July 2005 News Letter

Two Are Better Than One

By Pastor Ken Monahan

Two are better than one…” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. Apparently the concept of supportive relationships, teamwork, has been around since the beginning. In the Old Testament we have either read about or heard about those famous Partnerships: Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb, Naomi and Ruth, David and Jonathan, and Daniel and his three friends.

Jesus’ ministry was one of developing a team of men who would support, encourage and love one another as they demonstrated the power of the gospel through their relationships. Jesus selected 12 men into whom He poured His life. Within the 12 was a subgroup – Peter, James and john. These three were a support team for Jesus. Jesus spent the most time and energy with those three and they became His most intimate friends.

Why are there not better relationships among men and women in the church today? Answer… because we have tragically accepted worldly ways of relating and building relationships. Too many Christian brothers and sisters believe that we can go it alone. This idea and practice is wrong scripturally. It is time that we in the church do the hard thing but the right thing. It is time for us to build better, stronger relationships.

As the church was established, more teams were established and sent out. For example: Jesus sent out a group of 70 in teams of 2 to prepare people for His coming to their cities. There is a definite pattern here because God knows that we need others in our lives.

The benefits of these relationships are seen in scripture. “Iron sharpens, iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17. “A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity.” Proverbs 17:17. The New Testament is filled with wonderful promises and “one another” commands… “encourage one another, exhort (meaning ‘urge earnestly’) one another, love one another, bear one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:1-2) It’s encouraging when someone reaches out with a helping hand to lift you up. Supportive relationships devote themselves to four things:

1) Sharing – our plans, our lives

2) Caring – caring for others’ needs (Philippians 2:4)

3) Bearing – carrying each others’ burden (Galatians 6:1-2)

4) Risking – Barnabas accepted Paul when no one else in the religious community would even recognize him.

How meaningful and comforting it is to have a friend that doesn’t pass judgment, that will reach out with a helping hand and carry your burdens, being empathetic and prayerfully supportive. The battlefield of Christendom is strewn with those who thought they could go it alone, ‘lone rangers’. There are those who out of anger, guilt, fear or shame isolate themselves at the very time they most need a caring friend.

I have shared these thoughts with you hoping that you will pick up the challenge to be a friend…a true friend. The potential of our friendships is unlimited when Jesus is in them! We need to open our arms to each other. By doing this you are opening up the power of partnerships. Don’t wait for others to reach out to you; take the initiative and you will not only gain a friend, you will be a bridge for someone in need. You can resist almost anything with a friend…mutual strength gives us courage and resolve. Along this journey of life may God give us these faithful friends and may we be that kind of friend to others.

Guatemala Team Prepares To Leave

-

The Guatemala Team is gearing up for departure soon. For some, the date will be July 31, and others will leave on August 12.

There are two parts to this trip. Part A involves two weeks of intensive language study at the Christian Spanish Academy in Antigua, Guatemala. Joy and Abigail Eisner will be staying with the host missionaries and Joy will be working at Escuela Integrada (a school for extremely poor children). Thirteen will attend this segment of the trip.

Part B starts with the flight to Antigua on August 12. Everyone will join together for a week of ministry.

During the week of ministry, the group will be living in a local hotel and working at Escuela Integrada. The work will be: building a playground, building a roof, painting the outside of the building and completing odd jobs around the school. The team will also present a 5-day VBS program with salvation as the theme. Each weekend they will have a fun activity and attend a Central American church.

The team returns on August 22.

Each team member has had to raise over $1,000 to go on this trip. In addition, a number of fundraisers have been held and at this time, the $6,000 needed to build the playground has been raised.

You may be able to help by purchasing supplies for the VBS program. Also, vans will be needed to transport the group to Logan Airport. Most of all, you can pray for the team.

One final fundraiser will take place on Saturday, July 16. If you are 16 or older, you may join the group that will take part in the Loudon Work Day, parking cars early in the morning. This has the potential of providing additional money to help with expenses.

