For more information on how you can be involved please contact the church office.

Cornerstone Assistance Network Central Texas is committed to helping churches, organizations, and volunteers become involved in the lives of all residents in their community. Through networking together across racial and denominational lines, God can provide resources beyond what we are able to imagine. Cornerstone Central Texas is an inter-denominational intermediary established to address one of the most significant social and spiritual crises in McLennan County and surrounding areas—the restoration and reintegration of ex-offenders into society. Already one of the fastest growing population segments in McLennan County, the number of ex-offenders returning to our area is predicted to be staggering in the years ahead.

How will we respond?

Are we prepared for this opportunity and responsibility?

Cornerstone Assistance Network Central Texas offers help to our churches in addressing this need in a holistic way. As churches agree to become Network Partners, they are able to refer individuals to Cornerstone for assessment according to fourteen clearly defined areas required for restoration, areas such as mentoring, job-training, employment and secure housing. These individuals are then connected to appropriate Network Affiliates/service providers for necessary social services, freeing churches to provide what they do best—nurturing and loving relationship and spiritual support.

In short order, Cornerstone Assistance Network Central Texas will become the churches’ greatest aid in the recovery and restoration of ex-offenders and their families in central Texas.

For more information on how you can be involved in this great ministry check them out at http://www.cornerstone-centx.org

I have a confession to make, and I hope that none of my old youth teachers, college leaders or even pastors are reading this. I cannot remember any specific study, class or sermon that was taught to me. I am sure that they were good and were well-prepared, but there are none that stand out or that I have kept.

What I do remember, though, is the relationship. I remember time spent with me discussing life and the Christian faith. I remember advice and counsel. I even remember some loving confrontation over sin and habits.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe there is a place for the teaching/learning process in discipleship, but I believe that far too often we promote discipleship as a class or track rather than focusing on a lifetime of learning and building relationships with those who are further along in the faith or those who are a few steps behind us.

So, while Bible study and classes are the formal side of discipleship training and spiritual growth, I believe the best disciples are formed when these classes are balanced with intentional relationships with other disciples who are learning how to practice their faith in today’s culture. So, how does this look at FBC Midlothian where I serve the Minister of Discipleship? In short, we provide avenues for the formal and the relational.

Formal Discipleship takes place in two tracks. On Sundays, our Adult Bible Fellowship (ABF) groups meet for Bible Study. Some of these groups are as large as 60+, some as small as 12-15. They are primarily formed around life stages. Teachers teach through the Bible and learners learn how to apply biblical truth to life. Our Wednesday track offers groups for men, women and couples to study the Bible together in more topical centered studies. Parenting, marriage, leadership, and missional living are all topics that have been addressed.

Our informal discipleship happens through our small groups. We call our system LIFE Groups because it is the place where faith and life intersect. The idea we promote at FBC Midlothian is this is where we are “doing life together” with a group of other believers. Families join together a couple of times a month for a meal, for prayer, for scripture study, for support and for friendship. In these small groups, and over time, relationships are formed that promote discipleship and spiritual growth. Spiritual growth doesn’t happen overnight and doesn’t always happen at 9:30 on a Sunday morning in a class. Life is a learning lab where disciples are formed.

When Jesus called his disciples, he didn’t call them to a class, but to a relationship with Him. Yes, He taught them, but He didn’t JUST teach them. He lived with them, ate with them, prayed with them and loved them. They learned from Him because they were WITH Him.

Acts 2 paints a description of the early church where believers met for fellowship, prayer, support and community on a regular basis in addition to attending worship and teaching in the temple. If we want to “make disciples,” I believe that we need to practice the “formal” and the “informal” in the discipleship process.

By Kenny Lowman, Minister of Discipleship at First Baptist Church in Midlothian

for original article please visit: http://texasbaptists.org/2012/05/a-perspective-on-discipleship/

Awana at Park Lake

We will begin our Awana program Aug 31, it will run on Wednesdays from 6:00-7:30pm.  There is a community meal prior at 5:30 in our Fellowship Hall, as well as Jr High/Sr High and Adult Discussion Groups that meet from 6:15-7:30.  We would love to minister to your whole family at this dynamic mid-week gathering!

What is Awana?

Based in the Chicago area, Awana is the only organization with fully integrated evangelism and discipleship programs for ages 2 to 18 that actively involve parents, church leaders and mentors. Each week, more than 1.5 million children and youth, 250,000 volunteers and 170-plus field staff take part in Awana in over 22,000 churches in the U.S. and internationally. (Learn about the prayer, vision, mission and values of Awana.)

Awana works with churches from 100 different denominations. It began as a children’s program at the North Side Gospel Center in Chicago in 1941. Lance Latham, North Side’s senior pastor, collaborated with the church’s youth director, Art Rorheim, to develop weekly clubs that would appeal to churched and non-churched kids, lead them to trust Christ for salvation and grow them in enduring faith and service to God.

Other churches learned about the success of the program and inquired about its availability. In 1950, Latham and Rorheim founded Awana as a parachurch organization. By 1960, 900 churches had started Awana programs. By 1972 Awana had begun its first international club. Today children and youth in more than 100 countries participate in Awana programs, and millions of adults are alumni.

The founders of Awana derived the Awana name from the first letters of “Approved workmen are not ashamed” as taken from 2 Timothy 2:15 of the Bible.

If you’ve been attending our morning services and would like to begin learning more about the Bible and core teachings of the church I would like to invite you to check out other teaching times that are designed to deepen your understanding of our faith.  Sunday School begins at 9:30 on Sunday mornings, and is broken up in age appropriate classes from birth to age 99!  Sunday Night we have an adult Bible Study at the church from 6:00-7:00 that is currently covering the book of Genesis verse by verse, at this same time our Youth Group meets to have a worship time and then they break up in small groups to study relevant topics concerning their generation.  Finally, our most dynamic time of the week is our Wednesday Night meeting.  AWANA meets for our younger children, while the Youth Group meets for grades 6-12, and the adults meet in the Fellowship Hall and have an open discussion centered on a variety of topics covering current events and controversial topics.

Our goal here at Park Lake is to grow a healthy, vibrant church for the next generation.  You play a vital role in that, and your spiritual growth is important for all of us!  Take advantage of these opportunities as God continues to bless our church and move us forward!

Pastor Amos

  Now is the time. With the challenge we have before us to grow we need all members, new and old, to step up and become leaders in our Sunday School, children’s ministries, and nursery. By the time summer gets here we need to be averaging 200 in attendance in worship. And, by the time school starts in the fall we need to have added 25 to that number. That translates to at least two (2) new Sunday School classes and a consistent volunteer rotation in our nursery of three (3) people every Sunday morning. That is a lot of leaders. We…I need you, even if you are a new member. We are in that kind of growth. I and Karen Walsleben will be active in searching out leaders, but don’t wait for us to get to you; come to us.

  If things are good here at Park Lake then let others know. We need them too. God is in the middle of changing lives— their lives can be changed too.

 Pastor Clint