Mission Opportunities

We are always in prayer for our soldiers away from home on duty. We encourage you to as well. We have a couple of enlisted people that we are trying to support with communication by email. Please take a moment to let them know that they are in your prayers. They are not used to getting many messages from home, and I am sure you can imagine how nice it would be for them to hear from an abundance of you. Below is the information for them. Please feel free to reach out in any way that you are led to do so.

Capt Ronald Helms
332 EAMDS/CASF
AEF 7/8
APO AE 09315
RONALD.HELMS@BLAB.AFCENT.AF.MIL

AND

PFC Partrick Little
690th MED CO (GA)
COB Speicher
APE AE 09393
STRIKEKING_88@HOTMAIL.COM

We thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers for all personnel over seas, and we know that these two will feel the warmth of God's love as you communicate to them in email and in prayer. We plan to send them a care package each month, so please let us know if you wish to contribute. You may email dhelms@live.com or thealtar@numail.org. Let's lift them up for a safe mission, and a safe return to home!

ALSO

Romanian Mission Trip

Saturday, February 28, 2009 @ 6pm the FBC Newnan Chruch Warehouse location in downtown Newnan. Come welcome Benu and Estera, missionaries to Galati, Romania via WEBCAM!! No passport needed / no jetlag / no luggage! Bring a covered dish and love offering for Bethesda Ministries.I.


Thank you - The Altar family.

Betty Freeman UPDATE

I have been so encouraged by the prayers of others for me and my family from our church community. I am also encouraged by the outpouring of love and kindness from visitors to this blog site. You all have meant so much to me. Right now, my step mother, Betty Freeman has been recovering from 3 strokes that occured in January. She is in hospice care at her home with my Dad. They have three or four private duty nurses coming in along with Physical and Speach therapists. She has had some up hill battles and has won every one of them so far. Just the other day she demonstrated that she can use a straw to drink with. She had her first COKE in months! Also they are working on her ability to use her muscles. They sat her up in a chair and she held her head up! She is with us and WORKING HARD and your prayers are a HUGE part of her progress. Please continue. We want to hear her laugh and talk again one day and even walk. I know she has the will. She is so tough! She is only in her mid 50's and so young at heart and mind. God is at work here everyone!

Thank you for your prayers. If you would like to keep track of her progress and prayer needs feel free to visit www.caringbridge.com/visit/bettyfreeman

Matt Freeman

Proposed Logo Post All the Way From ROMANIA!

WOW! I received a notice that a post was made to our "Logo Post" of Mr. Billitteri's FANTASTIC logo submission. I was SURPRISED to see that this came all the way from Romania! Dragos (read below for his comments) submitted this and as promised- I will post it for all to see! Don knows Dragos very well. I, like you, would love to learn more about Dragos and his life in Romania. We will count on Don to introduce us someday! Enjoy! Drago's comments are below:
Peace to everyone from the big and new family of The Altar Church!
I want to greet you in the Name of Jesus!!
I'm Dragos, from Romania, and i just wanted to greet your pastor, brother Don for standing for the Lord!! He sent me the older address of your site and for a while i couldn't access it. Now i found the new version and also the new name. I'm glad that you found a name, a new identity. Because i know some of you because i have a great respect for Don and his ministry i felt that could help somehow so i tried to make a logo for your church. You are free to use it.
THANK YOU DRAGOS!
- Matt

"The Shack"

I wanted to share with you an experience that I had recently. I read books often, and every now and again, one really grabs my attention and allows me to spend quality time with God. This book gave me more than one opportunity to fall on my knees and talk to God, and continue to build a relationship with Him. This is just my opinion, so take away what you wish from my perspective. This book is listed as Fiction, however, that can be up for you to decide. I don't want to spoil ANY aspect of this book, just in case you plan to read it, or are reading it now but I will give you an idea of what it is about. It, in my opinion, is a story of an individual who struggles with a horrible loss of his very young daughter, and struggles with how to find what good that God could possibly create out of such a tragedy. In my own life, I continue to work on not being so independent, and be more dependent on God. All things are His, and to be used for His glory. In my own tragic event in my life, I asked myself (and many others) what good could POSSIBLY come of this? I got answers, but they never seemed to make it through to me. THIS BOOK and the way in which the story is told, has made a huge impact on how I look at this world, and how events that occur are relevent in this world. I highly recommend this book. If any questions arise while reading it, I encourage you to speak with Don Helms dhelms@live.com. He has read it and can help with any question that comes to mind. Visit the website at www.theshackbook.com and you can find it at the Parable or any Target, Barnes&Noble, etc. for less than $15.00- it has only been printed in paperback. I hope that this book, if you choose to read it, has the same moving affect on you that is has on me. It is applicable to any person- no matter where you are in your walk with God. Enjoy...