• Ryan Amos
• Jessie Bailey
• Melissa Bannon
• Bill, Karen & Kara Barner
• Amanda Bennett
• Kayla Brackett
• Laura Capozzi,
• Rachel Conway
• Kim Derby
• Christine Dixon
• Joy & Abigail Eisner
• Bobbie Rae Ellis
• Rebecca Mottern
• Phoebe O'Neil
• Seth Reynolds
• Brittany Taylor
• Carrie Terry
• Kristina Venable
• Ashley Wilson
• Doug, Kelly & Michael Wilson

Guatemala Team Fundraising Report

By Rachel Conway, DBC Guatemala Team

The Guatemala team members have been busy preparing for our upcoming trip. One of the areas that a team needs to work on before a trip is teamwork. Since Joy believes in team building, this has been a focus at our meetings. This teaches the team to work together for a common goal.

On Saturday June 18th, we had a daylong team building exercise which was also a fund raiser. We had a dinner and silent auction. Team members were either wait staff or kitchen workers, getting the orders ready. Planning started months ago for this event, and set up began Thursday, June 16. The team created and painted animals to transform the fellowship hall into a Guatemalan rainforest. We helped each other paint the frogs, trees, monkeys etc.. We all worked together. Many team members put in a lot of their time, some didn’t leave church until the early hours of the morning.

On Saturday, some of the team arrived at 9:00am to help our awesome chef Crispin Toribio prepare the food for dinner. Burritos were wrapped, tacos were stuffed and veggies were chopped. Before we knew it, dinner time had arrived. Leah Roth gave the wait staff a crash course in how to be a waitress/waiter, since many team members had no experience in this area. She divided up the tables so each server was responsible for certain tables. We offered extra drinks to people at any table, which helped pass the time as they waited for their meals. Everyone really enjoyed the delicious food that was provided. I think we are closer as a team because of all the time that we spent together.

On behalf of the whole Guatemala team, I want to thank Crispin for preparing a delicious meal and for all of his hard work in the kitchen. Also, he was patient with everyone as we learned the ropes in the kitchen. Thank You.

We also want to thank everyone who donated items for the auction. This fund raiser was a great success. As of June 19th, we raised.....drum roll please........$ 4,723.47!! This means that the fund-raising for the playground is now complete. Praise God! Now, any other fund-raising money will go to team members who need help financially and for more projects around Andrew and Becky Loveall’s school in Guatemala..

We cannot thank everyone enough for coming to the silent auction and dinner. The kids in Guatemala will thank you as they play on their new playground.

What is the 92% Rule?

• Rick Odess

In the few years I have been part of the Finance Committee, I have become aware of an interesting phenomenon called the 92% Rule. Seems that for a number of years, Dover Baptist Church has operated under this rule, while interestingly enough, very few of us have even been aware that such a thing existed.

What this Rule states is that while we vote on, approve, and implement a yearly budget, we only fund this budget at approximately 92% of what we have approved. While we manage to make everything work within this 92% Rule (very carefully monitoring expenses throughout the year, and telling various ministries that they can’t spend all that was budgeted for them because not all the funds have come in), this does pose some interesting questions.

• Do we only pay the Pastor 92% of his salary?
• Do we pay 92% of the electric and heating bills?
• Do we pay our supported Missionaries 92% of what we promised them?
• Do we cut Christian Education, Youth Programs, and other Ministries to 92% of what was budgeted them?
• What would we say if our employer paid us 92% of our salary?

These are only questions, not accusations, and I pose them to myself as well as the entire Church Family.

Why do we do this? I don’t know.

What should we do about this? I’m not sure. Should we only approve a budget that we know we can fund at 100%? Perhaps, but then where would the Faith be?

Should each of us give more to the church? Perhaps, but we do have our other individual/family obligations as well. After all, what would PSNH or CMP say if we consistently only paid them 92% of our monthly bill? Or paid or rent/mortgage at 92% every month?

Questions to think about.

PS So far this fiscal year, we are at about 94%.

