BCM/D Roundup, March 18, 2021
“For now the winter is past; the rain has ended and gone away. The blossoms appear in the countryside. The time of singing has come, and the turtledove’s cooing is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines give off their fragrance. Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one.” Song of Songs 2:11-13
Baptism
Danny Moore, the pastor of Barnesville Baptist Church in Maryland, baptized new believer Brooke Speed on March 14, a day before Speed turned 18.
Barnesville Baptist Church Pastor Danny Moore baptizes Brooke Speed (submitted photo).
Speed used to attend the church but had stopped for several years. She began watching online during the COVID-19 restriction period and then returned when the church reconvened in person, became convicted of her sin, and made a confession of faith. “Brooke wanted to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she knew the Lord and was baptized before she became an adult. I was so excited,” Moore said.
Chains or Change
The Gates Church (TGC) in Armistead Gardens recently welcomed “Stauros Alive!” a music ministry of Stauros, which helps individuals and churches with substance abuse issues through a mentoring type of process. TGC’s Pastor Austin O’Donald recently completed a sermon series titled “Taking off the Shackles.”
Austin O’Donald, with his wife, Meryl, and their children moved to Baltimore in 2015 to plant a church in Baltimore. The Gates Church shares the building with Northeast Baptist Church (submitted photo).
Virtual prayer summit
Last year, Georgette Littlejohn, a member of New Hope Baptist Church of Prince George’s County in Fort Washington, Maryland, created a women’s prayer and sharing platform called “Prayer Tours™”.
Describing the ministry, Littlejohn said, “It is a safe space for women to come and receive prayer and talk about current issues and things they are experiencing in their lives.”
On March 20, Prayer Tours™ will be celebrating its first birthday. To commemorate, Littlejohn will host a free virtual prayer summit at noon on March 20. The summit will offer different prayer rooms which cover a variety of areas including anxiety, fear, depression, finances, forgiveness, family, children, addictions, shame, sickness and more! Visit the website for more information.
Lenten/Easter happenings
Dunkirk Baptist Church in Maryland will host a virtual Passover Seder on March 31. Rabbi Robert Pristoop, who leads Mishkan HaShofar in Silver Spring, will lead the event. The church is delivering the Passover ingredients to church members’ homes upon request so they can tangibly participate.
Dunkirk Baptist Church will host a virtual Passover featuring Rabbi Bobby Pristoop, who leads Mishkan HaShofar (photo by Sharon Mager).
The church will have an in-person Good Friday service which will feature a dramatic presentation of “At the Foot of the Cross.” The short play was written by Pastor Ben Holland and Youth Pastor Chris Garrett. Jeff Larsen, a member of the church with experience in community theater, will direct the program.
On Easter Saturday, kids can have fun at the church’s Easter egg hunt which will include a special children’s message.
Members will gather on Resurrection Sunday at 6:30 a.m. for an outdoor sunrise service, weather-permitting, and a 10:30 a.m. indoor celebration service.
Lexington Park Baptist Church in Maryland will have in-person worship on Good Friday with a representative from “Jews for Jesus” presenting on Christ in the Passover and the observance of the Lord’s supper. They will kick off Resurrection Sunday with a “Son Up” service at a local beach on the bay, then have an in-person worship service with digital options available. The church will also celebrate several baptisms on Easter.
Severna Park Baptist Church in Maryland will have an outdoor family-friendly experience about the meaning of Easter. There will be games, interactive activities and craft stations, food for purchase, and take-home treats.
Bethany Church in Ellicott City will have an “Easter Extravaganza and Pancake Breakfast” from 8-11 a.m. on April 3. Families can enjoy breakfast outside on the church lawn or can do “takeout.” Family fun activities will include an obstacle course, photo booth, and, of course, an egg hunt for the children. The cost for the breakfast is $7 and funds will support the church’s Generation Hope mission trip. The egg hunt and other activities are free.
History Bites
The youth of First Church, Waldorf, celebrated the blizzards of 2010 with a “whiteout party,” including an “official” snowball battle, open gym time and pizza.
Second Baptist Church in Cumberland,Maryland, sent a missions team to New Orleans late last month to help with the ongoing rebuilding from the damages from Hurricane Katrina. The team sold soup and sandwich lunches after church during January to help raise funds for the trip (adapted from the BaptistLIFE’s 2010 AssociationLife).
“Born in 1850 in the industrial port city of Baltimore, Maryland, Annie Armstrong, or “Miss Annie,” as she was affectionately known, attended Seventh Church, which at the time met at Paca and Saratoga Streets (the current site of the Shrine of Saint Jude). At Seventh, Armstrong was baptized at the age of 19 and shortly thereafter joined over 100 members from Seventh to pioneer a new work at Eutaw Place Church at Eutaw Place and Dolphin Street. There, Armstrong remained an active member for nearly 70 years, until her death in 1938” (adapted from a BaptistLIFE 2006 article by Shannon Baker).
“I feel that it is good to commit my soul, my body, and my all into the hands of God. Then the world appears little, the promises great; and God an all-sufficient Portion.” — William Carey
