Tomorrow our nation celebrates Labor Day.  Our nation’s first Labor Day took place in New York City in 1882. The Labor Unions wanted to show their trades to the public.

In 1894 Labor Day became a Federal Holiday. The original Labor Day celebrations consisted of street parades displaying the contribution of laborers in various industries. After the parades the communities had local festivals and amusements. Over the years politicians started making speeches advocating labor issues and workers’ rights.

Today we honor laborers at church. We honor the church volunteers. From the Nursery to the finance committee, Trinity is blessed with workers.

We have AWANA workers, youth workers, choir members, parking attendants, ushers and greeters; we are blessed with people who want to work!

Think about our media, sound, and kitchen crews, our Deacons and our Sunday School teachers and those who serves in outreach like the nursing home ministry and prayer teams, and many others. It is all a labor of love.

We are anticipating some wonderful reports from our missionaries during the month of September.  Today we will hear from Debra Woods with Mountain Area Pregnancy Service and Coach Danny Wilkins with Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  Please make these laborers feel welcome in our service.

Thank you for being faithful! Thank you for serving! Thank you for giving! Thank you for praying!

Pastor and Muzette

Our church has been blessed with a wonderful spiritual heritage!  Our church has had two Senior Pastors in the past forty nine years.  Both of our Pastors were the product of the spirit and power of a spiritual awakening.

Ralph Sexton, Sr., was saved in 1937 in a revival being conducted in a tent in downtown Asheville.  The evangelist, William McBernie, was preaching about the return of Christ.  His message was the fact Jesus was coming and that we should be ready!  One of the signs of Christ’s return was that Europe was in turmoil and unrest and that there was no home for the world’s Jews.  Dr. McBernie said, “Soon the Jews will come from around the world to await the Messiah, in Jerusalem!”

Ten years later that prophecy was fulfilled when the UN drafted a resolution for the people of Israel to have an official nation.  I was born that same year, 1947, when Israel was in her birth pangs of deliverance.  A few months later, in May 1948, Israel became a nation.

Seven years later, a young evangelist was preaching a tent revival here in Western North Carolina.  That night in the power of spirit of revival, my young heart was gripped by the convicting power of God.  I called upon the Lord and He saved my soul.

The man preaching in the revival was my dad!  The same man that had been saved in a revival 17 years earlier.

The common ground for both salvations and the later call to ministry was the spirit of prayer, a spiritual need or desire, a sense of urgency, and the fire of revival.

It is the power of God we need, not the power of man! Please God, revive us again!

On Wednesday night at 6:30p.m. our church met to pray.  We are praying here at church today.  Every day this week, we will open the church at 8:00a.m. for prayer. You can come by any time to pray for revival in our lives, our families, our friends, and for God to REVIVE US AGAIN as a church.  “WILT THOU NOT REVIVE US AGAIN…” Psalm 85:6

You are loved,

Pastor and Muzette

Can you believe it? It is only 42 days until Homecoming.  Not just any Homecoming, but our 50th Birthday! God has been so good to us and we want to thank Him!

The weekend of October 1st and 2nd will be a great time of celebration to remember our legacy and our responsibility to continue to have church for the next generation.

Please, please set these days aside so you can attend, and be sure to invite your family and friends.  Saturday, October 1st, will be our Family Day with vendors, displays, food, fun and fellowship.  We are planning a wonderful time of remembering and also making new memories.

In preparation of this special occasion we are printing a Jubilee 50th Year Memory Book.  Please think about sponsoring a special memory page or an honor page for someone you love.  Your business or work place can also sponsor an ad in this historic publication.  The very last day to reserve ads or honor pages will be Thursday, August 25th.

Trinity Baptist has been used by God to be a “Lighthouse on the Hill” and “salt” to our city.  Let’s keep working and praying together for the future of the next generation.

You are loved,

Pastor and Muzette

The calendar seems to be on high octane fuel! The weeks and months are flying by this year, and we have already come to Back to School Sunday.

This is a special weekend in our church family.  This Sunday starts the countdown to the beginning of a new school year.  Young ones are being registered for kindergarten, others are preparing for middle or high school, while some are packing to go away for that first year of college.

Families are buying school clothes and school supplies, pop-tarts and cereal and making plans for meeting the school bus.  All of us are headed back to the Monday-Friday morning rush!

We pay for clothes, supplies and school.  We prepare so we can help our children and grandchildren get off to a good start, knowing that a good education is the foundation for a good and productive life.

We pay, we prepare (all for sure), so let’s not forget to pray!

Let’s pray for the scared K-4 and K-5 students, experiencing their first time away from mom and dad.

Let’s pray for every car, van, and bus ride to and from school.

Let’s pray for our teachers to be able to touch all these young minds with a Biblical world-view.

Let’s pray for every student to be healthy to attend, nourished to learn and to be safe during the school day.

Psalm 27 speaks of the Lord being our strength for everyday living. We must band together in prayer!

You are loved,

Pastor and Muzette

What a wonderful week of Vacation Bible School!

God has blessed our students and our workers as the Chapel has been transformed into COWABUNGA!

As we make ready to wind down summer and prepare for school, we are strengthening every ministry in our church.  We are affirming that every person, whether member or visitor, is of great value to our Lord.  You are important!

In 1 Samuel 16:11, the scripture reads:  “And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children?”

Samuel is pressing Jesse, are these all your children? Jesse answered, “There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep.”

In that culture, naming David as the youngest son was the same as calling him the insignificant one… the one not counting for very much.  When Jesse added that David was tending the sheep, that was a way of saying he has the job of a slave, forget him.

God didn’t forget David!  David was to be anointed and proclaimed King.  God designated David’s town as the spot where grace would invade this sinful world.  That was the place where Jesus would be born.

God sees what we don’t see.  Every person is someone for whom Christ died.  Every child, every teen, every adult, no matter their age, is important to God.

YOU ARE IMPORTANT!  We are serving the Lord together.

You are loved,

Pastor and Muzette