Rick Odess, Finance Committee

Vacation Bible School PLanned

Plans are well under way for the Vacation Bible School to be held July 18th through 25th. Join in the fun and adventure as we visit Antarctica, excavate in the Egyptian desert, experience the Brazilian jungle, trek up Mount Everest, and dive into the Pacific Ocean.

You will love the fun, active experiences that will help one learn about Jesus' awesome love and power as we study some of His miracles!

Visiting the five different regions of the world as a backdrop, children will engage in fun games, meaningful activities, cool crafts, and awesome love and power of Jesus.

Children ages 3 to 93 are invited to join the excitement for this very exciting Bible School program!

School begins with supper at 5:30 and concludes at 8.

You may help in providing supplies that are needed for the School. They are:

For pre-school children:

• Tempra paint - brown
• Tempra paint - white
• Tempra paint - green
• Construction paper
• 20 eye droppers
• clay
• Play-Doh
• apple cider vinegar
• three boxes baking soda
• bag cotton balls
• colored sand
• three large sponges
• glitter glue
• package small sponges
• three bags of large marshmallows
• small magnets
• paper clips

For K-6th grade:

• silicone rubber sealer
• glitter pens
• glitter
• pencils
• colored poster board
• drinking straws
• old child pool (plastic)
• Fifty 4* piece wood (2x4)
• Fifty 6* piece wood (2x4)
• straw
• water based clay
• two package small sponges
• "3x5" index card (with lines)
• "3x5" index cards (without lines)
• large white glue
• brightly colored tissue
• construction paper
• white poster board
• four pieces elastic 4 ft long
• four 12 roll pkg toilet paper
• sand paper
• water color paint
• "1/4" craft ribbon
• fishing line
• cotton tip swabs
• five bags large marshmallows
• white balloons

You may check the sign-up sheets located at the Church, or purchase an item and check it off on the list. Supplies should be in by July 10th.

New Photo Directories

We are excited to announce that we are going to create a new pictorial directory of the Dover Baptist Church family. The directory will help us to connect names with faces. It will be an ideal outreach tool and will capture the history of our church congregation. The scheduled dates for photography and portrait viewing are 3:00 to 9:30 pm July 25 and 26 with an additional day August 16 for those who might be out of town in late July.

Please participate! All we ask is that you have your picture taken by the professional photographer and meet with a Portrait Consultant at the church. The first three Sundays in July, we will be making appointments before and after services. Please sign up as soon as possible to get the best appointment to fit your schedule.

• Every participating family that selects a pose for the directory will receive a FREE complimentary Custom Natural Portrait and a church directory.
• You will come to the church only once for photography and for portrait viewing.
• The program is available at NO COST to the church budget.
• You will have the opportunity to order additional portraits during your scheduled appointment time.
• If you wish to purchase extras, the portraits come with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.
• Whether you decide to dress formal or casual, you will want to make the most of this opportunity.

The more families we have participate the more FREE upgrades we will get for the photo book and consequently the better pictorial directory we will have. We need about one half hour of your time to make our book better.

If you have any questions, please call Steve Randolph. We look forward to seeing everyone in the directory.

Our new pictorial directory just won’t be complete without you!

Youth Corner

July Activities

July 3

The Youth Group will have a fun night at Dover Baptist. Tim Monahan will lead the Bible Study.

July 10

The popular Photo Safari

July 15, 16, 17

The Youth Group will take a bike trip. (See separate article.)

July 24

Pool Party and Barbecue at the Smith's with 20/20

Youth Bike Trip

The July Bike Trip is designed to be a time of spiritual, physical and emotional stretching for the youth. It is also set to be the climax of all the things that we will be doing with the youth this summer.

During the bike trip the group will be doing a study on the book of Ephesians and look at the importance of unity as it reflects upon the Body of Christ and upon them on the bike trip. *The trip itself will be a three day adventure as we will leave from Dover on Friday biking about 30 plus miles until we reach Ivanhoe Campground near Wakefield. There will be more biking on Saturday and then on Sunday we will pack up and bike back to the