American Baptist Churches of Pennsylvania and Delaware

ABCOPAD Life! Blog

Volunteer Mission Opportunities

 

Hoping to make the region website more user friendly, we've redesigned the pages listing volunteer mission opportunities. It's a quick click from the ABCOPAD "Home Page" to "Mission Trips" where there is a menu for domestic and international mission trips scheduled for 2018. At this date there are 22 different trips listed. 

Check it out HERE!
Categories: General, Ministries, Region Life ~ Date: 2/20/2018
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World Religions and Cults

 

Pastor Randy Powell and Jeff Johnson went online for a test run of the upcoming Leader/Lay Learning Class being offered in March. The course will be totally online, an hour and a half for four consecutive Tuesday evenings. Check out the details HERE

Handouts will be provided. For those ACTS grads needing continuing ed credits for continued certification, this a course where you can get them. For those wanting to better understand this multi-religious world in which we live, this is the class for everyone. Register today!

 

Categories: General, Ministries, Region Life ~ Date: 2/20/2018
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West Shore Worship

 

Recently, Mark Mahserjian-Smith had a chance to join the contemporary worship service at the West Shore Baptist Church before disembarking to Israel. It was great connecting with so many friends at the church.

 

 

 

  

The worship service was great with wonderful music provided by the Praise band. Associate Pastor Greg Kabakjian read scripture and Interim Pastor Paul Thompson was also at the service. All great partners in ministry.

 

 

Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 2/18/2018
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WWJD Christian Center

 

Sunday morning, Jeff Johnson had the pleasure and privilege of worshipping at the WWJD Christian Center in West Waynesburg PA.

 

He was there, in part, to present a grant check from the region to the congregation to assist in the launch of a Christian Scouting program called Caravan Clubs. 

 

Jim and Cathie Carpenter are the co-pastors of the church. They shared responsibilities in the service. They are both grads of our regional school of ministry that I was given the chance to promote, mentioning our upcoming Leader/Lay Learning Course, World Religions and Cults being offered next month. 

 

Pastor Cathie did the children's message on houses to parallel with my sermon. Since the kids stayed in worship with the adults, Pastor Cathie provided the kids activity pages. On our way to another church, we all went out to a local restaurant for a quick lunch. The food and fellowship was great!

Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 2/18/2018
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LLC @ Lansdale

 

 

Recently, one of our region's LLC met in Lansdale for our February meeting. Pastor Christopher Hamilton was the host. You might remember our former Regional Pastor For Student Ministries, Eric Kraihanzel, who now serves FBC Lansdale as their lead pastor. It was fun catching up with Eric. We finished discussing the book on Hospitality.

 

Pastor Rob Rice, the rebel, ate a donut in the vestibule despite a sign making it clear this was not allowed. Hahahahaha.

 

Rev Scott Andrews, (MacVeytown Presbyterian Church) is friends with Tod Bolsinger, the author of our next book, Canoeing the Mountains. Pastor Scott got all of us autographed copies of the book to read. Pretty fun. A great day with friends learning and laughing.

Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 2/16/2018
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Uniontown Tornado

 

As you may have seen on the news, an EF1 tornado touched down in Uniontown Pennsylvania (50 miles south of Pittsburgh) on the evening of February 15. It hit a northern part of the town. No lives were lost. No serious injuries occurred. A number of homes and buildings in a limited area of several streets and avenues were severely damaged or destroyed. A number of students in the local school district were impacted.  None of our churches nor their congregants were directly impacted by the tornado. 

 

 

Categories: General ~ Date: 2/15/2018
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Worship at Moreland Baptist Church

 

Recently, Mark Mahserjian-Smith worshiped with the congregation at Moreland Baptist Church. You will recall Moreland sent a disaster relief team to Huston in January. It was great have a chance to connect with many members of the team and hear their testimonies.

 

Mark had a chance to see some of our ABCOPAD Grant dollars at work. Moreland received a grant for equipment and materials to do drama during worship. Amanda and Kristin did a great job encouraging men to step up their game for Valentines Day. It was funny but also very true.

 

Pastor Bob Ingraham delivered his morning message and used it as an opportunity to talk about the church’s vision as revealed through the co::lab process. Just great being with these awesome partners in ministry.

 

Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 2/11/2018
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True Love Dates

 

West Shore Baptist Church held an outreach event for the community featuring counselor and author, Debra Fileta ( “True Love Dates”) who spoke on the topic of healthy relationships. She did a fantastic job sharing on the topic, fielding many questions from the group.

 

Following her presentation, Frank Frischkorn had the privilege of leading a number of couples in a reaffirmation of their wedding vows.

 

 

Afterwards everyone shared in a reception in the fellowship hall, complete with a cutting of the cake!

 

Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 2/10/2018
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Central Union Association
Clergy and Spouses

 

 
 

Recently, clergy and spouses from the Central Union Association gathered at Grace Crossing Community Church to dialogue under the theme “Authentic Relationships in an Age of Anger. Pastor Doug Stratton provided his specialty: barbecued brisket and pulled pork for the main course.  The side dishes and desserts were provided in pot luck fashion from the other participants.

Rev. Dr. Andrew Bush shared insights from his recently published book “Millennials and the Mission of God” which he co-authored with one of his former students, Carolyn C Wason. His insights launched a discussion on the night’s theme and we were joined by 8 members of the Grace Crossing Young Adult group (ACTS) to add to the discussion.

Plans are being considered for future CUA meetings under a similar format on a quarterly basis to discuss pertinent topics and facilitate much needed dialogue between our churches as partners in mission and ministry.


 

Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 2/10/2018
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