This summer Apostles will be introducing a fresh concept in the adult Bible class hour that is entirely pastor-led.  Each pastor has selected a topic he is passionate about to teach and to bring to the attention of our church body.  This approach allows our pastors to teach to a wider group of people than the age and stage department they shepherd and oversee.  We hope you will select a class that is of particular interest to you and that connects to how God is at work in your life.  There are six intriguing options during the month of June and July.  In August, the only class offered will be taught by Brian Maxwell as we transition from summer to fall.

Contact Rhonda Saduddin with any inquiries at rsaduddin@apostles.org or 404-564-3152.

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Please pick up a copy of our new Serve@Apostles guide at the Welcome Center or view a copy below to explore the many ministries and opportunities available for our members. Pray that God will show you the specific ways to use your gifts and passions to glorify Him, serve others, and impact our community.

Please take a look at the available service opportunities, fill out the information form, and our ministry staff will contact you to discuss these opportunities. For questions, please contact Melanie Poole at mpoole@apostles.org or 404-564-6673.

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Well it has been a few years since we have had construction going on here at The Church of The Apostles.  In fact, this Christmas Eve, 2013, we will celebrate 13 years in our sanctuary.  How can that be possible?

There is no doubt God blessed us with a great “fishing vessel.”  In an effort to be good stewards of that vessel, we are constantly assessing the property for its appropriate care and maintenance.

To that end, you will see scaffolding going up around the building over the next few months.  The purpose of this process is to perform some structural repairs as well as cleaning and sealing of the exterior of the building.  Be assured the structural integrity of the building is not in question. The work we are undertaking is necessary to make certain that we do our part in appropriately caring for the property for future generations.

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The case is CLOSED?  Who was involved?
What is the case about?
When was the mystery solved?
Where did the mystery take place?
AND Why investigate a closed case?

Key questions every good detective asks!

During the week of June 10-14 at The Church of The Apostles over 700 adult and teen volunteers along with our young “detectives” will be on special assignment as they investigate the evidence for themselves. The week will be filled with mystery, suspense, and intrigue as the case in question is one that has been deliberated over for thousands of years.

The evidence is clearly stated in THE most trustworthy source ever written: The Bible. Based upon the evidence from eye witnesses…YOU decide if this is a closed case.

Register Online for VBS 2013 »

Registration is full for the four  and five year old age groups.

Student to Student (STS) Ministries continue to provide balance to student’s spiritual lives by focusing on the third pillar of the overall STS Mission: “Service”.

For January 18 – 20, all 7th-12th grade students were invited to join the STS staff & volunteers to for two days of service projects to share the love of Christ with our community.  With nearly 70 students in attendance, it was great to see several of the upperclassmen who started out in Apostles’ Children’s ministry, still standing side-by-side on the foundation of Christ & their friendships while focusing on the needs of the community.

The scripture focus of the weekend was:

Matthew 25:45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Service projects included:

• Atlanta Mission Men group – Students painted dorms for Men who are currently recovering from bondage type situations and homelessness.
• Family Heritage Foundation – Students interacted with refugee children in Clarkston GA.  Activities included face painting, snack time, and a biblical application via crafts.
• Ronald McDonald house – Middle School girls participated in preparing pre-Monday family activities at the shelter by baking brownies, sorting clothes/toys and making biblical valentine crafts for the residents.
• Emeritus Senior Living – High School students sang songs and interacted with Senior citizens.
Leading The Way – provided external grounds clean-up and waste removal. As well as internal cosmetic repairs.

Though the focus of the weekend was on the local community, there was time set aside for the students to have fun and connect as a body. The weekend kicked off on Friday at the STS Gym which was transformed into a Laser Tag Arena.   On Saturday night, the students went to the Hawk’s game at Phillips arena and post-game activities included a special concert by Apostles’ own Family Force Five.  For those who did not wish to attend the concert, an alternate ice skating event was held at Centennial Park.

This weekend was a testimony of God’s faithfulness in the way the students not only interacted with each other, but with the community outside the church.

~Ray Seid {STS Parent & Volunteer}

See more pictures from the weekend on stsatlanta.com »

• Together Through the Seasons: The Welcher Family
• Creating Community
• Christmas & Behavior Manipulation
• Military Outreach

…plus more!

The human race has an uncanny strength about it. In the United States, for example, we stand in a rich tradition of people who simply have not understood the meaning of words such as “quit” or “impossible.” From settling the frontier to planting a flag on the moon, we have laughed at the seemingly impossible.

The self-reliant, self-determining strength of humanity is staggering. It becomes, however, an insurmountable stumbling block the moment we turn our face to the heavens.

Susan Scott has learned this lesson well. The oldest of four children, no one needed to teach strength to Susan:

“Being the first-born of my siblings,” she explains, “I had always been a ‘take charge’ sort of person—pretty bossy and controlling.”

Throughout her life, however, God has been reshaping Susan. Born into a family with heavy Roman Catholic roots, Susan recalls how her father insisted that she and her siblings be raised in the Protestant church. Susan remembers committing her life to Jesus at the age of ten during a revival service. And reflecting on that conversion, she can see that God has been teaching her the strength of surrender.

