Come to the Enquirer’s Class!

St. Andrews wants to invite you to attend the next series of Enquirer’s Classes at St. Andrews. These are a series of classes designed to give information about the PCA, about St. Andrews and to help us get to know one another better. Although one purpose of the classes is to prepare people to become members of St. Andrews, there is no obligation for those who just wish to know more about us. The time together will be used to discuss our history, our beliefs and commitments, the way we are governed and the particular policies by which we operate. It is also a time I enjoy because I get to spend some time in a small group setting with the class. These classes will be held on Sunday morning and evening on February 6th and February 13th.

Session 1 will be February 6th during Sunday school.

Sessions 2 & 3 will be February 6th from 5:30 – 7:30 pm.

Session 4 will be February 13th during Sunday school.

Session 5 will be February 13th from 5:30 – 7:30 pm.

Please make plans to attend all classes.

Please call the church at 706-327-7750 or email us at jgutowski@bellsouth.net to make sure we have a place for you. Dress is casual.

We will have a nursery/childcare available but we need for people to indicate that they will be bringing children and their ages.

I look forward to seeing you there.

In the Lamb,

Bill Douglas

2010 Retrospectives

2010 has been a good year for us. We have welcomed many new members and visitors, had to say good bye to some who have moved away, celebrated some weddings, births of children – and grand children – and have enjoyed 52 weeks of glad, Biblical worship. We went on our first large mission trip when 13 of us traveled to Kosovo for a week to assist Jeff and Sara Barkhouse in their work. We saw Greg and Susan Johnston and their boys leave to begin their call in Sofia, Bulgaria. We had a record number of people participate in our group ministry.

A year for the gospel in the world: 2010 was a year of firsts – our first large group trip overseas and our first members sent from here. Greg and Susan Johnston with Joshua, Paul and Eli packed up the details of their lives to join the MTW team in Sofia. It had been a long process raising the needed funding and getting Visa clearance and dozens of other matters but in May the Johnston family left the US for their first 4 year term. We knew last Christmas as we had them here worshipping with us that they would spend Christmas 2010 in their new home. In July 13 of our members went from Atlanta to Washington, DC, then to Vienna Austria and then to Pristina, Kosovo (Kosova) to take part in the ministry of Jeff & Sarah Barkhouse. What a joyful and odd July 4th for us to be in that small country whose independence is only 10 years old. It was a great week for us to be partners with our friends and part of their team for that time. We met the members of the church there and have more stories and photographs than we can ever adequately share.

A year for the gospel with our youth: This past year, the youth met weekly to grow together and worship Christ, went on many adventures – including camping and Summer trips to the Beach, helped with the Valley Rescue Mission, some met one-on-one with leaders for Bible study, they started making another movie, and had CAMP 2010 – which is their biggest event of the year! It is exciting to see God moving amongst the lives of our youth and enjoyable to see them become more involved at church. Some of them have shown interest in membership and getting more serious about their faith. We are excited to see where God takes the group this next year!

A year for the gospel on Sunday Morning, in Small Groups and in Service: The growing team of musicians and worship leaders were given more opportunities for leading us on Sunday Mornings, teaching us to love new songs and re-introducing us to songs several hundred years old. They also led us in some Sunday evening times of worship and singing joined to family picnics on the church grounds. Our Small Groups continue to meet in homes, at the church building, and in offices. We actually have more people involved in our group ministry than we have adult church members. The groups are the core of our plan for the “one anothers” of the New Testament as we fellowship, disciple one another and grow together to maturity in Christ. In the fall all of the groups chose to use the book Holiness By Grace (by Bryan Chapell) to have the whole church working through the same material. Our members pursue more areas of Service in ministry than can be listed here. In addition to the leadership in the church with teaching, ministry leadership and caring for the needs of one another we are a part of the web of ministry that God has set in our city and beyond. You are woven into the efforts for the gospel with adolescents, the poor, international visitors, the military, in the hospitals, in neighborhoods, at businesses, civic groups and recreational activities.

A year of the gospel in life: In our community we saw children come into the world (a lot of children) and be baptized, some go off to school for the first time, learn to drive, and graduate from high school. We had some of our children make professions of faith in Christ and begin to receive communion. We had weddings, we had some funerals, we had people become ill and we had people get well. Some of us got new jobs, some of us retired, some of us got to go on exciting trips and some of us were thankful that we did not have to go anywhere at all. We had snow, a very hot summer, our first ever Fall Trunk or Treat, Vacation Bible School complete with a movie, and in all of it we have been taught by the Holy Spirit to believe the promises that hold our lives. It is not in the extravaganza events with lights and noise and confetti that we live and where we learn to walk with the Savior but in the everyday routine of schedules and car pools and mowing the lawn. In all of these quiet — and not so quiet — days we build a life one choice and one prayer at a time. It is in such lives, communities and days that God works and saves us.

In 2011 we will have our 25th anniversary as a church and we will mark 10 years in our building. These are things for which we give thanks and we remember “thus far has the Lord brought us.” I am thankful for the great privilege to serve this church as pastor and I continue to offer thanks for the fellowship we share in the gospel.

This Christmas our Youth helped our local Missions!!!

The Youth.Group had a great time helping Dora at the Valley Rescue Mission separate and organize all of the toys that they received during their Toys-for-Tots toy drive this December. It was an absolute blast and it was great for both parties to be together and help one another out!

Every Thursday, join the Women @ the church!

Women’s Winter Study
Bill Douglas will teach a study on the book of Job each Thursday from January 6th through February 24th from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m..

It’s a Man’s weekend!

Men’s Retreat

Attention Men of St. Andrews! Save the date! We are planning a Men’s Retreat at Camp Marannook in Lafayette, AL, on January 28th — 29th, 2011. Reverend Hal Farnsworth from Redeemer Presbyterian will be our guest speaker. Watch the bulletin and Bagpiper for more information coming soon.

Sermons Page Updated!

We have been blessed to hear from two men in the last four weeks: our own Senior Pastor Bill Douglas, and a former member of St. Andrews, Army Chaplain Capt. Garland Mason. You can find both Bill and Garland’s sermons on our sermons page here. We hope that these sermons build up your faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. Happy New Year!