Matt

Church Picnic a SUCCESS!

The first outside of church activity as "The Altar Family" could not have been more perfect. God blessed us with beautiful weather, plenty of green grass to play games on, and lots of unique opportunities to spend time together as community. God used this time to bring families together that had been separated by large distances and gave us all an opportunity to spend time building on what He has planned.

I can speak for all in saying that I am so THANKFUL to have the sense of family, and community that is absolutely REAL. We all want to do this again, and I think I even heard someone suggest we just do this EVERY Sunday and just put the tables out and DIG IN after church! Either way, God is moving within and among us and it is evident in everything we do independently from each other or together as family.

Again, I am so thankful for what God is doing and I can't wait to spend more time together and grow in Christ as we welcome more and more people into our growing family in Christ! Amen!

-Matt

Community Welcome House UPDATE

Saturday October 25th 2008 Is Make a Difference Day

Community Welcome House is asking a simple request on this day that will have a powerful outcome if everyone who receives this will simply stop what they are doing at 11:00am and say a prayer for Community Welcome House and the individuals who are struggling with domestic violence.

www.communitywelcomehouse.org

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month! Support the Community Welcome House by joining us for a walk from Wadsworth Auditiorium, Silhouettes, around the court square with the final destination at Greenville St. Park.

Event Date: Saturday October 18th, 2008
Time: 4:00pm
Starting point: Wadsworth Auditorium on Jefferson St. Newnan, Georgia: Ending at the Greenville Street Park.
communitywelcomehouse@numail.org

NURSERY/CHILDREN'S CHURCH UPDATE!!

Thank you so much to the Bickerstaff's as they have been organizing our children's ministries each week! Great job! Caroline will be so happy to see that you recognized her for helping out with the little ones! **If you are on the Children's ministry team, see the schedule and a note below**

A special thank you to all of our Childrens Church workers!! We’ve learned a lot these past few weeks and are still growing and learning as we go!! First, it is feasible to put only 2 people with the Children’s Church instead of 4 as we had done previously. We meet in the Nursery area (Jennifer Doolittles Art Room) and have our story and craft, go outside to the playground, and come in for a snack, and it’s time to go home. The gym is great on rainy days, but we seem to get more accomplished sitting at a table working together. The younger children are doing the same as the older children thanks to Caroline Freeman. She is this little angel who helps all the little ones do their craft. We love having her each week!! I will go to the Bible Book Store this week and look for some new material, we’ve just about exhausted the old book. If you are on the schedule, please try to go back and pick up the book bag for the next week so you will be prepared. Here is the new schedule, we are now able to spread us out for longer periods of time, so that’s good. If you cannot make it for your scheduled time, please call and we’ll get someone else. You may want to call someone else on the list and trade dates, just let me know. Again, thanks for your dedication to our children!

Diane

April 5 Channell
April 12 Bickerstaff
April 19 Honea
April 26 Robertson
May 3 Gunter
May 10 Olmstead
May 17 Mrs. Shelnut
May 24 Bickerstaff
May 31 Shelnuts



**IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN HELPING OUT IN THIS ROTATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE BICKERSTAFF'S AT fairwaybob46@hotmail.com**

Thanks to all for stepping up and doing this! Our children are SO important and your help cannot have a value placed on it- it is invaluable in a child's growth in Christ!

The Altar Logo, By Mr. Joey Billitteri

Dear The Altar Family,

I wanted to share with you the work of Mr. Joey Billitteri. He sent me this logo that he has been working on! I think it is AWESOME. We are blessed with the talents of many, we need not hide those talents under a bushal! I have a suggestion that we run a poll after we get a few options of logos for our new church, similar to the poll for the name for the church. It will be fun, and we can find out if anyone else has a similar talent! For now, I will put the logos that are submitted to us up on the site as our temporary logo, to celebrate the work of another. If you are interested, please email me any drafts of logo's that you want submitted, and we will post it on the site to share. Thanks, Joey, for sharing your talents with us! Wow! I will update this logo if Joey has any changes to it, this is the second that he has sent. He obvously has put alot of thought into this and I didn't think it should go unnoticed! Enjoy!

