FEBRUARY MARCH ACTIVITIES

UNITED SERVICE

Our first United Service of the year was held at Six Roads on February 8. We had between 120 and 140 out for the Morning Worship service. Bro. Andrew Shepherd from Grazettes was the Worship Leader and he did a fine job. The message was brought by Bro. Leaton Wharton also from Grazettes while special music came from the Grazettes congregation also.

After the service we had a Potluck Luncheon provided by the two congregations and it was enjoyed by all.

The afternoon session as usual was dedicated to the young people and it featured Bible quizzes. The first quiz was a General Bible Quiz for the children of All Star age (3-11) it took the form of “Bible Rounders” which is our adaptation of “Bible Baseball”. Rounders is a game played mostly by girls and they have bases similar to Baseball however, they use a tennis ball and they hit it with their hands and then run on to the bases instead of a bat. The Six Roads group came out winners there. The second quiz was a Book Challenge for those of High School age. This was a preparatory measure to get back to Bible Bowl. We studied the book of James and had buzzer type questions. In the end, after a keen competition the Grazettes youth came out victorious.

ETHICS CLASS

A couple years ago an old classmate of mine approached me to teach a course on Ethics in the Barbados Community College. BCC is our lone Junior College here offering Advanced level certificates and Associate of Science Degrees. Then I politely declined to take it up because of the level of responsibility I had. In early February she asked me first to fill in for her because she had a back injury and was on sick leave for a couple of weeks. She also persuaded me at the time to teach one 3 hour course in Ethics. I decided to give it at try. The class I am teaching consists of about 25 Computer Science students. I took it up because it gives me a wonderful opportunity to shape the character of some of our bright young people, none of whom have ever had a class on ethics before. I thought it was a good opportunity to use my Christian witness to make some structural changes in the life of these young people many of whom have not yet sorted out a worldview. It has been fun and challenging seeing that it was an area that I have never taught before. Seeing my specialty has been more in the area of public speaking, church history and theology.

FOCCC LAUNCH

In February we also launched a new group called The Friends of the Churches of Christ Camp (FOCCC). This group was formed to help with the maintaining and developing of the Camp facility we have here on the island. They will be setting up a regular system of maintenance and will be helping to get the camp property ready for the summer.

TEA PARTY

On February 28 the Ladies Fellowship of the Six Roads church held their annual tea party. This year the format was different, it was held on the lawns instead of inside the church building. The crowds however, were a bit down from previous years but those who attended had a good time.

HARVEST TIME

March here is the center of our harvest season. It is the dry season and the time when the sugar cane is harvested. That also means time for the holding of Harvest Thanksgiving Programs at the churches. We had two good harvests at Six Roads (22^nd) and Grazettes (29^th). At Six Roads we had about 100 in attendance. The highlight of the program was the play by the drama group an interpretation of the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds. The young people that played the Devil and his demons did a great job and it was well appreciated by the audience. At Grazettes we had around 80 and the program went quite well also with the recitations and a play by the youth Group on the Parable of the Shrewd Manager. The Combined Choir, at times augmented with some of the youth, did a great job in special music. After the harvest people bring prepared items and produce which people are then allowed to take for a small donation to help the congregations.

GOOD NEW YEAR START

FIRST BAPTISMS AT GRAZETTES

On Saturday 17th we had our first two baptisms at Grazettes. Two young ladies Chelsea Shepherd, daughter of one of our leaders and Janeva Miller were baptized into Christ on Enterprise Beach in Christ Church. Also baptized was a lady who is a member of the Anglican (Episcopal) Church, who is the organist for one of the leading churches on the island who believed that the proper scriptural mode of baptism was immersion. She asked and I was happy to baptize her.

COMBINED CHURCH DINNER

That same evening we had our annual Church Dinner which was a combined on this year in the Six Roads Fellowship Hall. We had over 120 out for the occasion and all who attended had a great time. We had Christian Karaoke and a lovely meal followed by Sunday School Awards from the Six Roads Congregation and the presentation of Bibles and Certificates for those baptized during the year.

GRAZETTES RETREAT

On January 21 which is a holiday here we had the Grazettes Annual Church Retreat. We had 32 who attended the event. We had a good day around the theme "Better Together". We started with a short worship session and then we had three workshops on the topics "The reasons for Togetherness", "Misconceptions about Togetherness", and "Benefits of Togetherness". These were all taken from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. After lunch we had a time of evaluation followed by planning and goal setting by the various auxiliary groups and the Ministry teams of the congregation.

During the past few weeks since the new year we have been having good attendances in the congregations and we have started the Cell Group Ministry at Grazettes and restarted it for the year at Six Roads.

ERNEST GRIGSBY TAKES UP FORWARDING AGENT DUTIES

As of January 1, 2008 Ernest (Ernie) Grigsby took up the post of Financial Forwarding Agent for the Lower Caribbean Christian Mission. He takes over from Loyd Smith who has served with distinction over the past five (5) years but was forced to retire because of health concerns. Loyd will still continue to assist Bro. Ernie in whatever way he can in the future and has been busy making sure that there is a smooth transition. The Leacocks and the Lower Caribbean Christian Mission team says "heartfelt thanks" to Loyd for his faithful and diligent service. Ernie's address is:

Ernest G. Grigsby

1181 Seldom Seen Drive

Lawrenceburg,

Indiana 47025

Home Phone: 812-637-0845

Cell Phone: 513-310-9498

Email: grigsby.eg@fuse.net

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS ACTIVITIES

This year we had combined Junior and Adult Choirs for both congregations. Both had 36 members. The feature for the Junior Choir was the Musical "A Song of Joy" by Kimberly Meiste while the Adults featured "The Name Jesus" by Mike Speck and Cliff Duren.

We started the season by caroling in the Grazettes area and the Emerald Park West area of Six Roads. Then we also caroled at the Carlton Supermarket in Black Rock (not too far from Grazettes)
Both programs at Six Roads (21st) and Grazettes (25th) were well attended.

We had wonderful crowds out for Christmas morning services Grazettes had around 40 and Six Roads 80. Our Old Years Night (New Year's Eve)services were similarly well attended.
On New Year's Day the Youth Group at Six Roads had their annual Christmas Party at the home of one of the Church families. It was also well attended and the youth had a great time.