January 2017

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday! I hope your week has started well. It was wonderful worshipping with you yesterday our great Savior God who searches for the lost and rejoices when they are found! Christianity is the only belief in all the world where God is searching for those who are lost, who rebel against Him, and willfully spurn Him. He wants them to come home to Him, to find life in Him, and to rejoin the family. He is searching for them and longing for their return. He is calling them to “Come home.” When any lost and rebellious son or daughter comes to their senses and starts toward Him, He runs to them, embraces them, cover them with His love, and throw a party! There is none like Him! I pray that each of us would be filled with His compassionate, searching love for the lost.

We will have short meeting this Sunday, February 5, following morning worship to discuss the plan the church council decided upon for staffing child care. We asked all who work in this area or who are concerned about us having quality child care to stay for this short meeting. I also want to thank all those who work in our child care now and willingly love these children in Jesus’ name.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Sisters and brothers,

Happy icy Monday to all! I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe. It was great worshiping and rejoicing with you yesterday and remembering that we are invited to God’s great party. We are invited to the be part of His Kingdom! We are unworthy even for the invitation, but He still invites us! He invites many to this party whom we can invite, people who are poor, crippled, lame and blind who will be honored guests at His party. We can live our lives continually grateful for this wonderful invitation and privilege of being a part of the great Kingdom of God, serving our great King Jesus!

We remember today Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was a courageous man of God who knew that the injustices and evils of racial discrimination must be opposed. He knew our country, which was founded on the principle that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” had yet to live up to that principle. He courageously and non-violently fought for this country to live up to this principle. He was jailed many times in his life for his stand for this principle and against the evils of racial discrimination. In fact, he was assassinated while continuing to fight for racial justice. May his example inspire all of us to courageously stand against injustices and for those who are oppressed. May it inspire us to never give up or give in to the evil and injustice that surrounds us even today.

Love being your pastor!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church

Brothers and sisters,

Happy Monday and Happy New Year to all! Since this is my first “Happy Monday” email of the year, I pray that all of us will grow more in love with Jesus this year, that we will walk with Him, love Him, and seek to bring glory to His name. I pray that our love for one another would grow so the world would know that we are Jesus’ disciples. Finally, I pray our love and compassion for the lost and needy world that we live in will exponentially increase! We are part of Jesus’ unconquerable church and Jesus will lead us to total victory, so we can risk and try and move out in faith in 2017! This is going to be a great year!

Ladies, put noon, Saturday, January 21st on your calendar! The ladies will meet at The Great Dane in Fitchburg (2980 Cahill, Main, Fitchburg, Wisconsin 53711.) Plan on coming and invite a friend!

It would be a good time to start coming to Bible Study on Sunday morning. Jason Donaldson does an excellent job in teaching the Scriptures for adults. You will learn if you attend on 9:30 AM on Sunday morning. We also have Bible Study classes for children and youth that have excellent teachers who love children and youth and teach God’s Word. Also, if you are not in a small group, think about starting to attend one this new year. We have men’s groups that meet on Tuesday evening and Saturday mornings. There are ladies groups that meet on Monday evening and Saturday morning. We also have a ladies group that meets during the day on the weekdays. If you need any information on these, contact me.

Love being your pastor! Let me know if you need something. Looking forward to our next time together!

Bob Ray, Pastor, East Madison Baptist Church