- Matt

"The Bank Account"

Someone sent me an email today that said that a bank account had been opened for me. I thought the timing ironic because just yesterday, we opened a checking account at a bank. God is so cool! Here is what the email said: (Click on it to see full size)


I thought also about the abundance of times that we are forgiven, 70 x 7= 490. I thought about a bank account that we have with God. I would bet you that we all have a balance of $490.00, and no matter how many times we hit that ATM for forgiveness, the BALANCE NEVER CHANGES. How awesome is that! One thing is for certain, that account is real!

I hope you have a great day!

- Matt

UPDATE- LARRY SHELNUTT'S SURGERY

Sunday 10/05/08 - TODAY WE WANT TO GIVE A HUGE PRAISE TO GOD! Everything went fine with Larry's surgery! They believe everything was removed, and had originally planned to have more treatments for a while, and after further checkups, determined that none would be necessary! Amen!!! Please continue to pray for Larry and his family to help him regain his strength and restore his energy. Larry is looking forward to being involved at church as soon as possible so PRAISE GOD again! We love you Larry, and the Shelnutt family! If you would like more information or to send a card, etc. Their address is:
83 Audubon Place
Newnan, GA 30265
For more information, please contact Pastor Don Helms at dhelms@live.com
Amen, and PRAISE GOD for this healing that is taking place. As Don said, we have not because we ask not... Evidently, God heard us ask! :-)

Welcome to The Altar- On the Web!

Welcome! We were formerly "The Church With No Name". We are now "The Altar". In the days ahead, we will have a new look, and a new web site. I will keep this site running until we have a permanent domain (web site URL) to let everyone know of our new web address when construction is complete! Please email me at mattandbeth@numail.org and I will post your thoughts here. Also, if you would like to leave a comment about a blog, just click on "comments" at the bottom of each. Please share your thoughts. They are welcomed! If you notice the picture of the "Tree" that I have placed at the head of our blog site- I feel that it symbolizes how we are a new and growing creation from God! Thank you to all who helped us to pray for and to REACH a final choice for the name of our Church. We were looking for a name that personified and encompassed our mission, which is to allow for you to feel that this is a place to come to and have grace and forgiveness extended to you no matter where you "are" in your life! Our other two names that were up for votes were "The Genesis" and "The 490 Church". Each of these names will be put to use as programs within our church in the future as programs for education and support. We look forward to meeting you and hopefully being able to help you through life's battles that you may think can't be won. A large part of our church's declaration at The Altar, is to "NEVER LEAVE A WOUNDED SOLDIER ON THE BATTLE FIELD". We will hold steadfast to that and will be here for you, just as God intended.

In Him,

The Altar

Our Declaration

Give ear, O heavens, and let us speak; And let the earth hear the words of our mouth. Today we make this declaration as your Church. We let go of the past and shake off the dust of yesterday. We reach forward towards our destiny.We are resuming our journey to take possession of what you O God have given us. We will not stand still or shrink back. We will lay hold of our future. We are led on this journey by God and are protected by Him.
Our enemy is defeated and our children and possessions are safe.We receive the strength of the Lord for this great endeavor, so we gather up our courage and gird up our loins for what is ahead. We commit to finishing the journey as one, promising never to leave a wounded fellow soldier behind on the battlefield. We will not grow impatient or become agitated. We will see every obstacle and pitfall as a temporary light affliction and we will embrace the weight of glory that comes in its place.We will live out this adventure with a deep consciousness of God. And because His presence is with us, our crossing will be a success. Amen!

