Help Wanted!

Would you like to help us update our website? We are seeking a look that is more in keeping with our new name - Friendship Bible Church. Toward that end, we need a picture to use on our home page that depicts friendship. If you have suggestions for such a picture, or have one to share, please use the "Contact Us" link and email it to us.

Thanks!

In My Name

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. (John 14:13-14)

Philip Yancey, in his book entitled "Prayer, Does it make any difference?" writes:

As a journalist, too, I know the value of a name. I once secured an interview with Bill Clinton during his first term as president. I was instructed to attend a political rally at a local junior high school and afterwards to hand the letter with his signature to one of the Secret Service agents. After the rally I stood with a pack of other journalists behind a police rope. Most of them were holding microphones and yelling questions: "Mr. President, Mr. President, do you have anything to say about..."

Clinton smiled and waved, ignoring the questions, then climbed into the limousine. I shouldered to the front of the pack to find a Secret Service agent. When he saw the name at the bottom of the letter, he lifted the rope and escorted me to the limousine, leaving the other journalists to wonder, "Hey, what's he got that we don't have?" I had the president's name on a letter, and for that reason alone his staff treated me deferentially.

We use another person's name if that person has some clout with whomever we're petitioning. Given the proper name, credit mysteriously becomes available and limousine doors fly open. When it comes to prayer, Jesus promises, we have the right to use his own name in approaching the Father. We have access to his authority, his reputation, his leverage. My leverage with the White House ended ninety minutes later. We have the extravagant right to use the name of Jesus in perpetuity, for whatever we ask.

Don't neglect to take advantage of that opportunity today!

Happenings - week of July 28, 2008

Are you enjoying the lazy, hazy days of summer? Summer is a time when we often pause to recharge our batteries... take some time away for vacation... and generally relax and enjoy God's creation. At least in NE Ohio, it's a wonderful time to be outside, breathing fresh air, rather than air conditioned air, feeling the light of the sun on our skin, rather than flourescent light.

But the work of Christ's church goes on! Let us not forget the Lord in the midst of summertime activities. Here are a couple of opportunities to pause and serve the Savior this week:

Wednesday at 6:30 - midweek prayer meeting. This is not a preaching service, but a prayer service. We do open the Bible for a brief discussion, but it lasts no more than 10 minutes. This service is entirely dedicated to prayer - we pray for one another. The great prophet Samuel reminded us of the importance or praying for one another when he said, As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. (1 Samuel 12:23 NIV) Will you join us in prayer?

Saturday at 10:00 am - we will be serving at the Haven of Rest in Akron.

Sunday at 10:30 am - we will have a baby dedication at the conclusion of our morning worship service.

May I leave you with an interesting thought for the day? Billy Graham said, "Jesus invited us not to a picnic but to a pilgrimage; not to a frolic but to a fight."


Good thing for us to remember today! The cause of Jesus Christ is serious business. May we be pilgrims and soldiers for His cause today.

Weekend Happenings

Two important things happen this Sunday -

1.) The second round of the Pastor's Masters golf tournament. We'll meet at Paradise Lakes at 1:00.

2.) The first worship service of Friendship Bible Church! We'll be continuing our study in the Parables of Jesus. Will you join us?

New Hope Bible Church

One last name remains to be considered before Sunday's decision - New Hope Bible Church.

Bible - because we are a Bible based church. We accept the Bible as God's perfect Word, His revelation to mankind, inerrant and infallible. We strive in everything to assimilate its truths into our minds and live out its truths in our lives. It is our only rule and our only guide.

New - because Jesus makes all things new. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.

Hope - because we have no hope apart from Christ, but in Christ we have ALL hope! "And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you." (Psalm 39:7 NLT) "... the Lord will be the hope of his people." (Joel 3:16) "God has chosen to make known the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27 NIV) "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3 NIV)

Our world needs hope. Randolph needs hope. You and I need hope. In Jesus we find the only source of hope. "... Jesus Christ, which is our hope." (1 Timothy 1:1)

Will you pray about this potential name for RCC?

Friendship Bible Church

Here is the second in our list of three potential new names. May I suggest some reasons why Friendship Bible Church is worthy of prayerful consideration as a church name?

"Bible" is a vital component of all three names, for only the Bible has the power to change lives. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Denominations don't change lives. Churches don't even change lives. Only when we allow the Word of God to work in our hearts, does change occur. We are a Bible based church.

"Friendship" is a word that has meaning to everybody. Saved and unsaved alike need and want friendship. A goal of the renaming committee was to cull through the list of suggested names and concentrate on those that would have meaning to the unchurched... to the ones outside who know nothing about church and Christianity. "Friendship" is such a word. From the youngest child to the most seasoned octogenarian, all yearn for friendship.

There is a reason why the television program "Friends" achieved such popularity, in spite of its immorality and worldliness. People want friendship. Going back a few years further, the comedy "Cheers" makes a similar point. The theme song for that program had a line in it that said, "You want to go where everybody knows your name."

Friendship. The world wants it. And we understand that there is no friendship more important than friendship with God and with His people. "And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." (Exodus 33:11) "Abraham believed God... and he was called the Friend of God." (James 2:23) Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends." (John 15:13-14)

Will you pray about this potential name for RCC?

Open Door Bible Church

This Sunday, in our annual business meeting, Randolph Christian Church will select a new name. In the process leading up to this decision, the church has narrowed the list of potential names to 3:

Open Door Bible Church
Friendship Bible Church
New Hope Bible Church

For the remaining 3 days in this week leading up to that final vote, I'd like to share a few thoughts about each potential name. Today, let's consider a few reasons why Open Door Bible Church might be a good choice in a name.

All three potential names contain the word Bible, for a good reason. We are becoming a non-denominational church, but we are in no way abandoning Randolph Christian Church's long-held belief that the Bible is our only rule for faith and practice. This church was founded on the Bible and must always be a Bible-based church. The original declaration affirmed that the church recognized "the Holy Scriptures to be their only guide" - a stand we cling to today, 180 years later.

An "open door" pictures hospitality, welcome, inclusiveness, belonging. It conveys a thought of invitation.

In the New Testament, the term was used to convey the thought of opportunity. To the church at Philadelphia, Jesus said, "I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." (Revelation 3:8) Again, in 2 Corinthians 2:12, we see Paul referring to opportunity with the term "open door" - "Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord..." And in Acts 14:27, we read "And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles." Here an open door describes the opportunity God gives for salvation.

Clearly, God has given us an open door to serve Him here. And He wants our church to have an open door to our community.

Will you pray about this potential new name for RCC?