MARCH 4, 2020Vol. 40 - No. 29

A PUBLICATION OF FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

MIDLAND, TEXAS

ARTICLE: TEAM AGUA FRIA TO GUATEMALA

ARTICLE: RAPTUREBY DEAN RIPPETOE

March 4, 2020 Page 2

Dear First Family,Grace, Peace and welcome to the New Banner. I’m excited about it and I believe you will be too. The stories you’ll read here will be our own – stories about our family in places of Christ’s service, YOUTH MINISTRY CANDIDATE COMING IN VIEW OF A CALLI’m glad to share with you we have a youth ministry candidate coming in view of a call! March 22 in our morning services, our candidate will be here for you to meet, hear from and prayerfully consider as our next youth minister. We know many of you have been looking forward to this opportunity as I have! Here’s our schedule for the weekend with our candidate:SATURDAY – March 21 – 2 PMA question and answer time with the candidate in Fellowship Hall #3 (the Ezekiel class). You’ll hear him share his testimony and have the chance to ask whatever questions you may have. SUNDAY – March 22In all three morning services, our candidate will offer a brief word of introduction and testimony. In our evening services that day, we’ll vote on calling him. I’ve asked our student ministry, our youth choir and our Challengers ministries to all be present for the vote that evening.

From The Pastor

Dr. Darin Wood - Senior Pastor

COSTA RICA MISSION TEAMThis Saturday, March 7, we’re sending a mission team to Costa Rica to serve Christ and the people of that great nation. I know that you’ll join me in praying for them. Josh and Sarah Arrambide, Adolfo and Alma Chavez, Zack and Marilyn Gallegos, Caleb Heredia, Cosme Heredia, Yalina Heredia, Kendall and Robert Kincaid, Gus and Kim Ortega, Sam Ortega, Amy and Olivia Vanderveer, DiAnn Koehl, Ava McIntyre, Cash McIntyre and Susan McIntyre. Pray for their safety in traveling, for the power of the Holy Spirit to use them while they’re serving the Lord there, for the strength to use their time for God’s glory and for God’s provision for their work. Pray for open doors for the Gospel and for the joy of the Lord to flow through each of them during this wonderful and beautiful opportunity! I’ve been on a lot of mission trips like this one. When I was younger, I saw these trips as a chance for God to change others through me. As I’ve grown, I’ve realized the one most changed by the trip is me. Our team will return on March 14.

Praying for God’s glory in the Permian Basin,Darin

Coming SundayMarch 8Time Change: Turn Your Clocks Ahead 1 Hour8:25 & 11:05 AM: Transition Sermon Series11:05 AM: Spanish Speaking Service in Youth Worship Area 5:00 PM: Join Us for Table Talk

Turn Your Clocks Ahead

1 Hour

What’s Next

MARCH 16 � 11:45 AM Brotherhood Lunch $6

Jim Walterhouse: Blessed Hands Deaf Church, Big Spring

MARCH 18 � Regular Wednesday Night Activities � 4:45 PM Wednesday Night Meal � Love & Respect

Led by Cory & Amy Brand � 6:00 PM WEBS with Dr. D � 6:15 PM Missional Motherhood

Led by Sarah Arrambide � 7:00 PM Authentic Manhood

Led by Berry Simpson

MARCH 26 � 11:45 AM D.M.A. Don’t Mention Age Luncheon

Program: Faithful Men

MARCH 22 � Regular Sunday Services � Youth Minister Candidate comes

in view of a call.