An Important Message from Pastor Don

Awesome, incredible, unbelievable! These are just a few words that I would use to describe our first two weeks. Janice and I are thrilled to have a new spiritual family and cannot wait to see where God leads us in the next few months. We know that many are out of town for this holiday weekend. Be careful, have fun and we will miss you on Sunday. So here is my first blog attempt. I welcome any comments. The past two weeks, we've been talking about the baggage we carry around. It ranges from hurt, depression, anxiety, abuse, disappointment, to addiction. It is easy to recognize the need for Christ to heal us from our hurts, habits and hang-ups, but few recognize that most of the time it also takes a process. It can be so frustrating for someone to hear that the answer to the pain that has been driving their life straight through hell can be solved if they just pray the right prayer. What people without these issues don't understand is that there are underlying causes for the pain that can't always be answered with just a prayer. God certainly can and has miraculously healed people from their baggage but many times He wants us to work through the things that got us there. It can be chemical, emotional, physical, or circumstantial. It can also range from depression, to peer pressure, to abuse. The list is endless. Ultimately we have to trust Jesus to remove the hurts and heal the pain but sometimes it's hard to lean on Him. He really is our garbage dumpster where He willing desires us to unload on Him all the trash that accumulates in our lives.Someone made a great comment to me after the worship experience that despite having a relationship with Jesus Christ, their issues and choices makes them too ashamed to pray. It reminded me of a lie I've told myself or had told to me many times before, I'm too ashamed to go to God. The idea is that in my shame, God is actually ashamed of me. I remember so many times that I wanted to be different but couldn't. I wanted to do what was right, but willingly chose to do what I knew was wrong. At the point of no return, I was ashamed.God ashamed of me? That is a lie. My shame is my own and it is not from Him. There is an unspoken list out there of sins that are really bad, bad, and not so bad. The not so bad and a few of the bad still make us ok with God. BUT, the really bad, well that's another story.Paul said he regularly does what he knows is wrong, but he was still the strongest force influencing Christianity in the first century and even today. The Bible says that we are accepted by God when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. It's called grace and it is completely undeserved. The very thing we trust about God as we begin a relationship with Him is almost completely forgotten when we continue to fail. God's grace extends into our lives forever. The truth is, God loves it when we come to him for the answers to our problems. David had an incredible relationship with God but failed big time. This king that God had blessed with wealth, success, and a growing kingdom willingly chose to abandon the principles he lived by because of his relationship with God by having an affair and sending his mistresses husband to be killed on the front lines of battle.The consequences were steep but at the point of his shame, sorrow, and brokenness he called out to God with this prayer:3 For I recognize my rebellion;it haunts me day and night.4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;I have done what is evil in your sight.7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.8 Oh, give me back my joy again;you have broken me—now let me rejoice.9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.Remove the stain of my guilt.10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.Renew a loyal spirit within me.-Psalm 51:3-4,7-10If David could pray that prayer, we should be able to do the same when we fail or have done what we know is wrong. I thank God for his love and grace and live and dwell in it every day and I believe that God can build a great church on it!

Community Welcome House Needs Your Help!

We have an update from the Community Welcome House! We posted information on our site based on needs made aware to us by Mrs. Ellen Channell- Volunteer Coordinator, Community Welcome House. Since then, they had someone from our congregation see that need and step forward to lend a hand! How about that!?? That is AWESOME! Below is a statement from Ellen about what the Welcome House is currently in need of! Please contact her and see where you can help out!Ellen is the Volunteer Coordinator for the Community Welcome House here in Newnan, it is the shelter for battered and abused women and their children to seek refuge from their abusive relationships and get back on their feet again.

Current Update: 8/31/08- "As of Friday, there were 11 women and 7 children at the house. We have plenty of canned goods but are running really low on tea, flour, sugar, and coffee. If we could possibly see if people would bring donations to the church starting next Sunday, September 7th, I will have a basket for the items."They have an ongoing need for volunteers that would be willing to give a day, an hour, or whatever they have to help out the Welcome House. We currently need men, women or older teenagers to serve as mentors to the children that are currently living at the house. These mentoring positions really need some prayer put into them because we need a little stronger commitment to these kids to not drop them after a couple of months of mentoring, you would only have to commit to one day a week but anything extra would be welcomed. Also, the women here have been beaten down physically, mentally and spiritually and we are trying to create some "life classes" for these women... cooking, how to keep a check book, how to plan for meals, etc. any ideas would be welcomed. The women are tutored on Wednesday nights and we need someone that would be willing to come to the house to answer phones, make sure the women are doing their Bible studies, etc. from 6-8:30 pm.Lastly, the Welcome House runs a thrift shop behind the Dairy Queen and volunteers are always needed to help out, and donations are always accepted.Ellen Channell- Volunteer Coordinator, Community Welcome House / email: dougorellen@bellsouth.netEllen also says that you can just catch her at church and she will be glad to help you get involved.

My Dad had an understanding of helping the needy at an early age. I never knew growing up WHAT he did for people in need. He never said a word. He just helped. He always said, "Just do what's right, son and all will be taken care of-my job is to teach you right from wrong. Always help those in need without question." As I grew up (and am still doing) I began to realize what he meant by that lesson.

Matthew 6:2-4 teaches us this about giving to the needy: "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

A Very Special Baptism Sunday

Before we ever met as a church family with our new beginning, we asked Pastor Don if he would be willing to honor our family by Baptizing our two oldest Children. He said YES! We told family members and friends, and before we knew it, people were lining up as they were so moved by Don's return to us as our spiritual leader! Here you see Caroline being Baptized, we could have done this another time, but it just would not have felt right. God knew the timing, and we had a Sunday afternoon at the home of some very dear family members in Christ at their pool behind their beautiful home. There was a stone waterfall going into the pool, the sun was brilliant- It was God's time to SHINE! We just HAD to share this with our new church family! We are glad that we were patient and waited on God to show us His plan of how He wanted this to happen!

