Santa Fe River Baptist Association
Our Mission: To serve and assist member churches in fulfilling the Great Commission

Coming Up in Our Association

Pastors' Lunch with Fla. Bapt. Children's Homes Director
Thursday, May 8, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Best Western Hotel, Gainesville (just off NW 39th Ave. and west of I-75)
Dr. Jerry Haag, director of the FBCH, will meet with pastors to discuss the Homes' plans for a campus in north central Florida, the statewide ministry of the FBCH, and the Friends of Children of North Central Florida. Call the association center to make a reservation for lunch.

Mother's Day Offering for the Florida Baptist Children's Homes
Sun., May 11

Stewardship Seminar for Pastors
Tuesday, May 13, 10 a.m., Ridgeview Church, Gainesville
The purpose of the Pastors Stewardship Meeting is to familiarize pastors and other church staff members with ideas and new materials available for use in their churches. Stewardship packets of new materials are available only to those who attend this meeting. The focus of the meeting will be on stewardship ideas, new resources, and meeting the challenges of growing a strong stewardship church.
Lunch will be provided. Please call the association center to make a lunch reservation.

Media-Library Training Conference
Saturday, May 24, 9 AM-3 PM
High Springs First Church
Located on Highway 441, across from Winn-Dixie

Highlights
Morning Conferences:
“The Copyright Law and The Library” (Taught by Mrs. Barbara Cripe)
“Selection and Weeding”(Taught by Mrs. Janice R. Moye)

Afternoon Conferences: Repeat of the above
Media Reviews

LUNCH FREE
Contact person: RSVP—Janet Bridges 386.454.1505
Email: ricbridges@windstream.net

Memorial Day
May 26; association center closed

Association Calendar for May at a Glance

Our churches without pastors: Island Grove, New Hope, Pine Grove, and Mt. Carmel are without pastors.

Music Leaders Needed
Pine Grove Church is in need of a music leader. Please call the church office for more information, 352.376.4052.
Antioch Church, on SR 121 south of La Crosse, needs a part-time music director and a pianist. For more information, call the church at 386.462.2768.
Legacy Church, Alachua, needs a music leader and a pianist. If you know someone who is qualified and interested, ask them to call the pastor, John Jernigan, at 386.454.5529 or email him: trulyamazed@msn.com.

Director of Children and Families Needed
Parkview Church is in need of a director of children and families. This is a part-time position. MDiv. or MEd. and experience with children and family ministry preferred. Please send resume to Search Committee, Parkview Church, dharlow@ufl.edu.

Free Books
From John Fairless, pastor, First Church, Gainesville
As part of our necessary downsizing in preparation for our move, we are reducing our library holdings at First Baptist Church. We have a section of more than 1,000 theological works--including commentaries, technical studies, how-to books, etc., that we would like to make available to the pastors and teachers of other associational churches. Most of these works are from several years ago, but they are of significantly high quality (Interpreter's Bible Dictionary, the original Broadman Commentary, Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament, etc.).
 
Beginning Monday, May 12, these will be available first-come, first-served. We cannot take phone "reservations" or answer any questions about available volumes, but folks are welcome to come during regular office hours between 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. to look them over. The book give-away will probably last for about two weeks; after that, we will be disposing of the remainder of titles by various means. We would love to see some of these usable volumes be put into service for the cause of Christ!

Korean War Veterans Service
Sat., June 7, 4 p.m.
The Korean Baptist Church of Gainesville will say thank-you to veterans of the Korean War at this special service in which veterans of the Korean War will be honored. Everyone will enjoy a meal afterwards. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Min-Seok Sohn at minsohn@gmail.com or 352/380-0691 so that adequate food will be prepared.

In Celebration of Love, Marriage, and Sex
by Gary Crawford, pastor, Westside Church, Gainesville
I recently read Gary Crawford's book, an exposition on the Song of Solomon, a biblical book that gets relatively little attention from preachers because its content is, for lack of a better term, racy. Scenes in the book describe love-making, for example, not a subject that's on many pastors' Top Twenty Sermon Topics list.

How should we deal with the subjects of love, marriage, and sex? Read this book to learn how. Gary does an excellent job of interpreting the Song of Solomon. He doesn't avoid the passages that we are tempted to skip because of possibly-embarrassing subject matter but explains them head-on. Song of Solomon is, after all, one of the books of the Bible and we should study it as diligently as any other book. Gary is a faithful interpreter of scripture but, just as important, an interpreter of how this book is relevant to people living in the 21st century. It is filled with real-life situations (e.g., the story of his grandson's rite of passage in the dark with grandfather, father, and uncle) and difficulties (e.g., why problems among married couples about the role of sex in their relationships has a spiritual dimension every bit as important as a social answer).

I recommend it for everyone, young and old, single or married, male or female. There's something important here for every reader. Give this book to newlyweds and those couples about to be married. Give it to married couples, no matter the number of years they've been married. Everyone can learn something from this book and God can be praised as we practice what God teaches in the Song of Solomon.

You can buy your copy at Westside, on amazon.com, or at local Christian bookstores.

“See You at the Pole” Plans for September
This note comes from Zach Allen, Associate Pastor of Students & Education at North Central Church. If your church youth would like to participate in the “See You at the Pole” event this fall, call him (352-373-3341) or email him.
 
We are beginning to plan the youth area-wide SYATP rally for Wednesday, Sept. 24. Our first planning meeting will be Monday, May 5, at noon at Westside Church in the Family Life Center.
Last year we had at least 275 kids plus another 50 or so volunteers participate. I believe we had 13 decisions for Christ. It was very exciting and we are anticipating more involvement and interest this year.

To learn about opportunities for youth through the Fla. Baptist Conv., go to flbaptist.org/studentministries.