MARCH 6 � 9:00AM - MOPS

MARCH 11 � Spring Break

No activities except 6:00 pm prayer meeting

MARCH 19 � Ladies Lunchtime Bible Study

($6 optional lunch) Trustworthy by Lysa Terkuest - Led by Kristie Garnett ($15 Study Book)

SERVING OPPORTUNITIES

COMING SOON � Fun Days at First - Save the Date

Tuesday & Thursday, July 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, & 23 � Grand Camp - Save the Date June 23 - 25 � Camp in the City - June 29 - July 3 � VBS 2020 - June 1 - 4

Call 432-683-0609 To Volunteer (Gr. 1 - 6) Call 432-683-0611 To Volunteer (Preschool)

Prayer Times: Prayer line 432-683-0683

� 6:00PM, Tuesday, FBC Midland Prayer Room (located just north of Welcome Center Garfield St. side)

� 6:00PM, Wednesday, W.E.B.S... w/ Dr. Wood (Room E114 / West side of building - Garfield St. side)

� Noon, Thursday - FBC Midland Chapel

� 6:30AM, Friday - Men Only. Meet at coffee pot across from kitchen. (North end of building - Cuthbert Ave)

THANK YOU TO 6TH GRADE GA’S FOR HELPING PACK OUR FOOD 2 KIDS BAGS

Several of our mature adults are no longer able to participate in Sunday Morning Bible Study or Worship in the corporate setting. Our desire is to keep in touch with these folks and minister to them on a regular basis. If you are willing to be part of this ministry team, contact James Ervin or Rhonda Carroll at (432) 683-0600. Our Home Touch team will be dedicated to visiting and checking on the homebound on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

March 4, 2020 Page 3

“This is the statement which broke my heart”, says Paul Ross, one of the Agua Fria Team members which recently traveled to drill a water well for the remote village of El Tosoro in southwestern Guatemala.

This village is comprised of three different populations—roughly 30% each of Catholic, Evangelicals and a refugee population of Highland Malayans. Their surface and shallow well water have been polluted by the chemicals used in the production of rubber trees and plantains.

Living Water International is a ministry based in Houston TX which seeks to minister to remote peoples to provide safe water for their villages in many countries. They research the needs of the applicant villages, determine the availability of drillable water and secure village participation. Their goal is not just to provide water – but to do so in Jesus’ name. To this end, they seek to establish a long-term relationship with the villages that receive water wells. There is a need for education in the care and maintenance of the well and for basic hygiene and healthy food consumption.

Team Agua Fria from Midland, Texas was formed to supply the labor for drilling the well and to establish a friendship with the population. Team members include Todd Cage (organizer), Clay Cearley, Reece Roberts, Paul Ross, Mike Beggs, Angel Valles, and Russell Weathers.

We first met the villagers on Sunday afternoon at the location of

March 4, 2020 Page 4

“I am so sad that I do not even have a cup of clean water that I can offer my husband when he comes home after working in the fields all day.”

[Lady in Cover Photo]

Team Agua Fria in Guatemala

the proposed well. It was quite festive as the people were so excited about the possibility of clean, safe water. There were speeches, of course, by the people, politicians, and pastors. The villagers thanking us for coming to help them, the mayor gave us a history and the planned usage of the water and a Mayan priest speaking for his segment of the population. We also observed the Mayan religious ceremony entreating the gods to supply the needed water.

The village was at the end of a very rough road. Many of the villagers never see the outside world due to travel difficulties and the expense of doing so. We Norte Americanos were quite a novelty and they were very shy at first. That is until the kids met Reece Roberts! He got them playing various ball games out in the open field. They misunderstood his name to be “Rice” and that is what we heard from then on when we arrived every day—“Arroz!, Arroz!” Reece breaking the ice for us allowed us to have a much freer relationship with the people.

On Monday we were given a tour of the village. The people very

March 4, 2020 Page 5

definitely live on the bottom rungs of the economic picture. We started drilling and made great progress through a mix of clay and gravel. Each of us rotated through the various jobs involved. Then we hit volcanic rock and the process slowed down. We were using a hammer drill and the cuttings were removed with a large air compressor. This drilling equipment is generally moved weekly to the next village and another crew comes in for a week to supply labor and teaching.

Our visits with the school kids were a little more basic, fun and included skits illustrating hygiene practices. We always included Bible stories and acted them out while our interpreter explained the narrative.