Steven Curtis Chapman Family-Maria / and Matt Freeman's Story

This is a photo of Steven Curtis Chapman and his Daughter, Maria. I didn't know much of the Chapman family, other than his music, until I heard of their tragedy in March of this year. This precious girl you see is now with Jesus due to an accident with a vehicle in her own driveway. It is hard to grasp. Why? How can this happen? The Chapman family had those questions and still do. I am sure you can relate to what I am about to say, we hear news about tragic things that happen to families, and see how they relate to an event in our own lives, which makes us want to pray for them, and move on so we aren't reminded of our own pain that was similar to theirs. Sound familiar? Let me get to the point, there is a blessing in this story of tragedy. 2 1/2 years ago I was on my way home from work. I was in no hurry, in fact, I was coming home earlier than usual and wanted to surprise my wife and children. I drove a small SUV. I came up a long incline and atop of the incline there was another small rise in the road. Along the side of the road were several mailboxes as is usually the case in rural areas. As I approached the rise in the road a small child was in between those mailboxes. He didn't see me and I didn't see him. The child sprinted to get across the busy road toward his home which was several yards away from those mailboxes. My vehicle struck this child, there was instant impact as he didn't see me and I didn't see this child as he stepped into the road. I swerved left into the oncoming lane to attempt to avoid contact but it had already happened. I pulled back into my lane and it took me a few seconds for my mind to grasp what had just happened- It couldn't have been. I will never forget the view as I looked in my rearview mirror to make sure and reality hit hard. I sprinted to the child's side. An ambulance came and helicoptors were above and my mind was numb. I knelt beside and prayed alloud for God to spare this young life. They took him away, assured me of my innocence as they saw how shaken and broken I was. It was unavoidable, and no speeding laws were broken, but lives were broken. I tell you this now, because I have not been able to find a way that I allowed to help me feel free of this burden that I now felt as I learned the next morning that this precious child did not make it to his home in Newnan, Georgia but had made it to his home by Jesus' side. For two and a half years, I have not been able to find myself again. It is like I forgot who I was and had to start over again. This child was only 5 years of age, and I my son was 5 at this time also. We celebrated my son's Birthday that same week after the accident. Where and when will I ever find peace in this? People kept saying, God will use this to bless you one day through this experience, and God chose ME as someone else may not have been able to handle this type of tragic event. Nothing made sense- Until recently. There was a Braves game at Turner Field a few weeks ago. Beth, my wife, wanted to go because Steven Curtis Chapman was playing after the game. So many things almost made this concert not even happen. It was as if something didn't want this to happen, but God had other plans! First, we learned that just getting into the game didn't get you into the concert, so Beth had to go buy tickets for it while we watched the game. After the game, the band got set up, the sun went down, and as the band was tuning up and announcements being made, as HUGE storm came in. Lightening, heavy rain and 70 mile per hour winds blew. Several people left, but we hung out. I was there for the game, and wanted to go, but Beth said stay. So, being a good husband, I obeyed my wife's orders. The lightening stopped, the rain stopped, the wind stopped, and a beautiful sky appeared. John Smoltz came out to pray, and Steven Curtis Chapman stepped up by himself with just a microphone, a stool, his guitar, and his bible. I felt like something is going on here! He opened his heart with wounds still fresh from his loss of Maria who was adopted from China. He played some songs and we had church right there at Turner Field. The things he said about how he looks at what happend to his 5 year old daughter, and he was able to explain things in a way that only God could have given him the ability to do. It was meant for me to be there, and I came for the game and wanted to leave. Wow, what a mistake that would have been. God made that storm so strong that we had no choice but TO stay or walk and drive in dangerous weather with my entire family. There are other people who were there by God's design, I am sure, but I am certain that he wanted me there with my family. I left there with the best feeling that I have felt in over 2 years! Steven reminded us "Knuckle-headed" moms and dads that we need to cherish the time we have with our special children, because as his song "Cinderella" says, if the clock strikes midnight, they can be gone. Do they, the Chapmans struggle with this today? Of Course they do. They admit that. Do I still struggle with my experience, of course I do. BUT, with a peace that was not there before that God has provided us. I wanted to share this with you and it is the FIRST time that I have actually put into words any aspect of this event in my life. Please pray for the families that have lost their children who don't have a relationship with God and don't know of the peace that only He can bring in the darkest hours of our lives. God bless and keep you.