EVANGEL the
OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF FIRST FREE CHURCH
Easter 2023 at First Free
Palm Sunday, April 2nd
• Full 9:30 am Bible Fellowship Hour
• Worship Service @ 10:45 am
• Full Junior Church and Nursery
Student Ministry Support Luncheon following Worship
Tuesday, April 4th
• No Spiritual Recovery Workshop
• Alive will meet as usual
Wednesday, April 5th
• No Connect
Thursday, April 6th
• GriefShare will meet as usual
Friday, April 7th
• Good Friday Service 7:00 - 8:00 pm
Easter Sunday, April 9th
• No 9:30 am Bible Fellowship Hour
• Worship Service @ 10:45 am
• No Children's Church
• Nursery - through age 4will be available during worship
Triumph Over Fear & Failure
By Pastor Kevin Labby
This month's Easter celebration is an opportune time to reflect on the disciples' fears and failures surrounding our Lord's suffering and death.
• Twice bid to pray with him through the night in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples instead repeatedly fell asleep (Matthew 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42).
• At his arrest, the disciples abandoned him, fleeing into the darkness of the night (Matthew 26:56).
• Allowed to observe our Lord's trial from a distance, Peter denied knowing Jesus not once, not twice, but three separate times (Matthew 26:69–74, Mark 14:66–72, Luke 22:55–62, and John 18:15–18, 25–27).
• At his crucifixion, it appears that most of the disciples remained in hiding (John 20:19ff).
April 2023 | VOLUME 49 | ISSUE NO.4
First Free Growth Groups
Q&A with Dave Abel
What is a growth group? For me, it is a small group of men (or women) meeting together for the purpose of making healthy followers of Christ.
Where do you meet? My group meets Sunday evenings at First Free. It’s a central place to meet and the guys are available that night.
What do you do in growth group? We study the word of God, pray for each other, encourage each other to keep following Jesus, and of course - EAT! We celebrate birthdays-I make them blow out candles and we sing Happy Birthday ! I know that I’m a little crazy, but it’s fun. We rejoice when someone has something exciting happening in their lives and we mourn when someone experiences loss. We pray over those that are struggling. We have had our growth group time in a hospital lobby, when one of our members was having some health problems. We have had the opportunity to serve outside the church. We have served at Sonshine Community Ministries, Champion Christian School. We have given funds to help send kids to Pine Valley camp and have helped an older gentlemen in McKeesport clean his home.
We grow ourselves deep into God’s word, so that we can then go wide and serve others.
If you would like more information on how you can get connected to an Adult Growth Group at First Free, please contact Pastor Kirk Albrecht!
Triumph Over Fear & Failure
By Pastor Kevin Labby
This month's Easter celebration is an opportune time to reflect on the disciples' fears and failures surrounding our Lord's suffering and death.
• Twice bid to pray with him through the night in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples instead repeatedly fell asleep (Matthew 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42).
• At his arrest, the disciples abandoned him, fleeing into the darkness of the night (Matthew 26:56).
• Allowed to observe our Lord's trial from a distance, Peter denied knowing Jesus not once, not twice, but three separate times (Matthew 26:69–74, Mark 14:66–72, Luke 22:55–62, and John 18:15–18, 25–27).
• At his crucifixion, it appears that most of the disciples remained in hiding (John 20:19ff).
• After his death, many disciples lost hope, not waiting or looking for the resurrection (Luke 24:13ff).
However, instead of despising his disciples for their fears and failures, the resurrected Christ drew near to them. Over several weeks, Jesus gave his disciples many convincing proofs of his
(Your “Triumph Over Fear & Failure” continued)
Celebrating Nancy Jo Demolin
From planning and preparing to set-up and clean-up, this celebration was such a JOY as we thanked God and honored our dear sister, Nancy Jo Demolin! Thank you to all of those who served, gave gifts to the
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
SPIRITUAL RECOVERY WORKSHOP
TUESDAY’S @ 7:00 PM
CONNECT
WEDNESDAY’S @ 6:30 PM
GriefShare
THURSDAY’S @ 10:00 AM OR 6:30 PM
Student Ministry Support Luncheon
APRIL 2ND - AFTER WORSHIP
Men’s Breakfast
APRIL 15TH @ 7:30 AM
Day of Prayer & Fasting
APRIL 20th
AWANA Picnic
APRIL 22ND - 12-3 PM
Womens Ministry Spring Event
APRIL 28th @ 7:00 PM
Senior Achievers Bus Trip
JUNE 15TH
REGISTRATION DUE APRIL 23RD
A Special Happy Birthday
We wish Veronica Richards a very special Happy Birthday on April 11th as she turns 102 years young!
CONGRATULATIONS
To Nathaniel & Abigail Buck on the birth of their son, Wilton James on March 11th! Proud Grandparents are Jan Conard and George and Roxie Buck. Wilton joins siblings Jane and George.
To Alex & Melissa Frederick on the birth of their daughter, Shiloh Noelle on March 12th!
SYMPATHIES
Our Christian love and sympathy is extended to...
Dolly Halas & family at the passing of her husband, Bill Halas.
ANNIVERSARIES
James & Virginia Cottrell
52 years
Duane & Linda Richardson
30 Years
Bernard & Theresa Florian
54 Years
UPCOMING SENIOR ACHIEVER SCHEDULE
Tuesday, April 11th
@ 11:00 am
Menu: Covered Dish or $8.00
Fried Chicken will be served
Auctioneer: Dan Sites
Devotions: George Buck
Please remember to bring a new or gently used, nicely wrapped item.
Senior Achievers
Bus Trip
Join the Senior Achievers for a bus trip to Gastonville, PA for shopping, dinner, fellowship, the presentation of Life Could Be A Dream at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown, and lots of fun along the way!
Registration and payment are due April 23rd.
Sign-ups are in the Main Lobby!
© 2022 | First Evangelical Free Church. All rights reserved.
Copyright