Like most of the worthwhile lessons God teaches, the call to surrender didn’t come easily or efficiently. It came through struggle. She struggled through trusting God with bringing her a husband. After that the struggle looked like trusting God through infertility. Then the struggle became how (and when!) God would provide children. Then the struggle to trust God with their salvation. Most recently the struggle to trust God with decades-long relationships rocked by deceit and spite. And on and on it goes.

The struggles in our lives continue to go on.

But it was here—in the middle of her struggles—that Susan learned one of the most important lessons of her life. She began finding riches in her life with God:

“The trials gave me a perspective I never would have understood without them,” says Susan. “The trials drove me to seek His face when His hands seemed to be withholding what I wanted.”

She began to recognize the difference between trusting in God’s gifts and trusting in the heart of the Giver, to trust that this Giver truly is ruling the universe, and to learn to surrender her life to His care, especially when the gifts were not what she wanted. To value the Giver’s presence—not his presents—above all else.

“I discovered that His ‘will for my life’ is that I enjoy a deep and rich relationship with Him,” explains Susan. “He wants me to seek His face, not His hands. I am beginning to understand that the delight of what His hands might give me is nothing compared to the love relationship He offers to share with me—the sharing of Himself.”

Self-reliant, self-determined strength is an insurmountable stumbling block because until we’re rid of it, we’ll never actually turn our face to the heavens.

But Susan has begun to trust that God invites us into a different kind of strength. A strength in weakness. A strength in trusting that God is working all things for the good of those who love him. (Rom 8:28) That His face can be seen through His crucified and resurrected Son. (Jn 1:18) and that eternal pleasures are in His right hand. (Ps 16:11)That His power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Cor 12:9).

Just ask her about it. Susan is learning the strength of surrender.

Is America still the land of the free and the home of the brave? Or is our nation dangerously adrift on a sea of complacency and immorality? Too often we are content to think only of our families and ourselves, and ignore the world around us.

Like the frog in lukewarm water—unaware that the water is boiling until it is too late to leap out—we, too, may be in more danger than we realize. When more than 3,000 babies are aborted every day, the Bible and the Ten Commandments are removed from the classroom, and prayer in the school is forbidden, it is time to assess where we are as a nation.

Psalm 33:12 states: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.”

We should ask ourselves, however, whether the Lord is still America’s God—or, like the children of Israel, are we now pursuing other gods? Although our Founding Fathers based America’s important documents—such as the Declaration of Independence—on Christianity and the Bible, through indifference, ignorance, and neglect of biblical principles, we are in danger of losing our precious freedoms. However, it is still possible to reclaim what we’ve already lost if God’s people will awake and rise up.

As an immigrant—now a naturalized citizen—to this great country, I would like to share some of my concerns for America. I have come to love America and its rich heritage. This country means so much to me because of the persecution I experienced in my birth country of Egypt. I know firsthand what it is like to be persecuted for one’s faith, and I understand the process that takes place in a country to get to that point. When I observe these telltale signs rising everywhere in our country, it causes me great alarm.

It is time for us to become fully aware of the path our beloved country is following. There are reasons why we are experiencing so many problems as a nation. We have turned away from God’s protection and blessing.

Imagine with me the following scenario. Due to my kindness and hospitality, I decide one day to bring a young man into our house. He needs food, shelter, and a job—all of which we gladly provide for him. He also needs an identity, so we let him use our family name—giving him all the privileges and responsibilities of being in our family.

After a few years, the young man decides he doesn’t like the arrangement of the furniture, so he rearranges it without regard to the rest of the family. Then, over our vigorous protests, he decides that family devotions are offensive to him, so he insists that our family must stop praying together. Moreover, he decides that having too many Bibles in the home is offensive to him, so he takes the Bibles away.

Finally, he tells me, “If you ever talk about your religious views publicly, I will have to take you to court because I find your views offensive.” His attitude is reflected as follows, “You brought me into your family, you gave me all of the privileges and legal rights of being a member of the family. Therefore, you have lost your rights to continue living your biblical and moral lifestyle because I don’t like it.”

He continues by saying, “I may be one of seven in this house, but because I believe that your belief system is out of date, I demand that you be silenced while I pillage and reinterpret your faith for you. I demand that you accept my new understanding of the foundational principles of your life.”

You are probably thinking, I can’t imagine a worse nightmare for my life and for my family’s life than that.

But something much like that has been happening in our own country of late. From my past, I know what it is to grow up in a family that has been subjected to socialism. I know, too, what it is like to lose family property. In the 1960s, family and friends lost everything they had worked for because the government seized their property and possessions. The argument, of course, was that the government knew how to handle these businesses better. We were told that it was only getting the rich “to pay their fair share.”

Let me caution you that these same things have been happening in America for the past several years. It is time for us to become fully aware of the path our beloved country is following. There are reasons why we are experiencing so many problems as a nation. We have turned away from God’s protection and blessing.

Please continue to join me in praying for God’s mercy for America as we approach the November elections.