pit after some planning meetings.) It was great to have Dave & Gaye Nobles and Tommy & Sue Goodfellow visit that day!  What a blessing!! We had multiple first-time visitors who said they loved the church.  Please pray for us as we reach out to them and to others!

As we look toward Thanksgiving and Christmas, we’d like to ask you to pray about our outreach ministries.  We are planning a Thanksgiving Outreach Dinner with fresh turkeys for Sunday, November 18.  Please pray for us as we prepare food for 200 + people and that it would be an effective outreach ministry.

December 16 is our Living Nativity and Church Christmas Dinner–please pray as we prepare and advertise these events and for many people to respond to God’s great offer of Salvation in Jesus Christ!  Thank you!!

We want to personally thank each of you for your faithful prayers and support!  May God bless you with a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year! 

Thanks again,
Pastor Bill, Christy, Michaela, Hannah, Billy,  Sarah, & Cocoa