Dear Church,

Recently I was listening as someone retold the story of the first two people, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.  Mountain climbing itself can be pretty rough, but rough is an understatement when referencing Mt. Everest.  In fact, many climbers find campsites inhabited by campers who have died in their efforts to reach the top.  Many people had tried before 1953 to reach the summit, but all had failed to accomplish the task. Tenzing Norgay had been on six earlier expeditions that had failed.

The seventh expedition that Tenzing had decided to join would cause history to be made and his name, along with Edmund Hillary, would live on in mountain climbing legends for all time.  However, many people have heard of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, but few know just how many people were involved in the process.  Allow me to break this down for you.  With the hope to get just two people to the summit, the team in 1953 brought ten high altitude climbers that would climb the mountain in shifts of two people at a time.  This would allow them to carry supplies up with them for the next group of two to enjoy.  Speaking of supplies, this expedition required two and a half tons of equipment and food.  That is an extreme amount of weight and cargo, but it doesn't stop there.  The supplies had to be delivered to Kathmandu and carried on the backs of men and women.  Tenzing had to hire between two and three hundred people that would be willing to help carry the supplies a total of 180 miles; up and down Himalayan ridges and crossing rivers via narrow rope-and-plank bridges all in an effort to set up a base camp.  Once the base camp was set up, a group of 40 porters would carry some of the supplies to selected areas of the mountain. 

There you have it.  A team of ten high altitude climbers, about 250 transporters, and forty porters: About 300 hundred people involved just to get two people to the summit of Mt. Everest.  So what does this have to do with Woodmont Baptist Church?  Our church needs each of you to be involved.  Our staff can only do so much.  Our current leaders can only do so much. John Maxwell once said, "as the challenge escalates, the need for teamwork elevates." The challenges before us at Woodmont are great - reach all nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Good news, God has provided for us a great team, for example, He brought you to Woodmont.  My prayer is that we will climb to great heights as a church, but that depends on so much more than me.  David had his 30 mighty men, Gideon had 300 great warriors, the early church had 120 believers together in Acts 1, and Paul had Timothy, Luke, Priscilla, Aquila, and countless others.  Woodmont has had many come before us and provide for our church.  We have great resources, great supplies, great staff, and we are debt free.  Many people carried a heavy load to get Woodmont to where it is today.  So now, let us leverage what we have been given and use our resources for the glory of God.  If the view is this good from here, imagine what it will be like when we reach where God is leading us! 

Prayers and Blessings!

New Church Year Begins August 1 With Lots of Excitement and Changes

Woodmonts new church year starts this week. Our Bible Study Connections launches this Sunday, August 6 at 9:00 AM. Volunteers have been busy assisting our Architectural Review Committee and church leadership with numerous updates and improvements to our facilities.

They include:

Thank you again to the Architectural Review Committee for their leadership and work the past few months. Thank you to all the volunteers that came to work and utilize their talents and skills.

Under His grace,

Steve

 

Love and gratitude, 

  

Kevin

	MFUGE CAMP 2017

We would like to thank everyone for their prayers during our recent trip to New Mexico. After a day and a half of traveling, 23 students and leaders from Woodmont arrived at Glorieta, NM for Fuge camp. FUGE camp is  put on each year by Lifeway. Lifeway does a great job each year putting on these camps. We always leave with a greater love for and deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior. Sixty four churches attended what ended up being a record breaking week for Fuge, with 1,800+ students and leaders it was the most ever at a single camp. This year we did a Centrifuge/ MFUGE combo, where half the students did Centrifuge and half did MFUGE. The days would start off with morning worship and then we would divide up in to Bible study groups. From here Centrifuge students would continue with Bible study and team building exercises with their Bible study groups, while the MFUGE students would leave campus to go to their mission site for the day. In the afternoon MFUGE would continue work at their sites while Centrifuge would go to different track times. These could range anywhere from outdoor games to apologetics's to leadership classes. That evening we would all meet back together for worship and preaching. After worship we would break up into our own church groups and have time to reflect on the day and share with each other. These times are always special as the kids open up and are real about what's going on in their life and share real struggles with one another. I'm blessed and honored to be the Student Minister for these amazing students! We had a great time and above all I believe we all grew closer to God. My prayer is that everything that we do we would constantly be discipling students to make them Christ followers. Thank you again for all of your support and prayers.

AMARILLO, TEXAS

WORSHIP TIME

CHURCH GROUP TIME

REC TIME

 

GLORIETA

In Christ,

Jarod 

Family Life

Michael Scott will be the speaker for our marriage retreat. 

Michael and his wife Lea have been married for over 25 years and they reside in Cullman County Alabama. They have one son, Evan, who currently serves in the U.S. Army. Michael and Lea are members of Ryan's Creek Baptist Church, where they work with children and families. Michael has been the Children's Pastor for 14 years and serves as a deacon.

Michael graduated high school from Marion Military Institute, completed his undergraduate degree at the University of North Alabama and his graduate work at the University of Alabama. He has over 20 years of experience as a counselor. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a National Certified Counselor, and a Supervising Counselor in the state of Alabama.

Belinda

Belinda

Woodmont Jail Ministry

During the month of September, the jail ministry team will have the opportunity again for Bible study with the inmates at the Lauderdale Detention Center. The team has an opening for another lady and for several more men. If you are interested, please contact Belinda Green, Sissy Carpenter, or David Carpenter.

Belinda

I  would like to thank my summer interns, Taylor Whitlock and Bradley Boak. They have been amazing. It will be very interesting to see how the Lord leads them in the future as they continue seeking after Him and His will for their lives. They have been a blessing to me this summer and I am very grateful for all their help.

Woodmont was asked to provide lunches for a crew from World Changers a few weeks ago. I really appreciate all the individuals and classes who helped out with feeding this group. Members of the crew remarked several times that we were really spoiling them. We enjoyed getting to meet them and talk with some of them during the meal. It was hot and tiring for them but I hope they were blessed in some way while they served people in our area.

August 27th - Monthly Covered Dish Lunch in the gym following the service. Please bring a casserole, veggie dish, or dessert. Meat and drinks are provided.

Soup Kitchen July 29, 2017

September 30th - Work the downtown Soup Kitchen - We provide food and serve guests at the Soup Kitchen every 5th Saturday.