Tuesday was spent in completing the drilling, casing the well and beginning the cleaning process of the well. During down times there was always time for interaction with the villages—especially the children. We also had more sessions with the children and they were dismissed from classes to attend.

Wednesday was spent in finishing the well and pouring the concrete pad for the pump. It is a hand pump and will need to be used until

sometime in the future when and if the electrical grid becomes reliable enough to install a submersible pump. Meanwhile, walls and a roof will surround the wellhead. The children thought it was great fun pumping water—the thrill will wear off! A community laundry facility is planned next to the well.

Thursday involved installing the pump mechanism and teaching the villagers how to service the equipment. A dedication ceremony followed the completion of the well. Speeches and fireworks were the order of the day. Our communication to the people was that we were there in Jesus’ name and were very happy to serve them. A Spanish Bible was given to every household.

This week was special for the members of Team Agua Fria as well. We were instrumental in supplying a basic need and did so in Jesus’ name—and we emphasized the point. We took gifts (games, balls, toys) with us for the children and other items for the village men who worked so hard with us.

The team was encouraged to have devotions after dinner each evening and a curriculum was provided. We decided to deviate from the plan because the staff members who cared for us hear the same lesson each week. We took it, in turn, to share from the Word a personal message that would minister to the staff as well as to each other. We wish to thank all the entities who provided for the support of the Living Waters Ministry and the opportunity to serve in this way.

March 4, 2020 Page 6

First Family News

Offering Weekly Year to DateFirst Baptist...................... $ 142,003 $ 4,650,331Budget Requirement........ $ 135,000 $ 3,607,082Over/Under Budget.......... $ 7,003 $ 1,043,249Hope 1:8 .......................... $ 205 $ 17,088Annie Armstrong .............. $ 3,102 $ 3,837

Stewardship ReportMarch 1, 2020

Sunday, March 1, 2020Sunday School Attendance♦ Main Campus ................................................1,025♦ Mission Midland ..................................................95TOTAL ...............................................................1,120Week Day Bible Study♦ Child Development Center ...............................132♦ Children's Day Out............................................104TOTAL BIBLE STUDIES ....................................1,356

Offering Monthly Year to DateFirst Baptist...................... $ 752,563 $ 4,508,328Budget Requirement........ $ 540,000 $ 3,472,082Over/Under Budget.......... $ 212,563 $ 1,036,246Hope 1:8 .......................... $ 740 $ 16,883Annie Armstrong .............. $ 475 $ 735

End of Month ReportFebruary 2020

Thank You

Welcome To Our Church

Irma Mireles

March 4, 2020 Page 7

When I was growing up I heard the grown folks talk about “The rapture”. Some had the event down in great detail. No one agreed and yet everyone was sure that their way was the way it would really happen. I even attended a debate between two preachers on how and when the rapture would take place. Listening to all the opinions and arguments was interesting to say the least but I let it stop there because it was just too complicated for me to deal with. I made up my mind to let the adults figure it out and I would go along for the ride. As far as I was concerned, there surely was nothing I could do about it. My opinion didn’t seem to matter because no one ever asked me what I thought about it. Most thought it would happen any day so I was looking for all the signs and was hopefully prepared for whatever.

One Sunday night after BYPU (Baptist Young People’s Union) and church service, the adults had gathered outside the little country church house located about 300 yards from the cemetery. The grown folks were visiting and the kids were busy playing. All of a sudden everyone got real quite when someone said in a frightened voice, “There is somebody down in the cemetery with a light that is dancing around” The first thing I thought about was the rapture – it had happened and Mr. Charlie, buried under the Oak tree by the front gate, was the first one up. The entire membership of the Round Grove Baptist church gathered in close assembly and exemplified the meaning of being “scared out of their wits”.

