Tomorrow is a great day for Forest Park Carthage as we go out as a church and bless all 5 elementary schools in our city. We’ll be bringing 150 gift bags to give to each of the teachers of the 5 schools, as well as special gift bags for all 5 principals. I hope you’ll join us as we show these teachers and faculty our love, support and respect for what they do in our community.

If you’d like to join us, come out to the church at noon tomorrow (Monday) - wear your FP Carthage t-shirt and come with a smile. We’re going to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our schools.

Also, don’t forget we’re collecting supplies to bless our school nurses. We’re giving them the 3 things that they usually have to pay for out of their own pocket (tissues, wet wipes and…

The past two weeks we’ve wrestled with and discussed God’s amazing grace - Grace that covers our sin and frees us from guilt, shame and regret. It’s my prayer that you have been forever changed by God’s grace and accepted His forgiveness.

If so, you need to share the Good News! We are still alive to demonstrate and share the amazing grace that’s been offered to us. When we fully grasp this grace and realize the Good News of the Gospel, we naturally want to share it with those we love and care for.

Who is this grace for? Well, for starters, it’s for you, your family, your neighbors, your classmates and your co-workers. Basically, God’s grace is available to all and we’ve made it our goal to proclaim it each week when we gather for worship. I, as your Campus Pastor, also encourage you each week to “Invest and…

At Forest Park Carthage, our Easter weekend kicks off tonight at 7:00 pm with our Good Friday service. This will be a special, meaningful and dedicated time of worship focused on the cross and Communion. If it’s been a long time since Communion or the Lord’s Supper has felt special to you, this night will be for you. If you’ve never celebrated Communion before, this night is for you. See you tonight!

As you know, this Sunday is Easter. We’ll be celebrating the resurrection and rocking the house at 9:30 and 11:00 am. Believe me, you don’t want to be late. I encourage you to be in your seat five minutes before the service begins (when you see the countdown start) and listen to our band play REM’s classing song “Losing My Religion.” Also, we have something special planned about five minutes into the service. Just take my word -…

Hello to my new Carthage family. Today I’m packing up and preparing to head your way on Monday morning. I’ll be in the office and working starting Tuesday. I can’t wait to be with you all on Palm Sunday. I’ll also be visiting LifeGroups throughout my first several weeks with you.

As I stated previously, I sincerely want to get to know each of you. If you’d like to meet with me, just call the church office and we’ll make it happen. For now, I’d love for you to be my friend on Facebook (several of you have already done this). Facebook is a great way to get to know the real me, see what I’m up to and follow the adventures of my family, music, movies and favorite places to eat. You can send me a friend request here.

Finally, I’d like to strongly encourage you to consider…

I had several people ask me to send them my story about Mrs. Burk who memorized a Bible verse for each letter of the alphabet. One of our members said she has created her own list. Here it is for the rest of you.

Haddie Burk was a hundred years old and blind. A man who was in her Sunday School class when he was a kid went to visit her. He said, “Mrs. Burk, you taught me the Bible when I was a boy. I know you can’t see, so I’ve brought my Bible to read to you.”

She said, “Charles, you don’t need to read the Bible to me. All those years when I was able to read, I stored it up in my heart.” She said, “Give me the letters of the alphabet and I’ll show you what I mean.”

He said, “A” and she said, “A…

Check out Larry and Cheryl Baker’s “Generations” Faith Story video.