It was a bright moonlit night and the stars were shining bright. The light in the graveyard appeared to be jumping here and there, going nowhere, and doing nothing. We all knew that it wasn’t any of our bunch down there so what ever we thought – it was

bad. The macho men in the group started trying to decide who was going to defend the flock from this

creature from another world. There were not many volunteers. One said he would go and his wife let out a screaming howl telling him he was needed to feed, cloth and raise the kids. He withdrew immediately. I knew I wasn’t going – in fact I was ready to get out of there and go home.

Finally, a total of six men and teenage boys piled in the back of a pick-up with a pitchfork, a grubbing hoe, a cotton rope and a .22 caliber rifle and headed to the cemetery to meet whoever or whatever had invaded the sacred turf of the Round Grove burial grounds. There was some praying going on but a lot more moaning and crying. To see grown folks this scared was very interesting to say the least.

Our heroes returned shortly, reporting that the bright moonlight was reflecting off of a red granite headstone near Mr. Charlie’s gravesite. The light was jumping around because it was shining through tree limbs that were swaying in the breeze. I was relieved as was everybody else. We immediately disbursed, went our separate ways and the subject was seldom talked about again.

Since that time I have studied about the rapture and have come to the conclusion that I still don’t know much about it. I have also determined that those who think they do, really don’t know either. Oh, they have an opinion as we all do but it remains a mystery. I don’t know when it will happen or what will really take place when it does happen. What all of this tells me – and I do know this for sure. The rapture is going to happen. It is closer than it has ever been before. And when it does happen – you had better be ready!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“I was looking for all the signs and was hopefully prepared for whatever.”

RAPTUREby Dean Rippetoe

Service Televised weekly at 7:00 a.m. on KOSA (CBS), Channel 7 & 10:00 a.m. on MyTV, Channel 16 (or DirectTV Channel 40)Televised services are on a one-week tape delay

NO

N-P

RO

FIT

OR

G.

U.S.

Pos

tage

PAID

Firs

t Bap

tist

Chu

rch

Mid

land

2104

W. L

OU

ISIA

NA

MID

LAN

D, T

EXAS

797

01-5

972

Addr

ess

Serv

ice

Req

uest

ed

FBC DIRECTORYwww.fbc-midland.org

Sunday Morning Services at 8:25 a.m. & 11:05 a.m.Childcare available for birth - 4 years

Sunday School at 9:45 a.m. (all ages) Sunday Evening Service at 5:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall

Wednesday Evening Activities 6:00 p.m.

Main Phone - 432.683.0600 Main Fax - 432.683.0660Prayer Line - 432.683.0683

Pastoral Ministry ................................................683.0604Missions Ministry ...............................................683.0623Music & Worship Ministry ..................................683.0618Administrative Office ..........................................683.0616Activities Ministry ...............................................683.0647Children's Ministry .............................................683.0609Preschool Ministry .............................................683.0611Child Development Center ................................683.0638Children's Day Out ............................................683.0632Student Ministry .................................................683.0603Family Ministry ...................................................683.0612Media Ministry ...................................................683.0622Membership .......................................................683.0616Duplication Services ..........................................683.0626Library................................................................683.0625

MissionsOur Costa Rica team will be gone March 7th to 14th and will be working with partner Greg Smith and Instep International. They will be working with a local church in Jaco, Costa Rica hosting a VBS Bible Club in local schools. They will also be leading some men’s and women’s events while there. Please pray that they will be able to serve the church and help them make connections in their city and region.

TEAM MEMBERS ARE:

� JOSH ARRAMBIDE � SARAH ARRAMBIDE � ADOLFO CHAVEZ � ALMA CHAVEZ � MARILYN GALLEGOS � ZACK GALLEGOS � CALEB HEREDIA � COSME HEREDIA � YOLINA HEREDIA � KENDALL KINCAID

� ROBERT KINCAID � DIANN KOEHL � AVA MCINTYRE � CASH MCINTYRE � SUSAN MCINTYRE � GUS ORTEGA � KIMBERLY ORTEGA � SAM ORTEGA � AMY VANDEVEER � OLIVIA VANDEVEER